Shoe Wars: Champions League Style

Around the world shoe companies are battling to grab attention of consumers. One way that they do that is by supplying uniforms to teams and in soccer that is no different. The Champions League Round  of 16 is a who's who of shoe companies.

A breakdown below: 

Paris Saint-Germain vs Chelsea: Nike vs. Adidas

Manchester City vs Barcelona: Nike vs. Nike

Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid: Adidas vs. Nike

Juventus vs Borussia Dortmund: Nike vs. Puma

Schalke 04 vs Real Madrid: Adidas vs. Adidas

Shakhtar Donetsk vs Bayern Munich: Nike vs. Adidas

Arsenal vs Monaco: Puma vs. Nike

Basle vs Porto: Adidas vs. Warrior  

Nike has seven  of the 16 teams including an all Nike game in  Barca vs. Manchester City.  Adidas has six including an all Adidas match up of Schalke vs. Real Madrid. Also this years Round of 16 marks the first time that Warrior has had a club make the knock out round.

Which clubs NFL fans support in the BPL

The first full Sunday of the NFL season is here. To honor that event, the Daily Mail has given NFL fans a guide to which Barclays Premier League team that they should support. Its an interesting list, for Eagles fans out there they said we should pick West Brom. 

NBCSN already have a big impact on EPL ratings

This past weekend kick off the start of the Premier League on NBCSN and it has been a success at least from a ratings point of view. According to Richard Deitsch, the media reporter for Sports Illustrated, NBCSN saw a 67 percent increase in ratings over last years opening weekend, which was broadcast on ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel. That is an amazing number and shows the continued growth of the sport in this country.

Premier League Coverage is No Longer a Joke

For years American fans of the Premier League have had to deal with low budget Fox Soccer Channel, now that has all changed.  Premier League is making inroads into American culture and that is expected to continue as NBC Sports Network takes over coverage of the League in America.

You don't know what got till its gone

For the last decade and a half Fox Soccer has been the voice of the Barclays Premier League in this country and that ended on Sunday. It's going to be sad not to have the EPL on FSC. While FSC has made it's mistakes over the years if it was not for them the EPL would not have the footprint that it has in this country.

I remember the days of the premier league having one match a week on pay per view I remember having to watch the games on my girl friend fathers chipped box and that was less than a decade ago. The one game that I remember from that pay per view era was the game that Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira getting into their tunnel bust up at Highbury. That seems like a lifetime ago at this point.

On the last Sunday of the season, you could watch every game that played. That just seemed like a dream 10 years ago. 

Next year the Premier League will be on NBC Sports.The plan is to show every game on a bunch of devices. So good luck to them next year, but lets not forget what FSC has done for soccer in this country and the impact that they have had on Premier League in this country. Because of them names like Rooney, Terry, Wenger, are as well known as James, Brady and Kane.

The Premier League Fashion Runway

From track suits to baseball caps to suits. The touchline fashion in the Barclays Premier League is something that is up for debate from Wenger's puffy coat to Sir Alex and Harry suits to Jol's track suit. Recently the NY Times took at the fashion in this great story:  Premier League Soccer Coaches Struggle With Fashion. I wish more coaches would wear suits, I understand that weather can be an issue,  but at least try to look professional.

The Arsenal of France

A couple of years ago Arsenal's Arsene Wenger was criticized for playing a team that did not feature an English player.

Well PSG is stating to get like that. During the game Friday against AC Ajaccio, the team located in the French capital had two players from France in their starting 11. There were more players from Brazil, 4, than France. That is just not right.

Boxing Day Drama

Could Boxing Day become the day the Braclays Premier League title race came into focus. This British Tabloid thinks it could be and I hope they are right.

Manchester United Academy Still Tops in England

For all of the talk of Manchester United youth system not producing talent, that is simply not true, according to a report from Sporting Intelligence. According the report, United lead the Premier League in developing talent, yes more than famed youth policy at Arsenal.  According to the report, Barcelona No1 for producing players for clubs in Europe’s elite leagues. Now that is not surprising at all, considering the players that have come out of La Masia over the last decade.

The $pecial One and $ir Alex

It reads like a who's who of managers: Sir Alex, The Special One, and Carlo.  The group heads the  best-paid football managers in the world, list according to a Brazilian sports marketing group.  The interesting thing about the list is some of the out of way clubs that employee these high priced managers, from Anzhi to Guangzhou to Swiss National Team. The list shows the impact that new money is having on the game.

The Premier League is Printing Money

So Burma is one of the poorest countries in the world and they have the money to show Premier League. Around the world, £5.5bn was spent by channels to show the Premier League. Shows how incredible a TV asset it is and how popular it is, even if the quality of the league is down over the last couple of years.

EPL Super Sunday

OTWT All Transfer team

With the transfer windowing now finally shutting around Europe. Here is the OTWT ALL Transfer Team. This team may have cost a ton, but I bet I can could coach them to a league title in any country.

