Once again regrets for the long absence. At the moment I’m in Mainz, Germany on vacation. I’ve been in Koblenz, Bonn and Strasbourg, France, with a number of interesting day trips and experiences. One of the most interesting of which was an evening at a restaurant in Bonn last Saturday night watching Borussia Dortmund paste Bayern Munich 5-2 in the German Cup Championship next to a table filled with elderly women cheering their North Rhine-Westfalian neighbors more vigorously than I’ve seen most men cheer their teams.
I have scheduled a Champions League Championship Open Thread on Saturday shortly after one p.m. (I’m due back in NYC on Saturday just before noon). Now for a few observations.
That was one exciting finish to the English Premier League wasn’t it? My hotel in Bonn did not carry any of the games, so I was stuck with watching udates on BBC World, but there was something for nearly everyone last Sunday: Manchester City’s tieing and winning goals in overtime; Arsenal managing to secure third place, leaving many of us Gooners nervous wrecks and disappointment for Manchester United and Bolton.
To say Bayern Munich will have to step up their game after their horrible showing in the German Cup Final is a gross understatement. Nowithstanding Chelse missing John Terry, Ramires, Bransilav Ivanovic, and Raul Meirelles, they will have to defend better than last Saturday’s game.
This morning I visited Kaiserslautern where I lived for three years and stopped by Fritz Walter Stadium. There are few places sadder in sports than the. stadium of a one-time champion going to the second division – again.
Full disclosure: I’m an Arsenal fan, but my antipathy towards John Terry and [C]Ashley Cole goes beyond team rivalry. Terry’s red card offense Against Alexis Sanchez in the second semifinal was not merely stupid, but his weasel words afterwards were shameful. As for Mr. Cole, okay, it is because of the way he left Arsenal.
Kenny Dalglish’s history with Liverpool apparently wasn’t enough to save his job.
I’m also a Barcelona fan and this is for you Cesc Fabregas: notwithstanding your history with Barcelona, if you had stayed with Arsenal I believe you would have had more playing tme and had a greater impact at Arsenal than you did at Barcelona. Just sayin’.
IMHO Thierry Henry is becoming everything for the MLS that the over-hyped David Beckham was supposed to be.
How do you spell gracious? Not Sami Nasri!
BGinCHI
Hey Randinho! Great to see you post.
Sad news for Kenny and Liverpool. I can see both sides of it, but it’s not a happy day. I doubt anyone, Liverpool lover or hater, has any bad words to say about the man.
Dortmund were top notch all year. Too bad they aren’t in the Champion’s League final instead of two very mediocre teams who manage to play (and sometimes cheat) their way into victories. The game comes down to this: if Drogba is fit and on form, Chelsea can win. If not, forget it.
The final EPL day was amazing, even though I can’t stand the new Man City. Sorry for Bolton and Blackburn too: both great clubs.
Let’s hope next year it’s Liverpool and Swansea battling for the title.
Joe Buck
Major jealousy here. My job used to take me to Germany a lot, and I really loved Koblenz and Mainz: both really beautiful small cities with tons to do and see.
Yutsano
Best Italian food I ever had was at a tiny little hole in the wall in Berchtesgaden, Germany. The fact I wads eating with a handsome (but straight) gentleman didn’t hurt either.
pragmatism
Fooking bayern better beat chelski so spurs get in the champions league. If not bye bye modric and bale. I’m biting my fingernails already.
BGinCHI
@Yutsano: How are you doing? Everything go well?
Inquiring minds….
Alex
Did you see Wilshere’s tweet on Champion’s League Final:
“Every Gooner will be a Chelsea fan next week.”
Classic.
JCJ
I’m glad HSV managed to survive and stay in the Bundesliga. I went to school in Hamburg 30 years ago and that was my introduction to Fußball. My EPL squad is Everton. Why do they stink it up for the first few weeks before playing well later in the year? This year the January transfers helped immensely, but they have started sluggish before.
Yutsano
@BGinCHI: I’m doing really good. Just relaxing in the room enjoying my morphine. :)
Best part is that the doc has real high hopes for success. So we might not ever have to do the fusion since this was not a disc repair. At least not for awhile.
BGinCHI
@JCJ: Everton needs to score goals. Period. They play tight D and are organized, but their goal scoring always kills them. I find them frustrating to watch/root for.
BGinCHI
@Yutsano: Great news! On the morphine I mean.
Just kidding, my friend. Hang in there and have a good recovery. And don’t spend too much time reading about politics or you’ll never get well…..
And just so you know, lots of folks have been asking after you around here. Jackals can be kind too you know.
Raven
@Yutsano: Great to hear.
burnspbesq
@pragmatism:
If I ruled the world, the country that won the CL would get an extra slot the following year instead of cannibalizing an existing slot. That way, instead of Spurs being the biggest Bayern fans on earth, you would have Everton rooting for Chelsea because if Chelsea won the CL, Everton would get into the Europa League.
burnspbesq
Some, um, interesting choices for the England Euro squad. I’ll bet Psycho is pissed about Oxlade-Chamberlain; he was probably counting on him to be a key member of the Olympic team (which almost certainly won’t include Beckham, who stunk up the joint when Psycho flew out to LA to watch him play).
