Season 31 Week 17 processing...

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Icelandic Cup results ( esp for Rob )

Vestmann 0 Breidablik 3
Valur 4 Vikingur 0
Akranes 6 StJarnan 0
Reykjavik 1 Hafnar 0

Paul ........... you know these were the first results you looked for. The home of football ...... or something.

Brazil Youth Cup results

Fluminense 5 Vasco 1
Botafogo 5 Gremio 0
Palmeiras 0 Cruzeiro 2
Corinthians 0 Flamengo 0 aet pens 3-1

FA Youth Cup

Spurs 3 Soton 0
Chelsea 0 Man City 1
Leicester 0 Fulham 1
Villa 1 Wolves 0

French Youth Cup

Nice 0 Bordeaux 3
Nantes 0 Monaco 0 aet pens 5-2
Marseille 2 Etienne 0
Paris 2 Auxerre 0

German Youth Cup

Leverkusen 1 Gladbach 0
Hamburg 1 Jena 0
Schalke 1 Dresden 0
Bayern 1 Dortmund 0

Italy Youth Cup

Parma 0 AC Milan 1
Roma 1 Inter 1 aet pens 3-5
Napoli 4 Udinese 0
Lazio 0 Juventus 1

Spanish Youth Cup

Barcelona 3 Deportivo 0
Atletico 2 Betis 0
Real 2 Valencia 3
Sevilla 0 Sociedad 0 aet pens 4-3

Argentina Youth Cup

Independente 2 Estudiantes 3
Talleres 1 Belgrano 0
River Plate 4 Lanus 0
Argentinos 2 Gimnasia 0

League games will kickoff at 1000 hours Wednesday morning...

Paul Hemmings wrote:

League Cup Quarter-Final results

Chelsea 0 Man United 0 aet pens 2-3
Consett 0 Westham 1
Arsenal 1 Leeds 0
Charlton 9 Forest 0

Paul Hemmings wrote:

German Youth Cup

Leverkusen 1 Gladbach 0
Hamburg 1 Jena 0
Schalke 1 Dresden 0
Bayern 1 Dortmund 0

Happy with that! They either struggled with the new system or were very hard to score against, I know what my money's on...

WATFORD

Watford are away to Man Utd this week, as Watford continue to piece together there Squad for next season... This Week's addition is a bit of a merry go round.. With the ever present Harry Kane making his exit from the Club. The player requested a change of scenery after spending all his career in England so far!
7162 HARRY KANE                       24-10  42%                        167-12   75%     445-292  27  66% 260-16 
His strike rate this season has been below his usual standards, with maybe the team needing some refreshing....  Stay Tuned.

As for Man Utd, Well Bravo makes his Debut for the club in between the sticks after arriving as backup to De Gea, who departed last week for the Germany International Leno and Three Lions Keeper Dean Henderson who fits the clubs current philosophy. Revenge is on the cards after Utd knocked Watford out of the Champions Cup so full strength team who are solely focused on the League now! 

GENK

Vs Bereven this week as the Belgian Champions look to make it 17 wins out of 17 in the League, With the notable absentee being Griezmann who has suffered a Minor setback after his previous Injury which requires further treatment but hopefully not keeping the French Star out for too long and should be in line for a Return to action for the European Cup Final. De Ketelare makes the bench this week after being name Belgian Young Talent of the year and looking to showcase his potential in the closing weeks of the season with Cameo appearances planned. Genk are looking upgrade there buildings while they plot where best to loan there Talented youngsters to give them some much needed game time. 

LEVERKUSEN

The current Bundesliga 2 leaders were dealt a massive blow last week as Oshimen and El Sharwerey were both injured leading to the German club scrambling to fill the first 11 slots with a debut for the "New Hoppe" upfront and a rare league outing for Brunn Larsen at RH. Resulting in the manager bringing in Brian "Brobeast" Brobbey in on Loan till the EOS to give some more First Team minutes. Manager has instructed Nainggolan to be greedier in front of goal and SOS to try and get the goals this week! This weeks match is Vs Karlsruche who could Leapfrog Leverkusen if they don't find away to keep the game tight and hit them on the Break!

BOTAFOGO

The Brazilian league is hotting up with the top teams only separated by 4 points! Which makes a very fascinating end to a season with one slip up potentially costing the league for any of the teams involved. As for Botafogo, got to look at the game in front of them which is a Home game Vs Sao Joao who are languishing bottom of the table with only 3 points this season! So Botafogo will be looking to take advantage this week and take all 3 points! Not much happening in the Coastal Brazil club with the Manager trying to bring in so experience at CB top help mentor some of the younger players in the squad.

