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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Jul 30, 2005 0:43:56 GMT -5
The drive for a second UEFA cup owned by a Russian side in a row begins on the 11th of August when Zenit plays its opening round agregate against Superfund of Austria. Zenit is most likely to rest some of its stars during its home match with Terek this coming weekend, as Terek is most likely to be relegated having only 15 points in the Russian Premier League (Zenit by comparison has 32). 2007, do you know anything about Superfund? - Zenit doesn't play continental sides until UEFA.
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Jul 30, 2005 0:53:42 GMT -5
So typical of european football players - and this is why I don't really respect a lot of them as athletes and competitors. Andre Arshavin - zenit's new highly paid forward was tackled in the last Premiership match against Alaniya. He's decided that he can't play in next weeks game against a terrible team in the Russian Premier League - however he finished last week's game.
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Jul 30, 2005 1:00:51 GMT -5
Actually, there will apparently be a total of 5 players being rested for the next 2 games before UEFA begins - these players include - all of the starting forwards, one half-back, and the starting goalie. Zenit will actually only have one player on the bench for one of the games in the next two weeks.
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FLHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Proud Member of Generation Burton
Posts: 4,544
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Post by FLHoya on Jul 30, 2005 1:13:54 GMT -5
DC United fans should be very proud of their team. They played Chelsea FC - clearly one of the greatest teams ever assembled with no thought given to cost - to a standstill. They had more corners, shots, and controlled the ball for most of the game - while playing the game at their pace. However, the billions of euros spent by a crazy football loving Russian were evident in the Chelsea counter attack leaving United with a 2-1 loss. Nonetheless, I think it was a good measuring stick for exactly how far football has come in America - some Premiership teams last year can't claim to have played Chelsea as closely. Game info.<Edited to include link to game info.> I don't know...I don't care what the possession stats and the # of corner kicks say, Chelsea absolutely dominated the second half. Rob Stone and Marcelo Balboa were right to keep pointing out how disciplined Chelsea's defense is and how they shut down anything and everything DC United had to bear--which in the second half wasn't much (seriously guys, throw something forward, enough with the 1 on 4 stuff!) Seriously, for all that possession in the 2nd half, DC had maybe one half-chance at goal near the end of the game. I think the tendency is to expect these mega-European squads to put up goal-fests against MLS caliber clubs. But the reality is you can dominate and control a soccer game without big advantages in time of possession and by basically frustrating on D and counterattacking (see: the uninspiring, dull, and annoying Italian National Team and the Serie A representatives in the Champions League). Not that DC United didn't do themselves proud--they certainly held their own and played inspiring soccer at times. But the talent gap is always gonna be there--I mean, DC's payroll's what, like 2% of Chelsea's. Rather than these types of friendlies, though, the real measure of success for MLS is the increasing number of talented home-grown youngsters getting time on the US Men's National Team (I'm a big fan of fellow Florida native Eddie Johnson).
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Jul 30, 2005 1:24:57 GMT -5
Your last paragraph was key - its amazing that DC was able to do what they did in the first half given the gigantic disparity in pay rolls.
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