A Return.

Not that I ever really "left" but I am back and ready to post some more on this little soccer blog. Sadly, my ability to view La Liga and Bundesliga has been hampered a bit by the sale of GOL TV to BeIN Sports (I think that's who got it). My favorite teams are harded to watch... especially with FC St. Pauli falling to the 2. Bundesliga. Both FC St. Pauli and Sevilla FC are near the middle of the pack, though it seems Sevilla is having the rougher go of it this year. For some, their next match is an important one, though it may or may not mean anything in the grand scheme of the season, the annual Antonio Puerta Trophy match.

I still have trouble believing this was six years ago. Check out the linked article, as his six year old son, who had not even been born when he tragically died during a match, will be kicking off the match against Almeria in this year's match. I certainly hope I get to catch this one just to see his son on the pitch.

Seems as though Sevilla still has a strong fan in one of their former players. Jesús Navas has reportedly backed his former team with some strong words of encouragement. I'll always back Sevilla and Navas, personally ... hope he's right. Besides the annual tribute match, they have two La Liga matches and a Europa match that they should win. Crossing fingers.

Now... let's see how St Pauli does without a full-time manager...

A new dawning...in many ways.

This will be a short one, I feel like i've gotta put something down in here to get the ba...blog rolling.

First, if you don't know already, FC St Pauli did it. They got promoted and will be playing "with the big boys" this season, the 1st Bundesliga. I don't know what their first season back will be like, but i'm hoping to catch a match in person in case they don't fare too well.

In light of this news, here are a couple bits of info for ya that I find interesting or entertaining.

First we have info that Naki WILL remain at St. Pauli. This is definitely good news. Granted, many will say picking up bigger names or new and upcoming talent is needed, i also like the devotion that most St Pauli players and staff show in this promotion.

Next up, rumors were flying that Arsenal defender Sol Campbell was offered a one year contract. But at this point it seems St Pauli could be low on that totem pole.

For now, that's enough about the transfers... I don't usually pay attention to that until the season starts anyway. Something else I don't usually pay attention to are the new jerseys that come out every year. I know it's all about marketing and making money for the team/corporation, but I can't buy into that (partially because I don't have the kinda scratch you'd need to buy one for all the teams (or jerseys) I like every year... BUT, with St Pauli being promoted this year AND it being their centennial anniversary, I will be picking up a trikot at some point (hopefully in the fan shop outside the stadium). Heck, I might even buy a couple of them in celebration, especially if they do play well this year. I'm kinda waiting to see what the "third jersey" will look like before I pick out my "first one." Seems as though a lot of folks will be jumping on this bandwagon, i'm sure their fan base will grow quite a bit this year (which is always a double edged sword).

I could add a few things about Sevilla and their preparation for the new season but all I know so far is Fabiano will be staying even though there were rumors he might be picked up by AC Milan or Tottenham.

St Pauli in the pre-season

So things aren't looking too shabby for the boys in brown in the pre-season. First a draw with Scottish giants, Celtic FC, 2-2, and now they've beaten EPL team Stoke City a full 3-1. Granted Stoke City was probably testing out some of the younger players on their squad, but surely this friendly was an opportunity for St Pauli to play some of their bench sitters as well. Regardless of who was on the pitch, seems like a pretty good outcome...for now.

I can only hope this good form carries into the regular season which has not been their strong suit as of late. Seems they can do well in the pre-season AND even in some of the tournaments outside of the regular season, beating teams in the First Bundeliga, but have trouble in their own second division.

Good luck boys, always behind you!

Games of the week...

First, Sevilla FC:

With races for the Champion's League and UEFA Cup qualifiers on the line, every single La Liga match for Sevilla will be important from here on out. After last week's extremely disappointing loss to Atlético Madrid, Sevilla now faces a possibly tougher foe in Real Madrid.

Sevilla has already beaten Real Madrid three times this season, one more would make it a clean sweep, though it will be tough in Madrid. They really will have to play one of their best matches of the season, especially with a prime mid-fielder sittin' the next few on the bench. Then again, Real Madrid have had some problems lately, losing their last two matches to Valencia and Deportivo La Coruña. Also on Sevilla's side is the fact that Kanoute is set to play even though his heal has been giving him some troubles lately. Let's Go Sevilla!!!

