Brutal week for me in fantasy. 20 points. Ouch.

Tottenham's wins have been against the four bottom teams... and United away.

Just echoing a comment at the end of the last thread, these early round FA Cup matches are great. I really enjoy the FA Cup in general, the knockout nature of it is fun and it seems the crowds are always a bit more amped up.

Generally good day of soccer today, Liverpool Newcastle was fantastic and now Houston with a terrific early goal against Sporting KC.

Between the election and studying the only game I saw was Tottenham. Gross. Luckily there's no time to dwell on it!

Tottenham's wins have been against the four bottom teams... and United away.

And they haven't managed to win yet in Europa League even though AVB is taking it seriously.

Aronica gives Shooty and Torino an early Christmas present with a suicidal back pass in injury time that hands Torino a point.

Aronica gives Shooty and Torino an early Christmas present with a suicidal back pass in injury time that hands Torino a point.

So ridiculous. But Napoli also seemed to take their foot off the gas as well.

Everyone's watching MLS playoff soccer, right? There's been some crazy stuff, mostly not in a good way. US U-23 keeper Bill Hamid caught a ball off a set piece and then fell into goal. DC United player Andy Najar, angry at being carded for a tactical foul, threw the ball at the ref and got to go to the lockerroom without passing GO, collecting $200, etc.

That Najar thing was crazy. What an amazingly stupid thing to do.

The game today was very entertaining. Looked like KC was really wearing down at the end. Wish I could stay up tonight for the LA/San Jose game but no chance of that.

One would think the Galaxy and Earthquakes would be a good matchup, but they appear to be doing that conservative "whatever you do don't fall behind in a tournament" thing.

San Jose just needs to keep it close and then score in the last 3 minutes of the game. Earlier in the season I thought there's no way they can keep that up but they never stop doing it. This would be a hell of a time for the magic pixie dust to wear off.

Juninho seems to have missed the memo in which the Galaxy are playing in white.

SJ in stoppage time. Of course.

Sad, sad performance by the Galaxy. And the goal would embarrass a U12 team.

Speaking of San Jose, in my Football Manager season their new manager is... Sven!

Wow, just watched the replay. Good god that was a terrible let in by LA.

Dreadful.

Looks like Mancini better polish up his resume.

Arsenal in their yellow third kits, denying us red vs blue on Election day.

Looks like Mancini better polish up his resume.

I hear that Monte Carlo has a great night-life.

Malaga could have been a pretty great team if they had kept their stars.

The weekend before last I was in St Petersburg while the Tampa Bay Rowdies were playing Minnesota Stars FC for the championship of the NASL. I wandered up Central Ave before and after the game and the bars there were full of people in Rowdies gear having a grand old time. There were only something like 6000 people at the game but they managed to give a three block area something like a championship atmosphere. Lots of fun, and more atmosphere than I thought the new faux NASL was capable of generating.

I don't know what they're chanting in Schalke but it sounds pretty cool. Now watch it be a racist song or something.

The weekend before last I was in St Petersburg

Thanks for the email!

Tottenham's youth team has just taken apart Barcelona Juvenil in the NextGen Series IN Barcelona.

1-4 the final, after Spurs were 4-0 up and cruising.

Wow. Celtic. Can't wait to see the tape-delay of this game; I'll bet the crowd is going bonkers after that goal. Can the bus-parking work this time?

Interesting lineup by Man U. No RVP, no Rafael, no Carrick, and no Cleverly. I guess they are pretty much guaranteed advancement but I would think he would want to win the group which a point would all but guarantee. If ESPN's stats are to be trusted, they are getting dominated (11 shots to 2 for Man U-none on target).

Yes it can TE! Tony Watt on his season debut at age 18 puts it away!

2-0 Celtic. Yep.

Barcelona had basically given up on playing defense and they got burned right off a goal kick. Looked offsides to me, but I didn't see a good replay.

Holy hell! 2-0 Celtic! Why do I choose to WFH yesterday rather than today? Must be bedlam in Scotland.

Announcer just said Celtic fans as loud as they've ever been. Hyperbole I'm sure but they are really loud.

Messi with an injury time goal. Surely they can hold on?

You don't need a striker when you have the right talent and tactics, but you need center backs no matter what.

Even if they come back, point stands.

