As many of you probably guessed, this work stuff is really cutting into my blogging time. BUT, I am going to push through!
The whole World Cup blog series got a pretty good response; so when a soccer season preview was offered up as a potential blog I thought, "sounds good." Now, let me begin by saying it's a bit tough to put together a soccer preview blog that really encompasses all the leagues around the world. It's pretty much like if each country had their own NFL or NBA. The teams in England for example play each other in what they call the "Premier League." However, some English teams also participate in European leagues where they face off with other squads from around Europe. So it gets a little complicated, and there are lots of matches/teams to keep track of. Don't worry though....that's where I come in, haha. I'm going to try and simplify this as much as possible.
My favorite national league is the Spanish League, also called La Liga. Like most of the soccer fans in the world, I also follow the English League pretty closely. Then, there is the UEFA Champions League. Basically, that league is a collection of the best teams from around Europe, and they play each other in midweek games. So those games generally take place on Tues/Wed, whereas the national league games mostly occur on the weekend. It's important to understand that the Champions League matches are in addition to the national league matches. Ok, that's all I will say about the Champions League right now because it doesn't really get underway until the middle/end of Sept. At that point, maybe we will revisit the rules and teams a bit.
For today, we're going to stick with the national leagues. First up, Spain. In my opinion, La Liga (remember, that's code for Spanish League) is the most exciting brand of soccer around. People might say the English League has better players, more defense etc. BUT, when it comes to exciting, attacking soccer, nothing matches Spain. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your outlook, soccer is usually ruled by two or three bigs clubs in each league. Entering every seasons, those big teams are realistically the only onces who can win the title; all the others are playing for better finishes than they had the yr before. For example, there is a 99% chance that either Real Madrid or Barcelona wins La Liga this season. Any other team, and it would be the upset of the century. Accordingly, my preview is going to focus on these teams with a few exceptions.
Basic format of the league. 20 teams. Each teams plays eachother twice, once at home and once on the road. So, they play 38 league games. Three pts for a win, 1 for a draw and zero for a loss. Most pts at the end wins. Pretty easy. Barcelona won last season, but it was a pretty close finish that could have gone either way on the last week of the season. The season starts next Saturday. (I believe ESPN is trying to show one game a week usually Sunday afternoon at 1ish. )
Many of you know that my favorite player for the past 5-6 yrs has been David Villa. Total stud....firmly rooted at permanent man-crush status. Well, for all those seasons, he played at Valencia who is sorta my underdog team. They usually finish pretty high, like last season they ended in third. But they were about 30 pts behind the two big dogs...so yeah, there is a little bit of a gap there. Like most clubs in Europe, Valencia is just awfully managed financially. So they basically had a fire sale this summer. Sold their two best players along with lots of their old-timers. So if they manage to finish third again, that would be impressive. The good news of all of this is that my man Villa is now on Barcelona! The common principle in soccer is that the rich get richer. So the best team in Spain (maybe the world) just added another dominant player to their roster.
Let's talk briefly about the two big teams:
1) Real Madrid: Have spent more money on new players the past two seasons than anyone. Last year they paid Ronaldo like $250mil. Then they paid Kaka like $100something. Then they paid this dude named Benzema around that too (he turned out to suck last season). Well they realized that buying all these studs wasn't going to be enough. So this off season, they turned about a paid the best manager in the world a huge sum of money. His name is Jose Mourinho. He actually won the Champions League last season with Inter Milan....and he has pretty much won everywhere he has gone. So far, they haven't made too many huge changes to their team. They brought in this really solid defender named Carvalho and one of the studs of the world cup, German named Ozil. There is also talk that they want to add a big name striker before the seasons starts next week. For example, I have heard possibly Drogba, who is just insanely good and currently plays for Chelsea. If they do that, then they will be seriously upgraded. There biggest problem last season was defensively. When it came to stopping Barca in their two matchups, Madrid just couldn't do it. Maybe the new coach will be able to help them out there.
2) Barca: ok, I'll admit that I am totally biased, but for good reason. Barcelona is filled with the best attacking players on the planet, most of whom played for Spain this World Cup. Their best known player is probably Messi. He draws so much attention that it opens up everything for his teammates. Then in the midfield, they also have Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro and Busquets. Their defenders are all top notch, Puyol, Pique, Alves and Abidal. Then this season they add Villa. It's pretty hard for me to imagine them being worse this yr. Villa will give them even more scoring ability than they already had...which is almost impossible to believe. Basically, Madrid will need to reach Barca's level last season and more in order to win the title.
La Liga final thoughts. Other teams that I like this year to make some noise: Villareal, which is home to America's own Jozy Altidore (maybe not for long though if he gets his wish). Sevilla. Getafe. And Espanyol. It should be a great season, and the fight for the championship should be really good.
Moving on to England. They are already two weeks into their season. It's the same basic format with 20 teams etc. Difference in England is that there are more teams that can compete at the highest level. The last few seasons, Manchester United and Chelsea have been battling for first, but Arsenal and Liverpool could always contend as well. Right behind them are probably Tottenham, Manchester City and Aston Villa. The one team I am interested in watching this season is Man City. About two yrs ago some oil dude from the UAE bought the team and decided to just put boatloads of his own money into it. So last season they had a totally revamped team that was supposed to challenge for the title...unfortunately, they were pretty underwhelming and ended in 5th. So, what do you think they did this yr???? Yeah, spent even more cash..haha. On paper, they should be able to compete. It will be interesting to see if they actually do.
Already this season, Chelsea has won both of its first two games 6-0. That's twelve goals in two games, ha. They certainly havent shown any signs of slowing down. Manchester United made a couple of moves, but pretty much maintained the same players. If they want to win the title, they need Wayne Rooney to start playing like the Rooney of old...not the one we saw in the World Cup. Another thing to watch, remember how I mentioned Madrid might want Drogba??? Well, he is on Chelsea. If they lose him, then everything changes.
One team I think could make a big push this year is Arsenal. I think they are finally starting to have some of their young guys gain a bit of experience. Plus they brought in a few new players who could have an impact. I think Liverpool is pretty much stuck where they have been the past few seasons. They are solid but don't really have the ability to finish any higher than 3rd or 4th. I guess we will see how this season plays out, and injuries could always mess up everything I just said.
At some point, I will do a Champions League blog because the Champions League is just so good it deserves its own space. Maybe I'll preview the groups once they are finalized. Quick little bit of knowledge: Champions League is organized pretty similarly to the World Cup where teams are put in groups of 4 and the top two advance.
Look for that sometime in Sept. I'm also contemplating a Michigan Football blog...but it might be sports overkill for my readers, and you know me, always putting the readers first......
Comment if you would like some extra explanation or have some knowledge to share with the group.
Until next time.............
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