The Treble

Rome derby

2010-04-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

Watching the Rome derby.... Lazio have scored early and we've a mess. This better improve soon; I need some footy happiness after the Chelsea loss yesterday to Spurs.

It is exciting to see tight title races in many leagues this season although that might be bad news for the national teams who will get spent players come May.

75 Days

2010-03-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

Only 75 days away. That is both so close and forever away. I want it now but then I am so sad once it is all gone. The anticipation is killing me and I am probably already driving Jenny crazy with my impatience.

Final Thoughts

2008-06-30T22:14:00.000-07:00

So I never really came back to post about the final... needless to say, I was very happy but obviously too stressed and then excited to post during/after the game. But now I've had a day to process it and the best thing about this is the simple fact that the best and most consistent team actually won the tournament. Spain were unbeaten, scored the most goals, played the prettiest footy and came away with the trophy. How cool (and rare) is that? Not only unbeaten but with the top scorer (Villa) and the best player (Xavi) of the tournament. A total sweep for the Spanish.
I'm quite pleased that El Nino scored the winning goal - when he plays for Spain I can love him again as I did when he was back at Atletico Madrid and I almost cried when I saw the shirt that Ramos was wearing in the celebrations - a dedication to Antonio Puerta. Senna became a world star, Casillas was perfect as always, Fabregas became the super sub.... overall I can't say enough good things about this team. And best of all, they are young and will be able to grow stronger from here. Hopefully older teams (hint hint France & Italy) can learn from this success and move towards it.
My only gripe about the final? The King & Queen showed up so we did not get to see the Princess celebrating!

The Final

2008-06-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

The second half is just starting, I've been too tense to type yet, there's been silly yellow cards, blood & a goal from El Nino. That's a good boy.

The Princess & the Chancellor

2008-06-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about this tournament and about the upcoming final in particular are the famous & special guests of the teams in the stands.
Yes we got to see Figo and Zizou and other various ex-players and coaches in the stands during different games but my favorites are 2 women: the Spanish Princess and the German Chancellor.
These two are very passionate about their teams and crack me up every time the camera shows them. It's definitely not just a boys game or a guy thing when you see how much it means to them.
During the Spain v Russia semifinal, the Princess' fist pump after the first goal and the exuberant hug with her husband, the Crown Prince, were shows of pure football joy.
Then you have the German Chancellor who has been texting the players before & after the games, seen cheering in the stands and if unable to make a game, she makes her cabinet members or aides update her via text. Now that's dedication. Maybe even too much in Schweinsteiger's opinion: she reprimanded the player personally when he got himself a red card telling him he 'shouldn't do the same stupid things again.' He stated "When Frau Chancellor says you have to do something you have to do it."
So who will be celebrating come Sunday - the Princess or the Chancellor? While I do hope it's the Princess, it would be entertaining to see Frau Chancellor jumping up & down in football joy too.
Right now, these 2 women are my football heroes.

Spain v Russia

2008-06-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

Wooooo! Come on Spain, make my Thursday a happy one. Even if you are wearing your 'unlucky' yellow jerseys. Apparently this is where I get my dislike of the color and I never knew. Huh. Football teaches us all so much.

(edit)
I've been too caught up in the game to type but now that it's 2-0 I can breathe again.
It's a shame Torres was taken off again... oh well. He can rest up for the final now.
What the hell happened to Russia? This is not the team I remember from the last couple of games. What a shame.

As I was typing the Spanish boys made it 3-0. WOO HOO!

Germany v Spain, eh? Spain are going to win this thing!

Germany v Turkey

2008-06-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

Wooooooooooooooooooooo! Football time!
Anthems have been sung & we have kickoff.

(edit)
It's already 1-1 and it's only 25 minutes or so into the first half. Great game so far, lame move from Lehmann for that Turkey goal (big surprise) and nice goal from Schweinsteiger to tie it up.
But dude! What the hell is that facial hair on that Turkish player... was it Hamit Altintop? Or Ayhan Akman? I'll have to figure this out. Stay tuned...

(edit again)
Ah it was Ayhan. He just bumped heads with Rolfes and now they are both bleeding. Yuck. But not as yuck as that facial hair.

(edit again)
Second half and the Germans just don't have any oomph, pizazz, verve... you get the point. And where oh where is Ballack? Not in this game...

(edit again)
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! The telly is down - all over the world apparently. And Germany scored a second but I don't get to see it, and you don't get to see it.... this SUCKSSSSSSSSSSS.

(edit again)
GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH. Turkey just scored and we didn't get to see it.

(edit again)
The telly comes back in time for me to see the third German goal and it was niiiice. Very nice.
And then we lose pictures again but now it's all over. A horrible way to end such an exciting match - with the live feed coming & going.
But what a game! Germany onto the final and Turkey out.

Thoughts before the semis

2008-06-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

Thank god football is back tomorrow. I was seriously jonesing for some footy. I'll probably be a mess in July.

So, the Euros, not bad, eh?
This is the most entertaining tournament I can remember watching in a long long time. I've seen every minute of every game and have loved every bit of it and might just cry along with the winners/losers on Sunday.

The disappointments:
*Big name strikers: Luca Toni, Titi, Torres, Gomez... sure there are a couple of goals there but none of them are ending up with the golden boot, are they?
*The oldies: Sweden, Italy, France all suffered because of old tired legs.
*The Milan midfield
*Most of the French team. Really, were any of them any good?
*Greece

The pleasant surprises:
*Arshavin
*The whole Russian team
*The Dutch in the group stages
*Villa's hattrick
*Gigi's penalty save

The 'Um, Wow' moments:
*Nuno Gomes's' 'singing' skills
*Luca Toni's 'moustache'
*Torres's dye job
*Low's sending off
*The opening ceremony - best. ceremony. ever.

My ace predictions

2008-06-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

Remember when I said Portugal, Turkey, Netherlands & Italy were going to the semifinals?
Ha! Told you not to listen to me!

So, here is my next lame attempt....
Germany v Turkey = Germany
Russia v Spain = Russia

I hope/wish/want the Spanish to get it together and beat Russia... but that game against Italy took a lot out of them & the defense has been shaky & Russia have great momentum.

The Comedown

2008-06-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

I am not just talking about Italy's exit. I'm talking about 16 days of football and then... NOTHING.
Why am I here? Why did I even get out of bed this morning? There is no point.

I know I am a spoiled pathetic brat.

Does anyone have some youtube footage of the Spanish boys running laps or something?

Spain v Italy

2008-06-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry but I couldn't tear myself away from biting my nails/staring at the telly long enough to blog yet.
It's second half and it's still 0-0. Neither team are playing very well. Italy just had a chance but Casillas saves the day.

There is quite a lot of hair gel on the pitch, isn't there?

(edit)
Seriously, Toni is NOT going to score in this tournament is he?

(edit again)
At this rate, whomever goes on will get resoundingly beaten by the Russians in the semifinal. Nice 'prize' for the winner.
And I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet: Luca Toni's moustache??!!?? NOOOOOOOO.

(edit again)
Wow. Torres out. Really? When it looks like we are heading to extra time? I know the top scorer from La Liga is coming on to replace him but... it's a risky move.

(edit again)
Onto extra time. Big. Surprise.

(edit again)
OK Del Piero. Time to prove me wrong.

(edit again)
Bloody freaking penalties. Of course it ends like this. I hate penalties when Italy is involved. HAAATE.

(edit again)
I couldn't even watch. Spain beat Italy on penalties. For the game that just happened, a deserved outcome. Italy have been poor this tournament and need to go home and sit in the corner and think about what they have done.
Spain need to play a whole lot better than that against Russia if they want to get to the final.

Russians v the Dutch

2008-06-21T12:47:00.001-07:00

The second half just started and hopefully the Dutch have figured out what to do next. Russia had the run of the first half and nowhere seen was the Netherlands that ran riot in the group stage. Russia really should have scored because if the Dutch come out all guns blazing and Russia go down, it will be their fault for not scoring when they had the chance.

The insane amounts of orange shirts in the stadium is almost blinding and yes, once again, we have heard 'Seven Nations Army' from the fans. I have heard it at every game so far. Thanks Roma/Italy! The White Stripes should send you a giftie from the profits they are making on the ringtone.

(edit)
Another last minute equalizer. This time it's Rudd and the orange fans go wild. There was a really interesting moment at the end of regulation time when there was a foul and the ref showed a yellow to a Russian player and it was his second yellow but the assistant ref stopped him and the ref took the yellow back. Very strange but cool that the ref corrected his mistake.
In extra time now, so many chances both way. The Russians look more likely but you never know. At this rate, we could have penalty kicks again! More drama! woo hoo!

(edit again)
Second half of extra time now. You know the Dutch do NOT want to go to penalties. But then again, everyone looks sooooo tired. I'm sure both Spain & Italy are watching this thinking in a Monty Burns way "exxxxxxcellent" because whoever survives is going to be spent.

(edit again)
Woo hoo! Russia scored - nice goal - and everyone goes WILD. Oh except for the Dutch fans. They are chewing their nails off.

(edit again)
Holy crap! Russia just made it 3-1! Arshavin scored. Is he the breakout player of this tournament or what?? Amazing stuff. I can't believe that's it for the Dutch and Russia are onto the semis. Incredible.
I freaking LOVE this game.

Croatia v Turkey

2008-06-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

I have nothing invested in this game. I'm not a supporter of either team, don't care greatly on the outcome, have no favorite players.... so it's nice to just watch it for the football aspect. What a novelty.
I just hope for Drama.

Portugal v Germany

2008-06-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

Woooo hooooo. It's time! Ronaldo v Ballack. No Frings, Löw in the stands and not on the bench but Podolski in. All the usuals for Portugal. I can't wait to see Nuno Gomes belt out the national anthem.

(edit)
Yay! The Guardian's MBM report agress with me:
"European Pop Idol: The anthems arrive and, by God, Nuno Gomes has got a strong voice. Unfortunately he is horribly out of tune and is about 10 seconds behind the rest of the team. He does, however, have nice hair, which should secure him the crucial teenage girl demographic."

(edit again)
Nice goal from Germany, good play, very quick. I didn't expect the Germans to score first. This will be interesting.

(edit again)
Great first half - so excited! Now Portugal have to GO FOR IT in this second half.

(edit again)
Wow wow wow.
Great freaking game. Portugal make it interesting and it's 3-2 in the end. Just wow.

Quarterfinals ahoy!

2008-06-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

So it's down to 8. Here are my guesses at who go through to the semis:
Portugal, Turkey, Netherlands, Italy.
You know me - I am AWFUL at this so if I were you, I'd bet against me.

As I said in last night's post, the main story for me so far is the old v young debate. To be a successful manager you need to figure out the right balance. If Spain can drop Raul then Italy needs to leave Del Piero home (did anyone else notice that the one game we won Ale was on the bench?) and France can say adieu to Titi... you get the point. While on one hand I am sad that the players that made me love Italy are now old and gone (Maldini, Nesta, Totti) I am also so happy to see boys like Aquilani getting their chance.

And while everyone loooooves the Dutch right now (my coworker who has been forced to watch the games with me in our office has declared his support for the Oranje because of their attacking play), if they don't win it in the end, will everyone remember how great they were in 20 years? Or will they just see the Dutch have failed to win a tournament in a billion years???
Here, too, there must be balance. You've got to remember to win games in order to win a tournament. That's the hard part.

Overall, I am more than happy with what I have seen these past 2 weeks and I am already starting to panic at the thought that it is almost over. Seriously, I do NOT want to think about the withdrawal I am going to go through on Monday & Tuesday of next week. This is when I miss the show the most. My love to all of you Treble listeners. *sniff*

End to the group stages

2008-06-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

So this is it. It went by really really fast, didn't it? I can't believe it's time for the quarterfinals already.

And I can't believe Russia move on and not Sweden. Sweden were so outplayed today. Russia deserved it.
If this tournament has taught me anything, it's that the oldies must go. France, Italy, Sweden.... if your squad is depending on a bunch of over 30 players, it's time to move on. Sure it's great to have some veterans with experience but they are old and tired and you better balance that out. Or else you are screwed.
That said, I don't think Russia has a chance against the Dutch.

And then there was little ole Spain. They make 10 changes to their line up and they still beat Greece. Either Spain are the real deal or Greece really suck.
Oh yeah, Greece really suck.

Onto the next stage! Woo hoo!

Death to the Group of Death

2008-06-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

So, my friends, this is the end. Well, it might be for Italy. And maybe France which does brighten me up a bit.
The Dutch technically have nothing to play for but neither did Croatia and they won their game yesterday. That gives me a bit of hope.
Whatever happens, it's our own damn fault. Sure there were offsides galore but we played like crap the first game and couldn't take all our chances the second. Our own damn fault.
*sigh*

(edit)
Lineups: Buffon, Panucci/Grosso/Chiellini/Zambo, Gattuso/De Rossi/Pirlo/Perrotta, Cassano/Toni
Interesting. Cassano from the start and Perrotta & Zambo getting another chance. I'm glad Del Piero is on the bench; let's face it, he's not a starter anymore. He's the super sub.
So will the old legs of Panuc/Zambo be able to handle this? Can Gattuso & De Rossi both avoid red cards? Can Cassano perform?
Ugh. Very. Nervous.

The French, it's the usual. Except for Vieira on the bench. And Thuram. Wow.

(edit again)
Poor Ribery. He looked to be in A LOT of pain. That was awful.

(edit again, much later)
Yay. I can breathe again. Well, we win and are rewarded with a match against Spain. But hey, at least we won. And even better - my Aquilani got a run out & I am sooooo happy about that. With both Gattuso & Pirlo missing the next match (idiots) he'll also get that start. Yay!

Group B last day

2008-06-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Um, how did Gomez NOT score? Seriously?

(edit)
Both coaches just got sent off in the Germany/Austria game. Is that a first for the Euros? Everyone seemed awfully confused.

(edit again)
So the coaches were sent off for "constant bickering". By those standards, Jenny & I should have permanent red cards when near each other.

(edit again)
Damn. Nice goal by Ballack! Our first goal scored from a freekick in this tournament.

(edit again)
Bring on Germany v Portugal! This should be fun.

Craziness for final Group A!

2008-06-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

Um, wow.
I couldn't type while all of THAT was going on. What a comeback for Turkey. I still can barely process it. 2 goals in 2 minutes to tie it and then win it for Turkey. Some awful goalkeeping by Cech. Bless. Those fans wearing the Cech-style head gear must be sad.
And the Turkish keeper must be feeling sad as he's missing the next match. What the hell was he thinking?? Like he was going to get away with knocking someone down in the box when the ball wasn't even around. Idiot. And Baros getting carded on the sidelines. Idiot.

Oh and the Swiss beat the Portugal's b-team. Good for Switzerland.

Greek Goodbye?

2008-06-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

Thank god we got a goal or this game was set to be a snoozer. But Russia scored first and now Greece has no choice but to go for it or they are out of the tournament.
I am not enjoying the organish to Russia's red kits; it looks all wrong to me. Portugal's deep wine is my favorite red of the tournament so far. No need to ask which blue I like.

Sweden v Spain

2008-06-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

Not the excitement from yesterday but still good and we still have some controversy. Spain so should have had a penalty before halftime but that's how it goes (says the Italian fan). *sigh*
At least my Torres scored.

Dear god, as I was writing this Spain just had chance after chance in the box and couldn't get the goal. You couldn't score in a brothel, you couldn't score in a brothel...

And my, those Swedish players just look so...... Swedish, don't they? I'll be so sad when Mellberg retires and I can no longer say (in a very deep voice with force) "OLOF!" every time he appears on my screen. It just won't be the same.

