Table Update for 8/31

Great weekend of soccer with ManU vs. Arsenal & Inter vs. Milan. Sadly as you now by now I missed both of those matches, but hopefully some of you got to catch a few matches this weekens. Here is the a review of this past weeks results and the updated tables.

EPL
Past weekend results- Chelsea stops Burley's surprising run - Manchester United down Arsenal in the first big match of the season - Everton gets off the mark with a 2-1 win over Wigan.
EPL Current Table - 3 teams still have perfect records - Manchester City move into the top 4 with only 3 games played - Everton moves out of the relegation zone.

MLS
Past weekend results - Galaxy defeat Chivas in the SuperClasico with a strike by David Beckham - Last place NY shocks first place Columbus
MLS Current Table - Standing stay mostly the same with Colorado moving into the final playoff spot over Chivas - Galaxy close within 2 points of Western leaders Houston

Serie A
Past weekend results - Inter crush AC Milan at the San Siro - Juventus top Roma in another early season critical match-up
Serie A Current Table - 4 teams sit at the top of the table with 2 wins in 2 matches - Roma falls to the bottom of the table with two straight losses

USL
Past weekend results - Carolina crushes Miami FC 9 to 0 - Top teams Portland and Charleston draw
USL-1 Current Table - Top 4 continue to pull away into the final month of the regular season - Carolina passes Charleston for 2nd place

UEFA Champions League
Group Stage Tables - Recap of the group stage draw - Next set of matches will take place on September 15th.

World Cup
CONCACAF: Current Table & Upcoming Schedule (US vs. El Salvador 9/5 and US vs. T&T 9/9)
UEFA: Current Table & Upcoming Schedule (England vs. Croatia 9/9)

My Absence

Well as you may have noticed I've missed a few days on the blog (including my favorite so far - the TV schedule update blog on Friday). Sorry for anyone who came here looking for game times and channels. The reason I was out is because for the past few weeks I had been feeling sick but just figured it was a bug and would go away. On Friday I realized it was something worse and by Saturday Samara finally talked me into going to the doctor. The urgent care center sent me to the ER and from there I learned that I have Type II Diabetes. My blood sugar had spiked really high which was causing me to feel sick. While I am still not feeling back to normal, I am home. Hopefully over the next few days visiting my new doctor, taking the medicine they prescribed and resting I should get back to 100% (or whatever my new 100% will feel like). I hope to get things rolling again on the blog tomorrow and I appreciate everyone's support so far. Have a good rest of the weekend.

UEFA Champions League Draw

The UEFA Champions League (CL) - the way champions should be crowned. College Football take note - you are a joke compared to this system. Well actually the college football post-season is a joke regardless. The CL takes the top teams from each club league throughout Europe from the 08-09 season and places them in a group, then knock-out, tournament to crown the best club in Europe. Fans get to see the best of the best meet in exciting and new match-ups each year. In the US, ESPN has held the rights to the league for the past few years, but Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) has taken over this year. While FSC won't have HD until January 2010 the major positive of the tv coverage switch is that FSC will take a more expansive approach to all stages throughout the tournament. On ESPN you would only get 2-3 matches per week once the later stages approach.  FSC has already been covering and showing each match starting with the qualifying round. Enough with that, lets look at the groups (Note - the top two from each group advance after each team has played each either home and away):

Group A:
 - Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, & Maccabi Haifa
 - Interesting group with the traditional powers of Bayern & Juventus and the new french champion Bordeaux
 - Advancing: Bayern Munich & Bordeaux

Group B:
 - Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, & Wolfsburg
 - ManU take 1 spot, with a wide open fight for the 2nd
 - Advancing: Manchester United & Wolfsburg

Group C:
 - AC Milan, Read Madrid, Marseille, Zurich
 - Should be interesting to watch Kaka return to the San Sirio, Zurich is the weak link here
 - Advancing: Real Madrid & AC Milan

