Soccer (aka football)

Just finished watching the final Guinness Cup Match. The prize for the winner is $1 million. Manchester United vs Liverpool. I will withhold the results in case you want to watch the match on a replay.

Seems to me the level of play in the matches I have seen are head and shoulders above the World Cup which is head and shoulders above US pro soccer (MLS). I saw soccer moves I have never seen before...and this is PRE-SEASON for them!

They run faster, handle the ball better, pass better and make moves I have never seen before.

I hope we get to see the European teams play on US TV. Their season starts later this month.

Why are they so much better?

Why are there so few injuries? the players seem to get right up and do not act like they are dying. Perhaps they are in better shape. If so, why?

 

Wow! I caught a couple of those matches over the past week or so and they were very definitely in pre-season mode!.... I no longer follow it as diligently as I used to, but seems they were playing pretty much their 'B' (or youth) teams!.... I'll have to keep an eye out for the final! Sounds like a cracker!

They're also very much friendlies (a million bucks will probably cover their bar bill - it's nothing compared to what the top guys pull in from the Champions League for example)

Are you sure about that?..... I think we were treated to some truly marvelous football in Brazil!

One of the networks here has been advertising 'all English premier league games' this season - I'd need to check, but think it's our good friends NBC Sports! For sure, they're all going to be aired somewhere this season.

As for injuries & getting back up etc, I think that remains an English league trait. With all due respect to Spain & Germany in particular, the EPL is still generally recognized as the fastest, and yes 'hardest' league there is. Diving & playacting just isn't 'tolerated' as much as it is in mainland Europe & South America in particular.

As for the speed of the game, that's actually become one of the criticisms of the English game - nobody has any time - they don't 'develop' sequences (& skills) the way the Spanish do - it's all crash, bang & wallop style!.....

Glad you enjoyed it anyway!

Cheers,
Ian

 

World Cup teams are basically all-star teams that have about 1 month to play together before the tournament, as opposed to club teams that play together all the time. That fact alone makes a huge difference in the quality of play. I'd venture to say that it's also why teams which draw a large chunk of their talent from one club (like Spain and Germany) have the ability to play better together than teams who draw players from a bunch of clubs.

Once in the tournament, the games tend to be much more defensive than at the club level, making it much harder to score.

For me, one of the joys of the World Cup vs the Club game is that Club team members play for a salary, and World Cup team members play for the glory. At least that is what I've been duped into believing.

 

Actually, I'd say the opposite - Prem League teams are "all stars" - there is NO restriction on country or birthplace.

Example, compare the US World Cup squad to Chelsea FC...NO comparison.

I'd say a match up of a mid-level World Cup squad against a mid-level Prem League team would be no contest - the Prem League team would win in a WALK.

Pair up Everton against Costa Rica...who is winning that game?

 

I saw Man City vs AC Milan in Pittsburgh about a 2 weeks ago. Man City had the second squad playing (no Hart, Aquero...). AC Milan did play Honda and Balotelli for a while which were great to see in action.
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Cool!

Balotelli didn't get sent off?

Cheers,
Ian

 

The point I thought I was making is that the team that has played together regularly will have an advantage and play better, which almost never happens with a World Cup squad. As an example, England draws most of its squad from the Premier League, and they've dissapointed for years. It's tough to gel as a team with one month of prep.

As far as Costa Rica goes, I think they demonstrated that they had no real problems playing against Premier League or Serie A players. If memory serves, England booked their flight home on day 7, and Italy followed soon after.

 

Mr Why Always me ! He didn't look his usually vibrant self really. He came in the second half and didn't really do much. I read yesterday that AC is trying to sell him back to the EPL (arsenal or Liverpool) so that may have had something to do with it.

 

Agreed - we are saying the same thing, my misunderstanding.

 

Fully understand what you're getting at, & you're both probably correct.

However, and this surprised me a little, turns out England's entire squad came out of the Prem this time. At least it's pretty much the same style of play and they know each other.

Costa Rica OTOH, were made up of guys from literally all over the planet! They've got guys playing in the prem, Spain, Turkey, Sweden, Russia, MLS and others I don't even recognize!

And they over performed, *massively*, IMO. They too were only together for a month or so and certainly came from more diverse backgrounds than most others.

Why?

