Ajaxtalk

maybe we will play them next round ? who knows ?

So, Heerenveen advance in the UEFA Cup after all! It looked quite bad for them. Basically, they did not have their faith in their own hands anymore. In the last games they had to beat Levski Sofia at home, whereas Dinamo Bucharest had to drop at least two points at the (already qualified) Olympique Marseille.

Bucharest were 2-0 down in no-time, but Heerenveen had a tough one themselves. They went 0-1 down in the 53rd minute, equalized almost immediately, but it seemed like they were going to lose the battle against the clock... the second one didn't go in. Meanwhile, Dinamo Bucharest made it 2-1.

But all's well that ends well: Dinamo lost 2-1 in France and Heerenveen scored a last minute winner: 2-1. There you go. Holland will have two teams in the Champions League and two in the UEFA Cup after the winter. Which is a good thing: we're now coming really close to claiming a CL spot back... which doesn't mean that I will root for PSV, by the way. :D The UEFA Cup sides have my warm sympathy, though.

K.

UEFA Cup draw: AZ vs Real Betis Seville and Heerenveen vs Steaua Bucharest. Ironic detail: if AZ and Heerenveen advance they will face each other in the round of sixteen (the upcoming round is the round of 32).

K.

Did anyone see the Marseille-Bucharest match? Bucharest needed a tie to advance to the next round. They were behind 2-1, but scored in the very last minute of stoppage time (to even the match and send them through to the next round)... only to have the referee wave it off and say the goal came after the match had ended. He didn't blow the whistle or make any indication during the run of play before the goal that time had expired... it was only after the ball was in the back of the net and the Bucharest players were starting to celebrate did he blow the whistle and indicate the goal had come too late.

Wow.
:shock:

Kowalczyk schreef:UEFA Cup draw: AZ vs Real Betis Seville and Heerenveen vs Steaua Bucharest. Ironic detail: if AZ and Heerenveen advance they will face each other in the round of sixteen (the upcoming round is the round of 32).

K.

I think that might just happen K, AZ Vs Betis is a very very good game ought to be an entertaining one, i think AZ can pull it of on the other hand Steaua is a Romanian team wich Herenveen with a little luck might be able to beat.

AjaxPDX schreef:Did anyone see the Marseille-Bucharest match? Bucharest needed a tie to advance to the next round. They were behind 2-1, but scored in the very last minute of stoppage time (to even the match and send them through to the next round)... only to have the referee wave it off and say the goal came after the match had ended. He didn't blow the whistle or make any indication during the run of play before the goal that time had expired... it was only after the ball was in the back of the net and the Bucharest players were starting to celebrate did he blow the whistle and indicate the goal had come too late.

Wow.
:shock:

Can anyone say, "match-fixing?" :redcard: :pukey:

I copied this link from Jinne's posting in the the Dutch zone:

http://www.dinamomania.net/video/extra2 ... t_omtv.asx

If you start watching at 8 minutes and 20 seconds you'll see how the Romanians got screwed by the ref. Bad, bad UEFA. The ref should have waited until the ball was cleared from the French defense.

Right... The G-14 want the second group phase of the Champions League back. If that is impossible, they want a seeding list for the knock-out phase. They don't like the fact that the biggest clubs can bump into each other as early as in the round of sixteen.

What a splendid idea! I mean: it's a sports competition innit. It's football. So we can't have unexpected things. We just can't accept any surprises. Totally undesirable. So let's think of a few more rules that will minimize the chance that something surprising will happen. Will make the whole thing much more fun.

K.

Kowalczyk schreef:Right... The G-14 want the second group phase of the Champions League back. If that is impossible, they want a seeding list for the knock-out phase. They don't like the fact that the biggest clubs can bump into each other as early as in the round of sixteen.

What a splendid idea! I mean: it's a sports competition innit. It's football. So we can't have unexpected things. We just can't accept any surprises. Totally undesirable. So let's think of a few more rules that will minimize the chance that something surprising will happen. Will make the whole thing much more fun.

K.

