Upgrading Equipment

Before we get into stuff all about me, this weekend the Premier League had plenty of exciting matches taking place. It's the famous "Winter Period" in England which calls for a jam packed schedule for all Premier League teams. The teams with  depth deeper than the Atlantic ocean will definitely have the upper hand during this montage of games. The wonderful Arsenal traveled to Newcastle, the North East is never an easy place to travel. The game was kind of sloppy, but in the end Arsenal pulled out the 1-0 win on a free kick taken by Walcott to the French head of Olivier Giroud. Manchester United has really had a disappointing season in terms of Man U, but lately they've been pulling out results. Not beautiful results, but for them 3 points is all they need right now. Their game in Norwich showed how desperate they were for those valuable mid-table 3 points. It was sloppy but Welbeck scored the only goal sending United back to Manchester with a win. Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-1 and Hull beat Fulham 6-0. I don't know why I like Fulham a little, maybe its because of their awesome stadium (even though they took down the statue of Michael Jackson), but they need to get it together or regulation could be on the horizon.

So I made the High School soccer team which is a pretty big deal for me. Now I'm thinking, "Hey maybe its time for an equipment upgrade." I'm not talking like hundreds of dollars worth but maybe just a few things to help with my training. I was shopping at tj max and saw a nice pair of puma sweat pants (my favorite brand) so I thought why not pick these up, I don't even have to order them online! So as I continue my online shopping I'm thinking about buying some Nike Elite soccer socks. They look pretty nice and they're supposed to feel great too, but they're around the $20 mark. That's expensive for any kind of sock. If I do get a pair it will be interesting to see if their better than my Bayern Munich socks. They were kind of pricey too, but they have proved to be very good.

Other things I've been looking at are Nike Elite running socks, Adidas/Puma training pants, and maybe even some new cleats. They are so many things to buy out on the soccer market, but unfortunately my funds are not that high haha. If they are recommendations that y'all have for me please comment: At the moment I'm more interested in more training like equipment (socks, running shoes, pants, jackets, clothes, and etc). But I'll take any suggestions. Come back and read... Share this on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Webkinz, and Myspace (haha nobody gets on myspace anymore).

Straighting Out the MLS

Ah yes, Christmas has just taken place and it was nice to get tons of gifts. Of course a few of them soccer related. Most notably a Confederations Cup official match ball which I was filled with joy to receive. It adds to my match ball collection. Although I still cant tell which is the best between it and my champions league match ball, I will definitely find out soon (a report might come out on that). Anyways besides the match balls the rest of my holidays have been great.

The MLS just cant get itself together for me. I think it could be a pretty good league if it keeps improving in the next 3-5 years, but there are some major steps it will need to take. Some like allowing more foreign and high dollar players into the league instead of just focusing on mainly American's and lower quality foreign players. Also, teams need to get sorted out what their style of play will be and if they really want to keep players they have. At least the league is expanding in the coming years.

During half time of the MLS Finals the announcer guys interviewed the MLS Commissioner who said that the MLS would not start letting in more high dollar players and foreign players, that the MLS is focused on improving the American game. Now maybe he meant the MLS, but it sounded like the MLS was a farm system for the USA National team. To be honest Mr. Head Enchilada, your league will not get better if you don't allow more players in. American players might get better and better down the road, but that could be like 10 years from now. I understand we want to make home grown soccer produce, but most great leagues around the world don't just have their home players on the pitches. Alexi Lalas tried to tell the commissioner this, but whether he listens or not we will have to see.

So far since the MLS Finals in Kansas City, a lot of transfers have been made. Some of them are pretty disappointing to me. Eddie Johnson leaving Seattle was a big blow to me since I like Johnson and the Seattle Sounders. I think that if the Sounders would have kept Eddie Johnson and kept building a good team around him (bringing in players like Dempsey) they could win the MLS Championship. Instead of keeping Johnson, they elected to bring in Kenny Cooper. Being an FC Dallas fan and all I like Cooper, but he had a horrible season and I don't really think he's what Seattle needs. But then again, at Dallas the players around Cooper didn't do that good this season either.

DC United's coach Ben Olsen is going to have to step it up this season or his career at DC could be over. United had a horrible year in the MLS after coming off a previous season where they finished
2nd in the Eastern Conference table. Olsen has been there a while and this season United didn't really look like they new what a soccer ball was, "Football...whats a football?" Luckily for them Eddie Johnson will now play for them and maybe he's the spark that they need!

Come back and read more!

England finally starting to shape up? Maybe not...

Woo, finally back to write again. My club season ended for me a few weeks ago with me scoring 4 goals and my team winning the match 7-2. It was a good way for me, and the team to end the season, after a season that did not really meet our tremendous standards. In the end, it was still a great season and I was happy to go out on a quad trick, I don't know what you call it when you score 4 goals in a game haha. I'm excited because its Christmas time, which is usually when I stalk up on soccer gear. But more on that later, in a later post. 

A big week for football all around the world. Everything ranging from a World Cup Draw, an MLS final, and an interesting weekend in the premier league. As I write this, Fulham is thrashing Aston Villa at the cottage 2-0. Then in North London Arsenal is warming up preparing to take on Everton in what should be a great match. In action that happened yesterday, David Moyes took another bad result at home to Newcastle, losing 1-0. Manchester United needs to get it together real quick if they want even a 1% chance at the title. Yes, I know I predicted Man U to win the title at the beginning of the season, but they aren't helping me out any. I'm scared they'll finish at best 3rd. Other notable matches in England's highest division yesterday included Manchester City continuing their horrible away form and tying Southampton 1-1. Southampton's goal was spectacular from Osvaldo. Chelsea lost to Stoke 3-2 in a pretty exciting match. With so many top teams losing, if the gunners pull out the win today, they will extend their lead at the top.

The World Cup draw took place on Friday and drew some pretty interesting groups. Unfortunately for USA fans, their group is probably one of the worst possible outcomes they could have had. Germany is one of the favorites for the world cup, Portugal doesn't always perform in big stages but they do have Ronaldo, and Ghana has eliminated USA from the past 2 world cups. Expect a World Cup Special issue by at least January about who I think will win, and what interesting things will happen. There is still a long time before Brazil.

The MLS Finals took place last night and I thought even though the game was kind of sloppy, it was very entertaining. It went all the way to penalties and lasted till the 10th kicker. I'm working on an MLS season review. Could come out in a few weeks, or a few days.

Bayern Munich continues to destroy everyone in Germany. Meanwhile I'm about to watch Arsenal beat Everton. Come back for more.

Meat Pies, Pumpkin Pies, and Egg Nog

Yes, the wonderful Thanksgiving break is upon us, or well for me anyways. A full week off from school! That's just as long as Spring Break, which is pretty crazy. Although meat pies will not be on the table on our Thanksgiving feast, tons of good food will be! Wayne Rooney isn't just hungry for goals, he's also hungry for a tremendously plump turkey.

The end of fall and all of winter is usually a big time for the Premier League. The title can be lost and won in these months. Yesterday Arsenal convincingly beat an on form Southampton team 2-0 at the Emirates. The first goal in the game was a major disappointment for Southampton fans considering that their goalie thought he was Lionel Messi. Dribbling the ball in your own box with Olivier Giroud on you is not a good strategy in the Premier League... OR ANY LEAGUE! The next goal came later in the game with the Frenchman scoring again, but this time from the penalty spot.