(edit)
Villa Villa Villa!
Yay! 6 points for Spain, 4 goals for David Villa and one for Torres finally. Jenny just made me realise that he dyed his hair gold to match the jersey. What a dork.

Zut Alors!

2008-06-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

The French, they kinda suck, huh?
I mean it will still be a tough game for Italy because it's like a derby and anything can happen. But after our display today and their display today, we should be able to beat them on Tuesday. Too bad our fate is not in our hands and we need help from the Dutch. But it's our fault and I am not being whiney. Let's see if we can even win on Tuesday before I start freaking out over all the possibilities.

Italy Italy Italy

2008-06-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

(edit)
Wow. What a game. I am hugely disappointed but not in the same way I was on Monday. We played so much better but still didn't get a win and I highly doubt we'll go on now. But after that display, I no longer need to be ashamed of my boys and I am grateful for that.

Austria v Poland

2008-06-12T12:10:00.001-07:00

No offense Poland, but Austria really need to score. Apparently any Austrian goalscorer has been offered a lifetime supply of beer by a local brewery and that's just too cool not to happen.

LameMan

2008-06-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it was more the defender's fault than Lehmann but let me have my fun.
Croatia just scored on Germany by the way if you are just catching up.....

(edit)
Ok ok, Lehmann just saved their arses from 2-0 so it was not all that lame.

(edit again)
Lehmann could have done more for that 2nd goal.
What happened to Germany? Where's the sparkle?

(edit again)
Oh Lehmann. You make me so happy sometimes. Schweinstiger just got a straight red and LameMan complained and got himself a yellow. So very typical.
The tournament's first red card!

Return to Group A

2008-06-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit sleepy this morning but the first game is good and keeping my interest. Portugal are currently ahead & greasyhair man (as my boyfriend calls Ronaldo) has scored. I wish he'd get those back bits of his hair cut off. It's very distracting.
And don't you love how Nuno Gomes BELTS out the national anthem every time? He feels it man.
Cech is just as shakey has he has been with Chelsea this past season. That's a shame as I know he's on at least one of my fantasy teams. *sigh*

(edit)
Wow. That's a lot of buttons open on the shirt of the coach for Turkey.
It must have inspired his team - they just scored what's probably the winner in injury time.

(edit again)
So that's the Swiss officially out & Portugal in the next round. Sadness for the host country.

Group D continued

2008-06-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

Nice Ibra goal as much as I hate to say it.
Is it just me or do Greece suck the life out of their games? I am all in favor of strong defenses, I love organized backlines, I like seeing the players think & calculate & plan..... but it doesn't feel that way to me with Greece. It just feels like "don't let them score, don't let them score, don't let them score."
And as I was writing this, there's the second goal for Sweden. Once that Greek defense was broken, there was no way back.

Group D

2008-06-10T09:24:00.001-07:00

Yay! Spain has already scored and made my day better.
I will NOT think of yesterday; today is all about my spanish boys.

(edit)
So, second half, still 2-0, my Torres off, Villa desperately trying to get a hattrick. More power to him.
There hasn't been a hattrick yet as well as no headed goals in the tournament. Interesting.

(edit again)
Hattrick for Villa! Woo hoo!

(edit again)
And now Russia have scored a header.
Dude, I say it, it comes true...... the question is, should I use my power for good or for evil?

(edit again)
4 goals to Spain! Woo hoo! Cesc heads in one for fun after Russia almost scored again. Great game for the Spainish team.

Italy starting line up

2008-06-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

No De Rossi?? Pirlo, Ambrosini & Gattuso? Really?

Half fit Panucci and old creaky Zambo??

(edit)
Game started.... what the hell is up with Holland's light blue socks?
And damn, our all blue outfits are HOTTT.

(edit again)
The Dutch just scored. I'll only say it once : OFFSIDE.

(edit again)
*sigh* Why am I not surprised? We get upset because of the first goal and what happens......
so
very
typical
italian

(edit again)
No changes at halftime? Are you serious?
That all Milan midfield is just a dream, eh? That's how they got to 5th place- by being this fantastic. Let's go ahead and leave those Roma players on the bench. You know, those players that most of Europe was calling the best team in Italy this season.
That seems like a GREAT idea.
*head explodes*

(edit again)
2 subs and those 3 milan midfielders are still there. I can't understand it at all.

(edits again)
Ah, I totally deserved that 3rd goal as I made fun of Gio being too old. It's the italians who are too old and too tired. If we play like this in the next 2 games, we 100% deserve to go home and get tomatoes thrown at us. If we go with the all Milan midfield in the next two games, Donadoni deserves to be sacked. I am disgusted.

Death begins

2008-06-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well, the Group of Death begins.

I'm watching France v Romania now and am already feeling panicked. Nothing too exciting in the game yet; no Titi so it's Anelka up front. It's really the same difference, non?

(edit)
Game over now & 0-0! Italy next.

I think I might throw up.

OH!

2008-06-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot!

The Croatia manager is in a heavy metal band??!!!

Someone please find me pictures.
x

Clean sheets ahoy

2008-06-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

Germany start the tournament as favorites with a 2-0 win. Not too spectacular but expected.
Day 1 & 2 both serve up 1-0 & 2-0 games.
Wow. All the winners so far have also managed clean sheets. Needless to say, I doubt we'll see that tomorrow.

CANT..... WAIT..... FOR..... GAMES.... TOMORROW

Day 2

2008-06-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

Yay! More games!
Yay! No hangover!

Poor Austria. Another host team that tried but fell short. That penalty was a joke.

But here is the lesson from the first three games: no matter how pretty you play, no matter what kind of Stars you have on your team, hard work & taking your chances when they come are what will win these games. That's how you have to play it in the group stages at least.

I'm watching the Germany game now & they just scored. Big surprise. After seeing all the teams in this group does anyone really think that it won't be Germany blowing through to the next stage without breaking a sweat?

Oh and are we surprised that the German and Polish fans have already been in fights? The English are laughing their heads off right now at the fact that for once, they are not the troublemakers.

Continuing thoughts on the first day

2008-06-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

As Matt said in the comments to the last post, Portugal is more than Ronaldo & it was nice to see that. He was an important part of both goals but he didn't score. Too bad for all those Fantasy Footy teams that he was chosen for....

Overall, I was happy with the first day. Tight games but I think that's to be expected for all these first round games of the group stages.
And so far, the atmosphere at the stadiums and the fans are great. I wish I was there.

Opening day

2008-06-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo! I am finally awake enough to be able to type (give me a break, the first game starts for me in the morning & I was drinking last night).

It's halftime and although the first half wasn't spectacular, it didn't put me back to sleep. Watching Frei walk off in tears did break my heart though. Bless.
And Diana texted me as soon as the game started with "Did you see the eyebrows on the Swiss keeper??!! He MUST have had them done!"

Oh, and the opening ceremony.... let's just say when I saw people with giant cube heads, I thought I might still be drunk from the night before.

ESPN adverts for the Euros

2008-06-06T11:25:00.001-07:00

I know on the show we were all dismayed & hard on ESPN when we found out that they were broadcasting the Euros this year. I know, ultimately, this is FANTASTIC for the game that they are showing the whole tournament and I will do my best not to be critical 100% of the time.
And they have got off to a great start; have you seen the amazing commercials they have been running (during the NBA playoffs no less!)?

I did a youtube search and here are the ones so far:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=espn+euro+commercial&search_type=

I have to admit I teared up a bit during one or two of these. Yes, I am a dork.

Top 15 sexiest players at Euro 2008

2008-06-05T17:53:00.000-07:00

Taken from the wonderful Who Ate All The Pies site:

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/2008/06/top_15_sexiest.html

Interesting list... I don't mind the top 3 but I certainly don't agree on all of them - Del Piero? Olaf? BEHRAMI???
Who do you think should be in the list? And who needs to be kicked out?
I look forward to these comments.

From The Fiver

2008-06-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

This made me laugh this morning:

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Dear Sir/Madam, We know that you are among those who do not always respect the rules during sports tournaments and, so far as we are aware, have been banned from stadiums or received some other punishment ... We want you to be able to enjoy this great championship in a festive, fair-minded spirit ... but please be aware that violence will not be tolerated ... we hope that we will meet again in pleasant circumstances. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us" - extracts from the letter sent by the Swiss police to 300 known hooligans today.

General team/squad musings

2008-06-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

I know I didn't included all the squad lists but let's face it, do I even know 75% of the names on Poland's list? Do I really think Austria is going to make it out alive of their group? Do I really know all that much about the Swiss attack or Turkey's defense? And to be honest, I don't see Greece repeating their luck from 2004.

So, onto what I have been thinking...

I think that Germany squad is strong. Every tournament some English friend of mine talks about how the Germans are going to go far and every time I'm like 'nah, no way'. But then they were excellent at the World Cup and that squad has only gotten stronger.

I think Italy have a lot to worry about now that Canna is out. We all know that Materazzi is a red card in waiting and both Panucci & Zambo are past their prime (Italy actually have the oldest squad there! Eeek!). I am officially worried.

But I still don't think France will win it all. They have ridiculously talented individuals but I don't see them working as a cohesive team. Not this time around.

Will Spain ever get a break? This is the best chance in a long time with Torres in form & a tough defense.

Or what about Portugal who almost did it last time? Ronaldo wants to be the star of the tournament but will that unbalance the team spirit?

Host countries rumble?

2008-06-03T21:03:00.002-07:00

So I was watching the Colbert Report and he showed this special postage stamp that Austria issued which does that 3D-ish moving thing when you tilt it back and forth. It has a famous footballer kicking a ball; it is pretty cool.
Anyway, so this kinda ups the standard for the next host country, yes? I mean if Austria can put out this special stamp then the next guy better do something special too.
And do you think the Swiss have done anything like this? Do you think Austria went behind their back and made the special stamp in secret just to one-up Switzerland?? And wouldn't that piss off the Swiss? Do you think they would make an exception to that whole "we're a peaceful country" thing & start some trouble with Austria?
The tourney hasn't even started and maybe we could already have our first case of handbags!! Sweet!!!

Germany squad

2008-06-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Goalkeepers 1 Jens Lehmann 12 Robert Enke 23 René Adler
Defenders 2 Marcell Jansen 3 Arne Friedrich 4 Clemens Fritz 5 Heiko Westermann 16 Philipp Lahm 17 Per Mertesacker 21 Christoph Metzelder
Midfielders 6 Simon Rolfes 7 Bastian Schweinsteiger 8 Torsten Frings 13 Michael Ballack 14 Piotr Trochowski 15 Thomas Hitzlsperger 18 Tim Borowski
Forwards 9 Mario Gómez 10 Oliver Neuville 11 Miroslav Klose 19 David Odonkor 20 Lukas Podolski 22 Kevin Kuranyi

Yay! Lehmann = instant entertainment.

Czech squad

2008-06-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Goalkeepers 1 Petr Čech 16 Jaromír Blažek 23 Daniel Zítka
Defenders 2 Zdeněk Grygera 6 Marek Jankulovski 12 Zdeněk Pospěch 13 Michal Kadlec 21 Tomáš Ujfaluši 22 David Rozehnal
Midfielders 3 Jan Polák 4 Tomáš Galásek 5 Radoslav Kováč 14 David Jarolím 17 Marek Matějovský 18 Tomáš Sivok 19 Rudolf Skácel 20 Jaroslav Plašil
Forwards 7 Libor Sionko 8 Martin Fenin 9 Jan Koller 10 Václav Svěrkoš 11 Stanislav Vlček 15 Milan Baroš

Such a relief that there is NO Nedvěd. Now I do not have to detest this team.

Portugal squad

2008-06-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

Goalkeepers 1 Ricardo 12 Quim 22 Rui Patrício
Defenders 2 Paulo Ferreira 3 Bruno Alves 4 Bosingwa 5 Fernando Meira 13 Miguel 14 Jorge Ribeiro 15 Pepe 16 Ricardo Carvalho
Midfielders 6 Raul Meireles 8 Petit 10 João Moutinho 18 Miguel Veloso 20 Deco
Forwards 7 Cristiano Ronaldo 9 Hugo Almeida 11 Simão 17 Ricardo Quaresma 19 Nani 21 Nuno Gomes 23 Hélder Postiga

So, is Ronaldo gonna be a big game bottler like Titi or what? Will he really be the star of the tourney like everyone is claiming? I am skeptical to say the least.
And what? Postiga is still making this team??

Fantasy footy!

2008-06-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

Come, join the Treble league on the ESPN fantasy football game.

Here's what you need to know:

1: Go to http://euro2008fantasy.soccernet.com/
2: Click on Register and go through the registration and team selection process - it's totally free to play
3: Once you are on your team line-up page click on Mini League and type the following information in the Join A Mini League boxes:
League Name: The Treble's Eurotrash
Password: thetreble

Romania squad

2008-06-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

Goalkeepers 1 Bogdan Lobonţ 12 Marius Popa 23 Eduard Stancioiu
Defenders 2 Cosmin Contra 3 Răzvan Raţ 4 Gabriel Tamaş 5 Cristian Chivu 6 Mirel Rădoi 13 Cristian Sapunaru 14 Sorin Ghionea 15 Dorin Goian 17 Cosmin Moţi 22 Ştefan Radu
Midfielders 7 Florentin Petre 8 Paul Codrea 11 Răzvan Cociş 16 Bănel Nicoliţă 19 Adrian Cristea 20 Nicolae Dică
Forwards 9 Ciprian Marica 10 Adrian Mutu 18 Marius Niculae 21 Daniel Niculae

The dark horses of the group of death. Don't count them out completely. I know they could at least f*ck things up for my azzurri.

Netherlands squad

2008-06-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

Goalkeepers 1 Edwin van der Sar 13 Henk Timmer 16 Maarten Stekelenburg
Defenders 2 André Ooijer 3 Johnny Heitinga 4 Joris Mathijsen 5 Giovanni van Bronckhorst 12 Mario Melchiot 14 Wilfred Bouma 15 Tim de Cler 20 Ibrahim Afellay 21 Khalid Boulahrouz
Midfielders 6 Demy de Zeeuw 8 Orlando Engelaar 10 Wesley Sneijder 11 Arjen Robben 17 Nigel de Jong 23 Rafael van der Vaart
Forwards 7 Robin van Persie 9 Ruud van Nistelrooy 18 Dirk Kuyt 19 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar 22 Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

Babel is already out with injury. Does anyone else find it weird that Gio is still retaining a place in the squad? They look strong but who knows if they can actually even get out of the group.
At least one of Jenny's favorite (name) players is here - Sir Vinegar of Heffelump. Hee hee.

Spain squad

2008-06-02T14:55:00.001-07:00

Goalkeepers 1 Iker Casillas 13 Andrés Palop 23 Pepe Reina
Defenders 2 Raúl Albiol 3 Fernando Navarro 4 Carlos Marchena 5 Carles Puyol 11 Joan Capdevila 15 Sergio Ramos 18 Álvaro Arbeloa 20 Juanito
Midfielders 6 Andrés Iniesta 8 Xavi Hernández 10 Cesc Fàbregas 12 Santi Cazorla 14 Xabi Alonso 19 Marcos Senna 22 Rubén de la Red
Forwards 7 David Villa 9 Fernando Torres 16 Sergio García 17 Daniel Güiza 21 David Silva

Raul gone. I am not as surprised or WTF as I was with Mexes but it still makes me sad. The hotness factor of the whole tourney has just diminished considerably. *sigh*

France squad

2008-06-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

Goalkeepers1 Steve Mandanda16 Sébastien Frey23 Grégory Coupet
Defenders2 Jean-Alain Boumsong3 Eric Abidal5 William Gallas13 Patrice Evra14 François Clerc15 Lilian Thuram17 Sébastien Squillaci19 Willy Sagnol
Midfielders4 Patrick Vieira6 Claude Makelele7 Florent Malouda11 Samir Nasri20 Jérémy Toulalan21 Lassana Diarra22 Franck Ribéry
Forwards8 Nicolas Anelka9 Karim Benzema10 Sidney Govou12 Thierry Henry18 Bafetimbi Gomis

NO MEXES??? WTF!
And like we really expect Titi to do anything after the season he's had. Ha.

