retired_-pearl-

Russian Internationals

San Marino was a cakewalk – three first half goals put the hammer down on this game. We even notched two after the break despite taking our foot off the pedal.
Final: San Marino 0, Russia 5

In the other group matches – Holland produced a comprehensive performance to defeat Georgia 2-0, leaving them atop the group. They top the group because of a six-goal thriller in Belfast. Finland opened the scoring in the first minute, only to see Stuart Elliot equalize three minutes later. Back and forth this tie went and Finland pulled ahead again in the 66th minute – but again Elliot came to the rescue to tie things up. Things looked grim for the Irish when some fellow named Craigan managed to get himself sent-off moments after putting the ball in the wrong net. A last gasp goal by Phillip Mulyrne won a point for the beleaguered home team – and moved the North Irish off the bottom of the group.

Going into the final group matches, the group looks like this.

1)Holland – 20pts(+14)
2)Finland – 18pts(+7)
3)Russia – 17pts(+13)
4)Georgia - 15pts(+4)
5)Northern Ireland – 2pts
6)San Marino – 2pts

Georgia are in the most desperate situation. They need to beat Finland by at least two goals, and have Holland beat or draw Russia to claim second place. Anything but a win does them in.

Russia need to defeat Holland. A win guarantees them at-least second – as they would tie Holland on points, but own the tiebreaker(two wins). Should Finland lose or draw against Georgia, combined with a Russian victory, Russia would win the group over Holland on the tiebreaker. A win is necessary though – as Russia would lose the tiebreaker to Finland – a draw or a loss and Russia will be eliminated.

Finland can advance without winning, provided they don’t lose to Georgia by more than one goal. A win gets them into at least the playoffs. A draw would do the same, if Russia fail to beat Holland.

Holland simply need to avoid losing to win the group. Their goal differential and the split games against Finland mean they would win the tie breaker against the Finns should they draw – no matter what happens. Lose – and they need Finland not to win to make the playoffs.

retired_-pearl-

Holland vs Russia

We're liiiiiiiiiive from Amsterdam, and it comes down to this. We need a win here, or it’s over. Holland need to avoid defeat. A day before the game, former Zenith player Vladimir Bystrov is yanked from the squad due to an ankle sprain. Bystrov’s time in Moscow has been injury-ravaged – and he has been unable to recapture the form that made him one of Russia’s brightest prospects. I asked Dmitry Sychev to take his place. Sychev would’ve been in the squad, but for a minor injury and Guerk returning to health.

Sychev refused the call-up. At only 23, he is lucky that I shall probably be resigning from the Russia post after Euro 2008, or his international career would be over – barring a profuse apology.

Kick-off, and things were a bit cagey. A few long-range attempts to loosen the game up – but nothing real highlight worthy would be shown – except a moment of madness. Giovanni van Bronckhorst – already on a yellow for diving – went two-footed into Rolan Gusev on the wing. Easy decision, and Holland are a man down, less than a half-hour in. We failed to take advantage – unable to penetrate the Dutch defense. Van Bommel got himself a yellow early in the second half – and the loss of the midfield enforcer opened up things for us – but still we couldn’t capitalize on the man advantage. Fifty minutes, fifty-five, sixty, sixty-five, seventy all rolled by without a good Russian challenge on goal. Finally, in the 77th minute, we skimmed the bar, and five minutes later we forced van der Sar to come out and win a cross. Eighty-five minutes gone – and we’re looking at elimination – a frenetic Russian attack featuring some nifty short passing is broken up inside the 6yd box by Nigel de Jong. Rather than just clear the ball, de Jong dithered on the ball – which was precisely the WRONG thing to do. Izmailov cut in on his blind side and slapped the ball away, towards goal. . . and right to the feet of an unmarked Anatoly Guerk. Guerk, only ten feet from goal, put the ball right into the open net. 1-0.

