Champions League 2004-2005: The REAL Football Thread

[Lauren Hynde]

With all the talk going on about what you Americans call "football", you had to have been expecting this.

To quote Lou, "this is about the most important thing in the world, though (after sex, that is!): FOOTBALL!"

More specifically, this is about the European Champions League, which is going to start a week from today. Teams from Portugal, Spain (4), England (4), Italy (4), Germany (3), France (3), Greece (2), Holland (2), Scotland, Turkey, Belgium, Czech Republic, Ukraine (2), Israel, Russia, and Norway made it through the qualifying to get here. Thirty-two of the top teams in Europe, divided into eight groups of four teams, will battle for a spot amongst the last 16 knock-out stage and from there on to the final.

***

As happened with Euro2004, there's also a Fantasy Football game about to start, and I already registered the Literotica League.

The game is exactly as the last one. If you remember your login data from then, you don't even need to register again.

HERE is the Fantasy Football game homepage. You can register and login from there. The first time you login, you'll be asked to customise your team (colours and name), and then you'll have to select your players.

The process is exactly the same as it was for Euro: you can have you pick from all the players from all the teams involved, up to 100 million euros. With that amount, you have to select 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 forwards, in a total of 15 players.

There is one annoying new rule, and it says that we can't choose more than two players from one team. This means we have to spread our choices, instead of going with 7 players from Porto and 8 from Arsenal, for example.

After you complete your team selection, go to LEAGUES and, where it says "Join a private league", enter the code 1622-448, to be a part of the Literotica League.

And then the fun commences.

 

[Just-Legal]

Purple and black kit! Gowaaaan!

Okay, the Legalites are there

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Purple and black kit! Gowaaaan!

Okay, the Legalites are there

Hey, it's almost the same kit as my Suicide Squad. Except mine is a bit more black and a little less blue (that's not purple)

Rock on!

 

[Just-Legal]

Hey, it's almost the same kit as my Suicide Squad. Except mine is a bit more black and a little less blue (that's not purple)

Rock on!

Its purple!

((the only way I'm having anything to do with football is if it involves purple. Ergo, its purple.))

 

[SnoopDog]

Now we are talking. I still don't know why us-americans referr to football as soccer.
To me there is only one true footbal. The other thing is called american football, guys. Get used to it. (I like american football as well by the way)

Now I'm a true supporter of Bayern München so I hope their Champions League campaign this year will be better than last year. I still hope they will repeat their succes in the years 1999-2001.
They have a good squad this year (that isn't as good as 2001 though) but still could perform well in both Germany AND Europe.
However with a new manager, some new egocentric star players and high pressure of bringing titles home to Munich, it could all go terribly wrong.

The first three games in the Bundesliga were a win, a not-so-good draw and a terrible 1-4 loss. So..... I'm a bit afriad.

But I have hope as well and I'll be watching of course when they take on Juve, Ajax and Maccabi

Snoopy, 'gute Freunde kann niemand trennen...'

 

[SnoopDog]

Beagles United has joined the Lit league. Let the games commence...

Snoopy, woof

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Its purple!

((the only way I'm having anything to do with football is if it involves purple. Ergo, its purple.))

Why, you're right. It must be purple.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I, of course, will be supporting FC Porto.

They are the defending champions, so I know it will be a difficult season. They lost a few key figures, most noticeably José Mourinho, the coach; Ricardo Carvalho, a central defender; Paulo Ferreira, the right defender [all three to Chelsea] and Deco, the playmaker [to Barcelona]. On the other hand, they did get some very good new players. All things accounted, this year's team should be at least as good and solid as the last, as soon as they get their act together. It's too early to tell, because the season hasn't kicked in yet, over here.

Also, Porto has an excellent record against French and Russian teams, and Chelsea doesn't carry the big scary name of other English teams, so I'm confident in a good performance in the group stage:

GROUP H
- FC Porto
- Chelsea
- PSG
- CSKA Moskow

 

[Lord DragonsWing]

Well I registered a team on the European Football site. This looks like it's going to be fun. I'm not familiar with the players so I did the auto draft. Hope I got some good ones. lol

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Well I registered a team on the European Football site. This looks like it's going to be fun. I'm not familiar with the players so I did the auto draft. Hope I got some good ones. lol

LOL

Well, you can post your selection here, and I'm sure someone will give you some hints if there are players you need to change.

Oh, and I think you forgot one thing:

After you complete your team selection, go to LEAGUES and, where it says "Join a private league", enter the code 1622-448, to be a part of the Literotica League.

 

[Lord DragonsWing]

Thanks Lauren,

I just joined the league. Here's the team roster. Since I'm not familiar with any of these players I'll just post here.

Borel, Juan, Mejia, Huth, Pepe, Hamann, D'Agostino, Lisztes. Quaresma, Martins, Saviola, Roma, Legati, Sissoko, Santa Cruz

I've played Yahoo Soccer leagues but never the European League. If anyone has any advice I'd greatly appreciate it. This is not American Football but it looks just as fun. lol

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I'll look at that team tomorrow morning and will then tell you something about it, ok?

