football: the beautiful game

[cyberPUNK]

can't wait for tomorrow...

[readytoignite]

i don't. he's going to ref a game in championship this weekend. not really a punishment since it's between top two teams, but i think if refs fuck up they should be sent down for few weeks. he wasn't at his best during lfc-arsenal game as well. he missed calls both ways. fuck the bald headed fuck, he also robbed the polish team at euros.

haha he was just announced for the fa cup final too - apparently there's a streak of refs screwing up their next match after finding that out. but it was an honest mistake and he's better than most, it's not like there's so many great english refs that they can afford to send one down to the lower leagues for that.

anyway i more or less agree with polish's assessment of yesterday's match although barca didn't have all that much space in the first half - just less pressure from the chelscum. hiddink must have flipped the english football switch at halftime and bob's your uncle.

it's too bad, pretty much any neutral wanted a utd barca final.

[redgrail]

here we go mayne.

hoping for a good game, arsenal's on form lately.

hate both these teams, but I enjoy watching the gooners play more.

that and I hate xtina ballerina.

btw I'm loving how espn is covering all the cl games now. saves me a lot of trouble with streaming.

[its swanny]

United!

[polishmike]

last season of champions league for espn. fox soccer got the rights. no more twat tommy smith. fox soccer will be in hd and they will have real commentators at the match.

[cyberPUNK]

united deserves the lead at half. but then again, i'm biased

[Akura]

Streaming this game is such a bitch right now!

[cyberPUNK]

you using sopcast?

[redgrail]

wow, did arsenal even show up to play?

only thing keeping them in this game right know is an excellent gk performance.

[cyberPUNK]

...and the reds go marching ON ON ON!

[redgrail]

I guess Sir Alex was right about his prediction.

MOTM was certainly Almunia, only thing keeping United from netting 3 or 4 in the first half. Second half much more of a positional struggle, lots of good midfield play. Fabregas never really a factor, credit United for that.

This will look a lot different at Emirates, but a well deserved victory for Utd today.

[artxattack]

in other news, the bundesliga top five is tighter than a duck's butt. i have a hunch hertha's gonna take the title.

[redgrail]

El Clasicoooooo!

I have a sneaking suspicion Real will take it, but nothing would make me happier than if Barca takes it. Regardless, should be a good one to watch.

1-2 Barca in 20 minutes. offensive fireworks. crazy

GOOOOALLLLL.

1-3 Barca, if not for brilliant goalkeeping by Iker Casillas, it could easily have been 5 or 6 goals for Barcelona. Absolutely 0 defense on the Real side. Barcelona is playing like a well-oiled machine, it's beautiful to watch. Creating spaces, great passing, always a man available, every man is hungry. It's almost as if they're one big organism. Absolutely gorgeous football. I know Barca's been hyped into the high heavens, but I dare anyone who's been watching this game to say it's undeserved.

2-3 Gorgeous ball headed in by Sergio Ramos. Real is still in this game, though being completely outplayed by Barca at midfield.

2-4!!! Casillas comes out to stop Henry - Henry is ice-cold and just chips it to the side of Casillas from halfway into Real territory. What a game!

2-5. Another beauty from Messi. This game is over. Barca in firm control of La Liga. Bernabeu has gone oddly quiet.

2-6. Pique crowns a great defensive effort with a goal served to him by Eto'o. Good on him. Definitely one of the better players for Barca tonight. Real being humiliated in front of their home crowd. Lots of boos and whistles.

And it's all over! The triple is Barca's to win or throw away. The question of who is the best team in Spain has been definitively answered. The question that remains is whether they're the best team in Europe. Chelsea kept them scoreless on the first leg at Camp Nou and Barcelona clearly has trouble with the type of physical game English sides play. But certainly, it will be an interesting one to watch. Fire vs. ice in the return at Stamford Bridge. Can't wait.

[mis]

Yea Fuck Madrid

[mis]

^That should be in CAPs

[Magsåvningsreserven]

wanted madrid to win tbh, title race would have been really close

but wow they got humiliated at home..

[mis]

Madrid were lackluster the entire season, barca have been amazing to watch.

Now all they have to do is knock chelsea out

[polishmike]

real's defense was a joke. how can someone even call sergio ramos a defender. fucker never made a stop. i wanted real to win but this was just a humiliation.

[cJajce]

100% madrid supporter and it was painful day...barca were clearly the better team this year. obvious off season move, ronaldo and tevez. but we have a lot more to adress when robben is the only threat in the midfield and the apparent lack off a back four with ramos and pepe as the highlights. ill be the first to admit that ramos does make tackles where im just like what the f*** are you doing, but he really not that bad cause he makes up for it with his wing play when he pushes foward. guess all i can do now is look foward to next season

[mis]

I think ramos only gets praise because hes a right back. Which is ridiculous because hes a pretty bad defender. If he were a winger he would just be average and noone would really talk about him.

[polishmike]

Few of you might not heard about this, but today is the 60th anniversary of the Superga Grande Torino disaster. It was a plane crash is which almost the whole Torino side died, they were coming back from a friendly at Benfica.

Not much is said these days about that team, but they were a fantastic side. I think they won 5 titles in the row and something like 90 games in the row at home. For few years the Italian national team had 10 starting players from Torino.

you can read more here

[polishmike]

and another worthy clip. greek cup final few days ago. watch the whole penalty shootout. i think i would die from a heart attack if i would see this live.

iSNk_82q9Mw

[artxattack]

I think ramos only gets praise because hes a right back. Which is ridiculous because hes a pretty bad defender. If he were a winger he would just be average and noone would really talk about him.

my sentiments exactly. he also gets notoriety because he has sex appeal and therefore is an asset for nike/real madrid/spain. sans that he's less than average.

[cyberPUNK]

thanks polishmike for bringing the Superga Grande Torino disaster to our attention. i hadn't heard of it before...truly a tragedy.

[readytoignite]

and another worthy clip. greek cup final few days ago. watch the whole penalty shootout. i think i would die from a heart attack if i would see this live.

that's just the tip of the iceberg, 4-4 and three red cards

some crazy saves though, never seen a goalie block so many balls for them to trickle over the line. also i've never seen someone save a peno by not diving and batting the center-driven ball away

[artxattack]

heart wrenching video clip

[Protocol]

ehhhhh shit happens... unlucky arsenal.

[cyberPUNK]

a 4-0 aggregate seems to imply that more than luck is involved here.

[Protocol]

a 4-0 aggregate seems to imply that more than luck is involved here.

Wrote it at 3-0 because of the first two goals, pretty much rape now. Man U deserved win.

[cyberPUNK]

wow.

that red was bullshit.