Unbelievable, but true. M’Baye Niang, french striker of AC Milan, is a well-known music fan. Those who follow him on social media have noticed as often, in his post, there are references to rap music, but few people actually expected a featuring with a professional rapper as Mikamikaz.

In the video below you can see Niang and Mikamikaz singing and dancing to the rhythm of the song, entitled “l’antidote”, in a villa with swimming pool. The rapper is dedicated to the verses, while Niang (unfortunately) only sing the chorus.

Now we expect a hit of international success!

L'articolo M’Baye Niang (AC Milan) becomes rapper: here’s his first video sembra essere il primo su the football WE like.

GROUP A

AFC Ajax 55%
Celtic FC 45%
Fenerbahçe SK 80%
Molde FK 20%

This is a very interesting Group with some very historical teams with a glorious tradition, so there will be great matches for the fans. Anyway both Celtic and Ajax have seen better days in the past, so this Group isn’t too difficult, even if Fenerbahçe from Pot C raised its level.
The club from Istanbul has a quite strong squad and could even have the potential to win this Competition, if everything went smoothly, so they should qualify without big troubles.
Ajax and Celtic should fight for the second place, with the Dutch team slightly favorite in our opinion.
Molde will collect few points and could make other teams drop decisive points for qualification: if Celtic and Ajax stopped eachothers, the Norwegian team could even have something to say for the second place.

GROUP B

FC Rubin Kazan 65%
FC Liverpool 60%
FC Girondins de Bordeaux 60%
FC Sion 15%

A quite hard Group, very difficult to predict: a lot will depend on Liverpool’s attitude and on how seriously they will take this Competition.
Rubin Kazan is a quite solid team and maybe they’re the team with few more chances to advance, while Bordeaux and Liverpool could be very unpredictable: the English team is stronger, but we can’t see them as clear favorites over the French one.
Almost no chances for Sion.

GROUP C

Borussia Dortmund 90%
PAOK FC 40%
FC Krasnodar 45%
Gabala FK 25%

Not a simple group, Borussia Dortmund should win it, but for the second place the race is quite open: PAOK and FC Krasnodar should fight for it quite closely. If I had to bet 1 euro, maybe I’d put it on the Russian team.
Gabala FK probably won’t qualify, but they’ll be quite hard to defeat and they will collect some points, and could decide the race for second place.

GROUP D

SSC Napoli 70%
Club Brugge KV 45%
Legia Warszawa 45%
FC Midtjylland 40%

This could be a not very strong, but quite balanced Group.
Napoli didn’t start well in Serie A and their new Manager will face an European campaign for the first time in his career, despite not being young (this is his second season in Italian top tier): will he be able to manage properly the mid-week matches ?
Napoli can be defeated by all of the other Group D members, but the same is for the other teams as well, so finally Napoli’s strongest squad should prevail.
Legia, usually very unpredictable, and Club Brugge didn’t start the Season very well too: they should fight for the second place quite closely, but FC Midtjylland, that instead is performing quite well in the Danish league, could qualify as well, and it wouldn’t be a big surprise.
We are quite curious to know if the “statistical” management of FCM will work properly in Europa League as well.

GROUP E

Villarreal CF 80%
FC Viktoria Plzeň 50%
SK Rapid Wien 45%
FC Dinamo Minsk 25%

Villarreal will qualify. Viktoria Plzen and Rapid Wien should fight quite closely for the second place, but Dinamo Minsk, that could collect 5-6 points, couldn’t be already out.

GROUP F

OM 65%
SC Braga 50%
FC Slovan Liberec 50%
FC Groningen 35%

This is one of the weakest group, maybe the weakest.
Despite not beginning Ligue 1 very well and changing a lot of players during the Summer, OM should be still the strongest squad and should qualify, but they have not to underestimate their opponents.
For the other qualifying place, the race among Braga, Slovan Liberec and Groningen will be very tight and balanced.
We are not sure how to evaluate Braga, back in an UEFA GS after 2 years, and Groningen, at the first UEFA GS in their history, not including Intertoto Cup (anyway Dutch mid-table teams aren’t performing very well recently).

