All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

Ruud -- the horse face Galactico -- Carrick apparently in from Spurs.  I don't understand why SAF ran him out of town and I don't think that Saha is the answer.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1832028,00.html

 

Well, I'm going to guess that Ruud has been living up to his name a bit, or perhaps van Basten would have played him vs. Portugal in the World Cup. I'm guessing RVN has trouble seeing the field for Real.

 

I just don't get why they were so quick to get dump him -- Saha is a decent EPL striker, but not someone who is world class. Granted, Ruud, didn't have huge games in Europe for the Red Devils, but IMO he was the best "poacher" striker out there.

SAF has now pissed off and forced out Stam, Becks, Keane and Ruud in the past few years. Certainly, he got the best years out of each, but the talent has not been coming back into the squad at the same rate.

 

Webster, I wouldn't be too concerned about the loss of Beckham, who is only good on dead balls outside the 18, Keane, who demonstrated extremely little in half of a season with Celtic, and Ruud, who appears to be a cancer in nearly every clubhouse he enters.

I understand the frustration in not seeing much return, but Sir Alex has demonstrated throughout the years that he has an idea of what he's doing.

Meanwhile, my boy, Bobby Malcolm, was told to "find a new team" by his new manager at Rangers. When I met him in San Fran, the first thing I asked him was, "Are you still on the team?" The look in his face was funny to myself and those I was there with.

 

Pastor (no Crass), I know that Becks would never be able to meet the increasing hype on the field, but he loved that team. And I'm generally a big believer in selling a year too early instread of a year too late. But as long as they had him on the pitch, every free kick and corner were dangerous.

I think that their transfers for field players (with the exception of C. Ronaldo) have been awful since the Seba Veron era.

 

Webster, you are correct. Beckham is an incredibly dangerous player on dead balls. However, that is all he is now; an incredibly good one dimensional player. He can't fly down the wings. He can't defend. He can't push forward. With him the field your team is down to 10-men until there is a free kick outside the 18.

Yes, Beckham loved that team, and I think they should have kept him a year or two longer. We can all see what he is now.

 

England: Stoke City Why? Connections to Cleveland as in they actually played there as the Cleveland Stokers in the late 60s. Plus they have the same shitty luck as Cleveland's professional squads.

Italy: Hellas Verona Hooked ever since I read the book A Season with Verona.

Germany: St. Pauli or the greatest concept for a team in the history of the universe. Punk rock football. An openly gay club president. Hookers, pimps, left wing politics. Old Nazi war bunker overlooks the stadium. Brown uniforms. Who gives a shit if they're in the third division?

MLS: Columbus Crew I get to a few matches every year and that's what it's all about in the end. Actually attending matches.

 

Richard Deitsch interviews Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) in this week's SI. McShane's dad played at ManU. That link has more of the interview than the mag did, but I enjoyed this answer, which was in both:

And I'm not one to just bash somebody like Musburger, but ABC did him no favors by putting him in that spot.

 

You might lengthen that list once Gabriel Heinze puts in a full season. Park Ji-Sung was a solid buy, even if he's yet to turn into a consistent difference-maker.

 

For as crap as they've looked throughout the pre-season, Celtic handled Kilmarnock pretty easily (4-1). Says something about the rest of the Scottish Prem outside the Big 2.5.

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Shimizu 2-0 Iwata -- Take that you blue bastards! ;D

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MLS on FSC?
Bundesliga on GolTV?
What kind of BizarroTV World is this?

 

I like Heinze a lot, even if he is a step slow, but I get the feeling that he'll always be hurt.

Park was decent last year and a hell of a hard worker, but I don't see the class. He's the guy you start against Fulham because you want to rest your key players for the Champions League match on Tuesday.

 

Another great Joga Bonito commercial.

And if you havent' seen any of their commercials on You tube, you're really missing out. I recommend these to you:

You can thank me later....