Did the ball hit him in the face or something? 
Me happy. 
But, apparently, if we lose to Dinamo, we'll go to Europa League, yes, but not to the group stage as I thought at first, but to the qualification playoffs. So either way we have another two ties in front of us to get into the group stages of whatever competitions we're in.
Spiral out, keep going.
The 2nd leg of the Europa League second qualifying round has pretty much ended. Notable results and/or upsets:
- Mariupol beating Djurgarden 2-1 in extra time (3-2 on agg.), Luxembourgish side Progrés Niederkorn beating Honvéd 2-0 (2-1 on agg.), Sparta Prague falling at the hands of Spartak Subotica, with a 2-1 win (that away goal tonight killed the Czech sides' hopes of turning it around);
- Atromitos suffering an equalizer at the last minute against Belarusian side Dinamo Brest (1-1 tonight, 4-5 on agg.), Asteras drawing 1-1 against Hibernian, thus allowing the Scottish side to go through (3-4 on agg.), Atalanta waking up after the draw in the first leg and deciding to destroy Sarajevo at the latter's stadium by 8-0, in what was a good old-fashioned Curb-Stomp Battle;
- Luxembourgish side Dudelange drawing 1-1 against Kosovar side Drita (2-3 on agg. in favour of Dudelange), Norwegian side Sarpsborg beating St. Gallen 1-0 (2-2 on agg., with Sarpsborg's away goal in the first leg being the decider), Burnley only being able to defeat Aberdeen in extra time 3-1 (4-2 on agg.);
- AZ Alkmaar falling at the hands of Kazakh side Kairat (2-1 tonight, 3-2 on agg. in favour of the latter), and a goal fest that knocked out Rio Ave at their home. A 4-4 draw against Polish side Jagiellonia Byalistok (4-5 on agg.) ultimately shows that not only they probably miss coach Miguel Cardoso already, but also that their defense this year looks noticeably poor compared to last year's (then again, Cardoso is a fine coach who will probably go to the next level at Nantes).
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Took a knock from an opponent while defending a corner kick.
Fan Chant of the Day: "What the fucking hell is that?" --West Brom home support, EFL Championship
From what more I can learn about this, in the months since they were relegated from the Premier League, West Bromwich Albion found new shirt sponsors in the form of a company called Ideal Boilers (lovely) that have a corporate mascot dubbed "Boiler Man" who, as the name implies, is an anthropomorphic combi boiler (basically, what the British call a home water heater, I suppose)... and somehow trying to add clarify context to the fan reaction just makes it all the more stranger.
Officially intimidated
Arturo Vidal is now a Barcelona player. Meanwhile, Madrid is trying not to lose Luka Modric now.
I'm starting to see the scales of the UEFA Super Cup slowly tip...
Edited by MyFinalEdits on Aug 6th 2018 at 10:54:29 AM
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It's rebuilding time for Real, so, losses are to be expected. It'll be a matter of seeing the change in gameplay that is being taught by Lopetegui.
Europa League play-off draw
◊. Depending on how the third qualifying round matches go, we might see a rematch of Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Dinamo Zagreb, after they met each other in a CL qualifying round.
Vitória SC 0-2 Tondela (League Cup 2nd round)
So, the season has officially begun for us, even though this match felt almost like a pre-season friendly. Our end product was ineffective (even if our midfield at least was mostly on point), while Tondela's was effective. It's a Luís Castro team, and we had to fill/fix most of the areas in our squad, so, it'll be growing pains time.
Tondela's Arango scored a cheeky free-kick in the first half, and, in the second, he assisted Jhon Murillo. Their counter-attacks were efficient, while our attacks had poor end product (it also didn't help that Tondela has a good defensive-minded coach in Pepa).
The Liga is gonna begin this Friday, and the opening match will be us going to Benfica. We're very likely gonna get dicked in our first matches anyway (we'll face Porto in the third matchweek, so, our calendar is gonna be tough at the beginning).
EDIT: As for Tondela, they reached the group stage of the League Cup for the first time ever.
Edited by Quag15 on Aug 6th 2018 at 10:38:20 AM
Astana 0 - 2 Dinamo Zagreb
Well, shoot.
Deeply frustrating game. The amount of times when the crowd (me included) went "Oh, come on, comeon comeonc'mon ... AAARRGH!!!" was pushing triple digit numbers. The further the match went, the more often AARRGH was followed by a string of Russian and Kazakh expletives. Most of them were aimed at our center forward, who looked absolutely clueless and sluggish.
