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

This line up makes for a bunch of interesting games....  For those who dont know, this is it folks:  The best of the best in European Club play square off against each other.  European Clubs are in my opinion the best in the world, and this is always an enthralling contest to watch.  Its a plethora of varying styles, tactics, and talents from all over the planet vying for that one piece of undeniably satisfying, bragging rights giving, pay me more money next year's prize:  The Champion's League Trophy.  Take a look at it:

 Each year a new team is etched into the history of champions.  Is your team worthy this year?

Though this is just one style, there are several to choose from, they vary from year to year.... but in the end, you will want your team's name added to the list of Champions.  Etched into history.  Forever to remain, because history is written by the winners.  Anyone guess which is the group of death this season just looking at it?  For me its undeniable that Manchester City, Napoli, Bayern Munich, and Villarreal in group A is truly deadly.  Though this group has no previous year's champions, it does boast the close runner ups and deadly and dangerous talents all the way through.  Interesting matchups include all of the group of death clashes, Barcelona vs. Milan, Porto vs. Shaktar Donetsk, Arsenal vs. Borussia Dortmond, and a whole host of others.  I'm excited to see how things turn out.  I could go ahead and make some predictions at this point, so here goes:

Group A - Group of Death, I see Man City and Bayern Munich coming out ahead of the rest.

Grop B- CSKA Moscow, and French Champion Lille

Group C - Manchester United, and Benfica

Group D - Real Madrid, and Olympique Lyonnais

Group E - Chelsea, and Valencia

Group F - Borussia Dortmound, and Olympique Marseille

Group G - FC Porto, and Shakhtar Donetsk

Group E - Barcelona, and AC Milan

Any questions?  There are two teams that may have been snubbed by me, but with good reason, and those include:  Arsenal, they just aren't the team that they were last year and this season they are playing like a lesser form of that team.  Honestly I'm not sure that (they are my squad) they have talent class and depth on the bench to get past a rather tough Group F.  The other team I MAY have snubbed was Inter Milan.  With the departure of Eto'o, a new coach, and a late start to the season, Inter are still struggling to find their identity and early season losses could knock them right out the tournament.  Otherwise, you can take my predictions straight to the bank and pay me later ;).... Comments?  Questions?  Opinions?  Give me a shout! 

Till next time maniacs,

-Hungry for hardware Phantom