2013-14 Club Soccer/Football Discussion Thread

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Pepe is truly awful. Dirty game overall so far on both sides.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

bugger

[Tender Branson]

Austrian Bundesliga

1st place Red Bull Salzburg welcomes 3rd place Rapid Vienna

Salzburg just defeated Rapid Vienna with 6-3 in one of the best games I've ever seen (and that means something, because the Austrian Bundesliga is usually really crappy).

(Salzburg actually would have won 7-3, but the ref said no to a goal in which Mané was offside by about 1cm ...)

[Tender Branson]

Austrian Bundesliga

1st place Red Bull Salzburg welcomes 3rd place Rapid Vienna

Salzburg just defeated Rapid Vienna with 6-3 in one of the best games I've ever seen (and that means something, because the Austrian Bundesliga is usually really crappy).

(Salzburg actually would have won 7-3, but the ref said no to a goal in which Mané was offside by about 1cm ...)

Tough decision: The left foot from Mané was probably a few cm's in front of the ball, which Kevin Kampl passed over to him a second later.

[NewYorkExpress]

Today has been an exciting day, including crowning a cup champion;

Manchester City won the Capital One Cup, defeating Sunderland 3-1, and completing the first step in the English Treble (Premier League, Capital One Cup and FA Cup)

Aston Villa thrashed Norwich 4-1 at Villa Park

Crystal Palace and Swansea battled to a 1-1 draw

Tottenham Hotspur earned a much weaker than expected win over Cardiff, 1-0.


La Liga
Villarreal missed a dream opportunity to move up the ladder, drawing bottom-of the table Real Betis

The Madrid Derby ended in a 2-2 draw.

Sevilla moved up to seventh, defeating Real Sociadad 1-0

Barcelona moves to within a point of Real Madrid, is alone in 2nd after thrashing Almeria 4-1

Rayo Vallecano stuns Valencia 1-0


Serie A

Caligari shuts down Udinese 3-0

Atalana defeats Chievo Verona 2-1

Genoa defeats Catania 2-0

Hellas Verona and Bologna duke it out in defensive theater- scoreless final

Parma defeats Sassuolo 1-0

Sampdoria shrouds Toriono in despair, wins 2-0.

Livorno and Napoli fight to 1-1 draw, marred by Own Goal from Napoli Goalkeeper

Clash of traditional Italian Powers leads to Juventus defeating AC Milan 2-0

Lazio 1-0 winners over Fiorentina

Bundesliga (Germany)

Springtime for Hoffenhiem and Germany!!! Okay maybe just Hoffenheim, who pulled off a blitzkrieg of Wolfsburg 6-2.

Stuttgart loses eighth in a row, falls to Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1


France (Ligue 1)
Saloman Kalou's Hat trick defeats Junior Tallo's brace as Lille defeats Ajacco 3-2

Lyon and Montpellier end in scoreless draw

Paris Saint-German, now eight clear of Monaco after 2-0 win against Marseilles

Eridvise (Netherlands)

Ajax defeats Feyernood 2-1

Greek Super League

Panathankios stuns Olympakios 3-0.

Juplier League (Belgium)

Club Brugge defeats Standard Liege 1-0

Racing Genk fails in attempt to move up, falls to Anderlecht 2-0

Austrian Bundesliga

(As already mentioned Red Bull Salzburg win big, 6-3 over Rapid Vienna)

SAS League- Denmark

Midtjylland smashes FC Copenhagen 5-1

 

[NewYorkExpress]

Tomorrow has almost nothing going on (unless you like the idea of watching the Iranian and Kuwaiti national teams play each other)

(The Next remotely interesting day on the calendar is Wed. March 5, which features International Friendlies and Asian Cup Qualifiers... Ironically, The U.S National Team is supposed to be Ukraine for a "Friendly")

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Tomorrow has almost nothing going on (unless you like the idea of watching the Iranian and Kuwaiti national teams play each other)

(The Next remotely interesting day on the calendar is Wed. March 5, which features International Friendlies and Asian Cup Qualifiers... Ironically, The U.S National Team is supposed to be Ukraine for a "Friendly")

IIRC, friendly international games would go in the World Cup thread just as Euro 2016 talk has.

