Manchester vs. Chelsea (Champions League)

MitchAlvarez says on May 21, 2008, 09:02:

My vote goes for Manchester United. I think the trio of Ronaldo, Tevez, and Rooney is too much for Chelsea to handle.

I will say that Chelsea has been playing much better of late. Especially since Ballack started earning his money.

"Ingrid callate la jeta!! Stay in France"

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romy says on May 21, 2008, 09:10:

Manchester United es equipo primo del America de Cali entonces me toca apoyar los diablos rojos britanicos.
Ademas como decis Cristiano y Carlitos son jugadores muy buenos.

But it should be a tight match as Chelsea can put up quite the defensive wall that few can penetrate.
I want to make it to an English pub to watch the game but I'm afraid I won't make it in time to get a seat, going to have to settle with a Canadian lounge.

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MitchAlvarez says on May 21, 2008, 09:11:

primo de what?????????? de donde sacaste eso?

"Ingrid callate la jeta!! Stay in France"

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romy says on May 21, 2008, 09:13:

Los Diablos Rojos... se conocen las hinchadas por hacerse barra mutuamente: America de Cali, Independiente de Avellanda, Manchester United

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Liam101 says on May 21, 2008, 09:13:

I'm a Liverpool fan so am fairly neutral in that I dislike both. Objectively I'd have to go for United. By far the better team with the right combo of defence and attacking flair. Rooney should be up for this and will either be man of the match or be sent off.

Chelsea-wise - Ballack is the man of the moment and looks like the player of old. Could be a match winner along with Didier Drogba (or D.D.R. Droogbaaaaar as the commentators like to call him).

3-1 to United is my bet. Ronaldo (1) and Rooney (2). Drogba for Chelsea.

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MitchAlvarez says on May 21, 2008, 09:15:

thats a bunch of bs. they could have the exact same name for all i care.

manchester is an exciting team to watch. there arent that many honestly. ill be pulling for man u all the way. I would like to see tevez be the man of the match... i love his gritty style.

"Ingrid callate la jeta!! Stay in France"

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romy says on May 21, 2008, 09:17:

that's the way it works...

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billyb says on May 21, 2008, 10:08:

I'll be pulling for ManU, as my gramps was an OH.

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CatGirl says on May 21, 2008, 10:48:

Mitch ;)

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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manINred says on May 21, 2008, 15:13:

yesssssssssssss by god yesssssssss i was dying thank gooooodddddddddddddd.

what a spectacular match, Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo indeed proved too much however it was VDS in the end with a brilliant save.

manINred... ever since i chose this name (for that very reason)... by god...

GLORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

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CatGirl says on May 21, 2008, 15:47:

Long time no see manINred ;) Nice to hear from you.

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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romy says on May 21, 2008, 21:07:

What a boring game... actually I ran some errands during extra time knowing nobody was going to score and made it back just in time for the PKs.

I'm happy the red devils won, happy because carlitos scored his PK though his 2nd half performance was weak. and I'm happy because my Calgary boy Owen Hargreaves scored his PK and worked his heart out like he always does.

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manINred says on May 22, 2008, 17:49:

Thanks CatGirl! Exams and work have eaten up my spare time hehe.

Romy... boring? What standards do you hold for CL finals? Much better than the past few champions league finals, perhaps with the exception of 2005, and INFINTITELY better than the boring Juventus-Milan 2003 drivel. In fact they have been saying that it has been one of the greatest champions league finals ever. And by you bragging that you "knew" no one would score' in extra time, well, if you base 'excitement' on goals, perhaps another sport would suit you. In any case your prediction was extremely close to being incorrect, given that Lampard hit the bar after a perfect turn, and Giggs had a wonderful chance (headed down to him by Tevez no less) stopped beautifully by Cech. A lesser keeper (basically all of them in the world) would not have saved that, thus negating your negative and speculative 'prediction'.

esanch36, in defense of a non-fully fit Rooney, he set up Tevez beautifully in the 40th minute in what should have given United an insurmountable 2-0 lead, but Tevez squandered the opportunity. He also set up Ronaldo to give Tevez another chance in what should have been a goal that was superbly saved, the rebound Carrick somehow didn't put away. Two deliveries that because of poor finishing didn't result in two goals? Apart from the fact that Terry and Carvahlo negated Tevez and Rooney the rest of the game (and they did it very well), what more can you expect? This allowed, as we saw, Ronaldo and Hargreaves space on the wing, and gave Brown an opportunity to come up. What did we see as a result? Oh... a goal!

Rooney did appear at least as much as Tevez, actually I'd argue more so.

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romy says on May 22, 2008, 18:48:

Milan v. Liverpool (1st) and Barca v. Arsenal were far better matches as of late. who's "they"? Englishmen?
I like flair in my football, maybe it's the latin thing. sad to not be able to see Cristiano run at players. I wasn't bragging that I had to run errands and hadn't planned for extra-time, but it did help in getting me out of the pub that I was falling asleep in the second half. Actually a few people that I know fell asleep to wake up late in extra time or for the shootouts, including some of the guys that had a heavy influence on Owen and very knowledgeable football people from Colombia... That's why I prefer my Spanish league, or non-chelsea champions league. I don't base the greatness of a match on the amount of goals, as I have watched some very thrilling 0-0 draws.

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CatGirl says on May 22, 2008, 21:13:

So there is another one tonight? Correct? I don't have any sports channels anymore for some reason, so let me know how it went. Thanks guys ;)

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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manINred says on May 25, 2008, 12:23:

"Barca v. Arsenal were far better matches as of late. "

You have got to be kidding me. Barca Arsenal is good on paper, and the name would make it seem good, but the official ruined the match by sending off Lehman instead of awarding a penalty. It could have been a good match, but was completely dull as Wenger was immediately forced to re-evaluate his fluid attacking approach to the game once he was reduced to 10 men.

