Bayern Munich will win the Champions League this year

I am an idiot when it comes to foreign soccer. But, what exactly is champions league?


Is it a few clubs from different leagues getting together to see who the baddest mother team is in europe?

 

Chelsea.

 

Damien Duff, Blackburn : £17m
Juan Sebastian Veron, Man Utd : £15m
Geremi, Real Madrid : £7m
Wayne Bridge, Southampton : £7m
Joe Cole, West Ham : £6.6m
Glen Johnson, West Ham : £6m

It's like no one told Chelski the bubble on the transfer market burst.

Despite the Acquisition of Makaay, who is a badass, I think you underestimate the ability of Real Madrid's midfield to absolutely dominate a game.



I wouldn't count out the Italian teams just yet - good defense and goalkeeping can take you along way - unless they play ManU in the extended knockout phase, and forget to mark Ryan Giggs again.

 

Question for you football junkies:

Is there ANY way in any shape or form that I can watch these games here in Houston? I'am starving to watch the Champions League.

 

i feel ya bro.

ESPN2 would show a CL match every tuesday @ 1:30 CST. well, not every tuesday.

other than that, your best bet would be Fox Sports World, although i don't know if they show CL matches. but good league play nontheless. maybe satellite. it really, really, really, really sucks not being able to catch good soccer matches.

BTW, i think i'm gonna be a Liverpool fan. Owen, Heskey, Diouf, Kewell, Xavier (weird lookin guy). i like them. although i'm not sure if they'll be in the Champions League this season, i think they have to qualify.

and whats the situation w/ Leverkusen (sp?). are they gonna suck from here on out or what? it'd be a shame (i suppose).

 

Go to Richmond Arm's on Richmond & Fountainview. They have soccer on TV all the time, especially the EPL.

And Juve will win the CL.

 

I feel you SJC, I think Makaay should have been the highest priced transfer ever. That dude is freaking sick. He was single handedly carry Deportivo in the Champions League last season and he made every team he faced afraid. Bayern got eliminated last year because of Makaay and now they have him, talk about a pick up. Ballack is just hitting his prime as well, And Kahn is a wall. I see this team as far superior to any other, including Real. I think the second best team, now that they have Cole and Veron, is Chelsea. I see them, especially with Duff, taking the Premiership next year, if not the one after. Chelsea will be the next Real, except cooler because they haven't been dominating the sport for the last couple decades.

But I will always have a place in my heart for the Devils.

 

I need somebody to clear something up for me...

I was under the impression that the Veron deal had a wednesday deadline attached to it because Chelsea wanted him to be eligible for Champions League play? Or was it qualifying?

Either way, United is now sitting on all this money, they aren't a selling club, and they've got until August 31st to make use of it.

Any guesses as to what they'll do with the cash? Ideally, they'd get Van der Vart from Ajax, who was pure class in the Amsterdam Cup last weekend...doubt they sell him though.

I'm not high on Dafoe...so maybe Carlos Puyol to shore up the defense and Joaquin to give them a threat up front with Van Nistelrooy?

PS- Chelsea will disappoint and there's a player named Ronaldo coming up with Lisbon who looks to be amazing....you knew he had to be pretty good if they were willing to sell Quaresma to Barcelona, but I was converted tonight after having seen him embarass O'Shea and United.

 

To be fair to Chelsea, a lot of the cost for these transfers was on future potential, most of these players were extremely young. It's rather unfair to judge them based upon what they've done so far.

Duff is only 24, and you have to remember - he costs more because he's moving to a different team in the same league. I mean, if you were Deportivo and Bayern and say, Valencia came calling for Makaay wouldn't you ask more from Valencia as a "He's now playing against us" kind of bonus?

Wayne Bridge is only 22.
Joe Cole is 21, and is immensly talented.
Glenn Johnson was 18 - and better than Rio Ferdinand at a similar age.

Geremi played alright for M'Boro, I reckon. Not sure it was £7M worth, but still.

Another thing to consider is that Deportivo is operating under the rules of the market now - it's a buyers market, and you won't get much for even great players nowadays - because half the teams are about to collapse in chasms of debt and hellfire, and the other half have discovered that they can't go on spending huge sums of money because that kind of income is no longer sustainable.

