Friday, December 01, 2017

Some Soccer News for Dec 1, 2017

It's Day 335 of 2017.


WORLD CUP GROUP STAGE DRAW

First game: Thu Jun 14 - Russia v Saudi Arabia

The lowest ranked team in the tournament is the host - Russia. And they are in the easiest group BY A MILE!

Group A - 43.75 Avg FIFA Rank
  • 1 Russia - 65
  • 2 Saudi Arabia - 63
  • 3 Egypt - 30
  • 4 Uruguay - 17
Group B - 23.25 Avg FIFA Rank
  • 1 Portugal - 3
  • 2 Spain - 8
  • 3 Morocco - 48
  • 4 Iran - 34
Group C - 19.75 Avg FIFA Rank
  • 1 France - 7
  • 2 Australia - 43
  • 3 Peru - 10
  • 4 Denmark - 19
Group D - 21.00 Avg FIFA Rank
  • 1 Argentina - 4
  • 2 Iceland - 21
  • 3 Croatia - 18
  • 4 Nigeria - 41
Group E - 18.25 Avg FIFA Rank
  • 1 Brazil - 2
  • 2 Switzerland - 11
  • 3 Costa Rica - 22
  • 4 Serbia - 38
Group F - 26.00 Avg FIFA Rank
  • 1 Germany - 1
  • 2 Mexico - 16
  • 3 Sweden - 25
  • 4 South Korea - 62
Group G - 23.50 Avg FIFA Rank
  • 1 Belgium - 5
  • 2 Panama - 49
  • 3 Tunisia - 28
  • 4 England - 12
Group H - 23.75 Avg FIFA Rank
  • 1 Poland - 6
  • 2 Senegal - 32
  • 3 Colombia - 13
  • 4 Japan - 44

Pre-tournament and on paper I think the toughest group is E.

My favorite match from each group:
  • A - Egypt v Uruguay - Fri Jun 15
  • B - Portugal v Spain - Fri Jun 15
  • C - France v Peru - Thu Jun 21
  • D - Argentina v Croatia - Thu Jun 21
  • E - Brazil v Costa Rica - Fri Jun 22
  • F - Germany v Mexico - Sun Jun 17
  • G - Belgium v Panama - Mon Jun 18
  • H - Poland v Colombia - Sun Jun 24

Tournament Timeline:
  • Group stage: Jun 14 to Jun 28
  • Round of 16: Jun 30 to Jul 3
  • Quarterfinals: Jul 6 to Jul 7
  • Semifinals: Jul 10 to Jul 11
  • Final: Jul 15

dN

The amount of ugliness surrounding the World Cup in Russia never lets up and none of the negative stories have gone away since day 1: kick backs, doping, racism, anti-homosexuality etc etc. By Tariq Panja for the New York Times.
  • The NYT addressed the Putin sports ministers directly and held their ground in their allegations.

dN

MLS

Seattle will travel to Toronto for a repeat of last year's final. And both teams are better than they were last year!

My Sea-Hou Notes:
  • Before the game there was a question posed on Twitter asking if this was a game to show a newbie. I replied: Two words - Clint Dempsey. And he delivered.
  • Dempsey was great scoring the 2nd goal, but was off the field when the 3rd and final goal went in.
  • Will Bruin with a little flick to Rodriquez for the opening Sounder goal was a thing of beauty.
  • And then Bruin with some SPEED and then a subtle chip for goal 3.
  • Seattle seemed to have every base covered and in control from minute 1-90.
  • Vicente Sanchez was the only threat that Houston could muster. He was good, but he had no help at all.
  • The Dynamo really missed Alberth Elis up top. He can make things happen out of nowhere.
  • Joevin Jones was the only weak link for the Sounders - he is fast but doesn't really have the 1 on 1 skills to beat someone and his decision making is so poor - he almost has to stop running, collect himself, and then decide what to do with the ball. On the other hand his cross went to Dempsey for goal 2.
  • Frei had another strong game in goal for the winners.
  • Six shutouts in a row for Seattle.
  • Two of Seattle's star players weren't even dressed for the game: Roman Torres (suspended) and Oswaldo Alonso (injured).
  • I think the Final is going to be tight again this year, but the Sounders clearly have the edge with their offense clicking.

Post-game Media:

Finals Opponents Comparison over the last 6 games:
  • Toronto - 6 Goals For - 4 Goals Against
  • Seattle - 14 Goals For - 0 Goals Against

We get an exact rematch of the 2016 Final. By Grant Wahl for Sports Illustrated.

Semifinal Results:
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 29
Toronto 1-0 Columbus - Tor advances 1-0 on aggregate.
-Thu Nov 30
Seattle 3-0 Houston - Sea advances 5-0 on aggregate.

Final Schedule:
-Sat Dec 9
Toronto v Seattle - 3:00pm CT on ESPN

In other MLS News: Atlanta has signed Mitch Hildebrand, former keeper for Cincinnati and Minnesota.

Official 2017 MLS Best XI
  • G: Tim Melia - Sporting Kansas City
  • D: Justin Morrow - Toronto, Ike Opara - Sporting Kansas City, Kendall Waston - Vancouver Whitecaps
  • M: Miguel Almiron - Atlanta United, Victor Vazquez - Toronto, Diego Valeri - Portland Timbers
  • F: Sebastian Giovinco - Toronto, Josef Martinez - Atlanta United, Nemanja Nikolic - Chicago Fire, David Villa - New York City
This team is gonna have to score 5-6 goals a game to be anyone with so little defense behind them. A 3-3-4 formation. Very unrealistic best 11.

dN

Sugar Pills: du Nord Music Mix Vol 148 (download + extract)

dN

LIGA MX

The two favorites have 1 goal leads and are headed home for 2nd Leg games this weekend.

Liguilla Semfinals Schedule:
1st Leg
-Wed Nov 29
America-3 0-1 Tigres-2
-Thu Nov 30
Morelia-4 0-1 Monterrey-1
2nd Leg
-Sat Dec 2
Tigres-2 v America-3 (1-0) - 6:00pm CT on Univision
-Sun Dec 3
Monterrey-1 v Morelia-4 (1-0) - 5:00pm CT on Univ Deportes

dN

EUROPEAN NEWS

Six unbeaten teams in the Big 5:
  • Manchester City 13-1-0
  • Paris St Germain 13-2-0
  • Barcelona 11-2-0
  • Internazionale 11-3-0
  • Valencia 9-4-0
  • Atletico Madrid 7-6-0

dN

BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES

Napoli opens up our weekend by losing for the first time this season, to Juventus, who are just 1 point behind Napoli at the top now.

Weekend Schedule:
-Fri Dec 1
Napoli 0-1 Juventus
Roma 3-1 SPAL
-Sat Dec 2
Arsenal v Man United
Atletico Madrid v Real Sociedad
Barcelona v Celta de Vigo
Bayern v Hannover
Chelsea v Newcastle
Leverkusen v Dortmund
Hoffenheim v Leipzig
Brighton & Hove v Liverpool
Monaco v Angers
Strasbourg v PSG
Athletic Bilbao v Real Madrid
Schalke v Koln
Watford v Tottenham
-Sun Dec 3
Internazionale v Chievo
Caen v Lyon
Man City v West Ham
Montpellier v Marseille
Benevento v Milan
Getafe v Valencia



The Bird Is The Word

1 Comments:

Blogger Nordy said...

How "shocking" that Russia got the easiest group.

The biggest argument that Sunil has to go is that he never pulled us out of FIFA when they were on the ropes. Instead he helped them reorganize without addressing the corruption.

10:07 AM  

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