It would be funny is TNS did win. Especially after all the song and dance the Scousers made about getting the chance to defend 'their' title.
I must admit that I really do hate liverpool. So come on TNS! They actually have an ex-'Ton player (Martyn Naylor), he was awful, and I mean rank rotten, looked bad in about our worst ever team! This guy just could not play! If he is the standard of player TNS have then they can expect to get well and truely humped. Easily double figures over the two legs. Hopefully it won't be that way. If they beat Liverpool I might die of the laughter
i enjoyed liverpool's great comeback vs. AC Milan. but they have no business being in the champions league. they finished 5th in the EPL. their away record was something like 5-3-11. they dropped points to crystal palace and southhampton (both relegated). UEFA behaved like crave spineless cowards. 25% of the EPL has now been allowed into the champion's league. disgusting!!!!!!!!! UEFA = Useless English-Favoring A******s! go TNS!
Winners should always be allowed to defend their trophy. It's partially Liverpool's fault for having such an awful EPL campaign; but the blame also has to lie with UEFA. If anyone here gets World Soccer, see Brian Glanville's column this month on this very subject. This isn't even the first time this has happened. UEFA was ridiculously naive to assume that this wouldn't happen again and did nothing to prevent it. Morons.
I've read that article. But if you follow the football press, you know there are many who objected to UEFAs cave-in. New England won the last super bowl. That does not guarantee they will have a crack at the next one. They have to earn it. Same with Boston Red Sox in baseball. Benitez chose to go with the route he knows best - Europe. He more or less put off learning the ropes of English football, and decided to not compete seriously there. That made it much easier to shine in the champions league. He and his club should pay the price for that decision.
The Super Bowl isn't football. (Well, it's football, just not football.) I don't think any sport that uses "wild cards" can be compared to a proper football tournament. Not that I want to belittle American football or anything (actually, I do, but let's pretend I don't) but it's not really a valid comparison. Plus, baseball sucks. Why should they pay the price in the tournament that they, by your own admission, put the most effort and work into, because of their performance in another tournament? I do think UEFA should always make a space for the winner regardless of their league status, and that Liverpool were lucky they were willing to make an exception (again), but I feel it was the right decision.
of course the superbowl isn't 'football'. and the point is not whether you like baseball or not. (actually most Europeans are as totally ignorant of baseball as Americans are of cricket). but the comparisons are still valid. no team champions are guaranteed a chance to repeat automatically in any team competition i know of. except, retroactively, after UEFAs cave-in. do you seriously think they would have flip-flopped if the team was from, say, Croatia, or another 'smaller' nation? no, they buckled the same way they did when only giving Inter Milan a wrist slap after their fans tried to set visiting players on fire. they listen to big money teams from big money leagues. the 'wild card' serves the same purpose as allowing 2nd, 3rd etc. place teams to compete in UEFA cups. something very similar is done in groups stages in FIFA world cup qualifiers and other FIFA cups. Brazil are current world champions, but they are not guaranteed a trip to Germany in 2006. a couple of other points on Benitez. he imported his whole staff from Spain. he did not select staff familiar with the EPL. in fact, i don't think he has bothered to learn English. he says this year he will concentrate more on league play, and i read somewhere he is studying English by listening to Beatle songs. just what we need - another Spaniard speaking English with a scouser accent. maybe he will, with a little help from his friends. at any rate, we'll just have to agree that we'll both root for the Welsh team with the awful name and let it be. it's been a hard days night, so i'm off to bed for some golden slumbers.
The irony is that Liverpool is by some considerable distance the most popular football team in Wales, so even the people in TNS' "catchment area" will be supporting the Scouse.
I'm not ignorant of baseball. I've attended a Major League match before and have to listen to a friend of mine drone on about it. It is a rubbish sport. Can you honestly not think of an example where a team isn't allowed to try to defend its trophy? Here are some: EPL, FA Cup, League Cup, LDV Vans Trophy, Scottish Cup, SPL... I agree with this - but that doesn't make the "meat" of the decision wrong. True enough, if Hajduk Split had won the CL and finished 5th they wouldn't even be in Europe. But if this is a step towards making the rule hard-and-fast, then so much the better. Very similar, yes, the same, no. I've already dealt with this above. Another flawed system. Still, again, it's not quite the same, as there are qualifying rounds for the World Cup that all teams are (theoretically) free to enter, so even if Brazil finished 6th in South America they could technically be told that they crashed out of the world cup. But I see what you're saying, and I don't agree with it anyway. That seems to be more and more the case these days. I have no idea who gives players in-depth tactical discussions or even a half-time boot up the arse teamtalk. Still, even with this, I can't see Pool finishing top 3 It's a beautiful, cloudy morning here in Greenock
Actually we do get "baseball" we just call it rounders and let little girls play it. as far as champions being given a chance to defend their title, it would be a touch ironic if a tournement called UEFA Champions League didn't have the holders, i.e, the "champions". as for the superbowl example i think you'll find that all winners do qualify to compete in the following seasons regular season which in turn (if u finish high enough) will qualify u for the playoffs. Football is different in that there are more than one governing body therefore more than one tournement. Each one should have it's own way of qualifying- as they do. BUT each champion -as i said earlier should have the right to defend "their" title. end of. end of rant thanks for reading maybe see some of u TNS boys up there later
COME ON YOU TNS!!! Tongue in cheek of course. It will be interesting to see how Liverpool play and it would be fun to see TNS get a goal at Anfield.
Hail Hail To bad TNS lost today would have been quite funny if Pool had been drawn at home. Gerrad with his weak hat -trick will be all over the papers in the morning. No offence but put in a hatrick agianst a real club and then I might be impressed until then your just a very good footballer and nothing more. What' with the name TNS anyway? Was the club bought by TNS or did they just sell the naming rights to make some cash?
What a horrific mish-mash of a post. Why would a distributive midfielder need to score a hat-trick to prove anything - particularly to a Celtic fan who no doubt thinks Neil Lennon is a good footballer? Llansantffraid FC sold the naming rights to their team to a local businessman, and it seems to have helped, as they're qualifying more regularly for Europe than they were before.