Just completed the draw and here you are:
GROUPA: Bayern Munich (Germany), Juventus (Italy), Bordeaux (France), Maccabi Haifa (Israel)
Outlook: A Germany v Isreal matchup, keep the anti-semitism to yourselves. Though Kirk v Adam as FC Hollywood squares off with the Old Lady. Bayern and Juve should progress.
GROUP B: Manchester United (England), CSKA Moscow (Russia), Besiktas (Turkey), Wolfsburg (Germany)
Outlook: here's your free pass to the knockout stage Manyoo. But look out for Wolfsburg. Manyoo and Wolfsburg to go through.
GROUP C: AC Milan (Italy), Real Madrid (Spain), Marseille (France), FC Zurich
Outlook: Damn damn, damn, damn. Kaka comes back to the San Siro sooner than I'd like. Milan ought to have enough to get out of this group. Real Madrid and Milan go through, but Marseille should make this fun.
GROUP D: Chelsea (England), FC Porto (Portugal), Atletico Madrid (Spain), APOEL (Cyprus)
Outlook: Porto is down, Chelsea is solid and Atletico can score on anyone (too bad everyone can score on them). Chelsea and Atletico should go through.
GROUP E: Liverpool (England), Lyon (France), Fiorentina (Italy), Debrecen (Hungary)
Outlook: Over under on number of goals Debrecen concede in this group: 17. I'll take the over. Liverpool and Lyon go through.
GROUP F: Barcelona (Spain), Inter (Italy), Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine), Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Outlook: Well we'll see my Ibra vs Eto'o theory in direct fashion now won't we? Barcelona and Inter go through.
GROUP G: Sevilla FC (Spain), Rangers (Scotland), VFB Stuttgart (Germany), Unirea Uziceni (Romania)
Outlook: How Sevilla is seeded over Real Madrid or Juventus is anyone's guess. But this could be a really entertaining group. Stuttgart and Sevilla to progress.
GROUP H: Arsenal (England), AZ Alkmaar (Holland), Olympiakos (Greece), Standard Liege (Belgium)
Outlook: There you go Gooners, a free pass to the knockouts. This will clearly be a battle for 2nd in the group. Arsenal and Olympiakos to go through.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Man U x Arsenal? Ach du lieber!
Big wins:
Wigan 0:5 Man Utd.
SC Freiburg 0:5 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Arsenal 4:1 Pompey
Wolfsburg 2:4 Hamburg
Big upsets:
Mainz 05 2:1 FC Bayern*
Liverpool 1:3 Aston Villa
And a big tragedy, as West Ham defender Calum Davenport was assaulted over the weekend http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6807547.ece
*dammit.
RE: Bayern:
"The defeat by newly promoted FSV Mainz 05 was the negative highlight in Bayern's worst season start since 43 years" (from various sources).
"Wait - these are ALL for Kirk?"
Oh well. Only 31 more games to turn it around. Could be worse though, bandwagon-y Bayernfans, as evidenced by Liverpool's home 1:3 loss yesterday to Villa:
"And the spotlight will now be on the Merseysiders, who only lost twice in the league last season and still did not win the title.
The margin for error is now very fine. Teams rarely win the crown by losing more than five games in a season, and Liverpool's hopes could already have suffered a mortal blow" (soccer365.com).
Jeez. Even new BuLi champs Wolfsburgo lost seven last year...
Maybe Bayern shoulda' hung on to this guy...
Well, as I am sure Average Man U fan's probation officer says: "Forget about the past and look to the future. And pee in this cup, your last sample was diluted," this weekend's EPL & BuLi fixtures are:
Friday 1:30 p.m.
Borussia M'gladbach (#10) x Mainz 05 (#5)
Saturday
6:45am Chelsea (#2) x Burnley (#7)
8:30am Schalke 04 (#3) x SC Freiburg (#18)
9:00am Tottenham Hotspur (#1!) x Birmingham City (#8)
9:00am Bolton Wanderers (#17) x Liverpool (#10)
11:15 Manchester United (# 4) x Arsenal (#3)**
11:30 FC Bayern(#14) x VfL Wolfsburg(#4) internet only ***
** get there early for anywhere to sit! Or move, as usually a match of this caliber will cause the bar to reach attendance capacity well prior to kickoff.
***uh, may want to bring your own laptop as there may be more obnoxious inebriates than usual due to the aforementioned 11:15 match... dammit. That's okay, Wolfsburg will probably win anyhow.
