Musings at the Midpoint

Here are my main thoughts on football so far, or at least what little I have seen of it.

The EPL: Though I live in Spain, I seem to watch more of the EPL than anything else. This is largely a result of scheduling -- it so happens that the EPL play games at reasonable hours here in Europe, whereas in Spain the games are so bloody late in the evening (though when you've got a toddler). I've caught some Man City, Man United, Arsenal and Spurs games - all have entertained. The Man City  Man United game was particularly entertaining. Neither team looked like world beaters, but both looked like they could score goals against anyone. Due to current standings, my money's on United for the title. They aren't spectacular now, but I can't see anyone else overtaking them.

La Liga: Barcelona are off to a tremendous start. I watched several games at the start of the season, and watched victories fall into their lap even when they scarcely deserved them. It seems they started believing in that luck, and eventually stopped having to rely on it for wins -- lately, their form has been tremendous.
It gives me no end of pleasure watching Madrid stumble as they have. Though I haven't watched them much this year, I have followed them closely in match reports. Unlike Barca, luck has not been with them much this year.  It appears Jose Mourinho has almost worn out his welcome in Spain - I won't be mourning his departure should it come in the summer.

The Champions League: Keeping with Madrid - theirs was the group to watch, eh? Dortmund was spectacular; Man City was apathetic, and Madrid were well tested.  Great games in that group. Kudos to Celtic for making it through in Barca's group, too. Neat to see them beat my club in that competition -- they deserved it. Chelsea - ha! Unlovable winners last year made for pleasant watching this year in their failure.
The next round has some great games - Madrid v. United being the real one to watch, of course. Though Barca v. Milan will be interesting. I went to their quarter-final game last year and it was great. Marcotti's take on some of the other matchups is worth viewing.
All for now -- hoping for more football and more posts in 2013.
Happy New Year!

The Money League: Group Phase Thoughts

The Champions League 2011-2012 edition has begun. The groups were drawn last week, so it is prediction time:

Group A: Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Manchester City, Napoli

This is the group of death -- Manchester City and Bayern Munich are the most likely to advance. Villareal traded Santi Cazorla over the summer, but kept Rossi. Still, they are weaker and will struggle to get to the knock-out round. Napoli are no pushover, though, and might give Bayern or Man City a run for their money.

Group B: Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor

This is the snooze group. Inter and CSKA advance, methinks.

Group C: Manchester United, Benfica, Basel, Otelul Galati

This is too easy for Man United. Benfica should also advance. Swiss side Basel are familiar faces in the Champions League, but have not yet made it out of the group stage. Otelul Galati are a Romanian side I know nothing about. Good for them for making it this far!

Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb

Such is my loathing for RM that I am hoping for a miracle here in the shape of Ajax or Dinamo. Alas, it is extremely unlikely that either of those will make it through.

Group E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen,Genk

Genk is such a great name for a football club. They will be the whipping boys here. Should be interesting to see who between Valencia and Leverkusen make it through (along side of Chelsea, of course). My hopes are that Valencia can do the job -- they could use the money to keep up with Barca and RM.

Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund

With the crap Arsenal have been playing lately, it is hard to imagine them making it through. Their new signings might just provide the necessary spark, however. I expect some hard fought matches in this group, and it should get very entertaining. Dortmund were incredible last year in the Bundesliga -- they are my tip to win this group.

Group G: FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit, Apoel FC

I bet this will be closely fought group, but I don't expect any of these teams to make it past the first knock out round.

Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen

BATE Borisov play their European games at the Minsk Stadium in Belorussia. I am glad Barca plays them in September, rather in December as the temperature must drop brutally. Good to BATE for making it into the CL - I hope they enjoy the experience. Barca's game against Viktoria Plzen in the Czech Republic should be interesting, but I assume they have both the quality and the depth to get the points from those fixtures. The Milan games should determine who finishes first and second in the group, and they (Milan) are bound to run us close.

Visca el Barca!

Three Things I Like about the Preseason

There are many fans who couldn't give a toss about preseason friendlies. They say they are meaningless and boring. I disagree.

The three things I like most about the preseason are this 1) we get to see debuts 2) we get to see youth players from a team's academy mix it up with first-teamers and 3) we get the occasional anomaly.

I have watched a lot of preseason games this summer and was lucky to be in the stadium for three of them -- USA vs Spain (ok, technically this was not a preseason game, but a friendly -- I'm still counting it), N.E. Revolution vs. Manchester United and FC Barcelona vs Manchester United. In each game I have seen at least something interesting and remarkable.

New signings are always eager to please and it was no different for Ashley Young when he stepped onto the pitch vs. New England. I think United are glad to have him.

