Photo Courtesy of
Wikipedia
I can remember the day that I bought FIFA 07 for my PS2. It was cold as hell and it was snowing. This is signiificant because it hardly ever snows in Tennessee. The last two months of the semester were spent being Rooney and Drogba from about 11 p.m. until 2 in the morning. Loves for new teams formed and even someone who rather discuss why the cutback route is more effective than post-cross pass found his league. I am referring to my friend Michael Shibley. Shib is a die hard college football fan who has a soft spot for the beautiful game. He also seems to have a soft spot for the trio from Barcelona. He told me that he was considering ordering an Eto'o kit and that sealed him as being the Barcelona fan among my footie supporting buddies. It was nice to have a bit of diversity when we watched the Champs League matches. Me and Josh were both EPL fans. I support Chelsea and Josh, well.. Josh supports a group of players called Manchester United. I must say, I don't know they are really. We had a Liverpool fan on our floor as well, who rubbed their victory into my face after Chelsea lost to them in the semi's. Then, two doors down from me, was a Newcastle supporter. So, Shib was the odd voice in the choir of footie supporters that I knew but it was nice to have that change around. So, Mr. Shibley, here is a section of posts for you. I am going to try and keep up with both the EPL and La Liga as well as other footie related stuff.
So, La Liga gets kicked off this weekend and I can't seem to find any predictions for the season over on soccernet. Since they are lacking, I will toss my own out there. Last seasons winners, Real Madrid could very well win again this year. I have referred to them in the past as being the "retirement home" for some of the worlds better players; Van Nistelroy, Robinho, Baptista, Raul, and the list goes on. Some might question how the team will play now without Beckham, but I think if they can wake their scoring up a bit more, they will be fine. Van Nistelroy was their top scorer with 25 goals. If Raul and Robinho are next on Real's score card with just 13 goals between the two of them. The lack of consistent scoring will be what hurts Real this season.
Scoring will most definitly not be a problem for the runner's up in the league, Barcelona. They have enough seasoned forwards that they could probably take on the English national team by their self. I honestly can't say much about the Barcelona team that will kick off at Camp Nou on Sunday. Pound for pound. Point for point, they are one my favorites to win the the league and maybe the Champions League, if A.C. doesn't throw up a big game this year.
The only other team that might make a run for the cup will be FC Sevilla. They finished the season a win and a draw behind tying Barca and Madrid. They had a better goal differential than Madrid and seriously, only squeaked out of a runner up spot. Their scoring was dead on, with their top two strikers going into double digits. That is a key to a winning season, really. Good defense is vital but you have to have scorers. And you need more than one descent striker on your team. That's what all three of these teams have and that's why La Liga will be a highly contested cup this season. Sure, you have Cinderella stories in football, that's the way it goes, but that's not the case in the La Liga. This season will come down to what it was this past year. Someone is going to score on a free kick from outside the box in the last minute of extra time to sweep their team past the other two teams they have been tied with for the last few weeks. I don't think that's what Shibley likes Barcelona though.I think he just liked seeing the digital Eto'o do the Electric Slide when he scored a hat trick
No comments:
Post a Comment