World Cup and European leagues

[Mr. Ypsi]

Jonah Freedman (SI.com) ranks the world's club teams, and has 3 of the top 5 in England:

1.  Chelsea
2.  FC Barcelona
3.  Olympique Lyon
4.  Arsenal
5.  Liverpool

Does anyone else view this as overplaying the EPL just a tad?!

He ranks the top 10, then also includes about 8 honorable mentions - sorry, ManU, no where on the list!  He does include both Real Madrid and DC United(!) among the HMs.

[Greek Tragedy]

That humors me...and yes, a little too much weight on the EPL.  So, D.C. United is better than Manchester United now?  Umm...

Looks like RvN is out at Old Trafford.  Disappointing not to see any new faces come in, though THREE old faces return from injuries, Scholes, Solskjaer and Alan Smith (moving back to his preferred forward position). 
I'm looking forward to the new EPL season, among other leagues, even if Man. Utd. supposedly sucks now! lol.

[joepieters]

Old School, acc. to soccernet, Man U will sign Carrick today.  That should ease some of the suffering at Old Trafford.

My Gunners, on the other hand, appear ready to send Ashley Cole to Chelsea.  Can't say that I am overly thrilled with the prospect of another year with Flamini on the back line.  He did an admirable job last year, but I'd really rather play the kid in the midfield.

As for the poll, I'm assuming the decision to keep Juve out of the top five was some sort of an informal punishment related to the match fixing scandal.

My top five:
1 - Barca
2 - Chelsea
3 - Arsenal
4 - Juve
5 - Bayern Munich (I've never been overly thrilled with Ligue 1 football)

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I think Barca is definately number one these days.  They've got a lot of talent and unlike Real and Chelsea, they actually have some chemistry too.

I'm not sure why ManU wouldn't be on a top 10 list; they still finished second last season and they have a solid squad, just probably not solid enough to do any damage this year.

I know the UEFA coefficients count the last five years, so it doesn't give a totally accurate picture of the current situation, but here is this year's top ten.

Position    Club    Country    Coefficient
1    AC Milan           Italy    129.020
2    FC Barcelona    Spain    127.006
3    Real Madrid    Spain    120.006
4    Internazionale     Italy    112.020
5    Juventus     Italy    107.020
6    Liverpool     England    105.950
7    Arsenal     England    101.950
8    Manchester United     England    100.950
9    Valencia    Spain    95.006
10    Lyon     France    89.757

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It looks like the transfer window is really heating up right now.  I'm sorry I'll be away for a while.  If I don't get eaten by a bear climbing Mt Whitney, I'll be back next week.

[Stinger]

Ruud!  Ruud!  Hala Madrid, baby. Now there's a stiker that I can root for..

[Greek Tragedy]

Real Madrid ruined Michael Owen...I cannot cheer for them! lol. 

It's funny that many fans still believe Real Madrid is the greatest club in the world with all their stars they have.  Well, they are like the Yankees.  Neither has won squat for quite sometime now (2002/2003 being the last La Liga championship for them).  I realize Man. Utd. hasn't won the Premiership since then either, but then again, they aren't ranked in the Top 10! (according to the Freeman guy) lol.

[Mr. Ypsi]

As for the poll, I'm assuming the decision to keep Juve out of the top five was some sort of an informal punishment related to the match fixing scandal.

My top five:
1 - Barca
2 - Chelsea
3 - Arsenal
4 - Juve
5 - Bayern Munich (I've never been overly thrilled with Ligue 1 football)

I have read that many (if not most) Juventus players had contract clauses that if the club was demoted, the player became a free agent.  If that is true, the 'new' Juve may have trouble staying in the top 50!

[joepieters]

Ruud!  Ruud!  Hala Madrid, baby. Now there's a stiker that I can root for..

It's not as if you didn't have any choices before he arrived.  Raul, Julio Baptista, Ronaldo, Robinho, Cassano, now Ruud.  That's one heck of a crows.  Someone will have to be moved.

[Greek Tragedy]

What a crappy way to interrupt a football match! lol  

Enjoy. 

[Greek Tragedy]

Nice article in yesterday's USA Today on...err, Chelsea (wow, that hurt to say that!)...

On the transfer rumor mill...this also hurts, Patrick Viera of all players, hinted in his desire to play for Manchester United! 

[sac]

A pretty week hint, sounds more like he's headed for Inter Milan.   I think the BBC was trying to make an interesting story for their readers.

Not that they've ever been accused of sensationalism


No bodies mentioned it but Liverpool's draw in the 3rd round Champions League Qualifier is with Maccabi Haifa.  They'll decide in a week whether to play the game in Israel or not. 

Cypress anyone.

[Greek Tragedy]

Two other Israeli qualifiers have been moved to neutral countries, according to Yahoo Sports.  But the Israeli football association chairman feels if Depeche Mode can play a concert in Israel, there isn't any reason why Liverpool can't show up!

I read on soccernet about Viera.  Of course, the same site says he'll sign with Inter.

[gobombers15]

Trezeguet to stay with Juve and Viera heads over to Inter. No huge surprises there.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=AnjAGy36iiCf0PWxZIkKXXUmw7YF?slug=reu-ballack&prov=reuters&type=lgns

Read that article. Apparently, Ballack will rotate with Michael Essien in Chelsea's midfield. The team will play three midfielders: Ballack/Essien, Lampard and Makelele. Where does Joe Cole fit into this picture? Are they going to play him as a winger? I'm assuming that Drogba, Shevchenko and Crespo will start up top. Joey Cole is far too good of a player to be wasting away on Chelsea's bench. I hope they find him some minutes or move him to another team.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=ArI5KCqy6wNnPnGq3mbnVXcmw7YF?slug=afp-fblengprchelseafra&prov=afp&type=lgns

Looks like Gallas is not happy with Chelsea. He wants to play more of a central defender rather than his current position of fullback. Should be interesting to see how this turns out.

[Greek Tragedy]

Read that article. Apparently, Ballack will rotate with Michael Essien in Chelsea's midfield. The team will play three midfielders: Ballack/Essien, Lampard and Makelele. Where does Joe Cole fit into this picture? Are they going to play him as a winger? I'm assuming that Drogba, Shevchenko and Crespo will start up top. Joey Cole is far too good of a player to be wasting away on Chelsea's bench. I hope they find him some minutes or move him to another team.

You can say that for about half the players riding the pine at Stamford Bridge.  Ballack merely rotating with Essien.  They paid a fortune for him.  Chelsea has two awesome teams and that can cause problems.