Welcome Back: 2012-13 Season Kick Off

 

MY DEAR MANIACS!!!!


Welcome back to your favorite hub for honest/wishful/cruel/biased and always exciting takes from the world of soccer!!!  Anybody catch the Euros this season?  What a shock that the winner was Spain right?(not really) Congratulations to the "Furio de Rojo," who won their second consecutive European Championship. 

Catch the Olympics anyone?  Congratulations Mexico on your first gold medal in the history of your country.  Too bad it didn't happen in time for Cinco de Mayo.  I'm sure many victorious Coronas were hoisted on that fine evening.....deservedly.  Way to go Mexico!!!  I rocked my blanco Mexico jersey on the following day to celebrate their victory...  Am I a Mexico fan, not really... but I do appreciate when a team balls out to claim victory... :-)  Tip your cap everyone.

 

What about MLS (Major League Soccer, USA brand) you say???  Consider it a retirement home for European stars.  I can't yet put it on par with the best of European soccer, however, we are making strides.  The evidence that we are not yet ready to compete with the best was the beating that the LA Galaxy(MLS Champ) took from Real Madrid, 5-1 in a summer time friendly.  But let us not lose heart, Real Madrid is one of the best in the world.  They've done it to many teams.  But here in America, we are trained and groomed to be the best or be quickly swept aside. Who won the silver medal in the 2012 100m dash?  EXACTLY.  I've admittedly swept the MLS aside.  Additionally our national team didn't even QUALIFY for the Olympics.  (intolerable) 

Euro's Heroes

Hello again soccer maniacs!!1  Welcome back to an episode that updates the European Soccer Tournament.  I'll be honest here folks.  I really don't know a WHOLE lot about many of the teams in the Euros.  Every year, there are some scrappy teams here that make their way into this tournament with the upper middle of the pack teams that didnt qualify for the Champion's League Tournament.  However, I, being a soccer maniac, can appreciate the fact that nothing in soccer is given away and simply put, many of these teams BALL.  Flat out.  Highlight reels from this tournament includes teams that "parachute" down from the Champions League that couldn't quite make it to the knockout rounds.  Its somewhat of a reincarnation into the next tournament for some teams, and utter elimination for others in intercontinental tournament play. Here are the teams and the standings thus far.  Euros don't really get much credit until their final rounds when the "riff raff" have been eliminated, nonetheless this tournament is an excellent one to follow and highly entertaining.

Europa League

Group A

				Matches				Home			Away			Goals
			PTS	GP	Won	Drawn	Lost	Won	Drawn	Lost	Won	Drawn	Lost	GS	GA
1		Rubin	4	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	5	2
2		Tottenham	4	2	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	1
3		PAOK	2	2	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	2
4		Shamrock Rovers	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	6

Group B

				Matches				Home			Away			Goals
			PTS	GP	Won	Drawn	Lost	Won	Drawn	Lost	Won	Drawn	Lost	GS	GA
1		Standard	4	2	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
2		Hannover 96	4	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	1
3		Copenhagen	3	2	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	3
4		Vorksla	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	3

Group Fun....Champion's League Proceeds

Take a good look folks... this is what the next few months holds for the excited football faithful.  So your squad didn't make it this year???  Cry me a river.  There's always the Euros, and if not then try harder this season in your league for a spot next year.... For those of you whose squads made it... GAME ON!!!!  At the group stage for me its similar to the exciting opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament...March Madness in September....when a bunch of talented teams go head to head for a shot at the tittle.  All rankings go out the door and its pure soccer to play.  Each team gets to play each other twice, once at home, and once away.  The top two points leaders advance.  Healthy competition always brings out the best in my opinion.....That said,  The annual Olympics for Club Soccer teams is back!!!!! Taking your team deep into this competition means more revenue for your squad, which can mean the arrival of more talented players and talented coaches.  It can mean new stadiums and MORE MONEY MORE MONEY MORE MONEY for your club!!!!  As with any sport, the further you get, the more money you make... and the fans definitely come out to support their teams in this tournament. So here it is maniacs, the group stages for this year's Champion's League Tournament:

GROUP A   Bayern Munich   Villarreal   Manchester City   Napoli	GROUP B   Inter   CSKA Moscow   Lille   Trabzonspor
GROUP C   Manchester United   Benfica   Basel   Otelul Galati	GROUP D   Real Madrid   Olympique Lyonnais   Ajax   Dinamo Zagreb
GROUP E   Chelsea   Valencia   Bayer Leverkusen   Genk	GROUP F   Arsenal   Olympique Marseille   Olympiakos   Borussia Dortmund
GROUP G   Porto   Shakhtar Donetsk   Zenit St Petersburg   APOEL Nicosia	GROUP H   Barcelona   AC Milan   Bate Borisov   Viktoria Plzen

Believing the Hype????