Steeplejack
@Yutsano:
WTF?! I thought you were supposed to be dead, or at best spineless, by now. Modern medicine has you up and blabbin’ already?
ETA: Ah, I see it’s the morphine talking.
Yurpean
@BGinCHI: I don’t dislike Liverpool, but after the disgraceful way he handled the Suarez case, I have to say ‘fuck him’.
On a similar note, what the hell Hodgson, Terry in & Ferdinand out?
JCJ
@BGinCHI:
Oh, I know. It was nice to see them score more later in the season, especially goals #3 and #4 against Man U! Maybe if Jelavic is still on the squad next year they will score more. I couldn’t believe after scoring those four against Man U and then again against Fulham they only scored 1 and 0 against Stoke and Wolves.
(Even though I cheer for Everton I hope Liverpool returns to form next year.)
Alex
@burnspbesq: I like it better because this way I can root for Chelsea. Fuck the Spurs.
pedant
Thierry Henry is having a great season. He may very well prove to be what Beckham wasn’t. But don’t you think it lessens the credibility of your observation when you call it “the MLS” and not “MLS”? Get the name right, man!
Henry’s big problem is that he has to carry the traditionally underachieving Red Bulls, as well as the rapidly aging cheap shot artist, Rafa marquez.
Ronnie P
So is Friedel necessarily back next year if they make the Champions League? And what happens to Stuart Holden next year?
BGinCHI
@Yurpean: I hate to speak ill of Roy H., but really? They might as well have picked a large bottle of fizzy water to manage the team.
At least after the match there would be a refreshment.
England will do their usual nosedive and we’ll all have a sad.
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: Don’t diss the drugs dude. I have the blood levels just about petfect on them now. I’ve napped twice and my nurse is awesome. Life ain’t too shabby about now.
Now I pray I didn’t just curse myself. :)
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: Don’t diss the drugs dude. I have the blood levels just about petfect on them now. I’ve napped twice and my nurse is awesome. Life ain’t too shabby about now.
Now I pray I didn’t just curse myself. :)
BonnyAnne
@Yutsano:
hooray! Glad to hear everything is going smoothly post-surgery. Keep pushing that magic little button. :D
EL
Agreed-Kaiserslautern deserves to have an extended period of success, but having just had to live through a season of Eintracht Frankfurt (also a one-time champion) in the 2.BL, I know that not everyone can stay at the top level forever. But I’m also pretty excited for Greuther Fuerth a) advancing to the BL for the first time ever and b) renewing one of the great historic rivalries with Nuremberg at a level where it really means something…hoping they can keep that up for more than a year.
Paula
@pedant:
I hate that I noticed that, but I guess it was up to some other nerd to call Randinho on it.
Hell, even Obama got it right when he was saluting the Galaxy yesterday. :P
Yutsano
@BonnyAnne: The magic button is my best friend right now. I’m in that magic zone where the blood levels have kept the pain level in very manageable territory. I am definitely good about now!
pragmatism
@burnspbesq: Amen to that. Spurs did it to themselves though. They shouldn’t be in this situation.
@Ronnie P: I think friedel has a good chance of remaining at spurs but they’ll surely sign a keeper this summer.
handsmile
Where to begin?
Last Sunday’s cardiac conclusion to the EPL season seemed only fitting after the madness that characterized it throughout. It’s gonna be real tough for the Red half of Manchester to put up with their “noisy neighbors” for the next twelve months.
It’s astonishing to consider both the quality and quantity of players that Man City is going to have to ship out over the summer, now that UEFA’s financial “fair play” rules are looming. Mancini has already declared that both Tevez and Balotelli will remain with the squad, but he’s now hitting up Sheik Mansour for more transfer funds.
While still a much-frayed Arsenal fan, I believe their third place finish owes more to the stunning implosions of both Tottenham and Chelsea, as well as Liverpool’s season-long inexplicable poor form, than the quality of its current squad. No small part of their success was due to the unusual durability of Robin van Persie, although his sharpness was blunted as the season wore on. (BTW, RVP is Mancini’s prime target in the off-season.) Finally, now that Arsenal has qualified for next season’s Champions League, defenders of Arsene Wenger can once again brandish their threadbare claim of the club’s run in that competition. It’s screamingly evident to me that the Professor should be respectfully shown the door.
Other European lights, high and low: Juventus’ unbeaten season in Serie A, only the third time that has occurred in the league’s history; a small market club, Montpellier, may well be crowned Rois in Ligue 1; one of Scotland’s two legendary clubs, Rangers, goes into administration during the season and its viability remains uncertain; Real Madrid, a club I will despise for as long as the Eye-Poker remains as its manager, achieves an unprecedented season total of 100 points in winning La Liga.
