Soccer discussion

[AND93 10]

So, I guess this isn't really a major topic for me or anyone else in the world, but I guess most soccer fans agree, it's a pretty entertaining sport, and I'd love to discuss it with people around the world and especially europeans in this time of the year.

So... What do you think about the european competitions semi-finals?

In the UEFA Champions League Real and Barça have the most expected games of the year coming with them both being the favorites to win the competition. Also Manchester United is favorite in the other semi-final, but can Schalke 04 make this their best year ever and surprisingly reach the final?

And how about the Europa League? This season my team reached a european semi-final for the first time in 17 years and now, SL Benfica is going to play against our national rivals SC Braga for a place in the final.

Also, Portugal reached a record with 3 teams in the semi-finals of a european competition and FC Porto (our greatest rivals at SL Benfica, who are the favorites to win this competition and have already secured the portuguese championship) are going to fight Villareal for a place in the so wanted final

So what do you think about it. Let us hear your opinion about it

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

There is a strong presence in Canada, mostly among immigrant populations. Some of them play cricket, too, and there is a Rugby pitch outside of Markham, Ontario.

Calice (Soccer, Football) is just one of many distractions in North America.

[AND93 10]

Glad to hear that! I love countries who have a huge diversity in what comes to sport, because in Portugal people only care about soccer (we used to care about rink hockey, and now rugby is becoming really important between high-class members) and it is really hard for me to play any other sport.

I also happen to love hockey and I'm very curious about other sports.

And anyway, thanks to a friend of mine that used to live in Canada (His parents emigrated for about five years) I already knew that about soccer (All of his neighbors in the portuguese neighbourhood of Toronto (I guess it's called Little Portugal or something) were crazy about Porto and Benfica.

Also, I love how most of you people from actually developed countries (Were not really developed in mind) support your local team, because everyone here supports the big three and it's quite annoying (well, I support Benfica but they live 1km away from my house)

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, you have to understand that our immigration policy, unlike the elephant living next door, encourages people to keep their culture and create a multi-cultural mosaic. Toronto, for example, publishes daily papers in about a hundred languages.

Our only wish is that old country troubles be left there and that people make a new start here. As a result, we have a strong country with a powerful ethnic population from many places. You see, we have the second largest land mass in the world, and there is lots of room.

Our national sport is officially field Lacrosse, but the whole country is mad for ice sports, principally hockey and curling. The nice thing about curling is that anyone can play. The next door neighbors export their games of U.S. Football and Baseball via the media, and we have some professional Baseball teams in the MLB group, but for professional sport Hockey is where it's at. With the Stanley Cup playoffs in progress now, the country is slightly mad since it seems this year for the first time in ages, that Vancouver will win.

I lived in Toronto for many years, and you are right. The Portuguese community is centered around a specific downtown parish. Masses there are in Portuguese. On the other hand, Toronto is a great example of the mosaic having areas that are predominately Polish, Italian, Greek, Chinese, etc. The street signs in some areas are appropriately bilingual. If you were there it would be possible for you to live entirely inside the Portuguese community, but I don't think you would want to.

We have no signage requirement in law as opposed to Quebec where all signs must be predominantly French. Silly, but they are a stiff-necked bunch. Immigrant kids in Quebec are required to attend schools where the language of education is French.

As a matter of curiosity for you, we have one territory that is run by the aboriginal people (Nunavut) where the language of the legislature is Inuktatut. It is one of three territories that have not enough population to achieve Provincial status, the others being the Yukon and the North West territories. Canada has ten official provinces and the territories which gives us thirteen official administrative areas inside a federal constitution.

All the kids everywhere in the country kick a ball around when the weather permits. Soccer (FIFA Football) is a kind of unofficial national thing, but most kids also ice skate and play hockey when there is ice. When my kids were young they were both into figure skating, but my son also played a little pick-up hockey. The federal government has a program called Participaction which encourages all forms of amateur sport. We also have a federal Ministry of Fitness and Amateur Sport. Almost every town and village has a hockey arena to which is usually attached a few sheets of curling ice. Usually a full sized soccer pitch (playing field) is attached to these arenas, but sometimes it is separate.

