As usual there will be a gajillion storylines as soon as the drawings are announced (11:30 ET). Group of death, group of bore (probably Switwerland's), conspiracies... There's really not much to analyze at this point, unless you really reaaaally have nothing else to do and want to start looking at the pot 2/pot 4 situation. For France I'm kinda hoping for a tough group since the team seems to do better in adversity than not (note: lots of depressing counter-examples to this theory. See: Euro, 2008).

So I feel like we've heard this before but apparently David Moyes is under pressure after his team suffered a loss. Will need to dig through archives but it's very possible that same sentence has already been written 700 times in previous Weekend Soccer posts. United host Newcastle which can be a tricky opponent when they bother. More important for the Red Devils it seems is to get Van Persie back on the field asap, as they really miss his clinical finishing. Rooney being suspended for this fixture does not bode well either. Arsenal host Everton in what should be a cracker of a game. Everton have only won once there in the past 17 years, but the type of soccer Martinez has them playing points to a struggle for Arsenal. With Chelsea and City looming in the wings, now's not the time for the Gunners to drop points at home. Speaking of City, they travel to Southampton who haven't been the most inspiring of sides recently. No one expected them to stay in the top 4 extensively, but it's likely they'll want to maintain themselves somewhere in the 6-8 spot range. And there are a lot of contenders for those spots.

Spain: Barcelona's hold on top of the league is looking shaky, with Atletico even and Real 3 back. Still they've been first for 53 straight weeks, which is certifiably insane.
Italy: Francesco Totti is set to come back from his injury soon, which couldn't come sooner to help Roma get back to their earlier winning ways. They host 5th-place Fiorentina this weekend in a very tricky matchup where a loss could start undermining all the goodwill that new coach Garcia has accumulated so far this year
Germany: Arjen Robben could miss 6 weeks for Bayern. No worries, the matrix will just plug someone else in and keep winning games and punishing opponents
France: PSG's unbeatten streak is finally over, and they are not exactly racing out in front so they will likely want to grab 3 pts against footballing doormats Sochaux

EPL
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013
7:45 ET Manchester United v Newcastle United
10:00 ET Crystal Palace v Cardiff City
10:00 ET Liverpool v West Ham United
10:00 ET Southampton v Manchester City
10:00 ET Stoke City v Chelsea Stadium
10:00 ET West Bromwich Albion v Norwich City
12:30 ET Sunderland v Tottenham Hotspur
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013
8:30 ET Fulham v Aston Villa
11:00 ET Arsenal v Everton
MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013
3:00 ET Swansea City v Hull City

LA LIGA
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013
3:00 ET Levante v Elche
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
10:00 ET Osasuna v Real Madrid
12:00 ET Rayo Vallecano v Granada
2:00 ET Barcelona v Villarreal
4:00 ET Malaga v Getafe
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2013
6:00 ET Almeria v Espanyol
11:00 ET Real Sociedad v Real Betis
1:00 ET Sevilla FC v Athletic Bilbao
3:00 ET Atletico Madrid v Valencia
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013
4:00 ET Real Valladolid v Celta Vigo

SERIE A
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2013
2:45 ET Bologna v Juventus
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013
12:00 ET Livorno v AC Milan
2:45 ET Napoli v Udinese
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013
6:30 ET AS Roma v Fiorentina
9:00 ET Cagliari v Genoa
9:00 ET Hellas Verona v Atalanta
9:00 ET Sampdoria v Catania
9:00 ET Sassuolo v Chievo Verona
9:00 ET Torino v Lazio
2:45 ET Internazionale v Parma

BUNDESLIGA
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2013
2:30 ET Nurnberg v Mainz
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013
9:30 ET Borussia Monchengladbach v Schalke 04
9:30 ET Eintracht Frankfurt v TSG Hoffenheim
9:30 ET Hamburg SV v FC Augsburg
9:30 ET VfB Stuttgart v Hannover 96
9:30 ET Werder Bremen v Bayern Munich
12:30 ET Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013
9:30 ET SC Freiburg v VfL Wolfsburg
11:30 ET TSV Eintracht Braunschweig v Hertha Berlin