(BTW Phil, excited for Spain-Italy Wednesday?)

[Keystone Phil]

Yeah, put Friendly match stuff in the World Cup thread.

[NewYorkExpress]

News First;
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1736434/carles-puyol-leave-barcelona-end-season?cc=5901
Puyol will leave Barcelona at the conclusion of the Season, which given Barcelona's general strength, recent signing of Neymar, and Puyol's overall age, may not be a bad thing for the club.


There is little to nothing on the club stage until Friday (at the earliest), thanks to the international matches... So this will attempt to be a Friday/Saturday Preview

Friday, March 7, 2014

Serie B
Empoli tries to lock up a place in next year's Serie A at Stadio Carlo Castellini against US Avienello

2. Bundesliga
Sandhausen travels to Fritz-Walter Stadion to face Cup sensation Kaiserlautern

1860 Munich is at Allianz Arena to face VfR Aalen

The very top and the very bottom of this league collide at the RhineEnergieStadion (another stadium I trouble spelling) as Cologne faces Energie Cottbus

French Ligue 1

Nice comes to the Velodrome trying to stay out the drop zone, while Marseille looks to make up ground on St. Eteinne for 4th

Portuguese Liga
Academica de Combria will travel to Rio Ave

Danish SAS-League

Relegation Battle; Randers travels to Slagelse Stadion to face Vestjaelland

Northern Irish Premier League

Coleraine is at home to face the Crusaders (Who would be in Europa League Qualifying if the Season ended today) (Also who names teams after pillagers anymore?)

Balleyma goes to Belfast (The Oval) to face Glentoran

Welsh Premier League

Port Talbot travels to Park Avenue to face Aberyswyth (By the way I think it makes more sense to put teams three and four in Europa League Qualifying spots, than five and seven as Wales currently does, or to relegate the last place team, not second to last, again as Wales currently does)

Saturday, March 8

MLS

Sporting Kansas City kicks off their Season in Seattle, taking on the Seattle Sounders... (If Centurylink field can give the Seahawks a Super Bowl, maybe they can give the Sounders some MLS hardware?)

The Columbus Crew head to the Nation's Capital to take on D.C United

Tim Cahill, Jamison Olave and Thierry Henry take the New York Red Bulls across the country (and the border) to face the Vancouver Whitecaps)

Montreal Impact (Maybe they should have "borrowed" the Alouettes) head south to take on F.C Dallas (Longhorns?)

New England Revolution head to Houston to face the Dynamo

The Los Angeles Galaxy, led by Landon Donavon, and Robbie Keane are home against Real Salt Lake.

The Philadelphia Union face the best home fans in MLS (?) as they travel to Portland to face the Portland Timbers.

FA Cup
Everton comes to Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in what should be an exciting match

EPL;
Manchester United looks to save David Moyes's job as the face West Brom in the Hawthornes... West Brom on the other hand wants not head into the drop.

Relegation battle at Cardiff City Stadium between Cardiff City and Fulham

Southampton heads to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace

Stoke travels to Carrow Road to face Norwich City

The other big English match "besides the FA Cup Match" has Tottenham United traveling to Stamford Bridge to challenge Chelsea.

Scottish Cup- Quarterfinals (sorry, I really thought it was the semis)

St. Johnstone will be at Stark's Park to face the.... Raith Rovers (Nice Alliteration)

Dumbarton will travel to Pittdorie Stadium to face Aberdeen.


La Liga

Barcelona begins Puyol's farewell tour, with a  road match against Real Valladolid

Relegation Battle at Benito Vilamun, between Real Betis and Getafe

Athletico Madrid heads Estadio Baladios to face Celta Vigo

Villarreal heads to Estadio Los Carmenes to take on Granada

Serie A

AC Milan will face Udiniese at the Stadio Friuli

Relgation Battle at Stadium Stadium Angelo Massimo, as Catania plays host to Caligari.

