Champs League Thread

[Squints]

Only starting this because to my amusement, Gus Johnson is commentating the United/Real Madrid match going on right now. The usual Gus Johnson excitement is present, but doing a respectable job so far.

With Celtic getting crushed yesterday, my rooting interests are now out or never made it to begin with. Looking for the usuals to advance, but this match is intriguing, especially for the round of 16.

[peeker643]

Only starting this because to my amusement, Gus Johnson is commentating the United/Real Madrid match going on right now. The usual Gus Johnson excitement is present, but doing a respectable job so far.

With Celtic getting crushed yesterday, my rooting interests are now out or never made it to begin with. Looking for the usuals to advance, but this match is intriguing, especially for the round of 16.

Couple draws today and headers galore. Big road goals though. And I heard Gus did a nice job, contained himself for the most part. USWNT friendly on stream tonight starting at 8pm EST that I'm sure I'll roped into by 12 yr old.

[Squints]

Stellar goal keeping in the United/Madrid game as well. Gus did a fine job, sounded like he's been doing it all along- was obviously prepared. Injected his schtick into the match, but at appropriate times and not over the top. Warren Burton would of slapped him upside the head if he did.

[Squints]

Arsenal showing some life. Gus Part II as well.

[peeker643]

Arsenal showing some life. Gus Part II as well.

So much for that.

Too bad there's no coverage of some of these other premier leagues here in the states right now. I think soccer fans would enjoy seeing Schalke, Bayern, Malaga and Shakhtar and BDo, etc all the time. people seem somewhat surprised when those teams beat up on EPL teams and they play some tremendous soccer in those other leagues when you finally get a chance to see them.

[peeker643]

And working from home tomorrow will aloow me to watch either AC Milan/Barca or Gala/Schalke.

I hope one or both are on. Fox Soccer tyopically has been showing one live and the other at 11pm replay.

Sick hw into it I've gotten. The more my youngest plays and moves on the more I get into the game. Feel like I cheated myself out of some good soccer watching years while hating it.

[Squints]

Fox Soccer shows the higher profile game live and FSN shows the other one live. Then the FSN game is replayed at 500 right after the post game on FSC and then they are alt replayed throughout the rest of the day.

I opened up the computer and Arsenal scored, crowd came to life and then Munich shut 'em up shortly after my post. Bayern is damn good and would be defending champs of Europe if it wasn't for Drogba's shear brilliance last year.

Too many good leagues, too few channels. FSC showed Serie A games last season, now they don't. NBC is taking over the EPL and will provide pretty much every game on their networks, or so they say. That may free up FSC/FSN for Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, Eredevise or what have you.

[Squints]

Saturday morning soccer has finally supplanted the Disney channel in our house. My daughter is 8- she played in a youth soccer league the last 2 summers, she liked it but the only instruction she got was "Kick it toward there, don't let it go in there." This past December we enrolled her in a local soccer academy- lack of a better word, does soccer three times a week and is actually getting instruction on alignment, footwork skills, passing, etc...We rolled the dice because she was behind the 8-ball so to speak and there are some hard core kids/parents, not sure how she would respond, but she is holding her own, the only girl in her age group. The coaches are passionate about the game and are passing it off on the kids.

[peeker643]

Saturday morning soccer has finally supplanted the Disney channel in our house. My daughter is 8- she played in a youth soccer league the last 2 summers, she liked it but the only instruction she got was "Kick it toward there, don't let it go in there." This past December we enrolled her in a local soccer academy- lack of a better word, does soccer three times a week and is actually getting instruction on alignment, footwork skills, passing, etc...We rolled the dice because she was behind the 8-ball so to speak and there are some hard core kids/parents, not sure how she would respond, but she is holding her own, the only girl in her age group. The coaches are passionate about the game and are passing it off on the kids.

That's how it works. Gets better (worse?) as they get older. Make sure she's having fun and enjoying it. Everything else follows. Which includes your ass going all over the state, county, etc any day of the week and every day of the weekend

Kids can get overwhelmed with the academies at the start because they are, naturally, behind the others. But they catch on quickly or they lose interest and do something else. It's a good way to test the waters.

Good luck to her. I hope she can't get enough because even though I bitch about it, a lot of hours and conversations have been spent with mine on the way to Mansfield and Lodi and Canton, MI, etc.

It's worth it.

[peeker643]

Anyone watch Man U- Chelsea yesterday? What a great match. Man U up 2-0 20' in and Chelsea dominates the 2nd half to get even.

They have to do it all again in next ten days to see who moves on to FA Cup semis against Man City.

Just excellent soccer to watch, especially seeing Man U literally dominated in 2nd half and Chelsea just missing winning chances in last couple minutes.

My soccer addiction grows daily. Even watched AV and Reading Saturday morning for relegation purposes. Unfortunately AV won a huge match in that regard. Shit, I'm even to the point where Scottish Premier League and MLS (if it's in Seattle, Portland or KC) are must watch.

And incidentally, USWNT down 1-0 to SWE right now in Algrave Cup. SWE scored in 4th minute on some wind-blown bomb. US down two GKs as well with Solo and Barnhart out with injuries requiring surgery.

[RickNashEquilibrium]

Anyone watch Man U- Chelsea yesterday? What a great match. Man U up 2-0 20' in and Chelsea dominates the 2nd half to get even.