Italy squad

2008-06-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

Goalkeepers1 Gianluigi Buffon14 Marco Amelia17 Morgan De Sanctis
Defenders2 Christian Panucci3 Fabio Grosso4 Giorgio Chiellini5 Fabio Cannavaro6 Andrea Barzagli19 Gianluca Zambrotta23 Marco Materazzi
Midfielders8 Gennaro Gattuso10 Daniele De Rossi13 Massimo Ambrosini16 Mauro Camoranesi20 Simone Perrotta21 Andrea Pirlo22 Alberto Aquilani
Forwards7 Alessandro Del Piero9 Luca Toni11 Antonio Di Natale12 Marco Borriello15 Fabio Quagliarella18 Antonio Cassano

So, we all know how I feel about Del Piero... maybe he'll prove me wrong.
I'm quite happy that my De Rossi got the fabled number 10; I think that is sweet. But the talk of Pirlo being our "inspirational" player now that Totti is gone? Not so sweet.

EUROTRASH

2008-06-01T21:37:00.001-07:00

Welcome all.
As promised, here is Eurotrash, The Treble's semi-official blog during tournament. I, Nikki, will be writing the posts & hopefully both Jenny & Diana will join in on the comments as well as all of you. Please play nice in the comments.... well, as nice as we all can be. But don't except much from me when I'm watching all those players that I love to hate.

week 24 & 25 of serie a

2006-03-05T22:03:00.000-08:00

look at that... 2 more games and two more roma wins. ok, so one of them was a lucky win with a questionable penalty in the last minutes against cagliari. it was an exciting game: 7 goals, 2 red cards, 3 yellows... and of course, i can say exciting since we won it in the end. roma didn't play all that great against siena but as i said, luck is on our side as when the siena keeper's bad clearance lands perfectly for a nice mancini chip who celebrates by walking on his hands. what a talented boy. want to see another talented boy? take a look at de rossi's goal. oh how i love my roma boys.

there were other games.... fiorentina beat inter one week but then lose against livorno in a tuscan derby. both games are without a luca toni goal! mmmm luca toni got a haircut and he is so damn hot. too bad he had a penalty shot saved against livorno. lucarelli, on the other hand, scores a penalty & another fine goal in that game.

milan go goal crazy & score 5 against treviso and 4 against reggina while only conceeding one. and much to all of our dismay, that includes a pippo hattrick. ewwww.

there was also this little game called il derby d'italia between inter & juventus. it was a great advert for italian football - lots of chances for both sides, lots of attacking play, lots of derby-esque hard fouls. gigi's hair is pretty awful... he should really talk to ibrahimovic who just shaved his head. nedved is up to his usual tricks: falling down every chance he gets & acting like a bus hit him. and the coaches are both in their roman scarves: manicini in his usual light blue lazio & capello sports a roma red one. very interesting. it's just too bad that in the end, inter couldn't at least grab a point when recoba's freekick hit the bar & no one could score the rebound. all we can hope for is bad shrimp at juve's victory dinner.

week 22 & 23 of serie a

2006-03-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

ah milan, what went wrong? you are playing some boring football, all you can do is draw matches (a 0-0 against lazio & a 1-1 versus sampdoria) which gets you no closer to the b*stardi. are you all just missing your paolo a little too much? i know he's beautiful & inspiring & all that but come on....

or are you just as sickened by the usual nonsense that is juventus. fine, i'll give them the win against ascoli but that farce that was the 1-0 against udinese??! just another 3 points for juve.... nedved diving, the other team going down to 10 men, an offside goal that somehow counts.... *sigh*

inter are keeping pace with two wins - both good games by figo. my luca toni scores (mmmm luca toni) in fiorentina's win over lecce.

but the real news is my roma, continuing to win (two 3-0 wins!), even without strikers (6 goals and no strikers!). the first against livorno gives us 2 totti goals & one from taddei and then the 3-0 against parma gives us 2 mancini goals and one from perrotta. there was some nice team play & some pretty passes for the goals. and it is nice to see team spirit amongst the roma boys... taddei going to hug conti on the sidelines, the dancing after the mancini goals, the slapping each other to celebrate goals... well, it's an interesting celebration to say the least.

week 21 & 22 of la liga

2006-03-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

let's talk about the basque teams starting with a derby between alaves & real sociedad where alaves' cutie aloisi scored in their 3-1 win. at least sociedad won the following week against mallorca. osasuna also had one win (against sevilla) and one loss (against betis). they haven't been able to keep up the form that saw them tied with barca at the beginning of the season but they should be able to secure a spot in europe next season. that would be especially nice as 3 basque teams are fighting relegation: alaves, sociedad & my bilbao. poor bilbao: for every necessary win against teams like getafe there is a loss against someone like fellow strugglers malaga. and you can see why when there was terrible marking against freekicks & malaga score both their goals from these set pieces.

the cuties of valencia manage 4 points from 2 games to try to keep pace for 2nd. supercutie aimar secures the point against zaragoza & then cutie david villa scores one of the goals of the season against deportivo - he looks up from just past the halfway line & sees the keeper off his line so he takes a shot & scores a beauty.

real madrid are the other team fighting for 2nd place & manage 2 wins in these 2 weeks. there's a hard fought win against celta and then a drumming of espanyol. zizou is the star of the later with a great goal, some great moves & a desperate need of a shave.

but it's the other madrid team who was making headlines with their 2 wins. the first was against deportivo in a very entertaining game. maxi had 2 goals and no one went blind from depor's chartreuse kits (i hope). but the bigger win was the one that came against the mighty barcelona at the nou camp. it must have been that torres got his hair cut - the mullet is gone! rejoice! the fauxhawk is back! - or that atletico madrid just happen to be barca's boogey team. either way, it was a great win. my torres scores not just once but twice & the barca defense looks a mess for both of those and the easy tap in by maxi. now, if only they could produce this type of magic against real madrid.... we all know that is torres's real dream.

week 24 & 25 of the epl

2006-03-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

do i really care about anything other than chelsea beating liverpool AGAIN?
nah, not really but i will mention a few things....

like the very enjoyable game that was blackburn v manyoo. this was the classic with rio's header back to his keeper who wasn't there... and then the jackass having the nerve to scream at van der saar as if it was all his fault. i can't say i was all that surprised when he then received 2 yellows in rapid succession & was out of there. *sniggers*
we also had both spurs & the arse losing their london derbies (against fulham & west ham) but then spurs bounced back and won the derby against charlton. it was a great first half by the spurs boys and charlton didn't really even try to get back in it in the second half.
manyoo bounced back from that blackburn disaster with a 4-2 win against fulham. it was another highly entertaining game with lots of back & forth, lots of goals. there was a lovely ronaldo freekick, a nice header by mcbride & park finally scores for manyoo. the best non-footy bit was chris coleman having fits about an offside goal for manyoo & getting sent to the stands. i love managers who get sent to the stands.
we also had titi scoring his 200th goal & shearer scoring his 201st.....

but what i really want to mention is my boys in blue beating the 'champions of europe' once again... ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
champions my ass.
it was nice to see zola in stands enjoying this game but we were all frustrated with the number of not really offside calls that were called against crespo. he did get on the scoresheet but there was a beauty that should have counted that didn't. blegh. and hello, can someone call robben's mummy and tell her he needs to have a time-out??! what was with his tantrum that was worthy of a 5yr. old? almost as funny as the look on stevie g.'s face at the final whistle. ;-)

f.a. cup

2006-02-05T16:48:00.000-08:00

fourth round games
hmmm. whom do we feel worse for? the arse, as cup holders, getting knocked out by bolton? or sunderland, who are having a pitiful season, getting knocked out by lower league brentford?
i'm going with sunderland but they were really nice goals by brentford's campbell so what can you do? the brentford fans went wild at the final whistle - esp. considering it was 1-1 up until the 89th minute - and there was a big happy pitch invasion. ah bless, the magic of the cup.
but you might not want to talk about the "magic" with arsenal right now. or say the b-word. you know, their bogeymen, bolton wanderers. the bolton fans were loving it & i certainly enjoyed their very loud rendition of "same old arsenal, always cheating" and it was a great goal - beautiful pass from gardener for a stelios header.
stupid liverpool manage a win; at least cisse saved off his turdhawk.
the west ham v blackburn game was very entertaining, lots of goals, lots of back & forth. zamora scored twice, and celebrated the second by shooting an arrow. i guess he was on target, eh?
chelsea have to squeeze in a replay after only managing a 1-1 draw against everton. my carlo looked mighty hot in goal but his hotness could not stop mcfadden from scoring. jose was displeased enough to have to stand up and frown at his players. god he's sexy when he does that. and my superfrankie lampard saved the day with a goal... even better, he was shirtless after the final whistle. also of note, glen johnson does exist (and almost gets into a fight with arteta) and i finally figured out the weirdness of robben: he runs with jazz hands. i swear. watch him in the next chelsea game.
manyoo were easy winners against wolves and set up a fantastic 5th round game against liverpool. who says the cup isn't still exciting?

week 23 & 24 of ligue 1

2006-02-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

ajaccio get 4 points from 2 games??!! how the hell did that happen? are we in a parallel universe? because not only did my little corsicans win a game, but they beat marseille! to be fair, marseille were having a stinker of a game but ajaccio were up for it and that's what's important. there were a lot of fans there too... maybe if they show up more often, the players will want to give them a show like this every time. the first goal was a gift of a pass from a marseille defender but all the other defenders did just as badly by not being able to get it back & lucas scores. but more importantly, they are actually playing well. then, marseille manage the equalizer right before halftime & there was always the possibility of that being it for ajaccio's luck but surprise, surprise - it only got better. lucas scores again from a perfect pass & all the players look so happy, so surprised to be back in front. even the keeper is saving shots that on any other day, would have gotten marseille back into the game. marseille's defense were shambolic - as noted when ajaccio score their 3rd from a corner. the fans, too, were wildly happy at the final whistle.
the 0-0 away from home against nancy the following week didn't take the shine off the win - especially as we continued to have luck on our side... nancy had 2 good shouts for penalties that the ref waved away. at least they had a cutie, rudlophe, with rockstar hair... but you also have to feel a little sorry for them when it was announced that 45 youth players were forced to shovel the snow off the pitch before kickoff. it really wasn't their day.
that luck continues against rennes... one of the nancy players got red carded and then their coach got so agitated by that, he got himself red carded to the stands as well. but that didn't calm him down. oh no. he proceeded to jump up and down and continue yelling & screaming at his team from the stands. he at least has one moment of happiness: when nancy manage to score the camera goes straight to a shot of him celebrating wildly in his seat. wouldn't it have been a riot to happen to have the seat next to him?
i also enjoyed the nice captain celebrating his goal (and their win) against psg... yes, he ripped off his shirt. what a good boy. no chance of a repeat as their next game was called off due to snow.
the snow meant that champions lyon also had only one game as their match against monaco was postponed. and the one game they did play was against the team of cuties also known as auxerre & it was a 1-1 draw! anytime lyon drop points, that's good news for everyone else. especially for auxerre who are one of the few teams that are fighting near the top of the table for a champions league spot. auxerre were lucky - carew scored for lyon within the first minute & it was wrongly called offside & then diarra really did make it 1-0 right before the half. but auxerre came out fighting in the 2nd half & it paid off eventually when peggy luyindula (quite possibly the best name in football today) meets a perfect pieroni cross (it must be hard to be that cute and talented) in the 89th minute. you can't say that lyon wasn't trying - when they were 1-0 up, a defender came off and fred came on (no braids but no fro either), which is typical lyon attacking football but it didn't work this time. not even the star shaved into the hair of malouda could give lyon that extra sparkle that they needed.
auxerre followed the draw up with a win at home against rennes. pieroni won a penalty & scored & we all win when a hottie is happy.
marseille's luck didn't get any better after their loss in corsica - 0-0 against sochaux at home isn't making anyone happy, hot or not. sochaux had a surprise 4-0 win against st. etienne the week before. well, not that much of a surprise when st.etienne were down to 10 men within the first half. boys: if you push another to the ground, the ref is probably going to send you off. don't look all that shocked when it happens.
bordeaux are doing their best to stay in the running for a place in europe. 2 games, 2 wins. the first was against a 10 man strasbourg (their keeper lets in the winning goal between his legs... ouch!) and the second was a 1-0 against lens. both teams had their chances & the one goal came from a penalty - scored by our victorian hero darcheville. come on, you know that name is straight from a jane austen book.
the one game that monaco played did not see bobo get a start - both he & di vaio had a severe case of bad shrimp so they missed out on the 1-1 draw against lens. i pray, one day, we will see bobo play an almost full game in his new monaco strip.... for jenny's sake. but those old italian strikers should worry - it was monaco's 18 yr old gakpe who scored - on his debut. my only other concern was for the strange lens fans in sombreos & giant sunglasses.... the winter weather has some of us dreaming....
one last mention... how could we not give our sympathy to the metz keeper who gave up an own goal against lille from a ball that bounced into the net off his ass. worst. luck. evah. too bad it wasn't the other way around - that lille keeper is a bit of a cutie.

week 20 of la liga

2006-01-29T19:46:00.000-08:00

wow, what a weekend. my bilbao come from behind in the basque derby & manage a point and more impressive than that, atletico madrid actually win!
madrid were away to zaragoza who had many of the early chances and just couldn't finish any of them. so it's heartbreak for them when a perfect pass sets up maxi rodriguez to score and then my supermulleted torres scores a penalty. he should have had a second - his goal was called offside even though it looked level. and when i say supermullet, i mean supermullet. he got a haircut & had the sides shaved & everything. it's a disaster.
shall we also call real betis's season so far a disaster? a high flying valencia was the last team they needed to visit & sure enough, 2 goals by the cutie david villa saw yet another loss for betis. villa looked cute even in the bizarrely bright blue & orange away kit.
i think david lopez of osasuna wants a move to valencia... why else would he highlight his hair like he does? unfortunaely the most he could do for his team was a nice shot that hit the bar. his teammate raul garcia did start the scoring but villareal totally dived their way to their first penalty; at least the second actually looked worthy but still....
there was another questionable penalty in the racing santander v sevilla game. the racing boy in question barely touched the sevilla boy and he went down like pippo inzaghi. yikes.
real madrid almost had a scare against a fiesty cadiz. 6000+ travelling supporters pushed cadiz to a great start - including the first goal early in the 2nd half. but madrid bounced back & after 2 goals via freekicks (including a really nice beckham one) all that was left was a great robinho goal. and his little dance celebrations are so much better solo than when ronaldo is his partner.
there was weirdness in the 2-0 barcelona win over alaves. valdez, our jamie parker wannabe, grabbed hold of the ball right on the edge of the box - his body was outside the line, but he kept the ball just barely in/on the line. the ref gave him a yellow card & alavez got a freekick for a foul. why? if the ref really thought that was handling outside the box i would think valdez would have seen red. and if the ref believed all was good & the ball never crossed the line, why did alavez get a freekick? the only thing more confusing was maxi's shiny shiny blond hair contrasted with a gigantic black headband. it's not a look you see all that often.
finally, we have the basque derby. real sociedad are up for this from the whistle and are 2-0 up from nihat before halftime. the second goal was assisted by a lovely backheel by skouba. but athletic bilbao come back from the break after what must have been a great pep talk: 2 goals by aduriz (one a great header) and they are right back in it. too bad that real scoiedad immediately responded with a goal of their own and once again, bilbao are behind. and that third goal, by skouba assisted by nihat (can you tell who were the stars for sociedad?), was a beauty & worthy of a match winner. but somehow, in true derby drama, bilbao don't give up & manage to score the equalizer in injury time. 6 yellow cards, 6 goals, the 2 basque teams show that even if they are both struggling at the wrong end of the table, there's still some fight left in them both.

