Sometimes, this part of the report is written before a match in a vain attempt to build towards
some kind of atmosphere, as someone who's reliving the "match-day experience" or whatever that
could possibly mean in MLS(E) land. But tonight, there will be no pre-match set-up beyond the
following : Toronto mediocre, everyone else better, wonder how the hell a team six seasons on is
still this crap.
This is the LAST team to get a mock-up logo. Its been bad luck, really.
Overcast Saturday afternoon. Fresh, yet not cold. Props to the scheduling gods for picking a
kickoff closer to the train schedules. Don't have to wait an hour before the match, won't have to
wait 45 mins after it.
Chicago is 1-1-2 and Toronto has neither earned a point nor scored a goal at home.
So here we are, for the seventh season in a row and despite a magnificent effort against Milan,
we will not be collecting any trophies, medals, or even pots to urinate in. In fact, the season
could turn even uglier if we fail to secure top four and our friends down the Road finish above us
and lift the FA Cup.
So here we are, for the seventh season in a row and despite a magnificent effort against Milan,
we will not be collecting any trophies, medals, or even pots to urinate in. In fact, the season
could turn even uglier if we fail to secure top four and our friends down the Road finish above us
and lift the FA Cup.
ManchesterCity1 – 0
Arsenal: Match report and player ratings
Since our painful, last visit to Manchester a few months ago, Arsenal have made tremendous
progress. In fact, the club achieved such a fantastic transformation since the late arrival of
experienced, quality players like Arteta, Mertesacker, and Santos that most of us were confident we
could get something out of our game against the other club from Manchester today.
ManchesterCity1 – 0
Arsenal: Match report and player ratings
Since our painful, last visit to Manchester a few months ago, Arsenal have made tremendous
progress. In fact, the club achieved such a fantastic transformation since the late arrival of
experienced, quality players like Arteta, Mertesacker, and Santos that most of us were confident we
could get something out of our game against the other club from Manchester today.
Hey Arsène, how many big pots are we going to win this
season?
Â
Why we need to stick to the Wenger Revolution
(And why it is necessary to keep reminding us of
this)
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest;
Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the
bitterest.
Ordinarily, the post-match pint is accompanied by a dissection of the things that went to plan and
the things that went to pot, but there was a general shoulder-shrugging when mention of pots was
brought up yesterday.
At last a game and what a game  the chance to get a monkey off our backs and put some distance
between us and Chelsea.
I trust that you all had a fine Xmas and are recovering from the effects of over-eating and that
last pre-bed Brandy. What better than a dose of fresh air and a home match against the pretenders
to our crown as Kings of London?
The UEFA Champions League last 16 draw takes place on Friday in Nyon with the likes of Real Madrid,
Barcelona, Chelsea and Napoli awaiting their fate in the knockout round. Two seeding pots have been
formed, one consisting of group winners and the others of runners-up as follows: Group winners:
Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Benfica, [.
Nickspinkboots' Note: All the people gnashing their teeth while looking at
the barren Chelsea section of this website can stop that irritating sound now, because we have a
Chelsea writer. Mohit Minhas is an engineering student in my college and,
imitating the natural order in London, is my junior.
The draw for this upcoming summer's Euro 2012 tournament is set to go in Kiev, Ukraine, with 16
teams eager to find out who they'll be competing against for the continent's championship. With
co-hosts Poland and Ukraine placed in the first pot, there's bound to be some treacherous group
pairings for some of the world's top teams.
The final seedings for Euro 2012 have been revealed ahead of the group stage draw on December
2nd. The hosts Ukraine and Poland have already been placed in their groups with Poland in Group A
and Ukraine in Group D. The remaining pots will have two countries in pot one and four countries
in the other three pots, no team in the same pot can be placed in the same group.
Ireland are in the fourth group of seeds for the Euro 2012 finals draw, UEFA confirmed today.
Giovanni Trapattoni's 'Boys In Green', who completed a 5-1 aggregate play-off win against Estonia
last night, have been drawn alongside Denmark, France and Czech Republic in Pot 4.
Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland and Ukraine, who have already been allocated to groups A and D
respectively, are in the top group of seeds alongside reigning world and European champions Spain
and 2010 World Cup finalists the Netherlands.
Se tienen ya formados los grupos que se sortearán para la Eurocopa 2012, el sorteo será el
viernes 2 de Diciembre y con seguridad habrá un grupo de la muerte, pudiera ser que esten juntos
en un grupo, España, Alemania, Portugal y Francia, vaya que serÃa a morir, les paso la nota en
ingles via El Guardian.
