The Soccer Thread

[Bigpapa42]

I like your thought, Heels, but I would probably still put Spain above Germany. The Bundesliga has become the only league where I will sit down and watch any match, regardless of who is playing - don't even really do that for the Prem anymore. Its hard to criticize La Liga for having Barca and Madrid be dominant when Germany has one dominat team. Bayern have 22 league titles since the Bundesliga formed in '63 and 5 in the past decade. They win every other year. The difference is that there is constant change in who the other good teams are, instead of just the two. Even if I prefer watching the Bundelsiga, I look at the top teams and I'd expect the Liga side to win. If I take mid-table - Hamburg and Freiburg vs Osasuna and Espanyol - I'd still take Liga. Despite my preference, I still think Liga gets ranked above.

I might even put Portugal above France, to be honest. Porto look awesome, while the top French clubs seem to have dropped off. Russian and the Ukraine are hard to grade - they have real quality at the top, but the lower clubs in the league can be outright atrocious.

 

[1ke]

1-England
2-Germany
3-Spain
4-Italy
5-France
6-Portugal
7-Holland
8-Turkey
9-Russia
10-Ukraine

First off the biggest gripe people will have about my list is Germany over Spain. I don't have a problem if people rank Spain over Germany, but for me, Germany is more enjoyable league top to bottom. In Spain it's Madrid/Barca and everyone else.

Once you get past Holland, everything else is essentially a crap shoot. I love the passion in Turkey, and they have some quality players playing there. Russia is flush with cash and has lured many a top player from the leagues just a cut below the best in the world. I selected Ukraine over Belgium simply because the Ukrainian league is also a rich league and they bring in a ton of Brazilians so when I do manage to see a Ukrainian team play, they're not terrible.

Ill go along with this. Spain is a joke after the top 2. Something along the lines of a 20+ point gap after the top 2. I do rate Holland a bit better that Portugal though.

Scotland 12
MLS 13

 

[BigHouseUSA]

My rankings would be the exact same as Heels', except I haven't looked into who to pick at ten. The others I just kind of picked off the top of my head.

 

[wr50l]

Spain reminds me of Scotland in that regard. After the top two, there's a huge gap in points.

It's really just a one horse race historically. :smug:

 

[BigHouseUSA]

Saw Joey Barton give an interview in an Arcade Fire shirt months ago, now that he has a twitter it's been revealed that he is a full-blown hipster. Awesome.

 

[FirstTimer]

An ESPN writer in his most power rankings had Real Salt Lake in the Top 10 for World Soccer Clubs.

 

[spiker]

An ESPN writer in his most power rankings had Real Salt Lake in the Top 10 for World Soccer Clubs.

He probably meant Real Madrid.

 

[killgod]

An ESPN writer in his most power rankings had Real Salt Lake in the Top 10 for World Soccer Clubs.

They are top 3 in CONCACAF, but wtf?

 

[Fappin Raptor]

Is there a link? I'm kind of curious to read this.

 

[spiker]

I found the Power Rankings. The comments are hilarious.

http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/6443329

 

[Fappin Raptor]

This is from April 29. I don't think they would be in the top 10 now.

 

[Fappin Raptor]

One of the comments got me thinking...

Could the LA Galaxy avoid relegation if they were in the Premiership?

I could maybe see them as a top of the table finisher in the Championship.

 

[spiker]

This is from April 29. I don't think they would be in the top 10 now.

When would they ever be in the Top 10?

 

[Fappin Raptor]

When would they ever be in the Top 10?

Never, but they had some 'credentials' to be considered then.

 

[spiker]

Never, but they had some 'credentials' to be considered then.

I'll borrow this from the comments I linked:

This is a joke. You really think RSL or Monterrey is better than Napoli, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Villareal, Valencia, Benfica, Roma, PSV, Liverpool, Manchester City and pretty much any other club that can afford world class players. They're not even top ten in the western hemisphere, Estudiantes La Plata, River Plate, Fluminence, Univ. Catolica, Colo-Colo, etc. Javier Morales is probably the best player on Real Salt Lakes roster and he couldn't even hack it with Boca Juniors. Freaking Carlos Tevez man, how could you say Real Salt Lake is better than Man City. You should get fired or not be allowed to write about soccer anymore.

 

[killgod]

He has a point. I refuse to think the "expert" wasn't 3 sheets to the wind when he said, "You know what, I'm going to put Real Salt Lake at 10 over Man City".

How was Man City playing in April? Doesn't really matter who the fuck is who, it's all about how the team is playing at that moment in time.

(I really don't know how they were playing at that moment in time, it just always boggles my mind how people get confused when "current moment in time" rankings are posted and some dumb asshole screams "YOU IDIOT THEY'VE WON 10 CHAMPIONSHIPS....")

 

[killgod]

They were on the way to winning a FA Cup, challenging for a title, and earning a Champions League berth. At that point in time they were light years ahead of any MLS club.

Entirely fair then. I wouldn't imagine it's the same status for the 20 other clubs the guy listed, but I suppose you get what I'm saying.

 

[wr50l]

One of the comments got me thinking...

Could the LA Galaxy avoid relegation if they were in the Championship?

Fuckin fixed!

 

[hoodyallen]

I wanted to get into soccer this year but it never happened. What's wrong with me?

 

[wr50l]

Born in the wrong country and on that phaggy time.