Bundesliga (Germany)

Augsburg travels to face Borussia Monchengladenbach

Relegation Battle in HSH Nordbank Arena with Hamburg playing host to Eintracht Frankfurt

Beyer Leverkusen will look to reverse it's recent poor form in Hannover against Hannover 96

Hoffenheim will travel to the Veltins-Arena to face Schalke

The big "Germany" Matchup has Bayern Munich traveling to the Volkswagen Arena to face Wolfsburg in a clash of top-5 teams

Werder-Bremen heads to Easy-Credit Stadion and faces FC Nurnberg/Nuremberg

France Ligue 1

PSG tries to add on their already huge lead against Bastia

Monaco tries to keep pace at Sochaux

Evian travels to Guingamp

Ajacco travels to Nantes

Stade de Riems will be at Toulouse

Stade Rennes will be at Valciennes


Portugese Liga

Nacional de Mediera (5th) is at Braga (7th)

Russian Premier League

Ural (15th) is at Krasnodar(6th)
Terek Grozny (14th) is home against Spartak Moscow (3)

Belgian Juliper League
Zulte Waregem (4) is at home against Club Brugge (2)

Bundesliga (Austria)

Grodig (2) is on the road at Austria Vienna (4)

Danish SAS-Liagen

AaB (2) is at Aarhus (6)

Swiss Super League

FC Basel (1) is home against St. Gallen (7)

[bore]

If Saint Johnstone lose, they'll be dancing in the streets of Raith on saturday night!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Classic

[NewYorkExpress]

Preview for Sunday March 9
MLS

The Chicago Fire head west to face Chivas USA

English Championship League

Second positioned Burnley have all but locked up a spot in the EPL (they're sitting on 66 points, 15 points ahead of seventh place Reading) as the head to Ewood Park to face 10th place Blackburn


FA Cup- Quarterfinals

Sheffield United (who is easily the weakest squad remaining, playing in League One) gets a relatively favorable draw face bottom of Championship side Charlton Athletic.. Could Sheffield move on the Semifinals?

The Bottom Half of the Premier League will be on display as Sunderland will travel to the K.C Stadium and take on Hull City

Manchester City (Easily the best team remaining) gets a relatively light draw as they are at home against Championship side Wigan (who are also the defending champs). Manchester City should be heavy favorites from this point forward (despite the fact Arsenal is still alive)

Scottish Cup- Quarterfinals

Inverness Caledonian Thistle (Already in the League Cup final against Hearts on March 16) will be at home against Dundee United.

Rangers (despite all the financial woes they do exist) is at their home pitch of Ibrox Stadium to face the Albion Rovers.

La Liga
Espanyol is at home to face Elche

Sevilla looks to maintain a chance at International play on the road at a mildly desperate Almeria

Eighth place Levante looks to topple leaders Real Madrid, and earn a shot at European play... problem is they'll have to do so at Madrid's home fortress of Santiago Bernbeau.

Fourth Place Valencia travels to Eighth place Athletic Bilbao, also angling for a shot at sneaking into European competition.

Serie A

4th ranked Fiorentina will be in Turin to face pole-sitters Juventus

Sassuolo travels to Bologna to engage in a bottom of the table brawl

Genoa travels to Chievo Vernoa

Tornio will travel to Milan to face Internazionale

Atalana is going to Rome to face Lazio

Hellas Verona will travel to Parma

And the "other" big match (and probably bigger than Fiorentina/Juventus) has Second position Roma traveling to Napoli to face 3rd position Napoli

Bundesliga (Germany)

Borussia Dortmund is in Freiburg

Hertha Berlin looks to challenge for International play by defeating Mainz

France Ligue 1

Lille and St. Etienne look to continue their impressive seasons vs Montpelier (Lille) and at Lorient (St. Etienne)

Lyon travels to Bordeaux

Portuguese Liga

Top of the League Benfica is at home against fourth place Estoril

Russian Premier League

4th place Dinamo Moscow will do battle with 5th place CSKA Moscow

2nd place Zenit St. Petersburg will take on 13th place Tom Tomsk

Danish SAS-Liagen

5th place Nordsjallend will travel to 4th place Brondby

Swiss Super League

4th positioned FC Zurich will travel to Bern to face Young Boys

[NewYorkExpress]

Schedule preview for week beginning Monday, March 10

Monday March 10
CONCACAF Champions League- Quarterfinal

Costa Rica's Premier Division Invierno Championship winners will be at home against Panamanian Side Deportivio Arabe Unido.

