Front Page Story: Spain Rule Europe Again

Spain are the champions of Europe again after beating Italy 4-0 on Sunday. The debate will rage on over the next couple months if Spain is the greatest team ever. I will have more on that over the next couple of weeks. Here is how some papers in Spain covered their win.

Pirlo for Ballon d'Or

The race for European Footballer of the year appears to be a two horse race: Messi and Ronaldo, but maybe there is a third player that deserves a look.

Last season Andrea Pirlo left AC Milan to sign with fellow Italian League superpower Juventus. The move paid off for the Old Lady and Pirlo. During the league season Pirlo was the midfield anchor that helped lead Juve to an undefeated season. That alone should put him near the top of the list for the European player of the year. People have to remember this was not a classic Juve team, which means he had to carry more of the load.

Now Pirlo is leading his beloved Italian national to team to success at Euro 2012. An average Italian team has made the semifinals with Pirlo leading the way. Pirlo has been their best player and his penalty against England will be remembered for years to come.



I know he has no chance but Pirlo should be considered. Anytime a player leads his team to an undefeated league season should be considered for this award.

EURO 2012 Here We Come

With the European Club season ending, its time for soccer fans to shift their attention to Euro 2102. Here are some of the great promos that are running around the world.

Nike's "My Time is Now" ad




ITV (England) has a great ad campaign asking people to dream



ESPN's promo for Euro 2012



Random promo I found on YouTube and its great



Another great promo I found on YouTube, this one takes a look at some of the tournaments great moments

Werder Bremen = Bad Kit

One of the best things about the Champions League Playoff Round is seeing all of the different kits from teams that are not usually on TV.

Sometimes there are great jersey and other times there are terrible one, but of all of the teams I have seen German giants Werder Bremen take the cake for the worst kits. Two shades of green and a lighting blot separating the greens on the front of it, i just do not get it. Usually they have some classic designs and I like them but this one is not up the standards they have set in the past.

Is the Premier League Coming to ESPN3.com?

During halftime of the Netherlands vs. Uruguay World Cup semifinal yesterday, I was looking at the ESPN3.com schedule for soccer during the upcoming months and one thing that I found surprised me. Listed on Aug. 14 at 7:30 a.m. is the Barclays Premier League, there were no teams listed but same type listing was also scheduled for Aug. 21. Last year, ESPN3.com, then ESPN360 was not able to show the games on their Internet network because of an agreement with FSC, but if they worked this out, it would be a great service for fans. With the Barclays Premier League on board, the streaming network now features the German League, Italian League, Spanish League, Dutch League, and Portuguese League. Now that is a network for soccer.

I don't know if this is a misprint or something like that, but bringing the Premier League would be great for people who don't have access to a tv during the game and have to be by a computer. I was wondering if anyone out there had any further information about this.

Get Ready for Everyone to be a Futbol expert

Every four years it happens, I know what your think, ""yes, I know the World Cup happens every four years,'' but that is not what I'm talking about. Every four years, people turn into soccer experts and talk like they know what a holding midfielder is.

As a person that loves the sports, this frustrates the hell out of me. During the last World Cup, I had to listen to people tell me about how great Ronaldinho was and how he might be the best player in the world, well thanks for the god damn news flash.

During the next six weeks, Joey Six Pack, that roots for the Jets, is going to tell me the importance of having quality wide players during the Portugal/Brazil game or that Ronaldo is a good player, ya thanks shit head I knew that cause he won the Champions League with my favorite club, ya they play soccer in between World Cups. I know not many people know that. Maybe some Guido will come up to me and tell me how good Italy is and how they are going to win. While the World Cup is great its hard to deal with this type of stuff.

So if you know nothing about the sport please don't give your two sense to anyone cause maybe you might be talking to someone who actually loves the game between World Cups.

So we now have a Champions League Final

This about some up the Special Ones feeling after eliminating the holders Barcelona today. Saw this on facebook and had to post it. So now we have a final Munich vs. Inter, it should be a great final. I can not wait.

OTWT Champions League Predictions

The business end of the season is here and the Champions League last eight kicks off today. The slate is littered with good match ups including the rematch of the 1999 Final between United and Munich. Here is how the OTWT Scouting Department sees the ties breaking down.

