FanNation - The Republic of Sport

I wish Charlie the best.

Charlie Davies career over?!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO



Such a sad story, I will pray for him

Wow! How you pull that off? I'm impressed.

The original Keeper is back guys. Thanks for caring if you did. I will no longer be using that account. It's great to be back!

I started this group. Me and jeevs started the group. It's Keeper. Unfortunately, I've been banned. For what reason, I have no clue.

Who started the group? I believe they should be able to set your status to creator.

Can someone with admin powers give me creator status? Thanks.

Come chat about US-El Salvador at:

http://www.fannation.com/message_boards/show_topic/119264

Hey guys, this is Keeper. I've been banned because I mentioned another website. And they banned me without warning and for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I've always been a nice, productive person on this site and I hope that you guys will help me get my old account back. Please fanmail me for any questions as I have a feeling this will be taken down. Please send stuff to moderators and make them know that this isn't OK. I'm not at all happy about this. Please help guys so I can take back my blogs that I've worked so hard on. They are rightfully mine.

Atletico got a huge signing with Juanito from Betis. Juanito will definitely bolster that defense. Juanito is one of Spain's best defenders

Sorry, but no way even with Silva. They are too crappy in the back, guys. And Heitinga could be leaving soon. They would mark disaster for them. He's really the only solid guy in the back for them. Thankfully they have the boy wonder Asenjo in goal.

Atletico Madrid could be in the mix if the reports saying david silva is heading to madrid are correct

Edwin va der sar, uefa club goalkeeper of the year! Definitley one of the top 3 keepers in the world, sorry petr cech

Teams that will make this year's La Liga interesting: Espanyol and Sevilla. Espanyol signed a many players but the Jarque death will hurt their start. Sevilla signed Negredo, and he'll benefit from Sevilla's wingers.

haha. Other 18? No respect for Sevilla or Atletico or Valencia?

I still think that Friedel should be the #1 for the US. I have for a while now. He's just so consistent. Howard is a great keeper, but he does have his off-days. Friedel, on the other hand, seems to never have a terrible day.

still good enough to play for the national team for sure

Brad Friedel is so fun to watch in the EPL

oooo, will def record L'pool/AVilla

EPL on ESPN2? Unbelieveable


Chelsea vs Hull, 7:45 AM ET, ESPN2 Saturday August 15

Liverpool vs Aston Villa, 3 PM ET, ESPN2, Monday August 24

If you have Fox Soccer Channel, then that is all you need. They have the games, a Sportscenter-like show, and even an hour-long review show on Sunday nights after the games are over. That's how I keep up with them.

What's the best way you guys have to keep up on EPL? I haven't ever followed it really close, but I want to get into it this season, any particular sites you recommend for media, news, or info?

My vote is for Valencia. I know he isn't a goal scorer, and shouldn't be expected to be out and out replacement for Ronaldo, but for United to duplicate their successes he's going to have to up his goal tally and I think he will.

Downing, lol. I wouldn't be suprised if he puts villa over the top if he can bring his england worthy form

i just forgot about aquilani, the transfer was so recent it slipped my mind. at least i put an other spot

My vote goes to Aquilani. If he stays healthy and learns from Gerrard, I think Liverpool can take the title. If his year resembles what he's done at Roma the past two years, Man. U. will take it.

I went with Steward Downing

Great poll. Don't know who to pick. I'm split between Tevez, Valencia, and Owen. Hell, I'll go with Owen.

just checkin in. I've been really busy so I haven't been on in a few months. With the new EPL and CL season starting up, I think I'll be back on again. Anyway, All hail Wayne Rooney!!!

Antonio Valencia destroyed Valencia

Link to my TD with j11forbes about goal line technology

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/374644?category_id=7

USA still has a chance to beat Mexico in Mexico throwdown:

[url]http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/370880-usa-still-has-a-chanc e-to-beat-mexico-in-mexico?category_id=7[/url]

Wow, 2 Mexican players were at least 10 feet offside on Mexico's second goal in the Gold Cup Final.

Rob Stone really likes the LA Galaxy. That's sad.

Gooch debut tonight?

At the first angle they showed the play on, I was skeptical but ecstatic. On replay, it was a blatant penalty. Keep in mind though that Torres is the only Panama player that really knows that. Rest of the team won't know how ridiculous their complaints were until later.

Why in earth was Panama arguing the call after the game was completed? Anybody with two eyes could see that was a PK. Roman Torres was lucky he didn't get a straight red for that karate kick. And Baloy was lucky he didn't get a 2nd yellow. Panama was lucky they didn't get another PK called against them in the first half when someone headbutted Conrad?

In no way shape or form should Panama be complaining about the ref. The US got the raw end of the deal.

USA 2, Panama 1. That was a close one. Beckerman & Cooper(pk) with the goals. USA vs. Honduras.

The game vs. U.S. I felt that Canada was robbed but they would of still lost in OT;). I didnt see the first half so I dont know what happened but I saw the 2nd and Canada looked good to tie it but nothin.

Honduras vs USA/Panama games starts in 15min.

What's up with Canada and being on the wrong side of reffing decisions in the Gold Cup. US-Canada two years ago and now Canada-Honduras this year...Were both refs bought?

The ref in the Canada-Honduras game has been bought.

Eto'o's unhappy with Inter's wage offer, so it's not a done deal yet.

I would like to see this TD between an Inter and Barca fan. Ibrahimovic and Eto'o were just swapped, who got the better deal?

Anyone want to do another soccer TD? I have a topic in mind. Send me a fanmail if you're interested.

Messi is 5'6 if he's lucky. He had some growth hormone problem and he was never supposed to be over 5'0. His family moved to Spain for medical treatment when Barca signed him.

He's shorter than I am. Humble kid. you can tell he doesn't like the fame all that much.

Yo heres the rest of the links to the Tourney TD's just go to:

http://www.fannation.com/message_boards/show_topic/101043

Bigalke and mine can be found here

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/364904-the-fa-should-have-allowed-newcastle-united-to-play-against-utrecht-in-the-netherlands?category_id=7

I just started the TD between me and naxself. Here's the link:

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/365522?category_id=7

You really met him? Is he really that small in person?

Met Messi last night. Told him to never score on Madrid.

Gotta be Marquez since he never lost his form,hehe... he only got hurt.

Great start on the first round TD's Bigalke and I are putting together a topic to come out soon.

Yo I'll be on here regurlalry and conversate if some people put up some interesting topics in the group message board. Long live soccer-nation.

Hey SoccerNation, please check your group mail. Thanks.

Guys, please go here and vote for the left. The guy on the right is being a ****:

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/361802?category_id=7

I would as well. But some big matchup will be played and someone will be pissed when it's all said and done.

Don't say that, Keeper. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some third round upsets happen and Fiorentina moves into the seeded pot. I would much rather face the likes of FC Twente and Sparta Praha over Arsenal or Lyon.

That's a pretty good deal both ways. Melo is up and coming and will do well. Eboue should do well and the cash will help Fio sign someone else in the future. Funny thing is that those two will probably end up playing-off for a spot in the Champions League group stage.

Fiorentina and Arsenal are supposedly reaching a deal of Felipe Melo for Eboue and a bunch of cash.

2002 world championships. Payback

Who can? This win is at a whole different level. Like applachin state beating michigan or the us mens basketball team losing to Spain

Holy crap. I can't believe what I just saw.

Wow what a game. 3 goals for us, and brazil destroying italy? Are we in line for a shocker against spain?

Oops... Jonathan de Guzman, not Julian. Hehe...

USA 1997 = USA 2009? Check the message board I posted.

Why the hate for Rossi? It's not like he teased you, like Julian de Guzman did to Canada. Rossi was always upfront about playing for Italy and even left at age 13.

Ouch is right. He shouldn't be allowed to play against the team that represents the country he was born in.

Hey, at the moment I like Juve as the best Italian team and I would rate them over Arsenal too, but it wasn't me obviously.

Ouch. Rossi. Ouch.

Who voted for Juventus. Once I find out I'm going to ban you for a week. No joke, speak up or I'll make it two weeks.

David Villa would be the perfect complement to Wayne Rooney after watching Spain thrash NZ.

Fergie planning a 45 million swoop to beat out Real and Chelsea?

Every Kiwi in the world should feel shame.

What a joke so far. NZ don't even look like they're trying. I feel sorry for Moss. Torres is playing great, however. 3 world-class finishes.

I still like United. Barca, Liverpool, and Chelsea could give them a run. Madrid, Bayern, and Arsenal will be in the next group. Then you have the Milans and Juventus.

Got you. The new polls system is very stupid and confusing at times.

The poll was an error, I fixed it with all the choices

As for the poll, it is a loaded question. Neither will take it. Madrid have no defence and no one has done the double. Out of the two, however, Barca should do better.

time to finally change my profile picture
jeevs BS 06/13/09



LOL. I was hoping (and wondering you would).

time to finally change my profile picture

Message Board on Concacaf!

Chaco,

Sure, we can collaborate on the message boards. Or if you want, you can write one and I'll skip this round and comment on your post. I'm good either way.

JHOVA's soca warriors just had disaster strike! Mexico has scored in the first minute thanks Guillermo Franco. Wow!!!

Naxself, are you gonna blog on Concacaf. I want to write one too. Instead of having two blogs, do you want to collab on the message boards?

I don't think CONCACAF can compete with UEFA. The recent results just show how far Mexico has fallen and how much the US, El Salvador, et al. have improved.

Honduras has its best team in, literally, decades.

Man, CONCACAF has NEVER been deeper than this. We're seeing the rise of these smaller teams and their players are making it to the big leagues of Europe. This is great! Hopefully CONCACAF will win a World Cup sometime soon. It's possible with the current growth.

EL SALVADOR!!! EL SALVADOR!!!

And who takes the penalty for Mexico? Guardado? Franco? Torrado? NO! Cuauhtemoc Freaking Blanco! What does that say about the state of Mexican soccer?

What defense?

And can we stop playing Beasley at left back? Pretty please?

What's up w/ US defense?

I can't believe Werder lost. Oh well. Props to Shaktar, a team knocked out in the Champions League this year, make a run through Europe. They obviously wanted the trophy

Yeah I'm glad to see a Ukrainian team win, too. I really like some of their players. Liverpool could use Dario Srna and someone could also use Razvan Rat. Both good fullbacks that many teams would love to have. Next year's surprise country in the Europa League will be Romania, I believe. Well, that's a good guess anyway.

Glad to see a Ukranian club win it. Didn't get to see the actual match yet and probably won't, unfortunately. I'm prepping myself for a big week in Serie A. Fiorentina actually has a shot at second place if they can win their next two games. And Milan-Roma should be great, what with it being Maldini's last home game.

That really is good stuff. What'd you guys think of the UEFA Cup Final match?

I remember reading an article last year. Platini confirmed that in 2010 or 2011, the CL final will be on a weekend.

Didn't know that. It is quite stupid to have it on a Wednesday. Anyone gonna watch the UEFA Cup Final? I think it'll be good. It better be 'cause it's in Istanbul.

Chaco - where are you getting that info? Good news indeed if true.

In a couple years, the CL Final will be on a weekend! That's good because a championship on a Wednesday afternoon is tough.

United are the champions again! Good run Liverpool, but not good enough. Congrats United, I can only hope that we have a chance to win like this next year.

Hey guys and girls,

I've decided to start my own blog off-site. It's at http://spotkicks.wordpress.com/. Right now, it's basically all my posts from here. I'll be updating it reasonably regularly and cross-posting some stuff here for the foreseeable future. Check it out and leave comments, since I've no idea how to import them, hehe.

It all depends for the high score really, these two teams have the ability to score in bunches or lock down on defence it should be an interesting game, but I dont think it will compete with last years classic affair

Alright, I'll be the best annoying spammer guy that I can be.

Hey keeper, you should put up the links of these message boards in the truth-rumors sections. Hopefully that gets folks to return

I don't think it'll be too much of a high score really. Barca will get killed if they play like they did today. They were VERY lucky to win. Chelsea should have won, but they didn't finish Barca off.

Barca-ManU=Epic. I am putting my money on PK in a high scoring affair

And by head to head, I mean it's not like they'll be defending each other, or even playing in the same half all that often.

I take Messi as the better player, though it's not like they'll play head to head. Man U has the better defense, so Ronaldo will probably have more of an effect on the match.

Let the Messi vs. C.Ronaldo hype begin!

Well, the group kind of died the first few months of this year, but we're trying to start it back up. Which is to say you didn't miss much.

What did i miss?

Great the! I'm looking forward to getting some analysis and match results from you! Should be some good stuff.

Thebasketballguru is back after an almost one year hiatus, expect MLS Week In Reviews to start coming starting on Sunday

Yeah, but Ramos has done a very good job in La Liga this year. You guys are probably going to get 90 points and come in second. That shows just how dominant (and bad to the La Liga has been to be honest) Barcelona have been. They are high quality and so are Madrid. They will come rebound soon. Huntelaar has to step up next year. Ruud and Raul are getting old, they need some new blood. And Marcelo should never play by the way. Marcelo= Lucas Leiva.

Terrible Real Madrid. Has lost to every elite team they faced this season: Juventus, Liverpool and Barcelona.

I think Fabio Capello has finally found his goalkeeper. More on whom that could be this weekend.

Not much actually. I might have to kill myself after that result. We should have won to be honest. But we put up a great fight. I can't be more happy with their efforts.

So whats been going on, haven't been here in like 3 months

Hey guys, I've started a new blog on Informativesports.com and I need some help. It's a mailbag and I'm going to need questions. It'd be great if I had 5 or 6 questions by the weekend so I could answer them and get them up. Please get them to me as soon as possible.

The moment Honduras scored that third goal, Sven's job was finished. I don't think its his fault. The Mex Fed is a mess. Aguirre will fix the team like he did in 2001, but it will not remove the infighting within the federation.

Chaco, I need your thought on the sack of Sven. Personally, I saw it coming earlier than this, what about you?

No other group; FanNation is dead. Plain and simply put. I always check up on here but I haven't had time to do much lately due to soccer. Sorry guys and let's get some more discussions going. It was a crazy fortnight for me (sorry Chaco and jeevs) but that was awesome. Scoring 13 goals against quality competition was great. Hope some of the games tomorrow are good ones. Wish me luck for Thursday. We've got a region playoff game and it's do-or-die.

What happened to the group? Is there another soccer group absorbing all the members?

Anyone catch yesterday's Sol-Freedom game? Very entertaining and it drew close to 15,000 people. Good start for the new women's league.

So, uh, am I the only one still blogging here?

And does anyone know how to embed video in blog posts? PM me if you do. Thanks!

Spector played 85 minutes for West Ham.

I'm not sure I would say Italy had a dismal showing. They scored two goals that were wrongly disallowed by the ref. Count those two goals and the game ends in a 2-2 tie. Still, I don't harbor any delusions that Italy is a better team than Brazil at this point in time.

Lets go USA!!
and what a dismal showing by Italy!

Am I the only one super-super-super excited for the Brazil-Italy friendly tomorrow? I will have to avoid all the sports sites after noon tomorrow so I can watch the game on Tivo after I get home from work. Italy-Brazil one night, U.S.-Mexico the next. I'm drooling.

david beckham, italy -- la galaxy

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/290577?category_id=7

Greatest Achievement

Manchester United's treble or Arsenal's unbeaten Premier League season?

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/286837

An article on CNN about Sepp Blatter's feelings about naturalized players:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/football/01/19/football.nation/index.html

Calderon should have stepped down long ago. He always tried to use the media to buy players and humilated the sport now he is suffering for his other crimes...

In Happy News Kaka' turned down the money YAY!!!

Roman Calderon has resigned as President of Real Madrid.

Source: MARCA (of all places!)

I'll try to keep up w/ the group through the cafes. Also, I will be in ESV for their qualifier against T&T, and maybe against the USA.

I'll be out for a couple months. I'll be traveling thru Mexico and Central America. I'll be w/ the fam in ESV.

Alright guys I'm gonna do my annual premier league recap heading into the new year. Take a look at last years, it's pretty interesting.


http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/96535-the-english-premier-league-recap-heading-into-the-new-year

Alright guys, I'm going to write up my annual premier league half way point recap heading into the new year

My favorite goal from 08 was Van Persies goal against France when Ruud did the spin move to pass it to Robben who carried it until he crossed it to Persie. Spectacular IMO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBcFiufLBFE

My second favorite goal was Villa's volly against Italy in a friendly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPkQzhK1CBo

i am defending soccer as a major sport. come check in on it and leave a comment.

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/272277?category_id=17

thanks

Guys, Gerrard has been arrested. My nerves are shot for good. Oh god, why Steven? There better be a good reason for this.

