World Cup and European leagues

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Yeah, since I am unaware of an international football hall of fame (I'm pretty sure Halls of Fame are a purely American fascination) I'd have to go with the championship.

Champs League would be cool to win, but if you're going for the ultimate prize for an English squad it would have to be the as-yet-unaccomplished quad. (EPL, Champs League, FA Cup and Carling Cup).  ManU pulled off the triple a few years back, which is impressive in its own right.

[Greek Tragedy]

The only thing that makes the League Cup, i.e., the Carling Cup, important to any top flight club is if they don't win anything else!  Man. Utd. has come to appreciate the League Cup for that reason alone, unfortunately.    Watching the Red Devils win the EPL, the F.A. Cup and the Champions League within about a 10-day span was amazing...especially the Champions League Final.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I know no one in the EPL cares about Carling, but both Abramovich and Mourinho have stated they want to be the first to win the Quad.



Speaking of Chelsea, has anyone heard any more about Gallas getting sold?  This might have a big impact on my fantasy squad.

[Gotberg]

DC United and Real Madrid played to a 1-1 draw last night in Seattle.  Great first half with both teams going at it.

The goal scored by DC was one expected out of RM.

Second half, RM made numerous subs(if you call Canavaro and Helguera subs). RM controlled most of the second half with DC looking tired.  DC stayed composed and fought fought hard for the draw (including an incredible save by DC's goalkeeper Perkins of a Roberto Carlos set piece). 

Perkins works part time as a loan processor at a local DC bank to make ends meet.  Must be feel odd to ask for time off from work in order to travel to Seattle and play the superstars of Real Madrid.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Yeah that seems like the same story as the All-Star Chelsea match.  The score was close, but the chances weren't.  After a while you have to stop calling it luck and start attributing some of it to solid defense.

[Gotberg]

You can see the DC v RM highlights on MLS' home page.

http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/index.jsp

If you haven't been to their site before, the center section of the page will change and there will be one 'section' entitled "Spanish Stars battle MLS sides Saturday".  At the end of the section's text, there's a link to a 350k video.  There were plenty of highlights left out, but this is a nice summary of the game.

RM definitely played to win and from a player's perspective, earn playing under their new coach.  Raul talked at a pre-game conference call that RM only plays to win.  The history and tradition of RM is too important not to win.  Now granted, their in pre-season etc, but I do believe each and every RM player tried to play to their best capabilities at this point in time.

[Greek Tragedy]

Things could get ugly for the MLS this weekend as Real SL take on Real Madrid. 

And of course, more importantly, Arsenal v Chelsea in the Charity Shield, Community Shield or whatever they call it now!  Finally, the EPL kicks off!  YEAH!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

You'd think McLaren would have had the decency in Germany to whisper in Becks ear "Why don't you retire from International Football now, when you give up the captaincy."  I mean it would have been the classier thing to do rather than let the guy give up the captaincy, say he'll keep playing and then dump him.  I'm not against the decision, just the way it went down.

[Greek Tragedy]

All because he's dumped him for this "crucial" friendly  vs Greece (?), that doesn't mean he's done for good.  RvN also got dropped for Holland. 

[Stinger]

Becks deserves to get 100 caps for England.  Im not saying dropping him for the Greece match is a big deal, I just hope that he gets some love in the Euro 08 qualifiers.  I think  McClaren is just making a statement that he's going to be his own coach, not a Sven clone.

[sac]

Liverpool 2 Chelsea 1

Is it just me or does it seem like if you put a trophpy in front of a Liverpool/Chelsea matchup.........Liverpool wins?

......and it could be argued that Liverpool played the weaker side today.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Plus now we've got one more American owner in the EPL.

[Browneagle64]

Lately, I've been reading about Beck's future as he gets a bit older. It's sad to hear that his national team asked for his captain's arm band and that some of his coaches feel that he is lossing some pace in his game. As far as i know, this guy was once a top highlight for the english team and suddlenly he isn't. Give me a break. Beck's has done the best for his country, the least they can do is keep him as a reserve on the national team.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

They didn't ask for his armband; he gave it up before they could.

Becks has never been the best player in the world, he was (and may still be) the most talented free kick taker in the world, which is quite valuable to the team.  He's very good on the cross, but he's never been a complete player, nor one who could perform at 100% for the whole match.  I'd compare him to Randy Moss (although without the arrogance).  Good enough in spots that you have to leave him on the field, but not the best complete player.

Now that Aaron Lennon has proved just how good he can be during the run of play and Lampard has stepped up as an above-average free kick taker, the usefulness of Becks in wanning a bit.

I'm sure he'll still get his caps in, although he probably won't get the England record (which he's been gunning for from the beginning).  There was a good point brought up earlier, that he is just barely back to form after the World Cup injury and maybe McLaren just didn't want to risk it.

[Browneagle64]

Thanks for the insight Hoops. I'll have to agree with the fact that after beck's world cup injury, it'll take time for him to come back to full form.

Aside from that, IMHO, I say that beck's should retire from football completly. Word is that once he feels like getting away from England he has the choice of joining any MLS team that wants him. Of course this brings the debate in which people argue whether these older players from Europe can really help out MLS. In this case, it will only help Beck's get richer.