~Mod sQuAd~

Fifa hAs U.S. rAnK'd #10.
aZ aN aMeRiCaN i fiNd tHAt sCaRy.

sLaMdAnCe: I find that WAY overrating.

ANTICHRIST:Oh yeah that's right man!
real football in not for sissy ****** it's for real MEN with cojones!
Cool it!
Go Mourinho kick those homo-freaks buts back the way they came!gangsta-buster-rapper-style!
The power is in tha streets YO!

sLaMdAnCe: so why do you find USA's ranking scary?..do you want it higher or lower?

Current FIFA rankings:

1 Brazil
2 France
3 Argentina
4 Czech Republic
5 Spain
6 Mexico
7 Netherlands
8 England
9 Portugal
10 Italy
10 USA
12 Republic of Ireland
13 Sweden
14 Greece
15 Turkey
15 Uruguay
17 Denmark
18 Germany
18 Japan
20 Iran

The ranking of the other 185 countries can be found here:
FIFA

sLaMdAnCe: I think you should be proud of USA's ranking. They are a very "young" soccer nation, the real interest came 10 years ago after World Cup 1994.
I could see how they learn from European soccer when i was assistant coach for a youth team a cpl of years ago.
The head coach showed "the Beckenbauer move" to the boys but when i asked him if he knew who "Kaizer Franz" is he shoke his head, i had to find info on the net and print it for them

Germany sharing position with Japan one rank above Iran - wow ! I'm really looking forward to next year's WC to see how they do.

And, yeah, there is no way France can be better than the Czech Republic - must be a typo ! :-)

Go Chelsea, go!!!!!!

Here are the semi-finals...

SPORTING 4 - NEWCASTLE 1

Olé, Sporting Olé!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Pedro, you still think that portuguese players are poor?

Andre Faria: I've never thought Portuguese players were poor.

Sporting Clube de Portugal staged a heroic fightback to secure a place in the last four of the UEFA Cup after a dramatic win against Newcastle United FC kept alive their hopes of playing in the final here at the Estádio José Alvalade.

will sporting clube be the next victim of az ? ;)

(i am not much into football/soccer ... but az is from my home town alkmaar ;))

Hrqls: It could be the other way around don't you think? A team that scores 4-1 against Newcastle deserves some respect!

Hrqls: Don´t think so. they are hyper motivated to play the final in their stadium... But Az´s careers is surprising good, even in the dutc championship...

hmm ... maybe ;)

(ok you are right .. they do .. i am just glad az doesnt have to play new castle ... hmm should i be glad or terrified ? ;))

Andre Faria: the busy playing schedule is taking its toll though ... they lost the last 2 matches in the national championship .. wont be able to make it to #1 now and it will be fun to see who will be #2 :)

Hrqls: And don´t forget that sporting defeated Feynoord for the Uefa Cup in both games. However I think that this year AZ is playing better than Feynoord. And they have a great coach also. He is going to be next Porto´s coach.

*nod* i heard it on the news today :)

feyenoord won the last match against az .... i just hope the keeper (timmer) will stay in shape .. like he is right now :)

UEFA Cup 2004/2005:


1R:
Sporting - Rapid 2-0, 0-0
AZ - PAOK 3-2, 2-1

GR:
Sporting - Panionios 4-1
AZ - Auxerre 2-0
Sporting - Tbilisi 4-0
AZ - Amica 3-1
Sporting - Sochaux 0-1
AZ - Rangers 1-0
Sporting - Newcastle 1-1
AZ - GAK 0-2

32:
Sporting - Feyenoord 2-1, 2-1
AZ - Aachen 2-1, 0-0

16:
Sporting - M'brough 3-2, 1-0
AZ - Shakhtar 3-1, 2-1

QF:
Sporting - Newcastle 0-1, 4-1
AZ - Villareal 2-1, 1-1

I guess we all have to wait and see...instead of expeculating!

Port, Blues in torrid draw

Port Adelaide and Carlton have fought a heart-stopping draw - 15.19 (109) to 16.13 (109) - in a desperate finish to a thriller at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.

The Blues struggled in the first half but outscored the Power 8.8 to 4.13 after half-time, including 4.2 to 2.10 in the final quarter when the lead changed five times.

