Grapeviney
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Everything posted by Grapeviney
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The Copa America kicks off in Chile tomorrow morning, with coverage on beIN sports channel, for those who have it. You'd have to think Argentina and Brazil start favourites, but it should be a cracking tournament regardless, and Mexico, Colombia, and the hosts would all consider themselves a chance too. Suarez is still suspended but there's plenty of other talent on display obviously. Was astonished to learn that the South American football federation, Conmebol, is headquartered in an area of Paraguay that is basically protected from prosecution. "In 1997, the Paraguayan Government passed a law that granted virtual diplomatic immunity to the Conmebol compound, its property, documents and archives, similar to the privileges enjoyed by the embassy of a foreign nation." That protection looks like it's about to be rescinded by the Government, which would allow investigators to probe more rigorously into its affairs.
And so it proved, Macca. Was an entertaining game, despite Barca's dominance, and they could have easily finished with another one or two. Juventus were disappointing. Aside from the short period after Morata's goal, which itself came against the run of play, they never looked threatening. Juventus 1 - 3 Barcelona That completes the treble for Barca, too - La Liga, Copa Del Rey and now UEFA. Neymar, Messi and Suarez bagged more than 120 goals between them across all three competitions.
The commentary last night and the news today have all compared Bishoo's dismissal of Haddin to Warne's 'ball of the century'. It was a great ball, but it's not in the realm of the Warne delivery. We're a good chance to sew this up tonight.
I guess it was inevitable given our bid, but Australia is now embroiled in the FIFA mess, with a $500,000 payment that was earmarked for a facility in Trinidad & Tobago allegedly being pocketed by Jack Warner. Even without Warner's involvement, it's beyond farce that our bid money should underwrite so-called 'soccer development projects' elsewhere in the world, especially at a time when we've substantially cut foreign aid spending. Australia's $500,000 payment under scrutiny Champions League final this weekend - 4.30am Sunday morning. The much anticipated match-up of Luis Suarez and Giorgio Chiellini won't happen, with the defender ruled out because of injury. Perhaps a case of once bitten, twice shy. Boom-tish! Preview: Juventus v Barcelona
Wow!! Cheers for posting, as I'd seen the result but not the goal - absolute magic. Back on the FIFA corruption, there was a funny little sideshow over the weekend with one of the officials using a story in the satirical newspaper, The Onion, as part of his self-defence. Hard to believe you could mistake it for a genuine news outlet, but it's happened before. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/world/americas/ex-fifa-official-jack-warner-cites-onion-article-in-defense.html?_r=0
Villa never looked like it. The goal from Sanchez was a beauty, but all in all, it was a disappointing game, contest-wise.
Massive story. The only surprise is that it's taken this long to come out. The IOC should be next.
I know the EPL's pretty much done and dusted but just caught the second half of what was a cracking finish at Arsenal, with Sunderland holding on for a 0-0 draw to avoid relegation. Gunners had 28 shots on goal and most of the play i saw was in their penalty box. Great scenes after the game with Sunderland's coach in tears. Was thinking about how many relegation games we would have been involved in during recent years if there were two divisions here - the club would be in permanent survival mode from Round 1 !
Barcelona will play Juventus in the final in Berlin on June 6. We were on track for a super-classico until Juve levelled with Real in the 57th minute to secure a 1-1 draw in Spain. Although Real had lots of the ball and peppered the goals, they were lucky to be in the lead courtesy of a controversial penalty which looked soft at first glance. Yesterday, two early goals to Neymar - thanks to some lovely passing from Messi and Suarez - put to rest Bayern's finals hopes, before the Germans scored some late junk time goals. Semi Final Second Leg Results: Bayern 3 - 2 Barcelona [barca win 5-3 on aggregate] Real 1 - 1 Juventus [Juve win 3-2 on aggregate] Interesting to hear that there's talk of ditching the away goal rule.
I'm going to avoid the doom and gloom of the post-mortems and just park myself in this thread for the rest of the year. Was caught out of position a number of times tonight (not necessarily his fault of course) yet still clunked 8 marks, of which 2 were again contested. Another 2 goals, too. The one-handed mark was an absolute ripper; he's so much stronger than his still-developing frame would suggest. The kid has the world at his feet.
Juve 2 - 1 Real Barca 3- 0 Bayern Messi scored twice in 3 minutes after it looked like Barca were going to be held to a scoreless draw at home. He and Ronaldo have now scored a combined 153 goals in UEFA matches!
Beware of fake celebrity supporters. In the UK, the PM David Cameron was giving a televised speech and urged people to support West Ham. Unfortunately he's an Aston Villa man. This was his explanation for the mix-up, and it's not particularly coherent: “I want to say how sorry I am. "All I can explain is I went past the West Ham stadium the day before and I just said the word West Indies in my speech and I was making a point about the cricket Test and all the rest of it. “I meant to say Aston Villa and I am profoundly embarrassed.”
Champions League semi finals draw is out and Bayern v Barca and Juve v Real sets up the delicious prospect of an all-Spanish final. May 5: Juve v Real @ Turin May 6: Barca v Bayern @ Barca May 12: Barca v Bayern @ Munich May 13: Juve v Real @ Madrid Saturday June 6: Final
Got Foxtel connected the other week and gotta say I'm loving the amount of football, and all in HD. It's like being at the game. But it seems Fox only has rights to the EPL, La Liga and UEFA on ESPN. What about Serie A, the Bundesliga and the South American leagues? I miss the old days when SBS on a Sunday was basically soccer all day, and you pretty much saw every single goal that was kicked around the world during the week. Edit: Turns out Fox does have those other leagues (German, French, Italian, Argentinian and Brazillian) - the beIN sports channel apparently. Re-Edit: Turns out I don't get the beIN channel, even though I have the sports package! WTF?!?!
Not playing the West Indies leg of the tour because it will clash with the birth of his first child, but will be available for the Ashes.
Yep, was a cracker of a game with the momentum shifting back and forth throughout. SA only have themselves to blame with the missed catches and run-outs. How about Steyn calling for the doc with 4 balls to go!
I live a few tram stops away dc and the parking all around st kilda is shite, with inspectors always out on the weekends. If you can get on a train I'd go to Balaclava station and then you can just tram up the road. There is parking on the beach side of Luna Park but not a lot and it's busy on a normal Sunday, let alone with the GP on.
from the Daily Telegraph in London