Holland needed a goal now, to win the division – and forward the came. We should’ve finished off the match on the stroke of 90 minutes – as Karyaka’s brilliant through ball hit Guerk in stride in the open field – but van der Sar produced an acrobatic save to tip it wide. Two minutes later, and the Dutch keeper is streaking up-field to join his teammates in attack for a corner – but Aldonin heads it clear and Denisov cleans up the mess by smashing it downfield. The whistle blew. Game over.
Final: Holland 0, Russia 1

In the other group matches – Georgia thrashed Finland with three first half goals, and while the Finns grabbed one back – Georgia finished a respectable third in the group. Which means, that by virtue of our two wins over Holland – Russia wins the group, and progresses automatically to the European Championships. North Ireland beat San Marino – to salvage something from this campaign.


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Russia | | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 6 | +14 | 20 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Pl | Holland | | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 7 | +13 | 20 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Georgia | | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 11 | +6 | 18 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Finland | | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 18 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | N.Ireland | | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 17 | -9 | 5 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | San Marino | | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 32 | -29 | 2 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

Euro 2008 Automatic Entrants
Austria(Hosts)
Switzerland(Hosts)
Russia(Group 1)
Turkey(Group 2)
Czech Republic(Group 3)
France(Group 4)
Spain(Group 5)
Bulgaria(Group 5, 2nd place)
Sweden(Group 6)
Italy(Group 7)
England(Group 8)
Germany(Group 9)

Playoffs
Croatia vs Holland
Greece vs Belarus
Israel vs Denmark
Romania vs Norway

retired_-pearl-

October 2007

Returning from the climactic International break – Zenith have a chance to make some history of their own. A draw today will see us record our third straight Premier League championship – halfway towards Spartak’s six in a row from ‘96-’01. Rubin played a very positive attacking style – and got burned for it. Kerzhakov opened the scoring twenty three minutes in, taking a pass from Jadson and slipping it under Artem Kusily in the Rubin net. Jádson has started his Zenith career in style – and a goal in first half injury-time was just rewards for his authoritative play. Milan Ivana, starting in place of the departing Araujo, scored a pretty goal after some swell build-up to leave us 3-0 up. Ten minutes after his goal, though, Ivana had to be subbed out of the game – as he took a hard fall that jolted his shoulder into a position that shoulders do not naturally move. Spivak got on the board, and Jádson finished off the demolition with his second of the game. Rubin did score one goal, but it was Zenith’s day to celebrate a third consecutive league title!
Final: Rubin 1, Zenith St. Petersburg 5

Our first home game after clinching the title was in the Champion’s League against Wisla. Those poor Polish bastards had no chance. Riding an emotional high, Kerzhakov scored twice in the first fifteen minutes, and Arshavin added a third before halftime. If our win over Wisla wasn’t as pretty as Liverpool’s it was certainly as effective – Guarin curling in a fourth goal, and Araujo adding insult to defeat with a fifth late on. Wisla did not threaten Malafeev.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 5, Wisla 0

The other match saw Liverpool brush aside Sporting at Anfield, 2-0, on goals from Luis Garcia and Anthony Le Tallec.

Our next match was October 20th, against Rostov. A record was set – as the extraordinarily reserve Zenith team included Argentinian MartÃ*n Caballero – who sets the Premier League record for youngest player. Rostov were the better team on the day – but only managed four shots on goal, and Malafeev easily corralled them all.
Final: Rostov 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 0

Four days later, we faced Dinamo Bryansk in the Russian Cup, 6th round. Julio Cesar stayed off the DL long enough to score two nifty goals. The non-league team was completely outclassed on the day – and even though Jadson and Araujo struck home to leave the difference at four – it could’ve been six or seven easily.
Final: Dinamo Bryansk 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 4

Our last home match of the season was, fittingly, against CSKA Moscow. I went with a mostly reserve team – to keep my players healthy for the Champion’s League. CSKA came out gunning, looking to end our unbeaten run – and Daniel frickin’ Carvalho pulled a little trickery from his back pocket to beat Malafeev for the opener right before half-time. Keeping the unbeaten season intact would be nice – but more important is to crush any confidence CSKA might have going into the following season. Julio Cesar struck home within moments of the restart – and Arshavin gave us the lead only ten minutes later. With their lead so easily broken, CSKA fell to pieces – and Denisov rubbed salt in the wound with a goal right before the whistle to finish off Moscow.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 3, CSKA Moscow 1

