Association football (soccer)

I pre-empted that result. :p 4 goals in 12 games, no wins since 2002...I fancied either Torres to break his duck or pace and power to fuck our wing backs. With Zhirkov and Drogba, that eventually happened.

And I still think Arsenal will win the league~

[font=Verdana][color=green]Hah. Go figure. Torres is still a duck, which is annoying. Serve him up with some sweet and sour sauce, and a side of noodles...£50million please, Dos. :3

Hmm..they are certainly breathing down Man U's neck, I'll give you that, but winning the league? I hope you still remember the bet we had :3

Ohyea, Arsenal winning the league would be so satisfying.

Also, I really hope they'll win again against Barca in the champions' league.

And can't wait for Ryo Miyaichi to join Arsenal and play for them o/.

I don't think they can beat Barca without Van Persie, honestly, but I'm also really eager to see Miyaichi. I saw a video of him in a Japanese University game, and he was quick and had good feet, but nothing really outstanding considering the level of opposition.

I'd rather see Ramsey coming back into 1st team football before that though. :)

I know, I know Barca will win but I still wanna believe in Arsenal. Barca getting eliminated early in the competition would bring me unlimited joy.

And ffffuuu, just now Arsenal - Sunderland resulted in a draw.

Arsenal have forgotten why they are called "The Gunners" as of late.
Man Utd. has lost TWICE, and Arsenal has drawn. Practically trying to give the lead to Arsenal.
Would LOVE to see Arsenal eliminate Barca. I know it's a long shot, but GOD DAMMIT! WE CAN DO IT!

As with Ryo, he's already made an impact on his loan to Feyenoord, helping them steer away from the relegation zone.

Hard keeping up with football these days.
Dortmund seem set to claim the Bundesliga, as they pretty much knocked out Munich from the race, as do AC Milan with the Serie A's Sudectto.

It seems Van Persie will be playing against Barca after all, he managed to recover faster than expected.

HELLYEA!

And Fabregas is a 90% certainty, apparently. Veeeeeery interesting.

Plus, it will be one of the few Arsenal games ever where Spurs fans cheer them on. :P

[font=Verdana][color=green]90% eh? I -did- read that actually...but can he turn around the whole game? No way.

Haha, you do raise a good point. But, in all honesty, Spurs fans can't lose. Either Barca get's knocked out, which is very good for them, or Arsenal do, which is always fun to gloat about. XD

Hmm, If anything RVP will probably only play half the game. I don't think he's to full capacity.
Really wanted Song back. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Architects of their own downfall. Wenger played an incredulous defensive game the first half, starting Rosicky and getting everyone booked, then refused to change it at half time with a substitution. The red card was unreasonable, but someone was always going to go off.

[font=Verdana][color=green]It was unreasonable; but RVP was a petulant child, who pushed it a little too far. When that happens, people get cards. Overall..it was an unfortunate result, but deserved.

What the hell was Wenger thinking? Sometimes this guy surprises me, and not in a good way. We still need improving, and the injuries didn't help.

How was the 2nd yellow deserved? Strikers do that all the time. HELL, they sometimes even celebrate after! But they don't get booked for that.

I'm actually surprised Roma lost to Shaktahr. 6-4 aggregate.

After my Japanese test, I met up with friends to catch the Barcelona vs Arsenal match. The sending off of Van Persie marred the occasion a little, but I was really impressed with how Messi scored the first goal. His second goal, which resulted from a penalty, was calmly taken too.

Now that the weekend is here, I am sure my fellow Fakku members, who are interested in soccer/football, will be awaiting the FA Cup quarter-final clash between Arsenal and Manchester United.

Out of 3 competitions in a matter of days, Arsenal have to pick it up.
Hoffenheim finally beat Dortmund! :D

I have to catch up on a few games actually.

I still think Arsenal can win the PL. If anything, going out of competitions will help keep them fresher for the big games that are coming up. Djourou is a massive loss but Song could deputise, and they could put Wilshere or Diaby in the holding role. Remains to be seen if Wenger would do that, but it will be interesting. They have as much squad depth as any of the other contenders though, and I think United will finally run out of legs with our overstretched, over-performing and injury-ridden squad.