With the completion of Tuesday's Euro 2012 playoff qualifiers, the four pots are set for next
month's finals draw, and there's a pretty solid chance that we could see some stacked groups in the
summer.Â
Co-hosts Poland and Ukraine occupying two of the four spots in the top pot, with defending Euro
(and World Cup) champion Spain joining them.
Nothin' left but the friendlies. Playoffs have ended, sadly for some tragically, really, since
none of the aggregates were even close and the lineup is set with a couple of surprises, like
Ireland and...no, just Ireland. The list of those who failed to RSVP is devoid of titanic names,
leaving us with a heavy battle royale to be had in Polkraine.
Three South East Asian teams will be listening carefully to this Saturday's World Cup draw. Their
fate will be decided along with the other 17 remaining countries on the road to Brazil.
Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore will not be drawn against each other, that's for sure. Instead
they will face one from each of the following 'pots'.
1998 World Cup champion and 2006 World Cup runner-up France will have to play a top-seeded European
team in qualifying it was announced on Wednesday. The draw, which will take place on Saturday,
takes one team from each of six pots the pots determined by seeds. The current world champion and
top-ranked country in the world is in the top-seeded pot as expected, along with other heavyweights
Germany, Holland and Italy.
CONCACAF announced a date change for the 2011 U-20 Championship to be held in Guatemala – the
tournament will now be played from March 28-April 10 (rather than the originals dates: April
3-17).
The U.S. team will learn its game dates, opponents and venue at Friday's official draw in Guatemala
City.
The pots have been set and the 12 teams participating in the CONCACAF U-17 Championship will learn
their first round opponents on Wednesday, Dec. 15.
The teams will be drawn into four groups of three, with the top two teams in each group advancing
to the quarterfinals. The four quarterfinal winners will move on to the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in
Mexico, set for June 18-July 10.
The Euro 2012 group draw is upon us this week, with the draw taking place on Friday in Kiev. The
Euro is always one of the toughest tournaments to win and this edition will be no different. We
decide to take a look at what the groups could look like through our own simulation and this is
what we got.
Even Damien Duff can't believe what he saw. No sneaky handballs. No dodgy refereeing decisions.
Just delicious, organic, line-caught wild Alaskan qualification.
Thanks to their stonking 4-0 first-leg victory in Talinn, the Republic of Ireland breezed
their way unencumbered past Estonia with a 1-1 draw in the return-leg in Dublin last night enough
to see Ireland emerge from the play-offs with a 5-1 aggregate winning margin and a spot in the pots
for Euro 2012 safely tucked under their belts.
When the trademarked Special One was at Chelsea, I was an advocate of him. No doubt he brought
something interesting to the table that other foreign managers simply don't. Wenger, Benitez and
the rest are generally as dull as dishwater. And as much as we already had cause to dislike him for
his hop, skip and a jump down the Old Trafford touchline after being robbed by his lucky Porto
side, there was always that respect factor for a man that was achieving trophy hauls in what
appeared to be a new manner.
When the trademarked Special One was at Chelsea, I was an advocate of him. No doubt he brought
something interesting to the table that other foreign managers simply don't. Wenger, Benitez and
the rest are generally as dull as dishwater. And as much as we already had cause to dislike him for
his hop, skip and a jump down the Old Trafford touchline after being robbed by his lucky Porto
side, there was always that respect factor for a man that was achieving trophy hauls in what
appeared to be a new manner.
Pots, kettles etc Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has simultaneously lost his temper and his
irony detector. The Portugal international has spoken out against Manchester City striker Mario
Balotelli for his constant media outbursts. In a media outburst, Ronaldo said: "He is a good player
but he has to speak less and play more.
The pots for the 2012 Olympic Draw, taking place on Tuesday, April 24 at Wembley Stadium in London,
England, have been announced by FIFA.
The 2012 Olympic Women's Football Tournament will feature 12 teams divided into three groups of
four teams each. The top two finishers in each group – plus the two best third-place finishers
– will advance to the quarterfinals.
Oh dear, this isn't going to turn out well at all.
UEFA has imposed a €30,000 on Manchester City for tardiness in the Europa League after fining
Porto €10,000 for racism against two of City's players.
Outside of a strict, "All fines are relative to the clubs' bank accounts." clause, UEFA's PR
team might want to put on several pots of coffee and get crackin'.
The recent changes to the Major League Soccer schedule and competition format are hardly the
only ones impacting professional soccer teams in North America.
Coinciding with the MLS SuperDraft, U.S. Soccer and CONCACAF announced major changes to the
CONCACAF Champions League and U.
I will update this post through the day. I have several pots boiling on the stove, but let's start
this day with one small sample taste, shall we?- I have learned that Fulham forward Eddie Johnson
has at least two Championship loan suitors. And not much more yet, but I'm on it. I will add,
though, that I think it's a swell idea.