Sunday
7:30am Portsmouth (#19) x Manchester City (#5)
9:00am Everton (#20) x Wigan Athletic (#16)
10:30am Hamburgo S.V.(#2) x 1.FC Köln/Cologne/Colonia (#17)
11:00 Aston Villa (#12) x Fulham (#13) internet only
Also lots of midweek footy Tues/Wed/Thurs, CL matches of interest: Arsenal x Celtic, Stuttgart x Some Romanian Team (or is it Bulgarian?) tomorrow, and too many UEFA, I mean Europa League, qualifiers to list Thursday.
So take out that 2d mortgage, line up that liver transplant, and come on in to Das Hochbury!
Wigan 0:5 Man Utd.
SC Freiburg 0:5 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Arsenal 4:1 Pompey
Wolfsburg 2:4 Hamburg
Big upsets:
Mainz 05 2:1 FC Bayern*
Liverpool 1:3 Aston Villa
And a big tragedy, as West Ham defender Calum Davenport was assaulted over the weekend http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6807547.ece
*dammit.
RE: Bayern:
"The defeat by newly promoted FSV Mainz 05 was the negative highlight in Bayern's worst season start since 43 years" (from various sources).
"Wait - these are ALL for Kirk?"
Oh well. Only 31 more games to turn it around. Could be worse though, bandwagon-y Bayernfans, as evidenced by Liverpool's home 1:3 loss yesterday to Villa:
"And the spotlight will now be on the Merseysiders, who only lost twice in the league last season and still did not win the title.
The margin for error is now very fine. Teams rarely win the crown by losing more than five games in a season, and Liverpool's hopes could already have suffered a mortal blow" (soccer365.com).
Jeez. Even new BuLi champs Wolfsburgo lost seven last year...
Maybe Bayern shoulda' hung on to this guy...
Well, as I am sure Average Man U fan's probation officer says: "Forget about the past and look to the future. And pee in this cup, your last sample was diluted," this weekend's EPL & BuLi fixtures are:
Friday 1:30 p.m.
Borussia M'gladbach (#10) x Mainz 05 (#5)
Saturday
6:45am Chelsea (#2) x Burnley (#7)
8:30am Schalke 04 (#3) x SC Freiburg (#18)
9:00am Tottenham Hotspur (#1!) x Birmingham City (#8)
9:00am Bolton Wanderers (#17) x Liverpool (#10)
11:15 Manchester United (# 4) x Arsenal (#3)**
11:30 FC Bayern(#14) x VfL Wolfsburg(#4) internet only ***
** get there early for anywhere to sit! Or move, as usually a match of this caliber will cause the bar to reach attendance capacity well prior to kickoff.
***uh, may want to bring your own laptop as there may be more obnoxious inebriates than usual due to the aforementioned 11:15 match... dammit. That's okay, Wolfsburg will probably win anyhow.
Sunday
7:30am Portsmouth (#19) x Manchester City (#5)
9:00am Everton (#20) x Wigan Athletic (#16)
10:30am Hamburgo S.V.(#2) x 1.FC Köln/Cologne/Colonia (#17)
11:00 Aston Villa (#12) x Fulham (#13) internet only
Also lots of midweek footy Tues/Wed/Thurs, CL matches of interest: Arsenal x Celtic, Stuttgart x Some Romanian Team (or is it Bulgarian?) tomorrow, and too many UEFA, I mean Europa League, qualifiers to list Thursday.
So take out that 2d mortgage, line up that liver transplant, and come on in to Das Hochbury!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Kirk's Corner
It's like a two-hour nooner - with Joe Katz!
Wed WCQs* adjusted for Central (USA) Standard Time**
11:00 Azerbaijan x Germany (Baku) FSC
11:00 Faroe Islands x France (Torshavn)
12:00 Norway x Scotland (Oslo, the most beautiful city in the world)
2:45 Slovenia x San Marino (Maribor)
1:15 Belarus x Croatia (Minsk)
3:00 Mexico x United States (Mexico City) TV, probably
6:30 Trinidad & Tobago x El Salvador (Port of Spain)
8:30 Honduras x Costa Rica (San Pedro Sula)
* South American & African fans your fixtures don't play until September 5th, 6th, & 9th so no annoyed email about the lack of respect show to blah blah blah...
** Any time discrepancies are FIFA's fault as I used their Automatic Time Zone Converter (handy device, that).
Your author will be unable to make the early games tomorrow including Germany and Norway :( due to real life intruding on the joga bonito I'm afraid (Robyn, try to get some Norway fans together to hassle Louis - remember, lots of comments about sheep-f*cking) , but will try to race and catch part of the Mexico x USA match, which should be a real dogfight, along with the Honduras/Ticos game later.