"I like flair in my football, maybe it's the latin thing. sad to not be able to see Cristiano run at players. I"

.You obviously didn't pay attention if you didn't somehow notice Cristiano Ronaldo run at Chelsea. If you really didn't notice, I suspect that you didn't really pay attention to the game, which gives you very brittle ground to stand on in this argument. He was allowed space to run at them because a) the centre backs were tied up the entire game with Rooney and Tevez and b) Ferguson switched him to the left side where he did not have to pair up against Ashley Cole, a battle Ronnie always loses. Essien couldn't defend him. That being said, of late, he has failed miserably to run at better oppenents who defend well because his tricks don't work, they did tonight, and hats off to him. Anyway, the match had tons of flair, and if it is a 'latin' thing (whatever that means) keep in mind Europe hosts almost all of the best latin players, has the and also best leagues in the world. Oh, and guess who was playing in that match... the best latin player in the world!

"Actually a few people that I know fell asleep to wake up late in extra time or for the shootouts, "

Good for those people. I know people where the only 2 finals in the past 10 years where they didn't fall asleep were this one and 2005. So there, lol.

"I don't base the greatness of a match on the amount of goals, as I have watched some very thrilling 0-0 draws, That's why I prefer my Spanish league, or non-chelsea champions league."

Good, it would have surprised me if you did base it on the amount of goals! Which is also why I am surprised that someone who is seemingly knowledgeable about football can't accept that CHelsea played in an entertaining match!!! Indeed I had low hopes for the final having snoozed through so many Chelsea-Liverpool matches of late. It just shows that Chelsea are capable of entertaining as long as their opponent forces them to (Barca, ManU, etc...). No one is claiming that the Barca Chelsea matchups of late were dull, they were far from it.

"I thought Tevez was way more involved than Rooney, and from what the news reports said so did everybody else"

Which reports? Ultimately Tevez scored an all-important penalty. For that reason it can be argued that he, in the end, contributed more to the game. However, that being said, had he not gaffed up the beautiful gift of a ball that Rooney delivered him, he would not have needed to score a pen in extra time ;) Rooney created much more, watch the play, I'll provide YouTube evidence as proof. Roons faded out of the game due to his injury (also why he was subbed) so Tevez was more noticeable in the later stages, but Rooney definitely had an advantage on impact as United dominated the first half. They both did wonderfully in allowing the fullbacks space to come up, and the 'wingers' (i use that term loosely) space to enter the middle of the park, by tying up Carvalho and Terry. That being said, in every sense they build off each other. The Tevez and Rooney partnership over time may grow to be the best in the world. This match was proof of such potential, yet again, despite a sub-par second half performance.

CatGirl, that was the last (important) football match until the Euros start in June. Unfortunately and unacceptably, despite fielding more players in the CL final than any other nationality by far, England failed miserably to reach the Euros. Since Germany winning is unacceptable, I will be cheering for Portugal and Spain. Actually, this tournament allows me to watch as a complete neutral, and I don't have to go through the pains of seeing England go out on pens in the final 8, lol!

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manINred says on May 25, 2008, 12:26:

ps I must admit that the shirt I bought at the beginning of the season, of all the brilliant players I could have chosen, I had 32 Tevez embroidered on the back, such was my thrill to see him join us at Old Trafford. So do not let my rating of Rooney in the match over Tevez let anyone assume that Tevez is anything but my favourite player alongside Rooney and a select few others.

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CatGirl says on May 25, 2008, 12:45:

manINred: Thanks for the update ;)...Again, I don;t get any sport channels for some reason (wierd, huh?)

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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manINred says on May 25, 2008, 20:03:

no problem CatGirl!

That's a shame that you don't get sports channels. If you are interested in football (soccer) it would be well worth while to check out a few games from this summer's Euros at your local pub/bar. Even in the US there is sufficient interest in soccer not to have to go far to find a match.

Football culture is a great culture, and actually one of the few true universal languages.

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CatGirl says on May 26, 2008, 10:52:

Yep, well I have spent a large amount of my life with futbol, boxing, NASCAR and Martial Arts in the background ;)). The men in my family had a tendency towards James Bond type sports. Either way I will have to check on this....I don;t really watch TV much - have it more as background noise... cheechee
When I was a newscaster I worked for a station that covered all 49er and Giants games, so I really got some different exposure. I must admit that I typically live vicariously through the sports the men in my life follow, jejeje. Is that bad? ;))

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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romy says on May 27, 2008, 09:00:

mainINred- I'll give in because obviously you watched the match in much more detailed as I was bored, so I won't be able to discuss the details with you.
Hopefully, we can discuss some euro matches as you seem to be very keen. Particularly Spain is who I'll be following, and some Portugal (are you actually Portuguese?)

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manINred says on May 28, 2008, 22:04:

nice romy, i will be following the Euros closely, and they start so soon, i can't believe it!

We'll get a big Euro thread going or something.

I am not portuguese but I have Iberian blood in me, thus Spain, perhaps some portugal, i'd have to ask my folks. I am fond of Piortugal because they have a strong presence at United at the moment, and will cheer them on as long as they neither cheat nor dive (too much). My team England pathetically didn't make the Euros, but it's ok, we would have failed miserably under Steve McClaren anyway, so it is better to miss the tournament and minimize the embarrassment (but i suppose for England it is already pretty embarrassing having missed the tourney!)

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manINred says on May 28, 2008, 22:13:

"I must admit that I typically live vicariously through the sports the men in my life follow, jejeje. Is that bad? ;))"

Nope haha, you must be an awesome gal to get into sports like that... i wish my exes would look at fiootie like that, instead i think it just caused them chagrin

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