English champion Chelsea has pulled off one of the greatest miracles in sports history. In the semis, they were down 2-0 to Barcelona: the greatest team of this era. Even worse, their captain, Mr. Terry, had been ejected putting them a man down against a team that had Lionel Messi, the greatest player on planet earth. Incredibly, they caught Barca in stopage time with a goal by Fernando Torres that was a real shot-heard-round-the-world that put them in the finals at Munich, Germany. Today they pulled off miracle #2, beating Bayern Munich on their own home grounds on penalty kicks in the Euro Champions Cup. Nobody ever expected this, but Chelsea has done it. <object><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/39VMvMgDeu4?version=3&feature=player_detailpage"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/39VMvMgDeu4?version=3&feature=player_detailpage" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>
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Man City takes the Barclay's topper with a miracle at the end and Chelsea wins the UEFA Champions League.... you guys know how to kick a ManU fan when he's down.
While Chelsea didn't spend the money like City or United did they do have Didier Drogba who is arguably the 2nd greatest goal scorer in the world behind Messi. They also have Fernando Torres who is quite possibly Spain's best player and the other forward beside Drogba and keeping it all together on the back line is John Terry who is their captain and also the captain of the English national team. There was a point in time, this Chelsea club would have been the finest in the premiership but as it is, they are just one of the top 4 (where they didn't finish this year). Speaking of top 4. The top 4 in the Barclay's Premiership get the nod to play in the UEFA Champions League (the tournament Chelsea just won). Chelsea finished 6th this year in the premiership. Poor Tottenham Hotspur finished 4th which should give them the autobid, but since Chelsea won, they take an automatic qualifying spot along with Arsenal, ManU and ManShitty. Hotspur is related to playing in the Europa League. That's gotta hurt.
Yup. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to belittle their achievement. That was a fantastic run here the past few weeks. BTW, ANY time Barca loses..someone should be fired.. otherwise your ROI is just crap. My point of contention is the media portrayal of Chelsea as little sisters of the poor. That's one of the most talented teams in England and all of Europe (thus, they won). They just had a bad season in the premier league. On top of the guys I mentioned before, that's a team with Frank Lampard (their 3 time MVP), David Luiz, Juan Mata, Ramires and Ivanovic.. Jesus, that's a really good team. I, like you, am shocked that Barca lost though.. There's just no excuse. I mean, anything can happen but come on....
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I honestly can't believe Terry was launched for that while Messi's repeated PMS outbursts don't get him ejected. Still, call me biased but... ManU's 99 Treble season.. down 1-0 in injury time. Bayern Munich had hit a post and a crossbar in the last 2 minutes of regulation... and then this: <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/J2rdG98keU0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
If pain and suffering are your thing, this rare footage of those last few minutes from a UEFA pitch side camera really captures it. After the 2nd goal, look at the Bayern Munich players. The Germans haven't had their back broken like that since Stalingrad. <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LC_f9CB1Pmg" frameborder="0"></iframe>
So anyway... has anyone watched today's matches in pre-Euro 2012? (These are the national teams). Germany got their ass kicked by Switzerland and Bulgaria beat Holland with a fantastic injury time goal. For those people who actually 'hate' soccer because you think the teams are happy with a tie (it appeared that Holland was) this Bulgarian effort was for you.
As for the actual Euro2012 tournament (since football talk seems to be the rage), I'm surprised that more hasn't been made of this. If you like soccer, you need to check out the action coming up in a few weeks. This is one of my favorite tournaments. First, it's Europe they all hate each other. Two, while PC and play nice seems to take over the spirit of the other major tournaments.. not this one.. In no other tournament are the stereotypes of each nation and its history better acted out in sport. This is the stuff that SEC and Pac12North teams do when no one is looking. Backyard brawls are fun and this is the biggest one in soccer (in my opinion). First round matchups: Russia vs the Czech Republic in Wroclaw, Poland in a match that NO ONE will be rooting for Russia.. NO ONE; Holland and Denmark (Holland has all the talent and Denmark has all the heart); Germany and Portugal (Tactical precision vs artistic fluidity); Spain vs Italy (The Red Fury vs the Azzurri in what may be one of the most talent laden games ever played); England vs France (a trip through your history books tells you all you need to know about this). That's just the 1st 2 days.
The only TV coverage of our national team that I could find was on the Spanish-language channels. They take our soccer more seriously than we do, so I always enjoy the broadcasts. Today, the USA defeated Scotland 5-1, with Landon Donovan getting a hat trick. The American team is in red-striped shirts with blue shorts... <object><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/x8b6nichi1U?version=3&feature=player_detailpage"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/x8b6nichi1U?version=3&feature=player_detailpage" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>
Sort of thread drift here, but I was talking to Brian the other day and he and his family were on their way to the Cape for and 8 on 8 girls tourney this weekend (under 12) and he was hoping they would have enough girls since they were missing 3 girls from the team due to concussions. I thought it was due to head/ball contact but he said they all happened when the girls fell and hit their heads on the turf. I asked about concern and need maybe for soft helmets. He said it has been discussed in soccer circles but there is resistance. What do you guys hear, are concussions even amongst the kids a problem. I saw that the Chelsea goalie wears a soft helmet. Certainly isn't "cool" looking. But is that they way we should be going. Never really thought of scoccer as a concussion sport, but then using the head with the ball and that ball certainly has to be hard and traveling fast when somebody heads it.
There was a feature on our local TV station about just that - concussions in girls' soccer. There was commentary from a respected national physician in the sport that in his opinion the major cause is the fact that girls' necks are not as strong as boys. He strongly recommended neck-strengthening exercises at a young age. My son's three girls (10 yrs. old and twin 8 yr. olds) so far have shown great proficiency in the sport, so he is attentive to this issue, as am I.
Like a lot of things in sport, I believe it gets back to fundamental instruction. You need to learn how to use your head otherwise you can take some really harsh blows in this sport. Kids see stuff on TV and try to replicate it and that's dangerous. Also, as Sid mentioned, there is a conditioning issue.
Are you guys surprised that the concussions that the girls on Brians team experienced were not from head/ball contact but from falling? Also you have to wonder about diagnosis since I doubt if kids soccer has a NFL level medical team on the sidelines to make the call as to whether or not the girl is allowed to continue to play
Terry, I'm not surprised at the number of concussions, but I wonder what kinds of falls were involved. The report I cited above did not specify the causes of the concussions. I'm assuming that falls are one type of cause. Another would be getting hit in the head by the ball. Yet another - but much less common at younger ages - would be headers.