GROUP G

FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 40%
SS Lazio 55%
AS Saint-Étienne 55%
Rosenborg BK 50%

A very balanced and quite difficult Group: anything can happen.
Dnipro lost few important players and we don’t think they’ll be able to repeat last amazing European season (EL Finalist), while Lazio is a quite unpredictable team with a Manager that has never faced a GS before and the mid-week match could cause him few troubles.
ASSE has performed quite well in Ligue 1 for three years, but not so well in last two European campaing (a UEL PO and an UEL GS eliminations), while Rosenborg is dominating the Norwegian league, will win it quite soon and will be able to focus just on EL, so they may have good chances to qualify.
RBK is one of the two teams (Gabala FK being the other one) that started from UEL First Round.
I’d risk a bet on Saint-Etienne and Rosenborg.

GROUP H

Sporting CP 60%
Beşiktaş JL 65%
FC Lokomotiv Moskva 55%
KF Skënderbeu Korçë 20%

A quite difficult and balanced Group: Sporting CP, Besiktas and Lokomotiv have almost equal chances to qualify, but our favorite is Besiktas.
Skënderbeu Korçë is already happy to be here, they probably won’t advance, but they are a solid teams and they’ll collect few points.

GROUP I

FC Basel 1893 50%
ACF Fiorentina 75%
KKS Lech Poznan 45%
CF Os Belenenses 30%

Not a difficult Group: Fiorentina should qualify without many troubles, while Lech Poznan and Basel should fight for the second place, with the Swiss team a little bit favorite because one month ago they eliminated Lech Poznan in CL Third Qualifying Round, but they look a little bit weaker than in last seasons.
Belenenses is not easy to predict, considering that they played in Europe just once since 1990: they could both qualify or end on the bottom with very few points.
Paulo Sousa is already back to Basel: he faced them 4 times in 4 years, managing them last Season.

GROUP J

Tottenham Hotspur FC 65%
RSC Anderlecht 55%
AS Monaco 55%
Qarabağ FK 25%

This is one of the hardest Groups, maybe the hardest.
Tottenham has the strongest squad, but they don’t always take this competition too seriously, while Anderlecht is a solid, quite regular, team and can always cause troubles.
AS Monaco is quite difficult to evaluate, they changed a lot and have a quite young squad, plus a very skilled Manager, while Qarabag should be the weakest time, but they have already showed that they are an easy opponent for nobody.
We wouldn’t be too shocked to see Tottenham out.

GROUP K

FC Schalke 04 90%
APOEL FC 35%
AC Sparta Praha 50%
Asteras Tripoli FC 25%

Schalke 04 should qualify without many troubles, while for the second place we’d say Sparta more than APOEL or Asteras.

GROUP L

Athletic Bilbao FC 80%
AZ 45%
Augsburg 45%
FK Partizan 30%

Athletic should top this Group, despite starting La Liga poorly, while for the second place it could be a balanced battle between Augsburg and AZ. Normally the fifth placed in Bundesliga should be stronger than the third placed in Holland, but Augsburg is a quite small team and a debutant in Europe, and so could be a bit unpredictable, while AZ is quite experienced in UEFA competitions.

L'articolo Preview: 2015/16 UEFA Europa League – Group Stage sembra essere il primo su the football WE like.

Kairat (Kazakhstan) – Alashkert (Armenia) 70-30
Kairat looks more solid, and probably stronger than St. Johnstone.

Jelgava (Latvia) – Rabotnicki (Macedonia) 55-45
Very balanced tie. I’d bet on Jelgava. They defeated Litex Lovech, that should be stronger than Rabotnicki, but football doesn’t work in this way.

Dacia Chisnau (Moldova) – Zilina (Slovakia) 45-55
Zilina is stronger, but a surprise is possible.

Randers (Denmark) – Elfsborg (Sweden) 50-50
I expect a very balanced tie without many goals. Elfsborg has more European tradition, but maybe Danish Leasue is a bit stronger than the Swedish one. Two years ago Elfsborg vs FCN was very balanced.

