Anyone see the opening game of the African Cup of Nations? If you didn't you missed a hum-dinger! Angola were 4-0 and cruising with 12mins to go. And Mali scored 4 times, including twice in injury time to end up grabbing a point in an astonishing 4-4 draw. One thing about this tourney, the defences are so bad that it's never short of goals and goal mouth action.
For anyone who hasn't seen this assist yet this is one of the reasons why I love football so much. Quality. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7xvNc2fYXM"]YouTube- 0-2 Guti Deportivo v Real Madrid (assist of the season)[/ame]
Cardiff City in High Court to face winding-up order There May Be Trouble Ahead... They may be the first but they certainly wont be the last. In fact, Portsmouth are not far behind them... Also on Wednesday's companies court list for Wednesday is Cardiff's 2008 FA Cup final opponents Portsmouth - who beat the Bluebirds 1-0 at Wembley - as the Premier League club has a £7.5m VAT bill. Time to pay the piper. Football needs to get its house in order. Interesting times ahead methinks.
And to add on to the above - The total debt of Premier League clubs is greater than the rest of Europe's top sides put together, report Uefa. Premiership Clubs Ever Increasing Debt There's a reckoning a coming... West Ham and Portsmouth do not now have European licences.
Peter Storrie tenders resignation as chief executive http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...s-resignation-Portsmouth-chief-executive.html ..... Administration but not liquidation so at least they'll continue as a club. The EPL seem to be running Football Manager, Murray Edition.
Good. I'm sure it will get worse before it gets better. And I still believe Platini will have the balls to go through with the UEFA Financial Fair Play Plan.
Better late than never but I have to say I was delighted to see Real Madrid crash out of the Champions League last week. £240mill and they still can't buy success. I now hope to see Barcelona go on to the final and lift the trophy in Real's own backyard. That would be an excellent way to finish the footballing season. Man Utd and Arsenal both look strong. Arsenal put in the better performance against a team that at least had a bit of fight and threat about them before being hit by a sucker punch quick one-two in the second half. Bayern squeezed through by the skin of their teeth. But I can't see them defeating a Manchester Utd or Barcelona. I think Mourinho might be able to sneak out a draw at Stamford Bridge tonight and I expect Barca to prevail over Vfb Stuttgart tomorrow. Sevilla and Bordeaux should also join them in q-finals.
Other than Barca-Stuttgart (I'd prefer Stuttgart) I hope this is how it pans out. It's in danger of becoming an annual Chelsea/Man Utd/Barca borefest.
Normally I wouldn't bother which went through but with the final being in the Bernebau this year I'd like to see Barca go all the way just to piss Florentino Perez off a little bit more.
I admit a little joy in my heart everytime the big money teams lose. I'm really enjoying watching the Man City suckfest. It's nice now that it is easy to hate both teams from Manchester.
Here's hoping Basel can get the point they need to clinch the Swiss title away against their other rivals for the trophy, Young Boys, on Sunday.
Well played Joseba Etxeberria. Just goes to show that all footballers are not arseholes. Joseba Etxeberria testimonial A match played at Athletic Bilbao's San Mames stadium on Monday between the team players and 200 local school children by way of a "testimonial" for legendary player Joseba Etxeberria, set to retire at the end of this season, has acquired global significance. Athletic Bilbao player Joseba Etxeberria has retired from football after 15 active years with the side, playing more than 500 matches and scoring more than 100 goals. He played his last season for free. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elg-1kSYCKs"]YouTube- Partido Imposible. El partido más difícil de Athletic.Despedida de Etxebe.[/ame]
UEFA's Financial Fair Play bags another victim ---- The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body has ruled that Spanish Liga club RCD Mallorca does not meet the necessary admission criteria for participating in the 2010/11 UEFA club competitions. At its meeting today in Nyon, the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body decided that the Spanish club RCD Mallorca is not admitted to the UEFA club competitions for the 2010/11 season. On the basis of all expert reviews which have been undertaken, the Control and Disciplinary Body ruled that the club does not fulfil the necessary admission criteria (Article 2.07 of the Regulations of the UEFA Europa League), as the licence of the club was not granted in accordance with the UEFA Club Licensing Regulations, 2008 edition, and the club has not fulfilled its obligations as defined in these regulations. And there'll be more and more...
