Top 10 Rankings

Here is a little personal European top 10 I put together to end the year. I decided against a worldwide Top 10 merely because I think it’s almost impossible to judge South American teams against European teams — after all, Internacional beat Barcelona, but does that mean they’d actually fair well in La Liga or the EPL? I personally don’t think so, but it’s open for debate unless, of course, you shut down the discussion by banning them from the Top 10 based on geography.

10. Real Madrid

9. Inter Milan

8. Bayern Munich

7. Sevilla

6. Liverpool

5. Werder Bremen

4. Barcelona

3. Olympique Lyonnais

2. Chelsea

1. Manchester United

Honorable mentions (in no particular order) go to Roma Valencia, Porto, and PSV. I would say Celtic too, but I just don’t hold the SPL in high enough regard to justify such an inclusion.

Also, just a note or two: ManU being on top might be just a fudge to keep Chelsea out of the number 1 spot, but it seems justified in my admittedly biased mind because ManU is top of the EPL by 4 points, though they did struggle in the CL against some pretty lame opposition. Liverpool too might be a bit high (perhaps they should be 7 and Sevilla 6), but the way they’re playing right now is really compelling for their case. Barcelona are in 4th because of their potential, I think, because they’re in the Liga title hunt without two of their best players and they qualified for the knockout stage of the CL with a good performance against Werder at the end, meaning they’re still very dangerous.

Feel free to dispute my rankings in the comments.

Quick Hits

So in this week of rumors, it’s time to jump in:

• Mascherano to Juve? Perhaps a tad preemptive?
• Julio Baptista is getting angsty about his future
• Figo is going out to pasture, maybe.
• I’m moving to France if this is the country’s hardest job.

Aston Villa post at Disappointment Zone

Once again my post about Aston Villa has been published on The Disappointment Zone. Unfortunately Boxing Day didn’t go so well for Villa, who were down by recently linked striker Jermaine Defoe 2-1. Perhaps he was just trying to make a statement about how good he could be for the club…? BBC has the report.

Tis the season to be…lying, probably

The Christmas season ends tonight, but the gifts are just now about to start rolling in for soccer fans worldwide. And just in time to make it a jolly Christmas (if not very snow white in most of the US) because I love hearing Abramovich promise not to spend money. It’s very funny to me after the above-pictured addition of the summer.

It brings up an interesting point, though, that if you have a solid youth system, you should supposedly not have to invest so much in transfers. It’s what keeps South American clubs afloat, but I can’t think of many teams in major European leagues whose stars are homegrown. Raul (Real Madrid), Puyol (Barcelona), John Terry (does this count? He was a member of Senrab FC until only 14 when he joined up with Chelsea), and several ManU players all spring to mind (there are others, but not many superstars is the point — please point out others in the comments). The majority of superstars move on from their childhood neighborhoods, which is fine, but to expect your youth system to provide a generation’s worth of talent is a bit hubristic. Naturally that seems to go quite well with the Chelsea management (at least the public side) and perhaps they’ll turn out a Golden Generation like Manchester United, but I think perhaps I’ll wait until the first product arrives to displace the galacticos before commending Abramovich for such a move. I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be calls from the Chelsea fans to buy a superstar replacement for young player X and outrage if the money wasn’t splashed out for one, especially if the decision costs them a championship. It seems a vicious cycle to get into and certainly there is no team more embroiled in today’s buy-buy-buy soccer culture than Chelsea. I imagine it would take a titanic struggle to get out of that cycle and only if the fans allow the management the leeway to do so. Fans, of course, don’t allow leeway.

Just a thought.

All I want for Christmas…

The transfer window is upon us and that means the deals will start rolling in, even if they’ll only be the usual mid-year ho-hum kind and not the blockbusters we’re all dreaming about. However much we all want to see a big name player fill out the ranks of an already gigantic club (read: I just threw up in my mouth a little), we’ll probably have to be content with minor changes and a few lesser names being moved to larger clubs on loan or for about 1-5 million euros. The only club I can see really handing out a lot of money is Aston Villa, whose season has of late been very Cleveland-ish. Perhaps they should take a cue from their Quicken Loans Arena brethren and employ the motion offense.