Goalie: Hugo Lloris from Lyon to Tottenham Hotspurs
Defenders: Thiago Silva from AC Milan to PSG
Defender: Jordi Alba from Valencia to Barcelona
Defender:Javier Martineze from Athletic Club to Munich (I know he players in midfield but he has played 22 times in defense last year with Athletic Club)
Defender: Jan Vertonghen from Ajax to Tottenham Hotspur
Midfielder: Marco Reus from M'Gladbach to Dortmond.
Midfielder: Eden Hazard from Lillie to Chelsea
Midfielder: Luka Modric from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid
Midfielder: Alex Witsel from Benfica to Zenit St. Petersburg
Forward: Robin van Persie from Arsenal to Manchester United
Forward: Zlatan Ibrahimovic from AC Milan to PSG

Bench: Lucas Mora from Sao Paulo to PSG, Hulk from Porto to Zenit St. Petersburg, Oscar from Sao Paulo to Chelsea. Gregory van der Wiel from Ajax to PSG.

ESPN Fail

On the front page of ESPN.com around 12:30, the lead story was Arsenal draw with Sunderland. Small problem. The World Wide Leader in sports put a picture of the Championship game between Charlton and Birmingham with the story. How can u get this wrong especially since they have been promoting the season starting so much.

Keep Calm, Win Titles

As the soccer worlds celebrates the new kings of Manchester, just remember this is not the first time that people have questions the future of Manchester United.

When Sir Alex took over in 1986, he said that the club would surpass Liverpool when it came to league titles. People laughed at him and people said it would never be done, fast forward to today and Sir Alex has seen off Liverpool.

Next up people said that Arsenal was passing Sir Alex by after the Invincibles in 2003-2004, that was not the case, Sir Alex saw off their challenge and pushed them aside.

Fast foward to 2003 and people said Fergie and United could not compete with The Special One and Roman's billions at Chelsea. After a couple of years, Sir Alex saw off that challenge and chased a number of managers out of the Premier League.

Today its Manchester City and their billions. Sure Sunday hurt, but lets be honest this United team was not classic and we came with 90 seconds of a title. Just remember Sir Alex has taken on all comers and he is usually the last one standing, which is exactly what is going to happen. 

These kids are valuable

An interesting list of the 30 best young players in the world of soccer, put together by Futebol Finance. Very interesting to see the value of some of the players.

Look out when Aaron Ramsey scores

Aaron Ramsey is in the process of being a good player at Arsenal. Over the last couple of years he has scored some important goals. But some are questioning the timing of his goals. Ramsey in goal link to Whitney death, according to The Sun. Every time he scores a world renounced personality dies.

Fox will continue to grow the game

In September, I wrote how Fox Sports choice to show Barclay's Premier League games on tape delay was a brilliant idea. Two weekends ago, Fox took it the next level by showing Manchester United vs. Arsenal live as a lead into the NFL Conference Championship Games. Sure the rating where not great. According to ESPN, the match was seen by 1.3 million views. 

This week Fox is at it again as they show Manchester United vs. Chelsea on Super Bowl Sunday at 11 a.m. I personally expect the numbers to increase and this to be more of a rating success. I would not be surprised if there was a couple of more Premier League games show on Fox before the end of the year.

Fox has to stay committed to showing top flight soccer over the next couple of years. In October, Fox won the English-language U.S. television rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, outbidding incumbent ESPN and NBC for soccer's showpiece tournament. Fox agreed to pay around $425 million for the two-tournament package, a person familiar with the bidding told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the figure was not made public. It also secured English-language radio rights. If they are going to make these tournaments work they are going to have to continue to show soccer to gain the respect of fans.

Fox should have learned a lesson from doing the BCS Bowl games a couple of years ago. During that time, Fox just did the bowl games and did not do any regular season games. During the  BCS games Fox had people who had no real college experience doing the games and it made for a terrible TV product. They have to stay connected to soccer before these events to ensure fans that they are committed to doing things right.

Super Sunday EPL Style

The defining Sunday of the Season

Fox Soccer has been promoting this Sunday Premier League games as "Epic Sunday,'' for once this is not over hype. The doubleheader of Manchester City vs. Spurs and Manchester United vs. Arsenal will go a long way toward telling us who will be lifting the trophy in May.

A City win in the early game and a Arsenal win in the late game could all but end the title race. If that happens, City would have a 6 point lead over United and an 8 point lead of Spurs. If Spurs and United both win the title race could still have a long way to go, then United would be level with City on points and Spurs would be two points back of the top two.

I can't remember a day of games that has the potential to impact the Premier League title race like this one can. This is shaping up to be a classic day. At the end of the season, we will look back on Jan. 22 as either the day the title race ended or the day it was blown wide open.