With all the controversy surrounding the Beijing Olympics, it'd be easy to ignore the event. However, as a sports fan, I'd like to point out that it is unfair to the players, Chinese or otherwise, to make the Olympics into a political storm. Really, the Olympics is about sport, players representing their respective nations, and all of us sports fans, young or old, enjoying watching our the world's best athletes compete. Maybe we can pause the talk of oil, genocide, and freedom for Tibetans for just one August, and enjoy the purity of an international sporting event.
----
Qualifications for Beijing soccer is complete.
Top U-23 men's players (with the exception of an additional three players over the age of 23 allowed) will be competing.
The sixteen qualified nations for the men's event are:
AFC (Qualified as the top of their respective qualifying groups)
Australia
Japan
Korea Republic
CAF (Qualified as the top of their respective qualifying groups)
Cameroon
Cote d'Ivoire
Nigeria
UEFA (Qualified through UEFA U-21 Championship 2007)
Belgium
Italy
Netherlands
Serbia
CONCACAF (Qualified through eight-team CONCACAF qualifying tournament)
Honduras
United States of America
OFC (Qualified through six-team round robin)
New Zealand
CONMEBOL (Qualified through South American U-20 Championship 2007)
Brasil
Argentina
Host country
China PR
The four men's groups are as follows:
Group A
Cote d'Ivoire
Argentina
Austalia
Serbia
Group B
Netherlands
Nigeria
Japan
Argentina
Group C
China PR
New Zealand
Brasil
Belgium
Group D
Korea Republic
Cameroon
Honduras
The tournament will be organized into group stages, a quarter-final knock out round, a semi-final, and a loser and winner's final game to determine places 1-4.
Men's calendar:
Group stage matches: August 7, 10, 13
Quarter-finals: August 16 (1D-2C, 1C-2D, 1B-2A, 1A-2B)
Semi-finals: August 19 (1D/2C - 1B/2A, 1C/2D - 1A/2B)
Loser's final: August 22
Winner's final: August 23
The women's tournament consists of 12 teams, four more than in Athens.
Group E
China PR
Sweden
Argentina
Canada
Group F
Korea DPR
Nigeria
Germany
Brasil
Group G
Norway
United States of America
Japan
New Zealand
In the women's event, the top two teams from each of the three groups will progress. The top two third-placed teams will also progress.
Women's calendar:
Group stages: August 6, 9, 12
Quarter finals: August 15 (1F-2G, 1G-3EF, 1E-3FG, 2E-2F)
Semi finals: August 18 (1F/2G - 1G/3EF, 1E/3FG - 2E/2F)
Loser and winner's finals: August 21
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
20LEGEND
Gutted that Ole is retiring, but best wishes to him as a coach and ambassador. He won us the treble and gave us so many winners as a substitute. Always played for the team before himself.
LEGEND.
ILYOGS should be an official acronym, btw.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Copa America Group Stage Highlights
Luis Antonio Valencia
Ecuador
1-0 ChileHernan Crespo
Argentina
1-1 USA2-1 USA
Nery Castillo
Mexico
1-0 Brasil2-0 Brasil
Roque Santa Cruz
Paraguay
1-0 Colombia2-0 Colombia
3-0 Colombia
Before the final day of group play, here are the standings:
Group A
4 Venezuela, +2
3 Peru, +1
3 Uruguay, -2
1 Bolivia, -1
Group B
6 Mexico, +3
3 Brazil, +1
3 Chile, -2
0 Ecuador, -2
Group C
6 Paraguay, +7
6 Argentina, +5
0 USA, -5
0 Colombia, -7
New Season = New Kits, New People.
With the new season comes changes. New faces, new kits... and therefore, new faces in those kits.
How will everyone look? Will it just be too weird to see that former Red in the white adidas of a Real Madrid shirt?
Manchester United released a new home range: classic all-red shirt (save for a white stripe down the back), white shorts, and black socks (plain but with a Red Devil stitched on the back). New signings Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich) and Nani (Sporting Lisbon) were one club men, but not symbols of their club and so the change to a red shirt should not be too strange. The change should be smooth also for Anderson (FC Porto), who is too young to have made his name synonomous with a club's.