week 21 of serie a

2006-01-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

roma play their famous 4-6-0 & not only win again this week, but score 4 goals! maybe this is exactly what we needed all along!
well, not really. i would like to have strikers again one day but hey, no complaints here. not when, even without totti, we manage 4 goals away from home (and only 1 conceeded). i do admit that we were also helped this week by that udinese boy, pinzi, being stupid enough to punch cufre within the first 30 minutes & get himself sent off. i know cufre is no saint but at least i haven't seen him throw any punches... lately. mancini was the star with a penalty (won by a great run by chivu!) & a nice goal in the 2nd half (celebrated with a cute little dance & semi-cartwheel). de rossi had a great header & chivu scored the 2nd penalty (won by mancini). taddei had a good game & the denfense looked fairly solid once again. it feels pretty crazy to be able to revel in some solid roma performances.... i vaguely remmeber this warm fuzzy feeling & it's nice to have it back. the only weird thing... why did the celebrations for both de rossi & chivu's goals consist of knocking those boys down with over-enthusiastic slaps?? is that part of the new team spirit? shouldn't it be less ouchy?
the milan game was a snoozearama even though they won 3-0. i refuse to say anything nice about rubentus b*stardi but i will say that the empoli goal against them was a really lovely freekick. figo had a great freekick as well in inter's 3-0 win over palermo. and isn't his hair a billion times better now that it's calm and flat? i wish someone would let palermo's keeper lupatelli know that those "crazy" sideburns are soooo over.
over like luca toni's (mmmm luca toni) dry spell. fiorentina win 2-0 against messina and who scores both goals? yup, the hottest striker in all of italy. and once again, they are both nice goals. i cannot wait until he's at the world cup scoring nice goals for italy. surely his shirt will come off at some point. oh! go over right now to the treble's myspace page to get a link to a great hottie photo (www.myspace.com/thetreble). three guesses who it involves and the first 2 don't count. ;-)

week 23 of the epl

2006-01-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

so what was the most exciting news here? arsenal losing to everton? manyoo beating liverpool? or chelsea being held to a draw at home against charlton?
oh, i know! it has to be sunderland finally winning a game!!! yup, in a vain attempt to claw their way up the table (not a chance in hell), sunderland actually beat west brom on their travels. yes, the goal kinda bounced off the west brom defender but hey, when you are not winning any games, you'll take what you can get. did i mention they really don't have a prayer for beating the drop? bless.
things aren't really going all that well for newcastle either... they really miss the midget don't they? i know that the blackburn goal was technically a 'hand of god' type of goal but that didn't stop the fans booing the players as they walked off the pitch.
i also feel bad for the spurs fans. was it a billion shots on goal for tottenham & villa's keeper managed to keep them all out?? the look on some of the spurs players' faces was priceless: "how the f*ck did that end 0-0"?
if the refs could get the offside call correct, the london derby between chelsea & charlton wouldn't have ended 1-1. crespo was called offside at least 3 times that could have ended in fantastic scoring opportunities and he was clearly level and/or not offside at all. advantage to the attcker people!!! esp when it's already that close! and you know jose cannot be pleased that we end the second game in a row with 10 men.
speaking of sending offs, wow, little fabregas had a bit of a freak out at the end of that arsenal loss to everton. his throttling of cahill even had his captain titi giving him an earful... at least that's a good captainy thing for titi to do. it's too bad he couldn't get his defense to wake up. beattie slid between 2 defenders to score & should have had a second from a very lame fabregas backpass.
the man city defenders were asleep as well - or still high off that manchester derby win - when they let in those 2 goals against bolton. no one was paying any attention to nolan when he scored off a freekick. oh, and missing man borgetti gets a start & gets himself a goal. good for him.
but we all know the real controversy of the weekend was gary neville and his excessive kissing of his, er, badge. yes, that's a disturbing image, but even i, while i shudder, can see the silly here. rio scores the winning goal & neville celebrates a little too much apparently. now, if you have listened to the show at all, you'll know i have very strong feelings about passion in the modern game and how i feel like the football associations/authorities are trying to take all the passion out of the game. yes, i have a personal interest when it comes to hotties not being able to rip their shirts off in celebration but now we've come to this?? don't kiss the badge of the club that means everything to you (in neville's case)? this is getting ridiculous. not as ridiculous as cisse's hair of course. the turdhawk looks slightly fluffy this week. i can not tell if this is better or worse.

week 22 of epl

2006-01-22T16:09:00.000-08:00

ok ok. let me sing the praises of titi first & foremost and then you can't accuse me of being biased against the arse.... well, we still all know i am but even i can admit it when they deserve some praise. and let's face it, titi is a hottie. so a hottie getting a hattrick is totally worth mentioning anytime, no matter what team.
so arsenal v middlesbrough. oh dear. poor boro. it really was all arse attack and when they were 4-0 up at half, i wasn't going to blame the boro boys if they didn't want to come back out of the dressing room. so, besides a fabulous hattrick from titi (his first goal was the prettiest of all 7 goals in the game) there was a nice header from senderos. another high point for gunner fans was ashley cole being subbed on - and let's face it, we can all cheer the addition of a cutie. and speaking of cuties... i definitely noticed that fabregas is actually getting better looking. the chopping off of his spanish mullet helped but he seems the maldini type who will be better looking as he gets older. but back to boro... what the hell was going on? in the first half they were just too timid; they really could have closed the arse midfielders/forwards down & stopped some of the shots they were making. and i can't really blame them for being disspirited by the second half.
sunderland were full of spirit when chelsea came to town & things started with a bang for them when jt (!!!) made a mistake & knocked a ball straight to the opposition and sunderland score first. we all know jose won't tolerate another loss so crespo equalized and then robben had the winner. the only problem was that robben was so happy to score the winner, and save them all from jose's wrath, that he celebrated with the fans and got a second yellow and was off. d'oh.
that's nothing compared to the cards (and handbags) flying during the blackburn v bolton game. it was a nasty derby with lots of rough tackles. nakata had 2 yellows within 30 minutes and bolton were down to 10 men. big sam had to leave his spot in the stands and come to the sidelines to scream his bloody head off for the rest of the game. i'm sure he scared the bolton players into keeping the game at 0-0.
big same fashion watch: white shirt, shortish black tie, long black scarf & long black coat(very jose)
poor spurs. i was really rooting for them to beat liverpool. keane missed the perfect chance at the beginning of the 2 nd half and then stupid kewell scoes with his stupid double ponytails, but really, who cares about kewell's hair when there is the disaster that is cisse. holy crap. and i do mean crap because that's exactly what it looks like on top of cisse's head right now. so very awful.
awful could also be the description we give manyoo's defense.... oh what a derby if you're a city fan, a manyoo hater or even just a neutral. it was everything that blackburn-bolton derby wasn't.
i was slightly worried for city when it was announced that david james had a slight injury problem & there wasn't a substitute keeper on the bench... shades of glen johnson in goal for chelsea came to me. but really, it wasn't city's keeper who was all that busy.
the first goal by sinclair was classic stupidity by the manyoo defense who assumed he was offside and they stopped playing. not that smart. the whole defense switches off again for the vassell goal and suddenly you begin to wonder how bad it will be for manyoo! one look at sir alex's face turning a terrible shade of purple confirms this notion. rooney doesn't help matters by getting a yellow for his usual dissent. will that boy ever learn?
it only gets worse for manyoo in the second half - even with their hardman alan smith coming in. the real trouble starts with ronaldo rolling about on the ground after a tackle & being upset that the foul wasn't called. so what does the genius do? he retaliates with a nasty tackle of his own. and gets a red card. big surprise.
needless to say, the manyoo defense is in a complete shambles by the time robbie fowler comes on & he seals it in injury time. cue fans going absolutely wild, esp the ones hugging pearce. i can only imagine the response of the 43 friends & relatives from cork who came over to see city's ireland in his first manchester derby. bless.

week 19 of la liga

2006-01-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

yes barcelona are still running away with the title but there were still some good games this past week in spain....
including barca getting a bit of a scare against my bilbao. the basque boys didn't show up to just defend - they actually did some attacking of their own from the start and it paid off. llorente scores for bilbao and bless his little heart: with a yell of "bilbao", he's in tears. this is what the game can be about - not fame & fortune but the love of your team. if you haven't noticed by the choice of most of my teams, i am a hopeless romantic. *sniff* anyways, it was a great pass from yeste, one of my fav players in spain, for that goal. but it's not all over for barca. of course not. after that high point, bilbao's luck changed. there was an accidental handball in the box & barca gets a penalty. and once barca score again, bilbao never look likely to get back in the game. they do manage to frustrate barca - a few sets of handbags towards the end of the game - and deco loses it completely & throws a punch at a bilbao player & is red carded. but let's face it, with a bench like barcelona's, are they really going to worry about his replacement for the next outing?
my other underachievers, atletico madrid, also have a mess of a game. but which was worse: the 1-0 defeat against betis or torres' hair? both teams were pretty pathetic: easy to see why this is not a season to remember for either team full of hopefuls.
real madrid, on the other hand, pick things up & win 4-2 against sevilla mainly due to a zizou hattrick. yup, the old man scores his first hattrick for madrid & he should give a lot of thanks to guti who has really stepped into the captain's role with raul out.
the poor spanish internationals have been dropping like flies: in the valencia win over osasuna we see vincente go down & he's out with an ankle injury for a possible 6 weeks! at least that gives him time to get a haircut. and what happened to mista's hair? he used to be a blond surfer boy & now it looks as if he has dyed his hair red. very strange. but not as strange as the grandma in the stands who celebrates the valencia goals by waving around a bright orange dildo. no, seriously. what the hell goes on in that spanish sun???
we should ask that question of the ref in the racing santander v villareal game. he seems to have it in for racing, who to their credit, still managed to win this 1-0. but they were down to 9 men fairly early in the 2nd half after one boy is straight red carded for touching sorin who goes down like a sack of potatoes & then the captain chalks up 2 yellows and he's off. at least villareal go down to 10 men after their sub, font, gets 2 yellows but the problem is that this wasn't that rough of a game. the ref was just card happy. there was some great goalkeeping from racing - he saved the penalty from that sorin red card & i figure out that it's #35, thomas, who was my racing cutie from last week.

week 22 of ligue 1

2006-01-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

ajaccio lose again so i can't really say that i am all that surprised that my little corsicans fired their coach. the problem is that we are not totally hopeless and yet we keep losing. take this match against le mans. we hit the post at least 3 times in the first half alone. we had chances, we were keeping it together at the back but we just couldn't score. and then, in true typical fashion, the other team scores the winner in the dying moments of the game, deep in injury time, with a shot deflected off our own defender. if that just doesn't sum up our season then i don't know what does.
*sigh*
and hello, how much humiliation do we need? why is our poor keeper playing in cotton candy pink?? *cries*
let me distract myself by talking about bobo & his first game with monaco. yes, jenny's new favourite french team gave their new superstar his first start. bobo, the new #36, didn't have a terrible game, he had a few chances, but he didn't exactly light up the match either. oh and monaco lost too. you can't blame that on bobo... their defense was quite a mess for that one goal and it was against bordeaux who is fighting neck & neck with auxerre for the 2nd spot behind lyon.
because, of course, lyon keep on winning. they score 2 past nancy who did have some chances but a team that doesn't finish their few chances against lyon is a team that is going to lose. especially when there are players like fred who are scoring pretty headers for the champions.
fred should watch out because marseille have yet another new bright young thing that everyone is talking about: delfine, a young player from portugal. he's a cutie & he gave a man of the match type of performance against rennes in the 1-0 win at marseille. he was everywhere: saves shots off the line, creating chances for goal (pagis scores off his assist) or almost scoring himself. watch this boy, he has the makings of a star. oh and i don't think i have ever noticed how cute the rennes' keeper is! hottie alert!
i would never call fabien cool of auxerre a hottie but i can attest how fantastic it is that he finally shaved off his hair. he had a balding patch bigger than zizou but then he let the rest grow down to his shoulders. it was pretty horrific. almost as horrific as lens' defense when they gave the ball away for that auxerre goal in the 1-0 win.
and finally, psg try to keep up with the running for the spots in europe with a win against troyes. pauletta scores, as usual, but troyes' ba equalizes and celebrates with some cute hip hop poses before his defense falls asleep & lets psg pass the ball around as if in a training match & it ends as a goal. i don't think there was any dancing in the troyes dressing room after that mess.

week 19 & 20 of serie a

2006-01-22T12:40:00.000-08:00

i can't believe i am celebrating 2 roma wins within a week. i almost forgot what it felt like to be on a winning streak.... and damn! i like it. no, change that, i f*cking love it.
who needs a striker when you have francesco totti?? maybe getting rid of cassano really was what we needed right now... for once, in a very little time, there doesn't seem to be strife at the club. we have a stable manager and we have a team of players that pretty much get along. dare i say it but we actually have some team spirit and it shows.
it shows when all your strikers are broken but you are still winning games. we score 3 past reggina (at home!) but more importantly, for our morale at least, we score one against milan and that's all that was needed.
i am still bitter about the milan win 2 seasons ago at home when we were neck and neck for the title & our bad performance & loss that day essentially ended our title hopes. and it didn't look good to me when this game started... it was all milan attacks from the get go. but then i noticed something weird.... we had a defense for once! mexes & chivu were actually working together (as i always hoped they would - and there is the added bonus that they are both so damn cute). it was 0-0 at the break but i wasn't as nervous as i usually am. although that changed as soon as the second half started and it was all milan again. but our ridiculously cute defense were still going strong. and totti was having a good game (which is why nesta, for old time's sake, got a yellow for fouling his lost love, totti) and then mancini, the forgotten boy, is subbed on & scores. and we hold on! we never do that!! we held on to a 1-0 lead over milan - even after the super-diving pippo is subbed on to win them a penalty - and suddenly, i'm feeling more positive about my roma than i have in a long, long time.
let's enjoy this while it lasts......

