Another edition of the Weekly Soccer Rankings! Sorry about the relative lateness. A friend and I found a store called the Soccer Shack in Lafayette. It looks like it could be a real good store, just opened today and we were the first sale, but they couldn’t take credit yet so I couldn’t buy my US National Team slippers. I also memorized a speech for this morning about red cards in soccer. It turns out that receiving a red card decreases the expected number of goals your team will score for the rest of the game by 2/3, while it increases the expected number of goals your opponent will score for the rest of the game by 5/4. In any event, big congratulations to Egypt for winning the African Cup of Nations with a 1-0 victory over Ghana. Blaine also wants me to give a shout-out to Rushden and Diamonds for their massive 6-1 victory over Hayes & Yeading. I bet that may be the last Hayes & Yeading reference in this blog so enjoy it all you Hayes & Yeading fans. Though as the club was formed in only 2007, there may not be many of you out there. Here are Blaine’s thoughts for the week:
A big guten tag to all you fraus and herrs out there, and wilkomen to this week’s rankings provided by Tom and Blaine. It was a relatively uneventful week, with my rankings remaining, for the most part, unchanged. The first order of business is bringing up the massive week that Manchester United had (that’s not even really bias, though I am biased, they really just had a huge week). Their first match was a Carling Cup semifinal 2nd leg against archrival Manchester City. City had won the first leg 2-1, meaning United had to outscore them by at least 1, or by 2 should City score 2+ goals (away goals rule). United scored twice to go ahead 2-0 and seemingly clinch a spot in the Carling Cup final before Carlos Tevez scored for City late to make it 2-1, thus making everything even in both legs. In stoppage time, however, Wayne Rooney broke the hearts of countless Manchester City fans with a brilliant goal, giving United the match, 3-1, and a spot in the final at Wembley vs. Aston Villa. United then continued their good form with a huge win last night over Arsenal. Arsenal came in playing moderately well, and, being at the Emirates, it appeared that the match was slightly favoring Arsenal. United, however, jumped out to an early lead on a magnificent piece of play by Nani, and never looked back, winning comfortably 3-1. They now sit in 2nd, one point behind Chelsea with one more match played. Chelsea continued to roll with a 2-1 win over Burnley, while City rebounded from the United loss to win 2-0 vs. Pompey. Spurs were able to draw away vs. a respectable Birmingham side, and Liverpool crept up into 5th place with a win over Bolton. In Spain, both Barcelona and Real Madrid won, 0-1 and 1-3 vs. Sporting Gijon and Deportivo de La Coruna, respectively. There was a huge upset in La Liga this weekend (which looks less huge on paper) with 3rd place Valencia falling to 4th place Sevilla. The clubs, while close in the table, have been miles apart on form lately, with Valencia’s last 5 going D, W, W, W, D, and Sevilla’s going L, L, L, L, W. Sevilla is now 3 back of Valencia in 4th place, with Barca and Real miles ahead of everyone. In Germany, both Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen continued their smoking hot form with comfortable wins, and Schalke also won to continue the remarkably close 3-horse Bundesliga race. They now sit with 44 points (Leverkusen), 42 points (Bayern), and 41 points (Schalke), all with 20 matches played. Certainly it will be an interesting 2nd half of the season. In France, Bordeaux continues to pace the field, sitting 6 points atop the table, with surprise Montpelier sitting in 2nd, Lille in 3rd, and perennial Ligue 1 powerhouse Lyon sitting in 4th. Both AS Monaco and AJ Auxerre are tied with Lyon for 4th with 39 points apiece. Lyon’s weekend was a good one, with a comeback win over PSG to keep their hopes of a brilliant league comeback alive. In Italy, Roma continued to get goals from unexpected places, with Stefano Okaka coming to the rescue with an 88th minute winner vs. Siena. Roma now sit in 3rd, 3 points clear of 4th place Napoli. Juventus finally did the inevitable and sacked Ciro Ferrerra, fueling rumors of a Rafa Benitez move to the Old Lady after this season. The coaching change produced no immediate results, with a 1-1 draw being all Juve could salvage at home vs. Lazio. Inter’s match vs. Parma was postponed, which is a shame, as it was at Parma, who were playing quite well, and could have given Inter a run for their money. AC Milan only managed a draw at home vs. Livorno, further diminishing their hopes of a Scudetto. Napoli and Genoa drew 0-0 in a snoozer, though Napoli continues to refuse to lose, having not done so in a Serie A match since October 4th. Yes, October 4th. Since then its been W, W, D, W, D, D, D, W, D, W, W, W, D, W, D. Ridiculous. Well at any rate, that’s about all the time I’ve got today, time to head to class. For all of you braving the Chicago winter, just keep in mind, I’ll be on a beach in The Philippines in about 2 weeks!
Auf Wiedersehen!
Rank Team Country Points
1. Barcelona (Esp) 50
2. Chelsea (Eng) 47
T3. Inter Milan (Ita) 45
T3. Real Madrid (Esp) 45
5. Manchester United (Eng) 43
6. AC Milan (Ita) 38
7. Arsenal (Eng) 37
8. Bordeaux (Fra) 34
9. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) 32
10. Bayern Munich (Ger) 29
T11. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) 28
T11. Valencia (Esp) 28
13. Manchester City (Eng) 25
14. AS Roma (Ita) 24
15. Twente Enschede (Ned) 23
16. Schalke 04 (Ger) 21
17. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) 20
18. Aston Villa (Eng) 19
19. Benfica (Por) 14
20. Ajax Amsterdam (Ned) 13
T21. Braga (Por) 9
T21. Sevilla (Esp) 9
23. Napoli (Ita) 6
24. Lyon (Fra) 5
T25. Fiorentina (Ita) 2
T25. Montpellier (Fra) 2
Also Receiving Votes: Liverpool (Eng) 1, Galatasaray (Tur) 1
The table with how we voted will be in soon! Check back later, for now here is a little hint of how we voted:
Next five in for Tom, reverse alphabetical order: Mallorca (Esp), FK Rubin Kazan (Rus), Deportivo La Coruna (Esp), Borussia Dortmund (Ger), Anderlecht (Bel)
Next five in for Blaine, in order of how likely the team is to win the Champions League ever (most to least): Juventus (Ita), Liverpool (Eng), Genoa (Ita), with Rushden and Diamonds (Eng) and Egypt in a tie for last.
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