Here you have three kinds of football. U.S. (NFL) football, Canadian (CFL) football (both modified forms of rugby), and soccer (football as you know it). With all this outdoors, there is lots of sport.

[AND93 10]

So after this week, both the UEFA Leagues have now only two more games to be played before the so wanted finals

In the Champions League, Manchester United has beaten the surprise candidate Schalke 04 Gelsenkirchen by 2-0, a game that is not over, but it's mostly finished if Schalke are going to keep playing like this.

Also, the most watched game in years, Real Madrid-Barcelona ended with a 2-0 victory for the Catalans, and a red card to coach José Mourinho, that won't be in the bench against Barça in Camp Nou.

In the Europa League, the portuguese final is a dream really close to come true, after Porto beat Villarreal by 5-1 after a surprising game which started with a 1-0 halftime win for Villarreal.

Finally my own team S.L. Benfica has beaten our northern rivals S.C.Braga for 2-1 in an exciting match actually pretty predictable, even if Braga has surprised Kiev and Liverpool before (but this is not over yet)

So what do you think about these results?

[TekindusT 3,809]

I don't know about football (soccer) as much as my friends, but here's my two cents on your questions:

ManU 2 - 0 Schalke 04: It would be a mistake for the Reds to think they're in the final. I think Schalke could draw the semi-final in Gelsenkirchen and make a big upset. Blame to Raúl.

Real Madrid 0 - 2 FC Barcelona: as a Barça fan, I'm über-biased and I'll try to sum up my five-pararaph opinion in a short post. I watched the game with my friends and we suffered as we have suffered during the last month in the league game and the Cup game. Everything was as usual (Barça attacking and trying to play football and Madrid defending with 7 guys, protesting to the referee and playing "nothing") until Pepe saw the straight red card. In that moment, when the midfield cleared, Barça could play its style and think clearly, the two goals came afterwards scored by this kind of football magician called Lionel Messi. Oh, I've been about to forget about Mourinho's HORRIBLE press conference. I couldn't give credit what I was hearing. Seriously, this man has some kind of mental problem.

Thinking in the next Tuesday, the game in Barcelona is now "easy" but; as it can happen in Gelsenkirchen, if Real Madrid scores a single goal, things will get very tough and everything could happen. You can NEVER think you've beaten Real Madrid until you've taken the shower after the game.

As for the Portugese teams; I'm not into the Europa League, but I have to confess I've been surprised when I heared that Porto has scored 5 goals to Villareal...

  Edited April 28, 2011 by TekindusT  

[AND93 10]

Well as a fan of José Mourinho's work, I have to say that was actually the worst press conference ever... I mean he's usually arrogant but that's part of his psychological manipulation (believe me, I'm used to it), but that was a really unusual press conference even for him.

And yes, even for a Benfica fan like me (we lost 5-0 in Estádio do Dragão... and we were second place this year) this was a real surprise.

Oh and finally I agree that Schalke can make a surprise. I mean Manchester is probably unprepared to suffer any goal and Schalke can still make the surprise.

[AND93 10]

So it looks like we have the finals decided. While the UEFA Champions League mantains it's tradition of presenting a strong final (with two of the best teams in the world in my opinion), the Europa League has a portuguese final that opposes Porto to Braga in what seems to be a really strong game.

I must confess that I'm disappointed with Benfica but Braga proved their value by eliminating my team.

So my bets are going to Barcelona (best team in the whole world in my opinion) and Porto (they're really strong and Falcao has already scored 17 goals in this year's EL)

Who would you bet in these finals?

  Edited May 7, 2011 by AND93  

[AND93 10]

And now, it is official. F.C. Porto (our greatest rivals) have conquered the UEFA Europa League, in Dublin. Falcao scored the only goal in the game but it was enough and Porto is now officially recognized as one of the hardest teams to beat in europe (I send this message as a warning to all Barcelona and Manchester fans for the UEFA Supercup)

Here is the team picture: