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The W - Sports that aren't Baseball, Football, Basketball, or Hockey - 2012-13 UEFA Champions League group draws (Page 2)
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TheBucsFan
TheChiefsFan








Since: 2.1.02

Since last post: 3516 days
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#21 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.57
Here's the quarterfinal draw:

Paris Saint-Germain (France) vs. Barcelona (Spain)
Bayern Munich (Germany) vs. Juventus (Italy)
Real Madrid (Spain) vs. Galatasary (Turkey)
Malaga (Spain) vs. Burussia Dortmund (Germany)

The first two will see the first legs played April 2 and the return legs April 10, while the latter two will kick off on April 3 and finish on April 9.

With no English clubs remaining, I'm thinking interest in the U.S. in this tournament will go down a bit, though Barca and Real Madrid obviously are still marquee names.

Bayern and Juventus intrigues me, but the other three matchups I don't particularly care about. I'm not very interested in the PSG project, especially not now that the Beckham circus has pitched its tent. I'm also tired of Barcelona. Drogba playing in the Champions League the very next season for another club is kind of sad - a big part of the specialness of the moment last year when he made that decisive spot kick was the kind of "signing off" aspect of it, with Drogba departing Europe for a payday in China having scaled the European mountain. It's like Michael Jordan retiring a champion and then coming back a couple years later for the Wizards - that's not what anybody wants to remember him by. And finally, Malaga is a precious story, but I don't give them a chance against the reigning German champs.

I say: Barca, Juventus in a big surprise, Real Madrid, and Borussia Dortmund.

A lot of people will be clamoring for a clasico final, but I'd rather Madrid and Barca met in the semifinals - it gives us two legs between the two, in front of the respective home fans. Similar to how the conference championship weekend in the NFL is often packed with more drama and intensity than the actual Super Bowl, I think the semifinals of the Champions League are the greatest bits of drama in club football.

EDIT: And here is the draw for the Europa League quarterfinals - three English clubs still alive there. First legs to be played April 4, return legs April 11:

Chelsea (England) vs. Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Tottenham (England) vs. FC Basel (Switzerland)
Fenerbahçe (Turkey) vs. Lazio (Italy)
Benfica (Portugal) vs. Newcastle (England)


I've watched way more of this tournament this year than in years past, and have seen some exciting moments. Newcastle yesterday scored the winning goal in their round of 16 tie with literally the last touch of the game - with three minutes of stoppage time allotted, Cisse headed home for the Toons just as the clock struck 93:00, and the ref blew his whistle right after to wrap up a 1-0 win on aggregate for Newcastle. Spurs meanwhile blew a 3-0 victory in the first leg against Inter Milan and allowed Inter to force extra time, but Spurs recovered and Emmanuel Adebayor scored a rather fortunate goal in the first extra time period to secure the win.

I'm really hoping for a Chelsea/Spurs final here, but seeing Newcastle reach the final would also be pretty exciting. I still wish UEFA would make this tournament for a berth in the following year's Champions League, but it doesn't seem likely to happen.

(edited by TheBucsFan on 15.3.13 1001)
texasranger9
Frankfurter








Since: 9.1.11

Since last post: 1453 days
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#22 Posted on | Instant Rating: 2.40
Rubin Kazan
Tottenham
Lazio
Benfica



Paris Saint-Germain
Bayern Munich
Galatasary
Burussia Dortmund

German and Spanish football is strong right now. Drogba teams just win this time of year.
dMr
Andouille








Since: 2.11.02
From: Edinburgh, Scotland

Since last post: 2852 days
Last activity: 1198 days
#23 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.66
    Originally posted by TheBucsFan
    I still wish UEFA would make this tournament for a berth in the following year's Champions League, but it doesn't seem likely to happen.

The argument against that would be that it would make it more likely that you could end up with teams that are mid-table in their domestic league getting into the CL. I'm a bit of an old curmudgeon who's still less than happy at the whole idea of 4th place teams being in the 'Champions' League so exacerbating that wouldn't be great IMO (although at least the Europa League winners have won *something*).