DEMPSEY BABY!

It's alright, but I never get to watch unless it's women's.

Who likes College Soccer?!?!

No! Well, we are never going to be as good as the rest of the world if this crap keeps happening. Grow some balls USA.

Its official. Subotic will play alongside Vidic in Serbia's defense.

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/269559?category_id=17

Happy Holidays!

If I did a poll on best french attacker, I would put Platini, along with Zidane then

He was, but you still could've squeezed him in somehow.

I thought Platini was an attacking mid?

Voted for Fontaine on this one. Can't believe you didn't squeeze that rat named Platini in there somewhere.

Who picked the picture! =P
Voted for Cantona.
I'm also doing another Throwdown with HighwaycrossingFrog.

I was leaning Kopa, but how can I deny Cantona?

thx. i like fontaine, but i cant go against cantona.

Nice poll question! Much props!

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/267539-arsenal-should-have-never-let-thierry-henry-go-and-their-general-philosophy-will-never-win-trophies?category_id=17

sure

Can we talk about College Soccer?

I chose those two teams because they came out of nowhere. Napoli ended last season on a good note. Valencia is always solid. I was tempted to put Rennes, they have only lost one game.

Could of made the poll a little more interesting by throwing in teams like Napoli, Valencia, and even Madrid.

A good el clasico

Anybody see the Al-Ahly/Pachuca match? What a game!!!!

C'mon. Ibiseivic moved here when he was 16 years old. He lived his entire formative life in Bosnia. He was already a professional when he moved here.

Man, can anyone think of a worse shooter of the footballer than Gary Neville? He always ruins chances. Heck, its comical at times.

Very true jeevs. Man we'd be killer with those two. Ibisevic is a beast and Rossi is a great scorer, man what a tandem.

You know what I realized.

The US national team coyld have the best attacking duo in world football if we were able to keep people who live in our country and went to high school here and college here.

We could have had Giuseppe Rossi and the top scorer in the Bundesliga by 6 goals, Vedad Ibiseivic, who went to high school here and went to St. Louis University. He's only 24.

What a duo they would be.

As the biggest Real Madrid fan in this group, I will write a blog about Madrid's trouble. Expect it up around Thurs/Fri. Not a good time for Madridistas

Will do Keeper. Hope they return to good health soon enough.


In other news, Juande Ramos has replaced Bernd Schuster at the helm of Real Madrid. Your thoughts?

Jozy is starting against Getafe. I'm a try and watch it online

I'm sorry Keeper. I'll pray for them

Definitley

I usually don't say anything about my real life, but today I ask you a favor. My dad and a co-worker were in a wreck at work yesterday and were flown to the hospital when my old pastor (the one that baptized me) came across and him them. My pastor was dead on the scene and my dad should be fine. He broke 7 ribs and has a nick on his spleen. His co-worker only has a 30% chance of living. So guys, please pray for these families. Thanks guys so much.

Guys, Hoffenheim are for real. They may have lost, but they took Bayern to the brink. I think its going to be a dogfight 'til the end for them and I'm pretty sure that they'll make the Champions League now. Any thoughts?

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/259917-top-10-uefa-clubs-currently-rank-1st-argue-2nd-and-3rd?category_id=7

Yea, when they say Torres is out for the year, they mean until January.

Chacs, it's a hamstring tear, IIRC. He's out for a few weeks, until the end of this calender year, according to ESPN. I'll double check over at the Beeb or a few other of my sources to see if I'm missing anything.

What's up with this Torres injury? Some sources say a month, other sources say he's out for the season. What is it? He's on my fantasy team!

I think the end of group mail after the site change really spoiled the word from getting out - jeevs


True. Its a shame that they screwed up a good thing. I like to say don't fix it if it ain't broke. But they did because of all the American football junkie idiots that whine all the time about everything.

I'm not buying the hype after Arsenal's win at the Bridge.

I think the end of group mail after the site change really spoiled the word from getting out

I come on all the time, though i do more reading then posting.

Man, its Thanksgiving week plus you can't say much 'cause your butt never comes on anymore. No one comes on anymore, so it really doesn't matter. We've never been very active anyway. The only time we ever been close to active is when me and Chaco are doing things. I'm not blogging for about 10 real SoccerNation fans to read it. No one comes on, so it doesn't matter. Until people stay here, the group's going to stay like this.

What's up Jeevs.
Promising? I say Bojan. Barca has done a good job in giving him some playing time and being around the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi helps.

I think Toni Kroos has more to offer. He could be the most complete player of his generation. I want to see more of him

jeesh ppl, dont let the group die

Here's one for you, who is the most promising young attacker:

Bojan Krkic
Mario Balotelli
Giovanni Dos Santos
Alexandre Pato
Toni Kroos

Chaco, where in Mexico will you be? I'll be in DF in early January.

What's up Nicco, I heard that from Mexican pundits right after the Honduras game. Btw, I'm a be travelling to Mex in January

Congrats to the Crew. Well earned victory, it was.

FMF probably wanted to get that game out of the way.

Check it out: new blog post over there. Yes, I'm tooting my own horn, but still...

Chaco, why would the Mexican federation want to play the US as their first match? Is there something I'm missing? I haven't heard all that much about the draw here in Mexico, it was in the papers but they all know that the US will kill them because Vela is out, Gio will probably still be out, and the match will be played in Colombus in the freezing weather.

Good, the sooner we play is the sooner that they can come and get A butt whipping courtesy of the good 'ole USA.

The hexagonal opens up w/ USA hosting Mexico. The MexFed got what it wanted. Rumors is that the fed wanted to play in the US as soon as possible

That's very true jeevs. Man. U would never lose by four goals and if they did they wouldn't give up 6 goals. If they somehow did then there would be heck to pay for a few people. I'm not going to say that the two sides are equal (b/c Man. U is better) but the talent is too good to be getting killed like that. You have Ronaldo, so at least give him the ball and let him get a goal a game and then try to improve you defence. If you don't then you won't last very long come 2010.

He needs to come back to Manchester. Ferguson will be dissapointed. After everything he's taught him, he gets embarrassed like that? You never see that happening with a first choice United side

No, but Portugal go their butts handed to them by Brazil. 6-2 is ridiculous for a team with that kind of talent. Queiroz (sp.) has to do better than that with that team.

Ronaldo grabbed Marcelo by the neck in Portugals game against Brazil, and Tiago Silva is claiming CR tried to break his leg. Any body watch the game?

Chaco on CONCACAF coming soon, after the Hexagonal draw on saturday. Also, Confederations Cup draw on Saturday. USA-Italy rematch?

Adu and Jozy are both under 20. There aren't a whole lot of starters in the big European leagues under the age of 20. They will get their playing time eventually.

We can dream of Subotic playing for the U.S., but we will have to wait and see. Prove to him that we can compete on the international stage, and he might be persuaded.

I wish Rossi had stayed. I think if we had him we could better compete with the big teams in the future.

If Subotic chooses US then yea. That kid is the real deal. The USSF should do EVERYTHING in their power to persuade him to come here.
And its great to see MB get quality time in the Bundasliga. Now if Adu and Jozy could get similiar treatment

We need some blogs.

Anyway, Subotic and Bradley, our first superstars?

OK guys, I'm bringing back the "What's on Feature" and I'm also going to start a Topic of the Week under the message board. You can talk about other things under it, be please throw your thoughts into it as well. This week's topic is the MLS Cup.

Subotic scores two goals in Dortmund's win! M.Bradley scores the equalizer against Bayern!

To keep faith w/ the western conference, Salt Lake is the home venue. Also, RedBulls got into the playoffs in a "wild-card" like scenario

Why are the NYNJ Redbulls playing in the Western conference Final? geographically speaking i mean

the Columbus-Chicago game was really entertaining

I'm back guys and much sooner than I thought. I'll try to get some different things started for you guys. It's great to be back.

Thanks guys

Anyone looking for a laugh should try to find a video of Cicinho's own goal for Roma over the weekend? If it weren't for the context, you'd be unable to tell that he wasn't trying to score.

Fabio did score 3 goals in the Fifa U-17 World Cup in 2007, which was tied for eighth.

I guess you could say his name is more famous than Rafael, until about a couple months ago of course

Um, Nicco, I think you need to get your facts straight.

Rafael's twin, Fabio, plays left back, and he didn't score a single goal in the fifa U-20 world cup. Neither of them actually played in the Fifa U-20 world cup, but they did play in the Fifa U-17 world cup. Aguero was the top scorer with 6 goals, Fabio and Rafael weren't in the tournament. Plus, how would a left back lead a World Cup tournament in scoring?

That was just some stupid internet rumor made up.




Anyway, I am a massive United fan. Rafael and Fabio caught the eye of Ferguson at a Nike tourney in Hong Kong with Fluminese. They signed but had to wait for permits and such. I think they were 16.

I think they may be the new Cafu and Robeto Carlos of Brazil (eventhough they play slightly differently than those two), and our new Gary and Phil Nevilles.

Rafael has incredible attacking flair, almost like a winger, all he needs to do is work on is his tackling, heading, and strength. His anticipation is out of this world, he picks off an array of passes. Not to mention his great flank work. Both are 18 and are stars for the future.

Fabio is currently out with a shoulder injury, thats why he hasn't been given time as Evra's backup and O'shea has. Can't wait until he's healthy, which will be soon. I wonder how I'll tell them apart.

The funny thing is, United only signed Rafael because of his twin brother. His brother was the top scorer at the 2007 U-20 World Cup (ahead of Sergio Aguero) and United wanted to sign him but the word was that he wouldn't sign unless his twin did as well (Rafael). So far, Rafael has gotten more starts and playing time in general. Kinda funny how that works out, eh?

Anyways, the kid plays right back, and the supposedly more talented one, plays left back. Right now, I think they're only 19 or so; they??ll have a ton of time to develop. I think the future of United's defense is for Vidic to play center back, have these two out wide on the wings, have Rio play in front of these three, and that'll work pretty well for a few years. Both Rafael and his brother are very talented, I look forward to seeing what they're capable of.

And if Rafael is the less talented one, I can't even imagine what his twin can do.

Da Silva's a great attacker but that's about it. He's go to mature and take care of his defensive responsibilites. If he doesn't then he won't get much time. But attacking wise, I'd compare him to a Danny Alves. Just has to work on D. He's a great talent and a threat to any defence.

I'm no ManUtd fan. But the club signed Da Silva and his twin brother (another fullback on the opposite flank) from Brazil. They joined Man Utd's youth academy.

Can a ManU fan tell me about this Rafael Da Silva character?

Nice. I hear its a beautiful city.

Chaco, I live in Puebla. It's about two hours south of Mexico City.

Nicco, where are you living in Mexico?

Giggsy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Attention all members: WE'VE GOT A FOOTY FAN IN THE WHITEHOUSE! Or should I say, a Hammer in the Whitehouse. Why West Ham I know not, but I've seen a picture of our new president at Upton park a few years back. Word on the street is that he supports them quite heavily. Good for him!

Chaco, I live something like 13 hours away from Guadalajara so I don't think I'll be able to watch in person. I'll catch it on TV, though. Anyone you want me to look out for? Don't even mention Falcao for River Plate because last time I saw him play (against Chivas in their away leg in Buenos Aires) he was completely worthless as was the support he was receiving from his midfielders and from River's other striker.

Try to go to the Chivas-River game this week. Should be juicy!

Hey Guys, I'd like to let everyone know that I just moved to Mexico. I'm going to start following the league as best I can (on top of the MLS, EPL, La Liga, Serie A, etc...) and if anyone wants to start asking me questions about the teams, or players, just speak up! Let me know! If you want me to watch for a certain player, I'd be happy to do so. Let me know. I can also do this to an extent with South American football, as some Mexican teams play in the Copa Libatadores and in the Copa Sudamerica. I've seen some teams from Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, etc... Got a question? Let me know!

Just wanted to say hi and that I'm actually not dead. I'm AWOL b/c of my CPU getting a virus. Hopefully I'll be back. Just keep fighting, when I get back it'll be blog city. If I check in, it'll be from school or the neigbors house. Peace guys, enjoy the football!

403 bhoys

Woops, it wasn't 15. It was 17 seconds. But still, holy ****! 17 seconds after coming on he scores! That's class. Any thoughts on where he's going come January? If he keeps scoring and impressing Pelegrini he'll probably stay and at best start a few games and become a super sub of sorts. If he goes out on loan when on form, I say a UEFA cup team like Getafe or maybe a team like Espanyol or some smaller team. Either way, let's hope he keeps up form.


Maybe a blog post on this topic? Anyone know how to do those?

Good goal. What was that, 15 seconds?

Sweet.

400! 400! 400!

Props to Jozy for scoring his first La Liga goal!

Thoughts go out to Real Madrid's Ruben De La Red. He suddenly collapsed during yesterday's game. He's okay right now. Hopefully its just a one-time thing, hopefully its nothing serious.

I tried going to rojadirecta.com but they didn't have anything

Yo Chaco what website do you watch it on? I tryd livefooty but that crap doesnt let me download the sopcast.

For Jozy fans. Jozy should start for Villareal for their Copa Rey game tomorrow. I'll try to watch the game live online

Bored? Check in and leave your thoughts
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/280215

So they beat ManU and Chelsea without Torres in the starting lineup. And i think Kuyt is one of the most undervalued players in the world. Nobody works as hard as Dirk no matter where hes played and it seems he is always doing good for the squad, whether tracking back to help the defense, or leading the line up front. And Chaco, dont forget the Irreplaceable Steven Gerrard in 'pools Center Midfield. They have a great squad with great depth. They will face big problems however if another Center Defender goes down. But if they can stay healthy they can win the EPL.

With Xabi Alonso and Mascherano together, Liverpool has the best center midfield in the world. These two guys are all-around players who can defend, link, and create offense. Props to L'Pool. I hope they can finally win the premiership.

Liverpool demonstrated their growing title credentials by ending Chelsea's 86-game unbeaten run in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge and moving three points clear at the top of the table today.

Xabi Alonso's deflected 10th-minute goal gave Liverpool victory and shattered a Chelsea sequence stretching back to February 2004 on home turf!!!!.....

CONGRATULATIONS LIVERPOOL!

jeevs, I saw about Boruc. He was probably the one guy from your list who I felt was probably truly better than Cesar.

Sorry guys, I thought I'd have time in CPU class this morning but I didn't. I'll get one typed up as soon as I can.

Lol, i think we got 15 members since I came back

Anyway, yeah we need to blog.


So Forbes, you can blog, I gave you the rights. I got rid of someone who left the site a while back named Elastico and put you in.

Just a shout out, Boruc made the FIFPro shortlist along with VDS, Cech, Buffon, and Casillas. I think he's top 10

Keeper, I do think more regular blogging on soccernation is required, not just for you, but for a few others as well. There are a lot of people in this group with interesting opinions, there is a lot going in World Soccer right now, and yet this group is averaging a blog post every two and a half weeks.

You know what guys, I've been looking at this group lately and I don't really like it anymore. And you know why- because I'm not blogging. So, to uphold my end of the bargain, I'm taking the blogging scene over once again. jeevs is doing one heck of a job of recruiting, so now I have to uphold my end of the bargain. I'll try to have one up today. And my topic will be, well how about Zaki. I've been meaning to do one and now I have a chance. See you then guys.

Heck yes, I am. Wigan haven't payed a penny for him and he's just raking in goals. It's craziness.

Is anyone as impressed as I am about Amr Zaki at Wigan?

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/238878

look and vote

What happened to group mail?

Spurs is done.

You didn't miss much Jeevs. Its been quiet. But things are picking up after that goalkeeping board.

So what happened while I was in exile guys?

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/238099

Throwdown about Messi

your defeating one of the purposes of soccernation here keeper

don't delete the comments. first consult with me

Already did and everyone's already said what I would say. You know, I've had enough. No more talk about goalkeepers (who's the best) for awhile. If you talk about them on this board then I will just delete them.

mmm Keeper, put up some arguments and get off your high horse, lol

Van der sar was the best in the 07-08 club season

Keeper put on your reading glasses

France is toast.

Look up Iniesta's goal against Belgium. What a goal!

I can understand Domenech staying for the moment, but to commit to Domenech for another year!?!? I don't know about France now.

France states Domenech will not be fired prior to the 2010 World Cup. After a disastrous Euro 2008 campaign, poor squad selections and substitutions, and an awful start to WC qualifying, it's like France wants to continue losing. France looks like they're slated to finish third or fourth in their group of six.

It also makes a difference that games in England are much more expensive than anywhere else

Exactly and we also need to let people know that it is a shame. That's what happened to England a long time ago and that's why they've cleaned up their act a whole lot. Fining Croatia isn't going to be enough. It would be huge if they moved their game to Germany or Italy or elsewhere because it would teach a lesson.