La Liga;
Malaga travels to Osasuna as both teams try to avoid relegation

Bottom-Dweller Rayo Vallecano will travel to Real Sociadad (Currently in sixth place).

Serie B
Leaders Palmero haven't quite locked up promotion just yet, but they have an excellent matchup with Juve Stabia, who is at the bottom of the table

2. Bundesliga (Germany)
Second positioned Gruether Fruth will go on the road to face a VFL Bochum side that needs every point to avoid relegation.

Ligue 2 (France)
Second place Angers will look face Tours on the road

Erste Divise (Netherlands)
The eighth ranked De Graafschap Super Peasants will face FC Emmen at Uinve Stadion in Emmen.

Portuguese Liga
Sixth Place Guimares travels to eighth place Maritimo.

Russian Premier League

The 12th place Volga Nizhny Novgorod  will face 7th place FK Amkar Perm at Perm's Zevezda Stadium.

11th place Krylia Sovetov Samara, will travel to Moscow to face current co-leaders Lokomotiv Moscow (They lead Zenit St. Petersburg by a single goal margin) at Lokomotiv Stadium

9th place Kuban Krasnodar (which amusingly is nicknamed the cossacks) will face 10th place FC Rostov at Olimp-2 in Rostov

Turkish Super League

Leaders Fenerbahe will travel to Husyein Avni Aker Stadium to face eighth place Trabzonspor

Greek Super League
17th position Veria will look to pick up all the points it can get when it travels to Mytilene Municipal Stadium to face Kalloni FC

Danish SAS-Ligaen
Leader FC Midtjylland has a golden opportunity to pad their lead at home against cellar-dwellar Sonderjyske

Tuesday March 11

UEFA Champions League- Quarterfinals leg 2

AC Milan will travel to the Vicente Calderon to take on Athletico Madrid (Athletico Madrid leads 1-0 on aggregate goals)

Arsenal travels to Munich to try stave off a European elimination (Bayern Munich leads 2-0 on aggregate)

Serie B (Italy)
21st place Padova travels to Stadio Sandro Cabassi to face Carpi

Wednesday March 12

UEFA Champions League

Europe's top sides collide one more time as Manchester City and Barcelona collide at Camp Nou (Barcelona leads 2-0 on aggregate)

PSG looks to stay fresh ahead of the next round facing Bayer Leverkusen in Paris (PSG leads 4-0 on aggregate)

English Championship League

2nd ranked Burnley will face collapsing (17th) Birmingham City F.C at St. Andrews (the stadium, not the golf course)

16th place AFC Bournemouth will face 10th place Blackburn at Ewood Park

13th place Huddersfield Town will travel to London to face Charlton Athletic at The Valley

Sheffield Wednesday will look to wash off the stench of defeat in the FA Cup as the travel to DW Stadium to face Wigan Athletic

Scottish Premier League

4th place Dundee United and 6th place St. Johnstone clash at Tannadice Park in Dundee

7th place Hibernian and 5th place Inverness Caledonian Thistle face off in Inverness's Caledonian Stadium.