I agree they need to try and do something to make the Europa League more meaningful again though. Part of me thinks a good way to achieve that would be to stop having teams drop out of the CL into the Europa League. That way the teams in it aren't there as some form of consolation and fans and players would be much more invested in it. Downside obviously is the loss of 'star power' you get from having teams like Chelsea in there. I dunno, tough problem to solve without changing the format of the CL because it just dwarfs the Europa League in terms of quality and importance.

In related news - Barca, Bayern, Real, Dortmund. If there's going to be an upset I fancy PSG are most likely to spring it.
TheBucsFan
TheChiefsFan








Since: 2.1.02

Since last post: 3516 days
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#24 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.57
So the semifinals are set. In the Champions League:

Bayern Munich (Germany) vs. Barcelona (Spain) - first leg in Munich on April 23, return leg in Barcelona on May 1

Borrusia Dortmund (Germany) vs. Real Madrid (Spain) - first leg in Dortmund on April 24, return leg in Madrid on April 30

I'm disappointed. I would much rather have seen Bayern/BVB and Madrid/Barca - two-legged ties between fierce rivals would be much more entertaining than in a one-off final that doesn't need any additional hype. Plus seeing Madrid in the Camp Nou and Barca in the Bernabeu is always exciting.

I think Madrid and Dortmund are both happy to be drawn against one another. Bayern are the class of Europe at the moment and Barcelona are of course always dangerous - one of the top two teams left will go out in that clash.

I like Bayern and Madrid to advance. Dortmund are entertaining and that comeback against Malaga was magical (and heartbreaking), but Madrid just have too much firepower for me. And Barcelona have not been convincing this year, despite their big lead in La Liga. They were inches away from going out against PSG and AC Milan had them on the ropes heading into the return leg. Yeah, they came back and won both ties, but they're just not at their peak.

I like Madrid to win the competition at this point.

-----------------------------

Over in the Europa League (both ties have the first leg on April 25 and the return leg on May 2):

Fenerbahçe (Turkey) vs. Benfica (Portugal)
Basel (Switzerland) vs. Chelsea (England)

If Chelsea win the FA Cup and win the Europa League, is it fair to say they'll have had the best year of any English team yet again? I say yes, definitely yes if they also qualify for next year's Champions League. And then they'll dump their manager yet again.

(edited by TheBucsFan on 12.4.13 0821)
Zeruel
Thirty Millionth Hit
Moderator








Since: 2.1.02
From: The Silver Spring in the Land of Mary.

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#25 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.48
Lets go Benfica! My best friend is Portuguese, so I know a bit about Portuguese soccer. I follow Benfica and Sporting because of them. Because of Renaldo, they follow Real Madrid.



-- 2006 Time magazine Person of the Year --


-- July 2009 Ordained Reverend --
odessasteps
Scrapple








Since: 2.1.02
From: MD, USA

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#26 Posted on | Instant Rating: 3.76
i would have rather seen RM vs Bayern and Barca vs Dortmund.



Mark Coale
Odessa Steps Magazine presents



RUSSIAN FLAG BURIAL - an examination of 1984 mid-south



TheBucsFan
TheChiefsFan








Since: 2.1.02

Since last post: 3516 days
Last activity: 3516 days
#27 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.57
Bayern Munich just dominated Barcelona in a way nobody ever has. Barcelona are done and this Bayern team could go down as one of the best ever if they close the deal in the German Cup and win the Champions League, a team hellbent for vindication following last year's massive disappointments domestically and in the Champions League. I wish I knew German so I could read what they are saying domestically about the team.

Real/Bayern was the final I was hoping for, and it looks very likely to me now. And I think it will be a great matchup, I think Madrid are the more in-form club at the moment in Spain, despite Barcelona's lead in La Liga. And I don't think Madrid can be dominated in the air like Barcelona were today.

Pep Guardiola left the most dominant side in Europe and could be inheriting the most dominant side in Europe. Lucky guy.
texasranger9
Frankfurter








Since: 9.1.11

Since last post: 1453 days
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#28 Posted on | Instant Rating: 2.40
So it was 11-3 Germany over Spain.
odessasteps
Scrapple








Since: 2.1.02
From: MD, USA

Since last post: 3571 days
Last activity: 3538 days
#29 Posted on | Instant Rating: 3.75

insert Dad's Army / Fawlty Towers joke here about Germans invading London



Mark Coale
Odessa Steps Magazine presents



RUSSIAN FLAG BURIAL - an examination of 1984 mid-south



TheBucsFan
TheChiefsFan








Since: 2.1.02

Since last post: 3516 days
Last activity: 3516 days
#30 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.57
So the two finals are set: Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund will meet on Saturday, May 25, in London in the Champions League final, while Chelsea and Benfica will meet on Wednesday, May 15, in Amsterdam in the Europa League final.

