Aww yeah

Looks like Messi might be fit for the second leg.

it's just one guy, i found out, who writes elswewhere. which is why he sometimes writes a ton and then nothing.

i'm still waiting for wednesday's analysis! i just don't think it will happen until the next round of matches.

Your wait is over ...

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/04/...-to-take-them/

thanks man! that was a good read. i had been fiending....

---

ps-- SUAREZ!!

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/video...comment-page-1

one has to laugh...

We'll miss him when he's gone.

And with friends like this, who needs enemies?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...paolo-di-canio

gone where??? are you sure??

(say bayern... say bayern... )

Right I saw the Suarez punch last week and for fear of sounding like a broken record I kept quiet. Seeing as you've decided to drag from the sewers where it was meant to stay I'll say this-once a twat, always a twat.

EDIT-TO whatshisname, Suarez said at a press conference last week that he'd happily hear offers from other teams. Later it was claimed the translator mis-quoted him. How shit of a translator would you have to be to get that one wrong?

but a HILARIOUS one. admit it!

Not now, not for certain, but eventually. Liverpool won't qualify for the CL this season and there's no guarantee they will next season. I'm sure a lot of bigger clubs are looking at him and we know he's willing to listen to them.

Interesting piece about Thomas Muller here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...er?INTCMP=SRCH

hey thanks for that, an awesome read! especially timely for me today considering i got up early to watch bayern-frankfurt in what could be bayern's crowning match for the season.... not sure mueller will play today (i'd save him for next week) but anyway... excellent article, thanks for the link

ps bayern/frankfurt match starts in 20'

I loved the description of Andy Carroll leaping to score a header, 'mane flowing, nostrils flared, like a horse hurled from a speeding helicopter.' Great article, although he needs to find a better term to describe what Muller does than 'space investigator'. It makes him sound like a sf detective.

oh, man, bayern-frankfurt had an intense second half!

first half bayern should have pulled ahead but didn't (and alaba missed a penalty). they did at the beginning of the 2nd half though, and then frankfurt gave it all to catch... neuer had a great save plus he had to work hard in general. bayern had to play counterattack.

and yeah, BAYERN WINS THE BUNDESLIGA. with 75 points and a 66 goal difference, far ahead of dortmund with 55 pts and +31, and six dates to go-- bayern can't be touched now.


damn, this was a fine game to watch. schwinsteiger scored a very fine goal.

look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQAInvj_olA

a closeup;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RQB7v17IPg


ps
"space investigator" would make an awesome badge! scifi detectives rule!

Some big results in the Prem today, especially with Stoke losing to Villa, putting them right in the mire. QPR and Reading are effectively gone but I wouldn't mind if either Stoke or Wigan join them. Shame Reading are going cos ideal for me would be QPR, Stoke and Wigan all getting the drop.




Wow. Even better than Welbeck's goal last year against Sweden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKjhh7V9Y3w

So Bayern have won the Bundesliga with a record six games still to go and Toni Kroos is the midfielder of the future, apparently.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...oos-mesut-ozil

kroos is great, he had a fantastic early season scoring from outside the area (inside as well). now he seems to have slowed down in that front.

not sure about these eras that the writer mentions but i get what he says about kroos's well-rounded excellence (a rare thing). he's a bit of the anti-specialist, although i'll say he's probably the best shooter (kinda like pirlo).

however, he's not magic--- last time vs. juve, bayern did better without him than with him. while he was on, bayern couldn't get their stuff together. yes, that may be a fluke, but it also points at the fact that the system counts for a lot and mueller was great in that position as well.

the only thing i hope is that with all the attention on the bundesliga the oligarchs don't start coming down like vultures & take these great players away to the prem. :(

Oligarchs or not, you might find some points made in this article interesting.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...478334158.html

Oligarchs or not, you might find this article interesting.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...478334158.html

i clicked that link and read earlier and i sorta agree. those sorts of asymmetries are bound to happen in certain systems (have you ever played civilization? one empire always grows big. i think they follow a power law distribution.)

but even while power laws distibutions happen more often than we realize (not all natural distributions are bell curves), you'll recognize from the same article that there's still more diversity overall in the bundesliga as opposed to the other major european leagues (5 champions vs 4, 3, 3)

the question is one of sustaining a rivalry at the top.

i get that a purchasing oligarch can bring a huge influx of cash to a team (e.g., man city, chelsea) that would otherwise be stuck in the mud. but i still don't like it, ha ha ha. HORRIBLE FOR FANS!

there's gotta be a better way to introduce chaos into the system than plantation owners with petro/narco/dollars.

Kuba Is Back!!!