CL Live PBP: Valencia v. Arsenal, March 19th [R]

[Coach_McGuirk]

Just a few news items prior to tomorrow for everyone to chew on:

Kily Gonzalez out for Valencia

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/News/Kind=1/newsId=59341.html

uefa.com Match Preview

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/fixturesresults/round=1637/match=1038269/Report=PR.html

Seaman out for Valencia Clash

http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/030318/80/dvq71.html

Weather Report for Valencia, Spain, March 19th.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/detail/SPXX0082

Hiddink anticipates a hot night for Arsenal

http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=D&xml=%2Fsport%2F2003%2F03%2F19%2Fsfngus19.xml

Valencia to turn up heat on Arsenal

http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=D&xml=%2Fsport%2F2003%2F03%2F19%2Fsfnars19.xml

Arsenal warned of fireworks

http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=D&xml=%2Fsport%2F2003%2F03%2F18%2Fsfnars18.xml


Lineups and background on officials tomorrow as soon as they are posted.

[AFCA]

Ajax are through with a draw no matter what. Small flaw in the Hiddink article.

[AFCA]

PS. Mestalla isn't THAT big a deal in terms of noise or hostility. Arsenal should cope with that without any problems.

[TheSlipperyOne]

Is this game (or any CL game for that matter) being shown on ESPN2 today?

[fox point fury]

Originally posted by TheSlipperyOne
Is this game (or any CL game for that matter) being shown on ESPN2 today?

Nope. They showed manure reserves v depo yesterday.

Anyone know of a free internet radio broadcast?

[martymarts]

There are showing it on ESPN Spanish service. I'm off to a local Tapas Bar to watch with spanish commentary.

[Coach_McGuirk]

Posted Lineups for the Valencia - Arsenal CL 2nd Round:

VALENCIA

Canizares
Carboni, Pelligrino, Ayala, Réveillère
Vicente Rodriguez, Albedala, Rufete
Aimar
Sanchez, Carew

Reserves: Palop, Fabio Aurelio, Djukic, Angulo, Marchena, Mista, de los Santos

ARSENAL

Taylor
Toure, Cygan, Campbell, Lauren
Wiltord, Viera, Gilberto, Ljungberg
Pires
Henry

Reserves: Holloway, Jeffers, Parlour, van Bronckhorst, Edu, Kanu, Stepanovs


OFFICIALS

Referee: Vassaras (GRE)
Assistant Referees: Tsolakidis (GRE), Groutsis (GRE)
4th: Douros (GRE)

[OPArsenal]

45 minutes gentlemen, 45 minutes. Coach, I hope you've got the veal parm and cherry coke ready. I'm as nervous as a motherf'er. I'll party like a monkey if we win...

Vive le AFC!

OPArsenal

[Coach_McGuirk]

As most of you know, it is pretty much a given that we will be giving other scores during this PBP, so if you're waiting to see a game later and don't want a result, well, tough.

[OPArsenal]

Why Cygan? Can anybody tell me anything about the ref Vassaras? I don't know anything about him.

Vive le AFC! (I'll suspend that during the match, for brevity)

OPArse

[OPArsenal]

Originally posted by Coach_McGuirk
As most of you know, it is pretty much a given that we will be giving other scores during this PBP, so if you're waiting to see a game later and don't want a result, well, tough.

As always.

[Coach_McGuirk]

Looks like we'll have a temp in the mid-60's for kick off, with about 75% humidity.

Interesting lineup for Arsenal. I was surprised to see GvB on the bench with Toure getting the start. Wenger must want that burst of speed from the back today.

[442]

Coach,

Great job stepping up on the PbP so far. Hopefully Toure will do as well in his fill in role.

Check out uefa.com for an audio. They are offering a free trial on their matchpass service. Don't know if it will be the full game audio, but it looks like it might. Seems unlikely though, doesn't it?

[Coach_McGuirk]

Originally posted by OPArsenal
45 minutes gentlemen, 45 minutes. Coach, I hope you've got the veal parm and cherry coke ready. I'm as nervous as a motherf'er. I'll party like a monkey if we win...

No veal parm and cherry coke here. I'm waiting on a turkey club, I have an obscenely huge Dr. Pepper, and I have fresh can of Copenhagen opened. We'll see how that works.

[OPArsenal]

Originally posted by Coach_McGuirk
No veal parm and cherry coke here. I'm waiting on a turkey club, I have an obscenely huge Dr. Pepper, and I have fresh can of Copenhagen opened. We'll see how that works.

"Obscenely huge" is the best phrase ever invented. Turkey club sounds good. I had chicken parm and a Kiwi-Berry Fruitopia for lunch. Let's see if that works out. And Dr. Pepper is good stuff. I was surprised as well to see Kolo on instead of GvB. and I also hope that Wenger subs in Kanu, and that when/if he does, K25 scores one for the AFC so I don't look like a total moron for being the only member of the Canoe Fan Club. :D

[OPArsenal]

And I just found a half a two liter of Pepsi (I'm at school). Score.