Swiss Super League

8th place FC Sion Sitten plays host to FC Aarau at Stade Tourbillion

Thursday March 13

UEFA  Europa League Round of 16 Leg 1

Red Bull Salzburg heads to St. Jakob Park to face FC Basel

Napoli will travel to the Estadio de Dragao to face FC Porto

Valencia travels to Ludogorets Arena to face Bulgarian powerhouse Ludogorets Razgrad

Anzhi Makchackalaka (Which is currently dead last in the Russian Premier League) travels to AFAS Stadium to face AZ Alkamaar

Fiorentina gets an early preview of the location of the finals, as they will travel to face Juventus

Viktoria Plzen travels to the Stade de Gerland to face Olympique Lyonnais

Real Betis (currently last in La Liga) will travel to Sevilla

Benfica travels to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham Hotspur.

[NewYorkExpress]

A lot has already gone on today, and a lot more will go on later;

MLS begins their season tonight

FA Cup

Arsenal heading to Wembley, Semi-finals, thrash Everton 4-1

EPL
Manchester United makes slight recovery from Olympakios loss, defeats West Brom 3-0, passes Everton for sixth. (Everton plays Cardiff Next Saturday, Manchester United faces Liverpool on Sunday, March 16)

Southhampton continues charmed season, defeats Crystal Palace 1-0.

Stoke draws Norwich 1-1, advances to twelfth.

Chelsea/Tottenham in progress

Scottish Premiership

Motherwell draws Hibernian 3-3, will remain third

Kilmarnock defeats Hearts 4-2.

La Liga

Barcelona upset again, falls to Real Valladolid 1-0

Getafe/Real Betis in progress

Celta Vigo/Athletico Madrid and Granada/Villarreal are late games


Serie A

Udiniese/ AC Milan in progress

Catania/Caligari is a later game

Bundesliga (Germany)

Borussia Monchengladenbach remains winless in 2014, losing to Augsburg 2-1. Augsburg moves to sixth with the victory.

Eintracht Frankfurt, Hamburg battle to 1-1 draw

Beyer Leverkusen ends losing streak, and blows excellent chance against Hannover with a 1-1 draw.

Schalke flattens Hoffenheim 4-0 behind Klaus Jan Huntelaar's hat trick. Schalke is closing on both Beyer Leverkusen (Tied at 44 points, trail by two goals) and Borussia Dortmund (trail by 1 point and 16 goals).

Stuttgart staves off relegation (for now) draws Eintracht Braunschwig 2-2... But is Coach/Manager Thomas Schneider safe?

Bayern Munich runs up score on Wolfsburg scoring six unanswered for a 6-1 victory.

French Ligue 1
PSG defeats Bastia 3-0.

Everyone else plays late

Russian Premier League

Ural defeats Krasnodar 1-0.

Terek Grozny upsets Spartak Moscow 1-0

Denmark SAS-Liagen

AaB crushes Aarhus 5-2




 

[Lief 🗽]

Please stop.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

[Lief 🗽]

Wigan defeat City in the final FA Cup quarterfinal match!! The semi-final draw is:

Hull Tigers vs. Sheffield United
Wigan vs. Arsenal

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Wigan defeat City in the final FA Cup quarterfinal match!! The semi-final draw is:

Hull Tigers vs. Sheffield United
Wigan vs. Arsenal

fyp

[Keystone Phil]

What a horrific final four. But what might be great is the fact that Arsenal seem like they have a trophy wrapped up, meaning they very well will collapse to some worse team.

Napoli wrapped up a huge win against Roma (only their second defeat of the season). Only three points out of second place but Roma have a game in hand.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

What a horrific final four.

Not at all.

Naturally I hope Sheffield United win the thing.

[Tender Branson]

2 top CL games tonight:

Bayern vs. Arsenal (Bayern won 2-0 at Arsenal already)

Atlético vs. AC Milan (Atlético won 1-0 at Milan already)

[Keystone Phil]

What a terrible campaign for Italy.

[Tender Branson]

Tonight is the big game FC Basel vs. Red Bull Salzburg in the Europa League.

Based on the latest trend in the Swiss and Austrian leagues and EL games, Salzburg has a good chance to win.

[Franzl]

Bayern President Hoeneß sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for tax evasion!

[Tender Branson]

Bayern President Hoeneß sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for tax evasion!

Good.

Just because he's rich and influential, it doesn't mean he's above the law ...