Champions League Round Up - 23 February 2006
... own ground.
Liverpool may have seen Benfica as a favourable draw but it was the Portuguese side who took the initiative. Both sides struggled to create chances and a draw at 21/10 looked likely. But defender Luisao headed in for Benfica to give the home side a slender 9/5 win.
Rangers came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw against Villarreal. Juan Roman Riquelme gave the 13/8 Spaniards the lead with a penalty after eight minutes but Rangers hit back through Peter Lovenkrands. Diego Forland gave the visitors the lead again 10 minutes before the break but an own goal from Pena eight minutes from time handed the Gers a lifeline.
Rank outsiders Werder Bremen caused an 11/5 shock against Italian giants Juventus. Christian Schulz bundled in for the home side six minutes before half time but...more
Soccer Team Strategy With 5-5 Positional Set Up
...5-5,
Defense;
5, defenders,
The soccer team has new positional dynamics with this formation.
The addition to this defensive style is a central defender who can control the play from the back line.
This defender could also be an attacking player who will feed through balls to the striker. In addition to this the play maker will help create and initialze an attack from the defensive edge of the mid-field.
It can be thought that this player is also a mid-field player when the attack is mounted.
In real soccer, when your team has the ball, everybody becomes an attacker.
This team has this form...more
McCarthy a Brutal Hire for the Packers!
...Sometimes I just don't get it !!!
As offensive coordinator for the san Francisco 49ers last year, Mike McCarthy's offense finished 32nd and dead last in the nfl. How bad was it ??? That offense finished 32nd in passing, 22nd in rushing, and was 30th overal in points going eight games of a sixteen game schedule without an offensive touchdown.
As quarterback coach of the Packers during Ray Rhodes short-lived and ill-fated 1999 regime, McCarthy guided Bret Favre to his second worst season as a professional with the future HOFer throwing 24 pics to just 23 touchdowns. Favre's 74.7 QB rating was was only supraceeded by his 1993 sopomore season rating of 72.2 and this year's train-wreck of 70.9 yet this week Mike McCarthy was brought back to Green Bay and hired as the 14th Head Coach in arguably the most storied franchise in nfl history.
The Pac...more
Injuries & Defense
...ng teams, does anything stand out? Yes, defense! Carolina and Pittsburgh are ranked No. 3 and 4 in the nfl in total defense, with the Broncos and Seahawks at No. 15 and 16. More important is run defense, and notice that all the remaining teams are in the Top 5 in the nfl at stopping the run! It goes Denver (2nd), Pittsburgh (3rd), Carolina (4th) and Seattle (5th). One of those will win the super Bowl, so again, stuffing the run is a huge key to building a championship defense.
That hasn't translated into a significant amount of unders for those teams, but keep in mind that 6 of the 8 playoff games thus far have gone under the total. Yes, it should come as no shock that defense wins championships in all sports, once again!<...more