Nevertheless, it was clear Astana has found her game. It was interesting to watch the attacks unfold, they were varied and highly dynamic, even if we didn't have much luck in the final third. Props for the Croatians for being very clinical with their chances (and they could have scored even more, we were lucky, TBH).
I guess that means I don't get to hear the CL anthem this season (it was really crowded today, the attendance was about 25K, so because of the huge queue at the stadium's gates I've missed the start of the game). Scoring three in Zagreb while keeping our goal shut looks an impossible task, considering how we conceded all of the goals due to our own mistakes.
On the bright side, both of our potential opponents in the Europa League qualifying playoffs are rather passable.
Spiral out, keep going.
It does suck to lose like that at home (as noted in my previous post), but, on the other hand, there's no shame in losing against Zagreb.
If you guys play well in the play-off round of the EL, then you might make a decent EL run (up to and beyond the round of 32 would be my prediction, due to your usual home advantage which could come in handy in the group stage).
The 1st leg of the CL 3rd qualifying round matches have ended today. Most of the matches happened yesterday (such as the one Millership talked about). Notable results besides that match: Standard Liège drawing 2-2 with Ajax (with the latter winning by 2-0, but suffering the equalizer at the very last minute through a penalty); Crvena Zvezda (aka Red Star Belgrade) drawing 1-1 with Spartak Trnava; PAOK winning 3-2 against Spartak Moscow in an intense back-and-forth match that saw Spartak's Quincy Promes' penalty being saved by Paschalakis - don't blame him, blame the PAOK fans that used laser pointers for disrupting his concentration and sight - as well as a political banner against Macedonia note which will surely lead to a fine by UEFA; and Celtic drawing at home 1-1 with AEK Athens (goals here), in match where the Greek team held on with 10 men (after one of their players got two yellow cards) for the last 30-something minutes. The Greek sides are on a roll so far, it seems.
Courtois has signed for Real Madrid, while Kovacic will join Chelsea for a season-long loan.
Ricardo Gareca renews as Peru's NT Coach, while Iceland's new manager is Erik Hamren. A good decision for Peru, a questionable one for Iceland.
Hamren was mediocre for Sweden (unlike Lars Lägerback, who helped to increase the quality of Iceland's players and infrastructure alongside Heimir Hallgrímsson). With the core of Iceland's generation that surprised in the Euros slowly being phased out, Iceland might have some hard times ahead.
Edited by Quag15 on Aug 8th 2018 at 9:57:59 AM
The first leg of the EL 3rd qualifying round matches has ended. Notable results/upsets: Luxembourgish side Progrés Niederkorn only losing 2-1 away in Russia against Ufa (they only need to win 1-0 at home to go through), Hapoel Be'er Sheva drawing 2-2 with APOEL, Zorya Luhansk drawing 1-1 with Braga (Braga only needs to avoid suffering goals at home a week from now, which should be easy), and Legia Warsaw losing 1-2 at home against Luxembourgish side Dudelange.
The most notorious upsets of the night were, however, two thrashings: Slovakian side Trencin won 4-0 at home against Feyenoord (goals here, including a hat-trick by Antonio Mance), and, by the same amount of goals, Dinamo Minsk beat Zenit(!). No wonder the EL is becoming the more unpredictable competition with each passing year, and the final stage is yet to begin.
Benfica 3-2 Vitória SC
The Liga began today. Our first half was fucking dreadful, with the defense allowing Pizzi (who was shit for Benfica last season) to score a fucking hat-trick.
In the second half, we recovered, thanks to the massive efforts of André André (good to be back) by scoring one and assisting Celis for the other goal.
I knew we were gonna lose, since we still have lots of problems in defense and Luís Castro is a manager that will need a few games to make us play like a cohesive unit, but I'm ok with this result at the end of the day.
But let's avoid repeating that first half in future matches, ok?
EDIT: Forgot to add that our GK Douglas saved a penalty by Facundo Ferreyra (who Benfica signed from Shakhtar Donetsk).
Edited by Quag15 on Aug 10th 2018 at 1:00:22 PM
Andres Iniesta scored his first goal in the J-League earlier today.
Sublime, totally imperious, flawless technique from start to finish. I got a feeling it won't be long before this kid gets a big European transfer.