[BuffloSoldier]

I wish you kids all the best--if only to keep your schedule cluttered as much as United's. :D

[dwinkler]

Originally posted by OPArsenal
Can anybody tell me anything about the ref Vassaras? I don't know anything about him.
Boring details below, but, basically, UEFA, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that a relatively inexperienced 37-year-old ref will be in the middle of one of the most important Champions League games of the season. Yeah, I don't see this guy getting easily intimidated by the hostile crowd, do you? :rolleyes:

Kyros VASSARAS (Greece)
Date of Birth 01.02.1966 in Thessaloniki
Hometown Thessaloniki
Profession Consultant
Languages English / Greek
Height-Weight 184 cm – 86 kg
Referee since 1984
1st Division 1995
FIFA Badge 1998
Tournaments European Under-16 Championship (Scotland 1998)
World Under-17 Championship (New Zealand 1999)
EURO 2000 – as 4 th Official (Belgium / Netherlands)
World Cup (Japan / Korea 2002)
Other sports Basketball / Skiing / Waterpolo
Hobbies Painting / Swimming

International matches
Date Res Venue Competition
26.04.98 Spain – Finland 1-0 Perth Under-16
28.04.98 Russia – Croatia 0-0 Inverness Under-16
30.04.98 Norway – Portugal 1-2 Motherwell Under-16
18.07.98 SC Fortuna Sittard – FC Vorskla Poltava 3-0 Sittard Intertoto Cup
13.08.98 PFC Levski Sofia – Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk 8-1 Sofia Cup Winners’ Cup
04.09.98 Lithuania – Scotland 0-0 Vilnius Under-21
01.10.98 Lausanne-Sports – S.S. Lazio 2-2 Lausanne Cup Winners’ Cup
05.11.98 NK Varteks – SC Heerenveen 4-2 Varazdin Cup Winners’ Cup
28.04.99 Austria – San Marino 7-0 Graz EURO 2000
12.08.99 Sliema Wanderers FC – FC Zürich 0-3 Ta’Qali UEFA Cup
16.09.99 FC Zenit St. Petersburg – Bologna FC 0-3 St. Petersburg UEFA Cup
09.10.99 Azerbaijan – Slovakia 0-1 Baku EURO 2000
19.10.99 RC Deportivo La Coruña – Montpellier Hérault SC 3-1 La Coruña UEFA Cup
12.11.99 Jamaica – Burkina Faso 0-1 Dunedin Under-17
16.11.99 USA – Uruguay 1-0 Auckland Under-17
27.11.99 Australia – Brazil 0-0* Auckland Under-17**
23.02.00 France – Poland 1-0 Paris Friendly
02.03.00 Club Atlético de Madrid – RC Lens 2-2 Madrid UEFA Cup
16.08.00 Bulgaria – Belgium 1-3 Sofia Friendly
23.08.00 FK Crvena Zvezda – FC Dynamo Kyiv 1-1 Belgrade Champions Cup
20.09.00 S.S. Lazio – AC Sparta Praha 3-0 Rome Champions League
07.10.00 Czech Republic – Iceland 4-0 Teplice World Cup
24.10.00 FC Bayern München – Helsingborgs IF 0-0 Munich Champions League
23.11.00 RCD Espanyol – FC Porto 0-2 Barcelona UEFA Cup
15.02.01 PSV Eindhoven – Parma AC 2-1 Eindhoven UEFA Cup
28.02.01 England – Spain 3-0 Birmingham Friendly
14.03.01 FC Spartak Moskva – Olympique Lyonnais 1-1 Moscow Champions League
28.03.01 Belarus – Norway 2-1 Minsk World Cup
22.08.01 RSC Anderlecht – Halmstads BK 1-1 Brussels Champions Cup
05.09.01 Netherlands – Estonia 5-0 Amsterdam World Cup
11.09.01 FC Liverpool FC – Boavista FC 1-1 Liverpool Champions League
24.10.01 BV Borussia Dortmund – FC Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 Dortmund Champions League
04.12.01 Bayer 04 Leverkusen – RC Deportivo La Coruña 3-0 Leverkusen Champions League
20.02.02 FC Nantes Atlantique – Manchester United FC 1-1 Nantes Champions League
13.03.02 FC Barcelona – Liverpool FC 0-0 Barcelona Champions League
02.04.02 RC Deportivo La Coruña – Manchester United FC 0-2 La Coruña Champions League
04.06.02 China PR – Costa Rica 0-2 Gwangju World Cup
27.08.02 AC Sparta Praha – KRC Genk 4-2 Prague Champions Cup
07.09.02 Azerbaijan – Italy 0-2 Baku EURO 2004
18.09.02 AC Milan – RC Lens 2-1 Milan Champions League
30.10.02 Olympique Lyonnais – AFC Ajax 0-2 Lyon Champions League
27.11.02 Bayer 04 Leverkusen – FC Barcelona 1-2 Leverkusen Champions League

[dwinkler]

Originally posted by Coach_McGuirk
No veal parm and cherry coke here. I'm waiting on a turkey club, I have an obscenely huge Dr. Pepper, and I have fresh can of Copenhagen opened. We'll see how that works. Nice touch on the Copenhagen.

[OPArsenal]

Thanks Dan. Water polo?!?!? They must play in the shallow end to keep the horses from drowning. :) Not to take a shot at Buffalo, but didn't ManUre lose yesterday?