LIGUE 1
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2013
2:30 ET Marseille v Nantes
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013
11:00 ET Paris Saint-Germain v Sochaux
2:00 ET Lorient v Stade Rennes
2:00 ET St Etienne v Evian Thonon Gaillard
2:00 ET Stade de Reims v Nice
2:00 ET Valenciennes v Guingamp
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013
8:00 ET Bordeaux v Lille
11:00 ET Bastia v Lyon
11:00 ET Toulouse v Montpellier
3:00 ET AS Monaco v AC Ajaccio

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

goddamn I forgot how bad these fools were on the mic

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

Lalas can be hyperbolic and homeristic at times, but he's at least got a sense of humor about himself -- something sorely lacking from Wynalda and Barton when I have to watch CL games on there.

---------------------------------
Photo zine(some images NSFW): http://bit.ly/USaSPhoto

"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

C'mon, guys!

---

But hell, what do I know?

GGGGGGGGGGHRRAPOID;OIDPAIO;F
'WHY
WHY
WHY
WHY

___________

HOPE!
https://vine.co/v/i7JjIBL3Qix
https://vine.co/v/i7JtqEFwxDu

....

...

.
.
.
.
.
.


***
Knowing, Being, and Doing is the best way to live.
.
.
http://instagram.com/casethenupe

.
.
A great Audio bible link http://www.biblica.com/bibles/audio/niv/

I guess we'll really see what Klinsy has now.

FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!

.....I am happy Nigeria at least has a chance to come out 2nd in their group

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

might as well

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

Germany probably deserved a better draw...considering the performances they put up on their road to qualification.

----------------------------------------------------------------
respect the gift.

with Ghana as the 3rd team? Ooooh-wee

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

im having a tough time believing they can even do that.

They're going to need at least 2 draws and a win to progress.

----------------------------------------------------------------
respect the gift.

you need three points from the first game or they're done. build confidence off the first match and hope germany rips portugals soul out in their first match.

___________

HOPE!
https://vine.co/v/i7JjIBL3Qix
https://vine.co/v/i7JtqEFwxDu

Tough group for the US...Gotta get them points off of Ghana....

GOAT of his era......long live Prince.....God is alive....

blah

---------------------------------------

http://twitter.com/malael

FIFA world rankings?

guess i'm wondering how USA ended up in pot 4 after winning their qualifying group. i get concacaf ain't all that, but shouldn't they have been in a slightly stronger pot?

The rest were split up by geography.

>i get concacaf ain't all that, but
>shouldn't they have been in a slightly stronger pot?

----------------------------------------------------------------
respect the gift.

fuck them

Fuck fuck fuck.

And we play a game in the fucking jungle. Really glad I didn't spring for tickets.

It's looking bad...and we in the middle of the amazon.

You're such pests...now, what is it you want? In your depths of your ignorance, what is it you want? Well, whatever it is you want, I can't deliver because I just don't see it. - Orson Welles


Never Tired, Always Sleepy

I see Brazil and Croatia advancing

for a team that has no merit and is only there thanks to the US, on paper they got a decent group. But Brazil is Brazil and Croatia should give em the business

Italy, England, Uruguay, Costa Rica: it's the GoD!

Klinsmann vs Germany: yikes. You couldn't pay me to be in that position. And Klinsmann is very well compensated.

Going on record now: Germany wins the WC

But they have so many chemistry issues that it's a total crap shoot.

You're such pests...now, what is it you want? In your depths of your ignorance, what is it you want? Well, whatever it is you want, I can't deliver because I just don't see it. - Orson Welles


Never Tired, Always Sleepy

>I see Brazil and Croatia advancing
>
>for a team that has no merit and is only there thanks to the
>US, on paper they got a decent group. But Brazil is Brazil
>and Croatia should give em the business

after Brazil, Group A is a wide open group.

----------------------------------------------------------------
respect the gift.

