What's up with all these low scoring Group matches?? I usually watch the group games because they are the most exciting.. usually the scoreless boring defense first games are in the knock out stage :(

Watched a rerun of the Bayern MC game . Thought you were a bit hard on Pep in this case. It's not like Bayern didn't produce any chances and you can't really blame the coach when the strikers aren't converting them, and Hart having a wonder-game. On another day, against a different keeper, they could've easily scored another 2 or 3. Agree that they looked better when Robben came on though.

Hart aside, MC were pretty disappointing. Toure had another terrible game. There's definitely something up with him.

Also Julian Draxler ... against Chelsea ... Wow!!!

Also also ... heard about this on a podcast. Menez's goal for Milan against Parma. Flat out amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnxS5OnxYOI

keeping and eye on a replay of as roma / cska moscow while doing a little work.

yes, i get it that moscow is a shit, easy-to-beat team, but roma isn't fucking around either, winning 5-1 like that, they mean business and everyone should be warned.

Porto has the potential to be a really great team. Unfortunately a lot of their talent comes from having promising youngsters loaned from europe's big boys (tello, casemiro, torres) and they will surely sell they're future superstars when they are ripe like they did with hulk, falcao, james, etc... jackson martinez is a future monster

thanks for that recommendation! i'll try to catch a game.

jackson martinez already had a great world cup-- and he's in his mid/late 20s if i recall

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bayern just managed to tie 0-0 vs. relegation-battling hamburg which had the worst defense last year

this after bringing lewandowski, xabi alonso and gotze from the bench.

they had almost 80% possession but no goals. how crap is that.

i hope dortmund does better later today

Jeez you'd think this Bayern Munich team are the worst in their history. 0-0 draws happen, even if it's the biggest team and the worst team in the league. If anything the credit should go to Hamburger for managing to hold on against a team that did 15 shots to their 4.

Stop expecting every game to be a big goal scoring win. This isn't blinking Yank Football or Basketball.

fuck that. man u beat qpr 4-0 last week yes? is that basketball? no-- it's what a top team does with a relegation team.

i'm looking ahead at roma too. that's not going to be easy (moscow yes). it's a tough CL group. can't win without scoring.

hamburg did 4 shots? twice they almost really fucked neuer the libero (don't get me wrong, i love neuer, but dante...). bayern's shots in the 2nd half were weak shit (i only saw the 2nd half-- weak).

oh im late for the dortmund game

And drew 0-0 to bloody Burnley the week before.

nope, in basketball the losing team, even if dominated by 50 points still score at least SOME POINTS, a 4-0 beat down is more like a 35-0 domination in an NFL game.. where as you mentioned, and underclass team faces an elite team similar to the Falcons recent demolition of what used to be the Bucaneers ;)

don't know who is that or who played

but watching dortmund's bench battle mainz (half time right now) is way more exciting than watching fc hollywood act constipated.

Exactly.*

How about West Ham! Lolerpool.

*to expand-the lowest of teams can hold off teams that should by rights be winning. What is it? Goals happen on average every 60 minutes if I remember rightly.

you heard about real madrid's latest result?


no idea again lol


i understand that but to watch a team hold the ball 80% of the time and then melt down like wusses is an exercise in frustration.

dortmund back on! nice match it's on BT for you i think.

demonrail's team. 2-1 to West Ham after scoring two goals in the first ten minutes. Excellent stuff.

FUKCING 3-1!! GET IN

Just seen the Dortmund result...

damn, mainz just beat dortmund 2-0!!!! ha ha ha ha.

it was 0-0, so kloppo brought in immobile and mkhitarian, and instead of scoring they got scored on. okazaki (sp?) enabled by jairo (fresh from sevilla) opened for mainz. then immobile fucked up a penalty kick. the second mainz goal was gonna be similar (jairo->okazaki) but subotic's substitute (mathias ginter) scored an own goal and the crowd thanked him ha ha ha.

what a fun game even though i wanted dortmund to win

--

oh, west ham beat liverpool?

demonyo must be doing somersaults

ps a couple of writeups

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...ndesliga-game/

http://www.bundesliga.com/en/liga/ne...0000302242.php

Demonrail hasn't answered on the American Football thread so I'll ask the question here..

What is there to lose in futbol rivalries like the Superclassico or the Bavarian Derby??

We were discussing the rivalries within the divisional format of NFL and how it gives added meaning to to otherwise less meaningful regular season games. Me and rob mentioned we like NFL rivalries better than futbol rivalries, and demonrail insisted futbol rivalries are more meaningful.

Now aside from IN TOURNAMENTS, what exactly is the substantive meaning of these rivalries in the context of the table system? Again, within divisional format, demonrail mentioned Packers-Bears rivalry, every NFL fan knows the Packers and Bears are going to play each other TWO times every single regular season, and that essentially if a team can win both they clinch the playoffs by taking their division and hurting their rivals chances in the loss column. Even if the they split the games, it could still knock one of them out of the playoffs. Also, say one of them is for sure not making the playoffs, by winning a key division game against a rival they can ensure that NEITHER of them make the playoffs.. So what are otherwise low-importance games become some of the biggest games of the season.

So outside of tournament play, what exactly do Boca Juniors or River Plate stand to lose when playing each other?

Surprisingly watched a few MLS games and I honestly enjoyed them all!

I can only speak from what I know so I'll chip in my 2 pence worth. Rivalries between certain teams have been going for nigh on a hundred years in a lot of cases and the original reason is lost on a lot of fans. It's just pushed into them from when fans were kids. For example, if you ask an Arsenal fan why they have a rivalry with Tottenham (besides the regional reason) a lot of them wouldn't know.

Some rivalries like the Celtic/Rangers fixtures are more based on religion (Protestants and Catholics) and leads to crazy levels of violence.

What is their to lose? Honestly, it just comes down to a tribal spirit. One team having a rivalry with another just cos they play at the other end of town. Bear in mind for a lot of football fans football is all they have (trust me I know enough of them who's conversation rarely goes further than football. Sad really). And if their team loses to their rivals there is nothing worse. They want to close the curtains, put the duvet over their heads and sleep. Either that or kick someones head in. I'm more of the former.

What is there for the team to lose? Nothing really. Bring on the next game.

This sums it up better than I could

Sorry I wasn't more eloquent. I suspect demonrail can put it better than I did.

BTW, it's the everton/ liverpool derby next week. God I'm dreading it already.

H8Kurdt is spot on. The meaningfulness of rivalries in football is far more fan oriented. It's ritualistic and tied in with local identity far more than it is to a club's success or failure. Although some rivalries between the elite clubs creep into it. The Classico is between the two biggest clubs in Spain, as is the case with the old firm derby, so while the roots of their conflict might be social, winning those derbies has often been the difference between second place or league champions. But for the most part football rivalries are exactly how H8Kurdt describes them.


At 2-1 I was far too nervous to enjoy it but when the 3rd went in it was beautiful. Lovely stuff.