Soccer

[TSwizzle]

After spending billions of petroleum pounds, Manchester City have reached the Champions League final for the first time in their history. And they will play the Russian petroleum pound team, Chelsea. The dilemma now seems to be whether to go ahead and play the game in Istanbul or rearrange and play in England. Common sense says play in England but We shall see.

 

[TSwizzle]

Manchester City wrapped up the EPL title last weekend but there is much excitement surrounding which team will grab a spot for Champions League football by finishing fourth. Liverpool's prospects for qualifying seemed remote, drawing 1-1 with WBA with the game in it's final few seconds, Liverpool won a corner. In these times of desperation it is becoming more common for the losing team goalkeeper to be sent up to the opposition's box at set pieces. And oh my giddy aunt, Allison scored a beauty.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Liverpool continue their recent run of good form and move into fourth based on a GD tiebreaker with League Cup Champions Leicester City. If Liverpool defeat Crystal Palace in their final game of the season, they'll most likely be in the Champions League next year (assuming they aren't punished for the ESL stunt... *spoiler alert* they won't). For those that forgot, Liverpool needed a massive lopsided victory over Tony Pulis's Crystal Palace a number of years ago in the final match up of the season to win the EPL over Man City on GD. Liverpool went up 3-0 to Palace... and needed more and they pushed for it... but didn't make much of it and collapsed in the last quarter (less than?) of the game, ending in a draw 3-3, so not even tied in pts with Man City at the end of the season.

So as long as Liverpool doesn't relive that, things should be fine. The Reds definitely have a history of coming up short or coming through in the end. Always hard to tell what it is going to be.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Meanwhile with the little guy, Lincoln City is making some serious progress. How much longer it'll last is hard to tell. The Manager that made part of this happen left in 2019, so maybe this is the end of their run. But Lincoln was in the Fifth Tier (Conference) in 2016-17. They won that title and promoted. Two seasons in the fourth tier (League Two), and they again are crowned champions and promote to League One. And right now they hold a 2-0 aggregate lead over Sunderland in the playoff for the third promotion spot to the second tier (Championship). If they hold onto that lead, they'll face the winner of Blackpool and Oxford United.

Lincoln City hasn't been in the second tier of football since the 60s. Having been in Conference in 2016-2017 and fighting for promotion to Championship only 4 seasons later, finishing 5th, is very impressive!

In the Championship, Brentford battles with three former EPL clubs for the final position up to the EPL decided in the football's richest game.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Lincoln City lose the game but win on aggregate to get to League One playoff final.

Suarez gets Atletico Madrid to La Liga title.

Swansea to face Brentford (who came back to win their semi) for the climatic final.

And Lille is a win against mid table opponent to take rare not PSG winning Ligue Un title.

 

[TSwizzle]

Athletico Madrid win La Liga thanks in no small part to one of the best strikers in a generation, Luis Suarez and has been controversial his whole career. Suarez, ruthlessly cast out by rivals Barcelona got his revenge. I’ve been a Barcelona supporter for a loooooong time and I’ve disliked Athletico for just as long but Barcelona got what they deserved, nothing. A shambles of a club right now but still did remarkably well this season all things considered.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Suarez is tenacious. A guy with his skills that also always put in 100% and fought for every ball is a very powerful combination.

His problem at Liverpool was occasionally doing something real stupid and his contributions were very limited when he was suspended.

Always thought the Evra deal was BS, but pacman’ing a defender, not so smart.

 

[TSwizzle]

Manchester City wrapped up the EPL title last weekend but there is much excitement surrounding which team will grab a spot for Champions League football by finishing fourth. Liverpool's prospects for qualifying seemed remote, drawing 1-1 with WBA with the game in it's final few seconds, Liverpool won a corner. In these times of desperation it is becoming more common for the losing team goalkeeper to be sent up to the opposition's box at set pieces. And oh my giddy aunt, Allison scored a beauty.

And remarkably, Liverpool finish in third place after a bit of collapse from Leicester. But the goal from Allison has proved to be a vital one.

 

[rousseau]

The Champion's League Final isn't disappointing. Man City seem to be falling into old habits and underestimating Chelsea / lacking hunger. Chelsea just wanted it more in the first half, outperformed them, and eventually scored. It will be interesting to see if Man City can prove they have an ounce of character in the second half.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Brentford gets to the EPL for their first time. Blackpool outclasses Lincoln City in League One playoff final. Lincoln City didn't get a shot on target, but that didn't mean they didn't have chances. Blackpool was the better team on the pitch. Lincoln City now looks to see if they face reality and eventually fall back down or make another drive for the top six.

 

[rousseau]

The Champion's League Final isn't disappointing. Man City seem to be falling into old habits and underestimating Chelsea / lacking hunger. Chelsea just wanted it more in the first half, outperformed them, and eventually scored. It will be interesting to see if Man City can prove they have an ounce of character in the second half.

From my amateurish opinion Man City just got beat. In the second half Chelsea controlled the flow of the game and stopped City from getting into any type of rhythm.

Clearly money is getting City deep into the Champion's League, but I'm just not seeing the drive or cohesion to win it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The Champion's League Final isn't disappointing. Man City seem to be falling into old habits and underestimating Chelsea / lacking hunger. Chelsea just wanted it more in the first half, outperformed them, and eventually scored. It will be interesting to see if Man City can prove they have an ounce of character in the second half.