B has 3 teams I would have in the quarters

<--- Big Baller World Order

Bacary is my safety blanket, if he's not in the lineup all the newly built confidence is shaken. Sunday I still expect a win, but it will be challenging

I was more scared when we were without Flamini...and we overcame that pretty well.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

its not like either team did anything special in qualifying

Portugal in particular avoided all the power teams in Europe

we could have played okay and made it out of H. we're going to have to ball to make it out of this group.

the team doesn't come to the tournament to try and hit layups against minnows, we're there to play against the best. sheeeeit, we beat Portugal in the World Cup last time we played them and it took a non-call on a Germany handball to see them through in a knockout game against us, what are we so shook over?

___________

HOPE!
https://vine.co/v/i7JjIBL3Qix
https://vine.co/v/i7JtqEFwxDu

fuck we got screwed bad.

<--- Big Baller World Order

countries do....but if they take their prep seriously, Ghana is better.

---

But hell, what do I know?

Or are these groupings the worst spread of quality ever?

The group of death obviously belongs to Spain, Netherlands and Chile. It's not even close. Chile is a darkhorse that lots of people were calling to upset whatever top-seeded team they were paired with.

Especially with Ghana in there too?

I can't tell if Group G is the group of death, or just a shitty draw for US

LOL FIFA. Nice "random" draw.

And yes I understand the four pots of teams. this is still horseshit and obviously rigged.

----
bshelly

"You (Fisher) could get fired, Les Snead could get fired, Kevin Demoff could get fired, but I will always be Eric Dickerson.” (c) The God

there's so much randomness (at least from an eye-test perspective) when it comes to the initial stage of the WC that I'd love to see if things really shake out compared to expectations, at least on a rankings level. I'd wager that no, but I'm thinking about France's history here, which isn't the most reliable to say the least

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

So I'm guessing this could very well happen.

he was the one who gave the USA a 39% chance to get out of the group.

And eat some of Ryleigh's cream of crab soup. Life's good.

----

THFC
F1
MotoGP

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154085628690355&set=a.10150304756010355.533486.694890354&type=1&theater

I couldn't pick one.

--

"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

That's brutal man

************************

With Uruguay, Italy, England, and Costa Rica.

--

"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

to me, the toughest group is B...with some luck, Chile could conceivably take out either Spain or the Dutch. That would be swell.

>to me, the toughest group is B...with some luck, Chile could
>conceivably take out either Spain or the Dutch. That would be
>swell.

but either way, I would be elated if they can take out either of those two teams. I would be even happier if it was Spain, though; I think the spaniards more vulnerable in group stages then in knockout rounds, so who knows...

Zidane mentioned Chile as one of the unheralded teams that could cause a stir

Finalist in 2010 (dumb Brasil bullshit, but whatever). Since then the looked like shit in euros. sneijder is old and not doing shit in turkey. RVZp looking old! and was never impressive for national team. I'm not familiar with any world beating new blood. Belgium is the new Holland - no ones scared of the orange, or at least they shouldn't be.

If there's something I'm missing let me know, I haven't seen them since 2012, they had an easy qualifying group

NED is not going to the finals. Their team needs a reboot. But these petrifying dinosaurs continually put them in the contender pool (FFF? lol).

---

But hell, what do I know?

CRISIS

----

i'm just going to take my lump of coal and enjoy it.

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/Moyes%20Moe%202-thumb.JPG


Dat 'lak!

<--- Big Baller World Order

---------------------------------
Photo zine(some images NSFW): http://bit.ly/USaSPhoto

"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

having a very outmatched manager, and a new chief executive without a checkbook to work with in a transitional transfer season is a killer. Plus this shit isn't Everton. They should have gone after Mourinho or Klopp. I even liked Roberto Martinez a lot better. But they wanted a British manager, who can't fix a fucking midfield. I hated this team in SAF's final few seasons, and I despise it even more now. Totally unwatchable. This dude is in over his head. He practically celebrates at every corner kick they win now. It is a shame what this team is reduced to. We aren't playing in Europe next year. And no, I do not consider the Euro league a crowning achievement. What a fucking shame.

He tries to say challenging or confident-sounding things in the media and just ends up sounding like a little boy who's pantoming a role he KNOWS is too big for him.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

Didn't SAF almost get United relegated in hi first season?

I think the board are well aware of that history and will stick by him.

