Soccer

[Tarheels.]

I know lots of the people here are british so I figured where else should I ask. I've recently gotten interested in the sport and am looking to get a little more info. about it. Can somebody throw some stuff around, what teams are what and who's who in the sport. I've considered just renting one of the Fifa games and seeing who's who but I think you guys may know more.

[9 to 5]

Depends what you want to know really. International teams, about certains leagues/team? Players?

[Turbo Yannis]

Colchester are the greatest team in the history of the World.

[Tarheels.]

meh, the english stuff intrigues me but I doubt I'd be able to catch any of the games. So I guess the MLS, but I'd still like to know about the other league too

Edited November 26, 2005 by twat4life

[AJ]

http://www.skysports.com/football

All leagues and competitions are down the left hand side. Click those and you can see the teams and pages on them.

[Turbo Yannis]

The major leagues in Europe are The Premiership (England), Serie A (Italy), La Liga (Spain) and to a lesser extent there's the Dutch league, which I can't remember it's name.

In England, Chelsea are dominating the Premiership and have only lost 1 game, drew 1 and won the rest. Wigan are the surprise package this season having just came up from the Championship (league below the Premiership). They're currently sitting second in the table after a fantastic start. Won about 7 or 8 games on the spin after losing their first 2, to Chelsea (last minute goal from Hernan Crespo) and Charlton.

In Spain, Barcelona are top of La Liga on goal difference with second being Osasuna. Don't expect Osasuna to be near the top come the end of the season. It's usually between Barcelona and Real Madrid, who just happen to have a hate for each other. Barcelona recently beat Madrid 3-0 at Real's stadium. Ronaldinho, you'll be hearing this name allot, scored two of the best goals you'll see this season which actually had Real fans applauding.

In Italy, Juventus are 3 points clear at the top of Serie A, just ahead of Fiorentina and AC Milan. Fiorentina just got promoted back to the top league after going out of business and restarting. They came back up at the start of last season. They're best player is probably Luca Toni, whom they signed from Palermo in pre season. Juventus won the league last year with AC Milan coming second and Fiorentina just avoiding relegation.

And the mightly Leyton Orient are looking unstoppable at the top of League 2.

That's what I can think off the top of my head right now since it's 3AM. I'll try to anwser any other questions you have tomorrow

Edited November 26, 2005 by Ironside

[MDK]

Leyton Orient.

[Green Demon]

I can tell you since I live in the US and even have been to a MLS game, if I were you I would just watch actual soccer in the other leagues around the world then the MLS. The talent level in the US not counting a few stars is pretty low. Having gone to one of the Columbus Crew games when my soccer team made it to the final four for high school teams in the state, I can truthfully say that I almost fell asleep watching the game. Anyways I usually try to catch games on TV if they are on wheather it be on one of the Fox Sport channels or once in a blue moon on ESPN. The only thing that I think you will have to look forward to will be next years World Cup in Germany, the US has already qualfied I think at the top of there table ahead of Mexico but I am not positive about that. Anyways the US team surprised last World Cup and we will get to see all the games on of the Cup on one of the ESPN's or ABC. So basically if you want to watch good soccer I would try to some how get a package that could let you see preimership games or some other international league, but if that is out of you price range or for some other reason, I guess MLS can get you what you want. The only thing to look forward to is the possiblity of Beckham moving to the MLS in a couple years and even though he is thought to be overrated by many he would tear everyone in the MLS apart.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Oh and before you look into the World Rankings of countries, the rankings system is heavily flawed with regards to how it gives out rankings points.

North American teams DO get inflated ratings which means that America and Mexico don't really belong quite that high up (probably about five-ten places lower) but get points for easy qualifying victories and playing copious amounts of friendlies. Also, although a lot of people will agree how great Czech are, they're not THAT good, and haven't exactly been amazing the last few years...

Here are the rankings for November:

1 Brazil

2 Czech Republic

3 The Netherlands (Holland)

4 Argentina

5 France

6 Spain

7 Mexico

8 USA

9 England

10 Portugal

11 Turkey

12 Italy

13 Denmark

14 Sweden

15 Japan

16 Germany

17 Greece

18 Uruguay

19 Iran

20 Croatia

Iran?! :blink:

[gunnar hendershow]

CSAMH. Iran has the same benefit the NA teams have. And in many regards so do Japan.

Also, if you want a team to cheer for. Become the second American (Joining me) to support Newcastle United. It's lonely here. Most people don't even know who Newcastle are.