Both teams made critical mistakes under extreme pressure while the game was waiting for a winner.

Trent Sporn kicked the last goal of the match to put Carlton two points clear but Adam Kingsley and Brendon Lade scored behinds for Port to force the draw.

As always in such tight finishes, both sides would have been unlucky to lose, and they could reflect ruefully on eight shots for goal hitting the post - Carlton five times, Port three times.

Carlton forward ace Brendan Fevola booted 4.4 and Port's crack forward Warren Tredrea kicked 2.5.

Kane Cornes, Peter Burgoyne, Stuart Dew and Peter Walsh were prominent for Port and Ryan Houlihan, Brett Johnson and Andrew Carrazzo shone for the Blues.

Port had the better of the first half - 25 more kicks, 38 more handpasses and 16 more marks - and was entitled to its 19-point lead at quarter-time and its 18-point break at half-time.

But the Blues burst back into the game early in the third quarter by adding 2.3 - Fevola and Troy Longmuir kicked the goals and Fevola missed one he should have kicked - and trailed by only four points - 10.8 to the Power's 11.6.

Goals to Port's Brett Ebert and Carlton's Matthew Lappin and a behind to Carlton's Brett Johnson left the Blues only three points in arrears before Port added 1.2 to Carlton's 1.1 for a four-point lead at three-quarter time.

Tredrea kicked his fifth behind to start the final quarter but goals from Barnaby French and Callum Chambers in the first five minutes of the term gave the Blues the lead for the first time in the match - 14.11 to 13.10

Port's 15.19 was a big improvement on its previous three scores of 7.11 against Fremantle, 11.9 against the Brisbane Lions and 8.8 against Adelaide.

The Power was striving for its sixth successive victory against Carlton, which last beat the Power (by 34 points) at AAMI Stadium in round 12 of 2001.

Port still leads Carlton 9-3 overall, including 6-2 at AAMI Stadium - plus the draw.

Port surprised by starting Michael Wilson on Fevola and Darryl Wakelin on Lance Whitnall, while Carlton opened with Anthony Koutoufides on Tredrea.

Wilson and Wakelin swapped just before half-time after Fevola's third goal (two in two minutes late in the first term). Koutoufides went on to the ball in the second quarter and Whitnall went on to Tredrea, whose kicking (1.3) let him down before half-time. Wilson moved across to a back pocket on Troy Longmuir.

Crucially, Port benefited from Carlton errors and scored six of its 11 first-half goals in the time-on period - two late in the first quarter, four near the end of the second term.

Port coach Mark Williams started his post-match media conference by saying: "Drawn games give you a funny sort of feelings. I thought we began the game really well, having finished so poorly last week.

"It was great to see the confidence was back in the group … and to be able to handle the tactics of the opposition and score six goals in the first quarter was terrific.

"I thought Carlton probably got some easy goals from our mistakes with turnovers, which were costly in the end. Towards the last quarter I thought Carlton had the run and were making the play, and, to the credit of the players, we did fight back.

"But kicking 2.10 in the last quarter would never help you win a game. If it was 10.2, it would have been a fairly big difference.

"Carlton have to be very happy with their result because not too many people beat us here. But we're not thrilled by it. We'd have taken a one-point win and gone home and got ready for next week.

"We've moved a little bit forward from last week but there's no satisfaction in our room."

When Carlton coach Denis Pagan was asked whether it felt like 'half a victory', he said: "I remember Allan Jeans saying it feels like 'dancing with your sister', and that's probably what it feels like."

Asked what he had said to his players after the game, Pagan said: "We acknowledged the good efforts, we talked about the spirit of the guys, we talked about defence and how we wasted opportunities at the end of the third quarter, and we individually told the guys who performed well and the ones who could get better."