Although Saturday was an okay day in England's highest division, today was even more exciting. Manchester City took on Spurs at home in what was an important match for both teams. Tottenham finally had a chance to show if they really were top 4 material this year (HA! Spurs are never top 4 material). For Man City, they needed to prove they were still a challenger for the title after spending loads of money on their team. The score finished 6-0... in favor of the Citizens. Manchester City is unstoppable at home, their attacking football is magical. Their passing flows more like you would expect Arsenal's to do. Spurs seemed to stand there wondering what this object rolling around on this strange green surface was. They looked slow and they looked like they had no team chemistry. More teams look threating this year than usual in the Premier League, if the North London team wants to have a chance in Europe next year, they have to improve their offense (yes I know their defense just gave up 6 goals) and their chemistry, or it could be a sad season for the blue side of North London. Manchester City on the other hand can take a lot of good things out of this game, but they need to focus on their away form. If they want to be successful in terms of a title, they need to know how to win on the road. They played counter attacking style at home, why don't they try that on the road? By the way, Kun Aguero has more goals by himself than the whole Tottenham team does as a whole.

After Manchester United beat league leading Arsenal 2 weekends ago, they could only muster a point in Wales today at Cardiff. Congratulations to Cardiff for looking like the best newly promoted team this season. They have impressed me way more than I expected them to do.

That's all for today. Start making your list for Black Friday shopping and Moyes, make sure Rooney doesn't eat too much turkey.

A break... No way!

Yes tonight I have miraculously finished my homework and I don't have any other activities going on tonight so I come back to this foreign thing called, wait what was it, oh yeah a blog. Sorry I forgot the name, I haven't been back in so long I just forgot what a thing like this was. So while I am on a temporary break, so is the rest of the soccer world. The international break is taking place while we speak, but nothing real exciting has happened in terms of World Cup Qualifying. Mexico beat New Zealand and now thinks they are the best team in the world. Unfortunately for the Mexican fans, this is not the case as a 5-1 win over New Zealand is like being in the 10th grade and getting a 100% on a 3rd grade test. A few African teams booked their ticket to the world cup yesterday. Many league matches around the world have been played now and Arsenal is at the top of the Premier League, woo hoo! Here are some other key points

- Adidas has started releasing new National team jerseys for the world cup next year (a feature could come out in the next weeks on these)
- Arsenal are still top of the EPL after 11 games but lost to Man U 1-0 two weekends ago
- FC Bayern's squad drank some beer and ate a couple of pretzels
- Cristiano Ronaldo released his new version of his CR7 cleats. They have a galaxy look to them with stars and stuff like that (I bet Messi didn't see his hamstring injury in the stars)
- QPR, at the moment, look like a team that could be returning to the premier league next year as they are in second in the championship right now
- Hereford United are looking sad in the Skrill Premier
- Arjen Robben threw a fit
- ESPN FC can only talk about how every things a dive and how Sepp Blatter insulted Ronaldo by calling him a general on the field and Messi a good school boy

Although those aren't all the big points, that's mostly what's been covered lately around the world. If I ever get time again some interesting features could be released on "Just Plain Football" like:
Review of World Cup Jerseys
A look at the Lower, Lower leagues around the world
and maybe a few others.

For now tell people about this blog and there is plenty of posts composed in the past that should be entertaining.

Banana Phone

So surfing the wonderful World Wide Web I happened upon a phone case that would change my life. If you've never hear the song Banana Phone click that link and it will most likely change your life. Well I saw a phone case that is a giant plastic banana. There are two major problems with it: It is bigger than a real banana so fitting in your pocket would be a problem, and the bigger problem is, you can only find it in knock off stores in China, so the case probably wont be in my hands, and definitely my pocket anytime soon. Gareth Bale might have a better chance of securing the case (implying that he doesn't already have a whole stash hidden in Ozil's old locker at the Bernabeu). Anyways while I'm typing this wonderful masterpiece USA is getting beat by Costa Rica and a few European World Cup Qualifiers were played earlier today.

England had looked shaky in their past friendlies against FA foes, so a good win against Moldova should put them right back on track. They got the win at Wembley, and from what I've heard it was pretty impressive. Don't get me wrong though, it is Moldova, but an England team that's had trouble with Scotland and Ireland definitely needs any good result they can get. England's skipper, Steven Gerrard got England on the board with a goal in the 12th minute. Talks about Gerrard and Lampard getting old are true, but their play still makes you think they are young and in their prime. My good friend Rickie Lambert got another goal for his home nation in the 26th minute. Lambert has been on excellent form lately and the world better watch out for him. That Southhampton relegation prediction I had might not happen...oops. Then the Man U man, Danny Welbeck added 2 goals later in the game. England pretty much dominated the game having 68% of the ball and 25 shots compared to Moldova's 5 shots. Seeing England in person this summer made me like them more, although they're not my favorite national team in Europe, I still hope they do good and qualify for the World Cup. A few of their players play for Arsenal, and of course I wish them well.

Ukraine won their game 9-0. No that was not a typo. Yes you read it right. Even though their match was against a nation whose footballers are just part timers and are firefighters and sandwich makers, they still beat San Marino 9-0!!! If I'm not mistaken, England only beat San Marino 6-1 last time the two teams met, which was not long ago. Ukraine happens to play England in their next WCQ and it should be an interesting game. England will be the favorites, but I don't think it will be anywhere near an easy win.

Right now as I type this blog there are a couple of North American WCQ's going on and they are pretty good matches. The biggest upset is probably the United States losing 2-1 at the moment. But if you smart people remember, I stated that it would be very hard playing Costa Rica in conditions other than a blizzard. Clearly the USMNT did not read my blog like they should have! The Honduras vs Mexico is kind of an upset at the moment, but after all, Mexico's been sucking lately, so the 2-1 score line is not super surprising.

P.S. in case you didn't notice, Arsenal actually signed a big name player!

Marco Reus: Player Special Edition 1

Yes this is the next new feature of Just Plain Football....our weekly player special! We've had occasional player special's through out my Just Plain Football career and usually they are pretty popular so why not bring them back? If you haven't, go check out Oh Arjen Robben. Probably my most famous player special ever composed and the fifth most popular post of all time.

Borussia Dortmund and the German National team is where Marco Reus shows off his amazing skill on the ball and his wonderful vision. Reus is one of my favorite non-arsenal players and one day I hope he plays for Arsenal, but with Arsenal's buying record we all know that wont happen.....even when he's 55. At the moment Reus is only 24 being born in Dortmund, Germany in 1989. So I guess he's Dortmund grown. That's pretty cool because not many players can say they play for their hometown team. I don't know if Carl Jenkinson was from North London, but he supported Arsenal all his life and ended up playing for them. Reus still has a big career infront of him and has already played in a Champions League Final. He did not join Borussia Dortmund till the 2012/13 season having played at Borussia Mochengladbach before then. Rues has many good qualities and plays kind of like Santi Cazorla for Arsenal. They both know how to pass, and pass very well, but if they have to they can take on members of the opposing team. He has the speed and quickness to play in the Premier League but he might get "Brek Shea-ed" a little. Not only are the guys in the Premier League quick, but they are very strong too. The Bundesliga is a good league and all, but at the moment nothing competes with the Premier League (in overall talent, not certain teams).