Speaking of Quicken Loans, how come American sports stadiums have the stupidest names? There was the small chance that all true sports fans would be able to bask in the glory of the Pink Taco Stadium back in August, but since that would-be-Mecca-of-ingeniousness was unsurprising denied its rightful place in the annals of sporting history all I’m left with is the hope that someone in Europe will come up with the figurative balls and literal money to help this side of the pond come to its senses. Soon, though, I’m sure Emirates Stadium will be considered the least intrusive name after a few more corporations get in on the stadium building craze. I’m going to miss names like Highbury and Old Trafford when they’re gone. Though not Reebok.

Back to transfers for a moment: Daniel Alves has re-upped his contract with Sevilla for an extra year (until 2012), adding something to the discussion of whether or not he’s going to be sold during January. He’s the only major name I can see moving anywhere (sorry Joey Barton, you don’t count) and it’s probably going to take a rather serious amount of money to get him dislodged from Sevilla anytime soon. I read his contract negotiation as a way to get his contract on better terms before he is sold. I am assuming that he got a pay raise along with this one-year extension, but of course I could be wrong. Since both EuroSport and Soccernet are running the exact same article which makes no mention of his salary (something I still can’t get used to as an American who is surrounded by a constant barrage of numerical factoids, especially concerning salaries is the lack of importance the salaries have compared to the purchase prices since they both factor into the year-end budget and thus the transfer “kitty” will be larger for the next year, but I digress) I’ll assume it’s larger. Thus I read this as an attempt to get Alves in a better negotiating position when Sevilla sells him. I still don’t think he’ll make a switch in January simply because Chelsea are too egotistical to think they don’t already have the EPL title locked up (while Kevin McCarra’s Dec.12 post doesn’t hold as much sway now in light of the current 2 point difference at the top of the table, I think it’s still relevant as a commentary on the attitude at Stamford Bridge) and they’re the only ones with the money to throw around for a right back. Some people have thrown Barcelona’s name into the ring as potential suitors, but I thought they already had a right back. If I’m not mistaken (and please correct me if I am), Gianluca Zambrotta just won the World Cup and has proven to be a pretty good player in the process. ManU doesn’t looked to be too interested in splashing cash, but if the reports are true about a “galactico” fund, they could get involved since defense is definitely their weak point, though I look more at the left back position than the right. I think that anyone else stepping in and having the cash to get Alves is laughable, really.

Naturally I’ll follow the transfer market closely in the coming month, but I’ll be quite surprised is there is a big name transfer. Barcelona needs a striker, but only on a temporary basis. They have all the players they need to sweep the domestic and European leagues, they just happen to be injured at the moment. Assuming Eto’o and Messi can return before February, there’s not much of a reason to add anyone to a fairly packed roster. Thuram’s absence will highlight their need for defenders, but again, right back is not their priority by any means (now, now, I know that Zambrotta is out for a month, but remember that Barcelona’s next game isn’t until January 7 and a quick look at their upcoming games shows us this formidable schedule: @Getafe, Alaves (Copa del Rey), @Espanyol, @Alaves (Copa del Rey), Gimnastic, and @ Real Betis before hosting Celta Vigo on the 28th. In fact, even after that, their first serious test isn’t until they visit the Mestalla on February 18, just before the midweek encounter with Liverpool. By that time everyone should be healthy and this “patchwork” team that Barcelona is playing with should be able to not only keep them in the title hunt, but probably put them a few points up on Sevilla and Real Madrid (though neither of those teams have particularly hard schedules during that period).

Real Madrid, of course, have added 40 million GBP worth of South American players (Marcelo, Higuian, and now Gago) and should take a little bit to incorporate those players into the regular rotation. I’ve never considered Capello a good coach for young, creative players, but I suppose we’ll see what everyone is made of shortly.

Enough from me already. I’ll be back after the weekend with a look in on the rumors, transfers, and what seems to be a minor detail these days: the actual matches.

Aston Villa

I know I’ve been negligent about posting, but random vacations are random vacations and they’re really great. I shall continue to take them. Despite it being the holiday season for all the Judeo-Christians (and, um, Kwanzaans? Pan-Africanists?) out there, the blogosphere continues to trundle on and games continue to be played for our benefit.

In the unpredictable manner that is my MO when it comes to writing, I’ve written up a thought or twenty on Aston Villa before Saturday’s hosting of ManU. Eek. The post is currently up on my buddy’s site, The Disappointment Zone. If you’re into Cleveland sports, that’s your one-stop shopping center for stats and commentary as well as my thoughts on Aston Villa.