Hargreaves has yet to recieve his number, but shows off his jersey with the new official Premiership lettering.
Inter Milan released images of their new Centenary away kit.
Inter signed experienced Honduran striker Suazo, and are looking to sign the young Brazilian Pato, also a striker.
Valencia introduced their new kits for next season. The away jersey has changed from black to orange, with a raised collar; their home kit is the same but with a polo collar.
Liverpool changed their away and 3rd kits. Their motto is "Worn with Passion. Identify yourself." The new away kits are so boring, their motto should be, "You'll need some identification when you wear this jersey because it's so boring that nobody will be able to tell you damn Scousers apart-- but they're better than the yellow, right?" Oh! I know! Maybe they made their kits from exciting to boring to reflect the change of striker from Luis Garcia to Fernando Torres!
Chelsea made their away kits a little more exciting.
Highlighter yellow shirts, highlighter-accented pants. Well, it looks scary all right. Almost as scary as their ads with the scarily tall and large and imposing trio of Drogba, JT and Michael Ballack running at you...
Now all Chelsea players wear their kits the same. Tight sleeves with shirt form fitting and tucked neatly into short, thigh hugging adidas shorts.
What on EARTH will new signing Claudio Pizarro do?!
Arsenal made changes to their kits, with some sort of historical meaning that I don't know enough about to write about.
I can't get over Fabregas looking all stoic and everything...
Atletico Madrid has a slightly new home kit and an all blue away jersey.
And a new model for their shirts. Younger, will-be-better, and cuter, if I do say so myself. Luis Garcia will look good in anything (he pulled off the yellow Liverpool shirt, did he not?) and anything is better than the horrible yellow of Villareal that Diego Forlan used to wear.
Bayern's kit now looks like a Gap rugby polo to ensure that Phillip Lahm,Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and new signings Franck Ribery and Luca Toni will look as dorky as ever.
Real Madrid has changed their sponsor from Siemens to BWin. I liked their kits a lot last season, but there is actually no way to make a Real Madrid shirt look bad.
The best change that I have seen is that of Barcelona and their away jersey. Gone is the orange for a beautiful turquoise blue shirt with lime green accents. Perhaps they realized Henry's skin tone would clash with their orange and flourecent yellow away kits.
They're gorgeous. And Abidal and Henry will look wonderful in them. Hopefully Eto'o will stay, as well, because he'll look nice in them, too.
How will everyone look? Will it just be too weird to see that former Red in the white adidas of a Real Madrid shirt?
Manchester United released a new home range: classic all-red shirt (save for a white stripe down the back), white shorts, and black socks (plain but with a Red Devil stitched on the back). New signings Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich) and Nani (Sporting Lisbon) were one club men, but not symbols of their club and so the change to a red shirt should not be too strange. The change should be smooth also for Anderson (FC Porto), who is too young to have made his name synonomous with a club's.
Hargreaves has yet to recieve his number, but shows off his jersey with the new official Premiership lettering.
Inter Milan released images of their new Centenary away kit.
Inter signed experienced Honduran striker Suazo, and are looking to sign the young Brazilian Pato, also a striker.Valencia introduced their new kits for next season. The away jersey has changed from black to orange, with a raised collar; their home kit is the same but with a polo collar.
Liverpool changed their away and 3rd kits. Their motto is "Worn with Passion. Identify yourself." The new away kits are so boring, their motto should be, "You'll need some identification when you wear this jersey because it's so boring that nobody will be able to tell you damn Scousers apart-- but they're better than the yellow, right?" Oh! I know! Maybe they made their kits from exciting to boring to reflect the change of striker from Luis Garcia to Fernando Torres!
Chelsea made their away kits a little more exciting.
Highlighter yellow shirts, highlighter-accented pants. Well, it looks scary all right. Almost as scary as their ads with the scarily tall and large and imposing trio of Drogba, JT and Michael Ballack running at you...Now all Chelsea players wear their kits the same. Tight sleeves with shirt form fitting and tucked neatly into short, thigh hugging adidas shorts.