 

[Lord DragonsWing]

Thanks Lauren. I appreciate it. That is fine with me.

 

[thebullet]

Because I'm feeling feisty and disagreeable, I'll throw in my two cents. I hate sports where a bunch of people run up and down a field trying to get something past a goalie. BORRRINGG! Except for something like LaCrosse, where while they run up and down the field they beat each other over the head with sticks. Now there is a fun game to watch.

But geez, soccer (football to the unenlightened), field hockey, ice hockey, women's lacrosse, all are essentially the same sport only altered by the size of the ball and how it is hit/kicked/thrown.

I might also add that I kinda liked team handball in the Olympics, which fits into this category, but like men's lacrosse has a large component of beating your opponent over the head.

American football and the sports that are in some small way related to it, Rugby and Australian Rules Football come to mind, are team sports I like to watch. And, of course baseball.

If they added a goalie to baseketball, no one would watch that game.

On the other hand, I watched a cricket match last year that lasted about five hours, and after I had sat through the whole thing I still couldn't figure out what the fuck was gong on.
What is that sport about, anyway?

 

[English Lady]

I will get my team up anf going ASAP.

I will be supporting Manchester United -Who else?

 

[SnoopDog]

Thanks Lauren,

I just joined the league. Here's the team roster. Since I'm not familiar with any of these players I'll just post here.

Borel, Juan, Mejia, Huth, Pepe, Hamann, D'Agostino, Lisztes. Quaresma, Martins, Saviola, Roma, Legati, Sissoko, Santa Cruz

I've played Yahoo Soccer leagues but never the European League. If anyone has any advice I'd greatly appreciate it. This is not American Football but it looks just as fun. lol

Sounds like your squad should be changed a little because I'm a bit into football and I don't know a lot of those players as well.

I also don't know how many 8 - 10 million bucks players you have but it looks like you should have some money left which would bring me to the conclusion that the 'auto-draft' sucks.

Snoopy

 

[SnoopDog]

Here's the Beagles United squad by the way.....

Goalkeepers

Cassilas - Real Madrid

Substitute: Rüstü Recber - Fenerbace Istanbul


Defenders

Candela - AS Roma
Nesta (C) - AC Milan
Pellegrino - FC Valenzia
Gamarra - Internazionale FC

Substitute: Deschacht - Anderlecht


Midfielders

Cocu - PSV Eindhoven
Deisler - Bayern München
Viera - Arsenal London
Micoud - Werder Bremen

Substitute: Zetterberg - Anderlecht


Forwards

Makaay - Bayern München
Franca - Bayer Leverkusen

Substitute: Kleber - Dynamo Kyiv


Snoopy, FC Bayern, Stern des Südens, Du wirst niemals untergehen, weil wir in guten wie in schlechten Zeiten zueinander stehen.....

 

[Just-Legal]

Up the Arsenal!

Where's Lou when you want her?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

But geez, soccer (football to the unenlightened), field hockey, ice hockey, women's lacrosse, all are essentially the same sport only altered by the size of the ball and how it is hit/kicked/thrown.

The only comeback I can think of to that is: maybe the way you play it. Champions League football is a different breed, man.

 

[thebullet]

Actually, in a college intramural game I scored on a corner kick. I kicked it in, the darn ball curved beautifully and hit the goalie in the back of the head, then popped into the goal.

So you see, for a few seconds, I was a star! And please, if what I did was against the rules, don't burst my bubble now!

 

[Lauren Hynde]

A crash course on how to select football players. I suppose we should start by discussing the teams and group arrangements. As I said before, the 32 teams were divided into 8 groups of 4. Within each group, 4 teams will play each other twice (home and away), and the top 2 of them will progress to the next stage of 16.

Here are the groups as they were drawn. In parenthesis are the teams' rankings, so that you can have an approximate idea of their relative value:

GROUP A
(6) - RC Deportivo La Coruña - Spain
(10) - Liverpool FC - England
(33) - AS Monaco FC - France
(54) - Olympiacos CFP - Greece

GROUP B
(1) - Real Madrid CF - Spain
(14) - AS Roma - Italy
(26) - Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Germany
(51) - FC Dynamo Kyiv - Ukraine

GROUP C
(5) - FC Bayern München - Germany
(11) - Juventus FC - Italy
(39) - AFC Ajax - Netherlands
(145) - Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC - Israel

GROUP D
(4) - Manchester United FC - England
(18) - Olympique Lyonnais - France
(31) - AC Sparta Praha - Czech Republic
(126) - Fenerbahçe SK - Turkey

GROUP E
(7) - Arsenal FC - England
(23) - Panathinaikos FC - Greece
(24) - PSV Eindhoven - Netherlands
(48) - Rosenborg BK - Norway

GROUP F
(3) - FC Barcelona - Spain
(9) - AC Milan - Italy
(28) - Celtic FC - Scotland
(120) - FC Shakhtar Donetsk - Ukraine

GROUP G
(2) - Valencia CF - Spain
(13) - FC Internazionale - Italy
(38) - RSC Anderlecht - Belgium
(58) - SV Werder Bremen - Germany

GROUP H
(8) - FC Porto - Portugal
(20) - Chelsea FC - England
(42) - Paris Saint-Germain FC - France
(197) - PFC CSKA Moskva - Russia

(In red are teams with known supporters in our midst )

These rankings aren't absolute, because any team can beat any other on a given day, of course, but also because they're indexed to the countries' rankings, which means, for example, that Deportivo's 6th place is overrated and Porto's 8th place is underrated. Teams like Werder Bremen and Fenerbahçe are also underrated, because they haven't played much in Europe in the last 5 years. Still, give or take a few places, these rankings are a good guideline.