I’ll be posting a January shopping list for the Villains next week (hopefully Monday, but NFL Sunday gets in the way of so much). The first intallment (strikers) can be found in my post linked above, but I’ll be updating it as I do a little more research and think about the question a little more. Also coming up in the next few weeks should be a detailed look at some of the Champions League matchups.

Champions League Draw

The Champions League draw is out and here’s how it looks:

Liverpool – Barcelona

Valencia – InterMilan

Chelsea – Porto

Man United – Lille

Bayern Munich – Real Madrid

Arsenal – PSV

Lyonnais – Roma

Milan – Celtic

I believe the best matchup is Liverpool – Barcelona and the worst is definitely ManU – Lille. Bayern – Madrid and Lyon – Roma, and Valencia – InterMilan also have the potential to be thrillers. I’ll post predictions later.

Essien and Taylor: Men of Genius

Thanks to The Offside for finding and providing these videos.

Essien against Arsenal:

and Matthew Taylor against Everton:

Weekend in Review: Chivas Edition

 

 

 

I know that a few things happened in European football this weekend, but there’s a new champion in Mexico: Las Chivas de Guadelajara. The Apertura 2006 season is over after a two-legged final between Guadelajara and Toluca. The final aggregate score was 3-2 for the Chivas after a 2-1 victory at Toluca earlier this afternoon. So congratulations, Chivas, for your championship. The game was pretty good too until the end. The commentators made a big deal out of this being Oswaldo Sanchez’s first Mexican title, which definitely surprised me.

Now for Europe:

The big game of the weekend turned out to be Sunday’s Chelsea-Arsenal “derby”. The game was dominated by Chelsea, who should have won handily, but kudos to Lehmann for a couple of ridiculous saves and, of course, the Stamford Bridge goalposts. I’ve read recently that some Chelsea fans consider Arsenal’s passing style to be boring, unproductive, and unfootballing, but the game today was a perfect example of what can happen if the passes are accurate: Flamini’s goal and an exceptional chance for Hleb after Essien’s equaliser. About Essien’s goal: absolutely amazing. Must have been about 45 yards out and few balls have ever been struck better. I’ll post it as soon as I find it on YouTube. This draw means that Manchester United are still 8 points clear of the Blues, but Chelsea do have a game in hand. A quick note about diving: I hope the FA steps in and fines both Drogba and Lehmann for being assholes. That would be the perfect outcome, really. Drogba really gets on my nerves with his flopping and moaning which he couples somehow with a sense of righteous indignation whenever anyone else gets a call to go their way. What a jerk.

 

To La Liga, where Barcelona are now 2 points clear of Sevilla after the former beat basement dwellers Real Sociedad despite being a man down for the last 5 minutes and after Sevilla beat Real Madrid 2-1 at home. Kanoute and Ronaldinho netted, meaning they are still tied for pichichi honors (11goals apiece). Valencia look to be returning to winning ways, but are still 12 points off of Barcelona’s pace after 14 games. Zaragoza jumped into 4th after an away win and then a home loss by Atletico Madrid.

 

In Serie B, Lazio have smashed Roma 3-0 in their derby clash, which I’m betting has sparked riots. This means Inter, who won 0-3, are 7 points clear at the top after 15 games. Palermo are hanging in there after beating Livorno 3-0 at home to stay within 8 points of Inter. All of this means that the Bundesliga and La Liga are the most interesting domestic fixtures (out of England, Scotland, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, that is — I didn’t consider Portugal or Austria or…Kazakhstan?, which I’m sure are interesting leagues).

I wonder if some of the people who are in charge of figuring up tables and standings shouldn’t be trained at Verizon. (Audio file)

The Life and Times of a Fan

A couple of days ago I was intrigued by a series of comments on BlueChampions blog about the subjective nature of what we call “beautiful football.” All of that, which I will cover in the following essay, became a backdrop for a greater question: why did I, an American raised on other sports, become fascinated by a “foreign” game, a game lower in the domestic professional athletic hierarchy even than the oft-vilified NHL? While I realize an endeavor of this sort might strike some as an attempt to be the FreeDarko of soccer, I assure you that I’m about ten years of experience, several subscriber channels, and 30 IQ points short of such a self-delusion.