I agree completely with Keeper on this. Teams need to be punished when supporters behave like this. I think UEFA and FIFA need to start acting more sternly to grounds with a history of racist incidents (*cough* Lazio and Croatia *cough*). I think they need to start kicking teams out of the competition. Not at a first offense, but if there is a history of repeated problems. It's the only way supporters will change their behavior.

I'd like to say that I'm sad too, but I'm not at all. This is a serious issue in football and it has to be dealt with. And it gives Liverpool a better chance of winning.

Pepe will go back to Spain sometime in the future and Torres will have another chance. For once something has been called right by the higher officials.

Its sad Torres won't be coming home. And Pepe Reina won't be able to play in the stadium where his father played.

I'm pissed that the Atletico-Liverpool game won't be in the Vicente Calderon. I had so much fun a that stadium

I'm basing it on on he plays. No one in Europe wants him because he's short and stocky (a la Puskas). I understand the eurocentricity in football. I know he's not in Europe, but I'm always amazed when he plays. Tim Vickery of the BBC wrote a good piece about him Cabanas last spring.

No way he's top 5. You have to been in Europe or maybe (and a huge maybe) Brazil/Argentina. Until he moves to Europe, we'll never know. Right now the striker position is so out of whack. The midfield is really taking over the games and I kinda like it. But the top 5 is something like this and in not particular order.

Torres
Aguero
Rooney
Berba (maybe)
And I can't think of anyone but you get the drift. Maybe Raul (and I'm looking at this season's form.

I'm starting to believe that Paraguayan forward, Salvador Cabanas, who plays for America (Mex) is a top 5 striker. He's been a consistent scoring threat for club and country for the past two years

The best part about that goal was how he just stood there with his hands in the air smiling.

That was unbelievable. I still think that his Euro '04 was a little better though. But a great goal nonetheless.

I was watching that game. I kept rewinding and rewinding. I can't believe Zlatan got the flick off before the defender tried to head it away.

Did everyone see Ibrahimovic's goal against Bologna this past weekend? If you haven't seen it yet, youtube it now. Early candidate for goal of the year.

As much as I would love to see Hull make the CL from the Premiership, I think we can all agree it won't happen. I am one of those who does not enjoy following the EPL because the Top 4 stays the same every year. The only time I enjoy the EPL is this early, because there is still the possibility that a squad like Hull can make it. The EPL doesn't have room for teams like Chievo Verona or Villareal.

Actually, Hull would need to consistently make the Champions League spot, so if they make it two years in a row

Anyway, Man City need to make the Champions League two years in a row or need to finish in the top two in one year to make it a "big 5"

If they finish 5th behind the big 4, it just means the other 4 are still stronger and they are just another prem team that cant make it to the CL, no big 5

I have to say, buying a superstar doesn't make a team part of the "big" group

Man City still need to prove it on the pitch, 4 losses means they still aren't good enough, unless they can turn it around. You can buy all the talent in the world, but if you can't compete with the best teams, it doesn't matter

Now if Hull can keep up this great form, which I doubt, they could be in the "big 5" if they achieve a Champions League spot

4 losses in seven games is not how you join the Big Four. Clearly the fifth member of the Big Four is Hull. From the Championship to number three in the standings, baby!

Chaco, I think it is Man City. All of that money may buy them love but buying a Premiership Title is still a few years away.

Who's the 5th? It better not be Man City!!! haha

And by the way Chaco, it's the Big 5 now. Not Big 4.

Not too big of a surprise to me. It took Liverpool 210 minutes to score one goal against them, so it really wasn't that big of a surprise. Had they gotten a better draw, they could have been a sleeper like Anorthosis and Cruj.

People may think I'm an EPL hater, but I'm not. I'm a big-4 hater. If you're wondering, the team I cheer for in the EPL is Everton. I'm just a big David Moyes fan. And I'm sad that Everton got eliminated in the UEFA Cup.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba suffered suspected knee ligament damage in their Champions League goalless draw with Romanian side CFR Cluj on Wednesday.

Congrats to Steven Gerrard for his 100th goal for Liverpool! I never get tired of his long range goals!

I agree D'A. I thought he would show fatigue following the Euro. He's still scoring for Valencia and the national team.

Check out the discussions pages!
anyways. I think im going to go out on a limb here and say that David Villa is the best striker in the world. He scores two more and Valencia win again!

Alright! Message Board is back! I hope everybody returns now

Heck yes! We've got message boards baby. SoccerNation is back!

carlos vela scored a hat-trick! superb game for arsenal!

Seems like SoccerNation has been too quiet

Thug's blog (which is already loaded with views) can be found at:

www.fannation.com/blogs/post/255455

Pathetic.../256595

Sorry, that would be http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/256595

Well the Chelsea FC Fan's Group hasn't been quite at all. Check out our latest blog if you get a second.

Terry wins Appeal To Face Man Utd

http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/256595

Seems like SoccerNation has been too quiet

http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/254455?new=true

Come check out my rants and raves. Lemme know what you think.

Keeper's UEFA Champions League Preview: http://fannation.com/blogs/post/253797

Come see what I think will happen!

How about that guy Nevan Subotic (is that his name) over at Borussia Dortmand. He seems promising as well.

Jozy got some good time in, but I noticed that Edu did too. Good to see, hopefully it will become a trend.

Jozy was not great but solid. He seemed a little nervous and wasn't moving well off the ball. More importantly, he made an impact off the bench. Will he be in Manchester mid week?

And he apparently looked pretty good, better then Franco and Lorrente

Jozy has just stepped onto the field against Depor! 2nd half sub

I agree man, but there isn't much we cna do when everyone is leaving. We'll figure something out-trust me.

This site has stalled in the middle of the road and people are leaving, and I'm not talking about just a few people....I'm talking about a ton of people. The upgrades are targeting new users and attempting to disrupt the community atmosphere that currently existed. As I write this post, I'm looking to the right of locker talk at the 5 Most Active Users and I see that 2 of them are new users....and none of them were on the list a week ago.

The Petition is only a token gesture for the people who sign it. It isn't going to help in any way what so ever. We need to come up with new ideas for this group or it's going to become dormant.

Would anyone like to give me a Yea or a Ney on anything I've just said?

FOR HEAVES SAKE PPL

Sign this to get the old fannation back!


http://fannation.com/blogs/post/249781

Why is there a big YouTube clip on the front page and everywhere?

I argued for Cruyff, for a number of reasons. Edwards was extremely talented, but he just didn't have enough time to be considered the greatest player ever. I also thought Beckenbauer and Platini deserved consideration.

i never saw your responses to the greatest player ever topic

So the message boards are gone, too? I don't like how the blogs seem to have gotten toasted. Whoever did the changeover doesn't know what they're doing.

Hopefully they're just not migrated yet.

i feel you forbes, we got to leave them feedback

Did we lose the group specific message boards in the switchover? I was really enjoying the greatest player ever debate.

Me neither but I guess we'll have to just live with it for now.

I don't know about this new look

Valencia do have depth to cover for Silva. They still have Morientes, and i would take a healthy in form Vicente over Silva anyday. So given the right circumstances the loss of Silva wont cripple them. Hopefully the likes of Morientes and Jouquin wont be flustered by recent transfer speculation and Vicente can reclaim his old form.

And Essien is one of the top 10 players in the world IMO, he would be a huge lose to any side, even Chelsea.

I don't think Essien being out for the season is the biggest injury. Essien is still a great player, and his versatility really helps the team, but they have sufficient cover for him both in midfield and in defense. The loss of Silva hurts more simply because Valencia do not have the same depth.

Fifa Virus Strikes!
David Silva out for 3 months!
The biggest injury:
Essien is out for the season!!

from*

I think, but i read an article yesterday which discussed the leader of that group's money, thats where im getting my info wrong, but i could have misinterpreted the article, i cant even remember where i saw it.

Ah. I thought the owners of Man City is formally the Abu Dhabi Group. Is that directed by one guy?

I wrote a preview on South America's WCQ
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/244676

no, the leader of that group, whatever his name is worth about ten times Mr. Abromovich, at least thats how I took it

Its because Man City is owned by a group of businessmen rather than just one businessman.

cities new owner is up to 10 times richer then Roman Abromovich

Yet I think our best is better than their best, especially once we integrate Berbatov

I would also say Liverpool's best with Torres and Keane raring is better than anything Arshavin, Danny, Pogrebnyak, and Denisov can muster up

I'm not scared of any team- I'm just saying that I love the way that Zenit plays and they can beat anyone when they are on their game because they are that good.

Why are Liverpool fans so scared of everyone? Lol

Bring on the Russians, we can beat them when we're in top form

Manchester City have reportedly agreed a ??32.5million fee for Robinho with just two hours to go in the transfer window.
And sources in Spain suggest the 24-year-old former Santos player will complete the deal before the midnight deadline.

It follows bids earlier in the day for Dimitar Berbatov, David Villa and Mario Gomez.

The Brazilian claimed he wanted to move to England at a press conference yesterday and also criticised Real coach Bernd Schuster for denying him the chance to move to Chelsea. However, it now seems London will not be his destination.

Sources suggest that Real Madrid were determined not to sell the Brazilian forward to Chelsea but were happy to deal once the Eastlands side moved in.

Man, haven't you learned anything this year? You're crazy to want to play Zenit or any Russian team that can play a little in international competition. I really wish that Arshavin would stay because him and Danny would kill. But still, you definitely don't want to face them jeevs. That's so stupid.


Manchester United are scared of know one, we are by far the most dangerous team in the world if we ar e healthy. It's about revenge

BERBATOV NOW IN UNITED TALKS - REPORT
Sky Sports News understands that Dimitar Berbatov is currently holding talks with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

A tug-of-war is developing for the Bulgaria international's services with Manchester City having seen a shock deadline day bid in excess of ??30million accepted by Tottenham.

The Spurs striker has been tracked by the Premier League and European champions throughout the summer and has previously intimated that a move to Old Trafford is his 'dream'.

City stunned the football world with their audacious late approach, but United remain very much in the equation.

Mark Hughes has told Sky Sports News that he hopes to meet Berbatov later in the day, but Ferguson is already sitting down with the talented forward at the club's Carrington training ground.

Berbatov has been left out of Juande Ramos' plans for the club's last two matches, with the coach feeling his presence was a disruptive influence on the rest of the squad.

Ramos admitted earlier in the day he wanted the saga to be resolved one way or another, and has targets in mind to replace the Bulgarian.

To add further confusion to the saga, reports from Spain suggest that Real Madrid are planning to make a ???45million (??36.5million) bid for his services.

I'm surprised I'm in first.

I think folks are being harsh on Milan. I thought Dinho played well except for the last 15. Obviously, they never solved anything on defense. But I think in two months, Dinho will return to form.

Yeah Milan played awful and deserved that result. I was very happy to see Bologna win. Milan fans, get ready for a very long season my friend. They better get Pato out their soon or they are in the toilet. 'Dinho looked awful, they made a huge mistake signing him. He just isn't worth the money anymore. It's all downhill from here.

And Chaco, great job in EPL fantasy so far. I was hoping to catch up this week, but it will be harder done than said.

Milan lost 2-1 at home to recently promoted Bologna! Doesn't exactly inspire confidence in those expecting them to win the Scudetto this term.

Soccernation,

I really appreciate this group. So much, I haven't really joined many others. I won't be blogging much but I do want to push these message boards. As you can see, there are board topics that will cover each weekend of action. I invite everybody to input your insight on the weekend's action! Should be fun! And I also want to give props Rrasheed for providing some Bundesliga knowledge.

Ah, cmon the game was over, idc about the handball, if maradona can do it, scholes can!

But we did play terrible, Neville didn't look in form and his mistake led to the 1st goal, Fletcher wasnt all that good on the wing, Rooney scuffed a wide open goal

Tevez was fantastic, but who cares, its the supercup, i hope we draw them in the group stages if we get there- jeevs

Man, haven't you learned anything this year? You're crazy to want to play Zenit or any Russian team that can play a little in international competition. I really wish that Arshavin would stay because him and Danny would kill. But still, you definitely don't want to face them jeevs. That's so stupid.

Scholes went up on a free kick and swatted the ball in the goal with his hand. It was pretty hilarious.

Also, Nani looked just awful.

Ah, cmon the game was over, idc about the handball, if maradona can do it, scholes can!

But we did play terrible, Neville didn't look in form and his mistake led to the 1st goal, Fletcher wasnt all that good on the wing, Rooney scuffed a wide open goal

Tevez was fantastic, but who cares, its the supercup, i hope we draw them in the group stages if we get there

What did Scholes do?

That was a shameful and disgusting play by Scholes. I really hope that Ferguson lights into the 33-year old veteran. He deserves it after that awful, stupid move.

United looked pretty poor today without Ronaldo in the lineup.

On the plus side, Scholes will have a second career as a professional volleyball player waiting for him when he's done with football.

Toni's return to Fio

The group with Real and Juve looks enticing

As far as United go, Celtic and Villareal could pose problems as they did in the past. Aalborg..., dark horse

I totally called it yesterday. Keeper is my witness. I said Liverpool and Atletico were going to be drawn into the same group and it happened! I should have put money on it
Big Chaco 08/28/08 Delete


Yep my man called that one.

other news:
Roma landed Jeremy Menez? Thats awesome news for both Freddy Adu and Roma

"Group of Death" on the Message Board = Discussion of the CL Draw

I totally called it yesterday. Keeper is my witness. I said Liverpool and Atletico were going to be drawn into the same group and it happened! I should have put money on it

Torres vs Aguero it is!

Group F looks pretty nasty with Lyon, Bayern, Fiorentina, and Steaua...

G is interesting too with Arsenal, Porto, Fener, and Dynamo Kiev.

Finally H could be a surprise with Zenit possibly finishing 2nd ahead of Madrid or Juve

Jeebus, what a group. Liverpool will have to seriously step it up if they aren't going to finish in LAST.

Honestly, Marseilles scares me more than Atletico does. Ben Arfa is a better winger than we've seen at Liverpool since...?

Ha Man Utd would be great, but only if Tevez leaves...
Rooney will stay at Man Utd until he retires. Berba, if he comes, will be offered a 3-4 yr deal and hes 27.

Aguero for Tevez makes sense

I dont see him going to Barca or Real after being Atletico's new icon

Manchester!

Aguero vs Torres would be a great showdown

Makes you wonder where Kun will go next...

L'Pool vs. Atletico is made for TV. Fernando Torres returning to the Calderon!

Yeah, Liverpool seems to always get a tough group. If they do have A. Madrid, then I hope they also get Anorthosis, too.

I have a gut feeling Atletico de Madrid and Liverpool will be drawn together in the CL group stages

Aguero might become a legend at Atletico de Madrid

lol

You guys can see Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, and Rio Ferdinand cry in the video in man utd 4 life 2 min in.

http://www.fannation.com/groups/show/14825

OHHHH YA BEAUTYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh god, why do I love that video so much? That has to be one of the greatest calls of all-time.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO I PUT IN THE GROUP PAGE. First 3 min are awesome

http://www.fannation.com/groups/show/14825

I think Guzan is insurance, Friedel has perenially been one of the top keepers in the Premier League.

Guzan is an understudy for the future, Friedel's time is almost up, Guzan will learn this year and will take over when Friedel retires in a year or two, unless Friedel gets hurt.

cool blog, check this one too
http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner

hey cool blog, check this one out too
http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner

La Liga Fantasy though Soccernet.

Join the Soccernation MiniLeague!

League Name: Soccernation Liga
Password: bigchaco

go to http://laligafantasy.soccernet.com/

aston villa vs stoke city was great. some sloppy play led to some goals that were answered immediately. does anyone know if Brad Guzan has a shot at starting over Friedel or is he there as insurance?

The return of the Uefa Champions League group


http://www.fannation.com/groups/show/35846

Arsenal fell to the Cottagers

I saw that Gerrard goal, reminds me of the FA Cup final against West Ham and the Champions League winner against Olympiakos

Gerrard has done it again! My god what an ending to a match!

Forza Viola! I know they have little to no chance of actually winning the Scudetto, but I could never in any way vote against them.

Interesting poll

I like Inter again

those Guatemalens were dirty again

I wish Howard punched Ruiz, I would love to see that. I can't wait till we play them again

I voted Roma.

Way to stay classy Guatemala...throwing elbows while going up for the ball and dragging your feet into a keeper's head.

Your quality of class & grace is proportional to your skill at soccer.

CONCACAF madness begins!

Concacaf Group C preview

http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/234675

To Natl Soccer TD League participants:

Guys I know Keeper's been out but can we get some topics posted soon?

