AJC.com > Sports > Soccer blog > Archives > 2006 > September > 12
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Wait ‘til next year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A season-ending loss to Vancouver ended the Silverbacks’ hopes of finishing in the playoff money. Atlanta settles for 8th, then, in the 12-team USL First Division.
Not a bad season, but the lack of consistency down the stretch was just a bit maddening.
The Champions League started Tuesday, and Liverpool’s form in a 0-0 draw with PSV Eindhoven has OTB hopping mad. Benitez makes six lineup changes, sitting Stevie G., Xavi, Luis, Crouchi and crickety Hyppia after losing 3-0 to Everton Saturday. How much money did they spend “improving” in the off-season? No matter if your leading lights are slacking around.
Even Sporting Lisbon mentioned a goal against Inter Milan, of all teams. Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Roma all won easily and Valencia roared back to down Olympiakos.
This is probably OTB’s favorite competition, as has been mentioned before — not as long and grinding as the domestic leagues, which in recent years tend to get settled rather early.
The Horn Guys are sad — Thierry Henry has been scratched from Arsenal’s side in Wednesday’s game with Hamburg with a foot injury.
ESPN’s offering any game you want with live online streaming for $9.95 a contest. The costs for feeding this addiction keep going up, don’t they?
Gol TV has snatched Germany to go with its coverage of La Liga, but Comcast, which already gets a cool $75 a month for basic plus the Fox Soccer Channel tier, wants more to subscribe to the Spanish sports package. Setanta Sports has purloined Liverpool and some other EPL teams for an extra cost and is available only on a dish.
OTB may have to enter another kind of rehab to resist the urge to be thoroughly ripped off.
