Soccer Guru

Champion's League: Round 2

2009-09-21T21:48:00.001-07:00

The second group of Champion's League matches was played on September 16. Just as the day before, some interesting results were observed. At this point, any conclusions as to the winners of this round are largely speculation. But hey, where's the fun without a bit of guessing?

In group E, two matches were played: Liverpool vs. Debrecen and Lyon vs. Fiorentina. Both teams whose name starts with an "l" won the match 1-0. Coincidence?.. Most likely, yes. Sorry, all of you conspiracy theorists out there; you'll have to try your luck elsewhere (if you need a place to start, research the Chelsea-Barcelona Champ's League semi-final last season). Anyway, the only thing that surprises me about Liverpool's victory is the low score. As with MU the previous day, I am suspecting Liverpool did not try their best out on the field. Lyon and Fiorentina were pretty evenly matched; kudos to the French club for getting the upper hand.

Group F, consisting of Barca, Inter, Dinamo Kiev, and Rubin is one of the most intriguing groups. After getting destroyed by Dinamo, Rubin does not stand a chance. Barca and Inter were my original predicted winners in this group. They are both wonderful teams, and it is no wonder they couldn't score on each other. However, Dinamo's towering victory over the current champion of the Russian Premier League brings a new twist into the situation. The Ukranian team may actually stand a chance... let's see what happens.

In group G, Sevilla beat Unirea 2-0. Not too spontaneous of a result (sorry, Unirea fans... I can't stand my brutal honesty either!) Stuttgart tied the Rangers 1-1. I am pretty confident in the Spanish team's advancing to the next round; the other winner is difficult to guess right now, so I'll wait on that.

The last group, H, oversaw an interesting match between Standard and Arsenal. The Belgian team put up a hell of a fight against the British giant. Although I doubt they will hit first place in this stage, Standard Liege have a sure chance at 2nd. Olympiakos defeated Alkmaar 1-0; I thought they could do better, but hey, maybe they weren't trying hard enough (sound familiar?).

Champion's League: Round 1

2009-09-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

Thus, the first series of CL matches has gone by. And what an interesting series it was. One could make a number of inferences regarding each team from today's games. Of course, the question on everyone's mind is, who's staying and who's not? Let's review today's matches and see if we can at least speculate on this subject.

As I watched the Manchester United vs. Besiktas game, I couldn't help but wonder why MU wasn't destroying the Turkish team. No offense to the valiant Turks, but they are not often seen in the Champion's League. Nonetheless, they gave MU a run for their money; Scholes's goal and the attack that led up to it was one of the few rare instances of a good MU assault. Is the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo turning into a pain in Sir Alex's side? Or was MU purposely keeping their effort levels to a bare minimum? We'll have to wait for more games to judge accurately.

Real Madrid vs. FC Zurich was an interesting game. The Swiss got destroyed in the first half, but their persistence earned them 2 consecutive goals in the second half. Madrid, although taken aback, pushed back with more force and finished Zurich off 5-2. What a match.

Both Juventus vs. Bordeaux and Atletico vs. Apoel Nicosia ended in a draw. The Italian and French clubs played rather equally, both teams scoring toward the middle of the 2nd half. The second pair was evenly matched as well; hence the boring nil-nil result.

Like Scholes, Anelka saved the day for Chelsea, who barely defeated FC Porto 1-0. As with Manchester, I wondered why Chelsea isn't scoring more goals. At this point, it's really difficult to tell what these British soccer magnates are up to.

For AC Milan, Filippo Inzaghi became the hero of the day. Not only did he open the score of the match, he scored again after Marseille had tied up the game. Milan has been in a bad place since the resignation of Maldini; it's great that Inzaghi is still there, making up the majority of AC Milan's backbone.

The remaining two games are easy to sum up. Bayern Munich destroyed Maccabi Haifa 3-0. Their fellow German club Wolfsburg followed suit with CSKA Moscow, save that CSKA managed to score once; the final score was 3-1. Brutal games for the losing teams. Frankly, I doubt either of them will make it into the next group stage. Perhaps the Europa Cup.

-ST

Champion's League begins tomorrow!

2009-09-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

It's that time again! The European Champion's League, the competition where the best soccer teams of Europe compete for one of the most prestigious sports titles in the world, is right around the corner. In less than 15 hours, the first 8 matches of the League will begin, and the championship will ensue. It is one hell of a line-up this year, that's for certain. Here are the groups: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables?league=uefa.champions&cc=5901.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Champion's League, here is a brief overview. The league consists of 8 groups of 4 teams each, forming a total of 32 teams. At the end of the round, the top 2 in each group advance to the next stage until there are 8 teams left; the 8-team round is followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final match, whose winner becomes the soccer champion of Europe.

Contrary to common belief, the World Cup is not the most important event in the soccer community. Any passionate soccer fan will tell you that the Champion's League is much more interesting than the World Cup. Why? Because club teams are much more interesting than national teams. Club teams play much more often than national teams, resulting in much more synchronized gameplay between players.

The greatest appeal of the Champion's League is that it is a competition between the best teams in Europe. Every year, the most skilled teams from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, etc. put all their efforts into winning this cup. Long story short: if you want to see beautiful soccer, watch the Champion's League. The games start Tuesday, September 15 at 2:25 PM (EST). Enjoy!

-ST