Let’s start at the beginning, before there was football*, when I suppose conventional wisdom says I was either a better human being or an empty, soulless casing for organs and muscle (along with some Hot Pockets). There are hurdles for an American to overcome from the very outset, especially if he or she is from a Midwestern background, as I am. There’s a personal history that’s always involved in the selection of sports, be it an attempt to identify with your family and friends, or an attempt to distance yourself from them. In my case, it was always an attempt to connect and so it made sense that I wasn’t into soccer.

A one horse town

Have you looked at the French League standings lately? I mean damn.

Champions League Group Stage kaput

ManU 3 – 1 Benfica.

Benfica decided sometime in the last week that qualification for the Champions League knockout stage wasn’t particularly important. I know this because they attempted to out play ManU through the air. Very smart for a team with approximately one player taller than Mugsy Bogues. It took an against-the-run wundergoal from Nelson to put Benfica on top, but after Nemanja Vidic equalized to end the first half, the game was basically over. The Red Devils dominated the entire game, which meant Ronaldo didn’t have to fall on the ground very much. Not that he does it on purpose. My man of the match, though, is Simão, who put on quite a show against Evra. He was the most fun of anyone to watch and created several chances including Nelson’s long-distance strike. I thought Evra should have been replaced by Heinze regardless of whether he picked up an injury or not, especially after Simão turned him that last time and should have picked up another assist…had his team been attacking…is that how you get goals?

Well played, ManU. It means that I went 14/16 in picking who would qualify. So much for going out on a limb with Bordeaux! And screw you too, Anderlecht! Or should I say Anderlicks. Zing!

Here are the complete results from today:

Dynamo Kiev 2 – 2 Real Madrid. Ronaldo makes his reemergence as a goalscorer…in a game that doesn’t matter.

Lyon 1 – 1 Steaua Bucarest

Copenhagen 3 – 1 Celtic. By not winning, Celtic insure they are second in the group. Daft.

Porto 0 – 0 Arsenal. And the Gunners go through since…

Hamburg 3 – 2 CSKA Moscow. Nice time to win your only game…and nice job, CSKA losing to the only team other than Levski Sofia to be pointless up until today.

Anderlecht 2 – 2 AEK

Milan 0 – 2 Lille. I bet AEK is pissed at Milan about this one. The Greeks should have won, though.

This means the knockout stage will consist of:

8 first place teams:

Chelsea, Bayern, Liverpool, Valencia, Lyon, ManU, Arsenal, and Milan

And 8 second place teams:

Barcelona, InterMilan, PSV, Roma, Real Madrid, Celtic, Porto, and Lille

Whatever the matchups turn out to be, they’ll be pretty good for the most part, except for whoever gets Lille is going to decimate them. I bet it’s Chelsea. Because God hates me.

The only one at the party

 

With a 2-0 victory, Barcelona edged out Werder Bremen for second place in Group A of the Champions League, thus averting total distaster and a field day for every sports tabloid on earth. Both goals came early and, really, the only life Barcelona showed throughout the entire game came in the first 20 odd minutes. Ronaldinho scored a brilliant freekick 13 minutes in and Gudjohnsen was questionably offside in the buildup to his close-range putaway on 18 minutes. The score could easily have been 4-0 by the 22nd minute when Giuly slapped a sitter wide of the post after brilliant runs by Deco and Gudjohnsen. In fact, I didn’t know Gudjohnsen was good at the slalom. Barcelona played superbly for the first quarter of the game, looking like the Barcelona of old, the one that could do no wrong throughout much of the 05/06 season. And then they took their foot off the gas and began passing like they were 5.

 

Werder played hard and pretty well after the first 20 minutes (in which Pierre Wome was absolutely dreadful and gifted Ronnie the chance to score the first one and then by being caught flat footed at least 3 times by Giuly, including on the second goal). I noted in a previous post about Wome’s defensive lapses during the Bremen-Cottbus game and Barcelona’s potential for exploiting this (though I listed Messi and not Giuly at the time as the one to exploit it since Leo had yet to be injured) and I don’t think it’s surprising that this came to pass.