If not this league is going to drag on forever...

And I need my fix of TDs to read, thanks

Sincerely,

Ctsubasa

Natl Soccer TD League Qual Round #1

Hyped78 vs Ctsubasa

Forming a 4-4-2 right now, who would be your 2 strikers?

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/209258

west ham and aston villa looked good, those were the only 2 games i could see

That was an interesting first week of the EPL

Chelsea look scary, but if we get Berbatov we will be scarier

Thank god for the re-emergence of football. I was about to turn gay I think.

Liverpool looked decent today except in the final third...WHAT A SURPRISE. Keane looked lost...Torres looked decent and had his one spectacular strike.

I'm already very frustrated with the play of the two other attacking mids around Gerrard...Benayoun just needs to go, and Kuyt doesn't have the speed or skill to play as a wing. How I wish we'd invested in a true attacking midfielder...

You know when you're thinking "things will be better when Babel gets back" that you're in trouble.

Honestly, I think we're going to have some trouble staying in the top 4 this year. Yikes.

Hey you guys. Keeper set up a fantasy league on espn's soccernet. Register a team tonight and join the soccernation league.

League Name: SoccerNation's Superiors
Password: soccernation #1

After you register a team, join the mini-league above. There's only 3 of us in there. JOIN!

premier league starts tomorrow. cant wait

NMI TD for the SoccerNation guys-

Jeevs vs Bigalke

# of foreign stars should be limited on a team?

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/207899

Sorry guys I'm still running this thing at school and I'm not on very much. My CPU should be back in my house in a day or two. So, I'll be back blogging soon.

keeper's been out

We haven't seen a blog for awhile........I may get to one depending on the time I have look for it

Good start, now lets see if we get a striker

We got some silverware...

Vela scores again for Arsenal vs Sevilla.
Woohoo!

fer serious.

what a crushing draw against the dutch

Nat'l Throwdown League Qualifier- The MLS' next two expansion teams should go to Canada

the basketballguru vs Ctsubasa

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/203518

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/204660

BATTLE ROYALE!

I meant TD TIME!

stop calling each other idiot and just TD about it.
Let the SoccerNation Community decide

keeper your the idiot! who the hell cares about the olympics in soccer? its the world cup we care about. I wasn't saying the olympics are bad just the soccer part because they don't allow the best players to play! plus you have u21 and u19, etc comps so again the olympic tourney. for football is useless!

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/204042

All-time EPL Starting XI

Cowace2 vs. Ctsubasa

SoccerNation Semifinals

Me vs Hemo

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/202832

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/203445

Fifa lost! im happy that Sepp Blatter put his rep. on the line and it was trampled on. Olympic soccer shouldnt even exist!
Rrasheed 08/06/08 Delete

Yes, it should exist you idiot. The Olympics are a showcase of the world and what the heck would it be like without soccer, the world's most popular sport. It should be played and everyone should quit whining about it. If a guy wants to play, let him stop sending crap to court over a sport. Court is for real-world things not sport.

Fifa lost! im happy that Sepp Blatter put his rep. on the line and it was trampled on. Olympic soccer shouldnt even exist!

YES! THE UNDERDOGS DID IT! I WAS HOPING IT WOULD HAPPEN AND IT DID. YES!

Rangers just lost to FC Kaunus. 2-1 on an 87th minute goal. Rangers took an early lead, then played to win on away goals for the rest of the game. It finally bit them in the ****. Big upset, and a big victory for those who like to watch attacking soccer.

Group A and Group B preview for World Cup Qualifying in CONCACAF.

Group A: http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/222897

Group B: http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/225475

i dont vdv is a good choice... not because of thetalent, but because the dutch to sevearly injure themselves in spain. koeman, robben, sneijder twice now. something with the tapas i guess

Sneijder might be out for six months! I think Real Madrid needs to give up on CR7 and buy both VanDerVaart and D.Villa

Silva to Roma? What has the world come to

They'll probably sell him in a couple years anyway, they can't afford to keep most of their players once they develop

Just in on Marca. The President of Valencia CF admits that a deal with AS Roma for David Silva is really close.

Actually, a polls showed that Madrid fans prefer VanDerVaart + D.Villa over CR7. On Marca.

Memo is better than Howard.

Memo's most recent game

http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=h4abkCDrtlo

Goal.com sucks.

Got to agree with jeevs. That train has already passed and goal.com sucks balls.

Hell No, they are going to try everything to get Ronaldo to Spain so they can mob him and talk about him every day. (Great press)

Plus, everybody in Madrid wants ronaldo

bye bye fergie, bye bye ronaldo.... thats is you believe goal.com and AS

Now w/ Bentley, Spurs are setting high expectations.

forgot about crouch.

i guess pennant's time is up

Wait...you have Barry at left back? Hold on a sec...

First, I really don't think we'll be able to afford Barry. Rafa has apparently backed off of Barry quite a bit recently (probably given the Keane transfer) and I personally remain totally unconvinced he's the solution at left wing.

Second, the main reason Rafa let Riise go was because he seems to prefer Aurelio at left back. I like him too, and I don't see much of a drop off (and maybe an improvement?) over Riise back there. We simply cannot afford to spend what Barry would cost to cover a position that is already filled.

Finally, do you really want to see more of Kuyt on the wing? Man, it was awful sometimes...


Did you see what Kuyt did in the Euros? He was incredible out wide for the Dutch. Plus Kuyt is one of he hardest-working players in football. I think a player like that should always have a place in this squad.

And I don't that they will get Barry but I wish they could. I think he'd be good running a Left Back/ Left Midfield role. You have to fit them in. But I just can't wait to see what we do this year. You'll Never Walk Alone!

Wait...you have Barry at left back? Hold on a sec...

First, I really don't think we'll be able to afford Barry. Rafa has apparently backed off of Barry quite a bit recently (probably given the Keane transfer) and I personally remain totally unconvinced he's the solution at left wing.

Second, the main reason Rafa let Riise go was because he seems to prefer Aurelio at left back. I like him too, and I don't see much of a drop off (and maybe an improvement?) over Riise back there. We simply cannot afford to spend what Barry would cost to cover a position that is already filled.

Finally, do you really want to see more of Kuyt on the wing? Man, it was awful sometimes...

ESPN reports the Keane deal to Liverpool is done, 20 mil pounds.

What this most likely means is that Rafa intends to return to the 4-4-2 next season, which effectively means that Xabi is going to be exiting shortly. I hope we can at least get back what we paid for Keane in selling Xab, as I think this was a bit much to pay in this situation. The ugliest rumor I've heard about him is to Arsenal, as a replacement for Flamini. Yuk.

This also now means that we need to add at least ONE winger, preferably on the right side. Silva is the most intriguing rumor, and Rafinha is another that I like. He'd be much cheaper and is more of a true winger than Silva.


I think that we don't need to buy a winger. Silva is trouble and we don't need him. I just don't think we need him. I don't see him fitting in very well. I think Liverpool should do this when everyone is healthy.

Torres- Keane
Babel- Mascherano- Gerrard- Kuyt
Barry- Skrtel- Carragher- Finnan/Arbeloa/whomever
Reina

Carlos Vela had a hat-trick in Arsenal's Friendly today. I think its almost time for him to take the throne as my avatar again. Good-Bye Debora N.

I think we could get 20m (Euro of course) for Xabi...central midfielders of his quality and relatively young age aren't exactly easy to come by. I suspect they'll also want at least a part of his signing bonus back from his most recent contract, which will drive his pric e up a bit.

You also have to remember that we have the $17m from Crouch's transfer available, which will help offset the cost of Robbie.

i think livahpool is done, they dont have enough kitty to go after silva even if they do sell xab and voronin

Xab is definitley not worth 20 mil euros, more like 15 tops

Chaco's CONCACAF preview
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/222897

ESPN reports the Keane deal to Liverpool is done, 20 mil pounds.

What this most likely means is that Rafa intends to return to the 4-4-2 next season, which effectively means that Xabi is going to be exiting shortly. I hope we can at least get back what we paid for Keane in selling Xab, as I think this was a bit much to pay in this situation. The ugliest rumor I've heard about him is to Arsenal, as a replacement for Flamini. Yuk.

This also now means that we need to add at least ONE winger, preferably on the right side. Silva is the most intriguing rumor, and Rafinha is another that I like. He'd be much cheaper and is more of a true winger than Silva.

yep, take a look

Mine and Jeevs quarterfinal throwdown is finally over if anyone wants to check out or vote:

http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/198879

financial trouble was just when the glazers took over

now we are the most profitable club on the planet, no way we will be in debt for long

smash the british transfer record

$70m for Tevez!

Financial trouble what?

Guru, I don't mean to be argumentative, but where on earth did you come up with that statistic of West Ham only using 2 of its regulars??

You seriously need to work on your math because that statement is as faulse as my Grandmother's teeth.

All star game was much better than anticipated, and that blanco goal and the angel goal dissalowed made it better
jeevs BS 07/25/08

And the De Rosario penalty kick was unstoppable. Even for Keeper Robert Green who played a full 90 minutes in EVERY game for West Ham last season.

Can we settle down on the MLS All-Star joyride, please? Let's remember 9 of West Ham's regulars were not in the lineup for the game, it is a great accomplishment for them to have a 5 game winning streak, but it is set up like the Harlem Globetrotters Vs. The Washington Generals

liverpool made a good signing, i would have thought wenger would snap him up, but he lacks some kitty

All star game was much better than anticipated, and that blanco goal and the angel goal dissalowed made it better

Great All Star game. I thought Joseph played pretty well, and Blanco is a beast, what is he 35? and all he did in his 45 minutes was show up a PL team.

In obscure football news today, Liverpool signed a kid named David N'Gog (best name ever?) from PSG.

I've seen little of him (only U19), but from what I recall, he's an absolute beast. He's huge, but is also very fast and has great ball skills.

This is precisely the kind of foward looking signing we haven't been making in recent years (outside of Lucas), and I'm very glad to see it.

nice

Chaco's Concacaf WCQ Preview coming soon!

Montreal have won the Canadian Championship. I will have more info tomorrow on the SoccerNation Report.

Come check this out:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/popup_generic_sports.html?src=http://www.cbc.ca/livemedia/cbcvideo-sportsG.asx&name=Sports_Concacaf_Soccer_mtl_tor_07_22_08#

Summer Shootout Tourney Semi-Final

the hemogoblin vs ctsubasa

http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/195883

Come vote

Thread above in Message Board

Let's be optimistic. When Saviola and Morientes had loan spells in Monaco, they played the some of the best football in their respective careers

This just in. AS Monaco has secured a one-year loan for Freddy Adu with a buy-option at the end of the loan.

It is clear that there, he will have a more prominent role and should get some good playing time/experience.

What do you guys think?

ESPN tonight. Sorry, I should have told everyone.

Would someone give me a Yes or No? Did ESPN2 televise the KC vs Colombus game tonight? All I'm seeing is the 2007 World Series Of Poker and I'm none to happy about it.

Vela is a guy who I think will adopt well to the Prem. He's not a little guy, and he's pretty strong from what I've seen. I actually have a lot more questions about Nasri than Vela.

Man does everyone know I like Vela? But yes, I understand he will need time.
I still say Arsenal will crack the top 4 next year, so worried I am not.
It is going to be a good battle though.

Me vs D-Wreck

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/194462

Arsenal fans are good for know and especially the future, as long as they dont keep sellin ppl

Here's the thing about Vela. Good and agile. But he's never been pushed around before. Had he played in the Mexican league, he would know how to play physical. But he's going to learn the hard way. Vela will have more freedom to run in EPL than La Liga, but wait til he gets his first nasty tackle

MH7KiNG - we all know about your infatuation for Vela but the kid hasnt played in the EPL yet. Not saying hes gonna bust but he still has everything to prove.

Id say Arsenal will be more of a contender next year when these young guns are more used to play with each other and have matured a bit more.

Cruz Azul (mexico) is currently beating Atletico Madrid (spain) 1-0.
Atl. Madrid lost to Puebla (mex.) on Sunday 1-0 as well.

Worried? Hell naw! They got Carlos Vela now. Pair him up with Walcott, Nasri, Fabregas, and others, and there is nothing to worry about.

hmm, hleb and flamini are gone but van persies healthy and nasri and ramsey are there (he wont be ready)

i wouldnt be too worried

suprised they didnt get more money for dinho. guess he really wanted out

I do too. I thought Arsenal was in for a rough year, but Nasri has the type of talent to carry a team. We shall see. Tottenham is looking good tho, they really are doing a great job in this transfer window, lets just see if they can keep their strikers

I want to hear from the Arsenal fans. Are you guys worried about the upcoming season?

Hey guys. has anyone been watching the SuperLiga?
If you have, I have a quick question for you.
Who does Omar Arellano remind you of? I mean his style of play.

Chivas and Atlante won in today's SuperLiga matches.

TD Completed. Go vote.
J11forbes v. Mike_E.

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/193541

as far as the aguero rumor goes, it could be arsenal, liverpool, or tottenham too.

They said a big english club has made the offer other than chelsea. Spurs may look to him cause they couldn't get Eto'o, who's a whole nother case...

Or it could even be City.

If he were at United, he would be rotated with Rooney and Tevez, but someone like Berbatov, and out and out striker, could provide the contrast in striking we need. Aguero would be a good project for the future who can help out now as well, but not worth 55 mil

My sincerest apologies Keeper. I'll never discuss it again.

How was what we were saying denigrating women's soccer in any way? I happen to find women's soccer as a whole very entertaining. I just think that U.S. women's team plays a very boring brand of soccer. I actually like watching the Germany and Brazil's women's team for the most part. Obviously the mistake made by the Brazilian defender is a mistake anyone could make. That's why I compared it to the Zaccardo own goal. I don't see whatis getting you so upset.

You guys just piss me off. Soccer is soccer regardless of who is playing and if you don't like watching women then keep it to yourself and don't say anything about it on here. Mistakes happen in every game, give them a freaking break.

More fun rumors!

ManU has allegedly made a 55m Euro bid for Sergio Aguero (this is his release clause fee). They're also considering 28m pounds for Berbatov.

I'm a huge fan of Aguero, but 55m is a LOT to pay for a kid who isn't a proven superstar yet. I would love to see Liverpool try and reel him in for a 30m-ish bid (instead of Barry) but I kind of doubt Atletico will bite.

I'd honestly be kind of disappointed if he goes to ManU (for his sake) as I can't see him with a regular place on that side straight away.

Giovani Dos Santos scored twice for the Spurs in a friendly today.

The U.S. WNT doesn't really have any skill players. They just have players who are faster and stronger than their opponents. But you never see them pull off any ball tricks or make any particularly creative passives. Which is why many of their games are very boring to watch.

Yeah, it wasn't really any worse than Turkey's 2nd goal was vs. the CR. Mistakes are mistakes.

HOWEVER, the rest of the game was just mindblowingly poor. I realize that women aren't going to have the same level of strength/explosiveness/etc as men, but you'd think in that the skill portions of the game, especially touches/dribbling and passing that they'd be able to do it as well as men. I don't see why not, anyway.

Meh.

Well, it was a bad cross that should have been easily cleared, only for the defender to miss the ball, have it hit the back of her leg, and wind up in perfect position for the U.S. striker. Laughable in the quality of the defence. Laughable like Zaccardo's own goal against the U.S. in the '06 World Cup was laughable. As in, watching it made me laugh at the defensive ineptitude.

I didn't see anything wrong with that goal. A goal is a goal, what's so funny about scoring a goal?

Did anyone see the U.S. women's goal against the Brazilians this weekend. That may be one of the most laughable goals I've ever seen.

I was out of town for the weekend if I missed my throwdown.

Keeper vs Ctsubasa
http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/192898

Ill wait to see Ronaldinho wear a City or a Milan jersey...

Eto'o-Vela could prove to be pretty nasty.

This scandal is HUGE! Napoli's new striker German Denis is involved.

Sorry guys. I was almost done with the Report for today but I messed up and lost it. No SoccerNation Report today. Look for it tomorrow.

Some interesting stories broke recently, Ronnie to snub Milan for City b/c his transfer to Milan is taking to long... Eto'o and 10M Euro's for Adebayor (I personally think Wenger would be crazy to turn this down). And a scandal involving Argentine players acquiring fake Italian passports in order to play in Europe. What do you guys think?

Anyway, Puebla (Mexico) defeated Atletico Madrid (Spain) today 1-0.

I have to agree cowace2. Lord know's I've tried to watch it. Lorrie Fair is one of my favorites but I really can't follow the sport.

