OT: Soccer Saturday (FA CUP EDITION)
Today’s Schedule:
The FA Cup – 5th Round
6:30am Burnley / Lincoln City – FS1
9:00am Middlesbrough / Oxford United – FS2GO
9:00am Huddersfield Town / Manchester City – FS1
9:00am Millwall / Leicester City – FS2GO
11:30am Wolverhampton / Chelsea – FS2
La Liga
6:00am Sporting Gijon / Atletico Madrid – Beinsports
9:15am Real Madrid / Espanyol – Beinsports
11:30am La Coruna / Alaves – Beinsportsconnect
1:45pm Sevilla / Eibar – Beinsportsconnect
Notes
*Games Featuring major clubs are in bold.
*The FA Cup is win or go home. Single leg, featuring one round of replays following a draw.
*If you don’t see a league or team listed that you want to follow and discuss, let me know and I’ll add it (within reason). I’m not going out of my way to make sure Scunthorpe or Drogheda United are covered here.
Enjoy, cheers, and Go Blue!
February 18th, 2017 at 8:24 AM ^
I like watching soccer, but it seems that there are so many leagues, and "cups" and divisons that it is hard to follow sometimes.
February 18th, 2017 at 8:27 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 8:33 AM ^
So is the league that Chelsea is running away with, the top of English soccer? My cable company shows mainly those games (MU, MC, Arsenal etc.).
February 18th, 2017 at 8:41 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 8:43 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 8:52 AM ^
Exactly. The Premier League= Big Ten. Bundesliga =SEC. La Liga is wide open like the PAC 12, and so on. Often when I explain the leagues to non watchers, I use the same analogies.
February 18th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 12:18 PM ^
The Premier League is physical. Most players that are new to the Premier League take a while to adjust because of the physicality and because the refs don't automatically reward you for flopping every time you fall like a sissy. The depth is pretty solid, with a cluster of teams fighting for the top four. The Bundesliga has physical play and very talented players, but is seemingly won every year by Bayern Munich ala Alabama. La Liga has top flight players, but is not nearly as defensive-minded, reminding me of the PAC 12 or Big 12.
February 18th, 2017 at 1:33 PM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 8:48 AM ^
Let me take a crack at explaining this. This is for England only (but to add to the confusion, there are some Welsh teams in the English Football League (EFL).
The Football Association (FA) is the governing body of pro and semi-pro soccer in England. It is made up of thousands of teams, ranging from the top tier (the Premier League) to semi-pro leagues all over England. To blow your mind, check this link out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_league_system
The top four tiers comprise the Football League: The Premier League, EFL Championship, EFL League One and EFL League Two. Below League Two (formerly called the Second Division) is the National League, and then all hell breaks loose organizationally below it.
Teams can move up and down through the various tiers after each year. The top ten (yes, ten) tiers are eligible to play in the FA Cup (the competition going on today). There are other cup domestic cup competitions too (explained in link).
So, if you're a guy on a big team, like Manchester United, and you play for your national team, you are looking at the following competitions every year:
League play
FA Cup
EFL Cup
UEFA cup play (Europa Cup or Champions League) - if your team qualified
International play - World Cup qualifiers, friendlies, FIFA regional championship tournaments
Some guys can end up playing in about 60 matches a year, which is a lot.
February 18th, 2017 at 8:50 AM ^
One of the main reasons why FIFA is such a great video game
February 18th, 2017 at 9:03 AM ^
Glad you brought up FIFA - it is a great game. I got 2017 to use on my son's Xbox for Christmas, and I've been slogging through a career with a player. I haven't done manager mode, because I have played Football Manager. Anyhoo, I of course started at MUFC and was loaned to Newport County. Did OK there as a 17-18yo, and then back to MUFC for summer tournament, but I accepted a transfer to Werder Bremen. We won the domestic double my first season there. Next year, we finished second or so in league (got bounced out of group stage in UCL and then out of Europa League knockout). This season, my third at Werder Bremen, we've advanced to q'finals of UCL; we sit about fifth in league with about ten matches to go, and we were eliminated in the fall from the Deutscher Pokal. Spurs have expressed interest in me because they lost Harry Kane to MUFC.
Critical mistake: I made my guy's nationality Lebanon (I'm half-Lebanese), and I hope to God that I can play in international matches...other guys on my team have been called up for international duty, but I haven't, and I know I would be on the national team (my rating is 89 right now). I wish I had made myself an American instead, but maybe there are international matches for me and Lebanon...who knows...coming up on WCQ's for 2022...does anyone know if your career player gets called up to national teams?
February 18th, 2017 at 10:21 AM ^
Props to you for having the patience for player career mode. I havent played career mode since FIFA 13 and your use of slogging makes me think not much has changed.
The only player career mode worth the time was NCAA football (not the version where you had to take tests)
Honorable mention: ESPN football which allowed you to customize your crib
February 18th, 2017 at 1:12 PM ^
Unfortunately for you, the Lebanese national team is not on FIFA. No int'l soccer for you :-\
February 18th, 2017 at 2:42 PM ^
Ugggg - thanks!
February 18th, 2017 at 11:52 AM ^
It's very similar to our style of play, The Leagues are won by best regular season record, the Cups are a playoff. Instead of having playoffs after the regular season, they happen at the same time.
February 18th, 2017 at 8:45 AM ^
Though the big clubs play mostly their B squads, the FA Cup is pretty cool. The fact that you can take a giant club into a town of 2,500 a play the local team on the local ground is pretty cool. I usually find myself rooting for the smaller clubs unless my preferred Premier League squad is playing. And for whatever reason, I find these games more watchable than a lot of the Premier League fixtures.
February 18th, 2017 at 9:02 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 9:04 AM ^
Yep - kind of fun
February 18th, 2017 at 9:42 AM ^
Not entirely related, but Burnley is part of one of the funnier exchanges in the first series of the Flying Circus:
"All right, don't anybody move, there's been a murder."
"A murder?"
"No... no ... not a murder... no what's like a murder but begins with B?"
"Birmingham."
"No ... no ... no ... no ... no..."
"Burnley?"
"Burnley - that's right! Burnley in Lancashire. There's been a Burnley."
February 18th, 2017 at 9:15 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:22 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^
Wow - Lincoln scores in 89'! Big upset brewing.
February 18th, 2017 at 9:29 AM ^
What would you compare this type of win to? Would this be like Alabama beating a team like the Cleveland Browns? Or a State Champion high school team beating an NAIA team? I'm trying to put it into terms I'm more familiar with- they just said that this was the first non-league team to advance this far since 1914, so it's definitely rare.
February 18th, 2017 at 9:44 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 10:51 AM ^
In the broadcast I believe they said no non-league team has made FA qtrs since 1920s. So this seems more crazy than a 15 seed beating a 2, a 7/10 and a 3/6/11/14.
February 18th, 2017 at 11:37 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:36 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:39 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 9:40 AM ^
I'd rather watch Millwall-LCFC than Citeh-Huddersfield.
February 18th, 2017 at 9:54 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 9:57 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 10:08 AM ^
Are hideous.
February 18th, 2017 at 10:10 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 10:39 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:01 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:21 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:36 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:54 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 12:04 PM ^
Yes to both, was a pretty big fan since Robbie Keane started. Also when my Hearts imploded and Wolves picked up Colin Cameron I had even more reason to pull for them. Good years, in the mid 2000s. Really think Lambert was a good hire. Hope they keep him.
February 18th, 2017 at 12:28 PM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:25 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:27 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:37 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:48 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 11:54 AM ^
February 18th, 2017 at 12:00 PM ^