oh, other games happened too...
my luca toni (mmmm luca toni) finally breaks out of his scoring slump with 2 in a win against chievo and then another one in a loss against sampdoria. and dammit, he didn't rip off his shirt with happiness! what the hell is wrong with that boy?
lazio could only manage 2 draws (ha ha!), juve b*stardi at least drop a couple points in a draw against chievo, inter keep on winning and milan bounce back after the roma defeat with a win against ascoli.
but honestly, none of that matters when the sun is shining on my roma. :-)

f.a. cup

2006-01-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

there were some great games in the third round of the f.a. cup.
yes, we had some usual big guns taking care of the minnows (bolton knock 3 past watford, robbie fowler knocks 3 past scunthorpe for man city, & a very hot carlo cudicini lets in a goal against huddersfield but chelsea still win it 2-1) but we also have some unexpected results like the 0-0 between burton albion and man yoo. once again, manyoo puts out a second /third team that can't get the job done against a lower league side. there seemed to be no cohesion in the manyoo midfield, no linking up with the strikers. the fans were not pleased & it wasn't just the chant of "fergie fergie sort it out" that lead me to believe that. but burton were entertaining - esp. the mascot confusion. i researched burton and their official mascot is called billy brewer. so why did a girl come out - all made up & carrying a handbag? was billy in drag??
we also had a fantastic 0-0 game between torquay & birmingham city. the birmingham players did not have any confidence and the torquay players looked as if they were having the times of their lives. that alone should be telling - just think of how happy barcelona always look. the attitude speaks volumes.
even though i will pretend that the next game ended 3-1 to luton, i can still admit that it was another cracker. yes, stupid liverpool won it 5-3 but luton town looked to be heading for a shock win after a couple of great goals & scoring a penalty (right after cisse missed one for the reds). the luton fans were havin a ball too - esp. giving stevie g. hell every time he mispassed a ball:"who are ya? who are ya?". at least kewell did not add any fuel to the fire by only sporting one ponytail... i can imagine the luton fans would have laughed him out of the park if he showed up with his double ponytail 'do. and yes, alonso's goal was nice. i like the boy since he's basque.
and then there's poor spurs. i'm sure going 2-0 up against leicester got everyone in the party mood.... and they were some good goals too. it's too bad the players did start partying too early and forgot to defend. and what a great comeback from the leicester players - esp. scoring the winner in injury time. at least the fulham fans can join in spurs' misery after they were knocked out by leyton orient.
and so onto the fourth round.... ooooh, and what do i see? bolton v arsenal? another chance for big sam to defeat the mighty arse? aaah, the magic of the cup. ;-)

week 18 of serie a

2006-01-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

now this is how i like starting the year off - with a roma win. surely that means good luck & happiness for the year for me & my boys..... right? well, i'm allowed to dream.
it wasn't the prettiest win but i'll take it. at least it was a pretty goal by my little doe-eyed aquilani, bless his messy haired heart. (er, not that his heart is hairy. that's just kinda gross to think about.) anyway, as everyone else is broken, or gone (ciao cassano!), totti started up front as our lone striker & i remember why i prefer him as a midfielder. he wouldn't freakin run after any balls. he honestly looked like he couldn't be bothered half the time. not cool. and did anyone else notice one of the treviso players grabbing hold of totti's shirt and as it stretched and stretched (the ref did blow the foul eventually) did you think "wow, i hope that it just gets ripped right off of him?" oh, just me then?
speaking of hotness..... my luca toni (mmmm luca toni) still has not scored! yes, it was his assist for the goal that fiorentina managed against reggina but still, what's up with this slump?? i hope that he gets so excited when he finally does score again that he rips off his..... oh, sorry about that.
i have questions from the juve game: 1. was capello wearing a roma scarf? it was roma colours. 2. does mutu really take himself seriously? 3. why does camoranesi not cut that awful awful ponytail? it's bushier than a horse's tail for f*ckssake. 4. if canna is such a hardman most of the time, why was he falling down like pippo? i don't really need answers to these; i just thought i should put them out there.
milan's defense should be asked some serious questions after letting in 3 at home against parma. maldini must have been pissed, watching from the sidelines. and you know how hot he is when he sits. i wonder if he laughed at nesta's antics as much as i did towards the end of the game. nesta was ushering out a ball, it hadn't quite fully crossed the line for a goalkick, and the parma attacker was right there behind him so nesta got the bright (?) idea of leaning over & blowing on the ball to push it 100% out.
and it worked.
and he got away with it.

welcome to calcio.

weeks 20 & 21 of ligue 1

2006-01-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

oh dear oh dear oh dear.
ajaccio is not having a happy new year. 2 games, 2 losses (2-0 each). let's not talk about it.
monaco, no bobo yet, could only draw at home which won't ease the disappointment of a loss at auxerre in their first game back from the winter break, even though auxerre has been inconsistent as well. my little pieroni started that win on the bench & didn't even get that far in their loss against bordeaux. bordeaux are now ahead of them in the table (2nd while auxerre is 3rd) but i really can't complain. they are the 2 cutest teams in france. either in europe next season works for me. notice i have no title aspirations for them.... as in spain, we all know the eventual winner of the league.
lyon can go down a goal against the once mighty marseille but still come back & win it. they make scoring 4 (past a sorry strasbourg) in their first game back from the break look easy. they have players that exude confidence on the pitch like juninho, wiltord(hattrick hero), govou & coupet while leaving talents like fred & pedretti on the bench. and they have a 14 point lead on their nearest rival. does anyone think they will suddenly lose their way & not win a record 5th title in a row?
oh and back to marseille. at least they still have their french wonder boy, ribery, even though he really should have been sent off against lens. what a strange game. the lens keeper picks up the ball, while it's not in play but outside the box, to prevent a marseille player from taking a quick throw in and the ref red cards him. it was one of the strangest incidents i have seen in awhile. of course all hell breaks lose & the players are all over each other (not in that way! get your minds out of the gutter!) and ribery does some serious pushing & shoving and only gets yellowed. see how far that golden boy rep can get you?

week 18 of la liga

2006-01-11T19:11:00.000-08:00

let me categorically state right now that i deny anything to do with the outbreak of food poisoning at atletico madrid. besides, we all know i heart torres; i would never wish bad shrimp on him! ;-)
but there was more than just upset tummies happening in spanish football this past week....barcelona took the winter champions title with a win in the catalan derby. the pouring rain didn't put a damper on things, esp. when barca keeper valdez prepared with what had to have been a seriously scary amount of hair gel. no, really, his hair didn't move in the driving rain. it looked exactly the same in minute 90 as it did at the start of the game. now that's impressive. but so were the rest of his team. belletti had a cool fake out shot at goal (too bad the 2nd real shot didn't end up in the net - thanks to espanyol's keeper) & eto'o gave us yet another pretty goal. but espanyol weren't too shabby either. de la pena was everywhere, kameni the keeper did well, the goal from tamudo was good and i discovered a new hottie.... i think it was jarque but it's going to require more, er, research.
the racing santander game (at osasuna) also brought some players to my attention.... one for the wrong reason. i give you, in the proud tradition of skunk boy, hedgehog boy, the scorer of racing's goal, antonito. there is no other way to describe his hairstyle. trust me here. luckily, i was distracted by oriol, also of racing, as a new cutie. it's all cuties or hair freaks in spain, isn't it? anyway, the osasuna freekick was a beauty but they couldn't find a winner & are now 4 points behind barca. i at least hope they can hold on to a CL spot for next year but let's face it, unless the whole barca team gets struck by bad shrimp for a whole month, they are winning this league come may.
real madrid certainly can't catch them with 0-0 draws like the one at villareal. yes, at least the defense kept a clean sheet but where was the attacking spark? it was more of a disappointment for villareal that they couldn't score at home against the former galacticos.
the other madrid side, feeling better than they did midweek, could only manage a 0-0 too. as it was a home game, the fans were none too pleased with this outcome, even if it was against a very hot & very good valencia. and we had yet another battle of bad hairs. torres & his long blond locks versus canizares & his bleached blond mullet. ewww.
but the worst hair of the weekend award might have to go to mallorca's jonas. not only is he sporting a harry kewell special (double ponytails) but his are much longer & highlighted. and just like hedgehog boy, he scores. is their super (goal scoring) power in their locks???
and then there's my bilbao. their defense against deportivo shows exactly why they are struggling at the bottom of the table: first goal conceded was an own goal. not just an own goal but one that 2 different bilbao defenders race to push into their own net. second goal conceded was a freekick that bounced right between the keeper's knees and into the net.
need i say more?

weeks 18, 19, 20 & 21 of the epl

2006-01-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

i know, i know. i am totally cheating by doing all of the holiday fixtures in one entry. i accept that criticism. you're right, i am lazy. well, really, it's more like stupidly busy than lazy. i'd like nothing more than to watch footy all day & then write all about it for your entertainment.
so on to the entertaining....
those jealous ones will say that chelsea was far from entertaining in their 4 wins out of 4 over the holidays. i, of course, am not one of them. i was very entertained by being at stamford bridge when frankie scored against fulham. and come on, you must admit, with our ridiculous defensive mistakes that night, that it was an entertaining game. fulham played well and cech had quite a blackout for that mcbride goal. it was a beauty of a goal by crespo for the winner. the west ham game was another cracker; those hammer fans sure don't like frankie. poor dear was booed the whole game. even his nice goal against them didn't stop the boos. imagine that. west ham equalize right from the 2nd half restart - jose can't be pleased with the lack of concentration there. and then crespo is the hero again - is subbed on in the 2nd half & with his 2nd touch, scores. he actually had so many chances that he sort of turned into a villian - he really should have had a hattrick with the number of misses he had. i hope he practices considering we are about to lose drogba to the african cup.
both manyoo & the arse can only manage 2 wins & 2 draws - one of those draws against each other in a good 0-0 game. i love games that can still be entertaining even without goals to prove doubters wrong. it was not as firey as the last encounters but rooney did try his best to get booked by mouthing off whenever he could. roy would be proud.
spurs actually picked up more points with 3 wins & one loss. mido has at least shaved & defoe is the new keane (coming off the bench & scoring great goals). the most entertaining of the wins was the one against newcastle - and i am not saying that because the midget was off by halftime with a broken foot! i do feel bad for him actually (yes, i did say i feel bad for owen) after the horrible treatment he got from the liverpool fans during the newcastle visit on boxing day. the meanies booed owen's every touch. it's not like he left with harsh words, hating the reds.... come on people, he begged to come back. and these fans cheer every f*cking breathe their precious stevie g takes when he spent the whole summer almost leaving them for chelsea??? that tells me all i need to know about liverpool fans right there. anyway, they won that game, pretty easily, and i had to laugh when a crouch goal was given as an own goal yet again. poor guy. *sniggers* oh and what the hell is going on with cisse's hair??? the colour is all patchy. it looks very wrong. at least their winning streak was stopped by bolton. bolton looked good and in my unbiased opinion (ha!) they deserved the win. and damn! how dirty could those liverpool players be??? just some awful awful tackles and little nudges and dives for freekicks..... they sure showed their ugly face when they had an actual scrap of a game. well, i've only ever thought it was the spanish boys who were the cuties of the team.....
big sam fashion watch: black & white stripey shirt with a too short solid black tie. hmmm. who ate all the christmas pies?
other entertaining games from the holidays:
the wigan v man city shoot out was great fun. not the best defensive display in the world but good back & forth. man city had an awful christmas with 3 losses and only one draw from this period. wigan won 2, lost 2 but are still in the top 6.
everton did the same - 2 & 2 - and unfortunatelky one of those losses was a 4-0 drumming by aston villa. villa looked better than they have in quite some time... even if they got lucky with a handball by baros to get the ball rolling. so to speak. villa will have to be pleased with a 0-0 against arsenal & then a goos win at west brom. they had tons of chances in that game, they just need to have some better finishing and they'll be fighting for europe rather than relegation in no time.
and while we are dreaming, if only spurs could finish ahead of the arse at the end of the season....

happy new year

2006-01-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

happy world cup year one & all. i know i'm already behind in my entries, but hey, i've been overdosing on holiday cheer & too much footy from the sofa during the break. oh and then there was that little trip to london so i could enjoy some games live.... so what do you really expect from me??? i'm being good.... *grumbles* only because my new "manager" thinks he's the boss of me & can tell me what to do. i guess i do need someone to manage this life of mine....
if you want to hear all about the fun jenny & i had at the chelsea v fulham game on boxing day & the qpr v cardiff city match on 28 dec, go to the treble website (www.thetrebletalk.com) and listen to 01/03/06 show archive. it's a riot. i promise. x

happy holidays

2005-12-23T23:48:00.000-08:00

dear listeners/readers,
whatever it is that you celebrate, please do it safely. have a happy new year's eve & enjoy your hangovers with some footy.
cheers to everyone,
nikki
x

week 16 & 17 of la liga

2005-12-23T23:17:00.000-08:00

why did you ruin it athletic bilbao? we had he chance to go into the winter break with 2 wins & a glimmer of hope...... we actually won a rather convincing 2-0 game against a poor real betis, playing the best football i've seen of bilbao this season & then we go up 2-0 against real zaragoza....... and then we end up losing that game 3-2. *sigh* i understand why we have been at the bottom of the table for most of the season. but wait! there is a positive here! we are officially OUT of the relegation zone! 17th in the league! woo hoo!
at the other end, valencia has risen to 3rd after 2 more wins. the first was a 1-0 against alaves & the scorer, albiol, seems to be playing for valencia.... and yet he doesn't have highlights in his hair! i hope the other boys take care of this over the break....
osasuna are still enjoying the number 2 spot. they go down to 10 men at real madrid but still manage to score first. too bad madid equalized. they did win against the other madrid team. atletico madrid are edging closer and closer to bilbao's position rather than real madrid's although they are slipping as well. madrid are still in the top 5 (barely) even after only a point in these last two games. after scraping a win at home against osasuna they lose to racing santander. overall, it doesn't seem like it will be a very happy christmas for any fan in madrid.
cue cheers all around in barcelona. 2 more wins, eto'o is the top scorer in the league, ronaldinho is the world/european/planet earth/milky way galaxy player of the year, messi is the new wonderkid...... yup, a very happy christmas & lots of new year's parties for the catalans.

week 19 of ligue 1

2005-12-23T22:10:00.000-08:00

lyon lose. yes, you read that correctly, the mighty lyon finally lost a game. the lyon fans didn't seem to enjoy a great performance from lille. things weren't going too well with lyon: cris was screaming at his defense, carew was yellowed for a dive, fred got rid of his 'fro & braided his hair all rio ferdinand style. and that's not cool. lille's #17 (makoun), on the other hand, has cute sticky-uppy hair. govou (who has not-so-cute sticky-uppy hair) does manage to score a lovely goal for lyon but that's about all they can do. they even feel extra hard done-by when they score & it's called back for a non-existent foul on the lille keeper.
the cuties at auxerre lose at home to nancy to a penalty. the boy (zerka) who takes it & scores then celebrates by brandishing a zorro-like 'z' in the air. *cough*dork*cough*
another interesting goal celebration over at rennes for st. etienne. the vistors win 1-0 and there are cheerleading hurkeys all around.
and then there is my personal fav goal celebration, the shirt removal. yes, we see less & less of it, but it has been the boys in the french league who have been ignoring the stupid yellow card punishment & go for it anyways. (i heartily approve.) so this boy at lens decides to take off his shirt & has another jersey underneath it. the exact same jersey. and he STILL gets a yellow! c'est ridicule! at least lens won 2-0.
oh! and the best news is that ajaccio actually score a goal!!! the little corsicans don't win the game but hey, it's our first goal since october 16th and i'll take what i can get right now. a point against psg seems like a good way to go into the winter break. they can refresh & come back next year & climb out of that relegation zone. *fingers crossed*

week 16 & 17 of serie a

2005-12-21T13:29:00.000-08:00

thank you oh thank you la befana (the italian christmas time good witch who brings the gifties). you brought me 4 points in 2 games for my roma and i can breathe easier during our winter break. i was not pleased with the draw against sampdoria but hey, what do you expect when you play a 4-6-0. no, seriously. we don't have any fit strikers. totti was it & he scored the only goal in the game. and then, something happened at home that doesn't normally happen.... we f*cking won a game! 4-0!!!! ok, it was alot of luck, a dubious penalty, and a sending off for chievo early in the 2nd half that helped us, but still - 4-0!!! 2 more from totti (watch out luca toni - totti now has 9), and one each from perrotta & taddei. nice. i think i am actually feeling positive about roma!
fiorentina pick up 4 points as well..... and my toni still hasn't scored! he hits the post like crazy (see game against empoli where pazzani scored off the rebound) and he's had some poor finishing (see shots against palermo) but he can't get that goal #17. maybe he just needs this winter break to recharge. and you know what would be really good for him? a nice sunny break in sunny los angeles. he could come to the beach and play footy in the sand. mmmmm luca toni on the beach.
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oh, ok. i'm back.
we all don't give a flying f*ck what the rubentus b*stardi are doing... at least the dropped points against the nazio b*stardi. i hope la befana brings di canio a truck load of bad shrimp for christmas.
the milan teams are determine to prove to us that they are still in the running for the title.
milan scored 4 past a pretty sorry messina and that was without maldini & nesta. sheva is scoring goals again and even gilardino can score when he is not too busy diving. those are the two who scored in the 3-0 win at livorno. what about poor bobo? well, at least he is having fun on the sidelines. *sniggers*
inter have their scoring boots on as well. a 4-0 against reggina followed up by a 4-1 over empoli. adriano is getting back in form (well, he's never been out of form in one sense but we won't digress) & then inter has subs that actually can come into a game and score (hello cruz & martins). makes ya wonder why they let bobo go to the other team in milan.