And then there's Chelski, who's got a Billionaire willing to spend money in a sport where Spending miney gets you things. Wouldn't you extort some more money out of them? I mean, when someone's willing to shell out £71.4M for one player, I wouldn't expect them to trifle over a few mill here or there if it meant getting their player in time. And of course, the rumored monster offers for Henry and Nesta too. He's a free spender - wouldn't you try to rip him off a bit?

Of course, there's always the possiblilty that Deportivo have simply lost their minds(as was my initial reaction), in which case comparing Chelski's spending to Munich's coup is rather unfair. They didn't negotiate with anyone who'd lost their marbles, as near as I can tell.

re : Bayern vs Real. Bayern should win, because Real has a crappy defense - but I still think the real danger isn't the individual matchups - it's the ceiling of the individual players. If you catch Real on a night when their entire team is clicking, you're ****ed - because you'll never see the ball to build up an attack. Figo, Zidane, Raul are just too good. Even if you catch them with only half of their "big guns" on their game, you're still looking at the best players from half of the traditional powers in Europe and South America and it's just Russian Roulette which one will kill you that night.

But Real shouldn't go to far, on account of their defense. And Bayern should beat them. But the Brilliance in the midfield can cover a lot of deficiencies in the rest of the team.

Whether or not they beat whichever narcoleptic nightmare comes plodding out if Italy this year to challenge for the title, will be a different matter.

 

chelski have a nice team, if they get the line-up and chemistry right they will be great to watch.

Duff is amazing, did you not watch the world cup SJC???

they may or may not suck in europe, but the premier league will be tight at the top this year, Chelski v Liverpool v ManPoo v Arsenal and maybe Newcastle will make for entertaining viewing, plus will get to watch my Villa get smashed by Chelski at Stamford bridge on my trip in september.

 

The radio here has just said that Chelsea have had a bid accepted for Vieri.

They haven't finished spending yet.

SJC, you think Hargreaves is better than Makelele?

 

You should be higher on Defoe, he's an excellent striker, young, and you'll get him relatively cheaply from West Ham, as they've been relegated.

 

WOW

 

from football365.com

CHELSEA GOSSIP
Chelsea will today complete the signing of Man Utd flop Juan Sebastian Veron, if we are to believe the tabloids. The Argentine reportedly opted for the move after coming to the conclusion that he might not be Fergie's first choice in midfield. The Red Devils will accept a £16m offer for the player that they paid £29.1m for just two years ago.

And in the less believable section of this gossip, The Blues will also apparently sign Inter Milan striker Christian Vieri for 30-odd million.

 

http://www.ananova.com/sport/soccer/story/sm_806766.html?menu=sport.football.footballheadlines

Vieri tipped to join Blues

Inter Milan striker Christian Vieri is already on his way from Italy to join Chelsea, according to two national newspapers.

"Christian Vieri is due to be unveiled today as a Chelsea player in the most arresting deal so far of the Roman Abramovich revolution," claims The Independent.

"Internazionale have accepted a fee of just over £20million for the 30-year-old striker and it is thought that Vieri, after an initial reluctance, has agreed to the move. He will earn a salary in excess of £5m a year."

The Daily Mirror says: "Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will take his spending spree to a staggering £80million plus on the signing of Italy striker Christian Vieri today."

 

I think the CL is wide open. I surely wouldn't make Bayern odds on favorites (though I doubt a repeat of last year is likely).

Nobody should even mention Chelsea: I'm not sure they have a single world class player, outside of Gallas. They do have excellent depth and few holes.

I think it will come down to Madrid, Bayern, Juve, Man Utd, Inter (w/Vieri) and (my surprise pick) Newcastle this year. I just don't think you can pick a team in the CL, and say "they'll win it." Injuries, form, etc play too large of a factor.

I'm leaving out Arsenal (aging Bergkamp, crazed GK, question marks about Viera's status, center back problems), Milan (aging defense), Depor (no Makaay), and Chelsea (few true world class players).

Incidentally, SJC, I think you're overrating Kahn and Mackaay, and I think Elber's age is about to start catching up.

Kahn was certainly the best in the world for a long time - but in the Bundesliga last year, his age began to show. His reflexes aren't really quite as good. I'd give Casillas an even go, there.

Makaay is excellent, but his form last year was really far better than it had ever been before, and he's 28 - which means it's far more likely to be an anomaly than a sea change.

 

if Real are the Yankees of soccer, Chelsea is quickly becoming the Mavs.