What could be

With talk of Real Madrid and Barca destroying Spanish soccer and leaving for a European Super League, I talk you back to a post I did two years ago on what a European Soccer League would look like. The League would feature 24 teams and could be really interesting. It could work, but I would hate to see the current structure destroyed.

A UEFA Cup Knockout Round game or a Spring Training Game?

Baseball Spring Training means a couple of things, residents of the North can look at sunny Florida and Arizona and be jealous and crazy numbers. Like pitchers and batters wearing numbers in the 50s and 60s.

During yesterdays UEFA Cup round of 32 game between Tottenham Hotspur and Shakhtar Donetsk, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp decided to pay homage to Spring Training and play a squad of players with numbers that soccer players never wear.

The squad

1 Heurelho Gomes
16 Chris Gunter
21 Pascal Chimbonda
6 Tom Huddlestone
11 Gilberto
17 Giovani Dos Santos
12 Wilson Palacios
24 Jamie O'Hara
3 Gareth Bale
18 Fraizer Campbell
80 Jonathan Obika

Substitutes

30 Oscar Jansson, 51 John Bostock, 52 Dean Parrett, 59 Calum Butcher, 67 Adam Smith, 77 Ryan Mason,81 Andros Townsend

Wow there is a 77, 80 (in the starting lineup), 51, 67, and an 81. I don't know if Harry thought he was managing a game in a little warmer climate or just did not care about the UEFA, we all know what the true answer is.

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.

Professional Tailgating: The Final Game

So the Rutgers home season is over and what a roller coaster ride it was. Starting the season by looking like a Sun Belt team and ending the season as one of the hottest teams in all of country. So it all ended on Thursday night with game against Louisville and the Tailgating Crew was there.

Every one's favorite Turk checks in to see if Galatasary won their UEFA Cup on Thursday

Endy in the Outfield is dressed for a Carling Cup Quarterfinal at Millwall, rather then a college football game.

The red shirt freshman are waiting for their chance next season, BJones.

Saying good bye to the Stadium for the final time this season.

Welcome to Hell

If you thought the rivalry between the Cowboys and Eagles was bad just check out the biggest Derby in Turkey: Galatasary v. Fenerbahce. A couple of years ago the English Television show the International Football Factories takes you inside the war between the two sets of firms.

Part I

Part II


Part III


Part IV


Part V


Take that Souness, Rambo


The Stadium is burning

UEFA makes another mistakes

While one of the greatest European Championships just wrapped up, UEFA is doing their best to make sure the next couples are a disaster. The executive committees of soccer’s European governing body have decided to expand the field from 16 to 24 teams by the 2018 event. By doing this UEFA is going to water down the tournament. The things that make the tournament great is that there are no lite weights, every game counts. Most of the games in the tournament are between top 10 teams in the world, which is something that the World Cup can not even say.

By increasing the number of teams it will devalue the group stages. No more groups of death like Group C this years and lesser teams that should not be at the big show will be there, like most notably England.

Part of the joy of tournaments like the Euros and the World Cup is the qualification process, during every major tournament there is a major country that does not qualify and by increasing the teams you are limiting that chance. So please Mr. Frog do not increase the teams.

Stairway to Heaven

Putting your hands on a major trophy is something that all athletes live for but in some sports they hand out of the trophy in a better way then most. In the United States, when a team wins a major trophy like the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals, they roll out a stage on wheels and present the trophy to the captain of the team.

But in Europe, they give out the trophy in a different way, they make the players climb up a stairway to heaven. Traditional in cup tournaments like the FA Cup, Coppa Italia, Champions League, and the Carling Cup the captain leads his team up the steps to meet the president of the association and collect the their trophy and medals.

The best thing about having players climb up the steps to get their trophy is the interaction with fans. During the walk up fans give the players flags of native country, scarfs and hats to show there appreciation for winning the trophy.

It would be great to see Tim Duncan climbing up the steps to the commissioners box to collect the trophy from David Stern.

He is gangly and wins lots of medals

He is long and gangly and he never looks good doing anything, but Portsmouth's Kanu might be one of the most underrated players in the history of English football.

On Saturday, Kanu became one of the few players to get his third FA Cup winners medal. Kanu scored the winner in South Coast side 1-0 winner over Championship side Cardiff.

During his career in Europe, Kanu has won the: Champions League, UEFA Cup, three Eredivisie Championships, two EPL titles, a Community Shield, and three FA Cups. He is the only current Premiership player to have won the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, Premiership, FA Cup and an Olympic Gold Medal. People fail to realize the great career he has had.

Any other player with three winners medal would be treated like a hero, but not the gangly Nigerian. During his years in English football he has dazzled fans with his great touch.

