Arq

I think, we as fans, need to give this a little more time to see if it'll work or not. My first thoughts are to say that it doesn't work. I think Lampard is crowded at the tip of the diamond and not able to truly play to his strengths. I hope he can get used to it. I thought Mikel looked horrid. Essien should be established at the base imho. Deco is suited for this style of play, but where does he fit in? I almost think he could provide help on the right side until Joey gets back. Put Malouda or Zhirkov on the left and I think that's the best lineup for the diamond. However, I'm not the guy running the show, Carlo is. We need to have a little faith in his plan. And that's the kicker... What is Carlo's plan and what is his backup plan if that fails? We see that the 4-4-2 diamond is his formation of choice and his current plan. If that doesn't work, what does Carlo have up his sleeve? If it's nothing, then we probably have another Scolari-type and he won't be around long. I personally feel that Carlo will be able to adjust if he feels the diamond isn't working.

I don't understand the Gerrard love either. Maybe UEFA just has a man-crush on him... My picks from the list: GK - Edwin van der Sar Def - John Terry Mid - Andrés Iniesta For - Lionel Messi

Same! I'm just overjoyed right now... Now only if my coffee can get finished. :P

I'm excited, the season is about to get under way! The disappointing news for me is that it looks like ESPN2 here in the States is not going to carry the game. Looks like I'm watching via the Internet. :D EDIT: Correction, looks like they have it! Yes!

Exactly!

Here are my thoughts from the game. I was able to watch the first half live, keep tabs on it via my cell, then watch it on my DVR when I got home. I was refreshing my blackberry every 15-30 seconds during the shootout. I thought my wife was going to kill me. 1. After Nani's goal, Cech really stepped it up. Chalk that one up to just being an eye-opener for him I guess. 2. I thought Ballack did his job superbly. Imho, Ballack put a block on him but Evra face-planted into Ballack (bad idea Evra, the German has some size if you didn't notice). I think Ballack's rocket of a PK rattled Evra once again. Nice weak kick there Evra, not that I'm complaining. More so thanking... :P 3. The TV angles were bad, but it looked to me that Rooney was offsides. It was close, but I think he was ahead by about half-a-step. 4. It's still early but I like what I see from Carlo so far. I don't know what he said at half-time, but the guys came out with more fire. Well done. 5. I'm not sold on the diamond formation yet... I agree with ice. A tight defense could give this team a real fit. I guess we'll see how it works out. 6. A PK win! Brilliant!

I know Ozil is half German and half Turkish and he was born in Germany. Castro is half Spanish and half German. I'm not sure about Wagner...

From what I've read, Özil is being spoken of as the next big German superstar. I've watched some of his highlights from Schalke and Werder Bremen, and I have to agree that he could be a special talent. He definitely made the world a little more aware of his talent last night in the U-21 Euro Championship. His pass to Gonzalo Castro for the first German goal was absolutely brilliant.

I'll take a shot at this... Good to get the brain going on something interesting on this blah monday morning. B) My bold's are who I think is tops at the moment. goal - Petr Cech, Iker Casillas, Gianluigi Buffon lback - Ashley Cole, Philip Lahm, Joan Capdevilla rback - Dani Alves, Sergio Ramos, Jose Bosingwa cback - John Terry, Puyol, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Alessandro Nesta, Giorgio Chiellini lwing - David Silva, Frank Ribery, Arjen Robben rwing - Christiano Ronaldo, Lional Messi, Andrey Arshavin cmid - Andres Iniesta, Francesc Fabregas, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Xavi, Kaka striker - Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres, David Villa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lukas Poldoski, Luis Fabiano

Ha, I was thinking along those lines after the second goal. How does that feel Mr. Handball? I was hoping someone would beat Spain. The US doing it, after being all but written off was bittersweet. And to add to it, the US Soccer team was making a lot of headline news yesterday and this morning. That is GREAT to get more people into football/soccer as a whole. Purely awesome. Go USA!

I didn't see this posted anywhere, so I figured I'd throw it in here. ESPN is basically saying that Bosingwa is on his way to Bayern and Chelsea could make a move for Maicon... http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...and&cc=5901 Chelsea could move for Brazilian defender Maicon after the player's agent revealed he would be interested in a move to the Premier League. After missing out on Glen Johnson and with Jose Bonsingwa seemingly headed for Bayern Munich, new Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti is in need of a new right-back. It's a position which has caused Chelsea problems for years and although Bosingwa appeared to solve the issue they could now raid Inter Milan for Maicon. Maicon, who began his career in Brazil with Cruzeiro before joining Monaco in 2004, has spent three years at the San Siro and has carved out a reputation as a quality attacking wing-back with ability to weigh in with goals. The 27-year-old defender is currently on international duty at the Confederations Cup. "If an attractive offer comes in, well, in this world, everything is bought and everything is sold," agent Antonio Caliendo said in Calico Mercato. "I believe Ancelotti is one of Maicon's biggest admirers. "He is open to offers from everyone. (Inter president, Massimo) Moratti is taking the right decision to assess the bids. "Maicon is happy at Inter, but the transfer window lasts a long time. Something can happen every day, but for now there has been no decision. "It's not just Real Madrid but Chelsea who also could make a move (for Maicon). I'm not saying that would be the case because the possibility (of buying the player) is open to every club. "However, what I would like to point out is that you don't negotiate for a champion, you go there, you buy him and that's that. You need to make a financial effort to buy a champion.''

