Valencia for top 3

   Sunday was a great day for most, if not all, Valencia supporters. Los Che drew against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. The score was 2-2, but could have gone either way even up towards the added stoppage time minutes where both teams had clear opportunities to win the match. The draw isn't the biggest positive surprise-Valencia is actually the team that has taken most points from Real Madrid of any other team in La Liga- it was in the manner and style that the draw was earned that has given Valencia a sense of rebirth. Valencia is a team that throughout most of its history has been a successful team, for a while they were consecutive winners of the "other" league. Which is finishing in 3rd place behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. However, the last two seasons for los che has been horrendous for the club. It will be part of their history that will not be remembered fondly of, but it happened and it is there. Fans know it, the team knows it and anyone who closely monitors La Liga knows it. Sunday saw a team that was organized, ambitious, and courageous. There are plenty of positives to be taken from the match. But, lets begin with a few obvious factors. First, Real Madrid where without Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo. Second, Karim Benzema had an awful day, missing eight clear opportunities to score. Third, Bale was no where to be found, could it be his speed has really diminished that much as he ages? The conclusive point here is that Real Madrid didn't necessarily executed their game plan in the manner they normally do due to a few set backs and their star players performing their vanishing acts.

  That being said, there were plenty of positives for Valencia on the day. The first goal for los che was straight from the academy products. Gaya to Lato to Soler was the brilliant combination that lead to the goal to tie the match at 1-1. The team looked well organized and attacked on the counter. Kondogbia had an excellent debut locking down the midfield forcing Modric to play throught the outside to create chances for Madrid. Kondogbia scored the second goal to put Valencia in the lead at 2-1. Ruben Vezo and Murillo looked solid in the back line as they debuted as the center back pair for the team. The two goals against Valencia, the first one was a bad pass to Kondogbia which allowed Asensio to scoop it up and work his magic with his left foot and the second goal was from a freekick. This is not to take anything away from Real Madrid, they did have more clear opportunities in front of goal to have easily put los che away. But, all that means from a Valencia perspective is that the team remained organized and stayed on their marks to make it as difficult as possible for the home team to score. That is something that was missing from the Valencia side the past two seasons. Now under Marcelino Toral Garcia Valencia really looks competitive. It is still early in the season, only two games have been played, but from what I have seen from this Valencia side has given me hope to be excited for this team going forward.

2017-2018 Champions League draw is complete

   The UEFA champions league group stage is set. The draw has come to a conclusion. Group A through group H has familiar foes lined up to play each other later in on in up and coming months. Group A contains Benifica, Manchester United, Basel, and CSKA Moskva. At the moment, the best team is Manchester United. The season is still too early to predict a team's form, but the last two games the red devils were world class. I see them winning the group.

  Group B contains Bayern, Paris St Germain, Anderlecht, and the Scottish team, Celtic. I am curious to watch Moussa Dembele play in the champions league stage. He is a young Frenchman that shares the name as another highly regarded french player that Barcelona is after. However, as much as I would like to see the minnow succeed and perform well, Bayern and PSG are loaded with talent and I see them both qualifying to the knockout rounds. The only uncertainty this group has to offer is which team finishes first and second between the German and French giants. 

   For some reason it feels as if group C tends to be filled with teams that play each other often in the champions league. Almost as if we have been here before. Chelsea, Athletico, Roma, and Qarabag make up the group. This is one of the few groups that can go either way. I must apologize to Qarabag, this is a three team group where the Azerbaijan team will not have much say in this group. They may play the part of hindering another team's chances if they can pull off an away draw. But, this group is up in the air. Roma, Athletico, and Chelsea will all be competing for the top two spots. Chelsea seems to be the team that seems to have internal problems with the whole Diego Costa saga and rumors of the head Coach Conte not getting along with the board members. If the team can ignore those issues Chelsea has good chance of coming out out of this group. However, one slip up could see them entering the Europa League. 