And all this brings me to Ronaldinho: for a few brief and scintillating minutes he was flicking balls around and making defenders look like statues and poof. Just like that, he’s gone. The artist formerly known as the Greatest Player on Earth. Perhaps that status has gone to his head…it’s not like he has his own “global signature” or anything. [Image comes from Nike Football] A breif snippet of conversation from the commentators after Ronnie blew another breakaway by being too fancy.

Derek Rae: Out come the party tricks.

Tommy Smyth: Except the party tricks aren’t working. He’s the only one at the party.

So true, Tommy, even if I still fully support the “drink every time Tommy Smyth says something nonsensical” drinking game. You’ve got to admit that this season the comment is spot on most of the time. So now Chelsea takes first in Group A having beaten Levski Sofia 2-0 at the Bridge (Sheva and SWP scoring!), followed by Barcelona, Werder Bremen, and pointless Levski Sofia. Tough group for the CL debutants, but someone had to be the punching bag.

I guess there were also other games being played in the Champions League today as well:

Roma 1 – 0 Valencia. Roma qualify thanks to the win, but would have anyway since Shaktar Donetsk drew with Olympiakos 1-1. Valencia remain in a freefall, really, though this game probably shouldn’t be added to the list of recent woes since they started what looks to be their C team.

Galatasaray 3 – 2 Liverpool

PSV 1 – 3 Bordeaux

Bayern 1 – 1 Inter Milan in yet another useless game.

Sporting Lisbon 1 – 3 Spartak Moscow for third place

That’s all for today’s action; tomorrow’s should be exciting too!

It’s called footie…I think

In case you were unable to follow the BCS-centric rant between myself and Mr. Cleveland found below, here’s an explanation of America’s favorite sport, straight from the BBC, just to help you understand a bit more. Sort of like how I now understand the rules of cricket thanks to a Newsweek description of a wicket thrown into a bowl of ashes…test. What?

The End is Nigh

While it might be hard for the Americans in the crowd to focus on anything other than Jim Walden being insane, there is something more important than the bungled BCS going on right now: Champions League Matchday 6! It’s not just another series of games, it’s the final group state day and it’s Barcelona – Werder Bremen, for starters. I guess there are some other games too, but you won’t find me thinking about them come 2:45pm EST tomorrow (Tuesday).

The matches: Tuesday ; Wednesday

But let’s talk turkey: Barcelona have to win. Not like one of those, they might be in for some trouble in the future if they don’t win this one kind of things, but more like: if they don’t win they’re eliminated. No draws. No losses. Win or go home. As a Barcelona fan, I can attest to the fact that it’s easy to start making up excuses even before the opening whistle – no Eto’o, no Messi, no Saviola, Figo betrayed us – but it’s put up or shut up time and that’s how it really should be. The azulgrana (or blaugrana if you are a Catalan purist) have their destiny in their own hands and it’s hardly something any true athlete would turn down. You don’t want to be stuck waiting for someone else to lose so you can squeak through.

Ronaldinho should be well rested after not playing in Saturday’s draw against Levante and if his recent domestic form (4 goals in the last 3 La Liga games and a league-leading 10 goals in total) translates to the Champions League, we could witness proof of why Cannavaro probably shouldn’t have won the Ballon d’Or. (Even if Phil Ball says “another vote for Ronaldinho would have seemed like a lack of imagination,” it’s nice to note that Señor Ball does indeed give Ronnie credit for being as good during the 05/06 season as he was in the 04/05 season; after all, Barcelona took home 2 major trophies last year, even if Cannavaro had a better World Cup, but I digress.)

While Barcelona face injuries galore, their opponents seem to be in pretty good shape, meaning what has been a somewhat shaky defense this year will have to watch out for the robust attacking duo that is Klose and Diego. In FCBarcelona.com’s typical yet still surprisingly object manner, the team website has posted a notice of sorts about Klose’s abilities. What the site doesn’t mention, however, is that it is Diego’s abilities in midfield that produce Klose’s scoring opportunities; it’s the Eto’o-Ronaldinho connection of Germany. About 2 weeks ago Soccernet ran a column profiling midfielder Diego that really should have been more praising. I was able to watch him during the Energie Cottbus game in the Bundesliga two weeks before the Champions League victory over Chelsea and he was brilliant, even if the final score was 1-1. There seemed no limit to his abilities to run with the ball and his vision was world class, even if the finishing on the other end of the pass was sub-par most of the time. Barcelona would do well to mark him out of the game like they did Kaká during the semifinal of last year’s Champions League against Milan. Otherwise he’ll feed Klose many dangerous crosses that will more than likely punish Barcelona with the ultimate embarrassment: becoming the first Champions League holder to not qualify for the next year’s knock-out stage. They would become the France of the Champions League, if you will.