I'm rooting hard for Dortmund. Bayern are in dominant form however and look like clear favorites. Both teams have had scares in the Champions League though - Dortmund with their Malaga miracle and Madrid's late rally, and Bayern's 2-0 home loss to Arsenal where the Gunners threatened quite a bit to get a third goal that would have seen them advance.

In the Europa League, I'm rooting for Chelsea to join a club that includes only (I believe) Bayern Munich, Juventus, Ajax as clubs that have won the three big UEFA competitions of the Champions League/European Cup, Europa League/UEFA Cup, and now-defunct Cup Winners' Cup. If Chelsea can win, they will achieve the unique feat of being both the European Cup and UEFA Cup holders simultaneously. I'm hoping Frank Lampard can set the club's all-time scoring mark in the final (he needs two more goals), in case he actually isn't brought back.
MoeGates
Boudin blanc








Since: 6.1.02
From: Brooklyn, NY

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#31 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.39
    Originally posted by dMr
      Originally posted by TheBucsFan
      I still wish UEFA would make this tournament for a berth in the following year's Champions League, but it doesn't seem likely to happen.

    The argument against that would be that it would make it more likely that you could end up with teams that are mid-table in their domestic league getting into the CL. I'm a bit of an old curmudgeon who's still less than happy at the whole idea of 4th place teams being in the 'Champions' League so exacerbating that wouldn't be great IMO (although at least the Europa League winners have won *something*).

    I agree they need to try and do something to make the Europa League more meaningful again though. Part of me thinks a good way to achieve that would be to stop having teams drop out of the CL into the Europa League. That way the teams in it aren't there as some form of consolation and fans and players would be much more invested in it. Downside obviously is the loss of 'star power' you get from having teams like Chelsea in there. I dunno, tough problem to solve without changing the format of the CL because it just dwarfs the Europa League in terms of quality and importance.



The only way you're going to up the perception of the Europa League is to go back to a true Cup-Winners-Cup format. Otherwise there's no way to not make it second-tier in every way. Keep the current format of Champions League, or maybe add another qualifying round to handle some more teams that would have qualified for the old Europa League. Then take the Cup Winners from each league and do a home-and-away knockout competition. In leagues with two cups, the secondary cup winner qualifies at an earlier qualifying round. Do qualifying rounds from secondary cups and weaker leagues until you have 32 teams. Maybe give the top 8 leagues a bye until the round of 16.

There are two obvious drawbacks - first, there would be vastly fewer teams to qualify for Europe. But right now there's 191 clubs that qualify for Europa League, and 76 for Champions League. That's ridiculous, and also keep in mind the majority of them go out only having played two games in a qualifier. Europa League qualifiers aren't lucrative, and can be a serious hassle for clubs because they have to start their season earlier than they otherwise would. I don't think there would be too much in the way of complaints if the roster was trimmed, and a Champion's League place (and extra qualifying round) added for each association, with the clubs that would otherwise have qualified maybe being guaranteed a friendly or two in August to compensate. Still - this new format would about halve the number of teams that qualify for Europe in some way, shape, or form.

The bigger problem is double qualification - a lot of the teams to qualify for a Cup-Winner's Europa Cup are probably going to also qualify for Champion's League. Even if the larger leagues come in at the round of 16 instead of 32, that's still 7 extra games to play in an already brutal schedule for the big clubs, who are regularly playing over 60 games a year at this point (and add that to international duty which most players at big clubs have).


