Monday, February 18, 2008

Sevilla FC!!! And other futbol stuff...

So, it looks like things are getting better for Sevilla FC... at least on paper. I'm getting frustrated as they really have not televised many of their matches on Gol TV...at least not compared to last season. Anyway, according to this article they handled Espanyol rather handily and the three points pushes them further up La Liga's rankings.

"...Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute struck within (the first) 11 minutes for a Sevilla side looking close to their brilliant best..."

I know they are basically out of the race for the league championship, but finishing strong will keep them in contention for the UEFA Champions League (I believe they need to finish 4th or better) and the UEFA Cup (which they have won the past two years).

Their next match is Wednesday in the Champions League against Fenerbahçe SK. Let's Go Sevillistas!!

Learned something new today...according to Wikipedia (I'll research its reliability as soon as I can):

"The Primera División is currently first in the UEFA rankings of European leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five-year period, ahead of the English Premier League in second and the Serie A in third. The 2005–06 average attendance of 29,029 for league matches is the sixth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world. In professional football (soccer) leagues Primera División was third-highest, behind the Bundesliga in first and the Premier League in second."

I get so tired of people knocking La Liga (or putting the English Premier league up on a pedestal). Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the other leagues as well, and what's not to respect about the EPL or Serie A (Italy for you non-fans) or even the Bundesliga (Germany), but don't put down what evidently is currently the highest ranked league in Europe. Even though i'm no fan of Real Madrid (still consider them the NY Yankees of La Liga), between them, Barcelona FC and Sevilla FC, you've got three of the finest clubs in all of Europe.

And speaking of the Yankees of La Liga, learned something else this weekend. For those of you that see Manchester United in a similar light, I just found out about this team, FC United Manchester. They are a semi-pro team that came about after supporters of Manchester United got fed up with Malcolm Glazer (the team's American Owner) and his "business before team" style of ownership. I've found stickers and posters that read "Love United, Hate Glazer." Anyway, sounds like an interesting newish team for me to follow. Since their inception two years ago (yeah, i'm late on the bandwagon) they've done rather well, working their way up the English system. They are currently listed as 7th in their league this season.

"FC United's (first) two seasons were successful. FC United entered at the tenth level of the English football league system (the second division of the North West Counties Football League) and they were confirmed as champions on 15 April 2006 and followed that up by being crowned as champions of Division 1 on 18 April 2007 and will play in the Northern Premier League Division One North for the 2007-08 season."

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