Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Champions League LiveBlog Liverpool - Barcelona 1st Half

Alright, we're going to have a go at with the internet feed of the Barcelona-Liverpool match. Hopefully my computer doesn't start smoking at some point today.

In the week's premier CL match, the reigning champions, Barcelona, face off against the 2005 champions, Liverpool at the Noucamp (Barca's home). Both squads come into this match with internal turmoil. Barcelona has seen one of its stars, Samuel Eto'o, refuse to come into a match and Ronaldinho publicly upbraiding him for it. For the Scousers, it may be even worse because badboy Craig Bellamy is alleged to have attacked teammate John Arne Riise with a golf club after a karaoke incident.

Liverpool has also found, after spending millions last summer on new acquisitions, itself wanting in the Premiership trailing Man U by 16 points. The squad has been eliminated from the FA and Carling Cups as well. This is the team's only real chance for hardware this year. Barcelona, on the other hand, is tied for first in La Liga with Sevilla and has looked to be in better form than Liverpool overall.

This should be an excellent matchup with Liverpool's physicality and Barcelona's skill.

Lineups:

Liverpool-Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Arbeloa, Riise; Sissoko, Alonso, Gerrard; Kuyt, Bellamy

Barcelona- Valdes; Zambrotta, Puyol, Belletti, Marquez; Xavi, Deco, Motta; Messi, Ronaldinho, Saviola

Refresh frequently to get timely updates.

As it was yesterday, feel free to email me with comments, criticisms, dirty jokes or whatever at thefansattic [at] gmail.com or leave them in the comments section. Let me know what you are hoping for in this match. Personally, I am holding out hope of seeing The Robot from Peter Crouch although he's not in the starting lineup.

Ok, just had my first casualty as my internet connection went down. A quick restart of the modem and router cured it. Let's hope that's the worst thing that happens. So, my internet feed just changed to an Asian language. I need to locate an English feed because I can't understand it.

And another modem crash...this can't be good. Now I can't get the feed. I saw 30 seconds of match and thank god Liverpool doesn't have its yellow jerseys. Porto just went up 1-0 on Chelsea and Terry is injured again.

14:00 - Goal!!! Right when I get back on Deco heads one home for Barca. And Sheva just leveled it for Chelsea.

22:00 - Feed back up and I get to see Horseface with his mouth gaping open looking for its feedbag. And, Agger gets a ticky-tack yellow. THis is going swimmingly for the Reds and myself as well.

25:00 - Shot of Eto'o banished to the stands...What the hell is he wearing? I can only describe it as some sort of outfit you would see Victoria Beckham (nee Posh Spice) wear. All white suit with buttons and stuff.

27:00 - It's really frustrating to not have seen the first 20 or so because I have no idea how the flow of this game is going. Liverpool seems to be alright. And, the Italian Oscar goes to...Zambrotta. Ah, who are we kidding, all the soccer players from that country deserve one. A sort of lifetime achievement award.

34:00 - Is it too much to ask to get a shot or Riise's legs? I want a look at the evidence.

35:00 - That was a brutal choice by Kuyt on the tackle. What was he thinking? The ref had no choice to book him. Liverpool is having incredibly difficulty getting that last pass through to setup good things.

38:00 - Belletti with a brutal tackle for Barca this time. Another yellow. This match could get ugly, but the physicality might benefit Liverpool if they can keep composure. Good effort by the Golfer (Bellamy) on the set piece header.

41:00 - GOAL!!!! The golfer gets it on this one. That was pretty lax defense on Barca's part.

45:00 - That goal may go to Kuyt or Bellamy...we'll see...they should give it to the Karaoke Kid because of his week. And we're tied at half, 1-1. Oh, and just for the sake of it, I'm glad Marquez was partially at fault for Liverpool's goal. I'll start up a second post for the 2nd half. Hopefully, we will all have less technical difficulties.

35 comments:

The NY Kid said...

I smell blood in the water. I think Bellamy takes out Ronaldhino with a karaoke machine in this one.

The NY Kid said...

my sopcast feed isn't working. Using TvAnts through the p2p site

Jim Hendry said...

I got the sopcast to work, using the ESPN philippines feed. also, as a bonus, we get the Sky Sports commentary team of Tyler and Andy Gray. No drunken Tommy Smyth this time around, and no JP Dellacamera.

Jim Hendry said...

Excellent. Chelsea are 1-0 down. Glorious.

The NY Kid said...

on occasion, Gerrard makes me weep with joy, despite being a Scouser.

The NY Kid said...

lucky - he was ONsides

Jim Hendry said...