What on EARTH will new signing Claudio Pizarro do?!
Arsenal made changes to their kits, with some sort of historical meaning that I don't know enough about to write about.
Oh dear, they've cut Thierry out of this one.
I can't get over Fabregas looking all stoic and everything...Atletico Madrid has a slightly new home kit and an all blue away jersey.
And a new model for their shirts. Younger, will-be-better, and cuter, if I do say so myself. Luis Garcia will look good in anything (he pulled off the yellow Liverpool shirt, did he not?) and anything is better than the horrible yellow of Villareal that Diego Forlan used to wear.Bayern's kit now looks like a Gap rugby polo to ensure that Phillip Lahm,Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and new signings Franck Ribery and Luca Toni will look as dorky as ever.
Real Madrid has changed their sponsor from Siemens to BWin. I liked their kits a lot last season, but there is actually no way to make a Real Madrid shirt look bad.
The best change that I have seen is that of Barcelona and their away jersey. Gone is the orange for a beautiful turquoise blue shirt with lime green accents. Perhaps they realized Henry's skin tone would clash with their orange and flourecent yellow away kits.
They're gorgeous. And Abidal and Henry will look wonderful in them. Hopefully Eto'o will stay, as well, because he'll look nice in them, too.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Henry: Arsenal --> Barcelona, Premiership --> La Liga.
Okay, just some more thoughts on the transfer of Theirry Henry from Arsenal to Barcelona.
If the Premiership was the best league in 06-07, it most certainly isn't anymore. With the loss of Henry to the Spanish League, the Premiership loses another top-quality player. Arsenal is now a little-above-average English squad. The only thing that was making them a real quality club was Henry, and without him they aren't any better than Tottenham or anything. Now, the Premiership only really has 3 'top clubs' that are able to truly compete in Europe... and if Liverpool lost Steven Gerrard, they really would not be a top club either, so really it is just Chelsea and Man Utd. If you think about La Liga, they have Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla, teams which could all compete well in Europe. AC Milan and Internazionale are the main representatives of Serie A, although Juventus should return quite strongly this upcoming season. It has already been shown that AC Milan can edge out two top Premiership teams Man Utd and Liverpool, and so it could even be said that Serie A is better than the Premiership. The entire Premiership, not just Arsenal, loses quality with the transfer of Henry.
I totally support Henry's move, because he wasn't going to get anything from Arsenal. He's going to retire in about 4-6 years, and Fabregas, Walcott, etc. won't become great players, if they ever become great players, until past his time. All of Henry's old teammates from their Premiership-winning-years have moved on (retired, in the case of Denis Bergkamp; a transfer to Juventus and now Inter Milan in the case of Patrick Vieira), or were forced to move on by Wenger (in the case of Robert Pires, a transfer to Villareal), and he has every right to feel he should move on as well. I'm sure he knows he is leaving his young Arsenal team to possibly fall out of even 4th place in the Premiership, perhaps not qualify for Champions League, but at the same time, he shouldn't be forced to have that burden on his shoulders. Henry probably still feels young, and staying at Arsenal as a great player when the rest of the squad will only be competitive in another 5 years is not enough for a player who wants to win things at the moment because he is short on time left as a top player. Only for probably the next two years can Henry be considered a truly threatening player, and he does not feel he can achieve anything he deserves to with Arsenal in that time period. I can see nothing wrong with this. He has given up the chance to retire with Arsenal and the love of their fans, and he knows this, but there is nothing wrong with wanting to further your career. It was not really selfishness that was the cause of Henry's transfer; he knows he has lost perhaps the respect of some people in the football community. But for all he gave to Arsenal, he's not getting anything in return. Maybe it would have been nice to see him retire with the club that made him famous, but it is also sad to see such talent wasted on a squad that is otherwise mediocre. In the case of one-club men like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Steven Gerrard, and John Terry, they stay at their clubs because they are winning. In reality, the majority of those players would have left as well if put in Henry's position.