Skonto (Latvia) – Debrecen (Hungary) 50-50
Debrecen in stronger, but it looks weaker than the one we saw in Champions League and Europa League GS few years ago, while Skonto could be more solid. A small upset is possible.

Shakhtyor Soligorsk (Belarus) – Wolfsberger (Austria) 60-40
The Belarussian team looks more solid.

Hapoel Beer Sheva (Israel) – Thun (Switzerland) 50-50
It should be quite balanced. I can’t find a favorite.

Mlada Boleslav (Czech Republic) – Stromsgodset (Norway) 50-50
Very balanced tie.

Cherno More Varna (Bulgaria) – Dinamo Minsk (Belarus) 55-45
As a recent EL GS participant, Dinamo Minsk should be favorite, but I expect a small surprise, despite the recent disappointing performances of Bulgarian teams in EL. It will be an open tie.

Apollon Limassol (Cyprus) – Trakai (Lithuania) 70-30
Apollon is stronger and should have no problem, despite Trakai being very convincing in ELQ1 (they played 11vs10 both legs)

Koper (Slovenia) – Hajduk Split (Croatia) 35-65
Hajduk is stronger and should advance, but it could be hard for them.

AIK (Sweden) – Shirak (Armenia) 70-30
AIK can be quite unpredictable. The could be able to dominate this tie, but they could also experience troubles.

Beroe (Bulgaria) – Brondby (Denmark) 45-55
Brondby will have to be very careful.

Charleroi (Belgium) – Beitar Jerusalem (Israel) 50-50
A balanced tie.

Kukesi (Albania) – Mladost Podgorica (Montenegro) 60-40
Mladost has been one of the surprises of ELQ1, but Kukesi should be more solid.

Vaduz (Liechtenstein) – Nomme Kalju (Estonia) 60-40
A good chance for Vaduz to reach ELQ3, but Nomme Kalju can be a very Dangerous threat: probably the best Estonian team in Europe.

Kobenhavn (Denmark) – Newtown (Wales) 95-5
No contest.

Lokomotiva Zagreb (Croatia) – PAOK (Greece) 40-60
PAOK is strongest, but Lokomotiva Zagreb could be Dangerous. A big upset is possible.

Trabzonspor (Turkey) – Differdange (Luxembourg) 80-20
There should be no contest. Almost every year teams from Luxemburg are able to cause an upset, Could Trabzonspor be the victim ? Dinamo Zagreb looks more likely.

Spartak Trnava (Slovakia) – Linfield (Northern Ireland) 65-35
Spartak Trnava should be stronger, despite not convincing in the previous Round. It won’t be a walk in the park for them.

Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) – UCD (Ireland) 85-15
The tie should be quite close.

Ferencvaros (Hungary) – Zeljeznicar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 50-50
I expect a very balanced tie.

Cukaricki (Serbia) – Qabala (Azerbaijan) 50-50
The same as above.

Vojvodina (Serbia) – Spartaks (Latvia) 65-35
Spartaks was very brilliant vs Buducnost, but Vojvodina should be on another level.

Jagiellonia (Poland) - Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus) 50-50
Very open tie.

Slask Wroclaw (Poland) – Goteborg (Sweden) 50-50
The same. One of the strongest and most balanced ties of this Round.

West Ham United (England) – Birkirkara (Malta) 80-20
This should be one of the closest ties of this Round. WHU could experience troubles only if they were too selfconfident and played with too many youngsters.

Inverness CT (Scotland) – Astra (Romania) 35-65
The Romanian team looks more solid, but Inverness last Season was quite brilliant.

Rijeka (Croatia) – Aberdeen (Scotland) 55-45
The Croatian team is a bit favorite, but Aberdeen won’t be an easy opponent.

Legia Warsaw (Poland) – Botosani (Romania) 65-35
Legia is favorite, but sometimes is unpredictable, so Botosani could be Dangerous for them.

Shamrock Rovers (Ireland) – Odd (Norway) 40-60
Odds BK should be stronger, but Shamrock Rovers will fight hard, and the tie could be quite open.

