2012-13 Soccer Thread

[ReverendBrewmeister]

First legs of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals are finished. Bundesliga vs. La Liga.

 

Surprising to me, the Germans were not just successful, but completely dominant:

Bayern Munich 4-0 FC Barcelona

Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Real Madrid

 

Looks like an all-German final at Wembley is in the cards. (No singing of "Ten German Bombers", please.) Barca needs a miracle result; Real Madrid needs an improbable one. Both German teams look capable of poaching a lone road goal next week, that would seal the deal.

[TooLiveBrew]

If for nothing aside from being complete jags about the Götze deal, I want very badly to see BVB face off against & take down Bayern. What a complete lack of class from the Bavarians.

[trwi7]

Go Dortmund! Lewandowski is awesome. Dortmund is my Bundesliga team because my last name comes from that area of Germany. Still a better reason than why I chose Chelsea as my EPL team.

[yoshii8]

I've been a huge Bayern fan since I was really young, it was my first jersey I got when I was about 4 years old. Hopefully they finally win it, and aren't considered the Buffalo Bills of the CL. Very happy to have Gotze w/ us next season, although I agree the timing couldn't have been worse. I think Bayern is unstoppable right now, this is the best I've ever seen them play.

 

Nice to see the Bundesliga finally getting the respect it deserves.

[bacon06]

The officiating in the Barca/Bayern game was abysmal. Bayern were by far the better team and deserved to win but that scoreline is a shame. That was probably the worst game I've ever seen Real Madrid play. The Special One must really want out.

[Funketown]

I haven't had much of a chance to watch Bayern this season. But seriously, how good are these guys? 11-0 aggregate in the past two rounds of Champions League vs. Juventus and Barcelona. They're 27-3-1 in league play, with 90-14 goals for/against. They're 5-0-0 in the Pokal, 17-1 for/against.

 

Anybody have any thoughts on where these guys rank in terms of the great teams of the past decade or so? Outside of the hiccup against BATE Borisov, they've been absurdly good.

[kalle8]

in the day in which Juventus won its 29 scudetto, Milan qualifies for the next season Champions League, Inter fell in Napoli.

 

i choose to watch estrada being shelled by the cards.

 

what i did wrong?

[kalle8]

 

Anybody have any thoughts on where these guys rank in terms of the great teams of the past decade or so? Outside of the hiccup against BATE Borisov, they've been absurdly good.

 

second behind Guardiola's Barcelona.

 

three CL finals in 4 years.

defeted by FC Internazionale (i was there!) without Ribery

defeated (penalties) by Chelsea, dominating and missing a penalty.

?

 

great team built with a project and with patience.

[TooLiveBrew]

in the day in which Juventus won its 29 scudetto, Milan qualifies for the next season Champions League, Inter fell in Napoli.

 

i choose to watch estrada being shelled by the cards.

 

what i did wrong?

Man, why do you do this to yourself?!

 

Congrats on Inter qualifying for the CL!

[TooLiveBrew]

Just a reminder for everyone...

 

Saturday, May 25th

1:45p Central Time

Wembley Stadium

Dortmund v. Bayern

 

http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Photo/competitions/Comp_Matches/01/86/23/48/1862348_w2.jpg

 

http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Photo/competitions/Comp_Matches/01/94/01/31/1940131_w2.jpg

 

UEFA CL Final page

Prematch Fact Sheet/Matchup Breakdown feature

 

Wembley stages the first all-German final with FC Bayern München seeking to make up for last year's disappointment at the expense of Borussia Dortmund.

 

[some excerpts]

 

• The clubs' only European fixtures came in the 1997/98 quarter-finals with Dortmund, then defending champions, coming out on top. After a goalless first leg in Munich, Dortmund prevailed 1-0 in the return through Stéphane Chapuisat's 109th-minute goal.
   
  
• The clubs have met in 100 competitive fixtures with 45 wins for Bayern, 26 for Dortmund and 29 draws.
   
  
• Bayern are unbeaten against Dortmund in four meetings in 2012/13, including 1-1 home and away draws in the Bundesliga. On 1 December in Munich, Mario Götze (74) cancelled out a Toni Kroos (67) goal, while in Dortmund on 4 May, Bayern's Mario Gomez (23) wiped out Kevin Grosskreutz's 11th-minute effort in a fixture where Rafinha was sent off.
   