The end of October featured Wisla playing host to The Russian Champions. Wisla were formidable last year in Poland, but seem to have lost the mystique they had – as we again romped to an easy victory. Kerzhakov took a pass from Denisov to opent he scoring only three minutes into the game. Right before the stroke of half-time, Kerzhakov returned the favor for Denisov and the young Russian buried the second goal. A pair of busted offside traps saw Kerzhakov finish off his hattrick, and Wisla. 4-0, and a firm grasp on second in the group.
Final: Wisla 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 4

In the other match, Liverpool came from behind to defeat Sporting 2-1. Sporting scored only ten minutes into the match – but two goals from Luis Garcia either side of the interval were enough to Liverpool to take the three points.

With Liverpool expected to defeat us at Anfield – and Sporting easily able to handle Wisla in Lisbon – second place should go down to the last game of the group – except that this time we've got the advantage going into the final match.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Liverpool | | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 2 | +9 | 10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Zenith Peterburg | | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 1 | +9 | 8 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Sporting CP | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 4 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Wisla | | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 18 | -17 | 0 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

The worst thing that ever happened to this thread was that I discovered how to post tables. Woot.

retired_-pearl-

The Cherry Atop the Sundae

Our last game of the season was against FC Moscow. If you think we're going to to blow an undefeated season against those ne'er-do-wells, you haven't been paying attention. Jádson scored twice in the first seven minutes, and we cruised.
Final: FC Moscow 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Zenith Peterburg | | 30 | 23 | 7 | 0 | 66 | 14 | +52 | 76 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | CSKA Moscow | | 30 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 65 | 22 | +43 | 59 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Dinamo Moscow | | 30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 48 | 28 | +20 | 54 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Spartak Moscow | | 30 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 43 | 26 | +17 | 53 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Lokomotiv Moscow | | 30 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 37 | 24 | +13 | 51 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Rubin | | 30 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 47 | 34 | +13 | 49 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Shinnik | | 30 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 44 | 35 | +9 | 46 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Krylja Sovetov | | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 42 | 35 | +7 | 40 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Amkar | | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 34 | 48 | -14 | 35 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | FC Moscow | | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 39 | 50 | -11 | 35 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Saturn | | 30 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 37 | 46 | -9 | 31 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Alania | | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 31 | 59 | -28 | 29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Rostov | | 30 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 28 | 52 | -24 | 25 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Kuban | | 30 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 18 | 39 | -21 | 25 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Anzhi | | 30 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 18 | 43 | -25 | 25 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | R | Rotor | | 30 | 5 | 4 | 21 | 19 | 61 | -42 | 19 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

Kuban and Anzhi will meet in a one-off relegation playoff. In other news, Rotor set a disciplinary record that may never be equaled. Eighty-six yellow cards and thirteen of the red variety just blew away the competition. That's nearly 2.9 yellows a match, and almost a a red every other match. For comparison, Zenith finished with only 47 yellows, and zero league dismissals.

retired_-pearl-

Russian Cup Wrap-Up

Our 6th round match-up was pretty much decided after a 4-0 home win for us – so the second leg was used as a way to get some back-ups experience, including sixteen year old Alejandro Portillo. Julio Cesar scored an early goal, and was the main force behind an unfortunate own goal for Dinamo Bryansk, and we put things on cruise control to ease into the 7th round.
Final: Dinamo Bryansk 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 2; Zenith advance 6-0 on aggregate

Our 7th round match-up would be against FC Moscow, with the first leg to be played at Petrovsky. Again, we came out strong and looked to finish the tie off in the first leg. Julio Cesar, suffering an unprecedented run of good health started atop and played magnificently. A strike in the fifth minute was followed by another in the seventeenth, and a third in the 37th. Shortly after halftime, Julio marked his place in Zenith history with a fourth goal – and that was it for Moscow.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 4, FC Moscow 0