A day late, but while on the topic of aging greats rolling back the years in diminished leagues, where the hell has THIS Wayne Rooney been in the last six years? He hasn't done anything that looked THIS amazing since Nike's "Write the Future" advert.
And in more surreal news, world-renowned English match commentator (and, pretty much, THE singular voice of English-language soccer in our time) Martin Tyler was reportedly attacked by an irate Wealdstone FC supporter during a non-league match involving Tyler's personally-beloved boyhood club Woking FC, with whom Tyler also works with as an assistant manager.
Authorities have not yet identified or apprehended a perpetrator, but I figure we might all have a prime suspect in mind already.
Edited by SeanMurrayI on Aug 14th 2018 at 3:35:33 PM
Officially intimidated
Real Madrid 2 - Atlético 4
Has someone heard the motto "you never value what you have until you lose it"?
I'm starting to wonder what Zidane's longtime detractors are thinking now.
- Three UEFA Champions Leagues in a row? Nothing but luck.
- 40 matches unbeaten in a row? Nothing but luck.
- 73 matches scoring at least one goal in a row? Nothing but luck.
- Four consecutive visits at Camp Nou without losing? Nothing but luck.
Now there's Lopetegui. I admit I had faith on him because of his good track at the Spanish national team, but... sometime after his sacking the mojo evaporated. Cristiano went to Juventus, they signed a completely unnecessary new goalkeeper, and the offense power has been gravely weakened. Paqueth Fail is STILL there, for Pete's sake! He was the one who should have left Madrid, not Cristiano! Those who said Zidane was "pure luck and zero tactics", what will say about Lopetegui? "Zero luck and negative-value tactics"?
Or perhaps they're just relieved their most hated team likely won't win anything this season.
Edited by MyFinalEdits on Aug 16th 2018 at 12:32:32 PM
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I had some computer-related issues to solve, but I'm back.
Last week, things were dire, when we lost 1-0 at home against Feirense (the only team that hasn't conceded yet so far). Tonight, however:
Porto 2-3 Vitória SC. Porto's second goal and our first goal shouldn't have been validated (a free-kick and a penalty respectively), but this is an amazing result. I can't remember the last time we (or even if we ever) won at Porto's stadium. Porto's defense, on the other hand, had tremendous lapses of concentration.
In stoppage time, there was still a shot by them that hit the bar and a key save by our GK Douglas.
What a weird ass match. Finally, three points for us this season.
There was also the Lisbon derby, which ended in a 1-1 draw at Benfica's stadium. Neither team was really brilliant, so, our win tonight is the event of the week.
The irony of it all is that two of our goals came from ex-Porto players (André André and Tozé).![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
Which compensates for the goal by Feirense that beat us last week, which was scored by Fábio Sturgeon (who played for us the previous season).
EDIT: Ok, the last time we won at Porto's stadium was by the same score, 22 years ago (I was a 5-year old then, but I only got to see my first Vitória match when I was 7)!
Edited by Quag15 on Aug 25th 2018 at 11:18:35 AM
Officially intimidated
Why hasn't he been sacked yet?
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To be fair, it's only the third or fourth game. Sacking him now might seem beneficial for the season, but it would end up proving that Manchester United don't have a proper long term strategy post-Ferguson.
The CL play-offs concluded today. Let's take a look at the more noteworthy qualifications/results:
Yesterday: For the first time ever in their history, Young Boys have reached the CL group stage after beating Dinamo by 2-1 at Zagreb (3-2 on agg.), thanks to a brace by Hoarau (and that was after they were losing for most of the first half and part of the second half). They're the fifth Swiss club to have achieved this feat (after Grasshoppers, Basel, Thun and Zurich, in chronological order of debuts).
AEK Athens drew 1-1 with MOL Vidi (aka Videoton) - 3-2 on agg. in their favour - and so have qualified to the group stage for the first time since 2006-07.
Today: The curse for Red Bull Salzburg continues, as they fail to reach the CL group stage by the 11h time in their history. They were winning 2-0 at home, but Crvena Zvezda (aka Red Star Belgrade) equalized in the second half in just 2 minutes (!). The goals are here. Red Bull definitely doesn't give great wings, that's for sure.