Lyon (France) vs. Bordeaux (France): Lyon has the feeling of a team that is built better for Europe then the league. I know Bordeaux has taken over as the force in France, but for some reason I can not turn my back on Lyon. So Lyon it is.
Bayern Munich (Germany) vs. Manchester United (England): The '99 Final rematch. As a United fans, this is a tie that worries me. Robben and Ribery worry me to no end, but in the end United are the more complete team and therefor head to the semi-finals.
Arsenal (England) vs. Barcelona (Spain): Barca and it will not even be easy. Arsenal are doing what they do best implode at the end of the season.
Inter Milan (Italy) vs. CSKA Moscow (Russia): Inter Milan. CSKA has had a nice run and shown that Russian soccer is nothing to mess with in the coming years. Inter stay on course for the final.

Divers are Wankers.

Divers are Wankers and that sums it up.

Hitler is not happy with Kaka

Kaka turned down Man. City now he must die.

A 100 million pounds is not bad

During the summer the soccer world was held hostage by the on going Ronaldo saga, will he go to the Real Madrid or will he stay at United. Now during the winter transfer window, the soccer world will be held hostage by the possibility of Kaka swapping the red and black of AC Milan for the sky blue of Manchester City.

During the course of the last couple of days, City have offered at least a 100 million pounds for the Brazilian play makers, it appears that AC Milan might be in the position to accept it and that would be the best for the future of the club.

Sure Kaka has lead Milan to a ton of trophies during his time at Milan, but at this point with an aging squad a 100 million pounds would go a long way to rebuilding it. That type of money would allow the board to go and get a proven goal scorer like Villarreal striker Giuesseppi Rossi to team up with Pato up from and that would only cost approximately $20 million.

With Kaka gone, Milan could then recall Yoann Gourcuff from Bordeaux to be the play making midfielder. In addition to the recall Milan could then reinvest some of the Kaka money to be a speedy winger like Ryan Babel from Liverpool. Those are a couple of a number of moves that Milan could make to reduce their age and make this a young attacking team.

Its hard to say good bye to a player like Kaka, but in the long run this might be the best move for Milan and their fans cause a 100 million pounds is a ton of money, especially in these economic times.

OTWT: UEFA Cup predictions

During its history the UEFA Cup has been the red haired step child to the Champions League, but this year in its final year as the UEFA Cup, it has some interesting match-ups in the the Round of 32. There are a couple of former European Cup winners and even some up and coming clubs.

Here is how I see the round going:

• Paris St Germain v Wolfsburg: PSG, the only top flight club in Paris has shown a rebirth this year after a couple of years battling relegation.
  
• FC Copenhagen v Manchester City: Manchester City, the only question is what will the roster look like after the January transfer window.
  
• NEC Nijmegen v Hamburg: Hamburg.
  
• Sampdoria v Metalist Kharkiv: Sampdoria
  
• Braga v Standard Liège: Standard Liege, could be a team that makes a run deep into the knock of rounds.
  
• Aston Villa v CSKA Moscow:Villa, this might be one of the hardest ties to call. I would not be shocked if the former UEFA Cup champions beat the rising English team.
  
• Lech Poznan v Udinese: Udinese
  
• Olympiakos v St Etienne: Olympiakos
  
• Fiorentina v Ajax: Fiorentia
  
• Aalborg v Deportivo de La Coruña: Aalborg
  
• Werder Bremen v Milan: Milan, maybe Golden Balls will make an appearance in the knock out stages.
  
• Bordeaux v Galatasaray: Galatasaray
  
• Dynamo Kiev v Valencia: Valencia
  
• Zenit St Petersburg v Stuttgart: Stuttgart. Zenit look like a team that could care less to be there.
  
• Marseille v FC Twente: Marseille.
  
• Shakhtar Donetsk v Tottenham: Donetsk. I think that Harry will be more concerned with the Premier League rather then the UEFA Cup.
  

The match ups are really not that bad, some are really interesting.

Changing of the Guard

Last year Juventus made their return to Serie A with a team of older veterans. During last season the likes of Nedved, Del Piero, and Camoranesi did the Old Lady pround returning her back to the Champions League. As the season went on the older members of the squad started to slow down and show that the end of their career was coming.

But this year the old guard has been joined by some talented kids coming through the Juventus youth system. Sebastian Giovinco, Claudio Marchisio (pictured above), and Paulo DeCeglie have given the Old Lady some zip. The trio has given the squad a fresh outlook and fresh skills.

During Juventus win over AC Milan on Sunday Marchisio gave a man of the match performance. He was all over the midfield making key passes and providing a joint of speed , that has been needed for the last couple of years. While DeCeglie helped provide width on the wing. Both showed that they will be wearing white and black for a long time.

