The Soccer Thread (Version 8)

He immediately congratulated Portugal for winning, acknowledging it did what it had to do to win. He also said it made for a rather uneventful, boring game, that did little to excite fans outside of Portugal, which was also spot-on. The AP's global soccer writer called it "dull and stodgy," a "sterile climax," and it's pretty tough to disagree with that.

I don't think McManaman was pandering to the US audience, either. I think most Europeans would also rather watch a wide-open, eventful game, than what they saw on Sunday. I seriously doubt anyone in any country goes to the game thinking, "boy, I hope I see a scoreless draw decided by penalty kicks." That didn't happen on Sunday, thanks to the late goal, but it sure looked as if we were headed in that direction.

As for the Super Bowl comparisons, nobody "blamed" the 1972 Miami Dolphins or 1973 Steelers, for example, for the style of football they used to defeat Washington and Minnesota. But nobody considers those 14-7 and 16-6 snoozers as anything anywhere near SB classics, either.

 

Sixteen years later, however, poor Trent Dilfer still never hears the end of it.

 

Well, the Rodgers' era at Celtic is off to a fabulous start.

Lincoln’s policeman striker beats Rodgers, Celtic in Champions League (video)

 

Americans hold no monopoly on hating 0-0 draws.

 

Big Sam for England. I guess the press conference won't be boring and the US is tied to Klinsi for the next 2 years.

 

Ugh.

 

Sounds like the Pogba thing is finally nearly done. I am a big United fan, but surprising that he would take a year away from Champions League.

 

Pogba should've been wearing red two years ago. At any rate they're at least in Europa League.

 

I went to two International Champions Cups games this week: Real Madrid vs PSG at Ohio State on Wednesday and Real vs Chelsea at Michigan today. Real was without its biggest stars but I still had a great time at both.

Combined attendance of the two games I saw was nearly 200,000.

 

Julian Green with a hat-trick today.

 

I played soccer as a kid and have gone to my teenager's and 8 year old games for years.

I had never seen a higher level of a mens team play live until a couple weeks ago but holy crap was it fun.

Our local PDL team which is 2 levels below MLS played a play off game. It was fast and intense and I was blown away at how small the players made the field look.

Already looking at season tix for next year and planning to catch an MLS game in our travels.

 

Anyone putting money on Leicester City repeating as champions? Great start with a loss to Hull City, a team that will likely go right back down.