Between the start of the 2010/2011 season and the end of the 2012/13 season he has racked up 26 assists which is about 8-9 assists a season for 3 seasons. That's just in the Bundesliga games and not counting other competions. So you can see that he has the vision. In that same time period he has 42 goals which is not a bad tally for a player in his role. His best season was probably the 2011/2012 season when he scored 18 goals and had 9 assists at B. Mochengladbach. In that same time Santi Cazorla has only achieved 26 goals. But he has the same amount of assists as Rues at 26. You do have to remember though that Cazorla plays a true midfielder rule while Rues plays an attacking wing position, which could explain the bigger goal tally. How about we compare his stats to Arjen Robben (2010-2013). Robben has played at Bayern that whole time period and has not switched teams unlike Rues. Robben totaled 29 goals and ONLY 18 assists. A person would have to note that in the season that Robben got the best combination of goals/assists (12/8) when he only started 13 games and came off the bench once, so he did a lot for when he played.

Still the main focus of this post is Rues and he is truly exciting. Being one of the younger players that I will do a special on, he still has a lot to improve. I expect that if he keeps starting and has at least okay players around him, he will score even more goals and make more assists. A Bundesliga title may be hard for him to achieve, but a Champions League title will be even harder. He will probably have to move clubs, although Dortmund did travel to Wembley last season for the Finals of the Champions League!

Busier than Arsenal's Transfer Business

Well yes, I promised a plethora of exciting blogs this month and for many months to come. As we can all see this did not happen. Unfortunately if was because of my school work that kept me up to 11 or midnight 2 or 3 nights in a row. Others nights in kept me up late enough, with soccer practice, that I couldn't write or research. So I speak to my wonderful readers with this statement:

I don't know how much writing will be done in the coming weeks. I will try to write as much as I can. Keep checking in every 3 or 4 days just in case a blog post comes out. It may just be 1 a week, but I am trying. So no need to fear, Just Plain Football will be here. Although, I could say I've put in as much effort to this blog the past two weeks as Arsenal have put into buying players for their shallow squad.

So come back every now and then and hopefully a blog will be posted that's fresh and fantastic.

To keep you entertained here's a list of some of my most popular blogs:
USA Men's National Team Special
Best and Worst Jersey's Part 2
Jermaine Jones with White Hair
Soccer Cleats Review

If you like Movie Reviews Check Out my friend Payton Justice's blog
Payton Justice Movie Reviews

Check out his Youtube Channel too!
PBPFILMS14

United States Mens National Team Special: Edition 1

Well everybody today is the day. After a year and a month or so of Just Plain Football we finally get to a new and improved look. I hope all my readers that started out with me last summer are still here and that my new readers and new readers to come enjoy the new look. Yes today we start the series of National Team Specials. We have one National team special every month. During the third or fourth week of every month! The very first edition will about my home team's country! The good ole United States of America. The United States, a superpower and a country used to dominating the sports world. But in soccer, they have definalty not been near the top..... AT ALL! When people think of the United States soccer team they usually think of a team that's not really good. A team that needs to improve a lot. But how much have they improved over the past few years? Are more of their players actually getting better? The USA has gotten better. The question really is, how much better have they gotten.

"expert"

Firstly a team is made up of players (insert captain obvious blurt here). So without good players and even a great coach a team can only be so good. More and more 'Merican players are moving to Europe to showcase their skills. In my book, not near enough. Clint Dempseys recent move back to the US makes me really mad. I mean it was hard for me to root for him at Tottenham but when he was at Fulham it was cool cheering on a fellow American. Maybe his skills will stay the same but usually the players that stay in Europe and more specifically England, are better. Jozy Altidore, who of course I hate, transferred to Sunderland this summer. So even though he is Altidore, he should improve a lot in England's highest division. In terms of European play, our goalies are in good shape. Timmy Howard and Brad Guzan both have starting spots in their EPL team. Guzan just held Arsenal to 1 goal on his Aston Villa first match of the season on Saturday. More and more so called experts (some of these experts have the knowledge of a potato, and dumb potato at that) have said that the MLS is starting to create more players with National Team quality. Eddie Johnson and Brek Shea are two of my favorite examples. Oh and who could forget Landon Donovan. Eddie Johnson plays for the Seattle Sounders and is one of my favorite USA players. Brek Shea started off at Dallas and had a pretty good career there before moving to Stoke last season. Even though Shea is not the best physical presence on the National Squad, he knows were the good passes are. I would call him the David Beckham of the USA squad. But what about players like Graham Zusi and Kyle Beckerman. They have basically been created in the USA's MLS and Zusi has look very good of late. Unfortunately both of these guys would have a tough time in the Premier League. Especially Beckerman.... his play is just not quick enough. Bradley plays for AS Roma which is not the worst spot for any USA player. Plus in the Gold Cup we saw the United State's manager Jurgen Klinsman bring in some new young guys who have promising talent. Jose Torres really impressed me when I saw him play at Dallas against Honduras in the Gold Cup Semifinals! The final verdict on the players of the National team is: We have some good young players emerging and our older experienced players add a lot to the team. Its the guys in the middle that the United States need to worry about. We need to ship more players to Europe and let them gain experience. Also, we need to try to bring more old European players (like Cahill, Henry, and Keane) to the MLS so they can pass on their experience to MLS players trying out for the USA squad.

Lately the US National Squad have been on a very impressive streak and had a  pretty wonderful summer. Firstly, the match where they beat Germany did not impress me at all!!!! The only good players Germany brought to the US were Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker. It was like Germanys E team. No not B,C, or D, but E. All the fans were like "WOOHOO we beat those Germans.... They suck so bad". This is just not true. Germany probably has one of the best A-team squads in the world. Maybe even better than Spain. I see Germany as a giant favorite in the coming World Cup in Brazil. I would even bet all the Wiener Schnitzel I could eat on them. So that match means nothing to me and it really shouldn't to the National team squad. Let's take a look at the Gold Cup. We took our b-team to the Gold Cup and came out of the tournament with the trophy. So it shows 2 things: Our b-team is pretty good, but also that most other countries brought their b-team too. We are still probably better than all those teams if our A-Team's met up. Even though in our past World Cup qualifiers we only beat Costa Rica 1-0 in blizzard conditions. It may have just been because they were all distracted at the mounds of snow in Jermine Jone's hair. Then we actually lost to Honduras 2-1. But I am still pretty condfident in the chances of the United States boarding on a plane to Brazil for the World Cup. Lets face it, Mexico just isn't the North American super power in soccer than they used to be.

The USA starts World Cup qualifiers again in September. The USA has to travel to Costa Rica on September 6th in a match that might be difficult. We beat them just 1-0 in snowy conditions. I'm sure it will not be snowing in Costa Rica when the US comes into town to visit. But the biggest match is on September 10th. When Mexico travels North of the border to Columbus. The United States team has always played good at Columbus and if they beat Mexico there, they should have lots of momentum. We cant forget that the Mexico squad will be better than the one they brought to the
Gold Cup!

I hope you enjoyed one of the newest special editions of Just Plain Football! Come back and read more!

Buy better referee's!

