No TV in the States for this one, and apparently the game has been pushed back on the ITV priority schedule. The game is sold out. A win by the lads and a loss or draw by the diving racist Italians put the club in the final 8.
No residential TV, that is. Bars with Setanta subscriptions can pick the match up. I was at a pub in Vegas last week (the Crown and Anchor) that grabbed all the Setanta feeds available last week. And on Tuesday, there was a bigger group to watch Newcastle than there was to watch Arsenal (none!).
Re: Re: Toon-Barca [R], Wed. 19 March, 7:45 p.m. I hate Setanta... to say it's a rip-off is an understatement.
Re: Re: Re: Toon-Barca [R], Wed. 19 March, 7:45 p.m. Right, shoot the messenger. It's got nothing to do with exorbitant licensing fees charged by UEFA. Cough. Know why you can get these games for nowt in Canada but need to use Setanta in the USA? Because UEFA charges over 10 times as much for USA broadcast rights as they do for Canadian rights. They do this not because the market will bear it, but because the potential market would bear it. This is no different than any of those USA friendlies that wind up being available only on a closed-circuit feed somewhere (if at all). Similarly, it's why you see Fox Sports World Canada getting more free EPL games than FSW USA.
I like that theory of the "potential" market by UEFA... it makes as much sense as Kirovski having a job in the Premiership based on his potential - which has now gone on 7 years...
No suprise here but Barca will be resting several regular first teamers and clearing off the bench to give some of the younger guys a run out. I may stroll up to Nevada Smiths to watch this one this afternoon I would rather see the Toon advance then Inter..so good luck today!
After reading the match report, it seems like that the lads were unlucky, except for Bramble's defensive error. Why did he hold on to it so long and how was Kluivert able to "sneak up" on him like that. I'd say it was a good run despite that I thought we were finished in the first round.
Overall, it wasn't a bad performance. We had more chances, but apart from hitting the post once and two good saves by the Barca keeper we weren't accurate enough. Bellamy skinned their defence several times, but while he has plenty of speed he hasn't much composure. At half time I thought we would win it. In the second half, however, Barca moved up several gears. Their superiority was in the way they thought about the game. Newcastle relied on pace and strength and individual skill. Barca had a knack of creating space and almost casually filling it with their own players. Overall, whatever the possession / shots statistics might say, Barca were clearly the better side. Kluivert gave a fantastic demonstration of centre-forward play - he fully deserved the ovation he got when substituted. Shearer played well in the first half and set up several chances for Bellamy. In the second half De Boer and Andersson had him bottled up. Robert was just Robert. About four flashes of great skill, but most of the rest was negative. Both goals were badly defended. I have some sympathy with Bramble for the first as I think he was expecting Given to be more decisive. For the second, Motta was completely unmarked when he moved onto a cross to volley in. It's sad to be out of the CL, but our team has learned a lot. We will put our learning to good use for the rest of this season and future seasons. Our target for next season must be a serious challenge for the Premiership and getting to the quarter finals of the Champions League.