2012-2013 Club Soccer/Football Discussion Thread

[Lief 🗽]

ROFL, hilarious Pique own goal

[Tender Branson]

MÜÜÜLLLLLAAAAA !

3-0 Bayern. In Camp Nou.

[Lief 🗽]

Bayern now rubbing Barca's faces in the dirt.

And Müller has as many CL goals now as Messi.

[Tender Branson]

Pique wants to get rid of Müller with a dirty foul ...

[Keystone Phil]

My heart is very full at this moment. 

[Lief 🗽]

To win now, Barcelona needs to score eight goals, which is how many total away goals Bayern have conceded all season.

[Lief 🗽]

Barcelona has been thoroughly dismantled. Beautiful.

[Tender Branson]

Bayern and Dortmund are probably at their peak right now.

Don't know what Pep Guardiola can do to make them any better next season as their new coach.

And with Götze going and probably Lewandowski too, the same for the BVB.

Anyway: This weekend will be the "small" final, when Bayern meets Dortmund in the Bundesliga.

[Keystone Phil]

Pretty funny they meet this week in (meaningless) league play.

Anyway, I'm rooting for Dortmund in the Final but I think Bayern got this.

[Lief 🗽]

In any other scenario I'd want Dortmund to win, but Bayern winning a treble would be pretty cool. Plus I really like Jupp Heynckes and want him to go out on a high note before Pep Guardiola ruins the club with his tiki-taka nonsense.

[Keystone Phil]

Walcott's goal after just nineteen seconds is supposedly the fastest goal in Premier League history.

Hate to say this but Juve likely make their 29th Scudetto official tomorrow which will also likely put Palermo back in the relegation zone. As sad as that will be for those of us that are Napoli fans, I at least get to look forward to my favorite match of the season tomorrow when Inter travel to the San Paolo.

[Tender Branson]

The "small" final between Bayern and Dortmund is now in minute 32.

The score is 1-1 right now.

[Lief 🗽]

HULL CITY WIN PROMOTION!!!!

[Tender Branson]

This is probably the best Live Stream that I can find, if anyone wants to watch:

Link

Maybe someone can find a HD stream from the German Sky ?

[Tender Branson]

Neuer just saved a Lewandowski penalty kick.

[Tender Branson]

Rafinha (Bayern) now out with Yellow-Red.

[Tender Branson]

Rafinha screams at Jürgen Klopp on his way out. Dortmund fans go nuts ...

[Tender Branson]

Bayern surprisingly good, even with just 10 players on the field.

They switched to a 4-4-1 system now.

[Tender Branson]

So, the mini final ends 1-1.

[Keystone Phil]

Sunderland supposedly inquired about Cavani. What a joke!

[Keystone Phil]

Juventus get their 29th Scudetto.

[angus]

More importantly, Team Navy Blue was again victorious, defeating the Grey Team by a score of 2 to 1.  This was an especially meaningful victory since the rumor is that the coach of the Grey Team is a long-time participant in the township league, mindful of the playing abilities of each child, and carefully picks his team from among the more experienced boys.  Apparently this causes some annoyance to the other parents and coaches.  I don't know whether there is any truth to this rumor but it is true that before yesterday's match, the Grey Team was undefeated, and I noticed that their coach--the tanned, muscular, well-attired, and decidedly effeminate coach--of the grey team was very demanding and appeared to understand the game very well as he barked out orders in quick succession.  Still, his team lost to my son's team.  The boys are playing much better than they were a month ago.  All this practicing has is paying off.

Initially, Mauricio, my son's coach, put him in the position of goalkeeper.  I was a bit worried about this as he has a habit of goofing off and paying more attention to the birds and planes overhead than to the ball, but he actually managed not to let any balls get into his goal.  He blocked the first attempt, about 3 minutes into the game, with a well placed kick.  I shouted at him, "Good boy!  Remember, you're allowed to use your hands in that position."  A look of epiphany or recognition then crossed his brow.  Thereafter he used his hands, feet, chest, and other parts of his person to block any and all balls coming in his direction.  He still needs to work on the punt, but he can now manage to get the ball quickly back into the field after the blocks. 

About ten minutes in, Team Navy Blue scored its first goal and my son raised his hands and hollered "Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!" as he has seen them do on the Fox Soccer Channel.  (Yes, there's actually an all-soccer-all-the-time channel on our cable system.  For us, it's channel 1715.  Yes, there are actually four-digit channels.  Cable TV has certainly evolved since my youth.) 

About 20 minutes in, after he had successfully blocked all goals, Coach Mauricio replaced him as goalkeeper.  ("Okay, mang, good yob, now jew can take a break fron de goalie position and play defender for de rest of de gane.")  I was glad.  He was doing a good job, but I could tell he was getting bored.  20 minutes is about all he can stand in one place at this stage in his social development, so it was best that he take the to the field.  He was placed as a defender thereafter, and, after a few reminders, he managed to kick the ball in the right direction, or pass it to the guys with similarly-colored shirts.  That was something we had to work quite a bit on during the first few weeks, but I think he finally understands this concept.

After the water break/halftime, Team Navy Blue went on to score another goal but they did let the Grey Team get one past them.  It was a well-played match and all the boys had a good time.

They're playing well and as a unit now, and the victory gives them a record now of 3-1, I believe.  (We missed the third game as my son had a piano recital that Saturday morning, during which he played a 32-measure version of Tarantella--very well, I might add--so we didn't attend that one, but I'm told it was a victory for Team Navy Blue.)  Practice yields progress.

Go Blue.

[Lief 🗽]

Miroslav Klose, my favorite player and a German national team hero, scored five goals in one game against Bologna today. Can't wait for him to break fat Ronaldo's record next summer.

[Keystone Phil]

Miroslav Klose, my favorite player and a German national team hero, scored five goals in one game against Bologna today. Can't wait for him to break fat Ronaldo's record next summer.

Yeah, that was quite concerning since we have Bologna in midweek and I'm worried this will wake them up. Plus, they have had our number and really triggered our rough period late last year. Good show by Lazio though.

[Keystone Phil]

Got the W. Cavani hat trick gives him 101 goals for Napoli. Legend.