There are other games going on tomorrow as well, but they seem so paltry compared to the potential in the Camp Nou. What would have been a clash of the titans between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan is now a battle for first or second in Group B, with Sporting Lisbon and Spartak Moscow mathematically eliminated. Roma need a tie against Valencia in the only other game of interest on Matchday 6 part 1, but Los Che have already wrapped up first place so they might not even field their best squad, hoping instead to rest up for a domestic push this weekend against Deportivo (and next weekend against Recreativo).

On Wednesday things remain a little spicy with Benfica visiting Old Trafford to see if they can’t drop the Red Devils into the UEFA Cup (by the way, the NIT is also stupid, if you catch my drift). They’ll have to win the game to do that, but looking at ManU’s European form of late (2 1-0 losses in a row to Copenhagen and Celtic) that doesn’t seem too outlandish. It must be noted, though, that both of those losses were away games and Wednesday’s match will be at home.

Also on Wednesday, Arsenal plays Porto in Portugal’s Estadio do Dragao. It’s not a must win for the Gunners, but if they lose, they’re in danger of being knocked out at stage 1, if CSKA Moscow comes up with a win against Hamburg. Of course, since Hamburg is 0-0-5 and a –9 goal differential, it’s a pretty good bet that Moscow gets 11 points and forces Arsenal to win.

The ESPN2 lineup for the States is:

Tuesday: Barcelona-Werder Bremen 2:45pmEST

Wednesday: ManU-Benfica 2:45pmEST

 

Thanks to Lena at Footballista for point this out: PhysioRoom’s EPL Injury List, a complete injury list that seems pretty much up to the second.

Weekend in Review

So it’s been a crazy weekend around the globe sports-wise, even without the Bush twins making out in La Bombonera. Starting in England on Saturday, there were a couple of big time routs that left this week’s critics holding their dicks, so to speak. Arsenal cruised past Tottenham and Liverpool decimated Wigan. Another big result in the EPL on Saturday was Reading defeating once-3^rd placed Bolton 1-0, dropping the Wanderers to provisional 8th. Chelsea still sits in 2^nd six points behind ManU (who won 1-2 away to Middlesbrough amidst what else but a controversial Ronaldo penalty) but now with a game in hand. For the Aston Villa-inclined, here’s a brief rundown of the game against Portsmouth:

Aston Villa played third-place Portsmouth on Saturday and earned a respectable 2-2 draw, even if they left it late, needing an 82^nd minute deflected shot by Juan Pablo Angel to earn them a point. That said, Villa were winning at halftime 1-0 through a Gareth Barry penalty (and the decision to make Barry the taker is definitely looking more and more solid as time goes on); giving up two second-half goals, one a penalty, is not the way to win games, especially when Lomana Tresor LuaLua and Glen Johnson are both playing when not 100%. LuaLua was forced to be subbed on 34 minutes, but Villa weren’t able to take full advantage and wrap up 3 crucial points. Another note is that Portsmouth were down to 10 men at the end of the game after Miguel Mendes was sent off for a second bookable offense, but that wasn’t until the 86^th minute and it’s hard to take full advantage of numerical superiority in just 4 minutes of regulation. Villa sits in provisional 7^th, awaiting the result of the Everton – West Ham game.

That said, Everton has taken over the 7^th spot after beating West Ham (17^th) 2-0. Tevez and Mascherano have got to be going somewhere now, don’t they? So much for South American saviors in the EPL – I forget who said it, but someone somewhere pointed out how South American players rarely make an impact in the EPL. Perhaps this is evidence of that trend, though I stand by Gilberto Silva (2 goals against Tottenham this weekend).