Group D contains Juventus, Barcelona, Olympiacos, and Sporting CP. If one, such as myself, predicts this group based on paper then Juventus and Barcelona will finish in the top two spots. Sporting could surprise a few, but at the end of the six games will most likely finish third. Barcelona is going through a few issues on their own. From the board members lying about Messi signing a new contract, teams telling them no in the summer transfer window, new coach, and an aging team that seems to not having any real reinforcements. That being said Barcelona is still a great club with extremely talented players and should have enough to make it out of the group. Juventus is well organized and talented enough to force Barcelona to be content with second place.

  Group E was described as a typical Europa League group by a friend of mine. Liverpool, Spartak Moskva, Sevilla, Maribor make up this group that might be described as one of the weaker groups in the tournament. However, depending on how these teams perform during their domestic league the top two spots are in sight for all four club teams. I predict that Liverpool and Sevilla will come out of it. These two teams may not be seen serious title contenders in their respective leagues, but they have enough talent to make it out of the group stage.

   Group F may seem like a cake walk for Manchester city, and that's because it should be. Manchester City is a clear favorite to come out on top of this group that contains Shakhtar Donetsk, Napoli, and Feyenoord. Napoli is the only team the poses a threat to the citizens of Manchester, but I don't think they have enough to topple Manchester City from winning the group. Feyenoord is no team to sleep on, young talented squad the plays very attractive dutch soccer can make for entertaining group stage games against Manchester City and Napoli. 

   Group G will put Monaco, Porto, Besiktas, and RB Leipzig against each other in the fall and winter months. RB Leipzig were a surprise in the German Bundesliga giving the German giants, Bayern, a bit of a scare. Yet, I don't think RB Leipzig has enough magic left in them to pull that off in the champions league. Besiktas and RB Leipzig will compete for a spot in the Europa League while Monaco and Porto will fight for the top two positions. 

Group H resembles somewhat a little bit of group C. Three very talented teams with a minnow team that hopes to perform well enough in their domestic league in order to qualify and receive a better draw next year. APOEL, Real Madrid, Dortmund, and Tottenham make up the final group. Unlike group C, group H has a predictable clear first place team in Real Madrid. This team under the watch of Zinedine Zidane has become a team flourishing with talent. A mixture of solid veterans and young talent this team is going to compete for every trophy this year. A string of bad luck is the only way of slowing this Madrid team at the moment. There is plenty of time still of course and the season is long, but of all the teams favored to win it, Real Madrid is a safe bet. That leaves second place up for grabs between Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham. Both teams are talented teams and could have easily claim the top two spots if it weren't for being drawn into the same group as Real Madrid. I see Dortmund taking the second place spot leaving Tottenham to compete in the Europa League.  

 

2017-2018 Predictions for Club Football

English Premier League                August, 15, 2017 predictions made     
1. Manchester City                           June 1, 2018 Actual standings (1), (2)...
2. Manchester United
3. Arsenal
4. Liverpool
5. Chelsea
6. Tottenham
7. Everton

La Liga 
1. Real Madrid
2. Athletico Madrid
3. FC Barcelona
4. Valencia CF
5. Sevilla
6. Villareal
7. Real Sociedad

Serie A
1. Juventus
2. AS Roma
3. Napoli
4. AC Milan
5. Lazio
6. Internazionale
7. Fiorentina

Bundesliga 
1. Bayern Munich
2. Borussia Dortmund
3. Schalke 04
4. RB Leipzig
5. 1899 Hoffenheim
6. FC Kolin
7. Bayer Leverkusen

Ligue 1
1. Paris Saint-Germain
2. Nice
3. Monaco
4. Lyon
5. Marseille
6. Saint-Etienne
7. Bordeaux

Best regular season teams vs World Series Champions

   Traditions are important. They can have a significant impact on a community. In the baseball community, there tends to be treasured traditions that are held in high regard. I will not list each baseball tradition and debate its morality and importance. That is not the point here. Sports are a tradition themselves and there isn't anything wrong or wicked in that. I do want to question the number of games played in a regular Major League Baseball season. 162. At first, 162 may seem like a random number to the outside spectator, but it does have its purpose. One of those purposes is that it determines which teams make the play-offs for an opportunity to be the world series champion. That is where my interest peaked. Do the best teams during the regular season win the world series ?