As to the Champions League final, with Bayern Munich playing in its home arena I’m quite confident that Roman Abramovich will once again be denied his most coveted prize. Arjen Robben should simply shred Chelski’s patchwork defense, ably assisted by Schweinsteiger, Mueller and the superb Phillip Lahm. Also, the four Chelsea players suspended for the match, particularly Ramires and the idjit John Terry, are far more critical to its formation than the three suspended for Bayern.
And at last, an Ole! Ole! in tribute to several great and near-great players who are retiring from professional football: Alessandro del Piero, Raul Gonzalez, Michael Ballack, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Pippo Inzaghi.
handsmile
Ferfucksake! I’ve been absolutely craving a football thread, and now I’m in moderation limbo. Hilfe bitte!
Brandon
@Randinho: it’s been a long time and a lot has happened since the last time you posted, been wondering when you’d be around again. I cannot share enough with you my detest of John Terry. And I really cannot believe that Hodgson and the FA think it is all fine and kosher to pick him for the Euros and leave Rio Ferdinand at home for “football reasons”. I’m disgusted and it is not lost on me that this is the second international tournament in a row where an English player didn’t participate directly because of how disgusting this man is. At the last World Cup, Bridge was called up but refused the invitation. It seems to me that John Terry is more invincible than a Wall Street banker when it comes to accountability. Just gross.
As for Arsenal, my word I think Fulop was our MVP against West Brom. I am actually glad that things finished the way they did, because we still are guaranteed Champions League football without a qualifier next season while it should not be lost on Arsene Wenger that the squad desperately needs reinforcement in midfield this summer. It is too bad you missed the match, because every time the camera would cue to Wenger it looked like he was going to have a panic attack on the bench. He actually at one point buried his head in Pat Rice’s chest because he couldn’t watch anymore. So there can be no doubt he feels exactly the way fans do when watching and he surely will do everything in his power to not repeat that episode.
@BGinCHI:
The sad news was Dalglish wasting £120m of FSG’s money on grossly mediocre English players with only a Carling Cup to show for it, embarrassing the club over the Suarez affair and then finishing the league 8th, below Everton while only taking 18 points in the league in 2012, which was relegation form. If his name wasn’t Dalglish, he would have been hounded out of Liverpool by the Kop and the very pro-Liverpool English sports media before Thanksgiving.2
pete
As a Manchester United fan (since 1957), I’d like to say congratulations to Arsenal, whose 3rd-place finish really ought to quiet Wenger’s critics. Frankly, I’m surprised we got 89 points (usually enough to win), given the number of injuries that disrupted what looked to be a transitional season. I was gutted by that ending, of course, but what goes around comes around … and City did beat us twice, so fair enough. Next year? I’ll take top-three as long as we develop replacements for Scholes & Giggs & Vidic & Ferdinand & maybe Fletcher. In Alex’s cold-hearted realism we trust.
BGinCHI
@Brandon: Thanks for the analysis of Liverpool by an Arsenal fan. Since you won no trophies this year we’ll note that KD wasn’t kept as manager because of his name, dumbass, but because of his record. If you could say the same for Arsene then you can say it for others.
Spending on Carroll will not be conclusive this year, since putting the whole team on his back was not why they got him. I predict that if next year he is still there and plays, he’ll come into his own and people will say they judged him too quickly. He’ll be just fine on a functional team. Gerrard’s injury and Lucas’s exit doomed Kenny, not his managing.
Stick to your Gunners. You’ve got enough problems.
Randinho
@Paula: I’m posting with my Ipad and it’s a bit balky and very tought to edit with.
Thor Heyerdahl
FC Kaiserslautern fan here since 1997. Even planned a European vacation in August 2010 around their home opener after being promoted back to the 1.Bundesliga.
This year – man did they suck! Half the number of goals (24) that they scored last year in 34 games…they couldn’t score in a brothel with a fistful of 100s. As well they only managed to win four games all year. Quite frankly “echte Scheiße!”
Walking up the Betzenberg to the stadium from the train station felt like a pilgrimage, and watching the fantastic fans in the Westkurve is a great spectacle. It’s going to be a bitter summer in the Pfalz and a long cold winter in the 2nd Bundesliga. As for the 1st Bundesliga…I guess I’ll follow my second team there…Schalke.
Mart
Mainz has a lovely town center.
Randinho
@Joe Buck: Agree with you about both cities. Koblenz is beautifully situated at the confluence of the two rivers and is a great city for walking. Mainz I chose for not only its beautiful center as Mart noted and charm, but also because it is a great transit hub. We’ve made day trips to Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Kaiserslautern, Speyer, Worms, Bingen and Bachrach.
handsmile
Must be some reason why I continue to comment on these threads, but damned if I know what it is. No replies. Again. Sheesh.
Saturday afternoon will find me hoisting steins of German beer among Bavarians real and honorary. So will read the Champions League Final thread after careening homewards.
Good to find you posting here, Randinho. Hope your schedule and life’s demands will permit some football threads during Euro 2012. Safe travels!