The return leg at Moscow was a formality. Julio Cesar continues to show that if he could stay healthy, he’d someone to be reckoned with. A goal and an assist to Igor Denisov sandwiched a decent strike from Hector Bracamonte.
Final: FC Moscow 1, Zenith St. Petersburg 2; Zenith advance 6-1 on aggregate

Our opponent in the Quarterfinals would be Anzhi, who’d been relegated after falling 2-1 to Kuban in the playoff game. The Quarterfinals, of course, take place in March 2008.

retired_-pearl-

Champion’s League

Our visit to Anfield was not the most pleasant of experiences. Yakubu struck home after only thirteen minutes, and Luis Garcia doubled the lead before halftime. We were fortunate to be only 2-0 down, as Liverpool had swamped us from beginning. Only two goals down, we still had a chance at this match, but Yakubu’s wonder-goal from an impossible angle finished things off. I had a moment of hope when Paul Robinson came off injured to be replaced by Chris Kirkland. We took advantage of the shaky keeper to score on our only shot on net – but Liverpool played keep-away with the ball for the rest of the game. Completely out-played from start to finish, as expected.
Final: Liverpool 3, Zenith St. Petersburg 1

As Sporting defeated Wisla 3-1, they drew within one point of us for second place. Our final match would decide things. A draw or win for us would put us through to the knockout rounds again, while a loss would put Sporting through.

December 5th, 2007
Zenith St. Petersburg vs Sporting Club de Portugal

Zenith(4-1-4-1): Malafeev; Fuzailov, Bustos, Ignashevich, Kolodin; Guarin; Ivana, Araujo, Denisov, Arshavin; Kerzhakov.

A couple training injuries meant that Karyaka and Spivak wouldn’t be playing in this crucial match. Kerzhakov, Araujo and Arshavin are starting their last games for Zenith, I’m afraid – but they can do us a big favor by going out on a triumphant note.

Kerzhakov starts his send-off in style – slipping a ball under Ricardo to open the scoring on the 11th minute. The goal meant Sporting had to come forward to equalize, and we took advantage of the resulting gaps to keep the pressure on Ricardo. Again the No. 1 was impressive in the net, as he denied us a second goal before halftime. We paid for our inability to put a second away, when Marius Niculae hammered a corner into the back of the net nearly on the stroke of half-time. 1-1, but the tie still meant we were through. Sporting hadn’t lost any of their momentum from the goal, and forced Malafeev into a pair of excellent saves right from the restart.

We steadily regained control of the match, and the introduction of Wellington for an injured Ivana provided us with some more steel and talent in the middle of the park. It became apparent that Sporting were not going to get the second goal they desperately needed, and we would progress to the knockout rounds. Wellington confirmed our place when he cleaned up a rebound to give us a 2-1 lead. Denisov scored to confirm our win in this match – and Wellington’s second of the game was just unnecessary.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 4, Sporting 1

Liverpool beat Wisla pretty easily, and so they win the group. Sporting move into the UEFA Cup safety-net, and we advance to the knockout rounds for the second year in a row.


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Liverpool | | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 4 | +13 | 16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Zenith Peterburg | | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 5 | +10 | 11 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Sporting CP | | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 7 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Wisla | | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 24 | -21 | 0 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

retired_-pearl-

Miscellaneous Wrap-Up

In the relegation playoff, Kuban came from behind at home to secure a 2-1 win – and save their Premiership status for another year.

In the European Championship Qualifying Playoffs, Holland confirmed their massive choke job by falling 3-1 to Croatia on aggregate. Denmark easily progressed past Israel, and Greece held on to a 3-1 first leg lead to advance as well. Romania snuck by Norway in the final playoff match-up. The first leg was an entertaining 3-3 affair, but the second was a 1-0 snoozefest.

Javier Araujo confirmed his departure from Zenith in a press release. The Columbian winger stated that his ambitions were clearly too big for a club of our stature - and the trophies he wanted to win would not be coming to Petrovsky anytime soon. Ruben Dario Bustos also confirmed his imminent departure, as Zenith were not a big enough club for him as well.