Giovinco did not appear in the game but clubs from all over have been around Turin trying to get the 21 year old away from Old Lady. Arsenal and West Ham have been two of the most rumored destinations for the talented attacking midfielder. Giovinco oozes attacking talent and would be a great partner for Marchisio in the Juventus midfield for the next generation.

So as the some of the old guard begins to drop a step the next generation of the Old Lady is ready to break through.

I never thought that I would see that

With the growth of the EPL, people in the United States are starting to care about soccer. But that does not explain what I saw at a restaurant in South Jersey a couple of days ago. The wife and I went to this place called Tailgaters, which had really good food, and there were two soccer jerseys hanging on the wall and not you typical Liverpool, Chelski, Arsenal, or United jerseys. On the wall was an Italian league team jersey and a Greece Super League team, yes a Green Super League Team.

Inter Milan, the Italian league team

Panathinaikos FC: the Greek Super League team

It was weird to see a soccer jersey on the walls but a Greek Super League team just blew my mind.

Thoughts from the 2008 Emirates Cup

As the season gets closer teams are wrapping up their preseason training. One of the biggest preseason events is the Emirates Cup. This year the cup featured host Arsenal, Hamburg HSV, Juventus, and Real Madrid over the weekend.

Here are some thoughts about the two day event.

• Hamburg's young mid fielder Jonathan Pitoipa looks like he is going to have a break out year in Germany this year.
• Can we please have names on the back of the shirts, Real Madrid.
• I did not know that Javier Saviola was still at Madrid.
• As a United fan Arsenal scares me the most, it just seems like they have players coming out of everywhere.
• Arsenal's Jack Wilshere, the baby of Wenger's group, reminds me of a young Scholes minus the ginger hair of course.
• Juve's gold road jerseys might be one of the worst looking in all of Europe.
• Theo Walcott might be the most improve player in the EPL this year.
• Despite the loss of Van der Vaart Hamburg is still going to play some attractive soccer.

Mascot Madness: Those Crazy Italians

Serie A is a great league, but it might have one of the worst collections of mascots in the world. Just check out the girl one.

Euro 2008: Team of the Group Stage

With the Euro group stages ended, here is a look at the team of the group stages:

Goalie: Giggi Buffon, Italy
Defenders: Sergio Ramos, Spain
Defenders: Pepe, Portugal
Defenders: Vedran Corluka, Croatia
Defenders: Gio Van Bronkhorst, Dutch
Midfielders: Wesley Sneijder (right), Dutch
Midfielders: Arda Turan, Turkey
Midfielders: Luka Modric, Croatia
Midfielders: Deco, Portugal
Strikers:: David Villa, Spain
Striker: Nihat Kahveci, Turkey

Subs:
Ronaldo, Portugal
Rafeel van der Vaart, Dutch
Orlando Engelaar, Dutch
Lukas Podolski, Germany
Marco Senna, Spain
Roman Pavlyuenko, Russia

The Italians are not happy

In the first game between true international heavy weights in Euro 2008 the Dutch ran ruff shot over an old looking Italian squad 3-0 in the first game for both in Group B yesterday. The Italian press is not happy with the Azzurri's performance.

La Gazzetta dello Sport

La Stampa

Il Tirreno

Il Mattino

EURO 2008 in Beer

While everyone around is debating the outcoming of Euro 2008, the Guardian's Ben McFarland breaks down the important issues surrounding the tournament, which county has the best beer. The next time the tailgating crew goes to a bar, we are going to bring the list of beers with us.

Euro 2008 predictions

It's almost time for Euro 2008 and here are some predictions, England there is no need to look:

Group A:
Czech
Portugal
Switzerland
Turkey
Group winner: Portugal
Runners up: Turkey

Group B
Austria
Croatia
Germany
Poland
Group winner: Germany
Runners up: Croatia

Group C
France
Holland
Italy
Romania
Group winner: Holland
Runner up: France

Group D
Greece
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Group winner: Spain
Runner up: Russia

Quarterfinals
Portugal v. Croatia: Portugal (game of the tournament)
Germany v. Turkey: Germany
Holland v. Russia: Holland
Spain v. France: Spain

Semi-Final
Portugal v. Germany: Portugal
Holland v. Spain: Spain

Final
Spain v. Portugal: Portugal as Ronaldo cements maybe the best year ever by a player by dominating in the Iberian Peninsula Derby