Soccer discussion thread

[Uuaww]

these Cardiff fans are awesome

when Cardiff plays Swansea later this year, watch that game. It will def. be shown, first ever meeting between the two Welsh teams in the premier league, it'll be significant.

[jsence2]

admittedly I have a really hard time understanding spacing and controlling field as a novice fan... but is he that skilled/talented at what he does? is he just a great communicator like a hoops guy who talks on D and puts guys in the right place?

they were the top defensive team last year, I thought I heard and without him they are vulnerable against Cardiff City.

is it just camaraderie and communication?

He's highly physical and imposing; he's one of the best in the world at reading the play and intercepting passes; he's terrific in the air and marks the best target in set piece situations; and he's the captain. So yes....losing him puts that defense in shambles, especially when they have only three healthy defenders left (which is why they had a CDM at CB).

[DRiccio21]

big MLS match tonight w/Dempsey's debut vs Portland.

place should be rocking

[BIGmike]

The microphones the announcers are using in the pregame for Chelsea vs ManU are hilarious.

[jsence2]

I had the app on my phone going for a few minutes before the match started; the closed captioning was on by default....and I couldn't hear anything, but it was picking up and showing what the announcers were talking about--their lunch plans, talking about another announcer, etc. It was awesome

First half was borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring. Hopefully Rooney and RVP and Welbeck can get something going in the 2nd half.

[Uuaww]

yeah this gam sucks so far.

[jsence2]

yeah this game sucked

Fixed it for you. What a letdown.....at least now we know we can't let Rooney go. He was an engine out there.

[nick]

Balotelli and El Shaarawy are awesome

[jsence2]

Balotelli and El Shaarawy are awesome

Yes, yes they are. Hopefully Milan sells neither of them, and the chemestry they develop carries over for the Azzurri.

[jsence2]

It's getting to crunch time....

* Bale has agreed to personal terms with Madrid, and should be finalized as a Real Madrid player within 24 hours

* Milan sold Kevin Prince-Boateng to Schalke, and are about to buy Honda to replace him

* Kaka is in negotiations with a few different clubs and will likely leave Madrid before the window closes

* ManU are throwing bids left and right to find a midfielder--De Rossi of Roma, Herrera of Bilbao, Fellaini/Baines from Everton; even rumors of Kaka (which make no sense)

What sucks is, Herrera has a buyout clause....but they can't just simply pay it:

Sid Lowe in Spain has been in touch and explained the Ander Herrera-Manchester United situation and it is a little bit more complicated than we first thought.

Sid confirms that the buy-out clause is indeed €36m but if the clubs cannot agree then the player would have to go to the league and deposit the money himself (and I think this is what happened with Sevilla's Geoffrey Kondogbia earlier this week, although his transfer to Monaco still hasn't gone through.

So if my understanding of this is correct, United would have to pay Herrerra the €36m for him to pay it to Athletic. And there is a huge problem with this as the money then becomes taxable at a rate o f 52%!!! And that is obviously almost €19m, which changes everything.

There is also the risk that Herrerra could keep the money

[kdog36]

clutch defense for Liverpool so far. Hope they can hold on for victory against ManU.

[Uuaww]

Kentucky and Man U lose in the same weekend. We are officially on jsence suicide watch.

[Ry]

Arsenal finally comes through with a big signing, Mesut Ozil. He isn't exactly what they needed but a great player that will surely help. EPL sat and sun mornings just got a lot more exciting.

[jsence2]

Yeah, some big names moved right at the deadline. United pulled one out in Fergie Time, as it's been confirmed that Fellaini is on his way to United for 27.5m pounds. Paperwork literally came in at 10:59 ; had to have him put in an official xfer request and Everton had to sign James McCarthy before they'd agree to move him.

Lukaku is loaned from Chelsea to Everton for the season. Ozil to Arsenal, scousers pick up Sakho and Victor Moses (loan); but Spurs turned that Bale money into a solid coup--Lamela, Erickson (very good young CM), Paulinho, and Soldado.

United were trying to sign Herrera, so it appeared. There are conflicting reports that it was either a tax issue (Spain taxes at like 40%) or that the "negotiators" there for United were actually impostors.

[jsence2]

Looks like we also got Coentrao in the final five minutes, on a season-long loan.

[LetsGoPeay]

The US could seal the deal on qualification in the next two matches. Costa Rica ain't hearin' that though. They're still upset about the snow game. Check out what they've done to the US team in the last few days.

Where U.S. men's national team players were previously given priority immigration status and private travel transitions, they now had to wait in line with everybody else, and walk to their bus surrounded by enraged locals yelling "USA, no fair play!" The Costa Rican FA failed to provide the U.S. team with game balls for training, and left the Yanks to find their own practice facility after the three recommended sites refused the Stars and Stripes. Newspaper Al Dia printed a picture of U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann arriving at the airport with the caption "los sentimos Jurgen, no hay nieve" (sorry Jurgen, no snow).

[ReignOnU]

Bummer that the Coentrao move didn't go through.

[LetsGoPeay]

Honduras upsets Mexico 2-1 at Azteca.

[jsence2]

Fuckin stupid ass Jozy. So much for seeing him play in person.

[Seeitsaveit13]

Fuckin stupid ass Jozy. So much for seeing him play in person.

What'd he do? Card?