  
• Bayern beat Dortmund 2-1 in the German Super Cup on 12 August – Mario Mandžukić (6) and Thomas Müller (11) scoring before Robert Lewandowski (75) reduced the arrears. Juup Heynckes' men also defeated Dortmund in the German Cup, Arjen Robben (43) hitting the lone goal of their quarter-final on 27 February.
   
  
• In past German Cup final meetings, Bayern beat Dortmund 2-1 in 2008 but Dortmund gained revenge with an emphatic 5-2 victory last season. Shinji Kagawa (3), Mats Hummels (41pen) and Lewandowski (45, 58, 81) struck for Dortmund with Robben (25pen) and Franck Ribéry (75) replying.
   
  
• This is the fourth UEFA Champions League final between teams from the same country. Real Madrid beat Valencia CF in 2000, Milan overcame Juventus in 2003, and Manchester United FC beat Chelsea FC in 2008. Of the three winning teams only United had finished above their final victims in their domestic championship.
   
  
• Klopp has faced Bayern 20 times as coach of 1. FSV Mainz 05 and Dortmund. His record reads W5 D4 L11.
   
  
• As coach of Real Madrid, Heynckes dethroned holders Dortmund during the Spanish club's triumphant 1997/98 UEFA Champions League campaign, winning 2-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals. As a coach in Germany, Heynckes' record against Dortmund is W20 D13 L11.

 

In case you couldn't tell, I'm pumped for this one!

[Funketown]

First world problem: Going to the beach starting Saturday, not sure if 4G coverage will be good enough to stream final outside.

[bacon06]

Coppa Italia Final is on Sunday and it is an all Roman affair. Roma vs. Lazio is always an intense match but as a cup final it should be crazy. Forza Roma!

[TooLiveBrew]

Bump!

 

I did my timezone math wrong in my earlier CL Final preview post. The broadcast today begins at 1p CT, with kickoff scheduled for 1:45p CT.

[trwi7]

Let's go Dortmund!

[TooLiveBrew]

What an outstanding first half! Already feels like this one is going to have a scintillating finish.

[trwi7]

What an outstanding first half! Already feels like this one is going to have a scintillating finish.

 

It did. Just the wrong way.

[Jimbo]

How did Dante NOT get a card on that penalty? He would have been sent off.

[TooLiveBrew]

Great match. It definitely was an even contest, and just came down to one magical moment for Bayern.

[ReverendBrewmeister]

Yes, it's a friendly. And yes, the players from Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich aren't in the squad....

 

But it's 4-1 USA vs. Germany in the 65th minute down in DC. Never would have thought scoreline was possible.

 

And it finishes 4-3 USA. Nice way to go into a WCQ match at Jamaica.

[ewitkows]

It was basically against their C team. All it means is our defense sucks. We'll make the world cup but without a good draw we won't be out of the group stage.

[WV Brew]

So, Jose Morinho is not going to Sampdoria? Anyone can win with Chelsea's money.

[ewitkows]

No they cant. See AVB Big Phil and Avant Grant

[Funketown]

Anybody following AS Monaco? Their stadium holds under 20,000 fans and they were just promoted from Ligue II. Here are their signings so far this summer:

 

Radamel Falcao ~$70 million

James Rodriguez ~$60 million

Joao Moutinho ~$35 million

 

They also brought in an aging Ricardo Carvalho, though he was probably not too expensive.

[TooLiveBrew]

Reminder via pebadger in tonight's IGT:

 

USMNT play a World Cup qualifier in Kingston, Jamaica tonight.

 

8:30p CT

TV: beIN Sport

 

I know no one here would possibly be interested in this, but I wanted to say that if someone wanted to find a decent stream of this game, that someone could check a site called wiziwig[dot]tv. Naturally, no one here will have interest in doing something like that, though.

[Funketown]

Big 3 points on the road. Couldn't stay up to midnight for this ne but sounds like a thriller at the end.

 

Four games in, three on the road including Mexico, and seven points is quite good. A couple of home wins vs the likes of Panama and Jamaica and they'll just about be in.