I feel the same way, but I'm happy to see the USA make it to the semis. However, I was disappointed at the lack of media coverage over it (this was on Fox shortly after the win). "USA defeats Egypt 3-0." Um... that all people? No mention of them making the semis! Sheesh... As long as someone beats Spain, I'll be thrilled. :D

The USA team should make the World Cup finals. They're currently second in the CONCACAF rankings (top 3 make it) and 3 points in the clear of 3rd place, Honduras. Mexico isn't as strong as they used to be (currently 4th), and imho the USA squad is better then the Costa Rica squad (currently 1st). We'll see though... :P

I couldn't have said it better then this. I thought it would be much worse. Ballack should have probably gotten something from this whole ordeal. What is most appalling is that there isn't word one about the ref. Nothing can be done about it, but it would have been nice for UEFA to at least admit that Orvebo did make some critical and obvious mistakes. Making strides to ensure that it doesn't happen again to any team is the important thing... Isn't it?

This may not exactly be the place to put this, but since it was brought up during the Ronaldo transfer, I'd figure I'd post it and see what you think (it's from an ESPN article)... Joe McLean, a partner with Grant Thornton, believes high-earning stars will inevitably be drawn to countries like Spain due to the prospect of the 50% income tax rate coming into force in the UK next April. ''By going to Spain, Ronaldo will be paying several million pounds a year less in tax,'' McLean told said. ''His advisors will undoubtedly have been saying to him that, although Manchester United and Real Madrid are both superstar clubs, the fact is in the UK he will pay £5m in tax on £10m, whereas in Spain it will be £2.5m. So... If the tax difference is really close to that much (I have no idea about the English tax system versus the Spanish tax system), how many other big names will avoid England for Spain on pure financial reasons alone? Chelsea undoubtedly gets linked with almost every big name out there for one reason or another. Those links that turn out to be true, do you think that could be a reason that some players are writing off moving to Chelsea no matter what the bid is? I'm sure it's not the only reason... I just thought it's an interesting tidbit that could determine players wanting to go to Spain more than England.

This isn't good news for those of us in the US that use Setanta as another outlet to watch a good bulk of football games. ESPN here won't show a PL game if their lives depended on it (they currently show CL games, but that's moving to Fox beginning next season I believe). Currently, I pay an extra $15/month for Setanta. If Setanta folds causing my provider to drop that channel, that leaves us with just Fox Soccer Channel as our only channel to catch PL football. I'm not sure what kind of deal Fox has with Sky, but I do see Sky's sports review on that channel quite a bit. I will admit that Setanta has been a little disappointing at times, but it's certainly better then losing a decent portion of the games I watch throughout the season. :D

I'm hoping that this whole thing is just to make RM pay more for Kaka. Not that he's not a great player, but imho he's not what this team needs moving forward especially for that kind of money. That money should be used elsewhere (Zhirkov, Pato, etc.).

Most definitely!

I agree that it's time to get fully behind Carlo and see what the man can do for us. One thing that imho helps the team is that Guus is staying on as a technical advisor. If he and Carlo can see eye-to-eye on things, this combo could be a great thing for this club for years to come. I believe that one poster said that Carlo was brought in to win Chelsea the CL. Obviously that's going to be an item on the agenda. However, I do believe that the PL is going to be right up there with the CL when it comes to priority. Carlo is going to find out how important winning the PL actually is. He'll hear it from the management staff, team, and fans. He'll know that he needs to be competing for the PL title every step of the way. Who Carlo decides to buy and sell (and loan) during the transfer periods is going to tell us a lot about how he plans on attacking this upcoming season. I welcome this appointment. I don't see it going as wrong as LFS's short tenure. Carlo has my support, and I'm ready to see this train get moving. Bring on August.

Great game, I've been smiling and just feeling good all day. A nice stamp to finish the season and one of the best ways to say thanks to Guus!! To Everton, great game as well! I was chewing on my nails a bit after that first goal. A hell of a game Evertonians, hold your heads up proud.

I've been watching for the last hour and I feel the same way. Finally, now they are talking about Chelsea. Meh... scratch that. They were talking about Chelsea for a minute or so. I can either watch the game on Setanta or Fox Sports... I might have to just watch it on Fox Sports. :D

Want Ribery on the team? Yes, definitely. That much to sign him? Not sure about that one... It's not my money though, so if Roman wants to spend it, then bring him in!

Congrats to Barca. They definitely did what they needed to tonight. They deserved that game. Puts it into perspective at how well Chelsea did against Barca. It should have been Chelsea playing, it really should have. And now to add insult to injury... I get to hear about it for the next year since my boss is a Barca fan. :(

Agreed! I'm currently watching ESPN's SportsCenter and I keep seeing commercials for the game tomorrow. Man U and the "World's top player" Ronaldo, versus Barcelona and "the dazzling playmaker" Messi... If my TV didn't cost me so much money, I'd chuck my remote into it.

Same here. :D