KR (Iceland) – Rosenborg (Norway) 35-65
Rosenborg is obviusly stronger and favorite, but in ELQ1 they weren’t too convincing against Vikingur, while KR qualified despite an early red card in the Second Leg, but anyway they are quite unpredictable, both in a positive and in a negative way. An upset in this tie wouldn’t shock me.

FH (Iceland) – Inter Baki (Azerbaijan) 60-40
A quite balanced tie. FH is a quite regular team, they could even be a bit favorite.

L'articolo Preview: 2015/16 UEFA Europa League – Second Qualifying Round sembra essere il primo su the football WE like.

FK VENTSPILS - HJK 40-60
A, not very big, surprise is possible: HJK looks a bit weaker than last Season.

APOEL - VARDAR 85-15
The Cypriot team is a bit unpredictable, but should have no problems to advance.

FC MIDTJYLLAND - LINCOLN RED IMPS 95-5
A closed tie.

PFC LUDOGORETS RAZGRAD - MILSAMI ORHEI 80-20
If Ludogorets kept playing like in recent years, they should have no problems.
It is also true that the Molodovan team has had few interesting performances in Europe recently.

MOLDE FK - PYUNIK 75-25
The Norwegians are largely favorite.

HIBERNIANS - MACCABI TEL-AVIV 15-85

TNS - VIDEOTON 45-55
Videoton is favorite, but it won’t be easy for them, especially after that their two best GKs were denied a visa to enter UK.

SKENDERBEU - CRUSADERS FC 65-35
The Albanian team is stronger, but shouldn’t dominate the tie. It will be very difficult for them to reach the Champions League Group Stage, but the Europa League one could be a realistic goal.

NK MARIBOR - FK ASTANA 50-50
Here the coefficient lies, it could be a very balanced match. The winner will be seeded in the next round. Maribor has to be very careful.

TRENCIN - FC STEAUA BUCURESTI 45-55
Steaua should be very careful, the Champions of Slovakia could be a dangerous threat.

FK PARTIZAN - FC DILA GORI 55-45
A surprise is more than possible. Dila Gori proved to be a dangerous opponent in the last two European experiences, while Partizan was defeated by supposed weaker teams.

FK SARAJEVO - KK LECH POZNAN 45-55
It could be very balanced. FK Sarajevo was one of the thoughest among the unseeded teams, while Lech Poznan isn’t always very regular in Europe: they could reach Group Stage or be defeated by Stjarnan.

FK QARABAG - RUDAR PLJEVLJA 70-30
The FK Qarabag we saw last Season should have no problem. Of course they aren’t a giant, so they could be unpredictable also in a negative way.

MALMOE FF - ZALGIRIS VILNIUS 85-15
Malmoe is stronger and should have no problem, despite not being very convincing in Allsvenskan.

FC BATE - DUNDALK FC 60-40
Probably the most balanced match on Wednesday.
FC Bate is stronger, but sometimes they can be surprised by weaker teams, while Irish teams can always be dangerous.

CELTIC FC - STJARNAN FC 90-10
Stjarnan probably won’t manage to surprise Europe again: Celtic looks too strong, moreover in the Icelandic League they’re not in a very brilliant period.

GNK DINAMO ZAGREB - FOLA ESCH 80-20
Dinamo Zagreb is a very strange team that usually performs quite well in Qualifying Stages, but very poorly in Group Stages: they should avance quite easily anyway.

L'articolo Preview: UEFA Champions League – Second Qualifying Round sembra essere il primo su the football WE like.

Vikingur Reykjavik-Koper 45-55

Sheriff Tiraspol-Odd 45-55
Sheriff is maybe stronger, but I think that this match could give us an upset. Very bad draw for Sheriff, and an interesting one for Odd, that could be seeded in the following Round.

Kukesi-Torpedo Zhodino 55-45
If Kukesi is still the one we saw 2 years ago, they could be slightly favorite, but Belarussian teams are quite unpredictable and it should be a very balanced tie.

Alashkert-St.Johnstone 25-75 I don’t know a lot about Alashkert, but if they aren’t better than the other Armenian teams, the tie should be quite closed.

Jelgava-Litex Lovech 20-80

Newtown-Valletta 40-60
Valletta should be slightly stronger. Anyway a good draw for both of them.