They have to do it all again in next ten days to see who moves on to FA Cup semis against Man City.

Just excellent soccer to watch, especially seeing Man U literally dominated in 2nd half and Chelsea just missing winning chances in last couple minutes.

My soccer addiction grows daily. Even watched AV and Reading Saturday morning for relegation purposes. Unfortunately AV won a huge match in that regard. Shit, I'm even to the point where Scottish Premier League and MLS (if it's in Seattle, Portland or KC) are must watch.

And incidentally, USWNT down 1-0 to SWE right now in Algrave Cup. SWE scored in 4th minute on some wind-blown bomb. US down two GKs as well with Solo and Barnhart out with injuries requiring surgery.

The brilliant play shown in the Man U - Chelsea match was offset by the Spurs' brainfarts (Yay 'Pool!!!!) and the abortion that was Millwall FC @ Blackburn. That was once of the ugliest sporting events I've ever watched and I watched Julian Tavares pitch. 33 fouls, 7 yellow cards, NO GOALS, lots of dirty play, and Hulse unforgivably missed for Millwall 2 feet out from a great cross. Pathetic.

How 'bout Liverpool Rising? After a terrible start, they're now sitting in 6th with a realistic chance at 4th and a great shot for Europa qualification given the rest of their schedule. Chelsea looked possessed in the 2nd half but their play has been up and down. Bale is the only thing going for Spurs and are in the opposite direction of Pool. Pool is only down 2 pts to Arsenal so they can definitely make up the gap. The last 2 months are going to be fantastic football to watch.

[peeker643]

What's annoying to me is beIN Sports still not being available with my Time Warner affiliate. I added TWC Sports Package the other day after being told it was available. It wasn't. So I have a month of TWCSports for nothing to see if it gets added (being negotiated) or if the other stuff is worth $8/month.

The AV/Reading match was piss poor. An AV own goal was Reading's only marker and the disparity between haves and have-nots in EPL is more striking than discrepancy in MLB, IMO.

That said, I've watched all the soccer I can find in the past couple weeks. Even the CONCACAF Champions League crap and the aforementioned MLS (including falling alseep last night to NY/San Jose.

Love the mid-week UEFA matches and everything else, including watching the US get ganked in U20 WC Qualifier in Mexico (against Mexico) that went extra time and featured biggest flop I've ever seen (which is saying something).

Said it before, but I'll watch anything when the most skilled players in the world are doing it.

And US got the equalizer from Alex Morgan this afternoon to get even with Sweden and earn trip to Algarve Cup finals vs. Germany Wednesday. My 12-yr old will be thrilled.

The brilliant play shown in the Man U - Chelsea match was offset by the Spurs' brainfarts (Yay 'Pool!!!!) and the abortion that was Millwall FC @ Blackburn. That was once of the ugliest sporting events I've ever watched and I watched Julian Tavares pitch. 33 fouls, 7 yellow cards, NO GOALS, lots of dirty play, and Hulse unforgivably missed for Millwall 2 feet out from a great cross. Pathetic.

How 'bout Liverpool Rising? After a terrible start, they're now sitting in 6th with a realistic chance at 4th and a great shot for Europa qualification given the rest of their schedule. Chelsea looked possessed in the 2nd half but their play has been up and down. Bale is the only thing going for Spurs and are in the opposite direction of Pool. Pool is only down 2 pts to Arsenal so they can definitely make up the gap. The last 2 months are going to be fantastic football to watch.

[Squints]

Too nice of a day outside yesterday so I limited to soccer to the the dvr'd Spurs/Liverpool. Entertaining game, more the Spurs losing than Liverpool winning. Looking to avoid the late season collapse again. Relying too much on Bale with Defoe, Adebeyor and Dempsey all with injuries.

Wouldn't consider myself an adict, but I am watching more of it, I consider it a bonding type thing with my 8 y/o. I'll watch the Spurs and Celtic when they are on and any other good match-up/Champs League game. But a Wigan/Stoke game does not interest me.

Caught some of the women yesterday against China in an obviously tape delayed game. That tourneament looks like it is being played in a city park.

As far as the men go- it will not surprise me in the least if they fail to make the Cup. It's set up for them to lose. Howard out, Donovan dis-interested, Bocenegra and Dempsey nursing injuries. Critical two games next week. Need at least three points, I will go as far to say they need four.

[Squints]

Barcelona pulls ahead after coming into this match down 2! What a team.

[peeker643]

Barcelona pulls ahead after coming into this match down 2! What a team.

Messi is Jordan.

[Squints]

Too nice of a day outside yesterday so I limited to soccer to the the dvr'd Spurs/Liverpool. Entertaining game, more the Spurs losing than Liverpool winning. Looking to avoid the late season collapse again. Relying too much on Bale with Defoe, Adebeyor and Dempsey all with injuries.

That's pretty much how it happened. Seems like I picked the most Cleveland-esque team to support. Two years in a row, 2 heart wrenching failures. Talented players on that team, but they just seem to stare at Bale and wait for him to do something. Hope he stays, but he won't. Just hope he doesn't go on the BBC to announce his transfer to Man U.

But just watched the Champs League final on the DVR, thrilling match, no problem with Gus Johnson going forward as the lead broadcaster, still has to polish a few things but his schtick translates and overall was just his "normal" self.