World Soccer

[FannOLax]

Chelsea are on their way to becoming the Dallas Cowboys of the EPL with an owner who meddles in player personnel. Removing Potter for Lampard made no sense and has been a failure to date. Going to be tough to secure a top manager to deal with that mess.

Spurs are a mess too with their coaching positions. The players looked like they were on their way to a late win before crumbling to a resourceful Bournemouth.

Definitely going down are Southampton and Leicester. Sad to see Foxes go down as they’ve been a pleasure in the past, but they don’t look capable of staying in the money game.

Seems that Luis Enrique interviewed at Chelsea, and left unhappy that Lampard was named interim manager as Enrique wanted the job right away. I hope Spurs snag Enrique; Poch deserves a good job somewhere, but for Spurs would he represent a return to the past or a step forward?

[Seacoaster(1)]

AC Milan and Real Madrid into the semifinals of the Champions League. Tonight (this afternoon), Man City plays Bayern with a 3-0 lead, and Inter plays Benfica with a 2-0 lead. Hard to see an apple cart being upset. I think -- not sure -- that this would mean that the semifinals would be (1) Man City-Real Madrid and (2) AC Milan-Inter-Milan.

[Seacoaster(1)]

Spurs players agree to reimburse traveling fans who visited St. James Park for the Newcastle drubbing.

[FannOLax]

Spurs players agree to reimburse traveling fans who visited St. James Park for the Newcastle drubbing.

Hmmm, the Guardian says, "Offering supporters reimbursement after a team have performed poorly is a relatively rare step but not one without precedent. In 2014, Sunderland’s players repaid the ticket outlay of supporters who endured an 8-0 humiliation at Southampton; three years previously, Arsenal offered free tickets to a future away game to those who watched Arsène Wenger’s team lose 8-2 at Old Trafford. One argument against such measures is that disappointment simply forms part of the ebb and flow of being a football fan." https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... -thrashing

Also, reimbursement for game ticket only was offered. Considering how far north Newcastle is from London and limits on ticket prices for visiting fans, it is likely that round-trip (or "return-trip" as it is called in Jolly Old) travel might well be more costly than the game ticket...

[ardilla secreta]

Exciting Conclusion to the English Championship Season
Former Premier League teams Sunderland and Coventry City are in playoffs for a return after just recently emerging from League One.
The Black Cats play at Luton today with a 2-1 edge after the 1st Leg. The Sky Blues play at Middlesbrough on Wednesday with a 0-0 aggregate.

[FannOLax]

Inter Milan won the second leg of the Champions League semi-final Milan derby, and will play the winner of Manchester City v Real Madrid. Man City or Real Madrid will be favorites in the final, but they play the games for a reason. The final will be played in Istanbul Turkey on the 10th of June.

[ardilla secreta]

A lot has happened over the years at Hillsborough Stadium, but for sheer tension turned into joy you probably can’t beat Sheffield Wednesdays win (seen on ESPN+) on PKs in the League One semifinal 2nd leg that erased a 4-0 deficit going to the the game.

SW tied it up on aggregate on the last play of the game, fell behind again in ET then drew even again before winning on PK. They still have to play the winner of Bolton v Barnsley to determine who gets promoted to the Championship.

In the Championship, it’s Luton v Coventry City at Wembley for promotion to Premier League.

[FannOLax]

Luton Town gain promotion to the EPL, while Everton manage to stay up. Leicester are relegated seven years after winning the EPL; who will Maddison be playing for next season? Leeds also go down, a fate sealed in a game capped by Lucas Moura's terrific Tottenham-farewell goal. It's summer, no EPL on the telly, all about transfers and if Spurs will ever find a new manager.

[ardilla secreta]

Luton Town gain promotion to the EPL, while Everton manage to stay up. Leicester are relegated seven years after winning the EPL; who will Maddison be playing for next season? Leeds also go down, a fate sealed in a game capped by Lucas Moura's terrific Tottenham-farewell goal. It's summer, no EPL on the telly, all about transfers and if Spurs will ever find a new manager.

Season ends on a good note in League One Promotion Playoff today.. A very entertaining game won by Sheffield Wednesday in the last seconds of the extra period, 1-0 over Barnsley.

Disappointed that Coventry City lost their promotion game to EPL to Luton Town. Luton’s stadium only holds 10,000 vs 32,000 for CC.

Everton is a mess. Was hoping Leicester would stay up. At least they would have gotten some spending money from departing players. Not sure about the value of Maddison. Too often injured and his defense was weak.

[FannOLax]

Luton Town gain promotion to the EPL, while Everton manage to stay up. Leicester are relegated seven years after winning the EPL; who will Maddison be playing for next season? Leeds also go down, a fate sealed in a game capped by Lucas Moura's terrific Tottenham-farewell goal. It's summer, no EPL on the telly, all about transfers and if Spurs will ever find a new manager.

Season ends on a good note in League One Promotion Playoff today.. A very entertaining game won by Sheffield Wednesday in the last seconds of the extra period, 1-0 over Barnsley.

Disappointed that Coventry City lost their promotion game to EPL to Luton Town. Luton’s stadium only holds 10,000 vs 32,000 for CC.

Everton is a mess. Was hoping Leicester would stay up. At least they would have gotten some spending money from departing players. Not sure about the value of Maddison. Too often injured and his defense was weak.

Yes, Luton have a small ground. When in the top flight in the 1980's, Luton allowed no fans of the the visiting teams into its Kenilworth Road. I believe it was one of two grounds with an astroturf ("plastic") pitch. Gotta think Luton will have a tough time surviving in the Premier League. Burnley and Sheffield United also won promotion to the EPL. Glad to see that Sheffield Wednesday climbed back into the Championship.

[Seacoaster(1)]

I follow this guy for transfer and signing news; he seem pretty plugged in:

https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano?ref_ ... r%5Eauthor

FA Cup tomorrow, Manchester Derby at Wembley? Thoughts?

[FannOLax]

I follow this guy for transfer and signing news; he seem pretty plugged in:

https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano?ref_ ... r%5Eauthor

FA Cup tomorrow, Manchester Derby at Wembley? Thoughts?

Frabricio Romano is very well-connected, followed by many in Europe.

Man City are the clear favorites in the FA Cup Final, but Man Utd have the tools to pull off the upset, and I wonder if City might be a bit more focused on the Champions League final.

[Brooklyn]

UEFA Champions League today!

[FannOLax]

UEFA Champions League today!

Jack Grealish's calf muscles, Rodri's goal and a lot of good luck at the back win Man City the Big One they were lacking, the coveted Champions League title.

[Brooklyn]

UEFA Champions League today!

Jack Grealish's calf muscles, Rodri's goal and a lot of good luck at the back win Man City the Big One they were lacking, the coveted Champions League title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDL_487 ... ure=onebox


Thought Lukaku was going to find the back of the net late in the match. But it wasn't to be. Can't help but think that the real reason why Inter didn't win was because they did not drop to the floor and simulate fake fouls like they always did in the past.


I've always loved the Theme:






Have listened to this Anthem for 30 years and it still gives me goosebumps.

[Brooklyn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6MJHEQWewA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuSpvUH-fzk



Croatia vs Spain in UEFA Nations League



Got a question for anyone in the know ~~~ are we seeing fewer simulations/fake injuries and game stoppages due to these fakes compared to the past? Kinda seems that way. I, for one, sincerely hope so. We should have gotten rid of that crap a long time ago. Thankfully, the womens game did not ever adopt this garbage and hopefully we won't see any of this in the WWC next month.

[Brooklyn]

USA 6 -- Trinidad & Tobago Ø


Total domination by the USA. Hat trick by Jesus Ferreira.

Great depth by USA bench.


https://www.sportingnews.com/us/soccer/ ... bw7mglybp9

[FannOLax]

It looks like Pulisic will be moving from Chelsea to AC Milan; given his limited playing time with the Stamford Bridge bunch, this looks like a good move for Christian and therefore a good move for the US National Team. Maddison's move from relegated Leicester to Tottenham looks like it gives Spurs the creative midfielder they've been lacking since Dele Alli stopped caring. Tottenham will reportedly be kicking off their pre-season with a "Pronounce Postecoglou" contest.

[Brooklyn]

better than soccer - USA major league RUGBY!



San Diego Legion fall in final minutes of Major League Rugby championship game


https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-s ... r-AA1dC0C5


The San Diego Legion had a chance Saturday to cap perhaps the best regular season in Major League Rugby history with a championship.

They fell one point short.

The Legion lost to the New England Free Jacks 25-24 at SeatGeek Stadium in suburban Chicago to fall short of the club’s first title. Le Roux Malan scored the decisive try in the 77th minute, canceling out a pair of scores from the Legion’s Nathaniel Augspurger.

The San Diego Legion had a chance Saturday to cap perhaps the best regular season in Major League Rugby history with a championship.

They fell one point short.

The Legion lost to the New England Free Jacks 25-24 at SeatGeek Stadium in suburban Chicago to fall short of the club’s first title. Le Roux Malan scored the decisive try in the 77th minute, canceling out a pair of scores from the Legion’s Nathaniel Augspurger.

https://twitter.com/usmlr/status/167778 ... nship-game



Note in the replay how defenseman #12 was offside and put himself out of position to prevent the winning try.



GREAT game. Sadly, MLR was not on network tv this season. Hopefully, it will be next year.


Gotta say, Free Jacks is prolly my all time fave team nickname."


https://freejacks.com/what-is-a-free-jack/

[ardilla secreta]

Only one month to the start of the season!

Woo Hoo EPL!