Arshavin continues to hold out for too much money, and I’ve resigned myself to losing him. Erik Hagen’s contract also expires, and his skills have slipped with age, so our redoubtable skipper will wear the armband for another club next year.

Hey, lets see some stats. These are the top scorers - Kerzhakov lead us in scoring for another year, and Cesar was dangerous in his limited time.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat| | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Trn | Alexandr Kerzhakov | 33 (1) | 19 | 12 | 3 | 83% | 0.59 | 1.89 | 53% | 7.41 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Júlio César | 13 (14) | 14 | 5 | 3 | 83% | 1.13 | 2.19 | 57% | 7.37 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Igor Denisov | 34 (10) | 12 | 10 | 7 | 84% | 1.42 | 0.73 | 48% | 7.66 | </pre>

Oh, what the heck, let's see the entire first team.


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat| | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Rahmatullo Fuzailov | 45 (2) | - | 2 | - | 77% | 2.59 | 0.75 | - | 7.38 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Denis Kolodin | 41 (4) | 2 | 4 | - | 75% | 1.55 | 0.59 | 41% | 7.20 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Vyacheslav Malafeev | 41 | - | - | 1 | 49% | - | 0.02 | - | 7.00 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Rubén DarÃ*o Bustos | 41 | - | 4 | 1 | 79% | 2.88 | 1.22 | - | 7.46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Freddy GuarÃ*n | 37 (2) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 84% | 2.10 | 1.59 | 46% | 7.44 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Andrey Karyaka | 36 (6) | 7 | 16 | 8 | 73% | 2.11 | 3.75 | 36% | 7.40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Sergey Ignashevich | 36 (2) | 3 | 1 | - | 74% | 2.12 | 0.40 | 53% | 7.16 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Igor Denisov | 34 (10) | 12 | 10 | 7 | 84% | 1.42 | 0.73 | 48% | 7.66 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Trn | Alexandr Kerzhakov | 33 (1) | 19 | 12 | 3 | 83% | 0.59 | 1.89 | 53% | 7.41 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Javier Araújo | 32 (5) | 5 | 10 | 5 | 78% | 1.56 | 4.54 | 48% | 7.43 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Panzer | 27 (7) | - | 2 | - | 77% | 2.28 | 0.25 | - | 7.15 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Andrey Arshavin | 27 (5) | 8 | 6 | 2 | 81% | 1.46 | 1.15 | 52% | 7.44 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Wellington | 22 (14) | 2 | 3 | - | 86% | 2.16 | 0.76 | 46% | 7.25 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Olexandr Spivak | 21 (10) | 7 | 7 | 1 | 76% | 1.57 | 4.03 | 40% | 7.35 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Júlio César | 13 (14) | 14 | 5 | 3 | 83% | 1.13 | 2.19 | 57% | 7.37 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Ivica Krizanac | 12 (2) | 1 | 1 | - | 76% | 1.78 | 0.24 | - | 7.14 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Jádson | 11 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 84% | 2.34 | 1.12 | 48% | 8.00 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Kamil Contofalsky | 10 | - | - | - | 48% | - | - | - | 7.30 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Milan Ivana | 7 (16) | 2 | 5 | - | 82% | 2.84 | 5.36 | 57% | 7.04 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Oleg Kozhanov | 3 (8) | 1 | - | - | 86% | 0.55 | 1.29 | - | 7.09 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Alexey Katulskiy | 3 (1) | - | - | - | 68% | 0.93 | - | - | 7.00 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Loa | Miguel BenjamÃ*n Ramos | 2 (3) | - | 2 | - | 90% | 1.59 | 0.40 | - | 7.00 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

retired_bourneuf

Great story! I'm interested to see how you will cope with the loss of your top players.

I had a great six-season game with Luch Vladivostok, finally winning the league. Karyaka was great for me too, but sadly Zenith got relegated after seasons of struggle! Glad to see them doing a touch better here...

retired_-pearl-

Thanks for reading along, and the compliment. Replacing Arshavin and Kerazhakov is an endeavour I'd have preferred to leave on a purely intellectual scale - but we've got some money - and this season could set us up for a decade of crushing dominance or slip back to mediocrity.

