What to Watch
// April 2nd, 2009 // Uncategorized
I was a little upset that the leagues had to take a break right when things were getting good, but at least we got some tasty qualifiers in the interim. Argentina hammered 6-1 by Bolivia? Two excellent, Spain-Turkey matches, with the best team in the world showing everyone who’s boss? And England, blah blah blah…
I think this weekend finally starts the homestretch for the club season in Europe — so let’s do this…
Saturday
Arsenal v Man City, 10am on Setanta – Arsenal are purring at the moment, although they did have a lot of guys who played two games this past week. Rumor has it they are realizing that the Emirates isn’t big enough for Arshavin and Cesc, and are shopping the latter — the right choice in this man’s opinion. I can’t get enough of that baby-faced Russian assassin!
Valladolid v Barcelona, 2pm on GolTV - No, it’s not the best game ever, but GolTV hasn’t shown Barsa in weeks, so for those of us who need a Messi fix, here’s a chance. And here’s something you may have missed from him last weekend — the non-goal of the week (of the year?).
Toronto FC vc Seattle, 3:30pm, FSC and CBC - This is a special request from reader Andrew Bruce. “It’s our home opener and I’ll be the guy on crutches with the Christopher Walken-type hair as I’m not getting it cut until I’m running on a pitch again. Also, I expect Sarah to talk some trash as the Sounders have started really well.” Well, Sarah, I believe that strange itchiness you are currently feeling is Andrew CALLING YOU OUT — whatchayagonnado about it, sista?
Sunday
Manchester United v Aston Villa, 11am, FSC – A can’t miss game on various fronts, whether you’re interested in seeing if the champs will hold on or slip up, or a Grade A Morbid Curiosity game to see if Villa will fold like babies or show that they’ve got “onions!” (gotta honor Bill Raftery during March Madness — he’s the only network announcer who gets away with a blatantly obvious euphemism for genitalia on major television with millions of people tuning in).
Posted by Lazar
14 Responses to “What to Watch”
Leave a Reply
- john@York UK said: I don't know if this fits in here properly and as ...
- Alain said: Lazar, agree with you that Big Mo is going to have...
- victor said: I believe that Real Madrid is missing a center for...
- john@York UK said: Well, Ronaldo will have plenty of time for normal ...
- admin said: ab, it is kind of uncanny about Nasri......
- Lazar said: Ramos was teeeewwwible today. I've never understoo...
- Welcome to Manchester
- The Most Important World Cup Lineup of All
- 'Hand of Frog' - Understanding the Backlash
- Men Versus Boys
- Shame On You, On-ye-wu
I have been waiting for a post about the Champions League switch to FSC.
I can’t believe there weren’t fireworks or something on this site. I mean that sounds like the end of Tommy Smyth.
I don’t know how much trash talking I can do since we are an expansion team and still relatively unproven (and I am a Red Sox fan so I’m terrified of jinxing my team). I can say a) the bars in Seattle are going to be packed; not only has the momentum from the inaugural match been sustained, I think its growing b) here in Seattle we think there is a mini-rivalry going with Toronto over who has the best fans and best atmosphere. I predict a very quiet BMO Field if Fredy Montero is healthy enough to play.
This is our first match on the road so I don’t know how the team will react. Hopefully they can feed off the energy of the fans. I’m more worried about trips to places like KC where it is dead quiet.
Zing! a KC dig thrown in for good measure, that’s how you do it! Do not worry Sarah even if you guys run us BMO field is never quiet no matter what the scoreline. But yes Freddy and Zakuani do worry me, but hopefully Robinson and Cronin will keep them in check with means both legal and not-so legal, and I predict a good game from Wynne and De-ro from us as they both have things to prove.
The only problem with a TO-Seattle rivarly is it ain’t going to happen. Once Portland and to a lesser extent, Vancouver, come into the league your focus will be elsewhere. But for now I’ll say 2-1 for TFC with some dodgy calls (as every MLS game has dodgy calls).