week 17 of the epl

2005-12-21T12:47:00.000-08:00

all i want for christmas.... oh wait, i already got it. the double over the arse.
it wasn't pretty, we were lucky & they weren't, but hey, that's what being champions is all about. you have luck on your side. and you have talents like robben & joey cole. i honestly can't say enough good things about joey now. 2 years ago i couldn't stand him at all, thought he was nothing more than a show pony. but he really has worked hard & has become a great footballer. and i'm impressed. as long as we never see nor speak of that hairstyle he had awhile back.....
*shudders*
is it my imagination or is tottenham always involved in comebacks? at least this time it was in their favour again... well, they managed not to lose.
everton, however, did lose, again, and a 4-0 loss is not what the fans want to see right now. everton wasn't even playing that badly but their defense went to sleep for 5 minutes in the second half and bolton scored three goals. ouch.
but let's face it, they aren't even as pitiful as birmingham are right now. they went three goals down in the first half and if you didn't know the score and started watching from the second half kickoff, you would have never known. they had no spark, no desire, no nothing. 3-0 at half is not impossible, not by a long shot. go ask spurs, man city, inter. and it didn't help when the keeper got sent off because he handled outside the box..... d'oh.
and i can't forget to mention that the midget scored a hattrick.... yay midget! (that's for jt)
it does always surprise me when short little strikers manage to score off headers in the box. but good for him. i guess he got the bad shrimp out of his system. ;-)

european cup draws

2005-12-20T15:57:00.000-08:00

just a quick note on the european ties that we will be seeing in the coming months..... i hate to be ultra-cheesy but let's face it, there are some crackers here!
of course, the biggest & best of the bunch is the barca v chelsea tie. i also hate sounding like some kind of conspiracy nut but come on!! do we not find this even a teensy bit suspicious? how many anti-chelsea rants does uefa/fifa have to make for the rest of us to get their point? ok ok. you don't like chelsea. get the hell over it! i know i am slightly biased here (i can hear you now "slightly??!!??") but only the craziest of chelsea haters are not going to admit there are some big & more important problems facing modern football today than chelsea. i'd like to see fifa/uefa clean up the racism & sexism in the game and properly train all refs across the globe in the same stadard and then, if they have time, they can go back to chattering about chelsea. boo f*cking boo hoo.
*ahem*
back to the point.... the barca/chelsea games are going to be great. end of.
i'm pleased that lyon got a hopefully winable clash against psv; i really want the french boys to go all the way this year.
real madrid v arsenal should be fun. i would never write off madrid - no matter what kind of crisis they are going through. they still have the likes of zizou, ronaldo, robinho & casillas. and those boys alone should make titi & his oh la la boys quake in their continental boots.
juve and inter will be dissapointed if they do not win their ties against bremen & ajax. milan, on the other hand, will have quite a test against bayern. i hope the old folks home that is their defense can pull it together & sheva has one of his spectacular days. or maybe bobo can be the hero. ahahahahahahahahaha. *wipes tears from eyes*
rangers v villareal seems pretty well matched and i wouldn't take bets on who comes out of that on top.
and then there is the team that doesn't even deserve to be there in the first place so let's give them an easy ride to boost their already inflated egos liverpool. who are up against the mighty benfica. consider me a benfica supporter from now until my birthday (9 march, since you ask, and i just adore presents sent to the studio). in case you didn't know, the ties are 21/22 february & 7/8 march of 2006.

what i really want for my birthday is a win for roma against club brugge in the uefa cup. make that two wins, home and away, and then 2 more against the winner of stuttgart v middlesbrough match. come on roma, i know you are capable of this. we have the talent, the passion, the will. please just let it all come together at the same time for once. that's not too much to ask for, is it? i'd really enjoy that kind of extra special birthday giftie.
oh, and there are other games.....
the bolton v marseille match-up looks tasty as does the udinese v lens. we also have basel v monaco, lokomotiv moskva v sevilla, schalke v espanyol....... dare i say it but the uefa cup actually looks interesting!

week 15 & 16 of epl

2005-12-13T14:46:00.000-08:00

who would have predicted 2 losses for arsenal in these 2 weeks? i mean, yes, of course, i dream of weeks like this.... but damn. things not looking too great for a certain team in north london.
and i don't mean spurs who have 2 hard fought wins in these past 2 weeks. a 3-2 win against sunderland (nice carrick goal and even better sunderland freekick) and then a 3-1 win over portsmouth (ha ha). mido shaved for that game although he still needs a haircut. and oh. my. god. that stupid bell again! the pompey fan is an away game traveller! arrrghh!
chelsea win twice, each thanks to a jt header. i heart our captain.
liverpool, i hate to say, are still scoring goals & not conceeding any.... b*astards. at least there are hotties involved - it's always nice when either luis garcia or moro scores and they hug each other (see both the wigan game & against boro). and of course, the big news (hahaha, i'm soo funny) is that crouch finally scores - twice against wigan. i'm sorry but that was not an own goal. i give that to crouch.
manyoo wins against pompey but can only draw against everton. oh dear. do i hear the knives sharpening for sir alex?
and then there's the arse. oh dear oh dear oh dear. *sniggers*
first a pretty gutless display against bolton sees them go down 2-0 and then some bad luck/calls sees a 1-0 defeat at newcastle. where's titi's sparkle? maybe his head is already in spain....... oh and lehman is such a jerk. the biggest one on the team. and that's saying a lot!

week 14 & 15 of serie a

2005-12-13T14:30:00.000-08:00

oh my. my luca toni (mmmmm luca toni) has now gone 2 games & no goals!!! it's his mini-slump! first, there was the game against the rubentusbastardi. poor toni almost scores.... everyone thought it was going in and it came off the post instead. damn. the fiorentina fans were having fun: there was a nice display of a giant yellow sun against a purple background, there were the chants of "juve juve vaffanculo", and then the flipping off of the juve supporters (they have supporters that actually go the games??). juve score, fiore equalized but then stupid camoranesi has to score the winner & celebrate with a stupid fake guitar solo. he only wishes he was as cool as a rockstar. as if. *snorts*
at least fiorentina won the next week but more bad news for luca toni (mmmmm luca toni). la viola get a penalty & toni's spotkick is saved! at least fiore had a nice header to win it.
oh roma roma roma. do i have tears left to cry? first we go up 2-0 against lecce and it looks like we could win a game! but no, we aren't playing that well even though cassano has a lovely chip for the opening goal. there's a handball in the box that should have been called for a penalty for us but that doesn't excuse our messy defense letting in the first goal. lecce's second, from a penalty that wasn't, doesn't even look like it's the end of it but somehow, we manage a draw. poor spalletti is having fits on the sidelines. it doesn't get any better for him the next week when we lose at home to palermo. the marking on the set pieces is craptastic and yet another cassano goal cannot save us. at least totti's haircut still looks hot.
so onto the milan clubs. one has lost 2 games, the other has won 2 games. can you guess which?
surprisingly enough, it ac milan who has lost 2 in a row. once to chievo and then once to their city rivals. inter, on the other hand, fought for a 1-0 against ascoli to prepare for the milan derby.
and what a derby it was! quite entertaining actually. as long as you are not a milan fan i suppose. sheva was the captain as maldini was sidelined (looking hot, i might say) & the inter fans (it was their "home" game) were really up for it. the kalaze/martins battle drew blood in the first few minutes (kalaze's face) and then martins causes trouble in the box & nesta goes down, gets a yellow and inter get a penalty kick! poor nesta looks confused. oh wait, that's his usual look.
anyway, milan get a penalty too (handball in box off a freekick) and we are all square. but dida, who usually never makes these kinds of mistakes, fumbles a freekick in the second half & martins scores the rebound. it's all quite back and forth action - stam scores a milan equalizer but it never looks finished and then adriano pops up in injury time, on a corner. that milan marking is simply not there and inter have their winner. the place goes WILD - adriano rips off his shirt (damn him for having a shirt on underneath) & mancini is jumping around like he won the scudetto. bless.

week 17 & 18 of ligue 1

2005-12-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

oh la la. 2 more games & two more losses for my little ajaccio. it seems like i say that every week. both of these were 1-0 so it would make all the difference in the world if we could just FREAKING SCORE A GOAL.
*ahem*
to be fair, we did score against troyes but it was unfairly called back. our finishing sucks- as witnessed here and against nice. we had a handful of fans who even travelled to that game. bless. at least we had some actual shots on goal for once. but that still doesn't change the fact that this was our 8th loss in a row.
losing is something lyon does not do. first they score twice against psg who never looked to be in the game. carew had a lovely goal, as did fred. but the next week, they are actually held to a draw at st. etienne. the fans for les verts were bouncy as usual & the shirtless gang was out in force even though it was obviously freezing. those are some tough boys. or they are drinking something special before/during the game. janot makes an excellent save from a juninho freekick & coupet makes an excellent save towards the end as well, so this ends 0-0.
the week before st. etienne lost to lens. perrin's goal for st. etienne was a cracker; he's quite a cutie and he's a born & bred st. etienne boy. bless. i don't think i have ever noticed how cute the lens keeper is either.
psg picked themselves up after the lyon game & won easily against rennes. 2 pauletta goals does the trick.
my auxerre are still up & down. they lose 1-0 against marseille but crushed nantes 4-0 the week before. my pieroni scores & it looks like he has had a recent haircut.... ah, even cuter than normal.
and finally, monaco take 4 points in 2 games to bounce back after the loss against marseille. modesto, the cutie, scores against le mans and almost manages to make it 2 in 2 games at nantes. it was so cold there that the boys on the bench were huddled under a blanket! they probably wanted to pull it over their heads when they saw adebayor have his penalty kick, and therefore the potential game winner, saved by the nantes keeper. ouch.

week 14 & 15 of la liga

2005-12-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

i guess i should be pleased that my athletic bilbao has managed 2 points in 2 games..... while atletico madrid's same tally is just pitiful. the two met each other in week 14 & i am at least pleased that bilbao had plenty of chances... if only they could could score. it was a nice kezman goal for madrid; the bilbao defense was totally caught out. bilbao at least kept fighting & grabbed a goal in the dying seconds. that was after the drama in the box... not the usual kind either. this was a flare/firecracker thrown into the goal while a corner was happening - 2 players go down from the bang. it was quite scary but everyone was ok. which is more than i can say about madrid away kits: bright yellow & black is not a good look and it makes no sense with their normal colours. but really, is it as bad as yeste's hair? his tail is worse than vincente's!
madird then have another 1-1 with alavez. damn. have i never paid attention to alavez before?? the keeper is a hottie! but that didn't help him save a lovely torres goal. it's too bad that the madrid defense can't ever hold on to a lead and it ends all square. at least the madrid boys looked cute in their matching blue gloves & shorts. bless.
bilbao gave us an entertaining 1-1 draw with valencia the following week. they actually go ahead first - the surfer boys were a defensive mess for the freekick taken. but that was the high point for bilbao. tarantino is red-carded and they spend the rest of the game chasing valencia. it was only a matter of time before valencia scored. aimar had some pretty runs and it was off a freekick & an assist by aimar that vincente scores. david villa had a bit of handbags with a few different players but valencia never manage to get a winning goal.
at least valencia won the week before against espanyol. villa & aimar do combine to score in this one and that really was one hot celebration... although confusing when aimar rubbed villa's tummy. does villa have a bun in the oven? did aimar promise him an ice cream if he helped him score? i must know!!! please, oh please, vincente, take yourself & canizares to the hairdresser asap. thanks. x
what's barcelona doing? oh winning of course. nothing new there. against villareal they all wore tshirts with messages to xavi who is out for the season. that's so sweet. messi looks great again but motta & sorin seem to be battling for the title of worst. hair. evah. eeeeew. and did anyone know why there was a blue dinosaur hanging out before the match? villareal's mascot is a blue dino?
the nest week, there is sweetness again when ronaldinho's mum comes out to present him with the golden ball. aaawwww bless. so, of course, he had to score. it's nice to see rijkaard back after being out sick esp. as he is in the top 3 hottie managers.
and then there is the train wreck that is real madrid. you can't help but watch. it was 2 wins in these 2 weeks. the first undeserved, the second, under a new manager, they looked worth the win. against getafe, it was casillas keeping them in the game, again, and becks losing his temper and getting red carded, again. against malaga, zizou & robinho were on, casillas was on, and becks was out. it was a fantastic robinho goal and he really is a cutie. and did i imagine it or is zizou sporting awolfman type look in preparation for keane's arrival? we know keano will miss giggsy.

world cup draw

2005-12-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

look at this....
not only am i catching up on my normal game blog, i'm adding a little extra. that's what happens when i do all my work weeks ahead of time so i can go watch football games over the holidays. until then, it's freetime galore which means i might actually keep up with my entries.
so on that note, let's have a few thoughts about the world cup draw.
first off, here in the states, and more importantly in los angeles, we could watch the draw live on the spanish channel where they showed all the pre-draw nonsense. that means i "enjoyed" the bleached-blonde feathered-haired tight-trousered magician, the song & dance by children & the giant lion mascot, the musicial stylings of superstar juanes (hey, don't laugh, i knew who he was; not saying i'm a fan...) & all those touching montages of past players & games. a spectacular show indeed.
but enough of that, let's get to kobi jones looking like an idiot. were you as worried as i was that he would drop one of the all-important balls like he dropped something from his lap when he was first introduced/called up to the stage?
ok, seriously, the draw itself. isn't it strange how exciting it can be to watch grown men stand around and draw little plastic balls out of giant bowls, hand them over, and watch another man open each one? now that i write it out, it seems vastly wrong that i spent my whole morning at work, sitting on the couch watching that rather than doing any actual work. or maybe i mean that is vastly right.