With Villareal and Atlético Madrid more than 3 points ahead and playing each other ...I almost wonder if a draw between those two would help Sevilla the most ...and that's IF Sevilla could beat Real Madrid somehow. Anyway, in La Liga, the matches to watch would be:

Saturday:
Villareal v. Atlético Madrid 5 pm

Sunday:
Real Madrid v. Sevilla 3 pm

St. Pauli FC:

At the other end of the scale we have St. Pauli struggling a bit in their first year back in the second bundesliga. So each match is important for them as well. Last week they won for the first time in 2008, and of their last 13 matches 10 have been a draw. I think many of those could have been 3 points but several they were lucky to get the point. This Sunday's match would be a definite must win as they pair up against SCPaderborn 07, who is currently in last place in the 2nd Bundesliga.

Sligo Rovers:

Seems as though the Rovers are off to a very rough start and are struggling a bit as well. Tonight they face UC Dublin who currently sit 7th in the standings with Sligo Rovers behind them a few in 10th place. Got my "third" jersey on in support today at work. Let's Go Bit O' Red! (Still looking for some sort of update on this match as this is being published.) (EDIT: Ended in a 0-0 draw.)

Other matches of note:

As you probably know, i'm not a huge EPL fan, but with all the US players getting picked up, it's hard for me not to hope Fulham does well...and, lately, they haven't. Saturday's match is the true definition of a "must win" match as they face the team that sits firmly in last place.

Derby v. Fulham 11 am on Saturday, FSC

The MLS Kicks-Off later in the evening on Saturday, and while i'm probably and smidge
more interested in this than the average US soccer fan deeply into any other foreign league, I'll probably pass on these...maybe. Pretty surei'll miss the New England Revolution v. Houston Dynamo match due to other plans throughout the day. That one's at 7:30pm on FSC.

If I catch any of either one I might watch some of the Colorado Rapids v. LA Galaxy at 9:30 pm on FSC.

FC ST PAULI...match cast

As it stands, this ESPN site is the only one I know of that will have "updated" info about the match this afternoon against TSV 1860 Munich. I hope to find a better one with more detail and info. We shall see.

Let's Go Boys in Brown! NO MORE DRAWS!!

And speaking of the Bhoys in Brown, looks as though a little band known as The Wakes (formerly Murphy's Law) are working on (or have recorded, I can't quite tell from the quality of this video) a new song FOR "the fans of St. Pauli." Check out this live recording of "The Pirates of the League" from a couple weeks ago.

A pretty good soccer weekend...

We'll start with the Sevilla FC match against Zaragoza. Sadly I only got to watch the first half hour as I had to go to my own season finale'. But, from the hightlights and all the stories i've read Sevilla pretty much put on a clinic in their 5-0 win to Zaragoza. I'd still like to see the full match, even though I did get to see Fabiano add to his goal tally (leads la liga with 19 in all this season). This win moves them into 5th place in La Liga, just ahead of Espanyol by goal differential (both have 39 points but Sevilla has a +18 to Espanyol's +3 goal differential). Though I believe Sevilla are out of the running at this point, it was nice to see Barcelona gain on Real Madrid this weekend as the Madrid side lost, at home, to Getafe, who have only won half as many matches as Real Madrid. Go Barca! Sevilla's next match will be with Deportivo La Coruña on Saturday and then next Wednesday they play a Champion's League match in their second round with Fenerbahce. Go Sevilla!!

On to my match...Liam's United went into our final match of the Crazy 8s season undefeated (only one tie in the full season). So we were optimistically cautious going into this final match. As with last week's last minute win, the match was against a side with several pick-ups (if a team does not have enough players those that are not a regular team member for another side OR those that want to play in more than one match a day can "pick-up" and play for another side, teams are given a fair amount of players so they have enough to play a match). This can be bad as frequently it's the better players that want to play multiple games in a day (us "old" folks are lucky to finish a full single match). Plus we were missing our star scoring machine, Josh. This match ended up being pretty even and at the half we held the lead with the only score of the match (1-0). But as the second half started they began working their own scoring drives. In the end, the final was 2-2 and Liam's United remained undefeated. Not sure I can remember the last time I was on a team that went undefeated. Good times.

Next up is FC St Pauli...against Greuther Fürth, who are currently third in the 2nd Bundesliga (St. Pauli is currently 11th). With several players out either injured or due to yellow cards, St Pauli had many opportunities to score and capitalized on very few of them. Eventually they also tied their match at 1-1. I suppose a single point is better than none, but to start gaining some ground they really need to win some more matches. St. Pauli have tied their last four matches against FC Köln, Carl Zeiss Jena, TuS Koblenz and now against Greuther Fürth. This has left them in the middle of the pack in 11th place out of the 18 teams. Let's go St. Pauli!!! [Edit: Glad to hear the MillernTaler idea was squashed before it really got going.]

Addendum: Love this shot of Eto celebrating his (first?) hat-trick with his Barcelona teammates.