Anyone who reads this forum will know my stance on Europes "big" clubs and how they are destroying football, so I wont go into it again - well too much :)

G14 - Pull your f*&king head in. You don't own football. God forbid one of you gets knocked out within the first round of the Champions League. F&^k, most of you shouldn't even be there as you finished 3rd or 4th in your league. And as much as I hate to say it, a lot of these clubs aren't even top clubs within Europe anymore (eg: Ajax), so why should they have a major say in what happens to the rest of the clubs???

Now they also want compensation for use of international players. OK fine. I am a national coach, now who do I pick someone who will cost us a lot of money, or someone who is free...hmmm.

They should be thankful for players playing at international level. It increases the exposure of the player, and hence, increases the money the clubs receive for a sale of the said players.

I could go on and on, but in summary. G14 you f*&king suck dogs balls!

Thank you for your time :hypocrite:

we are part of the G14, aren't we ?

philippe schreef:we are part of the G14, aren't we ?

yep...hence my comment "And as much as I hate to say it, a lot of these clubs aren't even top clubs within Europe anymore (eg: Ajax)..."

I love my club, but it doesn't mean I have to like everything that they are part of (although it is a bit funny that fword isn't in it).

I think the G14 can actually have some good come out of it, but at the moment these clubs are acting like spoilt (rich) kids.
===============
This from g14 website:
The voice of the clubs...

G-14 represents the collective views and policies of eighteen of the most significant contributors to the quality and success of European club competitions. G-14 clubs also supply many national teams with their most significant players.
=================
I love the last line...so friggin what? Most of these clubs got these "significant players" from non g14 clubs...get over yourselves!

The voice of the clubs...HA!

Give the game back to the people :headbang:

I think I need a hug now X'C :aai:

DanK schreef:

Kowalczyk schreef:Right... The G-14 want the second group phase of the Champions League back. If that is impossible, they want a seeding list for the knock-out phase. They don't like the fact that the biggest clubs can bump into each other as early as in the round of sixteen.

What a splendid idea! I mean: it's a sports competition innit. It's football. So we can't have unexpected things. We just can't accept any surprises. Totally undesirable. So let's think of a few more rules that will minimize the chance that something surprising will happen. Will make the whole thing much more fun.

K.

Anyone who reads this forum will know my stance on Europes "big" clubs and how they are destroying football, so I wont go into it again - well too much :)

G14 - Pull your f*&king head in. You don't own football. God forbid one of you gets knocked out within the first round of the Champions League. F&^k, most of you shouldn't even be there as you finished 3rd or 4th in your league. And as much as I hate to say it, a lot of these clubs aren't even top clubs within Europe anymore (eg: Ajax), so why should they have a major say in what happens to the rest of the clubs???

Now they also want compensation for use of international players. OK fine. I am a national coach, now who do I pick someone who will cost us a lot of money, or someone who is free...hmmm.

They should be thankful for players playing at international level. It increases the exposure of the player, and hence, increases the money the clubs receive for a sale of the said players.

I could go on and on, but in summary. G14 you f*&king suck dogs balls!

Thank you for your time :hypocrite:

Well, being as our beloved AFCA are part of said G14 group I didn't expect to find anyone on here who I agreed with on the subject (and have kept very quiet apart from pasting news stories)....but now I have. Well said that man DanK :xyxthumbs: G14 do not own football.stop

Can anyone explain how a team as SHIT as Juventus can top Serie A?

Has anyone seen this club play a decent game of football in recent years?

They don't play spectacular like Barca but ussually they don't give away much. Juventus has a solid defense and a great midfield which is the best part of the team. When you can line up players like Nedved, Viera and Emerson you can control many games. And their attack isn't bad either, Zlatan and Trezequet play well together although I think that Zlatan should score a few more goals.

It's not a team which is fun to watch if you like spectacular football but Juventus is a tough opponent.

philippe schreef:we are part of the G14, aren't we ?

Yeah, don't you wonder how our man Fontein feels about all this? Is he willing to trade the large part of our chances to advance to a quarter final for the few million Euros that you'll get for 4 extra guaranteed 2nd round matches?

DanK schreef:

Kowalczyk schreef:Right... The G-14 want the second group phase of the Champions League back. If that is impossible, they want a seeding list for the knock-out phase. They don't like the fact that the biggest clubs can bump into each other as early as in the round of sixteen.