Once again, Zenith St. Petersburg will be thrown into the mix for the first Knockout Round of the Champion’s League. It still feels odd to be mixed in with Europe’s elite – but we were not the only unfashionable side to slip into the knockout stages this time around – and with a fortunate draw, we could even be favored to reach the Quarterfinals.

Lets take look at the teams involved, in a rough order of how good I think they are.

1) Real Madrid: Considered the favorite based on the all-consuming spending, and their successes in La Liga – winning three straight titles, and looking like they’ll adda fourth this year. Iker Casillas still wears the No. 1 for them, and Salgado, Rob Carlos, and Andreas Hinkel flank Ivan Helguera, Lucio and Walter Samuel in the defensive line. In front of them is a midfield that rotates Xabi Alonso, Joaquin, Wesley Sneijder, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Santiago Hernan Solari, Frank Lampard, Tomas Rosicky, Ariel Miguel Ibagaza and David Beckham. Ronaldo, Nicolas Anelka, Raul and Evandro Rocatto make up the forwards. It’s an expensively assembled team, and just loaded with talent. Pray for avoidance.

2) Liverpool: We went into them in the group stages – they’re tres magnifique.

3) Milan: Despite a slow start to the season, they still remain the favorites to capture the Serie A crown. A stingy defense is led by Dida, Nesta and John Terry – though the fullbacks are pretty mediocre. The midfield is split between hard-nosed anchormen like Gattuso and Pirlo, and free-flowing banditos D’Allesandro, Kaka and Hleb. Carlos Tevez and Andriy Schevchenko usually start together, but Sanli Tuncay and Roy Makaay make more than adequate back-ups.

4) Barçelona: It seems to be a year of underachievement for CL teams. Despite the massive outlay in August, Barça sit six points back of Real Madrid in 6th place. Ronaldinho, Eto’o and Berbatov should rack up the goals – and Puyol leads a thin, but talented defense – and van der Vaart and Jerko Leko are still trying to force themselves into the first team.

5) Internazionale: Though the team remains the same – some of the aura surrounding them has faded since their triple collapse at the end of last year. Despite the additions of Deisler and Naldo, Inter are currently 8th in Serie A, and Leo Franco’s leg just shattered – leaving them with only youngsters in net, at the moment, for the remainder of the season. Still – their midield and attack is one of the best in the game, and though they seem to have forgotten it, they’ve won this competition before – and have the experience to do it again.

6) Chelsea: If you spend enough, you’ll get a team that’s pretty good. Juan Roman Riquelme, Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate and Marchena are additions to an already bursting lineup. Schweinsteiger failed to settle in England, and was carted off to Betis to replace Joaquin – but the Chelsea first team still reads like a who’s who of world football. Owen and Saviola may both be a little small to partner each other – but they’re also really damn good. Actually leading the EPL this year – they may go on and win something.

7) Manchester United: Perhaps I’m underrating them, they seem to do well in England. Or maybe the English League isn’t all that. Either way - a suspect defense gets even skimpier with the departure of Ferdinand – and though some of the Ferdinand money went to bring Barry Ferguson south to reinforce the defense, most went to bring in another striker – Ivan Klasnic. Klasnic is fantastic, I’ll grant – but this team is hip-deep in fantastic strikers, and Roy Keane(36) and Paul Scholes(33) are still the most important midfield players.

8) Juventus: Littered with top talent, they’re actually out-performing Milan and Inter – but squad depth issues will bring them back down, I believe. At striker, they throw Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robinho and David Treuguet at you – and Mutu switches from striker to attacking midfielder if the need arises. Emerson plays a supporting role for Xavi, Duff and Mutu in the midfield and there are probably no better pair of fullbacks in the world than Phillip Lahm and Gianluca Zambrotta. Coloccini, Gallas and Juan are the last line of defense in front of Buffon – who’s been Italy’s mainstay in the net since he was about 12. Behind that lineup is pretty much nothing but Sulley Ali Muntari, who’s intriguing – but hardly a replacement for any of the starting midfielders.