This is going to be a blog post about Arsenal! After all I am an Arsenal fan and all you people out there should be happy that more of these don't find a place in the blog lineup! The Arsenal took a hard loss today. I mean it's opening day at the Emirates in North London and we welcome a team that was fighting relegation last year, Aston Villa. I don't like to blame games on the ref, but this game I think the referee did terrible. I hope the FA saw his performance today. I know I'm a fan of the losing team, but I think his acts were enough to get him suspended or something like that. The SEC hand-egg ball conference has put ref's out of a job a couple of times, so why cant the Premier League do it?

Arsenal got off to a confident start. The Arsenal that wins titles showed up in the first 10-15 minutes. And the Frenchman Olivier Giroud put one in the back of the net in the 5th minute. Jack Wilshere started it all, then Rosicky made a nice pass to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who put a ball in with the outside of his foot. Giroud is definitely off to a better start than last season. Then Antho

So called referee

ny Taylor, the referee (if he even deserves that title) started playing for Aston Villa. Through out the game when Villa had a good advantage he let them keep playing. When Arsenal had a good advantage he let the ball come back and made us take the free kick. Rosicky and Cazorla complained a couple of times each about this. The two penalties called in the match were controversial. The first was more likely a penalty than the second. On the first penalty the quick and speedy Agbonlahor got past our defense and the Polish keeper Wojciech Szczesny came out and fouled him. It could be said that the Villa man did not have control of the ball. The second penalty was much worse. Laurent Koscienly clearly got the ball on his challenge. Both announcers of the game thought the challenge was top quality and so did I. But Villa scored again and Koscienly got a yellow card for a perfect tackle. Many yellow cards that were handed to Arsenal players could have easily not been a yellow card. Later Koscienly went in for another challenge that should have not been a foul, then he got sent off with a second yellow. The referee just seemed to be for Villa and every call he could he gave the ball to them. After Villa's third goal the fans starting chanting at Arsene Wenger about spending money.

I really think Arsenal needs to buy players. Through out my past blogs I have said this over and over. This game though, was not because we didn't buy any players. That might have been 10% of the deal. Most of it was because of Anthony Taylor. The ref that needs to be booted from the EPL. The EPL needs to bring in more refs like Howard Webb.

Today has been a good first day for many other teams and some good football has been played! Manchester United and Swansea are battling it out in Wales right now in a game that should be fantastic!

Don't forget to check in on Monday for the first ever National team special!

English Premier League Predictions

Well England just played Scotland in the stadium I was at during the beginning of the summer. Good ole Wembley Stadium in London. Since its the 150th Anniversary of the FA, they are trying to bring these great British rivalries back. So even though they are called friendlies, they are really not that friendly!  The game was actually a very good game. It was full of exciting action and a bag full of good goals. England started out looking very bad. Rooney was a little too pass happy when he should of shot and dribbled and all of England just looked tired. Scotland finally scored the first goal and got up 1-0. Then the Arsenal man Theodore P. Walcott tied England up. But once again Scotland looked much better and on a nice turn an shoot they scored again (I love the turn and shoots. The Mario Gomez turn and shoot in Euro 2012 was amazing)! I told Gerrard he needed to start sending in better balls because his crosses were rubbish.  That's when Welback headed one in on a ball served in by Gerrard. Lampard came in and sent some wicked shots at the goalie but none went in! I love Ricky Lambert at Southhampton and it was cool to see him get some playing time for the National squad. I'm pretty sure the corner was sent in by Baines and who else but LAMBERT to put it in and give England the win over Scotland. Lambert had more chances and I wished he would have finished them because he deserved the goals. But England got a much needed win at home against one of their rivals Scotland, 3-2!

Yes ladies and gentleman its time for what we've all been waiting for. No, not a video of Gareth Bale buying bananas at the local grocery store in North London (I know sorry to disappoint you). Nor real footage of Mario Ballotelli setting off fireworks in his own bathroom, but instead its time for English Premier League Predictions! The EPL is my favorite league around the whole world and at the moment probably the league that plays the best football around the world! The English teams usually attract players from all around the world. As more and more teams get rich around Europe, more players will be exiting the Premier League though!

Relegation in the EPL always seems to be an intense battle. Unfortunately I had to watch my 2nd favorite team QPR exit the highest division in England last year. This year three more teams fans will have to experience that same fate. As much as I hate to say it, I see South Hampton leaving the EPL. I love Ricky Lambert and Adam Lallana but their team is just so boring. I cant stand watching South Hampton play most of the time. So yes, relegation for South Hampton. Hull City didn't really impress me any times I've watched them. They are not a bad team just not Premier League quality. But hey, Norwich surprised a bunch of people in their first season up. Now its a tough decision. I don't know whether to pick a team that's been in the Premier League for more than a season or a team that just got promoted. Since I don't live in England, watching lower league games is hard, so I don't know as much about the lower league teams! I will say that........Newcastle will get relegated. I thought about Sunderland, but their new coach seems fantastic. Newcastle lost Demba Ba and towards the end of the season they just looked bad. So out of the top flight for the North East England club!

*Drum role please* Its now time for the top 5 teams in England! The battle for the top 4 is always an interesting one in the EPL. The top 4 gives you a chance in the UEFA Champions League and of course if you come in first, the Premier League title. Arsenal's neighbors Tottenham looked really good last season, but I think they will not touch the top four once again, not even the top 5. Liverpool got off to a slow start last season. But towards the end, unlike Newcastle, they looked really good. Even with a chance of losing Suarez, I see them taking the 5th spot. That means Spurs drop down to 6th and Everton to 7th. Arsenal, as much as I would like you to come in higher than fourth, that's where you will end up again! If y'all will not buy any "big name" players you just cant break out of the spot. As I've said before, you can still produce players, but you have to buy a few too. Some people will see this as a surprise, but Manchester City will drop to third! Even though they buy all their players and buy good ones too, I just don't think their new coach knows whats up. Going against the likes of  Moyes and Mourinho I just don't think he has the experience. In second are the Blue's of Chelsea. Chelsea usually has an outstanding defense and Jose Mourinho has been itching to get back to the EPL. He will try his hardest to win the title, but will fall one place short! Manchester United is a risky option for the title with their new manager and all. But Moyes really moved Everton to new levels and he has sort of the same style ole Alex had. So with Van Persie and the rest of Manchester United, they will make it 21 titles for the red side of Manchester!

Tune in to the first game of the EPL season on Saturday! It should be another exciting year of English football!

Bundesliga Predictions

Germany was one of my favorite places on my European Journey this summer and I also love the countries football. Even though the league can be a one team league at times, I still think they play attractive football in Deutschland. Germany has even threatened Spain as dominating football power. I  actually think the German team is better than Spain at the moment and both club teams in the champions league final last season were both from Germany! So not just the wiener schnitzel is good in Germany!

