A wonderful Cantonese evening to you all in the west still suffering through Monday morning. After a brief break that coincided with the winter break of every European league not called the Barclays’ Premiership, we’re back on this week with some new rankings. Firstly, however, I’d like to address on a very serious note the deeds that took place last week at the Africa Cup of Nations. For those who haven’t heard, the Togolese national team bus was shot up by rebels while traveling to a match vs. Angola, resulting in 3 deaths and multiple injuries. While I don’t care for getting up on the podium and talking about other people’s business, I’ve just got to say that it’s really getting old when people use sports as an outlet for their political and social views, especially when it results in the loss of human life. I’m about done with that rant, so now that that’s over with, let’s look at the glorious side of the Africa Cup of Nations. Last night, Mali was losing 4-0 to host Angola in the 78th minute of the match. 78th minute, as in there were 11 minutes left plus stoppage time. Mali had been gaining strength all match, but any logical person would have thrown them to the dogs by this point. However, in a most improbable comeback, Mali was able to rally off 4 straight goals to draw the match 4-4, completing one of the most incredible matches in the history of the tournament. In European play, there haven’t been a whole lot of huge matches going on, due to the layoff of winter breaks in almost all leagues. Some highlights, however, included a match of Serie A superpowers when AC Milan took on Juventus. It looked to be a match that would prove who had the best shot at dethroning league leader Inter Milan, and it very much showed which team was better. AC Milan absolutely smashed Juventus, 3-0, in a very convincing victory. This bodes well for a Milan side that is facing Manchester United in the knockout rounds of the Champions’ League. While Milan has looked so good, United has looked absolutely abysmal. After a stunning 5-0 win vs. Wigan before New Year’s, United crashed out of the FA Cup far too early against old rivals Leeds United, who currently play in League 1 (third level of English football), losing 1-0 at Old Trafford. After that, United played a fine Birmingham squad at Birmingham, drawing 1-1 in a thoroughly unimpressive manner. It appears that their huge defensive injuries are not their only problem, as they’ve just been generally ineffective and sloppy lately. Additionally, they received more bad news, as Dimitar Berbatov may need knee surgery. Real Madrid and Barcelona both appear to be the class of Europe, and both continue to crush opponents with relative ease. Barcelona had a bit of a hiccup with a Copa del Rey loss to Sevilla, but have still looked dominant the vast majority of the time. Chelsea continues to be the favorite to win the Premiership, but Arsenal is creeping up, and currently sitting in 3rd, 3 points back of Chelsea 2 back of United with game in hand vs. the Reds. At any rate, that’s about all there is to say about these last few weeks, hope you enjoy the rankings!
1. Barcelona (Esp) 50
2. Real Madrid (Esp) 48
3. Chelsea (Eng) 45
4. Inter Milan (Ita) 44
5. Arsenal (Eng) 42
6. AC Milan (Ita) 40
T7. Bordeaux (Fra) 36
Bordeaux continues to run away with Ligue 1, a staggering 9 points ahead of second place Lille. They have not lost in the league since November 21, and that has been their only loss on the season in France. Bordeaux quietly dominated their Champions League group, winning it by 6 points over Bayern Munich and 8 points over Juventus, both ranked in the top 17 of this poll.
T7. Manchester United (Eng) 36
Since December 19, United has lost to Fulham 3-0, Leeds United 1-0 at home in a stunning FA Cup 3rd round match, and drawn Birmingham 1-1. The important Carling Cup semifinals against Manchester City loom around the corner, as does what is looking like a more and more difficult Champions League match-up against AC Milan.
9. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) 34
T10. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) 30
T10. Valencia (Esp) 30
12. Juventus (Ita) 23
T13. Schalke 04 (Ger) 22
T13. Twente Enschede (Ned) 22
T15. Aston Villa (Eng) 20
T15. Manchester City (Eng) 20
T17. Bayern Munich (Ger) 16
T17. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) 16
T19. Ajax Amsterdam (Ned) 13
T19. Werder Bremen (Ger) 13
T21. Fiorentina (Ita) 11
T21. Sevilla FC (Eng) 11
Sevilla has hit a terrible run of form as of late, losing three consecutive matches in La Liga 2-1 to Getafe, Atletico Madrid, and Racing Santander. As a result, Blaine has dropped them from 8th to unranked in his personal rankings. They did score a decent 2-1 win at Barcelona in Copa del Rey action, but that was in front of a crowd of 20,000, showing how much Barcelona fans care about the competition. Still, Sevilla would welcome a midweek win in the second leg of that competition.
23. Benfica (Por) 8
T24. Braga (Por) 7
T24. FK Rubin Kazan (Rus) 7
Also Receiving Votes: Napoli (Ita) 5, AS Roma (Ita) 1
| Rank | Tom | Blaine |
| 1 | Barcelona | Barcelona |
| 2 | Real Madrid | Real Madrid |
| 3 | Chelsea | Inter Milan |
| 4 | Arsenal | Chelsea |
| 5 | Inter Milan | AC Milan |
| 6 | Bordeaux | Arsenal |
| 7 | AC Milan | Tottenham |
| 8 | Manchester United | Manchester United |
| 9 | Bayer Leverkusen | Valencia |
| 10 | Schalke 04 | Bordeaux |
| 11 | Tottenham Hotspur | Twente Enschede |
| 12 | Juventus | Manchester City |
| 13 | Valencia | Bayer Leverkusen |
| 14 | Aston Villa | Bayern Munich |
| 15 | Sevilla | Ajax Amsterdam |
| 16 | Werder Bremen | Fiorentina |
| 17 | PSV Eindhoven | Juventus |
| 18 | Benfica | Aston Villa |
| 19 | Twente Enschede | PSV Eindhoven |
| 20 | Manchester City | Schalke 04 |
| 21 | FK Rubin Kazan | Napoli |
| 22 | Bayern Munich | Braga |
| 23 | Braga | Werder Bremen |
| 24 | Ajax Amsterdam | FK Rubin Kazan |
| 25 | Fiorentina | AS Roma |
Next Five in for Tom, in order of my perceived quality of their domestic league: Deportivo La Coruna (Esp), Hamburg SV (Ger), Lyon (Fra), Fenerbahce (Tur), Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr)
Next Five in for Blaine, in order from greatest to least population of team's home city (or country): Mali, Marseille (Fra), Genoa (Ita), Lyon (Fra), Parma (Ita)
That's all for now, hope everyone has a great week! Keep an eye on FA Cup replays and the African Cup of Nations.
No comments:
Post a Comment