I'm not trying to be racist/sexist/****/whatever, but women's soccer is just about unwatchable. The US and Brazil are supposed to represent the most talented sides in the world, and this to me looks like a couple of high school teams.

I mean...how hard is it to get a ball into the box on a corner? I mean....just get it there.

Chivas won, and Dynamo won.
Cant wait until tomorrow's matches!

SuperLiga! Today!

Chivas vs Dc United 8:00 Et
Atlante vs Houston 10:00 Et

Does anybody know whether the Beach Soccer World Cup will be televised?

Hey guys, I will NOT be writing the SoccerNation Report today. Today will be an off-day due to the blogs that we currently have. So, no blog today from me.

Do you like soccer, but not know what people in this group are talking about half the time? Join Soccer Amateurs. You won't regret it!

TD is finally over
Ctsubasa vs Notorious O.T.T.

http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/191721

I know that but who should really care when most of our teams aren't worth crap compared to the Mexican teams. It just doesn't really interest me.

SuperLiga is just a competition between MLS and FMF teams. Dont see anything wrong with it. Now the CONCACAF Champions League, will inlcude teams from all over the CONCACAF region.

I have no clue and I don't care about it. It's a dumb idea when we are starting the new CONCACAF Champions League. That should be the best competition not the SuperLiga. You leave out teams like Saprissa in it and you can't do that.

Santos Defeated Real Salt Lake 4-1 today.
Cant wait for the SuperLiga. It starts Saturday right?

Ahh!! So many TDs to read!

Manchester United vs Spain

Vote on arguments

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/191937

Bigalke vs Anonymous Dan

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/191819

D-Wreck vs Burgundy

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/191409

our throwdown is done come check it out:
http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/191497

http://www.fannation.com/groups/show/41526

come join the world cup qualifying group

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/191721
Ctubusa vs. me

http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/191037

Dyhard vs Myself

I'm considering getting the new United away jersey although the color pattern doesn't really do it for me. That light blue is kind of hideous but to be a United supporter means wearing the jersey. Might get Tevez's number on it.

Yeah, i think the new Barca jerseys are ugly because of the split in colors right down the middle.

SUPERLIGA! Maybe an MLS team can win

We are officially the number 10 largest group on the entire site of FanNation!

Have you guys seen the new Barca jerseys? Me no likey.

http://www.soccernetstore.com/shop-by-team-barcelona-football-club-barcelona-08-09-home-soccer-jersey.html

Our Balls are bigger than what?

The Men's size 7 regulation basketball has a circumference between 29.5-30 inches, it weighs 20-22 ounces, and has a diameter of 9.39 inches. Much greater than a Proffessional Soccer Ball.

Is anyone looking forward to Superliga? I am. It was great last year. I'm going to the DC-Chivas game.

Wow, they really screwed up the event, the PR was terrible, alot of people didn't even know it happened. They should have had it in NY or LA or somehwhere and improved the PR.

If Juninho showed up, he would have won it, he's the best. Messi can't take free kicks, and cmon, romario and borgetti?

They need Beckham, Juninho, Ronaldinho, Nakamura, Pirlo, Lampard, Cristiano Ronaldo, Hargreaves (3 for 3 with Man Utd), Van Persie, Del Piero, Henry, Sneijder, Totti, Figo, Zidane, Gerrard, Solano, David Villa, people from that list

I was in Mexico this past week and read about it in the paper. Borgetti was in bc Del Pierro and Torres called out.
I think i understood that Dinho barely made any close to the frame (my spanish isnt the best...)

Yeah, they lost out to Rafa. I was shocked too. It came down to him and Borgetti at the end.

Marquez? From Mexico? Wow what about Dinho, Messi, and the others?

I didn't see it live but I saw the highlights. David James won 500 grand for being the best keeper and Rafa Marquez won 1 million smackers for the free-kicks.

Did anyone see the Free Kick Masters Tourney?

our balls are bigger!!!

LDU Quito deserved the Copa. And that Guerron dude has to be the fastest football player in the world. OMG he's so fast.

Too bad Boca didn't win. I would like to see Tevez in that ManUtd-Boca game

As for Soccer Planet, I think its gone, for good. Dont know why, but it just happened.
R.I.P. Soccer Planet

Yeah, Congrats to La Liga (Ecuador) after winning their first Copa Libertadores, club wise, and country wise. 5-5 on aggregate, its tough seeing Fluminense go down after putting up a fight.

Yes, Stauff Nation created Soccer Planet and he allowed all of its members to blog. What happened with Stauff is a bit of a mystery. I last talked to him at around 10am on Sunday morning May 18th. Although jeevs has seen Stauff posting on Soccer T&R within the last 14 days, Stauff hasn't been active in any of our soccer groups in nearly 6 weeks. Stauff was an active blogger. He posted 85 blogs in less than 4 months. His last blog was published on May 16th.

I am pretty sure it is just a technical difficulty, like when the blog views went down for a couple days

Who was the creator of the group?

MH7KiNG 06/30/08 : I also noticed that Soccer Planet has been deleted. I have no idea why but I'd like to know. If anyone has any information about this, please speak up. Soccer Planet had 42 authors who just lost their blogs. It also had a TD Tournament that was still in progress.

Nihat is out for four months. Will Villareal keep Jozy now?

Does anyone know what happened to Soccer Planet? Its like deleted or something.

CAMPEONES, CAMPEONES, OE OE OE

Great Game Spain Best Team Won Well Done!

Spain won 1-0 it took 44 years, but i think all Spainish fans will say it was more than worth the wait

word, i did that, but i didn't know how to space them out

Wow. ABC is doing a double-header!

Thanks to whoever did the what's on this week. I forgot about the LA game. Now we have something to watch for a while.

I say Mexico still has better talent. The US have held their ground recently, but I expect that to change once Mexico's youngsters rise to the occassion.

Thanks, I just wanted something funny for a change. Wanted to show my sense of humor.

nice group pick

USA vs Mexico

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/186981

Just a temporary motto. Please get me your mottos in. We will be picking winner by next Friday.

Congrats to all the big guns on SoccerNation.

Well hello MDPRIDE we all look forward to teaching you about the game. Welcome to football.

I am a newbie to this sport

Thanks to you for creating the idea or we would have nothing

VIVA SOCCERNATION!!! WE'RE #1!

Yeah jeevs, we (mostly you) have done it. Thanks to you for everything.

300!

Thanks for the stats GoldenThread. Thanks to all 300 members of the group for your support and it will be only be a matter of time before we are on the largest groups list. Let's get 'em SoccerNation.

j11forbes I've noticed one thing that pisses me off about Buffon. He can't catch the ball and Casillas has been a monster all year. I think he is the best and will be the best for a good while now. The smaller goalkeeper is the way to go nowadays.

How about 1.3.That looks better.

SOCCERNATION CENCUS Report:

On march 20,2008 SoccerNation had a total membership of 140 users. Today, june 25,2008 (95 days later) SoccerNation is just one member shy of 3oo.

SoccerNation averages 3.147 new members per day, As of today, SoccerNation is the fasted growing group on Fanation with no let up in site.

I still think Buffon is a better keeper than Casillas. Nothing against Casillas. I think he is a very, very close second. But I would still take Buffon. Undoubtedly Casillas is a better penalty stopper than Buffon. Stopping penalties has always been Buffon's weakness. But the rest of his game is so close to flawless. Once again, not taking anything away from Casillas, but you don't decide the best keeper in the world based on the results of a 0-0 draw decided on penalties.

I think Russia have a better chance against Spain anyway. It won't be a 3 goal rout this time but it will be a shootout or it should be at least. Should be a great match.

SANTO CASILLAS! YOU ARE THE BEST GOALKEEPER IN THE WORLD!!!
Big Chaco 06/22/08 Delete


Yes, he sure is. Buffon saved one bad penalty, van der Sar can't save the easy shot and Cech drops an air ball. As of now I think Casillas is the best and it's because of his regular season performance not how he's played compared to the other ones. Spain deserved to win anyways.

spain deserved that win. Italy are a bunch of ****

SANTO CASILLAS! YOU ARE THE BEST GOALKEEPER IN THE WORLD!!!

put me in

Hey everyone, if you're interested in SoccerNation's Summer TD Tourney(and I know you are), then you need to hurry up and let Keeper know.

We're going to have some great topics to debate and it's going to be alot of fun, but time is running out. Keeper needs to hear from you. This is going to be the biggest and best Soccer TD Tournament in Fannation history. ARE YOU READY???

Yeah, German engineering. I really like the Audi A8.

Check out my blog, chime in with your thoughts.

http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/206897

C.Ronaldo didn't bother to pressure the Germans. Once again, German engineering

Tradgedy strikes for Boularuez. His prematurely born baby did not survive. Will this affect the Dutch? Hetinga is a good replacement if need be.

Nope Gomes pulled one back and Ronaldo nearly scored before the end of the half. We got a game on our hands boys!

WHOA! 2 goals in 5 min for Germany! byebye Cristiano and co?

Guys I'm sorry but I just see the Italians winning that match. The Dutch are so stupid for what they did and they too will pay for it. Yeah, they won't win Euro 2008 either. I think the Italians are going to defend like, well Italians and if they do the Spanish will be beaten with that lackluster defence.

Well anybody should be scared of Italy, b/c they always seem to win no matter how badly they play, and Spain always manages to lose. But I think this year might be Spains year.

I've been going through the Spanish press, and they sure are scared of Italy

Spain should be able to handle Italy. Spains main attackers in Villa, Torres, Silva and Iniesta should prove to be to lively for Italy's old and poor looking defense. Plus they will be without Pirlo and Gattuso (although im looking foward to seeing Aquliani play). Italy has also yet to score during the run of play. Spain's starters will also be well rested. Spain 2 Italy 1. thats my prediction. The Portugal germany game should be some spectacle too.

Spain has never beaten Italy in an official football tournament game! uh oh!

soccer nation championship TD replay

Me vs Bigalke

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/183837

but even at LB this season with Barca and with France he's been inconsisten, Evra is a better choice

Abidal is fine, he's just not a center back...he's not good (nor should he be, necessarily) at man marking against a pure striker like Toni.

Domanech screwed this thing up so badly...yeesh. Abidal in the middle, subbed by BOUMSONG? Isn't that the same Boumsong who backs up Squillaci at Lyon? Guh. Sometimes these managers drive me crazy.

I didn't think the French would miss Mexes as much as they did.

abidal is terrible, but what else could he do?

Nihat!!

It's not looking good for France. Down one goal, down one man and already have made 2 subs in the first 25 minutes.

If Italy doesn't win this game like 3-0 I would be shocked.

yes it was, after the second round

No love for Nihat? Was this poll done before yesterday?

yes indeed, both at 2:45 pm est
espn and espn classic

germany would simplify things if they win that way theres no stupid tiebreakers coming into play

Who plays today again (6/16)?

Is it Germany v Austria & Croatia v Poland today?

and its Nihat to the rescue...

Holy crap. Czech-Turkey: the perfect explanation of why the Euros are the best tournament in the world?

Honestly, I'm not sure that Villa would be a great fit in England. He really reminds me of Shevchenko about 6-7 years ago, and Sheva just isn't a good fit in England (for the most part).

As cool as it would be to have him at Liverpool, he's likely way out of our price range and really wouldn't be a great fit (plus, we have lots of other holes).

I think he'd do best at either AC Milan or Barca. Both are obviously looking to rebuild, and he's the type of player you can build a team around. Milan in particular would be a perfect fit...he'd be like Sheva reincarnated.

Real Madrid was supposed to have signed David Villa before the tournament; Don't know what happened though

David Villa.

He should go to liverpool. Him and Torres have got to be the most frightening striker partnership in the world.

David Villa!

AGUANTE ESPA??A

WHOA! 4-1!!! i didnt see it coming (who did?). And of course I leave Robben on the bench...
These coaches and their last minute decisions...

holland is impressive

Mets Fan vs Ctsubasa - who will win Euro 08
http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/181999

Cowace2 vs D'A - Best XI of Euro 08
http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/181982

Jeevs vs Notorious OTT - Who will you play in FIFA 09
http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/181537

MH7KiNG vs JMG 84 - Who will make the next major step of success?
http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/181306

GoldenThread vs dyhard - EPL's 39th game (tie)
http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/181309

Hyped78 vs D-Wreck - Was the draw vs ARG impressive? (Hyped78 won)
http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/181309

Me vs Notorious

Soccer Planet Tourney

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/181537

Myself Vs. Cowace

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/181982

i left villa on the bench too...

TD between GoldenThread and dyhard. If you have a minute to look, we need some votes. Thanks.

http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/181309

I figured that it would be just Torres up top for at least the first game, until Aragones finally gave up and put in two strikers. He figured it out quicker than I thought he would...

i was very surprised you picked di natale over him but again the two-top call from aragones surprised me too.
goal from Deco for me!

OUCH!

ARGH I left Villa on the bench. My 2nd round pick...ARGH

Man, and Torres is on my team!

Aragones wants Torres to have as much rest as possible

any1 watchin the boring greeks just knocking the ball across the back 4 (it is total anti-football) i know the term defense wins championships, but thats just takin the p**s

If you are in the SOCCER PLANET TOURNEY go take a look. I just got it started.

Spain is amazing!

its a good thing for spain that Torres didnt score, he's good for at least 5-6 goals in the comp, so i guess they are still to come

a little upset at Torres being subbed. Nice of Villa to go straight to see Torres after his 3rd goal.

Hat Trick Villa.

what about the goals ? TOP CLASS

2-0 for Spain. So far. I expect a 3-0 finish.

Aragones is playing a two-top Torres/Villa and Fabregas is on the bench. Senna is starting instead of Alonso.
2-1 for Spain

Van Der Sar is not the best keeper in the world.

i think Euro 2008 will show if Casillas or VDS is better this year

I really have to disagree with you. While van der Sar can play big, he hasn't been the best this year. I'll give it to you that he was the best in England because of Cech being hurt, but not the best in the world. Casillas carried Real Madrid and that's why he was the best. Hey, he could end up with you guys next year. I doubt it, but he could.

I meant this season

He's been incredibly consitent and United had by far the least goals allowed in the prem

This season, no one tops him I believe

He's not the best jeevs. He's always been one of the streakiest keepers in the world. Buffon is still better and Cech and Casillas are better too.

Today Edwin van der Sar showed he is the world's best keeper

he did this for man utd all season long, buffon can't match him in this form

Impressed by the Dutch

Bad news for me. My goalie is Buffon and Grosso is also on my team.

Not looking good for the Azzuri. Thank goodness for ESPN 360.

I called a tie for France-Romania and a Dutch victory...
Oh wait its looking pretty good for me!!! GO ORANJES!!!

The Dutch are up 2-0 here in the 31st minute. Snejder just scored a wonder goal off a great counter-attack from the Dutch. Let's see if Italy can come back. Almost, Di Natale just was denied by van der Sar. Big-time save on a rocket!

yea it was a much better game for the US if Bradley does not start Adu next game I am going to kill him!!! He has by far been our best/creative offensive player in the past 3 games!! We need Altidore back cause Johnson is just not cutting it up front

Tim Howard was definitely the man last night. If he wasn't on Argentina could have scored at least 3 goals last night.

While just a draw, I think the US played alot better than they did against Spain & England. They had some opportunities and the hero of the game was Tim Howard. Great keeping from him last night.

True. I forgot about the 4th spot.

Yeah but remember they can get the fourth spot like T&T got. I think and hope that we will get 4 once again for 2010.

Personally I would love to see the Soca Warriors go back to the Cup but I doubt that would happen.

I assume Costa Rica or Honduras steps up for the third spot.

Today is the blockbuster--Netherlands vs. Italy!

It seems like Pablo gets a red every time the US play a good team. When they played Italy he got a red card, too. I just can't believe that no one even scored a goal, I'm glad I have EURO fever and don't care 'cause I'd probably go off right now.

I see U.S. held a draw against Argentina. I would of liked to see a win though. No goals versus England, Spain, or Argentina.

Mexico got a much needed win against Peru. 4-0, all goals coming in the first half.

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE OR WHAT?

What the hell happened??? Pablo Mastroeni just got a Red Card??? That's some serious BS!!!

Yep, you my friend are right. It sucks that Frei had to go down like that, but that's football and Switzerland will fall again like I thought that would.

It is my humble and Swiss opinion that Switzerland is officially screwed....

Oh, and its going to take a lot more than defense to beat Argentina. But c'mon you are not serious? You want to play them to a draw? It is either you win or you lose, and if the US isnt focused, they are going to lose.