As for Red Star Belgrade, the last time they were in the competition, was when it wasn't the CL format, but the European Cup format; more precisely, in 1990-91, when they won it. For the young Red Star fans, this is a dream come true. This is the first time since 2010-11 that a Serbian team qualified to the CL group stage (back then it was Partizan, Red Star's rivals).
PSV Eindhoven qualifying isn't a surprise in and of itself, after easily beating BATE Borisov (3-0, 6-2 on agg.), but this is the first time since 2010-11 that two Dutch clubs are in the CL group stage (PSV and Ajax this year).
PAOK did score first, but Benfica ended up destroying them at their home. A 1-4 loss (goals here) has stopped the Greek side from reaching the CL group stage for the first time ever.
Needless to say, the losers from the play-off fall into the Europa League group stage. Dynamo Kyiv and Dinamo Zagreb will be fine additions to that comp.
Edited by Quag15 on Aug 29th 2018 at 11:08:08 AM
Honestly, if Man U didn't want to appear as if they're lacking "long-term" vision, why should they have ever hired Mourinho to begin with?
What I'm really having a good laugh about, though, is that all of his three EPL titles that he'd like to remind the entire world about right now were won at Chelsea and not with Man U.
Edited by SeanMurrayI on Aug 29th 2018 at 6:50:28 AM
Officially intimidated
He also waited until Wenger left Arsenal to say that, because he also won 3 EPL, and with him those 19 would have won a combined total of 5.
Also, River won 3-0 against Racing in Copa Libertadores. It was an ugly match, netting three expelled players due to some late-game incidents.
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I suspect M United's owners don't give a fuck about long term visions, and more about marketing, money and noodle partnerships.
It wouldn't be a Libertadores game without some controversy and rough fouls.
The EL play-offs are ongoing, but, in the meantime, the Champions League group stage has been drawn:
Group A: Atlético Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Monaco, Club Brugge
Group B: Barcelona, Tottenham, PSV Eindhoven, Inter Milan
Group C: Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli, Liverpool, Red Star Belgrade
Group D: Lokomotiv Moscow, Porto, Schalke 04, Galatasaray
Group E: Bayern Munich, Benfica, Ajax, AEK Athens
Group F: Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon, Hoffenheim
Group G: Real Madrid, Roma, CSKA Moscow, Viktoria Plzen
Group H: Juventus, Manchester United, Valencia, Young Boys
Thoughts? Besides "Anyone from group D can go through".
Edited by Quag15 on Aug 30th 2018 at 6:10:24 PM
Group G seems to be the most predictable one. Group B probably would be the most fun to watch. I'm also not quite sure if I should already show my sympathies to Young Boys fans.
Also, Astana is through to the EL. I'll at least have three more European competition matches to watch live.
Spiral out, keep going.
With most of the EL play-offs having concluded (there's only a match or two left), let's take a look at the noteworthy upsets, first time achievements and other results:
F91 Dudelange are the first Luxembourgish side ever to reach the group stage of the Europa League, and the first since the mid-90's to play in the final stage of an European competition. They had won 2-0 at home against Romanian side CFR Cluj in the first leg, and tonight, they won 3-2 in Romania (the fact that Cluj's consolation goals came only after they were losing 3-0 is quite impressive). No Luxembourgish side are full pro (Dudelange are semi-pro, iirc), but this achievement is testament to a noticeable improvement/investment in infrastructure and youth development for Luxembourgish football (whose effects are also slowly making their way into their NT).
Rangers return to the group stage of an European competition for the first time since 2010-11, after drawing 1-1 in Russia against Ufa (2-1 on agg.). Red Bull Leipzig were close to being knocked out by Zorya Luhansk, but a penalty at the 90' scored by Forsberg gave them the 3-2 win, thus causing heartbreak to Zorya (who, as you may recall, defeated Braga in the previous round). Copenhagen eliminated Atalanta on penalties after a goalless agreggate across both legs, in a surprising show of resilience and a bit of luck (Atalanta's captain, Alejandro Gómez, hit the bar tonight in regular time and later missed one of Atalanta's penalties).
Molde are heartbroken after being very close to defeating Zenit (Zenit scored an away goal that killed the Norwegian side's hopes; Molde made an impressive recovery and still won 2-1, but it wasn't enough, since Zenit goes through with a 4-3 on agg.), but on the other hand, there's a bright side to Norway's participation. Sarpsborg 08 are a club that was founded only 10 years ago, but they've reached the group stage of an European competition for the first time ever in their short history. They were close to being knocked out by Maccabi Tel-Aviv, but a penalty by Halvorsen allowed them to qualify. 2-1 loss, but a 4-3 on agg. Sarpsborg and Rosenborg will be the Norwegian sides in Europe this year.