   I collected data from 39 seasons (1977-2016) as my sample size. From the information that I gathered, only 9 out of the 39 seasons or 23% or (.231), of the best regular season teams went on to become the world series champions. The Chicago Cubs (2016), New York Yankees (1978, 1998, 2009), Detroit Tigers (1984), New York Mets (1986), Oakland Athletics (1989), and the Boston Red Sox (2007, 2013) are the teams that make up the 9 seasons when a team held the best regular season record and won the world series. Note that the two season the Boston Red Sox pulled off the double, their best regular season record was tied with the Cleveland Indians (2007) and the St. Louis Cardinals (2013) respectively for those seasons. The regular season is long and it can take a toll on the players and the ball clubs. I am not stating nor taking a stand against the number 162. I enjoy baseball, I am aware of the criticism that baseball encounters; "the pace of the game is too slow.." and "the season is too long.." However, whether I agree or disagree with either of those criticisms isn't the topic for today. I am stating that the regular season isn't seen as important as it should be.

  The regular season isn't a walk in the park and for most of the players isn't a guarantee. Players and teams put in a tremendous amount of work to win those games. The individuals are awarded, such as the Cy youngs, golden gloves, and homerun leaders. Yet, the team that was the best throughout the year tends to be awarded less, if any, and soon enough forgotten and overshadowed by the world series champion. Unless, on the rare occasion, that same team wins it all. From the sample size that I researched and analyzed, one could easily observe that the majority of the teams with the best regular season record do no win the world series.

   I am not saying the world series champion isn't deserving of being honored and celebrated throughout the sports world. But, for the sport nerds out there, they can point out that technically the play-offs are a different tournament. Which it is. What I am proposing is that the team with the best regular season record be remembered and recognized by sports historians and fans for what they accomplished. Being the best team all year long. Maybe the two, if they aren't the same team, can have a 3 game series in the spring to determine the best of the best prior to the start of the new season. If that were to ever happen, I am aware that in the spring teams are, well it's spring baseball. But, that's the point. It could be a glorified spring game with some meaning to it.

Champions League Semi-finals

UEFA Champions league semi-finalist chart from 1999-2017.

-Click on "Chart" for access.

Real Madrid has won 3 of the last 4 Champions league titles. One argument that is brought up repetitively is that the champions league always has the same semi-finalist. Now I will give the benefit of the doubt that those who make that statement do not literally mean that the same four teams always make the semi-finals, but that it is a rotation of the very rich teams. The chart that I made takes into consideration all the teams from 1999 to 2017 that have made it to the semi-finals and how many times each team has respectively participated in one.  

Gentlemen, Please have your resumes ready...

   The NFL pre-season is just around the corner. Teams are starting get their engines running. Players are working out, coaches are navigating through the free agents available to fill any gaps or if possible improve a few positions and tinker with the roster before they have to cut it down to 53. Preseason in short is a method for coaches to test and observe players that can potentially aide them in their quest to victory. Two available free agents come to mind. Johnny Manziel and Colin Kaepernick. Both are quarterbacks that are currently without a team. The news up front is simple. Two QBs that are free agents looking for a team. Now unfortunately, the world isn't as black and white as deciding what flavored ice cream one wants to enjoy during the summer.
 
   Colin Kaepernick has had one of the most interesting free agency sagas I have ever seen in my short sports viewing career. Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem at the start of the season to protest what he believed to be the unjustly shootings on the black community. He played for the San Francisco 49ers for the 2016 NFL season. He started the season as a back up and ended up earning the starting position. Kaepernick ended the season with sixteen touchdowns and four interceptions which is actually a lot more impressive knowing that he did it with the 49ers. For those who don't follow the game too closely the 49ers were a disaster, from the front office to the team's play. Kaepernick opted out of his contract at the end of the season.
 