From my amateurish opinion Man City just got beat. In the second half Chelsea controlled the flow of the game and stopped City from getting into any type of rhythm.

Clearly money is getting City deep into the Champion's League, but I'm just not seeing the drive or cohesion to win it.

Football is weird. Man City is a great team (despite being a bunch of bums ), but being great isn't everything. These finals is a lot about coaching and setting up a system to inhibit the opposing team.

 

[rousseau]

The Champion's League Final isn't disappointing. Man City seem to be falling into old habits and underestimating Chelsea / lacking hunger. Chelsea just wanted it more in the first half, outperformed them, and eventually scored. It will be interesting to see if Man City can prove they have an ounce of character in the second half.

From my amateurish opinion Man City just got beat. In the second half Chelsea controlled the flow of the game and stopped City from getting into any type of rhythm.

Clearly money is getting City deep into the Champion's League, but I'm just not seeing the drive or cohesion to win it.

Football is weird. Man City is a great team (despite being a bunch of bums ), but being great isn't everything. These finals is a lot about coaching and setting up a system to inhibit the opposing team.

That makes sense. There was a lot of talk pre-game about the match and Guardiola's legacy. Coaching likely was a big factor, but to my eye Chelsea just had more energy and executed. Man City still seem to have a mental hang-up that they're supposed to win every game without actually having to put forth any effort or determination.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Copa America (South American nation's tournament) moved from Covid-19 surging Argentina to Covid-19 surged Brazil.

The tournament was originally planned to be hosted by Argentina. CONMEBOL did not specify why the tournament had been removed from Argentina, but the country is currently suffering from a rise in coronavirus cases, with a seven-day average of more than 30,000 new daily cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The virus however is also rampant in Brazil, raising questions in some quarters about its suitability as a host.
"We were very criticized by some governors and other people because we are announcing this. There is still nothing confirmed. I want to point out very clearly. We are in the middle of the process, but we will not shy away from the demand, if, it is possible to meet," Luiz Eduardo Ramos, chief of staff to the Brazilian presidency, told press early Monday evening.

In the middle of the process. The tournament starts in less than two weeks! Covid-19 cases in Brazil are 2x that of Argentina.

That said, looks like no attendance for the games.

 

[bilby]

Copa America (South American nation's tournament) moved from Covid-19 surging Argentina to Covid-19 surged Brazil.

The tournament was originally planned to be hosted by Argentina. CONMEBOL did not specify why the tournament had been removed from Argentina, but the country is currently suffering from a rise in coronavirus cases, with a seven-day average of more than 30,000 new daily cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The virus however is also rampant in Brazil, raising questions in some quarters about its suitability as a host.
"We were very criticized by some governors and other people because we are announcing this. There is still nothing confirmed. I want to point out very clearly. We are in the middle of the process, but we will not shy away from the demand, if, it is possible to meet," Luiz Eduardo Ramos, chief of staff to the Brazilian presidency, told press early Monday evening.

In the middle of the process. The tournament starts in less than two weeks! Covid-19 cases in Brazil are 2x that of Argentina.

That said, looks like no attendance for the games.

Here in Australia, the annual 'State of Origin' Rugby League (sorry, wrong kind of football) series between New South Wales and Queensland was planned to be the usual three matches, one in a neutral venue, and one in the capital city of each competing state.

The neutral venue this year was planned to be Melbourne's famous cricket ground, but due to a handful of COVID cases in Melbourne, it has been relocated just ten days before the match - much to the disgust of the New South Wales coach, the match will now be played in Townsville, Queensland.

Due to the complete absence of any COVID cases in Australia outside Melbourne, these matches will be played in front of capacity crowds. State of Origin is arguably the largest annual sporting event in Australia.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Naughty naughty. "Top" six teams in EPL face absolutely brutal 30 point deduction and 25 million pound fine per team for the Europe Super League stunt... err... if they do it again. Instead, they'll pay an aggregate fine of 22 million pounds, which I think is about 10 million kg. That amounts to barely even a tap on the wrist.

As a reminder, the ESL was an attempt for rich and mostly non-domestically owned super franchises (and Tottenham Hotspur) (whatever happened to our local Spur's supporter Linimus) to not have to worry about qualifying anymore for the Champions League. Support (as in lack of) for the announced league was so unanimous, you'd swear they polled men about whom wanted to chop off their manhood.

The draconian penalties the EPL squads will not have to pay is a reminder that it is better to do and ask forgiveness than to be respectful.

 

[TSwizzle]

Euro 2020 gets underway on Friday. This will be an interesting tournament, difficult to say who will win but I’m picking Les Bleus or Belgium to be in the final at least.

 

[TSwizzle]

Azzurri turn on the style against Turkey with a 3-0 win. The Italians, notoriously slow starters in tournaments were on fire. Their third goal was a work of art.

 

[TSwizzle]

Tragic stuff in the Denmark Finland game. Erickson collapsed on the field. He’s been getting CPR for about ten minutes.

 

[TSwizzle]

I wonder if this unfortunate incident is vaccine related. I read there was a glut of players getting the vaccine in time for the tournament.