Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - Sports Center - The Football Thread: Strachan must go!
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The SomerZ
Posts: 838/862 |
UEFA Cup groups are in:
Group A
Monaco, Slavia Prague, Hamburg, CSKA Sofia, Viking
Well, I have Monaco for the win, closely followed by Hamburg. Slavia will take the 3rd and last spot.
Group B
Lokomotiv Moscow, Espanyol, Palermo, Brøndby, M. Petach-Tikva
Espanyol, Brøndby, Palermo, and Lokomotiv are all capable of qualifying from this group. I guess I'll have to go out and say Palermo for the drop, though.
Group C
Hertha Berlin, Lens, Sampdoria, Steaua Bucharest, Halmstad
Hertha, Lens and Sampdoria for the win. Steaua might unseat Sampdoria or Lens, though.
Group D
AZ Alkmaar, Middlesbrough, Dnipro, Grasshoppers, Litex
Interesting group. AZ Alkmaar are strong, as are Boro. Hard to pick a number 3, though. I have my money on Grasshoppers, but Dnipro are good, as well.
Group E
Roma, Basel, Red Star, Strasbourg, Tromsø
Well, this is probably the most obvious group of all. Tromsø will trash the other teams, and whoever comes in 2nd and 3rd will be so humiliated by their gigantic loss that they'll decide to withdraw from the tournament.
Group F
CSKA Moscow, Marseille, Heerenveen, Levski Sofia, Dinamo Bucharest
CSKA are in a very tough group, but they are the defending champions, and should be able to make it from here. Marseille and....... Heerenveen, I guess, for the other two.
Group G
Stuttgart, PAOK, Shakhtar, Rennes, Rapid Bucharest.
Stuttgart and Shakhtar, PAOK beats Rennes for number 3.
Group H
Besiktas, Sevilla, Bolton, Zenit, Vitoria Guimaraes
Sevilla or Bolton for the win. I have the strangest feeling Besiktas will fail, and Zenit will nudge number 3 ahead of Vitoria. Don't ask me why.... |
Colin
Posts: 10194/11302 |
I'd take AEK out of any of those three.  Shakhtar could blow you guys right out of the water and Lens are tricky. |
The SomerZ
Posts: 819/862 |
AEK, Lens or Shakhtar. Not that any of them were easy, but Galatassaray was most certainly the toughest.
Yeah, if we can get a cold front within the next two weeks, and snow starts coming down, it could work out. |
Colin
Posts: 10185/11302 |
Who would you have preferred in your section? Bolton? 
You might have a bit of an advantage, we'll see. If you catch Gala cold... |
The SomerZ
Posts: 815/862 |
Brugge has ex-Tromsø player Rune Lange, so I'm with you one hundred percent. 
Speaking of Tromsø, the draw for the UEFA Cup is in. Tromsø vs. Galatasaray...  Well, it was fun while it lasted, I guess. |
Colin
Posts: 10138/11302 |
Brugge has Canadian player Mike Klukowski.  And he's playing in the first team too! So I hope they get a UEFA Cup spot. They won't finish in the top two.
Only tough groups are C (Barca advances but it's going to be a Group of Death between the other three, and for some reason I fancy Udinese), D (again, Man U's OK but the other three...) and G (*cough*FINALLY THEY FIXED THE DRAW*cough*), with the other ones seemingly cut and dry.
Oh, and RBK's going to get SLAUGHTERED, SomerZ. They just got by Steaua I think so... not good.
Part of me wants to see Artmedia beat up Rangers but there's also a part of me that wouldn't mind if they gave Celtic fans something to cheer about with a good 5 or 6-goal pasting. |
The SomerZ
Posts: 814/862 |
UEFA Champions League Groups:
A: Bayern München, Brugge, Juventus, Rapid Wien
Well, Rapid will be slaughtered, Brugge is good enough to qualify from this group, but most likely it'll be Bayern and Juventus.
B: Ajax, Arsenal, Sparta Praha, Thun
Arsenal generally doesn't do too well in Europe, but they should be able to qualify from this group. Ajax and Sparta will battle it out for number 2, with Ajax being the most likely winner of those.
C: Barcelona, Panathinaikos, Udinese, Werder Bremen
Barcelona got a pretty easy group here. I have Panathinaikos winning second, but both Werder and Udinese are good enough to qualify from this group.
