2008 UCL Knockout Phase Lineup

My favorite European team, AC Milan, again did not reach the knockout phase. So who am I rooting for? Chelsea FC. I don't know much about the Greek team (Panathinaikos FC), but they might be fun to support if for some reason Chelsea stumbles. I know that H must be behind his AS Roma club.

Lineup finalised for knockout draw (from: uefa.com)

The lineup for the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League has been finalised after Manchester United FC, FC Bayern München, FC Porto and Juventus all clinched their places in the first knockout round as winners of their respective sections.

Fascinating ties: The four clubs join the four other group winners and the runners-up from each of the eight sections in the draw for the next stage, which is held on Friday 19 December from 12.00CET at UEFA headquarters in Nyon. Among the contenders are Liverpool FC, five-time winners of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, last season's runners-up Chelsea FC and Italian champions FC Internazionale Milano.

Draw conditions

* Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.

* The winners and runners-up of the same group cannot be drawn against each other.

* Group winners cannot be drawn against each other.

* Group runners-up cannot be drawn against each other.

* All group runners-up will play their first-leg matches at home.

2008/09 UEFA Champions LeagueFirst knockout round – to be played 24/25 February and 10/11 March

Group winners; Group runners-up

Group A AS Roma (ITA); Chelsea FC (ENG)

Group B Panathinaikos FC (GRE); FC Internazionale Milano (ITA)

Group C FC Barcelona (ESP); Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)

Group D Liverpool FC (ENG); Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP)

Group E Manchester United FC (ENG); Villarreal CF (ESP)

Group F FC Bayern München (GER); Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)

Group G FC Porto (POR); Arsenal FC (ENG)

Group H Juventus (ITA); Real Madrid CF (ESP)

Who do you think will win the UEFA Champions League? Have your say by clicking here.
©uefa.com 1998-2008. All rights reserved.

Sharks and Quakes

Posted: Tuesday December 2, 2008 10:13AM; Updated: Tuesday December 2, 2008 10:13AM
NHL's Sharks to invest in San Jose Earthquakes
By Zac Lee Rigg, Special to SI.com, Goal.com

The San Jose Sharks of the NHL are set to purchase a 10 to 15 percent stake in the Earthquakes of Major League Soccer.

Quakes owner Lewis Wolff confirmed the pending deal to Sports Business Journal. It is expected to be worth between $2 and $3 million. "It's a done deal," Wolff said. "It will help us as we continue to grow."

The two teams will share databases of fans and cross-promote each others' games, as well as coordinate marketing strategies. It's easy to see what the Quakes get out of the partnership. They receive cash and help from an experienced sports organization to break into the Bay Area market. The Sharks, on the other hand, are investing. They are banking on soccer and last year's expansion team to continue to grow in the region. In that regard, their actions can be taken as a bold affirmation of many of the strides MLS has taken in the past decade. This is another sports team reaching out and including MLS and soccer as its equal.

Wolff also said the Earthquakes plan on hiring an architecture firm by next year to design a soccer-specific stadium. It is expected to cost between $40 million to $60 million of private money and hold 15,000 fans. The Earthquakes currently rent Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., which holds 10,300.

Quakes Training Center - Morgan Hill?

There has been some talk about the Q's having approached Morgan Hill to locate a team training center. Sounds like the Quakes are continuing to invest resources locally to build a foundation for a strong team association with the community.

Earthquakes eye Morgan Hill
Nov 14, 2008 By Natalie Everett - Staff Writer

San Jose Earthquakes officials are looking to locate their team training center at the site of the Golden Oak Restaurant on Condit Road in Morgan Hill.Further, Earthquakes officials have proposed to operate the Outdoor Sports Center, located across the street, a move they say would increase activity and generate more spin-off effects with hotels and restaurants, according to City Manager Ed Tewes.Earthquakes Executive Vice President David Alioto said Morgan Hill is a "soccer hotbed.""Morgan Hill not only has some good soccer clubs, but it's home to the state cup tournaments," Alioto said.That's why the Earthquakes submitted an application to the city to locate the Major League Soccer team's training center at 16695 Condit Road, where the Golden Oak was open for more than 20 years. Parks and Recreation Committee members will discuss the application at their meeting tonight."The Earthquakes Training Center will include a professional practice field developed to MLS league standards," San Jose Earthquakes partner Keith Wolff wrote in a letter to Tewes Nov. 5. The campus would include a weight and cardio facility, treatment rooms, personnel offices and dining, video and meeting rooms.According to the letter, the center would be used year-round and provide tours to youth groups and other community organizations.Tewes said Monday that the center's use would "definitely include the 40-something weekends a year that the CYSA has its tournaments."Wolff requested a joint meeting with the city, the California Youth Soccer Association and the Earthquakes development team to discuss the "potential benefits to all parties involved."Recreation Department Director Steve Rymer said that for the last eight months, the city has had several conversations with private parties to find a different way to operate the Outdoor Sports Center."We're looking at other ways of running our facilities, to limit operations and maintenance costs and enhance community access," he said. Rymer said one of the issues with the center is that there's no community access to it. Leasing to the Earthquakes would allow more, he said.The city's desire to convert some soccer fields to baseball or softball fields across the street at the sports complex and the relocation of the soccer association to a 171-acre site in San Benito County would not impact Earthquakes officials' desire to locate the training center in Morgan Hill, Wolff wrote. The state cup tournaments would remain in Morgan Hill, according to Alioto and Rymer.The Golden Oak Restaurant closed recently after at least a year of financial troubles, according to several Morgan Hill Rotary Club members. The Rotary Club held a weekly luncheon at the Golden Oak for years until word of financial issues reached them and a new site for the luncheon was sought.The Rotary Club now meets at the Community & Cultural Center.Several calls to Golden Oak Restaurant owner Ken Harlan were not returned by press time.Alioto said Morgan Hill is not the only location the Earthquakes are considering, but declined to identify other locations or say how many there are."But we like the Morgan Hill location," he said.
Natalie EverettNatalie Everett covers education and city issues for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106, ext. 201, or neverett@morganhilltimes.com.

