Meh. Another 1-1 EPL snoozefest. Say what you will about last night, but a 2-2 tie with one team finishing with 9 men and 6 minutes of stoppage time is much more exciting (and says lots about our referees).
I don't about you, but this is one of my favorite times of the year for European soccer, not because you start finding out which teams will make next year's UEFA competitions (meh), but you start finding out which teams look to be relegated to 'B' league hell for next season. In Serie A, with 7 games left to play, currently Palermo, Froisnone and Hellas Verona are in the relegation zone with Carpi just sitting above the line. In the Bundesliga, with 6 games left, Hanover and Frankfurt are in the hard relegation zone with Augsburg in the relegation playoff position and Werder Bremen, Hoffenheim and Darmstadt just sitting above the line. In Ligue 1, with 6 games left to play, Troyes, Toulouse and Ajaccio are sitting in relegation hell with Reims sitting on the line. For all you EPL lovers out there, with 7 games left in the season, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Sunderland are below the line but Norwich is a few points above the line.
Time for the Relegation Report. Who will get the ax? Serie A: With 6 games remaining, Hellas Verona is at 22 points, Frosinone at 27, Carpi at 28 and Palermo just above the line of eternal damnation at 29. It's looking bad for Hellas Verona. They need to eat more pandoro. Bundesliga: With 6 games left, Hannover (18 points), Frankfurt (27 points) are still in the hard relegation zone, but Augsburg (30 points) has jumped over Werder Bremen (28 points) into the zone of eternal salvation leaving Werder in the relegation playoff position. However, Hoffenheim (31 points), Darmstadt (32 points), Stuttgart (33 points) and Hamburg and Koln (34 points each) are all within striking distance of relegation hell. Ligue 1: Five games left to play, the same story as last week, Troyes (14 points), Toulouse (32 points) and Ajaccio (34 points) sitting in the relegation zone with Reims (36 points) hanging on to salvation. EPL: With 6 games left in the season for some and 5 games for others, the relegation zone is the same as last week. Aston Villa (16 points, 5 games left) leading the way to relegation hell, followed by Newcastle (25 points, 6 games left) and Sunderland (27 points, 6 games left) with Norwich (31 points, 5 games left) fighting to stay above the cut like a mountain climber fighting to keep from being taken over the side of a cliff by his heavier friends.
I know there are plenty of Spurs fans on here so I apologize ahead of time... BUT COME ON LEICESTER CITY!!!! What a season from them.
As a Spurs fan I obviously hope for them to win the title. However, seeing a team win that wasn't one of the top 6 in the last few years, or have an owner come in and buy the title, I can't complain too much.
We like to complain about how bad MS referees are, but bad referees aren't only limited to MLS. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/04/lei...ame-showed-why-refereeing-in-soccer-is-a-joke
Time for the Relegation and Now Promotion Report. Who will go down in a flaming spiral of death and who will ascend to nirvana? Serie A: With 5 games remaining, Hellas Verona (22) and Palermo (29) lost this week, but both Frosinone (30) and Carpi (31) won which enables both clubs to jump over Palermo. Hellas, Palermo and Frosinone are still in the relegation zone with Carpi floating just above. As for who will get promoted from Serie B, with 6 games left, it looks like Crotone (74) and Cagliari (71) will be promoted with Bari (60), Trapani (59), US Pescara (58), Spezia (58), Novara (57) and Virtus Enella (57) all in the 6-team promotion playoff zone. Bundesliga: With 4 games left, Hannover (21), Frankfurt (27) are still in the hard relegation zone with Werder Bremen (31) in the relegation playoff position. Stuttgart (33), Augburg (33), Hoffenheim (34), Hamburg (34) and Darmstadt (35) are all close enough to be worried about an end of season collapse. In 2. Bundesliga, with 4 games left to play, Freiburg and Leipzig (62 point each) look like they are going to be promoted and Nurnburg (56) is sitting in the relegation playoff zone. Ligue 1: Four games left to play, the same story as last week, Troyes (17 points), Toulouse (33 points) and Ajaccio (34 points) sitting in the relegation zone with Reims (36 points) hanging on to salvation. In Ligue 2, with 4 games left to play, Nancy (65), Dijon (64) and Metz (56) are sitting in the promotion zone while Lens, Bob Bradley's Le Havre and Red Star FC (a club from Paris) are all sitting at 55 points. EPL: With 5 games left in the season for some and 4 games for others, we have our first confirmed relegation "winner". Aston Villa has been mathemagically eliminated and will be playing in the English League Championship next season. Newcastle (28 points, 5 games left) and Sunderland (30 points, 5 games left) have still something to fight for as they are both in the relegation zone and Norwich (31 points, 4 games left) fighting to stay out. In the League Championship, with 4 games left, Middlesbrough (85) and Burnley (83) are in the promotion zone with Brighton & Hove Albion (81), Hull City (73), Derby County (73) and Sheffield Wednesday (69) in the promotion playoff zone.
