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[The Chosen One]

Bayern is the better squad, they would have broken through.

Also there is a skill to managing highly paid players. It's the Joe Torre thing, there is a certain skill to handling big personalities.

Joe Torre has class. Mourinho is the biggest deuche in football. Even Ferguson wasn't as big of a deuche.

[zitothebrave]

Soccer is a different sport than Baseball. Different standards and rules. Jose can be classy when it's called for (like after the Real/Man U game where Nani was sent off wrongly)

[goldfly]

got word back

going to Brazil

got tickets for the USA vs Ghana and the Ivory Coast vs Japan game. can't wait

[gilesfan]

Mourinho

And I think if Arsenal played their full lineup against Bayern it would've been nil-nil or a win. This is the first time they've lost at home all year I believe.

You drunk.

[The Chosen One]

You drunk.

It wouldn't have been 2-0, maybe not even 1-0. Be real here the stupid red card to Woj is what turned the game into BM's favor.

And I forgot they lost to AV at home on the first game. They have not lost since then.

[zitothebrave]

It wouldn't have been 2-0, maybe not even 1-0. Be real here the stupid red card to Woj is what turned the game into BM's favor.

And I forgot they lost to AV at home on the first game. They have not lost since then.

They lost at home agains tChelsea in the Capital One cup, Dortmund in the UCL

And the only teams they've beaten at home worth a damn is Liverpool and Tottenham. Drew against Chelsea, Man U, and Everton, have yet to play Man City

[zitothebrave]

2 things to add as well. No team I listed above is close to as good as Bayern. Only Real and Barca.

As stated above, Arsenal lost to DOrtmund when they were in better form, and Dortmund is 20 points in the table behind Bayern. Bayern is 20-2-0 in the Bundesliga right now, they have not lost or drawn a match in 2 month, they haven't been held to under 2 goals since the beginning of November. They've all in all lost 2 matches all year, the Super Cup against DOrtmund, and a comefrom behind UCL victory by City.

Side note, Fabian Johnson moving to Borussia Monchengladbach. GOod move for him.

[MrShwag]

2 things to add as well. No team I listed above is close to as good as Bayern. Only Real and Barca. .

I think PSG are also "close".. and they, as well as Real Madrid and Barcelona have the only shot at beating them

I have not watched a lot of Bayern without any Bundesliga access through Comcrap - but watching them vs. Arsenal I'm not certain they have fully optimized the Guardiola tiki-taka possession based style. No doubt they are a force. But I wonder if they might be exploitable against a team with strong counter-attacking such as Ronaldo / Bale / Di Maria / Benzema at Real Madrid or Ibra / Lavezzi / Cavani at PSG. Barcelona can go both ways - counter and possess really well.

Either way, round of 8 is going to be tight. I see Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Athletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, PSG, Olympiakos, and Chelsea through.

[zitothebrave]

Very good points.

I don't think Bayern will utilize a true tiki-taka style like Barca had simply because the style of play in the Bundesliga is very different than in Spain. So I think it will be a blend of zone attacking with a higher work rate. He seemingly has introduced the false 9 though. Manzucic has done a great job but like at Barca, he wants a lot of goals from his attacking mids and Muller, Robben, Ribery, Gotze, and Shaqiri have combined for 34 goals in the Bundesliga. There's been some rumors that Manzukic may leave and they may not replace him. Of course the more popular rumor is he leaves and Lewandowski comes in. Will be interesting to watch. I think Bayern would kill with Lewandowski though, he's a poacher which I think would succeed in their system and I can see him collecting a lot of goals on botched saves and what not.

I think overall you'll see a system between Barca and Bayern last year. Total domination on the ball, but these guys unlike the Barca players are gonna take shots.

I think Real is the scariest team right now. Because of what you mentioned, the track stars they have out there can turn a counter in no time. PSG has striking talent but they don't ahve the speed and a well timed counter lead by Ronaldo or Bale is scary with how good they are in possession.

I do think Bayern needs to address their defense though.I think instead of buying Gotze they should have targeted Hummels. Obviously Gotze is a better player, but Hummels I think plugs a need for them better. THey need a big bad CB to hold their line down. ALso probably can upgrade over Rafinha.

[zitothebrave]

Also I think the evolution of Tony Kroos has been awesome to watch. He's become a deadly passer. Still has a ton of room for growth,

The only problem for him though, with how awesome Thiago has been, and Schweinsteiger next to him. He's gonna struggle for PT. Alaba also has gotten his fair share of PT as well but that's expected.