Afghanistan - 2008 Homeless World Cup Champions!

Congratulations to Afghanistan for winning the 2008 Homeless World Cup title!! Check out all of the results at http://www.homelessworldcup.org/

What an amazing event and I pray that this will be an event that helps those needing encouragement to make positive strides in their lives.

Ah...football

An article from a Ipswich Town publication:

Darren Huckerby and the Passion Problem
by Tim Sansom, Columnist
Thursday 04 Dec 2008 11:14:19

Tim Sansom ponders the effects of footballing passion ahead of Sunday's derby.


It was about four years ago when I was in Norwich’s St Stephens’ Street. Norwich City Football Club had just been promoted to the Premiership. My team, Ipswich, had crumbled to another play-off defeat. I was nursing my wounds and wondering why my footballing world had fallen into ruins.

I was debating whether it was worth booking a table at my favourite Chinese restaurant in Norwich, when I spotted Darren Huckerby coming out of a well-known department store. I froze. At that time, and still today, Huckerby was public enemy number one in the minds of Ipswich Town fans like me. We detested the spiky blond-haired winger with passion. It may have been something to do with his swagger around the pitch, a comment that he may have made in the local press, or a goal that he scored in the East Anglian derby? I can not remember why we hated him so much, but I know that I hated him. I know that I was being totally irrational. Hate is an unforgiving emotion. I had never personally met the man to make a sound judgement, but I still felt that Darren Huckerby was shorthand for everything that I hated about modern British football and Norwich City Football Club.

Back in St Stephens’ Street, I fixed a stare on Huckerby. He was just how I had angrily imagined him to be. He was dressed in holed jeans and a dreary American biker T-shirt looking like an X-Factor wannabe wailing that ‘This competition means everything to me.’Huckerby looked at me in readiness to do another ‘Good Luck, love Hucks’ autograph to another Norwich fan. However I am never that good in covering up my emotions and something in my glare told him that I was not interested in any Canary small talk. I like to think that a little bit of fear came into his eyes, although I now think it was derision. I flounced passed like a rush hour commuter, with the hope that I had taught Huckerby a lesson. Now I feel embarrassed. I would not usually behave like this to random people.

There is something about football that makes normal people lose any sense of rational thinking and behave like extras on Eastenders. We take an instant dislike to players who we have never met, and will never likely meet, because of the colour of their football shirt. Some fans feel that they should throw coins at players as a way of expressing their hatred and bile. Certain fans have attempted to recreate pitch battles in the pubs and streets around their ground as part of their football experience. Some of us now read the books of those days with rose-tinted spectacles. Some of us revel in that ‘passion’ and ‘devotion’ to their club. It can be embarrassing. We do not want to see the return of the Saturday afternoon incidents of hooliganism. Mostly gone are those days when the vast majority of Saturday afternoon matches ended in re-creations of the Battle of Waterloo. Most matchday programmes ask fans to inform their nearest stewards about unacceptable abuse being directed to the pitch, and penalties are being handed out for the worst offenders. The worst excesses of racial bile are just about eradicated and we have to accept that ‘anything does not go’ from beside the pitch. I also accept that players have their own responsibilities on the pitch. The players that provoke the fans with gestures and comments are not helping the situation. I also know that I will struggle to like anything about Norwich City Football Club.

I am pretty sure that I will never warm to Darren Huckerby too, and there will be another City player who will join my ever growing list of hated players including Darren Eadie, Ian Crook, Keith O’Neill, Bryan Gunn, Craig Bellamy, Ade Akinbiyi and Robert Fleck. I also know that those feelings will be reciprocated by the Norwich faithful.I also know that I will always be able to keep my emotions in check. We can love our football. We can have passion for football, but we can keep our dignity and self-respect, whilst we support our teams.

http://www.clubfanzine.com/ipswich_town/v2.showNews.php?id=16364

A Quote from "Bloody Confused"

I just couldn't let the day go by without sharing this quote from the book I'm reading, "Bloody Confused" (a journey through the 06/07 EPL season with an Amercian sportswriter).

"Even a lost novice could see that (Cristiano) Ronaldo had spent the year bolstering Portugal's hopes in the Olympic diving competition for both Bejing 2008 and London 2012, in both platform and springboard."

:)

Homeless World Cup - USA UPDATE

The US squad has played 2 matches so far. A loss to Ireland 11-2 and a loss to Romania 7-2. Our next match is against Hong Kong. I am sure the losses have been disappointing to the lads, but let's stay behind the team. Each of them is facing even greater battles in their lives and hopefully that representing the USA and playing football will help kick start the change they desire for themselves.

U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A.