crazietalk.net

It's a battle between Lavabe and I as our teams were drawn against one another in the quarterfinals of the oldest soccer competition in the world, England's FA Cup. Both our clubs are in very different places these days with Liverpool taking a big step last season to returning to relevance. My Blackburn Rovers, on the other hand, are suffering the ill effects of a bad ownership change and looking likely to remain in the country's second tier for another year. All that gets put aside on these special nights, when the magic of the Cup puts teams on equal footing for one day. At stake at the quarterfinals is a trip to Wembley, where the semifinals and final are held. Even though the days of the cup being the prestigious competition have faded, this is still a big deal to both clubs. For me, it's likely another chance to watch my club on TV in the United States, since unsurprisingly, less second division games are shown than Premier League games.

Financial and ownership woes have hit MANY UK teams, and Blackburn, despite the problems, is in much better shape than many others. Rangers looked like it was emerging from strife, but still has a MAJOR financial issue. Liverpool was always relevant, but then went through HORRID financial/ownership issues. The current administration of Liverpool seems stable, and have given the Reds a team that is continuing to battle well. Last year was S&S (really, it was triple S) with no defense; after losing Suarez, Brendan has re-invented the team amid terrible injury issues. Liverpool may or may not make it to the UCL next season, but they are on a MASSIVE roll. Sturridge is gaining more fitness, Balo is starting to awaken, and the defense has been incredible (Can, Skrtel, Sakho). Midfield is good, but injuries are posing issues (Sterling, Gerrard, and Lucas are the biggest issues). Will Coutinho play? Lallana? Lazar?

All that being said, the FA Cup is an incredible competition, and Blackburn stands as good a chance as ANY team against Liverpool. The Reds are not the offensive juggernaut of last year; their pressure and defense have improved greatly. I'll say Liverpool 2 - Blackburn 1. Let it be a great match!!

This remains unresolved.

In time-honored (or time-honoured) tradition, a tie means a replay, this time switching home teams. Fortunately they no longer go beyond one replay at this point. In the past, games were replayed as many times as needed to determine a winner, which led to six replays at one point.

awhom111 wrote:This remains unresolved.

In time-honored (or time-honoured) tradition, a tie means a replay, this time switching home teams. Fortunately they no longer go beyond one replay at this point. In the past, games were replayed as many times as needed to determine a winner, which led to six replays at one point.

How there was no score is beyond me!

The biggest issue facing Liverpool was the awful injury to Skrtel, the anchor of its defense. He was sent to hospital as a precaution; the announcers talked of concussion, but nothing is really clear about that.

This makes things VERY complicated: Liverpool's defense is just not that good without Skrtel.

Well, the replay is finally taking place on Wednesday. Ordinarily they try to schedule the replay closer to the original game. The problem is that generally replays need to be played on weekdays to fit around the league schedule. Unfortunately UEFA, Europe's soccer governing body, bans all top division and televised cup games from being played at the same time as its marquee competitions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. UK timezones mean that their night games fall into the exclusive window unlike some countries further east that can squeeze in games before the window. It is a tough rule by UEFA, but they know that a Liverpool match at that time would in fact siphon some of their television audience. This week there are no Champions League or Europa League games so it can go ahead.

Adding to the rules complexity, the United Kingdom has an actual law on its books banning the televising of soccer at 3:00pm local time on Saturdays. This is the traditional game time for many of the leagues on the giant pyramid in England and is heavily used in Scotland as well. As a result, the authorities want fans to attend their local team games in person, including ones from leagues far below Premier League level. This is in part one of the remaining measures that keeps fanbases intact for the smaller clubs as young fans around the world are starting to abandon local teams for the ones that win all the major trophies. Of course this has also led to some weird European Union law situations, but I think at this point I am probably losing my audience here.

It was a tough game, and Rovers played really well. Mignolet made a few powerful saves, and Liverpool advance to the next round!

On to the FA Cup Final!

Well, not for Liverpool...

ScienceGuy wrote:On to the FA Cup Final!

Well, not for Liverpool...

Sadly, that's it for Stevie G. In all fairness, watching him play yesterday was painful. I suspect he will start one more game this season at home, but it will be more ceremonial than anything else.

Can't pull for Arsenal; still upset with the move from Highbury.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/sp ... &referrer=


WTH? Corruption at FIFA?!?!

I'm shocked, absolutely shocked.

devildeac wrote:WTH? Corruption at FIFA?!?!

I'm shocked, absolutely shocked.

Separated at birth:

Lavabe wrote:

devildeac wrote:WTH? Corruption at FIFA?!?!

I'm shocked, absolutely shocked.

Separated at birth:

Lavabe wrote:

devildeac wrote:WTH? Corruption at FIFA?!?!

I'm shocked, absolutely shocked.

Separated at birth:

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh see ya, Sepp!!
And take your brother while you're at it!!

Remember that handball in 2009, you know, Thierry Henry, the ball that got France into World Cup 2010, the one that knocked out Ireland...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... nt-5823633
I don't think the Sergeant Schultz strategy is going to work any longer, Sepp.

USA is opening up a can of whoop-ass on Japan. Carli Lloyd had a hat trick in 15 minutes.

23rd minute: , (Land of the Rising Sun) 0.

Proud of our team.

Woo to the hoo!

lawgrad91 wrote:USA is opening up a can of whoop-ass on Japan. Carli Lloyd had a hat trick in 15 minutes.

23rd minute: , (Land of the Rising Sun) 0.

That was very much a can of whoop-ass!