The Soccer Thread (Version 8)

Shame that won't be over here. That'd be a properly good road trip.

I'm not sure England needs acclimatizing, though, given that it'll be winter in Brazil.

 

FWIW, Fox Soccer Plus is on free trial on DirecTV this week.

 

OK, that makes sense now. I was confused yesterday!

 

The UEFA playoffs for Brazil:

Portugal v Sweden
Ukraine v France
Greece v Romania
Iceland v Croatia

 

With Croatia in something of a crisis mode, that's probably as good as it gets for Iceland. Much as I like Croatia, I think you gotta root for a country of 328,000.

 

Wow, Portugal vs. Sweden??? That looks more like a World Cup quarterfinal than a UEFA playoff.

I'd love to see Iceland in the World Cup. Who wouldn't?

 

Greece-Romania will be the new hot insomnia cure. Not sure why, but I have a feeling Ukraine could make life difficult for France. What a pity it would be for the World Cup to be sans the one bunch that can match Mexico in the ragequit department.

 

Sweden's not that good behind Ibrahimovic. It's him, Kallstrom, Elm, Seb Larsson, Elmander and a lot of not-so-greatness. They're a decent team, and the Ronaldo/Zlatan matchup will keep things interesting, but they're really not a great team overall.

 

Hell of an interview with Sir Alex.

http://balls.ie/football/alex-ferguson-gets-put-place-john-snow

 

Ibra with 4 more today, including a great little flick in the box and an absolute laser from long range. He is fantastic to watch.

 

And Russian fans showing their ass as usual with racist chants at a visiting player. If UEFA wasn't as dirty as FIFA, I'd suggest they boot CSKA out of the tournament. But that would cut down on the $$$, so no.

 

Gazprom, proud sponsor of the UEFA Champions League!

In fairness, that would set a precedent that could prove quite awkward to live up to.