nevermind

[Edited on November 29, 2006 at 12:29 PM. Reason : .]

11/29/2006 12:29:32 PM

Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Barcelona v Werder Bremen (espn 2)
Chelsea v Levski Sofia
Bayern Munich v Inter Milan
Sporting Lisbon v Spartak Moscow
Galatasaray v Liverpool
PSV Eindhoven v Bordeaux
Olympiakos v Shakhtar Donetsk
Roma v Valencia

Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Dynamo Kiev v Real Madrid
Lyon v Steaua Bucuresti
FC Copenhagen v Celtic
Man Utd v Benfica (ESPN 2)
FC Porto v Arsenal
Hamburg SV v CSKA Moscow
AC Milan v Lille
Anderlecht v AEK Athens

12/5/2006 10:34:59 AM

Besides the obvious importance of the Barca-Bremen and United-Benfica games, what are the other biggest games this week? I'm DVRing both of the espn2 games..

12/5/2006 1:38:45 PM

FC Porto v Arsenal
Hamburg SV v CSKA Moscow

porto and arsenal are tied and with a moscow win, they surpass/tie porto and arsenal

12/5/2006 2:05:34 PM

^ The thing that sucks about that is that Arsenal and Porto hold the head-to-head-to-head tiebreaker over CSKA Moscow. So if Moscow win their game and Arsenal and Porto play to a stalemate, all teams will have 11 points and Arsenal and Porto advance. They're both G14 members, think a pre-match deal will be made?

12/5/2006 2:28:48 PM

ha, youd hope not, but as italian league soccer has shown, there is no telling what kind of stuff goes on behind viewers eyes

12/5/2006 2:39:40 PM

I'm sure some of these will be picked up by FSC, but anyone know which ones and times?

For the ones that are less lazy than I, and found this online...a link please?

{edit: for the Dec 5th and 6th games}

[Edited on December 5, 2006 at 2:55 PM. Reason : clarification]

12/5/2006 2:54:39 PM

nice goal by ronaldinho, not sure why the middle guys in the wall jumped and the outside guys stood their ground..

12/5/2006 3:00:31 PM

haha he was all casual about it and shit... just passed it in. he's a pimp

12/5/2006 3:00:57 PM

2-0 barca, see ya bremen

12/5/2006 3:04:03 PM

yea giuly should have made it 3-0 just now

12/5/2006 3:06:42 PM

C'mon Bremen, I want to see all these elitist prettyboy asswhites lose.

12/5/2006 3:06:54 PM

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5913496531046882346&q=ronaldinho

oh, and for tomorrow....FORZA MILAN

12/5/2006 3:40:37 PM

they need to air the bayern inter game...vieira just tied it up in extra time

12/5/2006 4:38:41 PM

how do they do the round of 16 draw?

12/5/2006 5:57:55 PM

8 group winners in one bowl,8 runners up in another and they draw for matchups.im pretty sure that teams from the same country cant be drawn against each other in the round of 16 as well.

12/5/2006 8:06:04 PM

If Arsenal and Man U lose out today, I'd be happy.

Anyway, who bigshots could play in the 2nd round:

Chelsea could play one of Inter Milan, PSV, Roma, Real Madrid, Celtic/Benfica, Porto/CSKA Moscow, or AEK Athens/Lille.

Liverpool could play one of Barcelona, Inter Milan, Roma, Real Madrid, Celtic/Benfica, Porto/CSKA Moscow, or AEK Athens/Lille.

Barcelona could play one of Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Lyon, Celtic/Manchester United/Benfica, Arsenal/Porto, or AC Milan.

Real Madrid in the 2nd round could play one of Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Celtic/Manchester United/Benfica, Arsenal/Porto, or AC Milan.

AC Milan in the 2nd round could play one of Barcelona, PSV, Real Madrid, Celtic/Manchester United/Benfica, or Arsenal/Porto/CSKA Moscow.