Group D:
 - Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL
 - Chelsea looks poised to make a run to the finals this year. Porto is not as strong this year.
 - Advancing: Chelsea & Atletico Madrid

Group E:
 - Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen
 - With Fiorentina down this year, it looks like safe passage for Liverpool and Lyon
 - Advancing: Liverpool & Lyon

Group F:
 - Barcelona, Inter, Dynamo Kyiv, Rubin Kazen
 - Will be quite tough for Dynamo and Rubin to advance with this draw, Dynamo might pull out a win over Inter
 - Advancing: Barca & Inter

Group G:
 - Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart & Unirea Urziceni
 - Wide open group, best opportunity for some surprise entries into the knock-out rounds
 - Advancing: Sevilla & Stuttgart

Group H:
 - Arsenal, AZ, Olympiacos, Standard Liege
 - Arsenal should see a smooth ride through the group stage, with a battle between Standard Liege and Olymp for the final spot.
 - Advancing: Arsenal & Olympiacos

So there you go, another Champions League truly begins and I've made my predictions. Lets see how they fair when the group stage kicks off on September 15th. Leave your thoughts and predictions in the comment section below.

Carolina Railhawks have historic victory

The Carolina Railhawks are the local USL 1 team here in the Raleigh-Durham area and thus the club I follow the closest (since I can attend games). I had to put up another post after the Railhawks routed Miami FC 9-0 last night. The victory clinched a playoff spot for the Railhawks this year. Check out each of the goal highlights at USL Live. The video is listed under the highlights tab. (Note - turn down the volume, the announcer likes to get loud).

Fantasy Football (both kinds)

So my time tonight has been limited after work because a group of my co-workers got together tonight for a fantasy football draft. I had the 3rd overall pick so I think I've ended up with a competitive team. After it was over I was thinking about how and who I would draft is there was a Fantasy Soccer draft. (ESPN currently has a game based on $ and setting a starting 11, but everyone can have the same players - not as fun). So I've decided to list out my starting XI , here are the rules:

1) Players can come from any league, but must be active
2) The formation used will be the standard 4-2-2
3) Since this is pure fantasy I will be drafting a team based on ability, style & my favorite players.

Strikers (2): David Villa, Didier Drogba
Mid-fielders (4): Lionel Messi, Xavi, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard
Defenders (4): John Terry, Patrica Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Sergio Ramos
Goalie (1): Iker Cassilas

So now that I've made my quick picks for the starting XI, what do you think? Send in your list to the comment section below.

Railhawks Game Wednesday Night (8/26)

Quick reminder to everyone in the Triangle area - The Carolina Railhawks (USL1) have a home game tomorrow night at 7pm at WakeMed Soccer Park. They currently sit 3rd in the table and will be taking on Miami FC which is in 8th place.

News & Rumors for 8/25

Here are some of the latest news and rumor headlines across the net today as we enter a mid week lull (unless of course you have off during the day and FSC - then you can watch the UEFA Champions League).

• MLS not to buy USL - its been rumored for the past week or two that MLS might be the potential buyer of the USL-1 as Nike has put its stake up for sale. This was an American soccer fans dream scenario. MLS could buy the USL-1 and turn the two into a promotion/relegation system. While there would be many hurdles to overcome to combine the leagues if was still the right first step toward better soccer in the US.
  
• Manchester City have continued to build their team of stars by adding Everton defender Joleon Lescott to a 5 year, $22 million pound contract.
• The Chicago Fire have sold Soumare to Boulogne (France) and FC Dallas is looking to bring in US National team defender Heath Pearce.
• Second round action of the Carling Cup is under way and US star Jozy Alditore scored his first goal for Hull City in their 3-1 win over Southend United.
• In a wild story, US Women's National team captain, Christie Rampone took over as the head coach for her club team, Sky Blue, to win the first WPS title over the top team in the league LA Sol, all while she was pregnant. Quite impressive. 
• Reminder: UEFA & CONCACAF Champions League action continues tomorrow with several games available on Fox Soccer Channel (FSC)

Table Update for 8/24

Another exciting weekend of soccer is over so its time to review the weekend's results and the updated tables. I've included the results & table for a few leagues that I follow (let me know if there are others that people want to see tracked here).