Ok ok ok maniacs.  Its come to my attention that many of you in soccer land want to crown a champion in the first month of the season.  Thats right, many of you, whether or not you care to admit it, have already crowned Barcelona FC as your team to win the Champion's League, La Liga, and any other hardware available to them.  While they are clearly one of the best teams in Europe this season (again), I wont necessarily call them title holders yet.  I ask all soccer fanatics out there to answer one question:  WHY DO WE PLAY THE GAME!?!?!?   Consider that anything can happen over the course of a season.  There are whole lot of ifs that we can ask ourselves about many things that happened last season regarding Barcelona's march to the Champions League Final.  Consider these my maniacs (and please check the links):

They are only last year's champions...There's a lot of soccer to be played!

• Barcelona advanced to the Champion's League Finals last season on two controversial red cards at the Camp Nou that effectively eleminated Arsenal and Real Madrid. 
• It was suspect at best that Robin Van Persie received red after taking a shot on goal in a stadium that was packed with 95,000 fans for delaying the game in the 56th minute.  This after Arsenal came back from a goal down to triumpantly win 2-1 in London.  Thank your lucky stars and connected friends (referees) that gave you a semi-final birth last season Barca fans. 

Early Season/ Preseason Observations: Things I think I think.....

• Arsenal fans are in for a terrible, terrible season. They currently sit in 16th place (facing a daunting Man United in Old Trafford later today), barely got past an Udinese side that thoroughly dominated them over both legs during Champion's League qualifiers, and lost 'El Capitan' Fabregas and Nasri with an obvious refusal to spend any money in the transfer market to replace them. So go ahead Gunner fans and get ready for a loooong  season: hey at least the your club made a profit this season and I suppose a fairly reasonable Champion's League Group Stage draw. Enjoy it while you can fans, Arsenal won't qualify for the CL anytime soon.......

•  Inter Milan are committing absolute suicide by letting Samuel Eto'o go and then potentially allowing Wesley Sneijder to leave as well. There is no way they can compete with the likes of Milan, Napoli, Roma, and dare I say it, Lazio.

•  While the EPL is the most exciting league in terms of fans, commercialism, and intensity, its quite obvious to this American football fan that the absolutely best technical, attacking, and beautiful football

REBIRTH (Off Season Report Cards)

Once again its ON!!!  Welcome back MANIACS!!! (2011-2012 Season Begins...)

Good summer I trust?  Anybody catch the women's world cup?  In my opinion, there may be no greater tragedy in soccer than that of WOODWORK.  The ladies love good wood, but in this case, there was a tragic consequence to the finals that followed a dominant performance for the US Women side.  Late goals seemed to lock down the US Women's third World Cup tittle but it wasn't to be.  Down 2-1 in the second period of extra time, once again the game we know and love shows us that you PLAY TILL THE VERY LAST WHISTLE IS BLOWN.(check the link)  Rewards for never quitting?  Champion's Glory for the country who had never won a women's world cup.  It couldn't have come at a better time for their side, considering the difficult times that nation is facing with the disasters it has experienced.  Tip your caps ladies and gentleman to the 2011 Women's World Cup Champions:  Japan. 

CONGRATULATIONS JAPAN!!!! You earned it....

 

Celebration Time!!!!!!! ??

That's right maniacs!!  Time to honor the champions....  for others, time to sit and sulk. (I'm a sulker this season, but in the gentleman's game, its only right that I acknowledge, even if I despise, the champions or heir appearants)  This week, we'll be giving credit where credit is due.  I'll start this wee first with a special shout out to a team that just took their tittle and not often mentioned, but may take hardware in the finals of the Euro's as well this season.  FC Porto.  I sure could use a striker like hulk on one of my teams after his stellar consistency and performance this season.  Maniacs and Lady Maniacs, lets tip our caps to a team that just seized it rightful claim to the Portuguese throne, FC Porto.  Congratulations and well done to you.

Well done FC Porto.  Good luck in the Euro Finals....