The top 3 were separated from the rest of the league by 10 points last season. Leverkusen were ahead of the fourth place team Schalke 65-55 on points, while Dortmund was just 1 point of ahead of Leverkusen. Then Bayern Munich, getting a little carried away with winning, had 91 points. This year I expect the race for third to be a little closer. The 4-7th place teams last year all had the talent to take third but couldn't do it. I know this might sound crazy to a few, but I think Eintracht Frankfurt will take third. Yes, they just finished 6th last season. Yes, they were just promoted the season before last. Yes, they got thrashed 6-1 in their first Bundesliga game. But I've always liked their style of play the few times I have seen their high lights and they are good on FIFA 13 so yeah. That means E. Frankfurt to third, Bayern Leverkusen to 4th and Schalke all the way to 5th. In second I have to go with the black yellows, Borussia Dortmund. I like Dortmund a lot (which is weird when Bayern Munich is your second favorite team in the world). Last year they didn't even come close to Bayern and they almost fell to third. I don't think they'll get close at all this year either. The reason is that Mario Gotze went to Bayern and Lewandowski is soon probably about to leave the club. If the Polish star leaves the club it would be horrible for all Dortmund fans. He was the soul of the team. So yes, second for Dortmund. Of course, FC Bayern Munchen will win the league title. Their domination last year was outstanding and they won the treble. Champions League, Bundesliga title, and some German Cup (the one equal to the FA Cup I think). Their domination will not last forever but another season is likely. If their new coach infects the ticky-tacky style of play that he used at Barca, I will not be happy, happy, happy. I wont even be one happy.

My next blog will be Premier League Predictions and it will probably be on Wednesday or Thursday. Thursday being the more likely day.

French Ligue 1 Predictions

Who likes French fries? I mean they're salty, tasty, and go down pretty fast. Just about like the Ligue 1 in France. The play can be a little bad at times, but most of the time its like a lesser Premier League. The players aren't as fast or as strong, but usually its close to premier league style of play and the league is not always a one team league. Last season I predicted the French Ligue 1 totally wrong. I picked Lyon to secure the title. Maybe its just because I liked them a lot, or I liked Hugo Llor
is. Well of course Lloris moved to North London, so he didn't help his home country's team at all. Last season Lyon came in third, so the top spot was really far away.

The battle for fourth last year was very, very intense. So I see that happening again. Lille who finished 6th last year, should jump up to 4th. They've always been an okay team and they've been in the champions league before. So a move up to 4th would not be out of the question. Marseille just finished 4 points above Lyon last season and I don't think they can replicate that again. So Marseille will drop to 3rd. It will be a very close race between third and second next year. Lyon will take second. Even though last season I predicted them totally wrong, I think they will have the extra zap this year to beat out Marseille for 2nd. PSG buys a lot of their players, but they make good choices. Zlatan Ibrahimovic will lead them to another title. What I like about PSG is their attacking force. I always think Lavezzi has had very high talent and the goalkeeper Sirigu is very good. If Gigi Buffon was not in front of him on the Italian National team I think he would be the starter. That's your top 4 for the French Ligue 1.

DAT NOSE

I don't really know the league well enough to predict who will get relegated. There are some notable teams to watch out for this year that might finish higher in the table then you would think. AS Monaco has the cash flowin' so they went quick to buy players after being promoted to the highest French league. They already bought Falcao and they already won their first game. So they could win some big games this year!

We still have two more leagues to predict. The German Bundesliga and the big ole English Premier League, so make sure to come in and read!!!!

English Breakfast

Well before we get into todays topics I will tell you what will be released on August 19, 2013. That day the blog face will have a while new look. As you can already see I've imported the new picture of the blog (Jack Wilshere) and under the title I have pure class. Also on the 19th the first National Team special will come out: featuring the United States Men's National Team. This special was actually going to be released after I came back from Europe, but I never got it finished and now I have a lot of catching up to do! Then a few days later the first player special will come... the player is still in question. If you have a favorite player that's not Messi or Ronaldo comment or email me @ kcollins619@hotmail.com for any player you would like to be featured! Also even before the release of all the fancier stuff I will have my EPL predictions since the season starts Saturday. Then when September hits, the full swing new Just Plain Football will really kick into gear!

English Breakfast is bland and tasteless, especially after you have it for 3 days in a row. I mean you just don't want to look at it or taste it, or smell it. You want some flavor, some spice, some sweetness. That's how I felt watching QPR last season. QPR was my second favorite team in the Premier League and my third favorite team overall. But their football was just ugly and sloppy. Some might even call it tasteless. Mark Hughes really screwed them up, but Harry should have kept them up. The point in this QPR talk is, some Premier League teams this season are dangerously close to following their kind of play. Maybe not sloppy, but bland. And for the sake of the Premier League, this can not happen. Or the EPL will not be the best league in the world. Although football is about scoring goals, it has to be attractive. That's why I'm worrying for teams like Stoke, South Hampton, and Sunderland. Why did Swansea stay up? Because they play nice attractive football. Same with Norwich and Brendon Rodgers is trying to inflict this type of play at Liverpool. Stoke needs to stop with just the consistent long balls and big leg breakers. South Hampton were lucky to stay up last season. I hate watching them on TV. It's like watching Barcelona but they are even slower and not good at their job (although I do like some of South Hampton's players). Sunderland got lucky with their new coach. I think he knows this QPR disease and at the end of last season he tried to step up the tempo and creativeness of their plays. In the end, if more teams follow this Stoke kind of play and get away from the Arsenal and Swansea type of play, other leagues will start improving more and more. So for the sake of my favorite league..... I hope we are in for an exciting season of football this year!

Make sure to come back and check out this blog! SHARE SHARE SHARE PLEASE!!! :D

 

Go Bananas

I like the average banana just as much as Gareth Bale does..... but doesn't it make you mad when you go to the store for bananas and all the ones they have aren't fresh? I mean come on now, I need my potassium and banana goodness. So leaving the store without bananas sucks..... big time. Some might say it drives me crazy or makes me go bananas.

The invisible creatures that make soccer players "dive"

You know what else makes me go bananas, Arsenal, Luis Suarez, and Wayne Rooney. Arsenal, I know you love to build up your squad with young and inexpensive players, but at some point you have to buy some big names. The so called experts of the game stated this a long time ago, and now the fans, me included, think its finally time we spend a couple of dollars, well pounds. We can still have the whole Arsenal mindset, just bring in a few big names when it's not absolutely necessary! After a while the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea are going to leave us in the dust. Manchester United even uses their own clubs money that they've generated, while City and the blues just use their owners. We could do exactly what Manchester United is doing. They still produce a few players, but they understand that if they make the money, they have to spend it.

Suarez is a horrible person, but he's an amazing footballer. Liverpool just need to try and ship him out as quick as possible. The manager already made him train without the rest of the team so why don't they try to get him out of there. Arsenal fans, I know you might now want him on our team, but at least we will get somebody that has a big name and a giant skill set. If we don't get him, I really don't think we will get anybody with a "big name" this summer. Of course we will pick up the regular small name or no name Arsenal signings!

Wayne Rooney might eat a lot and be lazy around the house, but on the field he has one of the highest work rates I've seen. Man U and him have been having problems lately as we all know. Why cant he just leave. If he stays I would be very surprised after all that's gone down. Where would he end up though? Personally I would like to see him at Arsenal like we talked about earlier this summer, but that's never going to happen since we cant spend even a banana on a player. Every body is saying he will end up at Chelsea, but I thought he wanted to be the star. With Ba, Ramires, Mata, Hazard, and many others, it will not be all spotlight for Wayne Rooney. I'm guessing he wants to stay in England or the rest of Europe just does not want him!

Come back and read more. Don't forget to eat your bananas!

Aguerooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

Which is the better goal? The last few days while surfing the good ole Youtube I stumbled across some soccer goals through out the past two seasons. Of course two of them stuck in my mind. The Arjen Robben goal vs Dortmund in the Champions League Final a few months ago, then the Sergio Kun Aguero goal vs QPR to win the Premier League Title two seasons ago. Both were pretty awesome goals!