Dinamo Tblisi-Gabala 50-50 One of the strongest and most balanced ties of this Round: very bad draw for Dinamo Tblisi

Renova-Dacia Chisinau 20-80

Olimpic Sarajevo-Spartak Trnava 25-75
Spartak should have no troubles.

West Ham-Lusitanos 99,99-00,01
Andorran hotel and pub owners can be very happy.

Glenavon-Shakhtyor Soligorsk 25-75

Differdange-Bala Town 65-35
Teams from Luxemburg are often unpredictable both in a positive and in a negative way, but they should be a bit stronger.

Shkendija-Aberdeen 20-80

Vikingur Gota-Rosenborg 5-95

SJK-FH 50-50
SJK (unseeded) can be happier than FH for this draw. FH is often an hard opponent in EL, but SJK is probably more dangerous than the other Finnish teams: they’re a quite solid rising team.

Linfield-NSI Runavik 70-30

Brondby-Juvenes/Dogana 99,9-0,1

MTK Budapest-Vojvodina 45-55
One of the most balanced ties.

Skonto-St.Patrick’s Athletic 50-50
Skonto Riga is much better than an average Latvian club, anyway both teams are quite unpredictable.

Lahti-Elfsborg 25-70

Atlantas-Beroe Stara Zagora 40-60
Beroe should be stronger, but, considering some bad performances from Bulgarian teams in the previous yeras, a surprise isn’t unthinkable.

Debrecen-Sutjeska Niksic 85-15

Ordabasy-Beitar Jerusalem 50-50
Beitar could be slightly stronger, but Kazak teams are Always a very hard opponent in EL Q1.

Balzan-Zeljeznicar 5-95

Sillamae Kalev-Hajduk Split 10-90

Spartaks Jurmala-Budocnost Podgorica 45-55
Budocnost is maybe a bit stronger, but Spartaks could be Dangerous.

Crvena Zvezda-Kairat Almaty 50-50
An infamous draw for Crvena Zvezda.

Flora Tallinn-Rabotnicki 55-45

Sant Julia-Randers 10-90
Randers is much stronger, but maybe Saint Julia won’t be smashed.

Saxan-Apollon Limassol 10-90

Progres Niedercorn-Shamrock Rovers 40-60

Aktobe-Nomme Kalju 70-30
Not the best draw for Aktobe, Nomme Kalju could cause them few troubles.

Dinamo Batumi-Omonia 15-85

Kruoja Pakruojis-Jagiellonia Bialystok 15-85

Shirak-Zrinjski Mostar 70-30
First Leg is already over, the first surprise of the day.

Cork City-KR 50-50

Go Ahead Eagles-Ferencvaros 25-75
Fair Play won’t probably be a reward for Holland.

Trakai-HB 40-60

Laci-Inter Baku 40-60

VPS-AIK 15-85

UCD-F91 Dudelange 30-70

Domzale-Cukaricki 40-60
Cukaricki is stronger and has performed well since 2 years ago, but Serbian teams different from the big two are often unpredictable.

Glentoran-Zilina 20-80

Partizani Tirana-Stromsgodet 40-60
Godset is favorite, but an upset isn’t impossible.

Mladost Podgorica-Neftchi Baku 15-85

Celje-Slask Wroclaw 40-60
Slask is favorite, but Celje was one of the unseeded teams to avoid: a surprise is more than possible.

La Fiorita-Vaduz 5-95
A micronation Derby.

Birkirkara-Ulisses 60-40
First test for Miccoli.

Airbus UK Broughton-Lokomotiva 10-90
There should be no contest.

Botosani-Tskhinvali 65-35
I’m curious to weight Botosani in Europe, could they be a negative surprose ?

College Europa-Slovan Bratislava 5-95

L'articolo Preview: 2015/16 UEFA Europa League – First Qualifying Round sembra essere il primo su the football WE like.