Ideally, then, you want to pick players from teams likely to win, who will score a lot of goals and concede few. The problem is that those are usually the most expensive, and you can only spend so much.

Also, and most importantly, you want to pick players that will play. Each team has 20-something available players, but only 11 can play at a time; unlike American football, there is only a very restricted number of substitutions allowed, three for each team, which means that only a maximum of 14 players will actually play. When selecting a player, it's a lot better to choose one from a weaker team who will definitely play, than one from a strong team who will be benched.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Actually, in a game in a college intramural game I scored on a corner kick. I kicked it in, the darn ball curved beautifully and hit the goalie in the back of the head, then popped into the goal.

So you see, for a few seconds, I was a star! And please, if what I did was against the rules, don't burst my bubble now!

That's beautiful.

And don't worry. It would only have been against the rules if the ball had curved outside the goal line and, most importantly, if anyone had seen it.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Thanks Lauren,

I just joined the league. Here's the team roster. Since I'm not familiar with any of these players I'll just post here.

Borel, Juan, Mejia, Huth, Pepe, Hamann, D'Agostino, Lisztes. Quaresma, Martins, Saviola, Roma, Legati, Sissoko, Santa Cruz

I've played Yahoo Soccer leagues but never the European League. If anyone has any advice I'd greatly appreciate it. This is not American Football but it looks just as fun. lol

The trouble with the automatic draft is that it selects only average players, based on cost alone. The thing is that average players in big teams, usually end up in the bench, so you need to double-check your choices. Also, if you are willing to risk a bit, it might be a good option to sacrifice the quality of your substitutes in order to be able to afford a better starting line-up.


Goalkeepers

Borel - Bremen (5.0)
Substitute: Roma - Monaco (5.0)

Snoop may be able to help here if I'm wrong, but I don't think Borel is even likely to be the first choice as Bremen's goalkeeper. On the other hand, Roma will surely be Monaco's, so that's a good choice. What you should do, then, is switch the two, making Roma your main goalkeeper. Then, you can trade Borel for a lesser (i.e. cheaper) goalkeeper - they have them as cheap as 3.0 - and that way freeing up to 2.0 to upgrade one of the other players. Having an expensive goalkeeper as a substitute is a waste of resources.


Defenders

Juan - Leverkusen (6.0)
Mejía - Real Madrid (6.0)
Huth - Chelsea (6.0)
Pepe - Porto (6.0)
Substitute: Legati - Milan (6.0)

Here, I can tell you that Juan and Pepe are good choices. Juan is the most expensive Leverkusen defender, so I can only assume he usually plays; Pepe is going to be playing in Porto's defense as well. But Real Madrid, Chelsea and Milan are some of the world's richest countries, and Mejía, Huth and Legati aren't that likely to play. What you should do is either use the money saved with trading Borel to upgrade these players, or trade them with others of similar value in different clubs. Again, 6.0 is more than I'd pay for a benched player.

Midfielders

Hamann - Liverpool (6.5)
D'Agostino - Roma (7.0)
Lisztes - Bremen (7.0)
Quaresma - Porto (7.0)
Substitute: Sissoko - Valencia (7.0)

Your midfielders are hard to call. They're all in good clubs, and if they play, they're likely to score you a lot of points. The problem is they're all in that grey area: they're good enough to be on the starting line-up, but they're not assured of a place in it. I can tell you that Quaresma is very likely to play for Porto, so you can keep him. About Hamann and Lisztes, I'd wait for the opinion of our resident German and English commentators. Sissoko is the only one that seems a bad choice. He isn't likely to play, and is a terribly expensive player to be on the bench.


Forwards

Martins - Internazionale (8.5)
Saviola - Monaco (8.0)
Substitute: Santa Cruz - Bayern (9.0)

Here, the first thing you must do is switch Santa Cruz - who is playing for Bayern and who you can ask Snoop about - for Martins, who isn't likely to play for Internazionale. Saviola is fine. Then, you should trade Martins for a less expensive forward, so you can free up funds to upgrade your midfield and/or defense.


There. Are you properly confused now?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Up the Arsenal!

Where's Lou when you want her?

Indeed!

 

[lewdandlicentious]

Up the Arsenal!

Where's Lou when you want her?

Hahahahahaaaaah!

That's my girl!

Another Gooner!!!

Take that Lauren.

I'll put my team in soon.