Post is forthcoming on the ESPN to Fox CL switch — watch this space.
I like the TO-Seattle rivalry, at least until expansion. And we get to live it, right her on the pages of NMOB! Good luck, all!
Go Seattle! Despite living in LA, I don’t follow any specific MLS team, but the excitement a guy like Montero can generate HAS to be good for the league.
Meanwhile, I will be in a bar outside of the Emirates (alas, 300 pound tickets prevent me from actually entering) watching Robinho embarass himsel … Cheers
Did my post about CL/FSC on the FB group go unnoticed?
Can’t believe I almost let a Messi reference go unnoticed. I love how Argentina just lulls them to sleep before Messi turns it on.
He had a similar run during the first match I ever went to at the Camp Nou. I was with a non-footy obsessed friend and I said “Keep your eye on that guy. He will do things and you won’t really understand how he did them. Just sit back and enjoy.” And then he goes and does this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o3fsNq2H-U
If a goal is scored when everyone is sleeping, was a goal actually scored? Interesting fact: there is no mainstream video proof of any KC home goals over the last two years. But there is a rumor (Oh, that Internet!), that some guy in South Dakota has acquired still photos proving that they have at least been playing at home. Anyone with more info… keep it to yourself, you never know who may be bleading (reading blogs).
Sarah, I love the chip pass from Veron. As they say in Spanish “de lujo.”
I’m sorry Sarah, what can I say but it’s been a tough week
Andrew, how was the match? It was good to see it sold out but disappointing to see the stadium almost empty by the 80th minute. Does the turf at BMO usually play like that or was it due to the wind? The ball was moving very strangely. The pub I went to was packed and was turning folks away at the door. Throughout the day I’ve been seeing people in Sounders gear all over. This city is going crazy!
I think we all need to move to Seattle…
Sarah, sorry for the late reply, massive computer problems at home (methinks from accessing soccer games from dodggy Turkish and Vietnamese downloads) so I had to wait to do this from work.
Some things that stood out for me. Damn Ljundberg! I was thinking with Freddy out of the lineup that we had an even better shot at coming away with a handy victory, only for the underwear model to smoothly dictate the play, scoring once, setting up the other, nutmegging some of our guys and using his ‘veteran savy’ to ‘win’ free kicks whenever the tempo called for it. In MLS this guy can be a major player if he stays healthy. Zakuari (sp?) was pretty sharp too, smart movement off the ball, not afraid to attack defenders etc., and Keller made two great stops when they needed it, so all in all you guys bossed us in every aspect of the game and deserved the win. I thought only Vitti looked good for us, but with no support he was shut down pretty quickly with no outlet.
The WIND was crazy! With the gusts the temp was around -10 C at times, so about 14 F, and some goal kicks/free kicks would travel half as far backwards as they did forward. As for the mass exodus at the 80th minute I believe that was mainly due to the changed start time of the game 4:00 instead of 3:30 which unfortunately leaves people with kids missing the only train and waiting an hour at a bare platform, so alot of people left to catch that train. Weak I know, I froze until the end and sat for the hour with many other disapointed fans who all commented that you guys sure didn’t look like an MLS expansion team.
The crazy part about the Sounders is that each game they seem to be improving. They still have their moments where they look totally lost and can’t keep possession, but there were a few times where they pulled off some nice one touch passing. Not expansion stuff at all. I was also impressed with how they shut down DeRo for most of the game. Zakuani has a lot of potential and he’s playing with a LOT of confidence right how. Did you see the goal he set up last week? No fear from this guy. He took on the defender, beat him and sent in a great pass to Jaqua. Sanna Nyassi also likes to run at defenders. I dont think his touch is as good as Zakuani’s but he is a speedy little guy and is dangerous on the wing.
There is a new soccer bar opening up in Seattle called “Azzurri”. Seriously, this city has gone crazy.