Barcelona

After a narrow victory on penalties in the Cup against Real, which will make an interesting read, the League game away at Gijon will hopefully be more straightforward. The League line up is a lot more conservative, sticking to our favoured SLO tactic and with a more familiar line up. A big departure this week sees veteran Sergio Busquets leave the Camp Nou for greener pastures. It was a bitter sweet moment for the manager, recognising Sergio's desire for more first team minutes in the latter years of his career but also with a view to the future and unleashing the powerful mix of Valverde, Saul, Fabian Ruiz and possibly Bentancur, who has been on loan at Nacional, in the future.

Nacional


The reigning Uruguayan champions are on their way towards another double. With second placed Defender getting knocked out of the Cup the manager is looking forward to the semi finals with some relish.

The League is also well in hand with a 10 point gap and welcoming Progreso to the Parque Central. After hearing the boastful pre-match press conference at Genk the manager did have the following to say, 'Genk are very good but we also have a 100% record in the League however we've scored 57 to their 53 ...... and we haven't conceded yet.'

The manager concluded by saying that he felt there was a lot of work to be done before next season, recognising that domestic dominance was one thing but the need to improve to compete with the likes of Botofogo and Fluminense in the Libertadores a priority. His final words were, 'Unless we can match the quality of those great teams and secure more continental glory our domestic dominance means nothing.'

Hannover

This week's completely shock victory was Hannover's cup win over top division Leipzig. As the 2nd Bundesliga's only representation in the semi finals further progression seems a massive ask but .... it's a funny old game.

The League sees Die Roten visit second bottom Mannheim who are fighting for survival. The manager would love to make it 4 wins on the bounce and continue the current good form and to keep momentum going into next season's promotion challenge.

Akranes

Akranes welcome St Jarnan to the Akranesvollur where the home team are working on improving facilities to boost gate receipts and build their fan base. Main men Daka, Sigurdsson and Diatta will once again be to the fore. New keeper Onana will start between the posts although there have been worrying rumours that star defender, Kristoffer Ajer, could be on his way to a bigger League at the end of the season. The manager has stepped in to allay fears saying that transfer activity was to be expected and the fans should be excited about what was to come and reenforcing his commitment to a youthful team playing exciting, attacking football in the cold and snow.

Rob@Barcelona wrote:

Nacional


The League is also well in hand with a 10 point gap and welcoming Progreso to the Parque Central. After hearing the boastful pre-match press conference at Genk the manager did have the following to say, 'Genk are very good but we also have a 100% record in the League however we've scored 57 to their 53 ...... and we haven't conceded yet.'

Shots fired! 

Just you wait til that tin of biscuits runs out haha! Might just have to get myself a feeder club in Uruguay if only just to score some goals against you lol.

The ref comes out to check the playing surface...

The pitch passes inspection and out come the players...

The players take their starting positions and the ref checks his watches...

Good luck to everyone this week...

The ref blows his whistle and the games are underway...

Botafogo 1 Sao Joao 0 Mahrez on 4 minutes.
Monaco 1 Lille 0 Hernandez.
Roma 0 AC Milan 1 Halilovic.
Napoli 1 Cagliari 0 Paloschi.
Gagnoa 1 Denguele 0 Diego Ribas.
Inverness 1 Rangers 0 McBurnie penalty.
Nacional 1 Progreso 0 Martinez.

A standing ovation for Jack Grealish by the Chelsea support as he makes his final appearance for the club

Palmeiras 1 Vasco 0 Wellington on 5 minutes.
Liverpool 1 Westham 0 Lallana freekick.
Wednesday 1 Birmingham 0 Antonio.
Coventry 0 Norwich 1 Bony.
Mannheim 0 Hannover 1 Poulsen header.
Karlsruhe 0 Leverkusen 1 Nainggolan.

Estudiantes 1 Independente 0 Jeisson penalty on 6 minutes.
Spurs 0 Banstead 1 Torres.
Woking 1 Shrewsbury 0 Walcott.
Marseille 1 Montpelier 0 Belfodil.
Kilmarnock 0 Aberdeen 1 Fellaini header.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Estudiantes 1 Independente 0 Jeisson penalty on 6 minutes.
Spurs 0 Banstead 1 Torres.
Woking 1 Shrewsbury 0 Walcott.
Marseille 1 Montpelier 0 Belfodil.
Kilmarnock 0 Aberdeen 1 Fellaini header.

Huge mountain to climb now for Independiente...

Mechelen 1 Antwerp 0 Van Vaerenber on 7 minutes.
Lazio 1 Udinese 0 Benes.

Schalke 1 Cologne 0 Dybala on 8 minutes.
Dundee Utd 0 Celtic 1 Necid.
Slovan 0 Ruzomberok 1 Dahoud header.
Real Madrid 1 Sevilla 0 Hazard.