(edited by MoeGates on 12.5.13 1755)


www.allcitynewyork.com
Captain Ferret
Polska kielbasa








Since: 14.9.02
From: Manchester

Since last post: 2831 days
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#32 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.44
    Originally posted by MoeGates

    The only way you're going to up the perception of the Europa League is to go back to a true Cup-Winners-Cup format. Otherwise there's no way to not make it second-tier in every way. Keep the current format of Champions League, or maybe add another qualifying round to handle some more teams that would have qualified for the old Europa League. Then take the Cup Winners from each league and do a home-and-away knockout competition. In leagues with two cups, the secondary cup winner qualifies at an earlier qualifying round. Do qualifying rounds from secondary cups and weaker leagues until you have 32 teams. Maybe give the top 8 leagues a bye until the round of 16.

    There are two obvious drawbacks - first, there would be vastly fewer teams to qualify for Europe. But right now there's 191 clubs that qualify for Europa League, and 76 for Champions League. That's ridiculous, and also keep in mind the majority of them go out only having played two games in a qualifier. Europa League qualifiers aren't lucrative, and can be a serious hassle for clubs because they have to start their season earlier than they otherwise would. I don't think there would be too much in the way of complaints if the roster was trimmed, and a Champion's League place (and extra qualifying round) added for each association, with the clubs that would otherwise have qualified maybe being guaranteed a friendly or two in August to compensate. Still - this new format would about halve the number of teams that qualify for Europe in some way, shape, or form.

    The bigger problem is double qualification - a lot of the teams to qualify for a Cup-Winner's Europa Cup are probably going to also qualify for Champion's League. Even if the larger leagues come in at the round of 16 instead of 32, that's still 7 extra games to play in an already brutal schedule for the big clubs, who are regularly playing over 60 games a year at this point (and add that to international duty which most players at big clubs have).




Are you suggesting that teams who win both their domestic league and cup would enter both competitions? Traditionally, the runners up of the cup final got the CWC spot.

Mind you, the early rounds are very profitable for the smaller nations that enter (teams get €100,000 just for getting knocked out in the first qualifying round of the Europa League, the Champions League dishes out €2 million just for being in it at all).

The Europa League will always be looked on as second rate as long as the Champions League retains its current format (specifically, allowing multiple teams from single nations to enter). Back in the good old days, the UEFA Cup was ridiculously hard to win, as you'd have the 2 or 3 teams from England, Spain, Italy etc. who get into the CL now (so Manchester United, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Barcelona from this season, for example) in it, and it was two legged knockout ties, with no seeding/ So you could get some team from Iceland in the first round, or last season's winners (this happened in the 1978 European Cup, where the new English champions, Nottingham Forest drew the European champions, Liverpool, in the first round).
texasranger9
Frankfurter








Since: 9.1.11

Since last post: 1453 days
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#33 Posted on | Instant Rating: 2.40
Redemption for Robben?
Captain Ferret
Polska kielbasa








Since: 14.9.02
From: Manchester

Since last post: 2831 days
Last activity: 1976 days
#34 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.44
    Originally posted by texasranger9
    Redemption for Robben?


Yep, though it's likely to be thank you and goodbye, with Guardiola coming in and Goetze, Kroos, etc. in the way.
TheBucsFan
TheChiefsFan








Since: 2.1.02

Since last post: 3516 days
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#35 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.57
Maybe he'll end up back with Chelsea along with Mourinho. With David Luiz reportedly linked with Barcelona because Mourinho doesn't want him (crazy if true, but I digress), we can see a Chelsea line up straight out of 2006 with Robben, Cech, Cole, Terry ... OK, I guess that's really it. Drogba would have to be there for it to be vintage Chelsea anyway.
Rush4Life
Kolbasz








Since: 2.1.02
From: Tacoma, WA

Since last post: 1762 days
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#36 Posted on | Instant Rating: 0.22
Saw the Final on Saturday and it was a darned goo match. Gus Johnson is going to die on the microphone one day..



Chuck Norris drives an ice cream truck covered in human skulls.
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I realize that. That is the exact thing I've said sucks and should be rethought. Use whatever ranking mechanism you want, but the balls in a pot method is totally unnecessary, in my view. What does it add?
- TheBucsFan, Euro 2012 Draw (2011)
Related threads: Euro 2012 - UEFA Champions League semi-finals: Barca/Real Madrid, Man U/Schalke 04 - Champions League Draw: Group Stages - More...
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