[Edited on December 6, 2006 at 1:55 PM. Reason : /]

12/6/2006 1:53:24 PM

The Guardian's online match commentary for the start of the Man U/Benfica match.

Quote :

"4 min Luisao and Assis clash heads rather painfully. I expected United to start really fast tonight, try and nail this game in the first 20 minutes. Instead United have gone 4-5-1 and, as a direct result, I think we have a genuine contest on now where once there was none, WHICH SOUNDS A BIT LIKE THAT SHOWER DOWN UNDER ON MONDAY NIGHT. Sorry, I'll let it go now. 3 min Quiet start, although Vidic might well have been penalised for taking Simao out on the edge of the box as he chased a long punt forward. A great stat from Martin Tyler, and for once it isn't about Arsenal: United have only scored in four of their last 14 innings in the Champions League. Amazing, and a great argument for 4-5-1. 2 min So much for not tinkering: Fergie has Rooney wide right, Ronaldo wide left and Giggs in central midfield. Yep, it's famous 4-5-1 ladies and gentlemen!"

12/6/2006 2:55:54 PM

milan already down

12/6/2006 2:57:21 PM

Quote :

"18 min So far this is a really poor game - again, not technically (these are good players), but morally. As Andy Gray says, United's tactics have let Benfica "bed in" to the game. United's record in Europe, under Ferguson, runs this Five seasons of 4-4-2: A title, a semi-final and three quarter-finals. Five seasons of 4-5-1: A semi-final, a quarter-finals, two last-16 appearances and finishing bottom of the group stage. You do the math. "

12/6/2006 3:05:20 PM

4-4-2 or small variations of it have always proven to be the best tactic, i dont see why you would mess with anything else, unless you have 3 super defenders and a superior def midfield then you could run some sort of 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 with the def mid supporting back when needed

12/6/2006 3:08:07 PM

CSKA Moscow has gone up one nil on Hamburg. Big news for the Arsenal-Porto game (which based on what I'm reading the result was pre-arranged).

12/6/2006 3:13:50 PM

WOW...thanks for coming man u

Quote :

"which based on what I'm reading the result was pre-arranged"

what do you mean?

[Edited on December 6, 2006 at 3:16 PM. Reason : .]

12/6/2006 3:13:55 PM

Man U just got robbed

12/6/2006 3:18:38 PM

ugh...come on man u, finish plz

12/6/2006 3:24:13 PM

VIDIC!!!

12/6/2006 3:31:41 PM

Quote :

"what do you mean?"

Just that neither team (particularly Arsenal) was putting forth more attack. If the game ends in a draw, both teams go through, regardless of if CSKA Moscow win or not, which is now tied 1-1.

Of course, I'm not really saying the result was pre-arranged. I mean that would be cheating...

[Edited on December 6, 2006 at 3:35 PM. Reason : /]

12/6/2006 3:34:05 PM

thank you Vidic

12/6/2006 3:36:01 PM

GIGGS!!!

12/6/2006 4:05:05 PM

More Guardian commentary. I wish ESPN could write like this describing a Yankees signing or the BCS.

Quote :

"63 mins: One of the many joys of writing these minute-by-minute reports is that if you give a factual account of a team playing badly, you're accused of being biased against that team. Exhibit A: this email from Sunasir Dutta: "I'm not sure why the Guardian bothers to put grumpy Arsenal-hating hacks to comment on Arsenal's most boring game ever - oh wait i get it!" I don't hate Arsenal - I have bigger fish to fry - and this game is far from boring, Sunasir. 77 mins: Both sets of players appear to have decided that a 0-0 scoreline will do. The game's slowed down to a pedestrian pace, the ball is being gently passed around like a baby at a christening. I'm sure it's all a big coincidence and that there's been no collusion whatsoever ... 81 mins: Arsenal win a free-kick just outside the Porto box after Ljungberg is fouled. Fabregas's effort is low, off-target and fails to beat the first defender. Funny, that. "

[Edited on December 6, 2006 at 4:26 PM. Reason : /]