But Kanu biggest contribution might come in a different area. The big Nigerian was one of the first Africans to really call the EPL home. Without Kanu players like Essien, Drogba, Muntari, Utaka, and Mikel might have never been part of the greatest league in the world

Rangers Fans Love their Soccer

Here is the deal of a lifetime: One son for one ticket to the UEFA Cup final between Rangers and Zenit. Now that is a deal that you can not turn down. I wonder how the boys mother feels about the deal or does she even know about it.

Thanks to The Guardian for the photo.

Drama all over the table

People talk about how great the EPL is and that showed this weekend with Chelski beating United late in the second half and UEFA Cup battle between Everton and Aston Villa. Both game featured dramatic turns and decisions.

Few big games live up to their build up but United Cheslski did. Drama all over the park both during the game and after the game. With the win both teams are even on points with United having a double digit lead in goal difference. Two Red Devil wins should see the title returned to the Theatre of Dreams.

The Villa/Everton game was no different with the second half taking all kinds of twist and turns. Three goals in eight minutes is nothing to laugh at. With the draw Everton still have a three point lead on the Villains for that final UEFA Cup place.

Don't blink at any end of the table and you are bound to miss something. From the battle at the top of the table to the battle for the final UEFA Cup spot to the battle to beat the drop to the Fizzy Pop League. The final two weeks of the season should be something to behold.

2008-2009 Dream UEFA Cup Final

I can see the promos now: two classic clubs one trophy as AC Milan battle Liverpool for the 2008-2009 UEFA Cup.

Did you think that I was going to say Champions League?

At this point the two teams meeting at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul (Turkey) in the UEFA Cup finals seem more likely to happen then the two making the group stages of the Champions League.

While both teams have advanced to the knocked out stages of this years Champions League, their qualification for next years Big Ears Cup through the league seems to be in question as Liverpool sit in 5th place behind Everton, while AC Milan sit in 10^th place 10 points behind a qualification place.

The image of Scousers and AC Milan fans cheering their team on as they battle for the second chance vase is a priceless image.

European thoughts

The draws are out and now its prediction time for Europe's two biggest club tournaments.

The Big Ears Cup: The Champions League: all ties are played over two legs

• Celtic v Barcelona: Barca 3-1
  
• Lyon v Manchester United: United 2-1
  
• Schalke 04 v FC Porto: Porto 2-2 advance on away goals
• Liverpool v Internazionale: Liverpool 1-0
• AS Roma v Real Madrid: Roma 2-1
• Arsenal v AC Milan: Arsenal 1-0
• Olympiakos v Chelsea: Chelsea 3-0
• Fenerbahçe v Sevilla: Sevilla 2-0
  

Now for the second chance cup: The UEFA Cup: all ties are played over two legs.

• Aberdeen v Bayern Munich: Munich 4-0
• AEK Athens v Getafe: Getafe 1-0
• Bolton v Atletico Madrid: Atletico 4-0
• Zenit St Petersberg v Villarreal: Zenit St. Petersberg 1-0
• Galatasaray v Bayer Leverkusen: Galatasaray 2-0
• Anderlecht v Bordeaux: Bordeaux 2-1
• SK Brann v Everton: Everton 4-0
• FC Zurich v Hamburg: Hamburg 4-0
• Rangers v Panathinaikos: Rangers 2-0
• PSV Eindhoven v Helsingborgs: PSV 2-0
• Slavia Prague v Tottenham: Spurs 4-0
• Rosenborg v Fiorentina: Fiorentna 3-0
• Sporting v Basle: Sporting 2-2 on away goals
• Werder Bremen v Braga: Werder Bremen 3-0
• Benfica v Nurnberg: Benfica 1-0
• Marseille v Spartak Moscow: Marseille 2-1

Anyone have any thoughts?

Nobody likes the UEFA Cup and there is a reason

While everyone talks about the Champions League starting this week, there was another tournament that started to lesser fan fare The UEFA Cup . While teams like Manchester United, Sporting Lisbon, Arsenal, Chelski, and Liverpool will be fighting it out for the Big Eared Cup. Lesser teams like from country's like Finland, Switzerland, and Ukraine will be joining big teams from England, Italy, Spain and German to battle for the second hand cup.

The biggest reason that people can not stand the UEFA Cups is because people can not pronounce the names of the teams. A look at the first qualifying round leads to getting your tongue tied.

• Aab: Denmark
• Kayseri Erciyesspor: Turkey
• PFC Litex Lovech: Bulgaria
• FC Pacos de Ferreira: Portugal
• FC Bate Borisov: Belarus
• FC Midtjylland: Denmark (logo to the right)
• Anorthosis Famagusta: Cyprus

As you some of the teams in the UEFA you can not even pronounce and FC Midtjylland does not exactly roll of the tongue and who cares if a team from Cyprus gets the tar kicked out of them by a struggling EPL side.