EPL

• Past weekend results - Arsenal continue their strong start - Aston Villa pulls off a shocker as Liverpool drops two in a row - ManU nets 5 against Wigan in the second half - Burnley pulls two upsets in one week (ManU & Everton)
  
• EPL Current Table - 4 teams stay perfect - Burnley sits in 7th - Everton falls to the bottom of the table
  

MLS

• Past weekend results - Seattle & Chicago drop games at home, while New York wins their 3rd game in 23 attempts.
  
• MLS Current Table - Top 4 teams stay in place as the rest of the league fights for a playoff spot.

Serie A

• Past weekend results - AC Milan and Juventus take an early jump on Inter.
  
• Serie A Current Table - 6 teams start the new season off with a full 3 points.

USL

• Past weekend results - Carolina & Charleston both earn draws as Portland gets another home victory.
  
• USL-1 Current Table - Portland begins to pull away for the regular season title.
  
• Carolina Railhawks are sitting strong in 3rd place, with a game in hand over Charleston. Making the playoffs and what appears to be a first-round home game in the playoffs is already a great step forward from last year. 

UEFA Champions League

• Group Stage Qualifier Results from last week & schedule this weeks return matches
  

World Cup

• CONCACAF Table
  
• UEFA Table
  

MLS taking another step forward

This weekend I picked up the latest issue of World Soccer. (Side note - if you are a soccer fan and have not yet read this magazine, do yourself a favor and go pick up an issue; the current one is previewing the start of the European season). On page 22 there is an article featuring the 50 best supported clubs in the world (based on 2008/2009 average attendance). The top 10 look like this:

1) Manchester United (England) - 75,304
2) Real Madrid (Spain) - 74,895
3) Barcelona (Spain) - 73,913
4) Borussia Dortmund (Germany) - 73,802
5) Bayern Munich (Germany) - 69,622
6) Schalke (Germany) - 61,361
7) Arsenal (England) - 60,040
8) Celtic (Scotland) - 57,670
9) AC Milan (Italy) - 57,066
10) Internazionale (Italy) - 55,185

After reading through the list I noted two things - (1) 3 German teams in the top 6 it quite impressive and definitely surprised me. (2) The 50th club was Fiorentina (Italy) with 28,928 fans. As of June 2009 the newest MLS club, Seattle Sounders, has an average attendance of 29,401 fans. If Seattle is able to keep this up they will break into top 50 attended clubs in the world, a major feat considering the well known European and South American teams that did not make this list. Another step forward for the MLS.

How to choose a team...

As with every sport or league it is always more fun to have a team to pull for. College Football, NFL, MLS, USL-1, NASCAR, I've have been able to easily identify with a particular team and let the cheering begin. However, I seem to have run into a wall when it comes to the EPL. So the question is what should you base a favorite team on. Here are a few thought / methods on how to pick a favorite team:

1) Player Based - Having a favorite player on your team just increases your level of support, but should I pick a team based on one player? Beckham (my favorite all time player) use to play for Manchester United, but has no connection to the current team. Clint Demsey (Fulham) & Tim Howard (Everton) have both been staples on their EPL teams for the past few years and are US National Team starters - go with them based on national team allegiance? Jozy Altidore has been a favorite player of mine since his MLS days, but now on his one year loan to Hull City, seems short sited to pick them. Lets try another method.

2) Collective Team / Style of Play - Some squads understand how to play the 'beautiful game'. After two weeks of matches a few teams of stood out to me. Arsenal - great passing game, loads of young talent, and several future stars of the game. Not to mention they scored 10 goals in their first 2 games. Manchester City - they are becoming the Real Madrid of the EPL. Several members of their bench would be in the starting 11 for most other teams. From midfield forward Man City is loaded with play makers who can dribble, pass and score at a moments notice. While the insanely rich owner makes me shy away from them slightly, I still enjoy watching how this experiment is going to work out.