In La Liga’s Saturday action, Barcelona drew 1-1 away to Levante while Valencia’s run at mediocrity continued with a 2-0 loss away to Recreativo Huelva. Especially with Atlético Madrid stepping up and winning 1-0 away to Real Betis, the pressure is starting to grow on Los Che. Perhaps they should consider toning down their insanity a little. Baby steps, after all. Of course, giving up a first minute goal is perhaps not the best way to go about winning games, but I leave the details of the in-game strategic maneuvers to the experts. They’re now in 9^th, below underachieving Villareal. Real Madrid stepped into second after Sevilla lost to Espanyol. But the best game, stat-wise, looks to be the Deportivo-Racing game that ended 0-0 with 3 red cards (only 2 of which were straight, but still). Zaragoza tied Osasuna 1-1 to outst Atlético from their provisional 4^th place spot on goal differential.

To Serie A, where InterMilan is starting to set up shop and cross-town rivals AC Milan are starting to wither and die, just a little (in that relatively-speaking sort of way). Inter still hold a 4 point advantage over Roma after beating previously-high-flying Siena 2-0 on Saturday and watching Palermo earn a 0-0 draw with Parma. Catania jumped into 4^th with a tie; it’s so nice to see the minnows flying so high. Fiorentina earned a 1-0 win over Lazio in a battle of the criminals and it was Luca Toni who struck in the 15^th minute to earn them the three points and push them ever-so-much-closer to getting out of the relegation zone forever.

Since I visited Fiorentina just last weekend, I was able to gain a certain small measure of understanding as to what goes on in the mind of Florentines when they’re thinking about soccer. Well, perhaps I should say misunderstanding. The Siena-Fiorentina game was the local away derby match for Florence/Firenze (where the hell did we get the name Florence?) and it was pretty fun to watch, even if I missed out on seeing it live in Siena. Drinking good beer with a bunch of Italians who I couldn’t understand was certainly a great experience. When Luca Toni was substituted for Giampaolo Pazzini in the 71^st minute, everyone went nuts and cheered and thought it was the greatest move since Big Ben moved to Pittsburgh. Pazzini then created one chance in the resulting 20-odd minutes he was on the field, proving once again that my inwardly-kept thoughts were right on the money: Luca Toni is better than Giampaolo Pazzini. While Pazzini has an obviously bright future, it’s like the time I went to the Milan-Juventus game here at the Meadowlands a few years ago and got told by a bunch of Juventus supporters that Fabrizio Miccoli would take them to the next level. If by that they meant scoring 9 goals in 25 games before moving to Fiorentina and then Benfica, sure. The guy in Florence sitting next to me fortunately spoke English and he explained that not only was Pazzini going to be a great star, he was already better than Luca Toni. Which is why Luca Toni has started every game for Fiorentina and Pazzini has only played in 5. Got it.

In the Bundesliga, Werder Bremen retook top spot as they beat Hertha and Shalke was held in a goalless draw by Nurnberg. The top and bottom 7 of the standings all maintained their exact positions, making the Bundesliga the second least interesting thing ever. The first? Yeah…

Of course, for all you American sports fans, the BCS is releasing their bowl invitations in about 2 and a half hours after a crazy Saturday and the NFL is trying to complicate the playoff picture as much as possible. The Bruins won! The Browns won! That should make The Disappointment Zone a tad happier.

A note about the BCS: while we all know it sucks a whole lot and a playoff or a +1 system would be so much better, OSU is at least in the title game and their opponent should be the second best team in the country: Florida. Say what you will about Michigan being good, I believe the SEC’s one-loss champ played a tougher schedule than Michigan and lost only to Auburn, another SEC team. While that may not matter to the BCS computers (who I hate anyway because they love the PAC-10), shouldn’t championship games be about pitting good teams against each other? Michigan had their shot and failed and it wouldn’t be fair to Florida to not give them a chance, even if a Florida alum friend of mine puts it: “I hope they don’t play OSU, because they will lose.” Can’t be that bad to play for a national title, can it?

A small preview of the Champions League matches coming tomorrow.

World AIDS Day

 

Even with the weekend fixtures upon us, it’s time to take a moment and think about something other than sports; it’s World AIDS Day. Stopping the spread of this disease should be a priority for all of us, as it has affected our community, no matter where we live, and perhaps us in our personal lives. Only through education can we make a difference.

While in Itally I had the pleasure of watching the Firenze Marathon and seeing hundreds of runners from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago competing. It was great to see them out there running and actively taking part in the struggle to fight the disease. There were people all along the course holding up “You are a hero” signs and that was just inspiring to see.

Just a thought.