9) FC Bayern: Now we start to get to teams who’ve sold more than they’ve kept in recent years. Ballack still patrols the midfield for Bayern, usually operating behind David Pizarro and Ivica Olic – a £21.5M capture from Aston Villa. Landon Donovan and Ashley Cole have a good partnership down the left – and Torsten Frings is a true enforcer in midfield. Tim Wiese has succeeded Kahn in goal – but the team is lacking in defense – so he’s usually a busy man.

10) Ajax: Pulled of a surprise run to final, before pulling the upset over Inter. While they’ve used some foreigners – Charisteas, Mitea and Amoah – the core of the team is produced from the near-mythic Ajax youth set-up. While perhaps not as talented as some of their opposition, they make up for that by having played together since they were in diapers.

11) Monaco: Javier Ernesto Chevanton is very good, so is Kapo – the rest of the team is made up of players who are almost great. Shabani Nonda, Gustavo Nery, Sebastian Squillaci, etc, etc. A talented team with holes, that’s currently in the wrong half of the table in France.

12) Galatasaray: Is there no one here who can balance Europe and domestic league success? Sitting 8th in their league, that’s certainly too low for a team boasting Karadeniz Gokdeniz, Souleymane Youla and Umit Karan. In goal, veteran Columbian Faryd Mondragon is long on experience, but short on time left. This is a team we can definitely beat.

13) Porto: Completely and totally failed to take advantage of their Champion’s League success back in the day. Claudio Pitbull gets more press for his name than his goals, while former Tottenham man Helder Postiga scores in bucket loads in Portugal. Maniche and Gilberto keep a taut midfield, but after that the talent drifts off to obscurity.

14) Red Star: A decent crop of young Serbians won’t be enough to get past this round. They qualified over Newcastle and Stuttgart thanks to the utter horrible play both teams put forth this year. The main threat will be winger Dusun Basta, providing he’s not sold.

15) Maritimo: The weakest team in the competition, they only qualified with five points – by virtue of getting their head’s kicked in by Barça to a slightly lesser degree than Werder Breman and Grazer AK.

retired_-pearl-

The Draw

And we’re liiiiiiiiiiiiiive from the Knockout Round draw.

Red Star are the first team from the hat – and will have a decent chance to progress against Porto. This is two of the four teams I thought Zenith have a chance against gone in the first pairing. That is not very good at all. I think Porto have enough in them to see off Red Star – but we could’ve beaten the both.

A third Zenith target, Galatasary, come out next – and will have to hold off German Champion’s Bayern. So four teams, three of which I thought we could beat – and a fourth that wasn’t as imposing as most think they are. This draw is not going our way.

Manchester United get probably the draw of the round – as they face Inter. It should be an interesting affair, when they were paired in the same group two years back they split the two games between them. I’m also glad not to be playing Inter.

Juventus and Monaco square off in match-up number four. Juventus should easily dispose of the French champions – but that assumes they can keep Chevanton under wraps for both legs. I think we could’ve pulled a result against Monaco – and the number of teams going off the bottom of my board is not a pretty sight.

Zenith! Finally – we come out - but with a bunch of good teams left. Everyone in our camp is fervently hoping for Maritimo. Come on Maritimo. . .



aw ****. Same group as Maritimo – but . . . Barcelona. Unless something goes absolutely catastrophic for Barça – that’s it for us. We’ll put up a fight though. God dammit. If Maritimo is next out of the hat, I’ll kill someone.

It’s Chelsea – and they get to square off against Real Madrid. Wow. The talent on the field is going to be remarkable – and don’t count out the Vengeance factor of Micky Owen on one side, and Xabi Alonso on the other. DVD-Rs will definitely be set for this one, my friends.

Milan will face the holders Ajax, and it looks like the Dutch title defense might fall at the knockout rounds – but you can’t count out the team that won it just last year.

Which of course means Maritimo get to be thrown under the Liverpool bus. Tough luck.