   Johnny Manziel or Johnny "Football" as he is also known as, came out today announcing that he is seeking on returning to play professional football. Stating that he has been in contact with a few teams. That has not been verified to my current understanding at this time. Manziel hasn't played a game for over a season almost two.

   I wont get too into the numbers and stats as those are readily available anywhere online. The point is that one of these two free agents has played longer and demonstrated to be a play short on winning the grand prize, the super bowl. The other was a over-hyped college player that did not impress at all in his two seasons in the league that was filled with actual controversies. From what I have been able to detect on a hunch from the media and football world is that Manziel has a better opportunity on landing on a team than Kaepernick. My football "intelligence" tells me that neither one will get signed. That is not to say that both are on the same standard on their quality of play. Colin Kaepernick by far has demonstrated that he is clearly the better player of the two and to compare them is a bit laughable. One could argue (those in the anti-kaepernick group, let me help you out) that teams could sign Manziel on a cheaper contract. He would demand less money than Kapernick. However, those who state Kaepernick is a distraction can not logically in any way hold on to that argument. Just how Kaepernick has proven to be the better quarterback of the two, Johnny Manziel has demonstrated on multiple occasions to be a distraction and burden to a football team. Now only time will tell how the NFL and its teams will demonstrate their "intelligence." In a free market teams can do as they please, there is a great product out there for buy that can benefit them. The free market is a great place to see which team is dumb enough to sign the distraction.
 

Video Replays may not be the Problem

    The match between New Zealand and Mexico in the Confederation tournament in Russia was an ugly match. As a person who resides in the CONCACAF region I tend to follow the Mexican national team quite closely. Monitor their moves on a weekly basis. It was an awful game from El Tri. Not sure if it was due to the line up changes or the team didn't have much respect for their opponents. The all whites came out in all black today, but they played organized and were dangerous on the long balls which caught the Mexican defense out of position on more than one occasion. That is just an ugly game, no one can really change that. Blame the Mexican head coach? sure, but he isn't the first and the only one who has tinkered with his line up when facing a "weaker" side. The ugly part came later on.
   The center referee had quite a handful on his plate therefore I wont use his name. We are human and mistakes are a given. What is special about the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia is that it will be the first international tournament that will use video assisting replay. Or VAR. Which is a big deal for multiple reasons. One being some are strongly against it because it will ruin the beautiful game. A game that is run by an organization that is accused of bribes, tax fraud, and money laundry but the line is drawn on technological advancements. To be fair the proper argument that those who are against VAR make a fair point. That the referee checking video replays will halt or slow the game down. Which is true, but I will counter that wasting game time isn't new. When a player gets sent off or a penalty awarded it can take up to three minutes just to resume play. That is why there is stoppage time added at the end of each half. The center referee had quite a few mistakes, but it wasn't because of the VAR. They were due to human error. Diego Reyes and Rafael Marquez were not awarded yellow cards when they purposely committed a foul to stop play. Now both of those were not dangerous plays and both occasions the players pulled and yanked on their opponents shirts. It can be seen as more tactical than dirty, but both merit a yellow card for it. Most fans, if not all, were aware of that. The referee had to use the VAR to give Diego Reyes the yellow card which should have already been given! There was no if, and, or buts here. That led to a scuffle where a shoving match arose and potential red card offenses could have been committed. THAT is when VAR should come in to productive use. Not to give a yellow that should have been given. That was just awful. That being said I will give credit for the center referee for actually going to the sideline and watching the video himself. The prior two incidents when referees used VAR they trusted the men upstairs. Which is not wrong, but the image it portrays is a negative one. The center referee is putting a lot of trust in others when he has the capability to check himself and receive upstairs information when it is HE or SHE that will be attacked and blame for any little blunder.
  That being said the referee's error was not VAR, even though I strongly believe the VAR was not used properly, driven. I was human error and poor officiating. That being said, this shouldn't be the death sentence to end VAR. It will take time for refs to know how to properly and effectively use it. This match should not define the use of VAR. It was an ugly match that shouldn't be watched as a replay in the first place.