3) Contender - No one enjoys pulling for a losing team, so why start off by jumping on board with a relegation squad? However, true contenders would limit me to say 7 or 8 teams - Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Everton, Fulham, Aston Villa. But at the same time if you start with a championship contender it's hard to really feel that reward when 'your' team wins the title.

4) Misc Reasons - Then there are the random paths like with Wolverhampton - awesome name (nickname is the Wolves) & I enjoyed playing as them in FIFA 09.

So where does this leave me? I can't say I've 100% picked a team yet, but I will say in these first few weeks I've narrowed the list down. I will not pick a team based on just one player, they are sold far too often (unless Jozy gets picked up for a long term contract). I will not pick a team based on a video game, but the Wolves have a great name. I will not pick a team based on them having better odds of winning, nor will I not choose them just because they happen to have been successful recently. I think the best way to choose a team is to watch them play and eventually you'll spot something that will help you make up your mind. As of this moment I'm going with one of the following teams - in no particular order (Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, or Manchester United). I am convinced I will have selected a favorite team by the end of the season. Let's see what catches my eye.

What are your thoughts on how to pick a favorite team? How did you decide?

EPL: Video Highlights

Video Highlights featuring the goals from each of the English Premier League games today. Manchester United come back with a strong 5 goal second half and Arsenal continue their great start with a 4-1 win over Portsmouth. Enjoy.

News Update for 8/22

• Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand out for three to four weeks
• New York Red Bulls Head Coach resigns
• US National Team Starts Clint Demsey & Tim Howard shine in the first round of the Europa league
• MLS: New England Revolution defeat the Seattle Sounders 1-0 on the road

TV Schedule for the Week of 8/22

So I've always been annoyed by having to go to four or five websites in order to figure out which soccer games are coming on which channels live each week. Thus I'm going to do the searching and provide the results for you. Each week I am going to list out the live soccer games by day, time, & channel for the MLS, USL-1, English Premiere League, Serie-A (Italy), Continental competitions (UEFA, CONCACAF, etc.) & World Cup Qualifying.

Saturday

• EPL: Man United vs. Wigan - 9:55am - ESPN2
• EPL: Man City vs. Wolverhampton - 10am - FSC
• Serie-A: Siena vs. AC Milan - 2:30pm - FSC
• EPL: Hull City vs. Bolton - 5pm - FSC
• MLS: LA Galaxy vs. DC United - 7:30pm - FSC

Sunday

• EPL: Fulham vs. Chelsea - 11am - FSC
• MLS: FC Dallas vs. NY Red Bulls - 3pm - Telefutura
• USL-1: Montreal vs. Austin - 4pm - FSC

Monday

• EPL: Liverpool vs. Aston Villa - 3pm - ESPN2

Tuesday

• UEFA CL Group Stage - 2pm -9pm - FSC
• CONCACAF CL Group Stage - 10pm - FSC

Wednesday

• UEFA CL Group Stage - 2pm - 7pm - FSC
• CONCACAF CL Group Stage - 8pm - 12pm - FSC

Thursday

• UEFA Group Stage Drawing Show - 12pm - FSC
• CONCACAF CL Group Stage - 8pm - FSC

Friday

• UEFA Super Cup - Barcelona (CL) vs. Shakhtar Donetsk (Cup) - 2:30pm - FSC
• USL-1: Portland vs. Charleston - 8pm - FSC

Welcome

Welcome to "The Free Kicks Report" blog. I've created this blog to serve two purposes - (1) to have an outlet for my ever growing love of soccer 'the beautiful game' & (2) to serve as a place for me to collect and publish soccer news, standings, TV schedules, videos, opinions, etc. for anyone who has a desire to keep up with soccer in the US, the UK and around the globe as we head towards World Cup 2010. I'm sure there will be a lot of changes over the first few months until I find a groove. So please feel free to send in any comments or suggestions. Enjoy.