Not everything about Barcelona is garantueed to be brilliant for Henry. Changing clubs and especially leagues always changes things about players. Henry has seen players like Shevchenko and Ballack change clubs and leagues and become ineffective benchwarmers. Henry is not garantueed a starting position with Barcelona; he is also taking on a challenge by joining a squad with so many other quality forward players. With Arsenal he was the star, but with Barca he will have to really compete for a top spot. By joining Barcelona Henry is perhaps garantueed more success than if he stayed at Arsenal, but he is also giving up his role as a leader and star. Unlike at Arsenal or in the Premiership, he won't recieve as many personal awards. He might not be the top goalscorer of the Spanish League, let alone in his own team. If Barcelona wins Copa del Rey, or La Liga, or the Champions League, it may not be just because of Henry. He is not only challenging himself to become a leading part of the Barcelona squad, but also giving up his role as a star and realizing that he cannot lead a team on his own.
Basically, Henry was the only really good player on a crap team that was not going to do well until after he retired. Nobody can say they would CHOOSE to stay in a situation like that. And loyalty? Henry has shown Arsenal enough loyalty for staying this long, and for all the records and titles he has brought them. 8 years, 197 goals, 374 appearances; the numbers speak for themselves if you're asking about loyalty.
If the Premiership was the best league in 06-07, it most certainly isn't anymore. With the loss of Henry to the Spanish League, the Premiership loses another top-quality player. Arsenal is now a little-above-average English squad. The only thing that was making them a real quality club was Henry, and without him they aren't any better than Tottenham or anything. Now, the Premiership only really has 3 'top clubs' that are able to truly compete in Europe... and if Liverpool lost Steven Gerrard, they really would not be a top club either, so really it is just Chelsea and Man Utd. If you think about La Liga, they have Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla, teams which could all compete well in Europe. AC Milan and Internazionale are the main representatives of Serie A, although Juventus should return quite strongly this upcoming season. It has already been shown that AC Milan can edge out two top Premiership teams Man Utd and Liverpool, and so it could even be said that Serie A is better than the Premiership. The entire Premiership, not just Arsenal, loses quality with the transfer of Henry.
I totally support Henry's move, because he wasn't going to get anything from Arsenal. He's going to retire in about 4-6 years, and Fabregas, Walcott, etc. won't become great players, if they ever become great players, until past his time. All of Henry's old teammates from their Premiership-winning-years have moved on (retired, in the case of Denis Bergkamp; a transfer to Juventus and now Inter Milan in the case of Patrick Vieira), or were forced to move on by Wenger (in the case of Robert Pires, a transfer to Villareal), and he has every right to feel he should move on as well. I'm sure he knows he is leaving his young Arsenal team to possibly fall out of even 4th place in the Premiership, perhaps not qualify for Champions League, but at the same time, he shouldn't be forced to have that burden on his shoulders. Henry probably still feels young, and staying at Arsenal as a great player when the rest of the squad will only be competitive in another 5 years is not enough for a player who wants to win things at the moment because he is short on time left as a top player. Only for probably the next two years can Henry be considered a truly threatening player, and he does not feel he can achieve anything he deserves to with Arsenal in that time period. I can see nothing wrong with this. He has given up the chance to retire with Arsenal and the love of their fans, and he knows this, but there is nothing wrong with wanting to further your career. It was not really selfishness that was the cause of Henry's transfer; he knows he has lost perhaps the respect of some people in the football community. But for all he gave to Arsenal, he's not getting anything in return. Maybe it would have been nice to see him retire with the club that made him famous, but it is also sad to see such talent wasted on a squad that is otherwise mediocre. In the case of one-club men like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Steven Gerrard, and John Terry, they stay at their clubs because they are winning. In reality, the majority of those players would have left as well if put in Henry's position.
Not everything about Barcelona is garantueed to be brilliant for Henry. Changing clubs and especially leagues always changes things about players. Henry has seen players like Shevchenko and Ballack change clubs and leagues and become ineffective benchwarmers. Henry is not garantueed a starting position with Barcelona; he is also taking on a challenge by joining a squad with so many other quality forward players. With Arsenal he was the star, but with Barca he will have to really compete for a top spot. By joining Barcelona Henry is perhaps garantueed more success than if he stayed at Arsenal, but he is also giving up his role as a leader and star. Unlike at Arsenal or in the Premiership, he won't recieve as many personal awards. He might not be the top goalscorer of the Spanish League, let alone in his own team. If Barcelona wins Copa del Rey, or La Liga, or the Champions League, it may not be just because of Henry. He is not only challenging himself to become a leading part of the Barcelona squad, but also giving up his role as a star and realizing that he cannot lead a team on his own.
Basically, Henry was the only really good player on a crap team that was not going to do well until after he retired. Nobody can say they would CHOOSE to stay in a situation like that. And loyalty? Henry has shown Arsenal enough loyalty for staying this long, and for all the records and titles he has brought them. 8 years, 197 goals, 374 appearances; the numbers speak for themselves if you're asking about loyalty.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Euro 2008 Qualifiers
scores:
Kazakhstan 1-2 Armenia
Wales 0-0 Czech Republic
Russia 4-0 Andorra
Azerbaijan 1-3 Poland
Finland 0-2 Serbia
Belgium 1-2 Portugal
Lithuania 1-0 Georgia
Faeroe Islands 1-2 Italy
France 2-0 Ukraine
Bosnia Herzegovina 3-2 Turkey
Norway 4-0 Malta
Greece 2-0 Hungary
Germany 6-0 San Marino
Macedonia 1-2 Israel
Estonia 0-1 Croatia
Iceland 1-1 Lichtenstein
Latvia 0-2 Spain
Denmark 3-3 Sweden
Belarus 0-2 Bulgaria
Albania 2-0 Luxembourg
Slovenia 1-2 Romania
I watched the Czech Republic/Wales game and the Portugal/Belgium game.
I hadn't ever seen Belgium play before, but they were very, very good. Portugal managed to get through, however, with two brilliant goals, the first from a difficult angle and off the post by Nani in the 1st half, showing he deserves his Man United contract. The second was a beautiful goal by Helder Postiga, after the Belgian equaliser.
Portugal is one of my favorite national teams; their style of play really caught my eye during the last World Cup. Helder Postiga is a brilliant player, and with Pauleta retired, is vital to the squad. Today, Portugal played without big names such as Ricardo Carvalho (injury), Cristiano Ronaldo (suspension for accumulated yellows), Simao, and Nuno Gomes, but still pulled off a convincing win. Younger players like Quaresma and Nani showed their amazing quality, and Deco, Petit, and Tiago kept things neat in the middle. I'm really looking forward to seeing what this younger Portugal can do.
Wales played a very good game against the Czechs, and bid farewell to their skipper Ryan Giggs. Giggs made some amazing runs, as well as a nice chip shot, but was unable to score or give Wales the win. Giggs was substituted off in his hometown, Cardiff, to a great standing ovation. He put his captain's armband onto a heavily tattooed arm of Craig Bellamy and they hugged; it was possibly the cutest thing Bellamy has done in his life. After the game, Giggs gave an interview.
Kazakhstan 1-2 Armenia
Wales 0-0 Czech Republic
Russia 4-0 Andorra
Azerbaijan 1-3 Poland
Finland 0-2 Serbia
Belgium 1-2 Portugal
Lithuania 1-0 Georgia
Faeroe Islands 1-2 Italy
France 2-0 Ukraine
Bosnia Herzegovina 3-2 Turkey
Norway 4-0 Malta
Greece 2-0 Hungary
Germany 6-0 San Marino
Macedonia 1-2 Israel
Estonia 0-1 Croatia
Iceland 1-1 Lichtenstein
Latvia 0-2 Spain
Denmark 3-3 Sweden
Belarus 0-2 Bulgaria
Albania 2-0 Luxembourg
Slovenia 1-2 Romania
I watched the Czech Republic/Wales game and the Portugal/Belgium game.