PORT ADELAIDE: 6.3, 11.6, 13.9, 15.19 (109)
CARLTON: 3.2, 8.5, 12.11, 16.13 (109)

GOALS – Port Adelaide: Montgomery 2, P. Burgoyne 2, Thurstans 2, Ebert 2, Tredrea 2, White 2, Primus, Wanganeen, Dew
Carlton: Fevola 4, Wiggins 2, Deluca, Houlihan, Carrazzo, Waite, Longmuir, Lappin, Bowyer, French, Chambers, Sporn

BEST – Port Adelaide: K. Cornes, P. Burgoyne, Dew, Walsh, Kingsley, Montgomery
Carlton: Houlihan, Fevola, Johnson, Carrazzo, Wiggins, Waite

INJURIES – Port Adelaide: Shattock (hip)
Carlton: Nil

REPORTS - Brogan (Port Adelaide) by field umpire Vozzo and goal umpire Berkovic for misconduct in that he headbutted French (Carlton) late in the third quarter

UMPIRES - Vozzo, Stevic, Ryan
CROWD - 33,519 at AAMI Stadium

Alright...we want some football yo!

the ticket sales for the FIFA worldcup 2006 have their first scareline ...
a hackergroup tried to derail, not 10, not 100, no folks that's not all,
humble and modest they tried to steal a million tickets - barred. ~*~

have fun with Kickups

uh oh ... 2-1 .. az has to win with either 1-0, 3-1, or more to win directly now :)

Hrqls: not a bad result for AZ. The story will be different in Holland...

Andre Faria: i hope so ... sporting was very dangerous .. it was a miracle they didnt score sooner .. az defended well .. but didnt come close to sportings goal often

it was funny to see the goal from az .. the camera was viewing another part of the field .. some player in close up in think .. and then all of a sudden it switched to the goal where was score immediately .. obviously the director (is that the word?) didnt expect it to happen :)

sportings last goal was a great one!

btw is it 'sporting lisabon' or 'sporting portugal' ?

Hrqls: The real name of the club is "Sporting Clube de Portugal". But abroad, eveybody knows it as Sporting Lisabon. I guess it´s because of Benfica.

Yes, it was a great goal. From the worst player of Sporting. Pinnilla is leaving the club at the end of the season. It was his third goal in the whole season, from a player who is supposed to score more than 20...

Hrqls: In the 2nd game Douala will be very dangerous. Az will have to attack, and Sporting likes to play in counter attack. Look at the games Feyenoord-Sporting and Middlesborough-Sporting...

Hrqls: Sporting

Pedro Martínez: eheh Pedro, you wanna buy some stuff from Sporting and support our club?

Andre Faria: No, why?

We need money to pay for players like Pinilla...

Andre Faria: *nod* douala was a very agile player already .. i can imagine him to be more dangerous when az has to attack for real ... but attacking is what makes az special in the dutch .. so i still have a little hope ;) .. i didnt like the player who fell down all the time though .. i dont think thats what football is about although some players often think it is ... i also dont like defenders who bring down their opponent when they see no other way out and who just think about about it as 'a yellow card, i can still play so its worth it' :)

Pedro Martínez: thanks i found that one as well .. but i could also find many places where people spoke about sporting lissabon .. which were all foreign sites though :) ... so i guess my gf was right (once again ;)) .. she knows so much more about football than i do :)

ANTICHRIST: For the 27th time: I have never said Portuguese clubs and players are "poor" and can't play football.

*hug all* .. lets watch the outcome .. the winning club is the club who wins ;)

Congrats Liverpool (sniff), for going to the League Champions final...

Sporting - CSKA on the Uefa cup final.

Congrats to AZ who played very well but was unlucky on extra time.

Andre Faria: thanks! i dont think i ever watched a game of soccer more exciting .. great game ... sad outcome for az .. good result for sporting :)

good luck in the finals!! ;)

(the funny thing is psv also lost its match in the final minutes ... but not in the final seconds of the prolonging even! ;))

my gf and i gave her dad a ticket for the game ... he always talked about going there to watch them in real life once ... so we gave it to him .. perfect match!!!! everyone was already cheering ... but he told his son (who joined him) with the last corner ... this will go wrong! ... and he was proved right :) .. he had a great time nonetheless :)

Hrqls: Indeed it was. I couldn´t look at the final minutes of the match. Both teams deserved to be in the final... Maybe more that CSKA who played with the reserve team of Parma. And PSV was very unlucky as well.

Did you know that a famous portuguese journalist died of an heart attack after the game?

Andre Faria: no i didnt know that .. what a sad event :( .. what was his age ?

59 I think. He got over excited with the last minutes of the game. It was Sporting´s doctor who assisted him in the stadium... He died the next day when he was making some heart exams...