Liverpool look good, so far. Several attacking moves, definitely not afraid of forcing the issue against Barca on their home turf. Couple of passes strung together between Riise and Bellamy, much to the delight and derision of the commentary team.

FUCK. Deco header from the edge of the 6-yard box, far post unmarked. Good cross from the left, Deco placed it well. DOUBLE FUCK.

Precious Roy said...

Bite Me ESPN... However, if Porto win. I won't hate you as much for allowing me to see Chelski bite it. But I couldn't sopcast on my Mac... So I'm stuck with this.

The NY Kid said...

uh-oh

Precious Roy said...

Welll that didn't last long

Jim Hendry said...

FUCK, and then Chelsea equalize. Goddamn it.

Jim Hendry said...

Christ, and now we're looking limper than something very limp. Barca beginning to open up space, getting players behind the defence, more shots on goal. This could be a long afternoon.

Also, how the hell did Shevchenko score? Was it a pity goal?

The NY Kid said...

great - the korean channel i was watching lost their feed. conspiracies, I tell you!

Jim Hendry said...

Cedrick, switch to ESPN Philippines! They will not steer you wrong, I think it's Sopcast channel 6003.

Also, nice to know Mascherano is on the bench. We could use a bull like him against a clearly dominant Barca midfield so far [Zambrotta, Deco] who are all over the place. Sissoko is doing his best impression of a mime so far, and the Bellamy/Riise experiment was a fucking terrible idea, as it seems like they'd rather keep the ball from one another than make an effort on goal.

Precious Roy said...

i pay for like every sports package upgrade and i still don't get ESPN Deportes where I could watch this match (and I feel for you if you are dependant on Korean telecom)... I'm not sure whom to hate more ESPN/Disney or TimeWarner.

It's the worlds most popular sport and the last two Euro Champs are playing each other!

Hell I'd rather watch AS Roma than Chelsea.

Precious Roy said...

i pay for like every sports package upgrade and i still don't get ESPN Deportes where I could watch this match (and I feel for you if you are dependant on Korean telecom)... I'm not sure whom to hate more ESPN/Disney or TimeWarner.

It's the worlds most popular sport and the last two Euro Champs are playing each other!

Hell I'd rather watch AS Roma than Chelsea.

The NY Kid said...

james - do you ahve a sopcast account, or do you log in under anonymous?

Precious Roy said...

Sorry for the DP... Could be worse. Could have been an 8P.

Jim Hendry said...

Oh, and TRIPLE FUCK the ref for being so easily swayed on giving Agger that yellow card. That was a bullshit call on every level.

Roy, I would hate them all, personally. There's more than enough hate to go around when it comes to the systematic raping of our media.

Jim Hendry said...

Cedrick, I log in as anonymous every time.

The NY Kid said...

sopcast is giving me the finger today

Jim Hendry said...

I wish I knew how to fix it. Like I said, channel 6003 is working perfectly right now, and has done since the beginning of the match.

Try leaving the program closed, and then clicking on one of the sopcast links and letting that open the program instead. That might work?

Precious Roy said...

Post. Fuck.

Precious Roy said...

At least Porto is taking it right to them.

For all their star power the Blues desperately need John Terry on the pitch.

Jim Hendry said...

Carragher, the indefatigable hero. That guy single-handedly keeps us in games.

PS. Fuck Messi. Fuck Belletti. Fuck horseface killah.

Precious Roy said...

By the way... is it irritating anybody that I am liveblogging the wrong match?

Jim Hendry said...

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS


kuyt kuyt kuyt.

Beautiful cross, great first header, good save by the keeper but excellent follow-through by the dutchman. Lovely to see the Barca defenders stood like statues. Fuckers.

The NY Kid said...

roy - not at all. Always look forward to hearing about Chelsea's woes.

James - I've tried it all, nothing seems to work.

Jim Hendry said...

sorry cedrick. We'll do our best to communicate the action. Love those goals right before half-time.

Precious Roy said...

Not exactly 'woes' but Porto has had the better of play and hit the post on what should have been the go ahead.

Still Terry is out and Chleski looks shaky on the back line.

Jim Hendry said...

Well I guess they gave the goal to Bellamy. Love that his celebration was a golf swing. At least they can laugh about it now that he's scoring goals, right?

The NY Kid said...

Yes, but did Riise find it funny?

Jim Hendry said...

Funny, they never showed him in the celebration. It was definitely a solo effort from CB. Also, I guess the damage couldn't have been that bad considering Riise's legging it up and down the field, although I second TFA in wanting to see a close-up of Riise's legs, and whether they are that fucked up or not.

The NY Kid said...

I think I could have stopped Sheva's goal

The NY Kid said...

are we moving to the second half comments?