In what is perhaps the shock failure of tonight, Basel have failed to qualify, after losing 1-0 against Apollon away. They had won 3-2 at home, but Apollon were determined to win 1-0 and that's what they achieved. This is the first time Basel are not in the final stages of an European competition since... 2001(!). There are various reasons for Basel to have declined (which began in the previous season, with them not winning the title as it was usual in recent years), ranging from not replacing former players with adequate reinforcements to injuries, but still, this is disastrous for both the fans and the club.
Malmö will be the sole Swedish side in the final stages of the European comps, after defeating Danish side Midtjylland by 2-0 at the latter's stadium (4-2 on agg.), while Rapid Wien will be joining Red Bull Salzburg in representing Austria in the EL group stage, due to scoring an away goal that killed FCSB/Steaua Bucharest's hopes (to be more precise, well... it was an own goal). 2-1 loss, but a 4-3 on agg. in Rapid's favour. This also means that there are no Romanian sides in the final stages of European comps for the first time since 2015-16.
Less noteworthy, but still worth mentioning, is the end of Burnley's attempt to have a Dyche's Lads on Tour, after drawing 1-1 with Olympiacos (4-2 on agg. in the Greek side's favour).
Oh, and the penalty shoot-out that allowed Astana() to qualify was an anomalous 2-1. According to comments on the Internet, it was an atrocious shoot-out, with a few glaring misses.
Edited by Quag15 on Aug 30th 2018 at 10:28:27 AM
The Europa League group stage has been drawn. Noteworthy groups:
Group B features both Red Bull teams. It'll be interesting to see if there's conflict of interest. Oh and there's Celtic and Rosenborg.
Group F will feature Dudelange getting probably destroyed by the other three: Olympiacos, Milan, Betis.
Group H will see at least an Italian (Lazio), a French (Marseille) or a German team (Eintracht Frankfurt) not going through. Fan conflicts might arise here in great numbersnote .
Also, there are three Turkish teams and 3 Belgian teams facing each other in their respective groups. Coefficient wars incoming
◊.
Vitória SC 1-0 Tondela
Even though the quality of this match was noticeably poorer compared to our incredible win against Porto last week, we got the three points and the team learned from the loss against Tondela some weeks ago in the League Cup 2nd round. The team's mental/psychological aspect noticeably improved.
Wakaso scored the one goal, after a free-kick. After that, we managed to cut down a fair amount of Tondela's counter-attacks (partly thanks to Douglas, who had to get out the area a couple of times to pull off a discount Neuer), and, in spite of the possession being more or less evenly distributed, we managed to keep things mostly under control.
Near the end, Wakaso had received a red card, but the ref decided to check up the VAR and not only removed his red card, but gave a red to the Tondela player (Arango), who had stepped on Wakaso's ankle when both of them were trying to get the ball.
Next week, we'll face Portimonense away. Portimonense signed today Jackson Martínez, who noticeably declined due to injuries. Still, I wouldn't like to face him next week, if he's fit and ready by then (dude used to score a fair amount of goals against us when he was at Porto).
Edited by Quag15 on Aug 31st 2018 at 11:27:03 AM
The 2nd leg of the 2nd qualifying round of the CL has concluded a few hours ago. Notable results and upsets: Astana holding out with a goalless draw in Denmark against Midtjylland, MOL Vidi (formerly known as Videoton) winning 1-0 against Ludogorets Razgrad, Macedonian side Shkëndija holding out their 1-0 win in the first leg with a goalless draw against Sheriff Tiraspol, Spartak Trnava only losing 1-0 and thus knocking out Legia Warsaw (the latter sacked their coach as a result, even if they still have the possibility of EL football in the cards), and the upset of the night.
Basel had sacked coach Raphael Wicky a week ago, after a poor pre-season, only getting 1 point in the first two matches of the Swiss Super League and losing 2-1 against PAOK in the first leg. Still, all they had to do to proceed to the next round was by merely winning 1-0 at home.
They lost 3-0 against said PAOK. Considering St. Jakob's Park is a fortress (especially against English teams in the past), this is a rare result.
Here are the upcoming third qualifying round matches
.