And Winning Eleven is a better soccer series than FIFA, but it doesn't have official teams.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

CSAMH. Iran has the same benefit the NA teams have. And in many regards so do Japan.

Also, if you want a team to cheer for. Become the second American (Joining me) to support Newcastle United. It's lonely here. Most people don't even know who Newcastle are.

And Winning Eleven is a better soccer series than FIFA, but it doesn't have official teams.

Very true, though thankfully Asian football is improving now with the likes of South Korea and some of the up and comers like in Africa. Still, Japan and Iran have had a strange hold for a while...

[gunnar hendershow]

CSAMH. Iran has the same benefit the NA teams have. And in many regards so do Japan.

Also, if you want a team to cheer for. Become the second American (Joining me) to support Newcastle United. It's lonely here. Most people don't even know who Newcastle are.

And Winning Eleven is a better soccer series than FIFA, but it doesn't have official teams.

Very true, though thankfully Asian football is improving now with the likes of South Korea and some of the up and comers like in Africa. Still, Japan and Iran have had a strange hold for a while...

Saudi Arabia have been fairly good for awhile now have they not?

And Africa. What happened there? Senegal, Nigeria, and Cameroon are not going but Togo and the Ivory Coast are? I haven't really followed international as much as I have the English Premiership (It's mainly due to what's televised. In the U.S. we get Premiership, South and Central America leagues, and Champions League), but I'm guessing something must've happened to Togo. I seem to remember them as being very poor.

[Guest 12characters]

Cameroon and Nigeria aren't going?.....jaysus. Senegal were a flash in the pan.

Juventus is the most boring team I've ever fucking seen. Did anyone see their champions league encounter with Club Brugge? Fucking Juventus players jogging around like it was a casual sunday afternoon in the park.

[public enemy]

Cameroon and Nigeria aren't going?.....jaysus. Senegal were a flash in the pan.

Juventus is the most boring team I've ever fucking seen. Did anyone see their champions league encounter with Club Brugge? Fucking Juventus players jogging around like it was a casual sunday afternoon in the park.

[The Kraig]

You forgot the 4th major European football league! The SPL (Scottish Premier League)...what? (¬_¬)

It's contended by two teams all year usually (Rangers and Celtic) but this year Hearts got some financial backing and bought some decent players and got a great manager.

Hearts went top, while the Old Firm (Rangers and Celtic) fucked up a lot, but then Hearts sacked their manager for no reason whatsoever and replaced him with a child molesterer.

Now Celtic have regained the top spot after Hearts shooting themselves in the balls, while Rangers have slid down to 4th in the table because the players aren't playing well, and the more they're not playing well, the harder it is to play well, and so on in a snowball effect, which is basically unheard of at this stage in the season. The Rangers manager has been wanted sacked by the fans for about two months now, but it still hasn't happened.

It's now looking like the top four this year will be:

Celtic.

Heart Of Midlothian (Edinburgh).

Hibernian (Edinburgh).

(Glasgow) Rangers.

As for MLS, I see some games on Channel 5 from time to time. It's played very differently, and the pitches look horrid. But there's a lot of good players there (which tend to move to Europe in the long run). I'd support your local team, or the nearest to you, or your family if I were you.

I think I'll join you, since Rangers have had the worst season in decades (I'm a Rangers supporter).

Oh, and I'd recommend this: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/index

Covers the football world from a mainly American point of view. I even visit to check up on the European league tables.

Edited November 29, 2005 by The Kraig

[Green Demon]

As for MLS, I see some games on Channel 5 from time to time. It's played very differently, and the pitches look horrid. But there's a lot of good players there (which tend to move to Europe in the long run). I'd support your local team, or the nearest to you, or your family if I were you.

Edited November 29, 2005 by Green Demon

[Guest 12characters]

Cameroon and Nigeria aren't going?.....jaysus. Senegal were a flash in the pan.

Juventus is the most boring team I've ever fucking seen. Did anyone see their champions league encounter with Club Brugge? Fucking Juventus players jogging around like it was a casual sunday afternoon in the park.

It might as well have been considering it was only Club Brugge they were playing.

They still won comfortably though, which I guess is the main thing.

[Hunter Hearst Hetfield]

All You need to know is you now support Walsall (Y)

[Guest muddatrucker]

When did you stop supporting Aston Villa?

[therockbox]

Last night, probably.