I've been a long time fan of The Foxes as my family has quite a history in the area they derive from. They've won nothing yet and I haven't counted any chickens, but I hope they can pull it off. Go Leicester.
I would trade referees with the Premier League in a heartbeat. I think the Yellow on Vardy was spot on, I think it was a foul on Vardy actually, he creates all the contact by stomping on the defender's boot and then shouts for PK. Both penalties were pretty soft, I can see arguments for play on but yeah. And the no call with the 4 player wrestling match was really a toss up. That stuff goes on all the time across both sides and usually the safest bet is to just play on. I mean, if this is considered bottom of the barrel refereeing over there... bring 'em here I'll take that over the the garbage we currently have.
Life happens. You forget to do other things..... Serie A: With 2 games remaining, Hellas Verona (25) is going down to Serie B next season. Frosinone (31) and Palermo (35) are both in the relegation zone, but Carpi (35) is just barely hanging on. As for Serie B, with 3 games left, it looks like Crotone (78) and Cagliari (74) will be promoted with Trapani (66), US Pescara (65), Bari (65), Spezia (62), Cesena (61) and Virtus Enella (61) in the 6-team promotion playoff zone. Bundesliga: With 2 games left, Hannover (22) is going down next season with Stuttgart (33) in the hard relegation zone and Frankfurt (33) in the relegation playoff position. Werder Bremen (34) is floating just above with everyone else looking like they will avoid relegation. In 2. Bundesliga, with 2 games left to play, Freiburg (69) and Leipzig (64) will probably be promoted next season with Nurnburg (59) in the relegation playoff zone. Ligue 1: Two games left to play, Troyes (17 points), Toulouse (34 points) and Stade de Reims (36) sitting in the relegation zone with Ajaccio (37 points) hanging on to salvation. In Ligue 2, with 2 games left to play, Nancy (68), Dijon (67) and Metz (62) are sitting in the promotion zone while Bob Bradley's Le Havre (59) and Red Star FC (a club from Paris) sits at 58 points. EPL: With 3 games left in the season for some and 2 games for others, the fight to avoid relegation centers around 4 teams. Aston Villa (16) is already confirmed as going down, followed by Norwich (31 points, 3 games left) and Sunderland (32 points, 3 games left) in the relegation zone with Newcastle (33 points, 2 games left) sitting just above. In the League Championship, with 1 game left, it looks like Burnley (90) will be going thru with Middlesbrough (88) the other team in the promotion zone. However, Brighton & Hove Albion (88) could jump ahead of Middlesbrough and leave them with Hull City (80), Derby County (78) and Sheffield Wednesday (74) in the promotion playoff zone.
Totally for it. We wouldn't qualify as often, but we'd have way better competition, way better games. IMO it's a no brainer for Concacaf. Conmebol is the federation with more clout/power/skill/talent. But I think they recognize that the North American market is huge for them. The extra travel would be significant. Some of those N/S trips take forever. But I'd vote yes immediately.
I don't think they should completely merge, but I think they should get rid of Gold Cup and just do a combined Copa every 4 years to compete with Euro.
This is what I think as well, I don't think we are there yet as a soccer country to be consistent enough in order to qualify out of a combined CONMEBOL/CONCACAF regularly. Would that be a bad thing? It might force us to take steps to improve and demand better when we do fail, but I think it would be too damaging right now. Maybe after we've become an established contender on a regular basis, or are approaching that level. I think doing an "Americas Championship" alternating with our regional championship would be a good way to start stoking that idea and increasing the frequency of competition between the two regions in preparation for a merger say 10-20 years from now.
I'm down for a merger with the guys down south, however, instead of having something like UEFA with lots of good countries to compete against, we would get UEFA with lots of little fish to beat up on. UEFA does have it's little FAs like San Marino and Faeroe Islands, but the combined COMEBOL/CONCACAF would have many, many more (mostly from CONCACAF).
The referee in the Italy/Ireland game is atrocious. He's PRO level bad. Azure defenders can do anything they want to do without fear. Their attackers look like so many submarines and the ref calls a foul on the Irish almost every time.
Watching Leichester City v. PSG. No Vardy. From early November through May 1 LC trailed only 51 minutes in EPL play. Just incredible.
to me, this team proves (no matter how much you want to say it was luck) that a good manager can make a whole lot of difference. Also, his quote below is easily my favorite soccer one that I share with many of the players I coach. "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard"