The [Horribly Unpopular] Soccer Thread

Reno_eNVy said:

This is true. But slamming your attacking half of the field leaves you open to counter-attack

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We could have countered better if we could have kicked the ball farther then 10 yds I've never seen it hang up so much before haha. Good goal play again I give spurrning tons of credit get was worked over that last 45

Sounders weren't able to move the ball very well last night. RSL had almost instant high pressure on every pass we made. Definitely felt Rosales being out last night, but in the end Martinez made that screaming volley. Sounders tactic looked to be to hang back and absorb the RSL offense then try and long ball it up to FM and EJ in the hopes of a breakaway.

LA vs San Jose was a scary exhibition of Keane. That crossing run behind the defense line, Landon's perfect through ball, and Keane's sense to side step instead of blast were excellent. It's going to be a great series.

GO SOUNDERS!!!

aygov said:

and plastic...

Just kidding! Welcome to the thread!

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Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

You were right the first time

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BainbridgeBrewer said:

Sounders weren't able to move the ball very well last night. RSL had almost instant high pressure on every pass we made. Definitely felt Rosales being out last night, but in the end Martinez made that screaming volley. Sounders tactic looked to be to hang back and absorb the RSL offense then try and long ball it up to FM and EJ in the hopes of a breakaway.

LA vs San Jose was a scary exhibition of Keane. That crossing run behind the defense line, Landon's perfect through ball, and Keane's sense to side step instead of blast were excellent. It's going to be a great series.

GO SOUNDERS!!!

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Well put.

I just bought 2 tickets to the game on the 18th, cant wait!

robdogj said:

I need to apologize for my punk ass introduction. I am a phunkin' mad footie fan from Nor Cal. I didn't realize this thread was here. I had to some digging to do to get to this thread. I mainly come onto this site for tips for beer making, but now I now there are some nutty footie fans here, I will make sure to keep dropping in from time from time. One last thing, I am a HUGE Chelsea Football Fan. I finally made my Blue Mecca earlier this fall. Here is my story for my trip to the Historic Stamford Bridge. So be cool & remember, Chelsea fans are CAREFREE!!!!

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Jeebus. Chelsea and Goons. No wonder you made a punk-ass introduction.

Nice goal from jozy...

Well that was unexpected. Pretty ugly game for Seattle and a hole probably too deep to get out of. Have no idea why we went with the lineup we did and why we decided to play just one forward.

Yeah, wow. That was crazy! Mike Magee, aka Mr. November, aka The Highlander, going strong in the post-season again. And of course Robbie Keane is playing out of control.

Rough road ahead for Seattle. They're going to have to figure out how to keep LA from having acres of space in the midfield if they're to keep up in the second leg.

lgilmore said:

Well that was unexpected. Pretty ugly game for Seattle and a hole probably too deep to get out of. Have no idea why we went with the lineup we did and why we decided to play just one forward.

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I kind of wondered why Montero was alone up there.
Didn't seem to work too well.
There was one cross right before half time, if Montero had been an inch taller, and timed it a little better, it would have been in the back of the net.
Besides that, all the crosses to him were pretty useless.

lgilmore said:

Well that was unexpected. Pretty ugly game for Seattle and a hole probably too deep to get out of. Have no idea why we went with the lineup we did and why we decided to play just one forward.

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What was that last night? The whole first half up to the goal I was thinking the game looked very open with decent passes. Nothing like the bruising physical play from RSL.

Seattle's defense must have stayed at home. They couldn't pick up anything. LA was running circles around our back line and for some reason the line stayed rigid. They didn't pick up any of the cross runs. Johansson left Keane open several times, Alonso often looked like he was playing as a fullback. Absolutely horrible play by the Sounders.

I wished Schmidt had put another striker up top to help Montero. It sounded like he didn't feel EJ could handle another full 90 so the original plan was for him to go in during the second half. Not sure why they pulled Montero too.

I sure hope they can get their game together for Sunday's game. LA's attack looked good, but we know we can produce a 4-0 result against them as we've done it already once this year.

Yanks playing on Weds in Russia. Should be very interesting. Yanks Abroad will be on display.

Don't all start hating on me for asking this, I place all the blame on last night's Sounders performance on the lineup choices and the mental strength of the players.

Why are the playoff games so close together? LA played Wednesday against SJ. Sounders played RSL Thursday. Then we have the next round on Sunday. Why isn't there at least a full week between rounds so teams can recuperate? Up until this week's week long break the teams have had a game every 3 days. It begins to be more about attrition than about skill. Plus why is there a 1 week break now in the middle of the semi final round? Up until now it was the 3 day schedule.

Unfortunately Sigi was playing for a tie at best or down 1-0 going to Seattle. For the first time, Seattle played the bunker game. Something Sigi said he would never do with his team. We had more talent on the bench than on the field. LA v. Seattle is a coaches game. Should have been a chess match, instead it turned into checkers and Seattle got jumped 3 times. Arena got the best of Sigi before the game kicked off.

BainbridgeBrewer said:

Don't all start hating on me for asking this, I place all the blame on last night's Sounders performance on the lineup choices and the mental strength of the players.

Why are the playoff games so close together? LA played Wednesday against SJ. Sounders played RSL Thursday. Then we have the next round on Sunday. Why isn't there at least a full week between rounds so teams can recuperate? Up until this week's week long break the teams have had a game every 3 days. It begins to be more about attrition than about skill. Plus why is there a 1 week break now in the middle of the semi final round? Up until now it was the 3 day schedule.

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Well of course they're going to give them more time in the later rounds, considering they're exhausted from previous rounds. They can put the first rounds matches close to each other since everybody is still decently fresh. But here are a lot of reasons I can think of the first rounds being rapid fire:

- Test of a great team is to test their depth
- Too many clubs early on, would take too long to go through if there was a week break between each match. This isn't NBA/NHL playoffs that take months to get through
- If you added more break time between early matches, the final would probably be closer to Christmas which, A) makes it hard to get fans there, and B) at least a third of the clubs in the league are in regions of very harsh winter conditions
- The longer breaks in the later rounds is, in my opinion, like a reward for making it that far
- Rapid fire early rounds probably help to keep interest from waning among casual fans, while the big breaks in the later rounds build hype
- Early rounds are all intra-conference and thus travel time is short while the final requires more travel planning
- The two weeks between the semis and a final is really handy, considering we won't know where the final will be hosted until after the semis are over

I'm sure there are other legit reasons but it's early, I'm tired, and I'm dreading going to work out in the cold. But at least there's MLS Playoffs to look forward to!

I cant even comment on the game didn't get to watch, thanks work, but must have been a bad one. Oh well will make the 4-0 home victory that much sweeter.

Don't worry, even if you score 4 you won't be able to contain the playoff-proven trifecta of Landy, Keane, and Mr. November.

Oh LA Galaxy
Always a part of me
Hear me shout, hear me shout
Hear me SHOUT SHOUT SHOUT
Rain or shine
Win or lose
My heart belongs to you!

Aha you've overlooked the flaw in your statement

robdogj said:

Yanks playing on Weds in Russia. Should be very interesting. Yanks Abroad will be on display.

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Looking forward to seeing Josh Gatt.
If you've never heard of him...You Tube.
Amazingly fast 20 year old winger.

I refuse to add to this thread until my team has balls.

I'll see you guys somewhere in the distant future, hopefully.

Punity said:

Aha you've overlooked the flaw in your statement

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Wuzzat?

Reno_eNVy said:

Wuzzat?

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Snipers

Grannyknot said:

Looking forward to seeing Josh Gatt.
If you've never heard of him...You Tube.
Amazingly fast 20 year old winger.

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Thanks for the shout out. I will keep an eye on this kid. Despite not qualifying for the Olympics, IMHO 2012 has been a stella year for the USNMT. I seen the Yanks beat both Italy & Mexico on their home turf, both are matches I never could have believed would happen. Now going to Russia?? Man if the Yanks win that match....I will be very happy Almost Ray Hudson Happy Or even better [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReK1waJFhLI]Gary Neville happy[/ame]

ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod... only two days away until the return legs. AND I FINALLY HAVE HDTV WITH NBC SPORTS NETWORK!! WOOO

Predictions:

Seattle vs LA -- 2-1 (2-4 on aggregate)

DC vs Houston -- 2-0 (3-3 on aggregate, 3-3 a.e.t., DC wins pso 4-3)

Sea v L.A.. 6-0 in an all ttime epic match. Johnson with 4 goals and spurnning has a goal with a boot from his own goal.

Well now that's just crazy-talk

I just don't know... I'm still doing a slow burn about Sigi's lineup and choice of play from the first leg. I just keep thinking of Henry Winkler and Jerry Reed from the Waterboy. Until Sigi stops being afraid of Arena, we're going to lose more than we'll win against LA.

Today all the talk up here is getting rid of montero....... mainly because a 5-8 player couldn't beat four marking backs, two of which I think are 6'2" on high crosses..... I mean it's great Seattle has such a fan base, but I am left shaking my head at some of those "fans" leap off and on the bandwagon and their rants.

While I hope for a 4-nil result, the possibility is wafer slim thin.

I just want Sigi to tell the fans "sorry" and start working on next season. Quit blaming the players you put out there who really shouldn't have been.

Montero has his moments of brilliance but he's not consistent and doesn't usually score clutch goals.

Really?.... nothing to be said from the Sounders faithful?

Also, congrats to Austin Berry for winning Rookie of the Year.

It's early yet. But what last night proves is had Sigi not played the group in the first game and not played to lose by much or tie, a different outcome was possible. Still mad at that brain fart. Not mad enough to fire him, but the same guys who started last night for Seattle were all available for down in LA. That group could have gone at least 60 minutes and maybe there's a different outcome. Chosing not to attack in LA was the deciding factor.

Right now, I just hope they don't tear apart the team in a kneejerk fashion. Montero with better service is Wondo. Montero had actually more points (goals and assists) than Eddie Johnson this past season and much like the two barbers with one having a great haircut and the other not, Montero is a far better passer than Johnson.

Congrats on the series win. What this series proved is Arena is a better coach than Sigi. But you already knew that. Unfortunately, so did I. We almost had the waterboy ending.....

Seattle could have definitely used that group in the first leg. They put up a helluva fight.

But look, Sigi is no pushover. He knows how to run a match but will often take chances that don't always work. Give him a couple more years and he'll probably be on par with Bruce Almighty.

I think Bruce has Sigi's number because he makes Sigi overthink the situation. Sorta like Eddie Johnson with time on his hands and the ball at his feet. Johnson is unbelievable if you don't give him time to think, once he starts thinking he's done.

I'm in a big fight over the PK call. Lots of people upset by what actually after looking it over many times was a good legit call. The left arm was moving downwards and actually struck the ball. It was a fair call.

I see Becks is calling it quits. Sad actually to see him go. He's been a great embassitor for the game. Can't help but like him. Good luck with Houston. Forgive me, I am pulling for Houston, not because we lost, but for Brian Ching whom I met years ago on a practice field in Seattle with the old Sounders. The closest player America has produced to Brian McBride. the guy works hard to be a great player. Nice guy too. Like to see him retire a winner.

Yeah I'm bummed about Becks. It'll be strange not seeing that old man hustle his a$$ up and down the pitch.

I didn't watch the second leg. I was in Wisconsin deer hunting. Sounds like a good game, but in the end the Galaxy held it together. Great win LA! So is the final going to be held here in Seattle? I thought I read that somewhere.

I'll be rooting for LA.

The final will be held at the higher seeded clubs stadium, so HDC

BainbridgeBrewer said:

So is the final going to be held here in Seattle? I thought I read that somewhere.

I'll be rooting for LA.

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It would have been in Seattle if Seattle had beaten LA.

Chelsea sacked Di Matteo this morning.
Roman Abramovich is such a nut sack.

Grannyknot said:

Chelsea sacked Di Matteo this morning.
Roman Abramovich is such a nut sack.

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Come on now, its not like Di Matteo has done anything good recently anyways....

I think part of what happened here was Abramovich never really wanted Di Matteo as anything more than interim anyways. But even he understood that you couldn't very well not give the job to someone that just won champions league for you without looking like a complete ******. So he may have just been waiting for an excuse to ditch Di Matteo, as unfair as that may be.

BrewKnurd said:

.......... But even he understood that you couldn't very well not give the job to someone that just won champions league for you without looking like a complete ******......

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Someone should tell him he gained lifetime ****** status when he fired or ran off the 2 best managers the club has ever had.

Sometimes, as an Arsenal fan, I get tired of the "sack Wenger" rumors....but at least once a year, I count my blessings that my club isn't anything like that circus.

Really well-done ad for the finals. Kudos, ESPN

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EDIT: Not sure why there is extra dangly code but at least the video link works

All the female supporters of my team look like this one.