It terms of just the actual goal and shot, we can probably say that Arjen Robben's was much better! The whole cross down field from Alaba to Ribery. Then Ribery holding off the defender to then back heel it to Robben who took a touch around the defender then slid it past the goalie. Yes the skill of the goal took much more than Aguero getting the pass for Ballotelli then striking it in. Both were not easy shots, but Arjen's wins in skill level.

The story line was pretty amazing on both of these goals. Bayern Munich had home field advantage last season against Chelsea in the finals and ended up losing in penalties. Robben missed a penalty in extra time that would have probably gave Munchen the win. He apparently had 28 shots in total champions league finals before this goal. So against their German rivals they were seeking redemption. Manchester City, the team that had been shadowed by Manchester United forever finally had the chance to win the Premier League title (even though they kind of bought themselves the title).

The thing about Aguero's goal was that I'm pretty sure QPR went up 2-0 in the game. Joey Barton then got a red card for QPR because he decided to pull a Joey Barton like move. I think he would have been a great player in the Premier League. Anyways, Manchester City went 2-0 down and they had to claw their way back. Then Aguero's goal came in the 93rd or 94th minute, I'm pretty sure. That gave Manchester City the title and they won the game 3-2.

Robben's goal came in the 89th minute and he needed the goal. He had a lot of haters and still probably does. The goal was for Bayern Munich, but it was also a goal for Arjen Robben. While Aguero's goal was totally for the Sky Blues!

That special about the running shoes will come out eventually. It may not come out until the big change of Just Plain Football though, so stay patient.

19.8.13

Well a big change is coming to Just Plain Football!!! I've been trying to increase my amount of readers lately and a new look would suit the blog pretty well. Also new features will be coming along! I've been playing around with the templates lately and discovered all the fancy things you can create with the "advanced" settings so the blog will look great. Also, the school year is approaching fast which usually means no blog posts or blog posts of little quality! But this year I'm going to try to write a lot more. Not every day probably but maybe 2-3 posts every week. Some of the new features include:

- New layout of the blog

- more links in every blog post

- more pictures/videos in every blog post

- covering a wide range of topics (even though I think I do that one pretty well already) 

- Every other week a big special will be released!!!! Some of my specials already include (add link) Best and Worst Jerseys, Great Stadiums, and Oh Arjen Robben. These special blog posts usually increase my readers so every other week a new one will come out

- every week a whole blog post will be about one special player. Arjen Robben is the only player I've ever done. Thomas Rosicky and more players will come. 

-every third week of the month a special about a National team will come out.
- then of course regular posts will come out between all these specials

All this is coming August 19, 2013

Until then I will continue with the current layout of Just Plain Football.

Jelly Belly or Gatorade?

Firstly, if you like Green Tea at Starbucks, don't get the green tea latte (hot). It tastes like a vegetable, well kind of. I actually like the taste, but most people don't! Just get the Green Tea Iced Latte or the Green Tea Frappacino. 

So every athlete has a routine before their game starting as early as the night before game day. Game Day's are always big! Before every club game that I play in I get my kit ready the night before and make sure I have all my gear. My checklist is big starting from my ball, cleats, and other gear going to drinks, headphones, and so on. What  I left out is energy chews! Yes, energy chews. Every athlete needs to be in top condition to perform and a little boost helps. I've tried the Jelly Belly Energy Beans and Gatorade Energy Chews!

Gatorade Energy Chews are probably the most expensive option out of the two energizers, but I think they work a lot better. Firstly, the whole Gatorade Company focuses on sports, while Jelly Belly makes tasty sweet snacks, so you would probably expect Gatorade to pull out the win here. The chews come in a pack of 6 and are square shaped. All flavors are pretty good in the chews. Last time I checked they had 3 different flavors. The blue color, red color, and pink color. I forget the names, haha! But they were all pretty tasty so flavor is not really a problem. Of course, the jelly belly beans do not have a flavor problem either. Gatorade chews actually feel like you've eaten something and later on in the game you can definitely tell that you have more energy. Jelly Belly's don't have a set amount to eat. On the package it just says eat as many as you need to get full energy and that's it. So its kind of hard to gage how many you need to consume. I tried both of these out and Gatorade definitely wins!! There is one problem with the energy chews though! It says take them 15 minutes prior to event/exercise or very shortly before. I feel like they don't have enough time to start breaking into energy so I usually take them 30 minutes before a game. On some occasions even 45. They seem to work way better.

Gatorade Scores: (1-10)
Energy: 10  Flavor: 8.5   Easiness to understand:  8
Jelly Belly Energy Chews Scores: (1-10)
Energy: 4  Flavor:9.5 Easiness to understand: 5

Ok so in a few days my second "special edition" of this summer will come out. It's going to be about the running shoes that are currently on the market and which are the best to buy or maybe just which might be the best fit for you. So make sure to tune into that! I don't know when it will be released but it should come out in the next 5-7 days!

Shea Saves the Day......Maybe

The Gold Cup Final was played yesterday at Soldier Field in Chicago. Most people at the start of the tournament probably expected a Mexico vs USA final, instead they were entertained with a USA vs Panama final. I like Panama way better than Mexico, so it was good that they made it into the finals. Of course I had to be for my home country USA!! I didn't watch most of the first half because my cousin was over and I was hanging out with him. Unfortunately I did see that Stuart Holden received another knee injury. The young guy has had some serious injury problems these last few seasons. He was finally back and ready to impress, and he was impressing. He's kind of like the Abou Diaby and Jack Wilshere of the United States National squad. Anyways I watched all of the second half and we had plenty of chances. Panama looked good, but their offense didn't really kick into gear until close to the end of the game when the United States was getting tired. Panamas defense held tight. I really don't like Joe Corona, but apparently all of our fans do, so he got the start in front of Jose Torres. Finally they took out Corona and put on the wonderful Brek Shea! Shea can pass the ball and he has the right soccer mind, but I guess for a tall guy he is not very strong. He needs to work on the physical side of his game. Panama kind of pushed him around a little, but when they didn't he usually put in a good pass. In the 69th Minute Alejandro Bedoya sent in an amazing ball. Landon Donovan took a wild swing at it and missed it completely, but his dummy move caught the goalie off guard. Then Brek Shea was right there to tap it in. The funny thing is, Bedoya probably would've scored anyway even if Shea didn't tap it in. It looked like it was going in. Anyways, Shea got the goal and later Donavan said something along the lines of "I took a giant swing at the ball and completely missed it". The USA got the Gold Cup win and hopefully this will give them momentum going into World Cup Qualifiers in September!

To wrap up the tournament we'll list some of the players that impressed me the most! Jose Torres and Eddie Johnson really impressed me. When I went to the Semifinals game in Dallas Torres took quick precise touches and made good decisions on the ball. I had always liked Eddie Johnson at Seattle even though he had some rough times. In this tournament he proved that he needs to be on the A Team when World Cup Qualifiers come around! A more surprising player that impressed me was Mix Diskerud. Diskerud is actually from Norway, but I'm glad he decided to play for the US. He seemed to have a right soccer mind like Torres and was always in a good position on the field. He knew where to be, even off the ball making runs. Blas Perez, the FC Dallas man, looked very good. He had some nice assists and some cool goals. Dallas has missed him these last weeks while he's been helping his home country, so now he needs to go lead FC Dallas to the top. Lastly, Alberto Quintero impressed me from the very first group game against Mexico. He's a great winger from Panama and his skill and vision on the ball is of very high quality.