Harry Redknapp has threatened the Football Association with a post-match media blackout if they charge him for his outspoken attack on referee Mark Clattenburg. Press Association Sport understands the FA will make a decision on Tuesday whether to examine Redknapp's criticism of Clattenburg in the wake of Tottenham's controversial Barclays Premier League defeat at Manchester United on Saturday. Redknapp said of the prospect of being charged: "If they want to make an issue of what I said then I'll make some issues as well - don't worry. Don't expect me to come out on the TV anymore - ever - and speak to the press after a game. Otherwise, what chance have we got?" http://www.louthleader.co.uk/news/redknapp_threatens_media_blackout_1_1592885 I'm 100% with Harry Redknapp on this one. Players and managers are asked for opinions, usually on controversial incidents, immediately after matches have ended. They(the media) want the controversy that the immediate answers are going to provide. People are going to want to vent and speak the truth, as they see it, in these instances. Either accept that as the norm and go with it or, as Harry Redknapp has intimated, black out the media from immediate after match interviews. ------------------------------------ On another note, who'd want to be a Feyenoord fan after last weeks result... PSV 10-0 Feyenoord I was amazed when I saw the highlights, well, the goals in this game. The goals took longer to watch than most highlight packages for a normal run of the mill match. The former European champions seem to have sunk to a new all time low.
Just watched Barca totally annihilate Real Madrid. Now that's football. Forget about Sky Sports bleeting on about the best league in the world in the Premiership. The Premiership could never have given birth to football like I witnessed tonight. Exhilerating stuff.
Wow. Just watched Barcelona destroy a good Madrid team. I can't fault Madrid too much. I've never seen a team control a game of football so much. I think that's as close to perfect as you get.
Agreed. An utter joy to watch. Saw a stat from OptaJose. First time any Mourinho team has conceded more than 3 goals.
Ouch. It could have been a lot worse for 'the special one' as well. It was 5 going on 7 or 8. Carvalho would surely have seen red for his deliberate handball if it wasn't for the fact Barca were pissing all over Madrid by that point.
People who engage in the La Liga circle-jerk do not love football. They love a bastardised version that heavily promotes attacking play at the cost of everything else. If I wanted to watch a game of that nature I would watch playground football. It is nothing more than a glorified version of Knockout. Give me the Premiership, Die Bundesliga or Serie A any day of the week. It is gutting to see Valencia regress so much. Not so long ago they bossed La Liga by playing a balanced style of football that the rest simply could not handle. Deportivo did similar. Now the Spanish Old Firm have ruined the league financially while at the same time having the arrogance to loan up in order to further improve their squad and La Liga poaching. It is disgusting that people can hail the broken product as what everyone else should aim for. Almost as disgusting as their belief that they are connoisseurs of the game.
I'd take watching football like that all day over anything else but I do take your point although I think you put it across a bit strong! Thing is I have no emotional investment in any other teams apart from Scotland and Rangers so I just want to see good football. I'd rather watch Spanish football than English football to be honest.
Completely agree. I have no emotional attachment to any other team outwith Celtic but I tell you what, judging that football match alone without factoring in any of the external issues surrounding it, I thoroughly enjoyed that 90mins of football last night. As for ruining the league financially and relating that to other leagues in Europe, I'd imagine clubs such as Portsmouth may have something to say with how the Premiership is ran. Are we seriously trying to suggest that the Premiership, and its clubs within, have no financial issues to be concerned with...?
a comparison can't be made between leagues because outwith the bundesliga, every league causes many of it's teams to have financial issues. the problem is across football and the astronomical wages that have gone well out of control. the solution is lying within bundesliga. cheap tickets, quality on the field, financial responsibility.
Is it fair to say that the save that Craig Gordon made against Bolton at the weekend - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqAmG3xK9_Y"]YouTube - Craig Gordon's Save VS Bolton 18/12/10 (Save of the Season)[/ame] - is the best save ever by a Scottish goalkeeper? I think it is.