Tuesday, September 16, 2008

CL Open Thread


Oh, happy days...

It's finally upon us. Catch the excitement! CL Matchday 1. Oh, sweet lord, I never thought we'd get here, and to think we almost didn't if it weren't for the hilarious profligacy of Standard Liege in front of goal.

Moving on, here's the slate for today/tonight:

GROUP A
Spartak London v. Bordeaux
Roma v. CFR Cluj-Napoca

GROUP B
Panathanaikos v. Inter Milan
Werder Bremen v. Anorthosis Famagusta

GROUP C
Barcelona v. Sporting
FC Basel v. Shakhtar Donetsk

GROUP D
Marseille v. Liverpool
PSV v. Atletico Madrid


Any score predictions? Anything to note about the games? Drop it after the mark and let's celebrate the return of Big Cup.



Marseille v. Liverpool:

Marseille: Mandanda, Bonnart, Zubar, Hilton, Taiwo, Cana, Cheyrou, Kone, M'Bami, Ben Arfa, Niang.

Subs: Riou, Ziani, Zenden, Kabore, Samassa, Erbate, Valbuena.

Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Dossena, Gerrard, Mascherano, Leiva Lucas, Kuyt, Torres, Babel.

Subs: Cavalieri, Agger, Keane, Riera, Alonso, Benayoun, Degen.

Referee: Konrad Plautz (Austria). He was the baldie who presided over the Spartak London-Liverpool 1-1 semi-final 1st leg last season, and the disastrous Portugal-Switzerland game in Euro '08 in which he incorrectly disallowed a goal and also failed to give an obvious penalty. Can't wait for this one.

Meanwhile, across the Channel... Spartak London v. Bordeaux

Spartak London: Cech, Bosingwa, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Obi, Joe Cole, Deco, Lampard, Malouda, Anelka.

Subs: Hilario, Di Santo, Ballack, Ferreira, Kalou, Alex, Belletti.

Bordeaux: Rame, Jurietti, Diawara, Planus, Placente, Diarra, Menegazzo, Gouffran, Gourcuff, Wendell, Chamakh.

Subs: Valverde, Henrique, Cavenaghi, Bellion, Ducasse, Traore, Obertan.

Referee: Pieter Vink (Holland). This is the guy who reffed the Arsenal-Liverpool quarter-final 1st leg that same year, the one in which Hleb thought he had a penalty when he actually didn't. This bodes well for all teams involved.

61 comments:

BackBergtt said...

marseilles have the worst kits ever.

BackBergtt said...

my tvu stream or the pool game isnt great, anyone got a good one?

Unknown said...

try justin and his .tv

Jacob said...

Fat Frank!

@Georger-Check our links. There is one very lonely one waiting for you.

Unknown said...

Lampard isn't head and shoulders above the rest in that UEFA Midfielder of the Year contest, certainly not enough to win fair and square.

However, he is head and shoulders wider than everyone else.

Unknown said...

Two great chances for LFC... Babel with a sublime flick and turn to shoot, then Gerrard forcing a fine save.

Just a matter of time, imho

Unknown said...

a rather zesty, attacking start by both sides thus far. Surprised, in fact, amazed to see LFC attacking so much away from home in the CL.

The NY Kid said...

I will never survive 2 French teams losing today.

NEVER!

Jacob said...

What? Marseille scored?

Jacob said...

My stream is horrible. How did it happen?

The NY Kid said...

LORIK CANA!

Unknown said...

Carragher stepped up and Cana beat the offside trap, took the chance well 1-on-1. Still, LFC have had 2 or 3 gilt-edged chances so far. The lead won't last.

Jacob said...

1-1. Well done.

Kyle Walsh said...

Weak defense from the boys...

Unknown said...

unbelievable finish by Gerrard. Marseille's lead lasts 3 minutes. Great build-up, stunning shot.

Jacob said...

Nice placement. Too bad he had no idea about it.

The NY Kid said...

a pox on gerrard.

Unknown said...

Unbelievable finish. Gerrard gets the ball out on the right at the edge of the box, delivered behind him, and he somehow gets his entire body around the ball to shoot, sending it curling and looping across Mandanda's goal into the top left. Goalie didn't even move. Stunning.

The NY Kid said...

and 2-0 for chelsea

Unknown said...

Penalty to Liverpool...

Jacob said...

2-1. Gerrard is the new Walcott.

Unknown said...