Great kickoff weekend last, Community Shield was a rocket ride of alcohol, insults, and adrenalin as Man Utd took an Angry Jeff-esque punch to the face from Chelsea on PKs after an extra-time goal by Rooney - maybe Man U needs a couple Germans on the squad, eh? As usual Man U was very well-represented, sipping their chardonnays and mimosas, while there were about five or six brave/foolhardy Chelsea fans,*** along with the usual potpourri of other fans (L'pool, Arsenal, generally) that just wanted to see a natural disaster or, in the alternative, lots of drama and bile.
*** oh, and see you again in October, when you play Liverpool, okay? And then in November when you play Arsenal and Man U, and then you have a couple months off until February when you play Arsenal again, then Man U in March, and finally Liverpool in May again.
Which they did, as Jeff served as lightning rod for the collective scorn that the elitist Man U supporters (nice school tie, Karol) have for the blue-collar (get it?), proletarian, and egalitarian ideals that Jeff represents, propagates, and, by God, lives daily (when asked for comment, Jeff responded: "fight the exploitation," but mispronounced "exploitation." And "the"). Good times, glad to have everyone back and to see some new faces - welcome to new bartender chica, name unknown but apparently Italyfan which, uh, may explain her productivity rate. Don't worry, you're still more efficient and courteous (and attractive, bien sur) than Marsch + Potter.
There were some notable bar patron absences but as the game didn't matter and it WAS a nice day out no one's getting called out yet. Yet.
Finally the Bundesliga kciked off last weekend, too (anyone notice?) and Wolfsburgo resumed the lead by beating Stuttgart, Dortmund topped Koln 1:0, while Bayern drew with Hoffenheim 1:1. Oh and in the 2 Bundesliga 1.FC Kaiserslautern beat SpVgg Greuther Fürth 2:1 - big deal, Bayern beat them 3:1 in the Pokal 2 weeks ago...
Wed WCQs* adjusted for Central (USA) Standard Time**
11:00 Azerbaijan x Germany (Baku) FSC
11:00 Faroe Islands x France (Torshavn)
12:00 Norway x Scotland (Oslo, the most beautiful city in the world)
2:45 Slovenia x San Marino (Maribor)
1:15 Belarus x Croatia (Minsk)
3:00 Mexico x United States (Mexico City) TV, probably
6:30 Trinidad & Tobago x El Salvador (Port of Spain)
8:30 Honduras x Costa Rica (San Pedro Sula)
* South American & African fans your fixtures don't play until September 5th, 6th, & 9th so no annoyed email about the lack of respect show to blah blah blah...
** Any time discrepancies are FIFA's fault as I used their Automatic Time Zone Converter (handy device, that).
Your author will be unable to make the early games tomorrow including Germany and Norway :( due to real life intruding on the joga bonito I'm afraid (Robyn, try to get some Norway fans together to hassle Louis - remember, lots of comments about sheep-f*cking) , but will try to race and catch part of the Mexico x USA match, which should be a real dogfight, along with the Honduras/Ticos game later.
Great kickoff weekend last, Community Shield was a rocket ride of alcohol, insults, and adrenalin as Man Utd took an Angry Jeff-esque punch to the face from Chelsea on PKs after an extra-time goal by Rooney - maybe Man U needs a couple Germans on the squad, eh? As usual Man U was very well-represented, sipping their chardonnays and mimosas, while there were about five or six brave/foolhardy Chelsea fans,*** along with the usual potpourri of other fans (L'pool, Arsenal, generally) that just wanted to see a natural disaster or, in the alternative, lots of drama and bile.
*** oh, and see you again in October, when you play Liverpool, okay? And then in November when you play Arsenal and Man U, and then you have a couple months off until February when you play Arsenal again, then Man U in March, and finally Liverpool in May again.
Which they did, as Jeff served as lightning rod for the collective scorn that the elitist Man U supporters (nice school tie, Karol) have for the blue-collar (get it?), proletarian, and egalitarian ideals that Jeff represents, propagates, and, by God, lives daily (when asked for comment, Jeff responded: "fight the exploitation," but mispronounced "exploitation." And "the"). Good times, glad to have everyone back and to see some new faces - welcome to new bartender chica, name unknown but apparently Italyfan which, uh, may explain her productivity rate. Don't worry, you're still more efficient and courteous (and attractive, bien sur) than Marsch + Potter.
There were some notable bar patron absences but as the game didn't matter and it WAS a nice day out no one's getting called out yet. Yet.
Finally the Bundesliga kciked off last weekend, too (anyone notice?) and Wolfsburgo resumed the lead by beating Stuttgart, Dortmund topped Koln 1:0, while Bayern drew with Hoffenheim 1:1. Oh and in the 2 Bundesliga 1.FC Kaiserslautern beat SpVgg Greuther Fürth 2:1 - big deal, Bayern beat them 3:1 in the Pokal 2 weeks ago...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)