Wow. Now I really can't wait to watch this. Hasn't Barcelona not lost a CL group game in forever?

Van Persie ties it up for ManU. 2-1 Celtic final, wow.

Edit: looks like Chelsea with a late winner. Shakhtar deserved a point.

Whoever has called the two Celtic-Barcelona games obviously grew up rooting for Celtic.

So... How many points does Celtic need from the last 2 games to guarantee going through?

United up on a Rooney penalty now...

EDIT: Nevermind. Read the schedule wrong.

So... How many points does Celtic need from the last 2 games to guarantee going through?

Let me try this again... four points will seal it. Two points could be enough.

Let me try this again... four points will seal it. Two points could be enough.

Thanks... it looked to me like 2 might do it too. Unreal. Hats off to them.

So... How many points does Celtic need from the last 2 games to guarantee going through?


Let me try this again... four points will seal it. Two points could be enough.

If they at least draw Benfica they will be in very good shape, especially if the draw is 1-1. If they lose to Benfica, they would need to outpoint them in the final match. A draw there should be good enough unless Benfica can win at Barca.

In fact, unless Benfica can grab a point at Barca, a single draw in either of the last two games should be enough.

They are very good shape.

EDIT: assuming wiki's tie breaking criteria are correct:

Tie-breaking criteria

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:

higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;

If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1) to 4) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6) to 8) apply;
superior goal difference from all group matches played;
higher number of goals scored from all group matches played;
higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

Michael Cox wrote about the player Tottenham are missing the most these days:

There are few players with no obvious template, but Tottenham's Mousa Dembele is a unique player. Or rather, he is nowadays, in his current guise as a roaming central midfielder. As a forward, he was an identikit fast, tricky but inconsistent attacker; Holland, where Dembele moved at 18, is excellent at producing these players. As a midfielder, he's an entirely different beast, which is the odd thing about him -- in theory, he's the epitome of universality as a talented all-rounder, yet in another sense he's a gloriously distinctive individual with no obvious contemporary.

Michael Cox wrote about the player Tottenham are missing the most these days:

Funny, I'd say that's the player Fulham is missing the most. Dembele, for all his talent, did have trouble staying on the pitch.

I'm shocked and happy that Celtic was able to play Barcelona so tough in both games, and actually win one. That's just craziness.

San Jose got crushed at home. They still scored late, and by one of Wondo, Leinart or Gordon of course. Landon Donovan seems to be invigorated by the playoffs. That is obviously great.

If they at least draw Benfica they will be in very good shape, especially if the draw is 1-1. If they lose to Benfica, they would need to outpoint them in the final match. A draw there should be good enough unless Benfica can win at Barca.

In fact, unless Benfica can grab a point at Barca, a single draw in either of the last two games should be enough.

You're right. They have to not lose to Benfica and they're in, assuming Benfica and Spartak lose to Barcelona, which is a good assumption to make, especially since the Barca-Benfica game is at Camp Nou.

You're right. They have to not lose to Benfica and they're in, assuming Benfica and Spartak lose to Barcelona, which is a good assumption to make, especially since the Barca-Benfica game is at Camp Nou.

If Barcelona wins the first game they will have qualified and secured the group win (remember, this is in case Celtic doesn't win against Benfica). Who knows what kind of trash they will put on the field in the last game, I certainly wouldn't rely on them winning.

Who knows what kind of trash they will put on the field in the last game, I certainly wouldn't rely on them winning.

Well they have to submit a 25 man roster for entire group stage, so even playing the weakest line up they can will still have some excellent players. They can't just send their reserve team out there. Also, we're a month away from that. There's a whole lot of ifs that will be resolved in 2 weeks.

Well they have to submit a 25 man roster for entire group stage, so even playing the weakest line up they can will still have some excellent players. They can't just send their reserve team out there. Also, we're a month away from that. There's a whole lot of ifs that will be resolved in 2 weeks.

Sure, just saying it may be early to put that in Barca's win column.

Brilliant individual goal by Traore there. Two touches, one to turn Coates inside out with a flick over his head, the next to chip over the keeper.

EDIT: oh my god jordan henderson. just saw the highlight. everyone needs to go watch that.

Whoops. SpursTF might not want to watch the last 7 minutes before the half of this game.

Fabrice Muamba is in the house. Emotional.