D: Benfica, Lille, Manchester United, Villareal
United and Villareal, I guess. Seems like sort of a boring group.
E: AC Milan, Fenerbache, PSV, Schalke 04
AC Milan end Eindhoven will have this one. Schalke could pull an upset,
F: Lyon, Olympiakos, Real Madrid, Rosenborg
Real Madrid will win, closely followed by Lyon. This group is too much for Olympiakos and Rosenborg.
G: Anderlecht, Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Betis
Chelsea and Liverpool in the same group, could be fun. They'll probably be battling it out for first place in this group, as well.
H: Artmedia Bratislava, Inter, Porto, Rangers
Well, Bratislava will be slaughtered. None of these teams seem to me as likely contenders for the title, but I guess Inter and Porto will qualify from this group. |
Colin
Posts: 10016/11302 |
Ugh... like I told SomerZ on AIM, it wasn't the manager's fault today. Celtic just don't have as much depth this year and we don't have much time left in the transfer window to bring in new bodies. Nakamura was a TREMENDOUS signing but he's not going to win the SPL for us.
Thompson (and Lennon after the game) being sent off don't exactly help this argument either. |
The SomerZ
Posts: 813/862 |
Rangers 3 - 1 Celtic...
So, applicants for the manager job are encouraged to send their resumeés to
Celtic Football Club
Celtic Park
Glasgow
G40 3RE
Scotland
United Kingdom
...I guess. |
Colin
Posts: 9539/11302 |
Final score today in the Second Qualifying Round of the Champions League...
Artmedia (Slovakia) 5, Celtic (Scotland) 0.
*bangs head repeatedly on desk*
Strachan must go. This is embarassing and a disgrace.  |
Colin
Posts: 8571/11302 |
Not really - don't forget that Liverpool will likely get a full house for their two qualifying round home games, and the proceeds are split, so two teams will have very nice paydays. 
Kazakhstan also got stripped of both UEFA Cup slots in the deal but I can't figure out why. |
The SomerZ
Posts: 793/862 |
Liverpool allowed to defend title
1st round qualifiers, though. Poor whoever draws Liverpool. |
Colin
Posts: 8555/11302 |
...Wasn't like we HAD the easy group to begin with. :\ Not like Spain...
...Oh wait. Spain can't even beat BOSNIA. XD |
The SomerZ
Posts: 791/862 |
Well, Mathematically they can still do it, of course. Realistically, though, it won't happen. They have all their hard matches left, and they've wasted too much already. |
Colin
Posts: 8531/11302 |
Scotland's not mathematically eliminated yet... 3 wins in the last 4 games COULD do it. Belarus, Slovenia and... I guess Norway. :\ Italy might be a bit too tough. |
The SomerZ
Posts: 788/862 |
Belarus 0-0 Scotland - Scotland is OUT! Sorry Colin.
Something I read at Dagbladet.no, translated for you all's pleasure:
Assistant ref. red carded
(Dagbladet.no): The strange sending off happened during the 6th division match between Veitastrond and L |
Colin
Posts: 8520/11302 |
And the Impact's stadium is away from the downtown area, sooooo...
Yeah, like 3,712 would have been that much better.  |
The SomerZ
Posts: 784/862 |
Population Montreal: 1,812,723 (2001)
Population Troms |
Colin
Posts: 8505/11302 |
Haven't heard that rumor... All I know is that a few guys are leaving so we really need to open up the pocketbook for once. There's no reason why we can't scrounge up enough money for a signing or two as opposed to just free transfers.
Scotland... well... they COULD make 2nd... If we beat Belarus on Wednesday, we at *least* have a bit of a chance. We'd definitely need results and probably one win against you guys and Italy, which is a tall task but not totally impossible.
Group 4 (Ireland, Switzerland, Israel, France) is an absolute mess. Ireland should top the group on Wednesday when if they beat the Faroes, but that group is incredibly tight.
Oh, and one funny stat from last weekend...
Troms |
The SomerZ
Posts: 783/862 |
The Women's Euros have started. Germany just went up 1-0 against us. I'm not the biggest fan of female football, but I don't mind watching Norway winning, which we do quite often, being in the world elite and all.
Looks like our men will have to go through 2nd place quals if they want to go to the World Cup. 0-0 against Italy the other day (we were the better team, though), and Italy seems to have won the group, ahead of either us, Slovenia, or Belarus (Scotland and Moldova won't make 2nd).
And Troms |
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