Dos Santos was out due to an ankle injury (he had surgery about 2 weeks back). Other notable players that were not present:
Rafael Marquez
Pavel Pardo
Nery Castillo
Guillermo Ochoa

Mexico's defensive lineup was horrible. I think it was bad coaching. you can't put two guys on messi w/ Cruz and Aguero attacking w/ him. Dos Santos didn't play, probably working out the terms w/ Tottenham.

I doubt the USA will face the same Argentina team from last night

You never know... Since the US cant score right now theyll have to play real good defense and force the draw.
Didnt Mexico align youngsters like Vela and Guardado? Did Dos Santos play at all?

i guess were screwed for argentina then?

I only got to watch from the 55th minute on. Must say that was a EXTREMELY disappointing performance.

No consistency, no coordinated attacks. Sometimes I just wanna punch Bradley's kid - he is HORRIBLE at times.

Another thing that really irks me, and this is just across the board, but not specific to USA, but with opportunities to control the ball by chesting the ball down and passing it with the feet, sooooo many players insist on headers that are less accurate and likely to connect to a friendly player

Im glad Aguero got to shine since Tevez wasnt there. Atletico will be fun to watch in the CL.

Spain is going to have a tougher time than expected if they play like that at the Euros...
Cruel decisions might be ahead (drop Xavi/Fabregas/Villa/Silva to the bench...)

Lets hope they get their formation together and become the Spanish Offensive Armada theyre supposed to be

Now I know why Argentina is ranked #1 in the world:
*They have the best player in the world in Lionel Messi.
*They take advantage of mistakes
*Literally, score whenever thay are given the chance to.

Yes, they did. Messi and Aguero are so dangerous. Mexico had possesiom most of the game, but its the goals that count.
I really liked how Vela, Zinha, and Guardado played for Mexico. Lack of team chemistry evident though.
In the end, Argentina took advantage of Mexico's sloppy defense, and won.

Messi and Aguero are destroying Mexico

Sorry there was no MLS Week In review this week, I had a very busy weekend and could not get to it. There will be one next Sunday.

Sincerly,
Thebasketball/soccerguru

My thoughts:
Spain needs to choose either Fabregas or Xavi. I wouldn't start Torres and Villa together, choose one and have Iniesta accompany that striker. Defense is oh so thin. Senna was impressive and should take X.Alonso's place.

USA: Freddy Adu was brilliant. Johnson sucks. I still think Dempsey is overrated. Edu is a much better choice than Clark. Bradley looks tired. Defence played better. I'm starting to like Cherundolo and Pearce as full backs. Gooch and Bocanegra are not consistent.

That wasn't a terrible performance from Spain, but it raised quite a few questions.

First, what formation? I'm still a proponent of them dropping the 5th midfielder to get Villa and Torres out there at the same time...perhaps today's setup was just due to the injuries. The central midfielders are plenty good, they don't need an extra body out there.

Second, who starts in the center? My choice before today would have been Alonso and Fabregas, but Alonso looked uncomfortable and was playing far too deep, while Xavi (after a VERY quiet first half) was excellent in the second, including the beautiful goal and a sharp free kick. The only problem there is that he is so similar a player to Fabregas...tough, tough decision.

I think Cazorla looked better in the 2nd half, but he won't replace Iniesta. Iniesta won't be totally comfortable playing wide right but he's far too talented to leave on the bench. So long as he can get along with Ramos that is going to be a fearsome flank attack.

The center backs didn't have to do much today, so we didn't get much of a look at Marchena (except for his ridiculously bad shot). I still think Albiol is the guy back there; I was disappointed he didn't appear today.

The other question is at left back. Capdevilla just isn't doing it for me now...I would have liked to see Arbeloa get a full game before Euro as a comparison. The play there between the left back and Silva will likewise be very important to this team.

The US looked pretty solid in the first half, mainly due to Adu. He's really coming along as a playmaker, and I think his best place is in the center. A forward setup with him as the attacking center mid, Donovan as the deep forward, and Johnson as the striker looks like the best setup to me right now. Johnson's skills are still awful, but he is fast, moves well off the ball, and he's good in the air.

Bradley wasn't great today...I don't think he should be the first choice over a fit Mastro. Maybe in a year or two, but not yet.

Adu needs to be a regular player. He was the best player on the pitch in the first half for both teams except for Sergio Ramos. Edu played much better then Ricardo Clark has for the Nats. Bradley was ok. I still think EJ sucks, what terrible finishing and he lacks the ability to take anyone on with the ball. At least he gets in good positions unlike Wolff. Dempsey looks either lazy or tired, but at least in the rare occasion he gets the ball he'll take anyone on with decent success.

In a game like that its the individual talent that spoke... the US played great and held its own but Xavi's run was what the US lacks...pure football talent. Not trying the US team here but hopefully in a couple of years Adu, Bradley, Altidore will prove me wrong

Is eddie johnson finally back?

He played well today, except for the galring miss in front of goal.

Adu was also very good, and i thought Edu played well.

Josh Wolff's time is over. Beasley needs more games under his belt.

Michael Bradley should have been out of there in the second half, coach is playing favorites.

What is Onyewu doing on that Xavi goal?

A few thoughts:

Spain needs to move to a 4-4-2 here. The midfield has no spacing and Xavi, Alonso, and Fabregas are playing on top of each other. One needs to come off for a striker.

Silva looks solid on the left, but the lack of a good fullback partner will hurt him a bit. Cazorla looks excited to be out there but hasn't produced much on the right. He should be working with Ramos more than he is.

The US looks pretty darn good. Adu looks great in the middle, made some great plays. We may have a new attacking midfielder. The defense looks fragile but is surviving. Eddie Johnson is incredibly fast...there aren't more than a half dozen players on the planet who could have beaten Puyol to that ball.

I don't see the US scoring, but they could hold this to a draw if Spain doesn't open up a bit (eg, get a second striker out there).

Mexico vs. Argentina is tonight 11Est on Telemundo. Always entertaining when these two go at it

10 million? I heard it was 8 million according to wikipedia.

So thats like 5 to 6 million euros. Not bad.

Aragones started Torres despite his knock. Freddy Adu is playing great. Spain's midfield is too congested. not convinced by Cazorla. We'll see what happens for the second half

Altidore to Villareal for $10 million!!

When is the Mexico v. Argentina game?

That means Guiza and Silva are starting... INTERESTING!
Im guessing a 4-1-4-1

2-0 for Spain

Come and join!
All we need is one more person!

http://www.fannation.com/message_boards/show_thread/214217

Wow. Villa, Iniesta, and Torres are out? Looks like the US may have a chance after all.
What about Mexico vs Argentina?

David Villa is also out, this will leave Guiza to play as a forward

I think I'm a watch the game on ESPN 360, I can't wait for the tape delay

Torres and Iniesta are out for the game today

US vs Spain today
ESPN2 @ 5:30 pm eastern, 4:30 central I believe.

3 cheers for the US & Sam's Army

Yes! Let justice be served!

Yes, excellent idea. Maybe have Bigalke make the opening argument this time?

good idea keeper

I have decided to call a replay of the SoccerNation Cup TD. You can get more info on the situation at the blog address that I sent out to everyone. Thanks and good luck to jeevs and Bigalke.

the mod said if bigalke agrees that it should be a draw, he'll change it

Sven to Mexico is official!

I'd seriously consider starting a new TD to settle this dispute. Rules....neither jeevs nor Bigalke can vote for themselves.......that's my opinion BTW, I would definitely call the previous TD a draw.

The US v Spain match on Wednesday? ESPN2???

uh oh, controversy!

Did you two agree to not vote for each other? If you did, then it should be a tie. If you didn't...then it should be a win to Bigalke.

Man! Im so excited for the start of Euro 2008. This little fantasy game we have going is so awesome!
Props to Keeper, Big Chaco, and Jeeves!

All we can do is wait for Bigalke's response. It's truely up to him.

its really a question about morals, do we stick to what we believe is right or not

no re-vote though, at least i believe, either a draw or a loss for me

i think we should wait on what he has to say. i believe that he will agree that it should be a draw if i know him right.

it was kinda of a low blow, he didn't do it in his other TD's, and to do it at the end, i was kind of pissed

no he did not, but i didnt want to give myself the advantage by voting for myself.

The community rated us even, i just thought it was unfair that he got the win because he voted for himself with 1 hour left. if i could have got to a computer and found out he voted for himself, i would have also. but if i voted for myself and he didnt, i think thats unfair, so i beleive it would be the same the other way around.

the whole voting for yourself is stupid, the should get rid of it

Is there an unwritten rule about not voting for yourself in TDs? Ive only done one and I didnt even know you could vote for yourself.

Also did Bigalke explicitly tell Jeevs he wouldnt vote for himself? Or Jeevs thought he wouldnt do it bc he hasnt done so in previous TDs?

Guys, this poll is very important. I actually need you to search your moral values on this one, OK?

Soccer tournament!

http://fannation.com/message_boards/show_thread/214217

Please vote for the better arguments:

http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/178239

Come join

http://www.fannation.com/groups/show/38506

soccernation championship TD

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/177522

Hey guys, I'm going to cancel the drafts for groups 2,3, and maybe 4. In order to get it back on, someone is going to have to help out and put some time into it from each group. I'm not going to track people down to do this. Thanks and good luck.

Wow, tough call. I'll still say Argentina has an edge though.

No, those rankings are BS MH7KiNG. I'll take Spain right now over Argentina for sure.

Mexico/ U.S. versus Argentina poll

http://www.fannation.com/groups/show/38506

Argentina is ranked #1 in the world by FIFA.
So yeah, they have a better chance of beating them than Spain.
U.S. loses to Spain 4-1, and 3-0 to Argentina.

Well, Spain are going to be very tough. Any team that leaves Raul off the roster is pretty darn good, and Argentina is a good team but we have a much better chance of beating them at home.

Oh and I heard that Dos Santos to the Spurs is official. 12 million euros is what it took.

Well as you all know, im Mexican and im choosing Mexico to win. 3-2 Final. If Vela is used as a central striker, that is.

Im curious as to what formation Spain will play with against the US. Theyre experimenting with a 4-4-2 in their next game against Peru.
And i got Argentina. I expect Mexico to get their stuff together by 2010 though.

Hope you're right Underdog...US just didn't seem to play with any confidence or savvy against England.

Man we lost to England we should do better agiast Spain upset i m smelling

MH7, I got Argentina

Mexico isn't the soccer powerhouse it once was...in fact, it never was a powerhouse except in CONCACAF and they're not as good as the US anymore (but they're dirtier & cheaper than the US).

Cant wait for the Mexico and Argentina clash this Wednesday. Who ya got?

I was dissapointed when we started Wolff up top in place of Donovon he is a waste of space, EJ tried to make himself available but our biggest problem was we didnt leave the ball on the carpet and England outclassed us in everyway with there silky one touch passing.

Gerrard looked great wearing the number 10 if I can say so myself, Dempsey wasnt really lazy he just had noone to play with, Bradley couldnt get started b/c when Clark would get the ball he would just make a poor decsion and lose the ball. We looked flat while England looked like a team primed for the Euro. I cant wait to see if Coach Bradley lights a fire under there arses for the next game against Spain.

Disappointing performance by the US....the attack was dismal...same way it disappeared in WC2006...but oh well, we still do well in CONCACAF

I want to encourage everybody to read Keeper's blogs on every team participating in EURO 2008!

I agree w/ you Jeevs

Final score was 2-0 huh. Didn't watch the game but was it really that bad?

our attack is dismal whenever we play a good team.

we can perform against panama, but we were outclassed. Donovan would have helped though.

Our techincal ability was nothing compared to theirs and we were unable to create chances at all. It was a sad showing

so for any Donovan doubters out there, take a look at our attack when hes not on the pitch... dismal

will you blog hemo? You should ask keep if you want them.

The thread for the England-US game.

http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/198417?new=true

Gomis' parents are from Senegal. Ppl were saying that Domenech gave him his first cap so that he wouldnt play for Senegal just like he tried to do with Higuain (who declined)
2 great goals though

I've seen Gomis in St.Etienne games and he was solid. My roomate used to rave about him. Domenech dropped Cisse in favor of Gomis for the Euro. I didn't know he would be playing for France. i thought he would represent his parent's country. Forgot which country it was

SGE is not officially Mexico's coach just yet, but the rumors are very strong. He is supposed to be introduced as the coach next June 3, but Man City says it will make a decision on his future on June 15. Stay tuned

Hey guys, did any of you see what that French kid named Bafetimbi Gomis did against Ecuador? Two awesome goals, I don't know who he is, but he might be a good one someday.

which are..........

Ehh, I'd take the SuperMember privileges too...

Well I heard that they are going to announce his signing next week. Could be.

All rumors. An insider said the FMF chief said its all done but who knows

Hey I heard that Sven G??ran Eriksson finally accepted the offer to coach Mexico. Is this true?

welcome cincy

thank you for bloggin irish

Hey, can I get blogging privaleges in time for the US-England game on Wednesday. Thanks in advance.

I guess I'm in.Jeevs sent me an invite.Well If I actually want to talk or learn more about soccer I can come here and not be ignored!

Welcome aboard Cleveland. You are the 255th member of SoccerNation.....OMG!!!!!

hello cleveland

hi everyone.

soccernation tourney semi finals:

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/176126

new message board topic and poll

my round 5 tourney will start today.

No one knows where stauff nation is, bigalke is supposed to face him

What ever happened to the SoccerNation Tourney? Round 5 never happened. Is it over or will it continue?

Ferguson said hes going to quit in three years

Grant should not have been fired, finishing second in both the champions league and the EPL is fairly respectable, I bet you at least three quarters of the teams in the EPL would kill to be in that spot

The BBC wire has made it official.....Avrom Grant has been sacked at Chelsea. Grant took the helm of Chelsea FC last September after manager Jose Mourinho was basically forced out. The hole chief executive Peter Kenyon has dug for himself is only getting deeper.

Marcello Lippi would be the perfect replacement. CAn you imagine, Ferguson vs Lippi or Wenger vs Lippi or Benitez vs Lippi

SI's reporting Grant to be gone as well...

The clearing out of these major teams isn't just going to benefit them, but it's also going to benefit middle of the pack teams in the large European leagues, because players who weren't seen as available will suddenly become so, and many of them play positions where the major teams are set (like striker, for instance).

My bad. F365 is reporting it, too. Chelski's on the verge of a total clear-out. Should make for an interesting summer with 2 of the world's biggest clubs angling for major moves in the transfer and managerial markets. (The other is Barcelona.)

ESPN Soccernet is reporting that Chelski sacked Grant. Haven't seen this anywhere else, though.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=538621&cc=3888

MLS Week in Review coming on Sunday

Bullcrap Big Chaco, it's a great move for Chelsea. Dos Santos is the future of Mexican soccer and he will be great that's for sure. Malouda is good, but Dos Santos is probably better now and will be eventually that Florent. Florent is alright, but he just tends to fade out of games too easily. Yeah, Dos Santos needs some grooming, but once he gets it, he will be great. Good deal for Chelsea.

Malouda and Dos Santos getting swapped? Sounds like a horrible deal on Chelsea end. Dos Santos holds the ball too long for the EPL. That's been his problem in La Liga this season. Malouda however should have a better second season in the EPL

i've heard him linked with chelsea and city, could be

Hey, is it true that Giovani Dos Santos will join Chelsea after he gets swapped for Malouda?

My dark horse is Turkey

croatia are the dark horses

Check out the poll on Soccer Planet about 2010 WC Hosts.

http://www.fannation.com/groups/show/38506

Well, Big Chaco, I think the Dutch are going to go back and try the old Ajax method where they all play in the Eredivisie. This could be good and it could be bad. Thet have always been good internationally, but it will probably help them in European play.

The Germans have a really easy trip... WOO!!

finally, bravo in europe

On another note, Omar Bravo signed with Deportivo La Coruna today for 3 years. He will be playing with his mexican buddy, Andres Guardado. That is, if Guardado doesn't leave.

I think Italy and France will pass. I don't see the Dutch going through. They don't look as complete as the French and the Italians. Also, Van Basten doesn't have a strong hold on the team; how is he coaching Ajax next year?

Screw Drogba

I feel bad for John Terry. But not for Chelski.

Funny how nobody feels bad for Anelka, haha. Guess that's what happens when you sulk your way across Europe.

@thebasketballguru: CRonaldo's crying didn't upstage his teammates' celebration. I realize he's a show off but not even he has the stones to make the Final all about him when he missed the penalty kick. It's fine to dislike a player but, please, stay a little reasonable.