Barcelona brought a large number of their youth academy to the US, and a few have left an impression. Thiago, a regular for Barca B, looks the real deal, though as Sid Lowe argues, he has some developing to do. Fontas, brought into the first team along with Thiago fairly recently, looks a great replacement for Puyol.

Real Madrid have signed multiple players to try to cope with and overrun Barca in La Liga this year. Devastating for Barca's other rivals, Espanhol, Jose Maria Callejon could be even more of a pain in the neck for Barca with Madrid. If the Merengues call upon Spurs striker Adebayor again, they will probably have the deepest attacking bench I have ever seen.

As for anomalies, the one that stands out the most would be Mario Balotelli's attempted back heel from eight yards out vs. L.A. Galaxy. Outrageous and a bit disrespectful, even if it is only a friendly.

The upcoming season should be interesting.

N.E. Revolution 1 - 4 Manchester United

Over 50,000 fans turned up on a Wednesday night in remote Gillette Stadium to watch Champions League finalists Manchester United play the local MLS squad, the New England Revolution. All were treated to a fascinating and competitive match. Man U started the game with a strong side that included Nemanja Vidic, Nani, Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and new signing Ashley Young. Young was looking to impress -- he was certainly the most dynamic United player in the first half. Here is how I thought the rest of them did:

Anders Lindegaard: 5
Not much action for the newish Man U keeper. New England's deflected goal was not his fault.
Fabio: 7
Lively throughout. Worked well with Young on his wing.
Jonathan Evans: 6
Didn't have much to do all game with the Revs' toothless attack.
Rafael: 7.5
A bit more adventurous than his brother on the other wing. He had a few good turns and looked dangerous throughout.
Ashley Young: 8
Put in a few good crosses and was willing to take his man on in attack. Solid debut.
Anderson: 6
Created a few opportunities and held possession well.
Michael Carrick: 7
Provided solid protection for the back four whenever the Revs ventured into their territory, and was purposeful in attack.
Nani - 5.5
Didn't create much, but made no errors either.
Dimitar Berbatov - 4
Berba and Rooney were not in sync.
Wayne Rooney - 5
Along with Berba, looked like he'd prefer to still be on vacation.
--
Key Subs:
Park Ji-Sung - 8
Easily cut apart the Revs' subs in the second half. His 1-2 with Giggs at the end was brilliant.
Michael Owen - 7.5
Got a good goal, and put in a decent effort.
Frederico Macheda - 8
Back from loan and eager to please, his goals were very good.
___
Several European teams are doing mini-tours of the US throughout the summer. Manchester United played here, FC Barcelona will play in Washington DC, Real Madrid will play in Philadelphia, Juventus will play at Citi Field in New York. For those of us who are unable to make it to Europe to watch these players in action during the regular season, these mini-tours are great, even if each game is technically a friendly.

The Usual Suspects

Leagues are at or are nearing the half way point and we are starting to get a sense for how things will end up. I've caught a good number of Premiership, La Liga and Bundesliga games. Here are my thoughts on the Usual Suspects for winning those leagues.
The Premiership:
Man U is in first place after displacing a Chelsea side that have recently shown that they can be beat. That is a bit a surprise to me as I thought the Chelsea bench was deep, and the motivation to win was still strong. Drogba's illness (malaria) and Lampard's absence due to injury has cost them dearly. Perhaps they can recover after the New Year?
United's bench is starting to look stronger than I initially thought at the start of the year, with Chicharito helpfully scoring valuable goals, Park putting in some good shifts and even Anderson doing his bit for the team.
Some people at this stage are saying Arsenal could challenge for the top but I am not completely convinced (especially after the tame defeat agains United on Dec 13). Arsenal tend to take on injuries at inopportune times in the season. If they can make it through January and February healthy, I may but more stock in their chances.
La Liga
See the next blog for the Clasico eval, surely 3 key points to determine the winner of the league.
As for the also rans, I too have been impressed with Villareal, and deceived by both Sevilla and Valencia. Neither of the latter can put any kind of good run together, and Sevilla, despite having a good squad on paper, are in a downward spiral.

Bundesliga
Judging by what I have seen of of them so far this season (admittedly only a few games), Munich don't deserve to win anything. Sure they have been hit by injuries to some key players, but this is Munich. More is expected.
Dortmund -- these guys are playing out of their skin, a mix of confidence and style. Hope they can keep it up after the long break, depite losing their Japanese star to the Asia Cup in January.
Hannover ? I just can't believe their good form will continue after break. Let's hope they can keep it up enough to make the UEFA EuroLiga Cup or whatever it is called.