Someone forgot to tell these people that some of don't get that soccer is the most popular sport on the planet for a good reason.
Posted on 02/22/2005 4:19:37 AM PST by soccer_linux_mozilla
We have live threads for Nascar, NFL, etc. so here is one for the most popular sport on the planet.
American Landon Donovan and Bayer Leverkusen play Liverpool, while PSV Eindhoven, featuring U.S. midfielder DaMarcus Beasley, hosts Monaco.
'Live' being the operative word. Soccer is deadly boring to most Americans, some of whom even understand the game.
Round of 16, first leg
22 February 2005
Bayern 20:45 Arsenal
Liverpool 20:45 Leverkusen
PSV 20:45 Monaco
Real Madrid 20:45 Juventus
Really? So how did MLS manage to sell 25 million tickets in 9 seasons?
How many of those tickets were sold in the US?
All of them. MLS stands for Major League Soccer.
http://www.MLSnet.com
LONDON (AP) -- The world's best soccer clubs face off this week in the second round of the Champions League.
Clubs used to grabbing headlines, like Real Madrid, AC Milan and Manchester United, all share second billing to the week's premier match: FC Barcelona and Chelsea at Camp Nou, a Champions showdown anticipated since Dec. 17 when the Spanish league leaders were drawn to face the English leaders.
Wednesday's match has it all, with the 100,000-seat Catalan cathedral -- arguably Europe's most famous soccer venue -- as the backdrop. Europe's top club competition has taken a three-month break, but this week's return should be memorable.
On Tuesday, nine-time champion Real Madrid faces two-time winner Juventus, and five-time champion Bayern Munich takes on English champion Arsenal.
Also, American Landon Donovan and Bayer Leverkusen play Liverpool, while PSV Eindhoven, featuring U.S. midfielder DaMarcus Beasley, hosts Monaco.
On Wednesday, two-time champion Manchester United faces five-time winner AC Milan, defending champion FC Porto hosts Inter Milan, and Werder Bremen faces Lyon.
The teams resume their second-round series on March 8-9, with the club scoring the most goals over the two games advancing to the next round. The final is at Istanbul, Turkey, on May 25.
A former assistant at Barcelona, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho won the Champions League last season with Porto. He has Chelsea playing the same kind of locked-down defense, and he's not ready to give up the title.
Mourinho has lost just three times at Chelsea -- including Sunday's 1-0 loss to Newcastle in the FA Cup. Winger Wayne Bridge suffered an ankle injury and will miss Wednesday's game. Forward Damien Duff and defender William Gallas were limping late in the game.
Chelsea plays what Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard has called a "very functional game." Workmanlike, the Blues rely on one of the best midfields and defenses in Europe, but have shown little flare since the loss of Dutch winger Arjen Robben to injury.
Seven points ahead of Real Madrid atop the Spanish league, Barcelona may have Europe's most flowing offense, led by striker Samuel Eto'o -- Africa's player of the year -- and Ronaldinho and Deco. Trying to shut them down falls to central defender John Terry and defensive midfielder Claude Makelele.
Since defense usually wins over attacking soccer, Chelsea is probably a slight favorite. Both clubs are starved for major trophies. Barcelona has won the European championship only once _ 1992 -- and Chelsea has never won it.
"[Chelsea] are dangerous because they are being challenged to do great things," Rijkaard said. "You can see they're hungry. So all this makes them one of the best teams in Europe."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/soccer/02/21/bc.soc.championspreview.ap/index.html
Almost all of those tickets were sold to ex-pats, many from Latin America.
Go to a Galaxy Game -- hardly a word of english spoken in the stands.
This thread won't go anywhere fast
What mystifies me is that most people find most sports boring, but one rarely sees a NASCAR, baseball, or football thread where they feel obligated to let me know.
What sport is this? It doesn't say anywhere in the post.
Go Liverpool! Defeat the krauts and their American mercenary :-)
Someone forgot to tell these people that some of don't get that soccer is the most popular sport on the planet for a good reason.
Folks - this is a thread for soccer fans to discuss the awesome matches played today.
I've been to several Galaxy games and you couldn't be further from the truth.
Yes. It's front page news.
American soccer's wonder-boy Freddy Adu - the 14 year-old phenom signed to D.C. United - is the league's highest paid player at $500,000 in 2004, although his base salary is $300,000.
The top-dollar figure includes guaranteed bonuses and othercompensation such as loyalty bonuses, marketing bonuses and housing allowances
It does not include performance bonuses.
At the bottom end of the scale - 80 league players earn less than $50,000 - the English Premier League average wage is $940,000.
And it is obviously a real cash cow here in the states. Those tickets must sell for a fortune to pay the players this sort of part-time wage. I'm sure there are rabid soccer fans just as there are rabid WWF fans, but it doesn't mean that the rest of America will become enamored of it anytime soon.
Just ask any hockey player.
Beasley should start, Landon should be on the bench today btw. The guy Donovan is competing with for a job had 3 assists Saturday.
Maybe I got it confused with the other soccer thingy.
Glenn - in NY, LA, etc. MLS teams average more than NHL or NBA teams.
MLS games get equal or better ratings than NHL games. In addition, NHL is on strike.
I don't see your point.
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