I'd be crying if I missed a penalty in the Champions League Final too.

he was crying in relief because if terry didn't miss, it would be the worse day of his life

but neville, in his suit, came over and picked him up and told him lets go celebrate, like a real captain does

I love how Ronaldo instead of going to celebrate with his mates, cried at midfield, almost upstaging his teammates, but other than that congrats to Man U and Celsea on a great game

he was crying so much after the game


a post, a crossbar, and a miss, no luck for chelski

My heart goes out to John Terry.

tommorow

glory glory man utd

thank you terry

maybe i should blog about this

For real. I knew the second he walked up it wouldn't be good. I'm not a Chelsea fan, but that was crappy and so was Ronaldo's. He nearly cost his team with that stupid stop crap. Had he made it, he would have to have taken the kick again.

WTF TERRY

Italy, France, Holland and Romania... wow, what a group. 4 teams worthy of not only moving out of the groups, but also winning the whole thing. Italy, France and Holland are three obvious big guns, but Romania has got to be considered one of the dangerous sleeper teams. I wouldn't be surprised if they shocked their three huge opponents and moved on.

Ronaldinho's Dog? Hahahaha, I remember that.

Clowning, i really liked the purple ones.

Yeah, Madrid were actually wearing next season's jersey. That is why they were different.

third jersey, new kits? chelsea wore a different uniform in there last premier league game

Does anyone know why Real Madrid's trim on Sunday was black instead of purple?

YEAH! WE WILL BE #1 SOON! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!

250 members!

Ochoa doesn't count, he's not in Europe, yet anyway.

i've seen virtually every united game this season, and rarely have i've seen him making mistakes. and he's made trememndous save after tremendous save, thats hwy hes the premier league keeper of the year

1. Casillas
2. Buffon
3. Ochoa

Yeah, don't say nothing! What happened to the 'Giovani hasn't done nothing for Barca all season' crap? Haha

CASILLAS! The games against Olympiakos and Zaragoza in Madrid were amazing performances

Van Der Sar can be awful and inconsistent at times. And he gets hurt too much. If it wasn't for that great Man. U defence, he would have been exposed for what he is.

its definitely between Buffon and Iker for me. I voted for Buffon. He made a save against a Lazio free kick that was the best save i have ever seen.

i think this season, van der sar has been the best

Just wanted to say that Giovani Dos Santos had a hat-trick in Barca's win today.

Change of subject. Kahn played his last professional game a bit ago. Farewell to one of the greatest keepers ever!

Agree Jeevs. Houston and DC have been competitive. But imagine the Galaxy having to defend Sao Paolo

but you dont believe at least the mls cup champ can hang and not get blown out?

Oops. Correction. The Mexican league is a very international league.

I personally think MLS teams would get blown out if they play in the Maracana, the Bombonera, the Azteca and Jalisco.

I think Mexico is a very international team. There are players from all over the continent (North and South America).

For now, let's just be content that at least one MLS team is able to participate in the Copa Sudamericana. If they could only get out of the first round

i didn't mean mls teams can win,. but they wont get blownout i believe

i also dont think the national team factor should really be taken into consideration because we are alot more international than the mexican league, and we still have beat mexico many times, and they have a tought time beating us here.

... or maybe this is just one of those things were a style of play overcomes another style of play regardless of its deficiencies. If the U.S. participation in the World Cup is any indication, being able to beat Mexico in U.S. soil is not a good enough argument.

Mexico has the same issue. They have lost only a couple of matches against Brazil in the last 8 years, winning much more than they lost, and that doesn't mean Mexico is a better team that Brazil.

Club America (Mexico) defeated Santos (Brazil) 2-0! This first leg of the Copa Libertadores Santander was held in the famous Aztec Stadium in Mexico.

BREAKING NEWS! AMERICA IS UP 1-0 AT THE HALF!

the US national team can't win in Mexico, how can an MLS team come close to challenging Mexican clubs

MLS teams can't hang w/ Mexican team Jeevs. Superliga should not be an indicator because its during the Mexican preseason and they rest their players. Also, MLS teams only play Mexican teams on American soil. Only Houston and DC have been able to compete against Mexican teams in the past two years.

I dont think MLS teams can hang with the Mexican clubs just yet. They are almost there, but once they start winning tournaments over the Mexican teams, then that can be said.

BREAKING NEWS: Today, Club America vs Santos! 8:30 pm eastern time. On Fox Sports En Espanol.

THat got me thinking, if Mexicans teams can compete in the Copa Libertadores, and MLS teams can hold their own against them, why don't we play in the libertadores?

Atlas (Mexico) and Boca Juniors (Argentina) just tied 2-2. This was the first leg in the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores. Boca were the home team.

I agree. Them, CSKA Moscow, and Spartak Moscow are all really good. A few more are good, but those are the really strong teams that I feel can really compete on a European scale. And I mean the Champions League, not the UEFA Cup.

those russian teams are no joke, very underrated

Congrats to Zenit St. Petersburg FC for a big win over Rangers. I know for a fact that Stauff is somewhere smiling right now. What a win. they deserved it. Especially after beating Bayern Munich 4-0.

Go Man U!!!

Manutd are Champions of England

hemogoblin vs goldenthread

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/168937

Guillermo Ochoa is the keeper in my pic ;D

Oh, and I would blog, but im not good at it ;D

Keeper, that last comment really made my day. Thanks.

SoccerNation Round 4 TD is now complete.

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/168937

i say you blog about it to tell us

I'm really glad that American got through. I'm sick of all of the Brazilian teams always dominating and this is the new era. The Mexican era. I'm rooting for America and the best young keeper in the world in Guillermo Ochoa to win it all.

woohoo? It may not mean much to you but, since it was my fav team, and the situation they were in, in a big tourney, and advance to the next round, it is really huge for me.

woohoo

CLUB AMERICA WON!!! 3-0 AGAINST FLAMENGO IN BRAZIL!!!

take a look at this guys

http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/187576

we need to vote, we should be #1

Congratulations Big Chaco. Good for you guys!!!!!!

and big barca are #3

CAMPEONES, CAMPEONES, OE OE OE

HALA MADRID!!!

yes it will. just make sure you check it out once in a while. theres usually group mail every day and blogs and polls

plus we are in the quarter finals of our tourney of 30 people

Thanks for the invite jeevs. I play soccer and Im trying to get into pro soccer. Hopefully this group will help.

hehe

3 May on FOX Soccer Channel / KC Wizards at Colombus Crew.

Pre Game at 7:00pm with the Match Time set for 7:30pm.

jeevs: but you can stop it, hehe.

heres me vs big chaco in 3rd round TD

arguments not done

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/165358

Between Man U and Chelsea, Im going to say one will win the Champions league and the other will win the Premier League. No doubles. hehehe.

well we got west ham at home and wigan away left.

chelsea got newcastle away and bolton at home

both CAN slip points, but its easier than facing everton, liverpool, or arsenal

i believe the gaps drogba exsposed wont be exposed in Moscow, especially with vidic back

We probabaly would have got at least a draw out of saturday if we played our real first team.

Our defense is incredible and drogba will be locked down, hopefully. But somebodys gotta pick up ballack and lamps

So its Chelsea vs Man U for all the marbles. What do you guys think the chances of either winning the Double are?

ooo, nm

naxself,

i didnt start it

Coming out of Spain, Villareal will attempt to buy Jozy

The whole [team name] Nation thing is played out. Start a group with a more creative name, jeevs. :-)

SCHOLESYYYYYYY!!! OH YA BEAUTY

i'm gonna make a blog about soccer diving tommorow

theres already two....

ah well

jeeves, there's a simple solution. Just exite the old group and let it fade away. You can start a new Manchester United Fan group. Just give it a slightly different name. It would be easy and it would work. You really should give it a try.

3rd Round - Bigalke v. Killadelphia

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/163778

well, i wish i could take over man utd nation, but the founder is gone

3rd Round TD; Stauff v. myself... check it out:

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/163118

Thought Id remind Jeevs that this isn't Manchester United Nation... its actually SoccerNation...

just putting that out there hahahaha

time to blog about the worst day ever so far

All i know, is i can't wait. and I'm not even a fan of either team... I can only imagine how you ManU and Barca fans feel

well, we werent evening trying to score at the Camp Nou.

We will be playing like regular at home, like we did with Roma, sittin back at the stadio olimpico.

I think we can pull it out, we are the better squad when we play well

Barca is going to ruin Man U's homecoming.

CR7 is a much better player than last year, he still put up a good game away, with the penalty miss being the blemish

Homecomeing!

I think Man U is in trouble. I see the 2nd leg ending 2-2 as Man U will push to score knowing they need a win and not a tie, but you've got to be careful when doing so against Barca. But you never know, Man U is so good.

It was at this stage last year where Kaka made C Ronaldo look truly inferior. Will Messi do the same? or will CR do so to Leo. Or will it be closely fought between the 2 in their respective areas of the field. ARGGG i really cant wait for this game. I think it's going to be a lot more exciting then the first leg.

check out all of my tds

ppl keep quitting soccernation

Come and check out my comment on:

http://fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/47698

and tell me what you think

This is going to be a tough one to win for ManU. Beating Barca off the board is going to be tough in itself, keeping them off the board is asking an awful lot. If Cronaldo had nailed that penalty they'd be odds-on favorites right now.

0-0

Barca played better, but we were playing reserved.

That Ronaldo penalty kiss might be good because if he made it Barca woul;d be going all out, but we still didnt get the away goal

best center middy in the world TD

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/161459

I thought we played well; we pushed for the 2nd goal (Cech had another amazing game) and caught some bad luck at the end.

If Drogba and Lampard play like that next week, we should win.

Horrible draw for Liverpool. Drogba played like trash (Hes screaming for a transfer with his lack of production) and the only Blues player who made an impression on me was Michael Ballack, while Liverpool actually played hard.

Terrible break for Riise and Liverpool. Chelsea are heading to Stamford Bridge with an advantage now. It'll be tough for Liverpool to climb outta the hole they've dug.

too bad riise ruined it all. what a blow

I'll tell you one thing, Dirk Kuyt is one hell of a hard working player. And it payed off with his goal.

oh wait i mean Kinderhook Lake lol not river. But yea Nice area.

i know kinderhook, i've been around that area before

yea i dont know those towns lol. I have house's up in Niverville on the Kinderhook River if you've heard of that.

Yea It never made much sence letting those 3 go... Albelda was a rock in the midfield for both club and country and the teams captain! How would it not be demoralizing for the team to just cut him. Losing Villa will be quite the blow, but at least he would attract a hefty sum of money for them to rebuild with.

yeah, i actually live on the border between schenectady and albany. It's also on the border btween the towns of niskayuna and colonie if you've heard of them.

Thats what you get for dropping your captain, your first choice keeper, and your most versatile bench player and then Finishing sixteenth in the league with 16 losses.

David Villa will be going i believe. He won 4 out of the 22 games he was in charge

Damn right he did.... They got the same amount of points in 9 games under Quique Sanchez Flores as they accumlated under Koeman from the rest of season. 4th place to 16th place. 2 points above the drop zone. With the talent they have they should be flirting with a league title, not relegation.

Hey Jeeves i just noticed you were from Schnectedy.... I currently reside in New Paltz since thats where i go to school. And my Family has two summer house's about 30 minutes from Albany, maybe 15 from Hudson.

about time. he screwed valencia really bad

Time to vote,
http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/160758

200 motels vs Big Chaco

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/160758

Idk, they might not even make the Uefa Cup...

heres MH7 King vs officer farva in round 2

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/160880

well maybe they will qualify lol, Fiorentina's schedule isnt too threatening

Kaka appears to be back to his best. To little to late however, at least they will qualify for the CL if he continues to play like he did the last couple of weeks. No Doubt it hes up there with CR and messi when on form.

DAMN THE GERS.

When's Round 3 for the TD Tourney?

Theirry Henry

200 Motels challenged me even though i was supposed to challenge him
http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/160758

Damn, our team lost in the region semis

OH yeah
205~

Sorry jeevs, I've been busy almost everyday this week. Our team just won Region for the first time in school history. I should have more time this weekend to get on here and organize everything.

anyone know where keeper went?

lol

Berlusconi's first move as premier of Italy will be to sign Dinho

200! BOOM CITY

200 members, whoo!!!

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/159424

New throwdown started.

the title is ours!!!

Watch out Barca

Emile Heskey is the man, thats all i got to say

DISASTER FOR CHELSEA!!!! CECH KEEPS A CLEAN SHEET UNTIL WIGAN LEVEL IN IN 90TH MINUTE!!!! CHELSEA LOSE 2 POINTS AND MAN U BASICALLY HAVE THE EPL TITLE!!!!

wow thats horrible for the Blues...

hey, 1 loss at chelsea and another dropped point and they could be champs.

I'm waitin for barca though

Go Man U.

as much as i hate to say it, congratulations to manchester united on wrapping up the title today against arsenal.

maybe now wenger will buy a top top class forward and sell adebayor for a good 15 or 20 million pounds

man utd 2-1 arsenal

the title is ours!

I want to give much props to Getafe. I studied there for 6 months and I really felt for those fans. Football could be tragic sometimes. Arsenal fans should understand after this week too.

Nobody's closing anyone's youth academy. It goes against the ethos of European soccer.

England's problem is that they don't develop players with creativity and they're lacking in technical skill. There's a reason Beckham's free kicks were (are) so wonderous: they're technically perfect. And there's a reason the Big 4 keep bringing in Continental wingers rather than Britons.

I think the FA would do well to establish some training guidelines or something to increase technical proficiency and creativity. But coaches are control freaks and rare is the man (or woman) willing to let their players play.

Hey Staff Nation, I know there never will be a draft in Europe because it is all about the money these days.

I think you could make it work however because they change other laws all the time (foreign players, the Bosman rule etc). Take England as an example.

All they have to do is close all teams youth academys and setup national youth academys funded by all the teams. Only English kids can join and it is supported by the national FA. When players "graduate" the top 20 are drafted to the Premier League and the rest dealt down the lower leagues. When players are sold on by Premier League teams they have to pay a percentage of the players fee back to the youth setup. After that they are free players like anywhere else.

This would assist England's national team in a few years. As for all the poorer nations who rely on the likes of Chelsea, Ajax, Arsenal etc to pickup their prodigys, FIFA redistributes money from larger federations to the likes of Nigeria, Ivory Coast etc.

I'm sorry, but in my opinion, Gordon isn't worth a crap. He's not that good, and I don't think he has any reason to be on the field with people like that. I know the Galaxy's players aren't great, but they are trying to portray a certain image, and he doesn't fit it. How's this souds? Donovan, Xavier, Pavon, Beckham, Gordon. Boo! Who is Gordon?

Hey - if any you good folks are interested in writing soccer articles, I'm happy to publish them on www.spotlightsoccer.com - as well as give a link in the links section to your site or blog. Just throwing that out there. Drop me an email at john@spotlightsoccer.com if you're interested.

Big Chaco - I wouldn't be surprised to see the Galaxy pick up a few defenders during this season. I just wish they'd pick up another striker while they're at it. I like Gordon's effort, but he's not getting the job done.

Cheers,

John

I've been a Galaxy fan since i was 10. I'm thinking of converting to a DC fan. Why can't the Galaxy find defenders like DC?

Just got back from the DC-Pachuca game. 2-1 DC but are eliminated as Pachuca won 3-2 on aggregate. DC should have made those subs earlier (the two subs scored late in the game). Gallardo plays well but he's too low and forced to cover more ground than he should. I'm incredibly impressed by Peralta. Super signing for DC. Pachuca couldn't get passed him. Peralta should easily be one of the best defenders in MLS

Im a liverpool fan... I watched the game up until torres's goal, then i had to head off to class. I was very upset to learn that i missed a thriller of an ending. Anyways, will Messi be back by the time semifinals role around? Messi Vs. Ronaldo will be jaw dropping.

Did anyone see Arsenal- Liverpool? If you did, and you are a fan of one of the two teams, did you almost have a heart attack like I did. I thought I was going to die when Adebayor knocked that one in, and then Toure knocked our man over for the PK that Gerrard finished easily.

A draft in Europe wouldnt work, nor would anyone want it. Its not that big of a problem now. Why fix it if its not broken?

Theres a few problems with your idea. Creative, defidently. I admit I never even thought of it, but there would be lots of arguing over the order of picks in the draft.

Europe is an open market and it's up to teams to sign whoever young players they want. Of course there's gunna be competition for young talent. All teams need young talent to bolster their club in 5 years in hopes it will be stronger.

But don't get your hopes up for a draft in Europe.