Come back and check out this blog for more entertaining soccer news and fun!

Are we even in America?

The Gold Cup experience was a very cool one. It probably held the most entertaining crowd I had ever been with at a soccer match. The only other non-friendly games I had ever been to were just FC Dallas games and the crowds there don't really get too pumped (although the 4th league German division game had a lot on the line, only 14,500 people showed up). The England and Ireland game had a huge crowd, but since it was a friendly not much was put into it. The only problem with this great crowd was that the best part of the cheering, yelling, and booing, came in the Panama vs Mexico match.

Making our way towards the stadium we could all tell there were way more Mexican fans headed towards the entrance. Maybe because we were in Texas or maybe just more Mexicans like soccer. The USA vs Honduras game was still very fun! Eddie Johnson, one of my favorite young forwards for the National squad, put in the first goal. You could tell it was going to be a pretty easy win for the USA. Landon Donovan and Jose Torres really impressed me, especially Torres. His touches were precise and quick. His passes were usually expertly placed. The biggest disappointment had to be Brek Shea. I had always wanted to see him play at Dallas, then he moved across the pond to England. Luckily he got subbed into the game in the second half. His touches were horrible, he didn't seem energized, and even though he had some good ideas on the ball, his passes never seemed to make it through to the target. But I still think Shea deserves a spot on the National "A" squad! Anyways, the USA beat Honduras 3-1 and booked their ticket to Soldier Field in Chicago.

More and more people flooded the entrance into Cowboys Stadium for the Mexico game. There was lots of Spanish yelling and screaming. When Mexico scored their only goal of the match the crowd was super crazy!! Blas Perez for Panama had been having a good year at FC Dallas and they are probably missing him greatly right now. But Panama definitely needs him. He's had a great last two games and has looked very impressive to me. FC Dallas better hold on to him if he improves even more, because a trip to Europe is not out of the question for Perez. He put Panama up 1-0 and Panama eventually won the game 2-1.

The Gold Cup finals will be on Sunday in Chicago at Soldier Field. Make sure to tune in and watch the game. I think the two best teams in the tournament made it to the finals and I'm giving the USA the title, winning 2-1. I would have said 2-0, but Panama's offense is amazing and our set piece defending is horrible!

Best and Worst Jerseys Part 2

The beginning of this blog was going to be very different as of today around noon. Then while devouring a piece of bread saturated with creamy chicken broccoli soup, my friend called me up and was like "yo dog, you want to hit up the Gold Cup Semifinals in Dallas tomorrow". So I thought and thought about it, then I excepted his offer. So later tomorrow I will be traveling to Jerry Jones's stadium in Arlington, Texas to watch the game on the giant High-def screens installed in his stadium. It has a better picture than what is going on in real life. Haha. Anyways, I will be watching both semifinal games in the wonderful stadium. USA vs Honduras and Panama vs Mexico. I am actually more excited to see the Panama vs Mexico game for a few reasons. One is, Panama is my second favorite team in the Gold Cup and the first match between these two teams was a real cracker! Anyways, you came to this blog today for the wonderful second edition of Best and Worst Jersey's part 2. Last year Dortmund's home jersey and Chelsea's away jersey's took home the best jersey's prize, while Man City's away jersey and Barcelona's home jersey were given the titles of worst jersey's. This season it was very hard to pick between the kits. I found way better sources this year, so I had a much, much bigger selection. So if you think you know a jersey that's better or worst, comment please!!!



Liverpool's Crazy 3rd Kit

Liverpool's 3rd kit last season

First off, what is going on with Liverpool's 3rd kits these last two seasons?  What is going on with all their kits besides their home kits?? I mean I'm pretty sure this Warrior company have lost their mind.
 I was not going to have a worst 3rd kit, but Liverpool's is so bad I had to include it!


Oh my gosh, there are so many bad home and away jerseys this year!

Swansea City's Kit (away)

I almost gave Liverpool the award (if you would call it an award) for worst away jersey. But I felt sorry for them and some people say its pretty cool. So I let them off!  It was very hard deciding the worst away jersey because there are so many leagues with so many teams, but I will have to say the good ole Welsh boys Swansea receive the title. Their sponsor may give them bunches of money...but on the jersey, the Chinese writing looks just ugly. I mean Chinese writing, along with Japanese, is sometimes considered as "pretty", but this is just straight up horrible. The main color base on the Swansea jersey does not know whether it wants to be purple or blue. The official word is purple. And the yellow,  is just ugly. LSU's (Louisiana State University's) uniforms which are purple and GOLD look much better. No, not purple and yellow, purple and gold! Come on Swansea, I expected better than this. Honorable mentions, or unhonorable mentions, include: Liverpool, Barcelona, and a few others.

Fulham's Crazy V-Necked Jersey

The worst home jersey was also a hard award to give because this year because there were just so many bad ones. Hey, the home kits also brought some good ones into play too. When you hear who wins this prize you might think why this kit? There were many worse than this. I had to choose this because there is one feature that I cannot get over. Fulham FC wins the award for worst home jersey. It was a close battle, but they edged out. Mostly because of the so called V-neck collar. I can not take it. AC Milan went with a V-neck collar on their away jersey but it looks so much better than this. I like the old fashioned pin stripes on Fulham's previous home jersey, but on this jersey the pin stripes do not make the cut!! Maybe I'm over reacting to the collar. I got some feedback that I over reacted to the home Barcelona Jersey last season, but hey, its the little details that count.

The Dark Knights

Even though I went on and on about how many bad jerseys there were, there are actually some pretty good ones out there too! Just maybe not as many as usually. The away kits were definitely the hardest for both best and worst. Top canidates were AC Milan, Arsenal, Juventus, Tottenham, Derby County, Porto and a few more. But the winner is the team who had the worst away jerseys last season (they must have read my blog).... MANCHESTER CITY! They got rid of that nasty looking red and went with black. The Dark Knights
of Manchester is a name being thrown around out there. And y'all know how much I like the collared jerseys. This one has a fantastic collar. I usually like the brighter jerseys when it comes to soccer jerseys. In other clothes dark looks pretty good to me though. And this jersey is a perfect example of how a blackish gray jersey should look!

The best home jersey was hard too, but not as hard as the best away. AC Milan sent out a great line of kits this year. Home, away, and third kits are all excellent. I had to give them the award for best home jersey. Mostly for 2 reasons. First: with a great line of kits, even if the home isn't the best out of 3 its still good enough. Second: the players just model these good. I think Adidas must look at the players of AC Milan and think, what would look good on them. Not just a cool jersey. The fact that this jersey is so simple also makes it nice. Some home kits lately have been getting way, way too out of hand. Adidas has been trying to tone it down on the home side. Like Bayern Munich's home jersey. Adidas got rid of most of the gold stripes this year on peoples jersey, but luckily they stayed with the gold for Milano. I think if they would have made the stripes black some of the pop from the jersey would not be there anymore. Just like the bad Fulham jersey, little details count to make a jersey super horrible or super great! Mario Balotelli almost even smiled in some of the kit pictures because he knows they are soooooo good this year!!!!