But it'll still be funny if they don't get any Champs League football next season.

************************

Everton is constantly getting 2 v 1's vs our backs, particularly with Pienaar and Oviedo on the left...combine that with Lukaku pulling the cb's deep, it really leaves the side backs on an island when Wilshere and Santi don't track back in time. To make matters worse, so many silly giveaways in the midfield especially by Ramsey who couldn't find a pass to save his life.

That being said, we finally found a rythym in the final 10 mins and if not for some great instincts by Howard, we likely score. If we can just settle down and not get caught off-balance which allowed for a lot of the wide space and space for Barkley (who is in such good form, he's just gliding by defenders to create instant attacking situations) while continuing the composure ajd passing we saw in the final 10, we should be ok. Kosc and Mertesacker have been tremendous, keep it up fellas.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

that would suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

This is the first time I've watched them in full this year

They have outplayed arsenal, and the gunners haven't played poorly either

We consistently gave the ball away which put us off-balance defensively...once we picked our energy up and were able to tighten spaces, the game tilted back to even. Evertone's issues came in the final 1/3...outside of one special strike, everything else was relatively lackluster. Regardless...considering they were on the road and how they were able to handle possession against us, extremely impressive.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

Great strike by Delofeu...it was Everton's only well-taken shot and a vicious one at that. My problem on that play was Flamini who gambled on an interception higher up the pitch which allowed Barkley to turn and carry the ball into attack.

Everton dominated the first 35 but we finally got some energy and rythym in the final 10 and then into the 2nd half. We had the better chances due to Everton being relatively poor in the final 1/3...some of that credit def goes to Per and Laurent who were very sharp today.

Fatigue certainly played a part with Arsene's triple sub...and it really did help. Walcott forced the Everton line deeper which opened up space for us to work in and took some of the pressure off Giroud, Rosicky was very positive and controlled, and Flamini was his usual vibrant self lol (other than the one needless mistake).

Very impressed by Everton, extremely impressed by Ross Barkley...the composure and skill of this kid is fascinating. Speaking of fascinating...imagine if that Giroud half volley goes in, so close.

Fair result.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

----------------------------------
I have a webcomic: www.watchthecomic.com

My webcomic has a page: www.facebook.com/watchyourheadcomic

Dare to say that Everton is the best side, save Dortmund, that we faced all season. Really good team and they will be there at the end.

I don't trust Jenkinson at all, and our game suffers when he is on the pitch

And, yeah totally agree on drop-off between Sagna and madface (see post above). Biggest gap we have in squad, dare I say even bigger that Giroud-Bentdner

Still 5 pts clear, just need a point midweek to finish top of group, really important we get that.

I'd like to see Ozil and Walcott together from the opening kick

He's the only player we have who can force a backline deep due to pace and occupy the mind of the a sideback and cb...that will give Giroud a lot more space to operate which means more efficient pivoting for the attacking midfield.

If we get too narrow (which is often the case with Walcott because he drifts centrally), then we have some width to replace him...but IMO Theo has to start in order to expand the final 1/3.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

can't wait!

and don't forget the JR.

Wowow beasted on these SPL hoes.

buses parked? he brought the tonka truck!

---

But hell, what do I know?

Once Insigne came on, arsenal were on the back foot. Hindsight is what it is, but it's clear he shoulda been on earlier

As soon as Higuain scored, Napoli should have kept pressing, ESPECIALLY after Arteta saw red.

There was little chance the score at Marseille was going to hold with Marseille a man down...for like 4-5 min after the red card, napoli was happy to just pass it around midfield

Couldn't watch... Missed opportunity, had to finish top. Bad show.

We get one of: Bayern, Barca, Real, Atletico, PSG. I guess I'll hope for one of the last 2.

He's our backbone. Well, that and just the talent disparity to his backup.

I wish City wasn't the next game , and so soon.

or in, well, finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH8gsuLXgW0

Atletico is continuously a fantastic team though, so I give them props over that other ass-kissing, tax-scheming "team" from the same city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6BHyv6nkAs

This was fun, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaDmcL4KjoE

---

But hell, what do I know?