Talking of Toronto & franchises: This whole system of franchises is what will forever keep North American soccer different from Football in the rest of the world. Not better or worse mind you, simply different. It's such a bizarre concept for us to comprehend because all our clubs have years of tradition which most of us simply don't question. I think it's a little to corporate for my liking but hey, whatever works for ya! One thing I would like to see implemented in European football from North American sport is the draft, like in NBA or NFL. There is a major issue of youngsters being bought, sold and stolen by big clubs, in ways akin to the slave trade. It would be much better to have schools and academies where the countries youth would train (& be educated) then the best would join league clubs according to their ranking (Worst team, first pick in the draft). If the EPL did this and closed the doors on the clubs youth teams they would have a far stronger national team in 5-10 years. Of course the flip side is players like Cesc Fabregas would not be there but tough choices need to be made; wouldn't Arsenal fans rather train a Cesc Fabregas who could also play for England?

yeah, that was me man. your the man, we need you here

sorry i never joined, i never once checked my fan mail until now and i found like 25 invitations to this group haha.

Honestly, Toronto could lose every game this year and it wouldn't really matter. They are building experience and they will continue to get better. I have hope that they will be a strong franchise up in Canada.

Did anyone see DC United destroy Toronto FC last night, FC is in shambles

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/155797

i heard about that game, it was sick. And Adriano with a last minute winner for Sao Paulo, what a day down sur in the dirty dirty

Yeah man, the America and River Plate game was one for the ages!I am a huge Club America fan and am happy that they won! : ) They still have ways to come in the FMF though :(

Big Chaco, who's gonna stop Ronaldo, only Puyol has even close to the skill needed, and even then i doubt it. Plus Messi will be coming off a layoff, he may not be in full form. We are playing the best in the world now, idk if Barca can stop us

Barcelona just hasn't impressed me this entire season. For what must surely be the most talent-laden team in the world, they don't seem to be playing to the system effectively, and their away form all season has been simply atrocious. If they have to go to Old Trafford in the first leg, things won't go well for them.

The other thing to consider is that United matches up very well against Barca. They are bigger and stronger everywhere on the pitch, and they have the backline quality to frustrate Barca's attackers early (which tends to put them off their game).

The biggest concern I have for Barca coming off of the Schalke leg is that they really did not control the midfield very effectively, especially in the second half. United has built a lot of wins on their midfield play, and that is going to be a serious issue for Barca to overcome.

Honestly, assuming that things play out as such, I would rather Liverpool draw Barca than any other potential opponent, including Fenerbahce.

Are you kidding me, Barca can't win over Man. U with ease. They might be able to beat them, but they are going to have to be a little more constitent this time, and I just don't know if they can do it. Man. U wins it due to the lack of chemistry for Barca.

For those who don't watch Copa Libertadores, you just missed a cracker! America vs. River Plate....4-3 for America, what a great game, blog coming soon!

I'm willing to put my on Schalke pulling the upset. They have been tough this year (after a good showing last year) and I don't know if Barca can out man them. Man U will move on because Roma can't expect to score 2 goals at Old Trafford without Man U scoring.

Sorry jeevs, i have no team to cheer for at this point in the CL so i'm a be cynical

Hey Jeevs, on the Barca-ManU poll, it depends if Messi will be back. Word is that that date will be the target for his return. You think Wes Brown or Evra could stop him? Only Vidic has the skills to stop him. Also, Vidic was injured for the Milan game last year!

Fc Barcelona would take on Manchester United with ease! Mark my words! 4-2 aggregate.

And why is everyone already counting out Roma and Schalke? Roma's a great team and Totti will be playing in the 2nd leg at Old Trafford, which will be a boost. Going in 2 goals down against arguably the best team in the world is tough, but Roma aren't far away from them.

And Schalke could pull off an upset. No one thought they'd play with Barcelona in the 1st leg but they did, and that was without Rakitic and a few other normal starters. Schalke had a great 2nd half and came close to scoring a dozen times. I frankly wouldnt be surprised if they came to Camp Nou and put up a big fight against them. Two goals isn't that great of a mountain to climb. Schalke impressed me a lot, but everyone's already acting like they're out.

What gives, fellas?

Dunno Messi might not be fit in time. It'll be a race against time for Barca. Luckily their lineup is deep enough where they're not screwed without Leo.

Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo

SoccerNation cahmpionship TD

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/154138

Messi should be back for the ManUtd fixture

United 2-0 Roma Woot

Barca 1-0 Schalke

Man Utd vs Barca soon OMG!!!!

YESS

Yeah, I heard! Good -Bye Sanchez! Mexico will do A LOT better without him!

BREAKING NEWS; Hugo Sanchez is fired!

Speaking on the poll above: Did everyone get to see the Rapids -Galaxy match? The Galaxy still looked good while losing 4 - Nil. Two (at least) of their starters played in Wednesday's National Friendly's. That gave them only two days rest......The Galaxy will do fine. They deserve more credit than they're getting. The Galaxy have great leadership on the pitch and really do play blend together well as a team. The potential is there. This was just a controversial game. Alot happened. There was a player injured and a donny brook broke out very close to the end......For First Night, this match was a gem!

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/152680

As you can see, I'm trying to make this group better for everyone. Whether you are a big soccer fan or just a casual one, I want you to be involved. So if you have any new features that you would like to see added, reply to this and let me know. And I want to know what you think of the TV Listings Feature.

definitley

beckham's 100th cap wont be his last he will stop playing soccer if he breaks his foot again... which will be while he's playing his 101st cap

Essein no doubt, he just had a good goal in their loss to Mexico on Wednesday.

Essien is the best midfielder in the world at the moment. The guy can do everything! He's a coach's dream

he's not a CM, neither is mcgeady

Your forgetting C Ronaldo

lol. i think im gonna have a TD soon about the best CM in the world

No contest, Gerrard, but also, no pretense of objectivity. I'm a scouser back to Stevie Nicol and Ian Rush.

good choice

I don't know squat about soccer. I often playfully make fun of it, but I am willing to give it a try.

You know with the choices at hand, I have to say Gerrard. And I'm not biased, it's just that the only one that is really close is Pirlo. Fabregas is too young, but will be the best. So Gerrard is my pick due to his experience.

You forgot AIDEN MCGEADY

Glory Glory USA

http://fannation.com/blogs/post/171478

A blog detailing the friendly matches of 3/26/08 or as some would say 26/3/08.

Yeah, Poland played awful. Boruc couldn't do anything about any of the shots. By the way, did anyone see Alexandre Pato score that goal on Sweden? It was an awesome goal worth seeing. It was a good friendly day, and England lost again. Haha, you shouldn't have played Beckham.

USA beat Poland 3-0. NOT ARTUR BORUC'S FAULT!

and Scotland tied Croatia 1-1 (see my picture for Kenny Miller's goal celebration) so I'd have to say Im pretty happy.

Estonia 2-0 over Canada in Tallinn.....Canada stinks, but to lose in blizzard, a complete White Out??? C'mon!

Please send all your answers to the poll to Keeper via fanmail. Thank you very much.

After educating myself for the goalkeepers poll, I'd have to say Dino Zoff. Gordon Banks came in second only because Dino made more appearances.

Hey guys, I sent the poll about the best goalkeepers out to everyone via fanmail. The reason for doing so was so I could keep up with how many people vote and things like that. I can't judge it by using the usual poll.

Antother really good Soccer TD without anybdy voting.Check it out.

http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/151637

welcome new members!

Hey guys, here is the link to jeevs and KansasToonami's TD

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/150362. Come check it out. Not much time left.

I read it last night. Yeah it is a good one.

People should check out the blog listed below. It's pretty good.

No sure where to post this, but check out my blog about Mexico and its failure to quality for the Olympics:

http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/170022

i am scared of united going to stamford bridge, all i want is a draw

oh wait, a day or two...

i though a poll was gonna be put up?

Chelsea over Arsenal 2-1. That makes 78 straight wins at Stamford Bridge!!!!! YES!!!!

Yeah I know, but I think we can outlast them.

Yeah, but Everton aren't far behind

Good win today jeevs. You guys deserved it and congrats. I really don't care as long as they make the Champions League and beat Arsenal in the Quarter-finals I'll be happy.

heres the link

http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/150597

okay, someone is winning a TD saying soccer is not the most popular sport in the world

In my opinion, they (Barcelona) had a golden opportunity to do so, but they screwed it up. A few weeks ago, they were within 3 or 4, and then they dropped it down to 10 points. I think they just aren't consistent enough, and they are also in the La Liga. In La Liga, teams tend to be very offensive, so that is one of the reasons for all the losses and draws from Barca. They are a good team, but Madrid closes out games a whole lot better. Iker Casillas just totally eclispes Valdes in goal. So, Barca should train really hard on defensive tactics because they will need them when they head into the semi-finals of the Champions League against Manchester United, unless they want Ronaldo running rampant all over the pitch.

yes welcome

Welcome GoldenThread to the fastest growing and best group on FanNation today. We will keep up the good work as long as people like you continue to join us in this great group.

Phenomenal! A site that knows soccer! It's nice to be here.

hes done it like 5 times this season

Over the wall right into the bottom right corner, that was sweet. It even made the top ten plays.

I ain't hating on the Hoops, I'm actually a fan of them. And that was a very impressive performance from Cristiano in the game, Phenomenal free kick goal, you guys should check it out.

C Ronaldo just scored twice again.

Stop hatin on the Hoops Keeper.

Oh yeah, they (Celtic) also just got knocked out of the Scottish Cup. Boruc missed a header terribly and gave up a goalkick.

Anybody want to join in on the fun?

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/43550

you guys got put out of the Champions League, so no.
Keeper 03/18/08

grrrrr

Sorry, he would have been in consideration, but you guys got put out of the Champions League, so no.

Wat up my man

What's Christiano doing up there??? I demand a photo of Artur Boruc in his place NOW! haha

whats up, people?

C'mon everybody, check out our TD. Chaco vs. Toonami

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/145637

I win my TD!

Would it be cool if there was a United Kingdom Cup, The team can include Ireland team too.
MLS FAN05 03/12/08

Bohemians the best Irish team and theyd get whooped. Welsh teams aren't very good either. I doubt it would happen but it'd be really cool to see.

*is confused on the tourney*

Would it be cool if there was a United Kingdom Cup, The team can include Ireland team too.

I think I'm a be anti-EPL for the rest of the season.

The impossible done possible

Hey guys, come check out my blog on the FA Cup match between Barnsley and Chelsea. There are two ways to get to it. One is on the front page of FanNation and the other is on this link http://fannation.com/blogs/post/162317. Come check it out and tell everyone about it!

That's what I'm saying. That was the best match of this year. They are done with the hard part now ,so they can win it all.

Holy crap.. Barnsley just beat Chelsea. They're in the semifinal in the FA Cup.

BARNSLEY IS AHEAD IN THE 70TH MINUTE!

Yeah, Arsenal are sick. Milan are too old now

WHAT A SHOCKER IN MILAN HAHH,THE YOUNGER FASTER GUNNERS DID WHAT I THOUGHT THEY COULD NOT DO. CONGRATS 2 A GUTSY ARSENAL.

u get access to the best soccer blogs, polls, and tournaments on the internet

So what do I get for joining? I hope I atleast get a beer!

Halleluah! 100 members

99 members!

Roberto Carlos scores like 1 in a hundred. Its just the one he makes are spectacular. Juninho is the most consistent

Nakamura is really good i think, probably the best lefty in the world. I just put Lamps up their for the chelsea fans. Gerrard is clutch in long range, but not so much on freee kicks i think.

Point being, You have Nakamura and Lampard up there, but no Stevie G. I would rate Gerrard higher than those two, and is far more clutch.

Pirlo, Becks, Juninho.. all good choices.

I think an old school Roberto Carlos could have toped the list a few years back... But since this isn't Back to the Future I voted otherwise.

Yeah exactly like jeevs said. Gerrard can hit a good one, believe me, but not regularly. Lampard is decent, Beckham trumps both, but he isn't near as good as Juninho. He hits his with such pace and/or placement that it isn't funny. The one BIG difference between the two is the fact that Beckham can ONLY hit with finesse, while Juninho can hit one with pace and finesse. So it's an easy and obvious choice, Juninho whatever that long last name is.

i think it was crosscountry CP John

Gerrard is not a GREAT free kick taker. THen again, neither is Lampard. Beckham takes almost all the free kicks for England.

Let me guess. Was it salvi1113?

No Steven Gerrard?

ah man, someone left soccernation...

I have 2 agree juninho does hit them pretty sweet, and with regularity.

Holy Spit, Batman.
That Juninho is GOOD.
Got my vote.

It's gotta to me Juninho. He is sooooo good on them that it isn't even funny. Just look at his UCL matches. He is great.

seriously, if you don't think Juninho is the best, you dont know who he is or you are smokin something

ya take what you guys have for granted. All i have is ESPN.

Naka is the best. I don't think many people even know him that well. He's nuts. Look at this one:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1g2jEkt_VGs

lol, true. but i only get it half of the time when its on free view on my satellite. the other half of the time i'm stuck with american ESPN waiting for CL games to come on. At least i can watch United games online

Thats awesome. I wish they had ESPN international here though. I'm stuck with Setanta

Finally signed up for Fox Soccer Channel.

Sorry to have taken up so much empty space, my bad.

We no longer have cable and I don't what radio station would carry soccer but reading about Eduardo made me wonder if the hit was legal like when LT hit Joe Thiessman. As for a 3 year suspension, don't be ridiculous. What happened to that player last year who hit the other guy's chest with his head?
You can tell I'm new at this but if you could read my blog and leave some comments, I'd appreciate it.













as for

Yesss. I think we got them at stanford bridge

Love to see Chelsea vs. Man u agian .

Martin Taylor

Yeah jeevs, but Newcastle are in complete and utter shambles. I still do think Man. U will win it, but Newcastle can be beat by most everyone right now.

yes it will

just so u no,im clueless about the sport but maby this group will help me

http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/139858

this guy thinks that Martin Taylor (guy who broke Eduardo's leg) should get a 3 year suspension. 3 years...

Man UTD of course. there 3 points back with a better goal differntial. look what they did to the magpies

Who's winning the Premier League this year?

http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/139198

SoccerNation, we need to show everyone the might of Soccer! go to this TD and vote for Ronaldo, the best #9. http://fannation.com/throwdowns/show/139198

That's very true, we shouldn't impede on them, but they won't let us anyway.

Mexicos got their own league. All the Mexican fans root for Chivas USA anyways.

MLS should expand south of the border. Mexicans love soccer and teams are signing Central and South American players. Why not move to them?

Philly will get a team. As will Portland. MLS should probably put a team in Florida, too.

In any event, the league should be permanently capped at 20 teams. They should then begin developing the lower leagues and introduce promotion/relegation.

Philly need a team in the mls we have fan who love to party and Itailain who love soccer

I think I would go with Atlanta, but I'm from GA, so of course I'm going to say that.

Definitley. Wow, good job resting Stevie G there!

Anyway, if u like another vity, just put it in here

OH MY GOODNESS! DID ANYONE SEE L'POOL LOSE JUST NOW!!!! Benitez's time at Anfield are now over. All he has left is beating a tough Inter team

Come on guys, is there any need for a poll on expansion. Killadelphia wins hands down.

While I think Portland deserves a team, I know Milwaukee is a HUGE soccer community. Eliminate Miami, they already had the Fusion and look where that ended up...bottoming out.

Looks like 50% of us think Carolina should be next. We have the Railhawks of the USL.

Put Portland in the poll.

Ah, Dempsey almost singlehandedly keeping them outta relegation

How much have the Americans on Fulham been improving?

its great to find some soccer fans on here, nowadays everything is baseball and football!

70 members you guys!!!

oops, someone beat me to it. Sorry Kansas

Let's discuss this EPL plan
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/148735

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/128597

vote or die.. not literally but it fit the situation

http://www.fannation.com/throwdowns/show/126517

intense soccer TD

so guys, make sure u check this out

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=504372&cc=5901

It doesn't matter to me, I was only kidding. It is a good poll, even I admit it.

hey, they got some good polls once in a whie

Hey jeevs, you copied that off of SoccerNet. I'm going to turn you in. JK.

the BPL! Fast Paced, Strong Challenges, 4 of THE BEST teams in the world, and the way the Atmosphere comes across on the tele makes it entertaining to watch. Anyone see the Tottenham thrashing of Arsenal, the crowd willed the ball in for the 2nd goal. It was amazing in surround sound.

50 memebers + now. congrats

I picked English because of one thing, it is a lot more physical and it has quite a bit of skill too. That is why I love it.

italian defense, spanish short game, english on the outside mids

La Liga: beacause I like football that displays actual technical skill. :)

I would rather watch La Liga because its a more offensively oriented and finesse game.

English is my fave, but I have to admit Spanish is a close second, and Italian a close third.

you guys are gunna hate me for this but im stickin with the SPL baby

EPL!!!!!

We need a poll.

Welcome JAZINHO!

I meant to say he is a great talent!