I hadn't ever seen Belgium play before, but they were very, very good. Portugal managed to get through, however, with two brilliant goals, the first from a difficult angle and off the post by Nani in the 1st half, showing he deserves his Man United contract. The second was a beautiful goal by Helder Postiga, after the Belgian equaliser.
Portugal is one of my favorite national teams; their style of play really caught my eye during the last World Cup. Helder Postiga is a brilliant player, and with Pauleta retired, is vital to the squad. Today, Portugal played without big names such as Ricardo Carvalho (injury), Cristiano Ronaldo (suspension for accumulated yellows), Simao, and Nuno Gomes, but still pulled off a convincing win. Younger players like Quaresma and Nani showed their amazing quality, and Deco, Petit, and Tiago kept things neat in the middle. I'm really looking forward to seeing what this younger Portugal can do.
Wales played a very good game against the Czechs, and bid farewell to their skipper Ryan Giggs. Giggs made some amazing runs, as well as a nice chip shot, but was unable to score or give Wales the win. Giggs was substituted off in his hometown, Cardiff, to a great standing ovation. He put his captain's armband onto a heavily tattooed arm of Craig Bellamy and they hugged; it was possibly the cutest thing Bellamy has done in his life. After the game, Giggs gave an interview.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Football advertisements.
We all know what Youtube is best for. Football ads.
Stand Up, Speak Up <-- Don't be racist!!
Reebok: Giggs in his garden. <-- this man is too cool
Reebok: Giggs in his home. <-- Man Utd legenddddd...
Pepsi Surf <-- TOO COOL.
Pepsi Shuffle <-- Fabregas is one hillarious guy.
Pepsi Germany 2006 <-- Bavarians + Footballers = LOVE.
Renault Clio <-- Is Henry the definition of class? YES.
Joga Bonito -- Cristiano Ronaldo v. Zlatan [Eric Cantona Bonus!!]
Joga Bonito -- Thierry Henry (Honour) <-- CLASS.
Joga Bonito -- Billy <-- Billy is one lucky dork.
Joga Bonito -- 3 on 3 <-- C.Ronaldo+Robbie Keane + Fabregas vs. Rooney, Rio & Anton Ferdinand.
Carlsberg <-- As much as I think Liverpool has no class, Steven Gerrard is still pretty cute.
Henry's Home <-- Man Utd. chases Henry in his dreams!
Pro Evo 4 <-- HENRY!!!!
Adidas +10: Japan v. Italy <-- Shunsuke & bagpipe man are too cool.
The Road to Lisbon <-- THE COOLEST AD EVER JUST BECAUSE IT HAS ZIZOUUUUU
Stand Up, Speak Up <-- Don't be racist!!
Reebok: Giggs in his garden. <-- this man is too cool
Reebok: Giggs in his home. <-- Man Utd legenddddd...
Pepsi Surf <-- TOO COOL.
Pepsi Shuffle <-- Fabregas is one hillarious guy.
Pepsi Germany 2006 <-- Bavarians + Footballers = LOVE.
Renault Clio <-- Is Henry the definition of class? YES.
Joga Bonito -- Cristiano Ronaldo v. Zlatan [Eric Cantona Bonus!!]
Joga Bonito -- Thierry Henry (Honour) <-- CLASS.
Joga Bonito -- Billy <-- Billy is one lucky dork.
Joga Bonito -- 3 on 3 <-- C.Ronaldo+Robbie Keane + Fabregas vs. Rooney, Rio & Anton Ferdinand.
Carlsberg <-- As much as I think Liverpool has no class, Steven Gerrard is still pretty cute.
Henry's Home <-- Man Utd. chases Henry in his dreams!
Pro Evo 4 <-- HENRY!!!!
Adidas +10: Japan v. Italy <-- Shunsuke & bagpipe man are too cool.
The Road to Lisbon <-- THE COOLEST AD EVER JUST BECAUSE IT HAS ZIZOUUUUU
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