ok, ok. the groups:
A: germany, costa rica, poland, ecuador. yes, germany has got it easy. we will all have a right laugh at them if they do not top this group. but i think i am more concerned with the lack of hotties in this group. i do not think ballack can carry that flag all by his lonesome.
B: engalnd, sweden, paraguay, trinidad & tobago. england, with all of their boasting, better take the top spot here. i know sweden are good but if you are going to go on and on in all the papers about how you can win the world cup with all the amazing players you have...zzzzzzzzzz. oh sorry. dozed off there for a moment. i also see some nice thighs in this group.... terry, lamps, ibrahimovic, larsson, ljungberg, cole.... mmmm. yes, the sweden v england game will be entertaining for a variety of reason.
C: argentina, netherlands, serbia & montenegro, cote d'ivoire. ah yes, our first group of death. and let's just be real, this is a bad hair nightmare group. think of what kind of combinations we could get.... sorin v drogba alone should be enough to convince you that this is the group to watch & not just for the football.
D: mexico, iran, angola, portugal. a group in which it's time to show they're worth it. all have something to prove and i can only hope they manage better overall hair dos than group c. the mexico team usually keeps it short & simple compared to the south americans so there is hope.
E: italy, ghana, usa, czech republic. damn. another group of death but let's face it, a group of some hotties as well. as long as we discount nedved. think of toni, essien, bocanegra.... and really, is there anyone cute on the czech team? i remember talking about someone during the euros.... but when i think about it now, all i see is nedved. blegh. oh and if italy do not top this group & make my life easier, i'll fly over & pelt them with tomatoes myself.
F: brazil, croatia, australia, japan. it's all about second place here. i mean, we all know they are headed all the way so why give them such an easy group?? ok ok. it wasn't fixed... but sheesh. and not alot of cuteness here. what a dissappoint overall.
G: france, switzerland, korea republic, togo. i'd love to see the swiss & togo go on to the next stage.... is that just too bitchy? i will say the togo v france game will be nice to watch; those teams both run like gazelles. i will also enjoy the swiss & their pale hair versus the various dyed hairs of korea republic. it'll be the clean boys versus the rockers.
H: spain, ukraine, tunisia, saudi arabia. mmmmm. the hottest team in the tournament. all of my spanish hotties will be the eye candy... as long as no one does anything too crazy with his hair (yes, i am talking to you, torres). i am already laughing at the prospect of a dumb american announcer calling out the names during the ukraine v tunisia match... that will be highly entertaining.

did you really expect me to tell you something as boring as the two teams who will advance? give me more time and i'll tell you the top hotties to advance to the next round of hottness.....

week 16 of ligue 1

2005-12-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

some really good games in france this week & that doesn't even include the 1-1 draw between nice & lyon that everyone was celebrating. hey, even when lyon drop a couple of points, it's cause to celebrate.
first, we have an entertaining 1-1 draw between st. etienne & bordeaux. both teams are having excellent seasons so far and it shows. the players are up for it and the fans, well, the st. etienne fans always look up for anything. the display of the giant crest before the game starts is spectacular, only to be outdone by the shots of the shirtless boys in the stands. whatever that group is, i wanna become their friend. *ahem*
st. etienne give their fans something to celebrate by scoring first & the noise in the stadium is incredible. the players celebrate with cute little cheerleader-style leaps. bordeaux tie it up with a great goal but it looks to be st. etienne's day until a bordeaux defender hurts himself with a great save off the line. it only gets worse when darcheville (doesn't he have the best name in all of france??) gets a red card for kicking out at one of the st. etienne boys and this ends all square.
another great name, fabian cool, keeper for auxerre, has a good game and keeps a clean sheet in the le mans v auxerre match. my cutie pieroni scores a nice freekick. sometimes, picking your fantasy football players on looks alone works. i think i'll try picking the top 11 hotties next season and see how far that gets me.
marseille manage a win at home against monaco although their fans still seem less than pleased with their players. a ballboy almost gets yellow carded for being a little too enthusiastic & coming onto the pitch. bless.
my ajaccio lose again (big surprise) but i was entertained by the toulouse boys walking out onto the pitch, in their lavender kits, holding hands. *giggles* only in france. the corsicans have not scored in 5 weeks now. now that's depressing.
and finally, the match of the weekend turns out to be the psg v lens game - quite a goalfest. the psg fans give a nice display of the french flag before the real fireworks start. lens score within the opening minutes of the game but never fear, pauletta is here. he makes chipping the lens keeper look oh so easy. he actually does it twice in this game. too bad the psg defense can't hold things together. lens actually go up 4-1 at one point - the lens boys are so thrilled they perform cute little dances after goals 3 & 4 and the poor psg coach looks absolutely shellshocked on the bench. at least psg attempt a comeback but it's all too late in the end.

week 13 of serie a

2005-12-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

roma v fiorentina
i know i have been waiting for this..... my cute roma defenders against luca toni (mmmm luca toni). yes, i've been worried. we haven't been playing well and toni is scoring left & right. but still, we all knew this was going to be good.
it starts really well for roma - tomassi & cassano both in the starting 11 and then they combine for tomassi to score in the 2nd minute. and then roma actually play some pretty football in the midfield and i am shocked. i will admit, i was already fretting, because we can never go ahead that early in a game and hold on to it but i was trying to be positive. i even feel like we have luck on our side when doni drops a shot but kuffour is there on the line to save what surely would have been a goal. yes, toni is trouble (the battle between him & mexes is all kinds of cute & they even start to get a little pushy with each other) but when he has a sure shot on goal & i know he's going to score, dacourt comes in with a perfectly timed tackle. he's taken off because of injury and my cutie aquilani comes on ( who seems to have taken after totti and got his hair cut too! it's darling!).
then, it all goes wrong. and not just a little wrong. this is roma so it has to go spectacularly wrong. my mexes, who was having an excellent game, gets a red card & fiorentina get a penalty. all undeserved. mexes looks to be in tears on the sideline and i'm right there with him. this is a typical day in the life of a roma supporter. toni, of course, takes the penalty & scores it and for once, i'm not pleased to see his goal tally rise. at least we still are fighting for a win as we are down to 10 men. you couldn't actually tell that they had one more player if you weren't told. and the other bright spot is that when cassano is subbed off, it is to applause rather than to the boos & whistles he received midweek in the uefa cup.
of course nothing else goes right in italy. lazio win, juvebastardi win. ibrahimovic is a major jerk & hits one of the treviso players in the head with the ball. and what exactly is alex del piero doing with his sideburns? they just look wrong.
milan manage a last second win via a pippo goal. it's just so cute when bobo runs over to hug him from the sidelines. it's not like he has anything better to do - he was warming up the whole second half and never came on.

week 13 of la liga

2005-12-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

have i mentioned how scary good barcelona are right now? it's both beautiful & frightening to watch. at least the robot that is ronaldinho (if you are listening to the show, you get that joke) proves that he is human after all - he misses a penalty! *shock horror* he gets another chance, later in the game, and scores it, and he & messi & eto'o rip through santander's midfield & defense as if they are playing a youth squad. some amazing runs, some amazing goals from both eto'o & messi. *shivers* have i mentioned how scary good they are right now?
let's just use the word 'scary' for real madrid. if i was a madrid fan, i'd be scared of performances like the one against real sociedad. we could look at the bright side and say "well, they came back from 2-0 and managed a draw." and with the way they were playing, that is quite a feat. but really, it was pretty undeserved. they continue their red card madness (ramos again, becks almost) & zizou save them again but it's not looking good. unlike the real scoiedad boys, who do look good: prieto is a cutie.
then there are my cuties that are valencia. david villa scores again - he is darling - even if he won't shave off that stupid patch of hair from his chin. valencia had some great moves but some not-so-great finishing. luckily, it didn't hurt them and this was a relatively easy 2-0 win. and i didn't even mention how cute aimar was when he was finally subbed on in the second half! hot damn!
oh. my. god. did hell freeze over? because my bilbao finally won a game! their first since the first day of the season!! i'll take a hard fought 1-0, winning goal scored from a freekick. i'd take just about any kind of win right now.
and finally, my torres has gone missing again from the scoresheet and atletico madrid only manage a draw. they go ahead with a beautiful goal by luccan but then bad defending on a corner gives up the equalizer.

week 14 of the epl

2005-12-11T11:21:00.000-08:00

all seems normal in england... chelsea win again, sunderland lose again, titi scores a nice goal and then acts like a jerk....
oh and everton remember what a win tastes like. although it's at the expense of a missed handball in favour of newcastle. poor newcastle. even their midget has been sidelined lately.
it's the joey cole show at the pompey v chelsea game. and if you weren't driven mad by the dinner bell (??) you would have seen a nice crespo goal too.
the new boys continue to impress (well, aren't we all impressed by the absolute awfulness of sunderland?) even though they all lose this week. wigan try to come back against spurs, who are notorious for losing their concentration towards the end of the game, but it is not to be. maybe they were distracted by tottenham's ugly away kits. and west ham get off to a great start against manyoo... scoring in the first few minutes. but manyoo, or should i say rooney, bounce back and win it.
liverpool grind out another one-nil win. at least it was a nice risse goal.
and finally, the arse entertain us for some pretty goals. i was also highly entertained by blackburn & their bruiser boys (hello savage!) trying to break spanish legs (poor reyes). titi had a good enough goal to thump his chest in celebration *rolls eyes* but really, van persie's goal was better.

week 11 & 12 of serie a

2005-12-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

oh roma roma roma. why do you tease me this way? why do you want to break my heart? why do you reduce me to tears?
*sigh*
i can't even bring myself to discuss that rubentusbastardi game. all i will say is that it started off well. for 30 minutes, i thought "wow, we are playing some good football." but then i realized we hadn't scored. and i started to get that feeling that if we didn't soon, they would, and then it would be all over. and we didn't, they did, it was.
*sigh*
at least totti's haircut put a smile on my face when i saw it the week before against messina. and he had a great goal. and my cutie mexes scores. ah bliss. if i could have only skipped the next week. :-(
at least my luca toni kept me happy. he did his usual looking hot while scoring against ascoli and then the real fun begins.... luca toni v maldini/nesta. now that's all kind of hotness right there. and boy did he kept that milan defense busy. 2 goals for toni while it took me a good 30 minutes or so before i noticed sheva was on the pitch. not a good sign for milan. kaka was either fouling people left & right or actually making some good runs that didn't end up as actual goals. milan were unlucky not to have a penalty for a handball in the box but what was nesta doing as he missed the cross for the second viola goal? not his day, not maldini's day, and certainly not milan's day. i enjoyed the camera shots of galliani & friends in the stands looking more and more upset as the game went on. hee hee hee.

week 11 & 12 of la liga

2005-12-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

barca score 6 goals in 2 games against teams from the madrid area. first, they look scary good against getafe scoring some really nice goals. but the getafe goal was even better so good for them. and i am disturbed to think that motta might be taking hair tips from ronaldinho. but honestly, ronaldinho can do what he wants with his hair if he shows us spectacular play like he did against real madrid. even the madrid fans were standing & applauding. and how could they not? he ripped their midfield & defense apart. casillas couldn't even muster the energy to yell at his defense but he really should have - once again, casillas seemed to be the only one there.
poor madrid. raul was badly hurt in that loss as well. and no one cared that they managed a very unconvincing 1-0 win the week before.
week 11 gave us a basque derby which was full of cuties.... i was completely mesmerized when osasuna had a freekick and the real sociedad wall was unbelievably hot. the seville derby, the following week, was hot in an entirely different way. no love lost here. these fans were crazed to say the least. tackles everywhere, handbags thrown, and the sevilla boy who scored the winner rips off his shirt to celebrate. excellent. oh, except for the fact that he gets a second yellow later in the game and is sent off. doh.
stupidest. rule. evah.
and the surfer boys of spain, valencia, win one, lose one. i wish vincente would lose that stupid tail... what year is it anyway? that's not a hairstyle - it's a crime against nature. even refs know that - in the game against villareal, one of the yellow submarine boys got yellowed for a dive when he was looking for a freekick. his hair was awful so i bet the ref took one look at him and thought "ugh! yellow for bad hair!". vincente is lucky he didn't turn to him and card him for the same reason. i saw the fear in his eyes.

week 12 & 13 of the epl

2005-12-10T20:10:00.000-08:00

well the big news is that chelsea finally lose, isn't it?
yup, in a great game against manyoo, my boys in blue go down 1-0. manyoo played a billion times better than what they showed against boro and chelsea weren't playing badly. it was just one of those days. as a matter of fact, we outplayed them for most of the second half and a "fair" (ahahahahahahaha) result would have been a draw.
see? even i know footy isn't "fair". and i'm not bitter nor worried about the loss. at least it takes the pressure off us now.
and we showed that by bouncing back against newcastle. 3 goals, some good team play, and all is well in jose's land again.
manyoo also got another win against charlton. horseface scores twice - one a really nice swivel & strikes inside the box. oh, don't pretend you don't know who i am talking about. and is it just me or do you think wes brown's hair scares small children?
liverpool continue winning and crouch continues NOT scoring. *muffles laughter* and moro continues to be a major hottie.
poor the spurs. first they were robbed against bolton for an offside goal that wasn't offside and then they let west ham equalize in the dying moments of this london derby. these boys need to learn how to finish their chances.
and finally, the arse, who win away from home against a very plucky wigan in a very good game. titi is his usual jackass - ridiculously arrogant celebration after his nice goal (it wasn't even as great a goal as what he scored against sunderland the week before). oh and before the wigan game there were some strange mascots out on the pitch: a yellow bear with a patch over one of his eyes and a blond "boy" in a wigan jersey. was the bear his friend? was he a one-eyed bear? did the "boy" do that to his eye?? i was very confused.

week 14 & 15 of ligue 1

2005-12-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

everyone have been pretty inconsistent in france lately (barring lyon & ajaccio, in different ways, of course). take bordeaux who have been doing well of late. another win away from home against nice but then they manage to lose at home to an equally inconsistent psg. psg scored twice in that game - the first goals by psg at bordeaux in 6 years! and our cutie pauletta had a great goal, as usual.
marseille, too, lost at le mans but then managed a win at home against nancy. the first goal of that game was a beauty - assist with a backheel. i love cheeky backheels. and player of the month, ribery, scored a beautiful goal. he really is the "it" boy in france right now.... expect those chelsea bid rumours to start flying.
the hotties that are auxerre are still doing well. they drew away to st. etienne and then won 3-2 against lille in a great game. my personal top hottie, pieroni, was star of the show. he had a fabulous assist for the first goal, scored the second via a penalty and then seals a hattrick (of sorts) with a nice goal.
nothing or no one seems able to stop lyon. they win away at toulouse and then cris scores twice against troyes to continue their outstanding form. when your defenders are scoring for fun, you know you are doing well.
i would take anyone scoring for my little ajaccio at this point. we can barely manage shots on goal anymore. 2 more games, 2 more losses. *sigh*

apology

2005-12-10T19:48:00.000-08:00

yet again, i have been slacking. honestly, there is no good excuse unless you count sex, drugs, & rock'n'roll.
or something like that.
x

week 10 of la liga

2005-11-03T22:31:00.000-08:00

wow. my bilbao managed a point! that's great considering we are still at the bottom of the table.... i'll take what i can get right now!
while barca go on a scoring streak and put 5 past real sociedad.

real betis v real madrid
really nice robinho goal - and he's really cute so that's always a plus. as long as he stays out of ronaldo's stupid goal celebrations, he'll be fine. oh and if he's spending all his time with ronaldo, he really shouldn't eat as much as that fat b*stard is eating...

valencia v racing santander
the goal by the valencia captain - albelda - was amazing. the little patch of hair on cutie david villa's chin, amazingly stupid. why would you ruin such a cute face?

atletico madrid v villareal
wow. worst mullet in awhile alert: rodrigues, who gets red carded. for his mullet i would think. (i'd like to see that written, just once, on the official match report by the ref) madrid spend most of the 2nd hlaf with a man advantage and still can't score - instead they pick up a red card of their own and villareal manage to equalize. typical.

week 9 & 10 of serie a

2005-11-03T22:01:00.000-08:00

holy crap. are roma having a winning streak??? 3 wins in a row - one in europe - and we are suddenly in the top half of the table and better yet, WE ARE AHEAD OF LAZIO!!! let me enjoy it while it lasts....
let's revel in the win against inter.... at the freakin san siro!!! the stadium that had a hex on us for so long and we made it look so easy... at first. of course, once we were 3-0 up, we looked like we could fall apart at any moment, but hey, that's roma. let me bask in the montella goal opening the scoring and then that incredible totti run that was sealed with a cute little chip over the keeper to make it 2-0. and then as soon as the second half begins, il capitano steps up & scores a penalty. yes, he was red carded in the dying moments of the game but hey, what's a roma trip to the san siro without a red card for totti?
but we don't stop with the red cards there. my cutie chivu manages to get one at home against ascoli, and then they equalize but then a miracle happens.... mexes comes on for chivu and instead of immediately getting a red card himself, he scores! yes, i thought my eyes were playing tricks on me too.