12/6/2006 4:23:36 PM

UNITED



UNITED



UNITED

12/6/2006 7:26:42 PM

The draw's over, my picks in parenthesis


Liverpool v Barca (Barca)
Porto vs Chelsea (Chelsea)
Man U vs Lille (Man U)
Arsenal vs PSV Eindhoven (Arsenal)
Real Madrid vs Bayern (too close to call)
Inter vs Valencia (Valencia)
AS Roma vs Lyon (too close to call and probably the best matchup)
Celtic vs AC Milan (AC Milan )

[Edited on December 15, 2006 at 7:52 AM. Reason : .]

12/15/2006 7:50:49 AM

I'd expect Inter/Valencia to be a decent matchup, Inter's turned it up in Serie A this year amongst all the relegation nonsense.

12/15/2006 7:52:00 AM

I dunno, Inter always finds a way to cock it up in Europe, that's why I picked Valencia




plus Valencia has been tearin it up in Spain, too, which to me is way more impressive than tearing it up in Italy.

12/15/2006 7:54:11 AM

I haven't really followed La Liga this year so far, so I wasn't up to speed on what Valencia's been doing. Could go either way I suppose, but I agree that Inter has a record of less than stellar play on the european stage.

All 4 EPL teams should make it through. Chelsea/Mourinho vs. his old Porto club should be interesting. I'm sure if Hilario ends up in net he'll be sure to let a few goals pass for his old club as well. Maybe it's time for Shevchenko to start showing up as well, his last few games have been shown a little bit of promise. However the jury's still out on whether Wenger was correct in saying he's old news (along with everyone else for the most part).

I'd still like to see Ole Gunnar get back out there for Man U and show a little bit more of that '99 glory.

12/15/2006 8:01:46 AM

oh we back

2/20/2007 1:47:31 PM

hope psv smokes arsenal

2/20/2007 2:02:05 PM

Forza Milan.

2/20/2007 2:09:51 PM

sweet goal from PSV, they lead 1-0

Arse looks really sucky, especially in the 2nd half and Henry has been non-existent

oh and p.s. - Senderos is garbage

2/20/2007 4:17:38 PM

van bommel scored with two minutes to go...madrid 3-2 bayern...game on at munich in the 2nd leg.

2/20/2007 4:41:21 PM

beckham looks fantastic... im sure that gives every involved in MLS a boner

2/20/2007 6:12:56 PM

so i had nothing to do before chemistry labtoday so i made a bet with myself that Id drink until someone scored in the Arsenal game.

I made it to 8 before PSV scored in the 2nd half.

The goal was pretty sweet but soccer just isnt a good sport. It needs a lot of rule changes. With some serious work, it might be watchable.

2/20/2007 6:21:08 PM

Lille is done for, Celtic is going to have to pray for a miracle to pull off a win at the San Siro, PSV is going to go up early on Arsenal at the Emirates and the Arseholes will be fucked, and Bayern is going to dig deep and drop a dime on Real


My picks for today:

Barca
Lyon and Roma draw
Chelski
Valencia

2/21/2007 8:00:44 AM

Quote :

"Celtic is going to have to pray for a miracle to pull off a win at the San Siro"

The San Siro will be empty.

2/21/2007 8:16:36 AM

Anybody
But
Chelsea

amirite

2/21/2007 9:55:01 AM

ESPN pisses me off - when you show a game on tape delay, don't put the damn score of that game on the bottom line during the previous game

2/21/2007 11:34:34 AM

clinical strike by sheva

2/21/2007 3:04:55 PM

WALK ON

WITH HOPE IN YOUR HEART

AND YOU'LL NEEEEEVEERRRR WAAAALLLKKKK ALLOONNNEEEE

2/21/2007 6:57:06 PM

The San Siro won't be empty, and I don't think it will matter in any case because AC Milan is far more technical and will dominate at home.

2/21/2007 8:40:30 PM

FORZA MILAN

2/22/2007 12:23:27 AM