This special edition took lots and lots of work so I hope you share it with all your friends! I want to see it challenge last year's best and worst jersey's article!

Shea saves the Day

Even though the United States was already going to advance to the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup, a win would be nice and help them face an easier team in the first round of the knock out stage. For a while it looked like nobody was going to score a goal. Both teams had some good chances but the goalies always saved it in the end. Then the US head coach brought on the former FC Dallas and new Stoke player, Brek Shea. The crazy announcers of the game went on and on about how Shea really had to prove that he deserved a spot on the USA squad and how his talent was really sucky. Firstly, how many former MLS players and USA national team players do you know can even make it to a premier league bench? And part of the season Shea was injured. So on the fast break when Donavon made the pass to Shea and Shea finished it off beautifully, I was very happy.

The quarterfinals of the tournament start today! Panama and Cuba play against each other! I think Panama will slightly edge out Cuba. The game will not be completely one sided or anything, but Panama seems the stronger side. After all, they did come in first in their group. Poor Trinidad and Tobago come against Mexico who are probably the second best team in the tournament. Although, Mexico finished second in their group during the group stage!

Tomorrows quarterfinals include the interesting match ups of the United States vs El Salvador and Honduras vs Costa Rica. I think the USA should cruise by El Salvador, but you never know with the United States team. They're not the most consistent team in the world. On my club team that I play on, a guy is from El Salvador and his talent level is very high. You never know, maybe one day you will see him on TV playing in the Gold Cup, haha. Honduras and Costa Rica is the best match up of the quarter finals to me. Costa Rica is probably favored, but I think Honduras might have a few tricks up their sleeve. So that will be the game to watch!

COME BACK AND READ MORE!! In a week or two the special edition "Best and Worst Jerseys Part 2" will be released. The last best and worst jerseys was my most popular blog of all time. Hopefully the people will like this one too.

The new thing!

Cleats get more and more fancy these days. I mean, I have a pair of Puma Kings. Blue and gold color-way and Kangaroo leather. How can you not like that? Well now personalizing cleats is coming into style. Of course it will make your wallet lose weight, but there are certain advantages to buying a cleat that's got your style input.

Nike and Adidas are the only two companies out there that I know let you fully customized a pair of their top flight boots. Not just your name and number sown in, but the color pattern is yours too. So instead of just having to deal with the colors the companies throw out there, you can put your oranges, and greens in there any place you want.

My friend Adam's customized Adidas Predators

Although this is fun and all, most customized cleats take 4 weeks till on your doorstep. Which really sucks if you want them right away. But if you can wait, then of course you are fine. Also, most Nike and Adidas cleats cost a ton of money anyway, so its going to cost more to customize them. Although, on most of Adidas's cleats, the personalizing fee is only $25 dollars. Which if you think about it, is not that high to get them exactly the way you want. I don't really know Nike's customizing price, but they're usually higher. Lastly, the customizing does not change the quality of the boot, it just changes how it looks. So if you are just in it for the quality of the boot, then don't customize. But if you want to look stylish and cool (which is not always a bad option, you'll stand out infront of the crowd), customizing is the way to go. Mi Adidas is the Adidas customizing center. NIKEiD is the customizing center for Nike. Nike does not have as good a selection as Adidas, and it sucks that Puma and other companies do not let you customize.

I think the idea of customizing cleats and any shoe is very cool. I think both companies will make tons of money of this idea. Nike probably already has with all their Air Max shoes and so on. Hopefully other companies will catch up with this idea. The kangaroo leather on my cleats are cracking and will probably only last about 20 more games (practices, and other events included).  So a pair of customized boots may be on my doorstep during Christmas.

Hull City goes shopping.......

Hull City was promoted to the Premier League last season and they're not wasting any time on improving their squad (maybe arsenal could learn from this). Hull city currently have their eyes on two strikers: Danny Graham and Nicklas Bendtner. Both these strikers did not have the best season. Graham had a pretty good deal going for him at Swansea, or at least I though so. Then for some crazy reason he moved to Sunderland, where he did not play at the level he is capable of. So, maybe a move to Kingston Upon Hull, will pay off for him. Bendtner on the other hand was loaned from Arsenal to Juventus last season where he got little to no playing time..... AT ALL. When he got there, the staff at Juventus even said he was fat and they had to put him on a diet. So cleary, Bendtner needs to get out of Italy fast. Going back to Arsenal does not seem like the right move. He was never a great player and I don't think the fans liked him too much. So a move to Hull City would probably work out. Bendter has played for the head coach of Hull City before, so he already knows what's up.

Cesc Fabregas made the mistake of going back to his home Barcelona in 2011. He should have stayed with the Gunners, oh well. But anyways, many premier league teams would like to have his talents. Manchester United placed a bid on the Spanish international, but the bid was REJECTED. Tito Vilanova, the head coach of the ticky-tackers, said that he talked to the former Arsenal captain, and that Cesc said he is happy in Catalonia and does not want to move. Why stay at Barca? I mean the playing time there is always in question, and to me, the Spanish league isn't really that hard. But we will see where this goes for the next few days. The price can always be right in buying football players.

Come back and read Best and Worst Jerseys part 2 in about a week or so. It was one of my most popular posts........EVER!!!!!!!!!!! And check back in the following days for more amazing blogs!

Great Stadiums Part 2

People seemed to like my other great stadium blog, so I have returned with a second edition. This summer in Europe, I got to visit a few cool stadiums. Including: Emirates Stadium (home of Arsenal), Wembley Stadium (home of the England National team), the Allianz Arena (home of FC Bayern Munich, and AC Siena's stadium! The Emirates and the Allianz were featured in my last great stadium blog so it was cool to see them in person!

Signal Iduna Park is the home of Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund have been pretty successful in the last few years, although last season they did not win a single trophy. The stadium is usually called Westfalenstadion, but because of the club partnering with a company, the name is changed for now. Signal Iduna is said to be one of the nicest stadiums in Germany and is known for its great atmosphere every game day. The official capacity of the stadium is around 80,700, but the numbers are never exact. It also boasts a standing area that lets 25,000 fans
 stand and cheer on the black yellows. Signal Iduna Park has many cool features, including one of the first stadiums to have an under-pitch heating system. This makes sure the pitch is in perfect condition, even in the freezing German winter. The Westfalenstadion has been a part of two World Cups. When when it was fresh and new, in 1974 and the World Cup in 2006.

The biggest stadiums are not always the coolest or most interesting. Lyon's stadium, Stade de Gerland, is an example of that statement. It only holds 40,500 fans, but it has always been cool looking to me! It is one of the oldest stadiums ever featured on my blog and was built all the way back in 1926! Lyon was not even a team until created in 1950, so before their time, the stadium was used for multiple sports. The stadium takes a more rectangular shape then most stadiums and has a historical monument inside it. The arches, designed to look like they came from Roman theaters, became historical monuments in 1967. I thought that was pretty cool, because most stadiums can not put a historical monument on their resume. The stadium has been a host to a couple of important matches including games at the 1984 European Championships and several matches in the 1998 World Cup. Sadly, Lyon is building a new stadium that should be ready by the summer of  2014, so they will move out of the Stade de Gerland.

I hope you enjoyed this second edition of great stadiums. Come back to my blog often for more interesting topics.