did someone say luca toni? mmmmm luca toni. i just noticed, looking at the stats, that fiorentina have not scored in 2 of their 10 games. all other 8 games, toni has scored. that's amazing. he has 12 goals in 8 games essentially. and he's hot. no, make that really really hot.

speaking of nice goals.... did you see the 2 fantastic goals by ex-roma boy d'agostino? those were absolutely amazing. i'm glad to see he is getting the playing time & his game is improving. maybe we'll see him again at roma one day.

the big game: milan v juve
for once, i am cheering on milan. and for once, milan do not disappoint me. they not only beat juve, they did it by playing so much better than the b*stards and making their much vaulted defense look like a shambles. everyone was on: gattuso ran around like a madman, seedorf scores a nice (deflected) goal, pirlo has a great freekick and nesta swings his arm cast towards ibrahimovic anytime he gets near the juve goal. perfect!

week 11 of the epl

2005-11-03T21:30:00.000-08:00

chelsea v blackburn
wow - i think cech is actually having a bit of a bobble! 3 goals conceeded in 2 games??!! i'm shocked! at least chelsea are being "entertaining" by letting in goals and still scoring & winning in the end.... if you didn't get my intention there, that was a very sarcastic use of quotation marks.
was it my imagination or was it everytime that i saw a blackburn player on camera, he was swearing up a storm? and then mark hughes gets sent to the stands for protesting a little too much..... or maybe he was swearing.
anyway, frankie has a great game & scores a beauty of a freekick so i am pleased overall.

north london derby:
spurs won the first half, the arse the second so a 1-1 is fair. but it doesn't make up for the fact that spurs could have wrapped this up in the first 45 if they could have finished their chances. and, of course, it has to be that tw*t pires who scores... and WHY isn't there a public outcry against his "shhhhing" celebration like there was against frankie?? b*stards. and that goes double for lehman who is a bigger diver than half his team, which says a whole hell of a lot when you are talking about the olympic diving team that is the arse.
b*stards.

but the most entertaining game, for all non-manyoo fans, was the middlesbrough v manyoo match. i honestly can't remember the last time i have seen manyoo play this badly. boro simply dominated the game & mendieta had some fantastic goals. rio was an absolute mess & maybe alan smith lost all his talent when he shaved his head. when sir alex told him he was going to be the new "roy keane" i think alan took that a bit too literal. he could just join the richardson & ronaldo club and go short and curly. they could all go to the salon together and gossip about the nevillers & rio. it'd be super!

big sam fashion watch: an understated brown & cream look this week.

week 8 & 9 of la liga

2005-11-03T21:17:00.000-08:00

tough two games for real madrid who were looking good previously..... first they lose against valencia where just about everything that could go wrong, did. zizou missed a penalty, gravesen got a red for a terrible tackle, & then becks gets red carded for SARCASTIC CLAPPING of all things. what. an. idiot.
it doesn't get any better with all their suspensions & injuries against deportivo who completely outplayed the madrid boys and were 2-0 up by the half. goal # 3 was yet another example of madrid's defense not marking & losing track of the attacking players - just ask becks who was seen on the bench shaking his head in despair. the only positive: a beautiful raul goal (who just gets hotter by the day).

my bilbao lose twice - once in a basque derby against osasuna (on the top of the table but beaten by barca the week before) - and are bottom of the table.
no goals from torres but atletico madrid will take the 2 wins anyway.
and barca keep on winning - once against bilbao as already mentioned, and another against malaga. it's nice to see larsson back & scoring again.

week 12 & 13 of ligue 1

2005-11-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

for all the talk of chelsea & juve's domination in their respective leagues, the real run away leader for me is lyon. 13 games and still not a loss and never really looking too troubled. take the metz game, a 4-0 demolition away from home. the type of game that once one goal was scored, you knew there were going to be loads more. the metz boys looked so depressed at halftime that i am absolutely amazed that they came back out for the second half.the best of this bunch was a wiltord header.

psg manage a laboured win against nancy & then lose 2-0 to auxerre. they never looked in that game and then my cutie pieroni comes on and seals it.

saint-etienne continue their good form with two wins - one a very impressive win against a resurgent marseille. that was a terrific game all around: fans going wild, marseille taking the lead but the home team taking control and scoring some nice goals. barthez was acting like his usual insane self but the real highlight was the camera showing a section of st. etienne supporters: all young fit shirtless men. i suddenly think i need to go to a st. etienne home game. *must practice my french*

bordeaux are also still looking good - currently second in the table -with a draw & a win while monaco are still swinging from loss (against sochaux) to a win (against my little corsicans).

let's quickly talk about how pitiful my ajaccio have become. after a brilliant start to the season, we've had 4 losses in a row, haven't won since september, and have had one shot on goal via a freekick in the last two games. if that's not relegation form, then i don't know what is. *cries*

week 10 of the epl

2005-11-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

everton v chelsea
ooooooh, everyone must be so excited! it's a chelsea blip! they dropped points!!!
yeah yeah. i knew we wouldn't go the whole season only winning games.... even the fanf*ckingtabulous arsenal squad of divers & cheats went on their unbeaten streak with quite a few undeserved draws. but the criticism is always so much more virulent when it comes to chelsea.
i will say it was a tough game - everton did the blackburn tactic of loads of physical play and it worked against us. just look at poor jt's nose for proof of that. at least my frankie got us a point with a beauty of a goal. wasn't he the one who was supposed to be having some kind of blip? you're havin' a laff.

arsenal v man city
but who cares about chelsea when you get the high-quality entertainment from the arse this week? step right up & see the pires & titi farce! one night only because wegner will probably kill them if they try this crap again. the true laughing point was the overall pitiful performance by the gunners.

newcastle v sunderland
but the real game of the weekend was the derby between newcastle & sunderland. any game that gives you 4 goals in 7 minutes deserves the term "cracker" or something like that. it was also the usual derby atmosphere of fouls & tackles & pushes & nasty looks but there were some really lovely goals to take your mind off all that like the ameobi headers and the elliott goal.

bolton v west brom
big sam fashion watch: he was enjoying the game in an excellent pinstripe suit with a diagonal striped tie in grey, gold and red. and why wouldn't he enjoy this 2-0 win that could have easily gone the other way when west brom won a penalty & scored it but had to retake it and the poor boy missed the second one.

week 7 & 8 of serie a

2005-11-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

roma crisis?
well, technically yes since we managed to lose to 10 men Empoli but we at least pick ourselves up for the all important derby. we don't win but it's certainly a better showing from the boys than any other showing of late - including a nice display of sparklers by the romanistas. not that i'm biased but there were certainly some yellow cards not dished out to lazio that really should have been. if only because they are b*stards. and nonda needs to learn to hit the target please & thank you.
totti shows up, has a lovely goal, and then gives us one of the most talked about celebrations evah with his "i'm pregnant with a ball and let me pop it out right here on the running track" show. niiiiiice.

my lovely luca toni (mmmmm luca toni) doesn't manage to score against the naziob*stards but he makes up for it with a hattrick against parma. it was absolutely criminal that he did not get stripped naked for that! where do i start my protest?!!?! oh, and fiore had a nice goal in that game as well. if it wasn't for the fact that luca toni is on fire right now, and so damn hot (mmmm luca toni), fiore would be heralded as the hero of this team.

milan & juve both manage wins to set up their upcoming match as does inter - one of those wins being a 5-0 drumming of livorno. livorno was a shambles without their captain and didn't receive any help when coco was red carded.

week 7 of la liga

2005-10-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

madrid derby
ok, i know that atletico madrid fans have a reputation to match that of lazio's but i heart torres so i gotta cheer him on. esp as it's his life ambition to score against real madrid as a born & bred atletico boy. he didn't score this time & i really think, when he finally does do it, he'll break down in tears. bless.
he might have been in tears anyway, after this game. atletico go a man and a goal down by the 8th minute of the game and it doesn't get any better for them. could it be that all of real's whingeing & crying about the ref on THEIR WEBSITE before the game actually made a difference?? let's just say: BABIES. wah wah wah. even with a man advantage, real couldn't stop atletico ripping through their midfield.... but then it did show when there weren't enough bodies to break down the defense once they got near the penalty box. oh well. and will i even complain about the foul not called in favour of atletico in the dying minutes of the game & how real went and scored the third on the counter? HELL YES.
and wow. guti out-blonds beckham, doesn't he? do you think there are jealous glances in the dressing room?

deportivo v barcelona
aah diego tristan. i knew you were not the brightest bulb on the tree when i first noticed the "9" shaved onto your head but then, you prove my point even further by being petulant and kicking the ball away after a call you did not like and having said ball actually hit the assistant ref. yellow card much?
great game overall - some really nice goals from deportivo who manage to come back for the draw. the penalty by deco was a freakin joke - the keeper gets that ball as deco theatrically dives over. and is it my imagination or does time STOP when ronaldinho has the ball? no one seems to move and it's as if we've suddenly gone all slo-mo while he performs some mind-blowing fake-out on the defenders....... let's just say i'm a fan.

other notes: oh, athletic bilbao: so many chances, so few goals. i get enough of this heartache from the french & italian leagues, i do not need it from my basque boys too! i fear this will be a very long season indeed; wow. did you notice the glow-in-the-dark away kits from cadiz: all neon green & black?? i did & now i'm BLIND!; while over in valencia i only wish i was after seeing canizares's hair! note: a bleached blond mullet is NEVER the answer. NEVER! and for anyone who also follows MLS: don't you think that canizares is kevin hartman's prettier, thinner twin? oh my god! they could totally do a patty duke remake!! brilliant!

week 11 of ligue 1

2005-10-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

marseille v psg
all kinds of craziness on the south coast for the biggest rivalry in france. accusations of 'chemical warfare' being waged on psg before the game even begins (complaints of an overpowering smell of ammonia) and of marseille officals insulting the psg players add spice to an already heated affair. oh! and look at that, barthez is back, ready with his usual madness.... at least there was only one psg player who said he deliberately tried to injure him.
did anyone else notice that the teams came out to van halen's jump? and we have a new skunk boy! marseille's number 22, samir nasri, has the same haircut but not the same stark colour contrast....... yet.
a former psg boy scores the one and only goal to win this game for marseille for the first time in 3 years against the capital club.
great game, great atmosphere, even if the home fans were a bit naughty by raining down objects onto rothen every time he takes a corner. it must be that terrible blond hairstyle they object to so much.

lyon v ajaccio
my little corsicans were robbed!! robbed i tell ya!! there was that first goal that fred scored where the assistant ref had raised his offside flag, but the ref decided to give it to lyon anyway. there was all the little kicks and fouls that lyon were allowed to get away with (ok, they got a few yellow cards but come on! they were kicking the crap out of the corsicans!). and then there was the winner that ajaccio scored, after coming back TWICE, and were fouled in the box but still the goal doesn't count because of an accidental hand ball in the box when the attacker was pushed down by all the lyon bullies.
*grumbles* stupid league leaders. i will concede that juninho had his usual lovely freekick goal.

nantes v st. etienne
a nice chip from the nantes boy over the usually fantastic (and fantastically weird) st. etienne keeper janot. i will praise him even with that idiotic tattoo on the back of his head. oh and nantes got lucky as they had a handball/penalty not called against them. at least they are one place ahead of ajaccio in the table (15th).

auxerre v troyes
luyindula had a nice nice goal and he is a cutie... and he used to have terrible hair but got a nice trim. he should really call drogba and give him a heads up. my cutie pieroni doesn't get to come off the bench until the very end of the game. *sigh*
but i do find another monster on the pitch: check out the medusa wannabe #29 sajma. you'll see what i mean when you see the snakes in his hair.

week 9 of the epl

2005-10-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

lots of fun this week, lots of talking points......

chelsea v bolton
ok, let's get it out of the way. yes, it should have been a red card. fine. and that could have changed the game, yes. or, jose in his infinite wisdom, still would have made the necessary tactical changes and won this game. maybe not by the same scoreline.
chelsea show they are vulnerable again by giving up a goal in the 4th minute (!): jt needed to be more central, especially when del horno is missing that pass. bolton gave chelsea a good game in the first half and probably were quite happy at halftime..... little did they know jose was already drawing diagrams on the board. a tactical change and suddenly, it's a different game. and that's even before the handball & red card for cutie gardner. and i can't even begin to explain how pleased am i with the new & improved drogba - that backheel to frankie was lovely and his 2nd goal was even lovelier. oh and frankie is so much cuter with his spikey hair grown back.
big sam fashion watch: nice brown shirt with tan stripey tie. very smart.

birmingham derby
no goalkeeping gaff?? villa wins?? where the hell am i? i thought this was birmingham v villa?
at least we had o'leary spicing things up at the end with his 'celebrations'. the winning goal from phillips was nice too.

spurs v everton
i heart television. before the game begins, the camera is on simon davis (since he made the move from spurs to everton over the summer) and it catches him accidentally squirting water in his eye. priceless.
poor toffees. what happened to that solid defense? they let two goals in both from headers, nices ones from mido and jenas (both cuties too!). tsk tsk.

wigan v newcastle
i officially declare newcastle to be the inter of england: lots of bad/thinning hair and no cuties. blegh. too bad they can't win some games like inter but they certainly have the same luck - shearer's header was so a goal that crosssed the line.

west brom v the arse
hee hee hee.
wow. not the best start to the season for the gunners, eh? kirkland had one of those fantastic games, the ex-arse player kanu scores against his old team and carter scores a cracker to win it for the minnows! i didn't even mention flamini's horrible horrible sideburns! yuck!

liverpool v blackburn
so this is where chelsea's red card got missplaced! although they usually deserve their red cards, i think rovers were unlucky here. and we were all unlucky to *ahem* enjoy cisse's latest hairstyle. it's true that it's not as bad as some of his past ones but this one makes him look about 10 years older than he actually is. not flattering at all. but pretty boy moro is back & has a nice bobo-like miss so at least cisse has that on him.

sunderland v manyoo
sunderland didn't play all that bad and elliot's goal was a beauty but manyoo was a little too much for them. cute little italian-american rossi scores on his debut and i really am starting to rate park as the stand-out player for the red devils. the criticism of him being simply an asian marketing tool seems off the mark to me.

other notes: 2 beautiful goals in the latest london derby (charlton v fulham), nice goal from andy cole for man city (his 1st of 2 goals), & portsmouth manage not to lose.

week 9 & 10 of ligue 1

2005-10-09T22:17:00.000-07:00

well, at least i only have to mention one loss from my corsican boys. to bordeaux since their game against lens was postponed. that still does not leesen the blow to the fact that they are in 15th place!!! *sigh* i am not ready for a relegation fight this early in the season.

lyon continue to be the only unbeaten side in france with wins over nantes and rennes. it's the usual suspects including juninho and wiltord. and i am happy to report that it looks like coupet is growing out those awful highlights.

monaco continue to pick themselves up after their crappy start to the season with 4 points from 2 games sees them almost to the top half of the table (11th). modesto is finding his form again (and still is a hottie) and oh, maoulida is a cutie too, isn't he? very tall.

auxerre are still trying to find some consistency - they win 3-0 against sochaux but then lose 2-0 to toulouse. yes, they are 5th in the table but with a goal differnce of -4! and my cutie pieroni hasn't scored in ages! and it didn't help to have fabian cool injured in the last game. bless.