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=/sport/2003/03/19/sfngus19.xml Valencia to turn up heat on Arsenal http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=D&xml=/sport/2003/03/19/sfnars19.xml Arsenal warned of fireworks http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=D&xml=/sport/2003/03/18/sfnars18.xml Lineups and background on officials tomorrow as soon as they are posted.
PS. Mestalla isn't THAT big a deal in terms of noise or hostility. Arsenal should cope with that without any problems.
There are showing it on ESPN Spanish service. I'm off to a local Tapas Bar to watch with spanish commentary.
Lineups and Officials 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)
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
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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? 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
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?
I'm glad to see GVB sitting, I really like him but I don't think he's a defender. He belongs in left midfield. Kolo seems to be able to play pretty well back there. Let's hope Campbell comes through unscathed. Also, I would like to see Lobes up front (FJ9). Maybe those ears will take flight again during a spectacular dive!
Thank you, although I sincerely wished I had never started some 20 years ago. Kids, don't chew snuff (said Brad as he pops a fresh pinch in his mouth) I didn't realize you used uefa.com for the ref info. I had meant to ask you about that. feel free to butt in at any time today if I'm slipping. BTW, how's that winter wonderland out there? Sunny and breezy in Dallas, mid 60's.