In other news...WHAT A DRAW! Two English teams is a bit of a shame, but those two legs will be amazing. I think we can see Chelsea off again with the Fergie tactics, but maybe someone like Torres will surprise me. And after that, it's an easy run to the final. Plus Spurs v Real, and then maybe Barca! I fancy Real to edge it and then lose to Barca, but who knows what will happen if Bale, VDV, Modric et al are on form. Cracking couple of days for football lovers.

Considering that Man Utd is in the CL, the FA Cup, and is still in on the run for the PL, Arsenal have to concentrate and get every single point, while they hope that United is busy concentrated elsewhere. We'll see.....

So I finally got GOL TV and Fox Deportes. Been watching a couple Libertadores games. Some are quite exciting!
Surprised Colo-Colo was able to defeat Santos. Cruzeiro completely demolished Deportes Tolima 6-1. Some good gems in the competition.

So I hear Arjen Robben is threatening to quit Bayern Munich if they fail to qualify for the Champions League.
Francesco Totti was named the best player of this week by Serie A apparently. Seems his time is coming to a close at Roma.

Here is my analysis on the Champions League Quarter-finals:

Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk:
On paper, it looks as though Barcelona will have an easy match. However, Shakhtar Donetsk surprised everyone by defeating Roma with quite a large aggregrate score. Furthermore, Barcelona may be under pressure to win the Champions League trophy once more, while Shakhtar Donetsk may not feel anything at all. After all, they have nothing to lose after coming so far into the competition. Although I have never watched Shakhtar Donetsk play, I suspect they may be a relatively fast team.

Real Madrid v Tottenham:
Definitely a interesting matchup since both teams are quite offensive in nature. Quite a few people will be hoping for Tottenham to carry on with their fairy tale run, but Real Madrid has the experience in major competitions.

Chelsea v Manchester United:
At this moment, Manchester United has quite a number of players injured while Chelsea is slowly regaining their form. Depending on whether Chelsea has any chance to win the English Premier League by the time the quarter finals arrive, they may simply focus on winning the Champions League instead. After all, that is one of the reasons why they purchased Torres.

Inter Milan v Schalke 04:
Inter Milan will be facing off against yet another German team. Italian pride vs Germany's vegeance? Inter Milan may have to concentrate on two fronts, their domestic league as well as the Champions League. On the other hand, Schalke 04 are not doing so well domestically and can fully concentrate on progressing further in the Champions League. Schalke 04 should not be underestimated since they managed to beat Valencia. Inter Milan can be vulnerable at times.

Man U!?! CHELSEA YOU BETTER WIN ARGGGHHH!!!!

Side note: MLS season in the US started today.




And nobody cared...

[font=Verdana][color=green]Not exactly the best draw for Chelsea or Manchester United , but at least it guarantees that an English team gets in the Semi's.

My predictions:

Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk
Barcelona should go through with some confidence here. The best that SD can hope for is keeping the score respectable at the Nou Camp, maybe steal an away goal, and hope to perform well at home. But, Barcelona are simply too strong at home.

Prediction for aggregate: Barcelona 4 - 1 Shakhtar Donetsk

Real Madrid v Tottenham
This will be quite tough for Real Madrid, but they should be able to establish a strong position after their game at home. However, Tottenham are a strong attacking side, looking at Bale and Van der Vaart here, so could easily take one or two goals away.

Prediction for aggregate: Real Madrid 4 - 3 Tottenham

Chelsea v Manchester United
The tie that neither team wanted. Looking at their records against each other this year, Man U will look the more confident going into this match, but they have had some injuries. Chelsea are just starting to gain some more momentum themselves now, but might decide to focus on the Champions League. However, in my opinion, Chelsea will just edge it; taking an away goal at Manchester United with a score of 2-1, but winning 2-0 at home after getting a goal and locking their defence tight.

Prediction for aggregate: Manchester United 2 - 3 Chelsea.

Inter Milan v Schalke 04
[i]Schalke are a very dirty team. Just looking at their games against Valencia show this; 7 yellow cards and a red. However, this will not be of much use against Inter Milan, who are even dirtier. Schalke are a good team, but Inter's pedigree and experience will make them too strong for Schalke.

Prediction for aggregate: Inter Milan 5 - 2 Schalke 04.