The annual Franco-Allemande/Deutsch-Französische Club Contest (AKA UEFA WCL 2012/2013)

Torres - Arsenal tomorrow h. 14.30 will be broadcasted on TV and web from RAISport2. Here the streaming link: http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/Page-11dfcccf-8a35-4dff-8f3b-3b338b7c2fde.html

 

Final score Torres 0 Arsenal 1 (Fahey)
Arsenal goes through 4-1 on aggregate.

 

Go go Göteborg!

K/G lists Jane Törnqvist as being on their bench. UEFA did this last week, and I thought it must be one of UEFA's little peculiarities, and I tried to convince anyone who would listen of that, too, because I saw her retire last year, with my own eyes. Oh well.

 

Göteborg 1 - Juvisy 3 good news for French Football, unexpected big win for Juvisy.

 

Yeah, that didn't really go so well, did it?

The worst part was that I couldn't follow the second half live, although I left the UEFA livestream up. When I came back, it didn't update anything immediately, even the score – but rather, it went through and updated each event in turn, at a rate of about one every two seconds. Therefore I got all the second half compressed into a space of about a minute and a half. I don't recommend doing this; I got a little bit of emotional whiplash from the whole experience.

Meanwhile, in Russia, Pohlers. Which means Mittag better get her game on tonight if she wants to keep up with the most-goals-scored-in-WCL thing. I have no objection to that.

This is a little late, but still fun: from UEFA, Schelin (pretending to speak French), interviewed after last's weeks pasting of LdB, saying that nothing can stop Lyon.

 

Yes you say it , Mathivet won the battle , the idea to wait until the second half and then unleash Catala's energy was a tactical masterpiece ...chapeau bas !
Personally I was scared for Juvisy , because of the two energy demanding matches they made in a very short time and I also read an article were Catala described the most dangerous Goteborg player as "the big and tall number 10".....I said to myself ,Juvisy players don't even know who Landstrom is ...so they didn't accurately studied Goteborg on video ! that's looks like an upcoming catastrophe .
Apparently Mathivet decided to concentrate on her team rather than study the swedish ....which is fine but personally I prefer to know my opponent strength and weakness...
Anyway , the game plan was let them attack , spend them energy , we track them we expose their technical abilities.... and it was successful because the midfield trio and a great game , Soubeyrand better than usual , Thiney is regaining her form and Coquet woman of the match in my opinion plus young Diani very good at putting pressure on centre backs .
Goteborg had a bad game , I was definitely expecting more from them , the big tall number 10 was unrecognizable..what happened to her ?... only Schough showed something interesting when she came in .
Goteborg scored first and this could had demoralized Juvisy , however , it galvanized them !
The Camile Catala festival started , it was like a tornado hitted Goteborg , Juvisy could have scored even more if they didn't made some mistakes with the assist.
Catala has proved to be the next big thing on international scale , Mathivet an excellent tactical coach , Coquet THE most underestimated french player.
It was a great victory, a french victory against who said our league is weak apart Lyon.

 

A curioisity , the four semi finalist beat their opponents at home and away , I think that never happened in the history of the tournament.

 

Well, I can't say I am a great "connaisseur", but I incidentally watched Landtsröm play in 1.FFC Frankfurt last season (I basically was following them because of japanese Kumagai in the team ^^) and I have to say that if anything happened to her, it was already happening last season... She always was slow and unreliable in 2011-2012 season and, although I wasn't following her in the previous years, I've got the feeling that she's on the descending end of her career...

 

"The big and tall number 10" is the most dangerous player? I suppose that's often true, of many teams, so it's a good guess.

[grump] When was she ever the most dangerous player on the pitch, and for what team?

Landström does have a specific use, a use that requires pretty solid integration with her teammates. She never managed it with her WPS team. She is new to this Damallsvenskan team. She may be helpful to Göteborg yet this season, and I certainly hope that she is. But I'm not at all surprised that she didn't do much in these WCL games IN FREAKIN' MARCH. (oops, looks like I forgot to close the 'grump' tag)

Well, as long as I'm still grumpy, I'll keep going. I suspect that some who are Landström partisans – no one here, I hasten to add, I'm not casting any particular accusations – are occasionally inclined – possibly through the influence of some of her non-directly-football-related qualities – to view her on-field performance through glasses with more than a tinge of a reddish tint. Not that there's anything wrong with that. We all have our favorites, for sometimes obscure and complicated reasons. But seriously, 'the most dangerous player on the pitch'? Sorry, I'll stop now. [/grump]

 

Third club forth time, and they did manage to do it the first time.

 

Very good game from Wolfsburg yesterday well organised defensively and clinical. The Arsenal girls will need to raise their level next week, especially in attack.

 

They have opened 3 out of 4 stands in the lower tier now rather than the original one. So there should be some fans.

 

UEFA's report of the Arsenal v Wolfsberg match, including video of interviews with Conny 42-goals-now-scored Pohlers ("a goal is an important moment in a match", sigh) and Martina Müller ("it's not bad to score a goal against Arsenal") through a translator, then Gilly Flaherty and Gemma Davison, without a translator, in English. I think. Well, I'm fairly confident about Davison at least. Flaherty... mmm... well...

 

Although the all French semi-final is settled more or less with the 3-0 Lyon what happened on the pitch last Saturday might have some repercussion. Juvisy have put an official complaint to UEFA about the OL coach Patrice Lair's behaviour.
Although all the problems for the Lyon/Juvisy/NT were exposed during the game with players who certainly dislike each other getting stuck in. Catala of Juvisy got "injured" early in the game before being subbed. Those two club have a history of problemes relating back to around 10 years ago. Supporters hate each other, coach are not better, it is the historic fight between the "professional" football and the "amateur" football. Add the fact that 2 OL players are no longer selected in the NT and most OL fans blame (wrongly) the Juvisy devil duo for it.

It will make a very interesting game on Sunday. Referee will be busy. OL players have more to loose as theey cannot risk being suspended for the final.

 

Bompastor Thomis and Otaki are under threat having been booked in previous round.

I think there is a minority of fans on both side who really hate the other team and for false irrational reasons which is crazy. Urban legends have been branded as truth and it is not very nice.

 

Patrice Lair suspended for 1 game ie tomorrow after his nice gesture against the Juvisy team. Not gonna make much difference OL will qualify for the final in London. And if you wanna have a good laugh and speak French go to official OL forum the paranoia level is at its best. Some fans are saying that Juvisy are hiring volunteers that will sabotage the game's environment ! The level of hatred there is crazy and Juvisy fan's reciprocate sadly.

 

Well, I see that, Upstairs, a Serious Thread has started about this tournament. Good, good; it's a Very Serious Tournament.

And that leaves this thread free for someone to say something like ”Oh yeah, baby – this Thursday our Little Wolfie is gonna go and get some!” ... without having to justify that statement in any way. (Or even explain what the heck it means.)

 

Click here for Conny Pohlers’ assessment of her own team! She sorta dismisses Popp as ”a poacher” who ”muddles her way through”; Müller comes off better, partly for being a fellow oldie who’s ”always looking to score”; she characterizes that Pohlers chick as having played for a hundred years but ”quite nice”; she seems to consider a calling someone a ”small but feisty goalkeeper” to be a compliment. Good news for the small and feisty everywhere!

Got anything even half so entertaining as that, OL partisans? (I know you’re out there, don’t be shy...)