2-1 LFC

Gerrard makes it, the ref orders a retake and he puts it in the same corner the 2nd time around.

Kyle Walsh said...

My stream keeps dying. Just gonna stick with updates from you guys

The NY Kid said...

If I was Mandanda, I would have gone to the same corner.

Unknown said...

this is shocking, when's the last time we saw two french clubs getting humbled in European competition?

Oh wait -- every year

The NY Kid said...

I MUST PROTEST!

Unknown said...

Cluj are holding Roma 1-1 in Italy so far

strong like bull smart like tractor said...

This just in - Sergio Aguero is a f'ing beast.

Unknown said...

Halftime scores (or at least close to HT):

GROUP A:
Chelsea 2-0 Bordeaux
Roma 1-1 CFR Cluj-Napoca

GROUP B:
Panathinaikos 0-1 Inter Milan
Werder Bremen 0-0 Anorthosis Famagusta

GROUP C:
Barcelona 1-0 Sporting
Basle 0-1 Shakhtar Donetsk

GROUP D:
Marseille 1-2 Liverpool
PSV 0-2 Atletico Madrid

The NY Kid said...

Liverpool lead, but Marseille have been bright, perky and dangerous.

I think ESPN just compared Marseille to Angelina Jolie

Unknown said...

So they're both giant teases, then?

Oh, at least one of 'em seems mired in a boring marriage, too. That wouldn't fit for a Frenchman, would it?

The NY Kid said...

Well, she did give birth in France.

Unknown said...

Another goal for Shakhtar... 2-0 now for them, away at Basel.

Brilliant name for the scorer: Rodrigues Jadson

Unknown said...

Very true. Sorry NY, I'm being rough on you today. Something about the French thing. I apologize.

The NY Kid said...

I know that you're secretly still upset about Euro 2004.

BurgerBrother said...

Does anybody else have Tommy Smyth on mute?

Unknown said...

lbra: I tried listening to Tommy Smythe once. Never again.

The NY Kid said...

hatem ben arfa looks perpetually confused

BackBergtt said...

ugh i missed all the goals, was watching a video on domestic violence in class and couldnt pull off watching my computer

BurgerBrother said...

Smyth rivals Christian Miles / Keith Costigan as worst footie "faux" experts on TV for unsuspecting US fans who are enamored with British accents...

give me Robbie Earle and I'm fine.

The NY Kid said...

@Georger - remember, domestic violence is bad

BackBergtt said...

i dont know what you guys see in justin tv, every link im trying is 'not broadcasting'

The NY Kid said...

Justin has not been very nice to me lately either. Perhaps he now has too many friends?

BackBergtt said...

eighth time is the charm

BurgerBrother said...

I use http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/ and it's pretty consistent once you download SopCast (free)

BackBergtt said...

livefooty used to be my goto but it got so frustrating whenever their servers get overloaded and the site just wont load

good now though

The NY Kid said...

I have the Marseille-'Pool game on livefooty (SopCast) and the feed is absolutely brilliant

Unknown said...

Cluj is ahead 2-1 against AS Roma IN ROME

BackBergtt said...

riise was on the field for both goals and got subbed off after the second
SHOCKING

Unknown said...

Yossi's on for Gerrard, Riera for Torres. Easy does it..

Unknown said...

Justin is working just fine for me. Georger, you could always watch Chelsea on ESPN2

BackBergtt said...

link me

The NY Kid said...

do you think that guys like Torres and Babel understand anything that Carra says to them?

The NY Kid said...

brilliant save from Mandanda

The NY Kid said...

3-0 chelsea on Malouda. Traitor.

BurgerBrother said...

What a goal, Chelsea. Glad I took the over 2.5 on Sportsbook.com.

The NY Kid said...

Lovely feet from Reira to slip out of a congested midfield and find Kuyt but he's confronted with too many options for his tiny little brain to cope with and fluffs it.

Um, wow. This ESPN guy doesn't care for Kuyt.

The NY Kid said...

and Anelka gets a gift for 4-0.

/insert Vichy joke here

The NY Kid said...

Reina played absolutely brilliantly, and saved 'Pool this time.

Unknown said...

CFR Cluj hang on to beat AS Roma, 2-1, in Italy. Easily one of the most astonishing results in CL history, especially as most of us had AS picked to tango into the next round hand-in-hand with Chelsea.

Ian said...

Roma got smoked by Palermo this weekend too....