[zitothebrave]

Realm of interesting, Real scored 6 goals. Going Benzema, Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale, Renaldo.

[MrShwag]

The most recent incarnation of Espana:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas [Real Madrid], Pepe Reina [Napoli], Victor Valdes [Barcelona]

Defenders: Juanfran Torres [Atletico Madrid], Javi Martinez [Bayern Munich], Sergio Ramos [Real Madrid], Jordi Alba [Barcelona], Cesar Azpilicueta [Chelsea], Raul Albiol [Napoli].

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso [Real Madrid], Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta & Cesc Fabregas [Barcelona], Koke [Atletico Madrid], Thiago Alcantara [Bayern], Jesus Navas & David Silva [Man City], Santi Cazorla [Arsenal].

Attackers: Diego Costa [Atletico], Alvaro Negredo [Man City], Pedro Rodriguez [Barca]


So sick.

[zitothebrave]

First off, Lol Arsenal.

Second, I want to say it's an interesting battle between who's got the better mids between Spain and Germany. You listed the mids above for spain, Germany has Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Gotze, Muller (Bayern) Khedira (Real) Ozil, Podelski (arsenal) Schurrle (Chelsea) Lars Bender (Leverkusen) Sven Bender, Reus (Dortmund) and Draxler (Schalke)

[zitothebrave]

So what 23 players do you take the World Cup if you're Jurgen Klinsmann?

For me I go

GK - Howard, Guzan, Rimando. Rimando could be replaced by younger guys like Hamid or Johnson but odds of the 3rd keeper seeing any PT are small
DF - Gonzalez, Besler, Beasley, Cameron, Goodson, Castillo, Evans
MF - Bradley, Jones, DIskerud, Zusi,Johnson, Shea, Klestjan
FW - Jozy, Dempsey, Landycakes, Wondo, Gomez, Johannsson.

My starting would be

LB - Beasley
CB - Gonzo
CB - Besler
RB - Johnson
CDM - Bradley
CDM - Jones (quick trigger on him if he keeps struggling he's a big red card risk and replace him with Mix or Cameron)
RAM - Zusi
CF - Dempsey
LAM - Donovan (figure as the better attacker between Zusi and himself)
ST - jozy

My first choice subs are Johannsson, Shea, Cameron, and Mix.

[zitothebrave]

US defense looks terrible but it's probably going to considering the Ukraine is a great team and the US is starting a bunch of guys who won't be starting.

Anyway got to love this game. You can hear all the eff bombs.

[zitothebrave]

I may have to remove Klestjan, jeez he's looked terrible today. Castillo may wind up on the block as well. He's looked brutal today against a quality winger.

[zitothebrave]

Slightly rough result for the US.

The only super weak parts of the game was the play by Klestjan and the CBs with Castillo.

ALtidore was good in his small bursts but didn't get enough balls played to him. Dempsey was flat in the first half but showed life in the second half. Bedoya I think earned his way onto the World Cup squad. Cameron made some mistakes, but overall was very strong. All the bench players made very positive results. Shea still has some work to hone his technique but the second he came on he made a handful of great plays. Johannsson is great and kind of making me tweak my potential starting roster to

CM - Bradley
CM - Zusi
RM - Donovan
LM - Dempsey
ST - Johannsson
ST - Jozy

Hard to bench Jones or Zusi, but if Johannsson is in form going into the WC it's something that has to be considered.

For me watching the game today with guys on the potential bubble, Cameron locked his spot showing a 3rd position he can play at a decent level, Shea I think locked his spot as a bench player, I think Bedoya went up, Kljestan went down, and Brooks proved he wasn't ready. Onyewu needed a dominant performance to be in the discussion and he was bad.

The biggest positive for the US was Howard was amazing. Even acceptable defensive play we draw at worst. Howard made huge saves only to have the Ukrainians gain second chances. Both of the first chances were the defense's fault as well. Positive is that only Cameron wil likely make the WC roster and he shouldn't be starting.

[The Chosen One]

Arsenal fighting. Doubtful they tie the aggregate being down 2 goals now.

[zitothebrave]

Arsenal fighting. Doubtful they tie the aggregate being down 2 goals now.

[zitothebrave]

Kinda feel bad for Man U, Liverpool got 2 soft penalties on their way to a 3-0 win. Letter of the law both were penalties, but 90% of th etime neither of them are called. Tough luck season and Moyes has to be feeling the heat. He won't be fired this year if he misses out on the UCL but he will be on the super hot seat next year and he really hasn't had th etime to get his team together.