Coaching? Surely not.
'Desire'? I believe all these guys genuinely want to do their best when they pull on their nations jersey.
'Skill'? Supposedly, the big Euro leagues lead in that department.

Wish I knew the answer! Comments?

Cheers,
Ian

 

Anybody following the Premier League (English) and UEFA (Europe)?

Makes American soccer look like high school.

Chelsea looks hard to catch. they just do not make many mistakes.
Manchester City is my fave...Auguero my fave player.

 

Check Lewandowski's 5 goals in 9 minutes for Bayern Munich today...wow!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oRZFvSPJBzU

 

Unbelievable.

Kai

 

Thanks for posting. Talk about "in the Zone"!

I was a striker in college 50 years ago. What a performance. Hope he bought lottery tickets that day. Wow. Thanks for posting.

My Man City is still in P1 but Manu is now in P2 and only 2 pts behind. This 19 year old Matial is a phenom. Man City has a fight on their hands.

 

That was amazing, I watched that live. Turned it on just before he was subbed in, then watched him go off. I'm not a huge Bayern fan (although Pep is by far my favorite coach), but that was an outstanding display.

 

I know this is an old post, but yes - I'm a huge Prem league fan. Quality of play is without peer, although arguably La Liga or the Bundesliga are right there. I think with La Liga and the Bundesliga, the "have nots" are a big drop off, but in the Prem league, a mid-table team like Swansea or Everton are tough to beat.

Heck, look at Leicester City so far this season, or even West Ham...that's what makes the Barclay's Prem league best IMHO - top to bottom, the teams are really solid.

 

My son called me when it was going on live...was excited he had a 3 minute hat trick...and while on the phone he got two more!! We footballers know the likelihood of this accomplishment is just insane. At halftime the announcers were discussing how Wolfsburg had played a 'perfect' first half and were leading 1-0. Then Lewandowski got going, lol.

 

Yep!

There's a reason the best in the world want to play in the Prem'.....

Then we have the truly wonderful UEFA Champions league - The best of the best head to head.

UEFA currently gives 4 entries to England, Germany & Spain as they're considered (via some pretty complicated math!) the "strongest" leagues as you note. Then 3 qualifiers from the "second tier" - currently Italy, France & Portugal. Then 2 from a whole bunch of countries and so on.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Incidentally, while checking my facts above, I noticed the winner of the ECL nets (no pun intended!) a fairly significant 15MM Euro's. Call it USD 17MM!

Anyone know how much the superbowl winner gets?

Cheers,
Ian

 

Outside of 1966, England have been a huge disappointment throughout my entire life!

The "issue" IMO is the huge number of "foreign" players & managers. It's only recently that England have appointed an English manager for example!

I honestly believe each league team should field, say, 8 or 9 of it's own country's citizens. And the manager *has* to be a national.

Cheers,
Ian

 

That's just the final; it doesn't include the semi's, QF, 1/4F, 1/8F or Group stages price money nor every clubs indvidual share in the TV rights scheme. Let alone sponsorship bonusses and stadium revenues.

 

LaLiga is better IMO.

Nope

Messi, Ronaldo, Robben and Neuer do not play in the PL.

The three best clubs in the world (by a margin) do no play in the PL.

 

His 5th goal was just unbelievable - a volley off a long cross, just wow. Surprised he wasn't marked by 2 defenders at that point.

 

Well it's really opinion, because they don't play head to head. Also, arguably the top teams in La Liga and Bundesliga are better because they've won the most recent CL competitions.

However, the spread between the top teams in La Liga and the bottom teams is HUGE. It's much tighter in the Prem, at least last 2 seasons. That would support that the top teams aren't as good as the La Liga's top teams (and I would agree that RM, Barca, and Atletico are better than Man U, Man City, and Chelsea), but could also mean that the talent is more distributed in the Prem.

Plenty of great names in the Prem - Costa, Hazard, Courtois, et al.

I will agree though, that the style of play in La Liga is much better. My teams play "possession" in the vein of Barca, I can't stand the direct game that's more prevalent in the Prem (but changing).

 

Received really sad news this morning...Dutch LEGEND and father of close personal friends, Johan Cruyff has been diagnosed with lung cancer. The word is all over the futbol world this am. Prayers please for this great man.