What a splendid idea! I mean: it's a sports competition innit. It's football. So we can't have unexpected things. We just can't accept any surprises. Totally undesirable. So let's think of a few more rules that will minimize the chance that something surprising will happen. Will make the whole thing much more fun.

K.

Anyone who reads this forum will know my stance on Europes "big" clubs and how they are destroying football, so I wont go into it again - well too much :)

G14 - Pull your f*&king head in. You don't own football. God forbid one of you gets knocked out within the first round of the Champions League. F&^k, most of you shouldn't even be there as you finished 3rd or 4th in your league. And as much as I hate to say it, a lot of these clubs aren't even top clubs within Europe anymore (eg: Ajax), so why should they have a major say in what happens to the rest of the clubs???

Now they also want compensation for use of international players. OK fine. I am a national coach, now who do I pick someone who will cost us a lot of money, or someone who is free...hmmm.

They should be thankful for players playing at international level. It increases the exposure of the player, and hence, increases the money the clubs receive for a sale of the said players.

I could go on and on, but in summary. G14 you f*&king suck dogs balls!

Thank you for your time :hypocrite:

Spot on. :yes:

juventus out of the CL soon (after their 2-0 defeat to arsenal plus 3 players suspended for the return game) ….. I can not say how sorry I am :biggthumpup:

philippe schreef:juventus out of the CL soon (after their 2-0 defeat to arsenal plus 3 players suspended for the return game) ….. I can not say how sorry I am :biggthumpup:

I guess there's no french saying equivalent to 'don't count your chickens......'

philippe schreef:juventus out of the CL soon (after their 2-0 defeat to arsenal plus 3 players suspended for the return game) ….. I can not say how sorry I am :biggthumpup:

watched the whole game and liked what I saw. A team with young but confident players who support each other in the D and attack with ball control, short passes and a lot of speed. Where have I seen that recipe for winning the CL before....:X

The weird thing is: Arsenal are a bit shit in the English league this season, whereas Juventus are absolutely unbeatable in Italy. This result really surprised me, and the fact that Juve were pretty much outplayed even more so.

A 1-0 win would have been a very dangerous result for Arsenal, and a 2-1 win would not have been a good result at all: in that case Juve's 'favourite' home result (1-0) would have been enough for them. But now they will really have to attack and go for two goals at the very least. Juve are absolutely not used to that situation in home games - and I don't think they'll be equipped for it. With fast dudes like Henry, Arsenal should be able to seriously hurt them on counter-attacks and (indeed) beat them 'Juventus style' (0-1) at that f*cking toilet, the Delle Alpi.

Nice one.

K.

Oh yeah: I would like to add that it is extremely daft to pick up a couple of red cards like that.

Frustrated? Understandable. Taking it out on a few Arsenal players? Not a good thing to do, but hey: they're human. Things happen. People make mistakes. That is: in the last ten minutes of the return leg!! But this was the first game, for Christ's sake! How can you be so stupid? Are they already giving up or something?

I thought Ajax were young, inexperienced and a bit clumsy...

It was great to see Juventus get crazy in the head, though... Very amusing. :D

K.

Arsenal missed Vieira for quite along time this season and have had most of their defence out.Last nights team had 3 reserve defenders and Flamini the left back is a right sided midfielder.
Alot of english teams know the best way to beat them is not give them space and be physical. eg Bolton Blackburn .

A great result for them and they could go all the way. Only Ronaldinho is better than Henry.

Kowalczyk schreef:The weird thing is: Arsenal are a bit shit in the English league this season, whereas Juventus are absolutely unbeatable in Italy. This result really surprised me, and the fact that Juve were pretty much outplayed even more so.
K.

nothing surprising here : serie A is very overrated, as I already mentioned ;)

philippe schreef:nothing surprising here : serie A is very overrated, as I already mentioned ;)

Q.E.D. :D

K.

No one has even mentioned the match of the tournament, Benfica 0-0 Barcelona, Unbelievable goalkeeping from both sides, Usually I would route for Barcelona, but because of the two kakkerlakern of Gio and Larsson, and the dirty diver Deco, I dont really like them that much, and I am a big fan of Ronald Koeman(remember 2002-03 season), I think Barcelona blew it, they could have finished them off 2-6, but my prediction for the return leg:
Barcelona 0-1 Benfica :yes: I can see Arsenal vs Benfica final.