We know that the “cultural” level of this article isn’t very high, and we apologize for that, but we hope to make some people smile, and maybe we can also make some people follow women’s football more closely (hopefully a “serious” post on the World Cup is coming too) !
Today we are going to introduce you Theresa Nielsen, probably the strongest and most famous female footballer in Denmark: she’s probably quite well known to the ones who follow female football quite closely, because she’s a very good player, but she’s becoming quite famous outside Denamrk and outside women’s football also for other reasons, most of all for the pictures she sometimes takes inside the locker room !

THERESA NIELSEN

Theresa, born in 1986 in Denmark, starts playing football with Rikken, a club that is situated in the town of Valby, then she plays in the youth system of Hvidovre IF, but in 2002, at 16, she signs for Ballerup-Skovlunde Fodbold, where she stays for six years.
2008 is a very good year for her, because she’s called up for the first time for Danish National Team, collecting the first cap at the Algarve Cup, a quite important friendly tournament in women’s football, usually played in March (Cyprus Cup being another one).
After the good 2008 season, she’s noticed by Brøndby IF from Kobenhavn, one of the most important club in Danish football, both in men’s and women’s one.
In men’s football BIF is historically a top club, but has several strong competitors, especially FC Kobenhavn, and it doesn’t win so often (the last Championship was conquered in 2004/05), while in women’s football the club that wears in yellow and blue is a dominant force, having won 10 Elitedivisionens since 2002. Fortuna Hjørring is the only real competitor, so the League winner is often decided in the head-to-heads.
Theresa is still playing for Brøndby, and she has become the team Captain. She is also a column of Danish NT, and in 2012 she was named Female Footballer of the Year in Denmark.
She’s a right back and right winger, and her favourite number is 8.

THE PICTURES FROM THE LOCKER ROOM

2014/15 Season has been very positive for Brøndby IF, because they have won the Danish Championship, the Danish Cup and have reached the Semi-finals of UEFA Women’s Champions League (they were defeated 13-0 on aggregate by Frankfurt, but German teams, plus few French and Swedish ones, are on another planet in female football), so they had many victories to celebrate.
You have to know that Theresa Nielsen is very active on Instagram and Facebook, and she often posts pictures celebrating wins with her teammates in the locker room, and two of them have been very appreciated by the web.
In the picture on the top of this post, from November 2014, the girls are celebrating a win against their big rivals of Fortuna Hjorring, that, as usual, has been a key match in Elitedivisionen.

In this photo, much more recent, Theresa is drinking to celebrate the victory of “the Double”, but surely the funniest, and most apreciated, parts of the picture (that has been removed from Instagram) are just above her, making people wonder what other crazynesses could have happened inside that locker room.
We don’t know the name of the bottoms’ owners, one could maybe be recognized for a tattoo on an ankle, and one maybe for a darker skin colour.
Small wonder if Theresa Nielsen has more than 16.000 followers on Instagram !

L'articolo The Genius of the Day: Theresa Nielsen and her pics from Brøndby locker room ! sembra essere il primo su the football WE like.

CONCACAF Champions League

CLUB AMERICA - IMPACT DE MONTREAL FC 65%-35%

First Leg: Wednesday April 22, 2015, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico.
Referee: Héctor Rodríguez (Honduras).
Second Leg: Wednesday April 29, 2015, Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Canada.
Referee: Henry Bejarano (Costarica).

Club América is probably favorite, and the altitude should give them an important advantage.
Playing the First Leg away and the Second leg at home could be a slight advantage for Montreal, because in the Second Leg at home, maybe after being (slightly) defeated by American, Canadian or Costarican teams in First Leg, Mexican teams push a lot and often hammer their oponents.
Playing the First Leg at home will maybe make them start the match more cautiously not to concede away goals, so the game could still be open in the Second Leg, and away in Canada Club América shouldn’t be able to dominate too easily.
Moreover, the athletic condition of a MLS team should be better than it was at the beginning of March, when QF are usually played and Mexican teams often smash North American ones.

In the next pages we introduce you both teams !

L'articolo Preview: 2014/15 CONCACAF Champions League – Final sembra essere il primo su the football WE like.

SEVILLA FC v FC ZENIT 55%-45%

Very balanced draw. They play quite different kinds of football: Zenit is maybe more solid, but Sevilla plays better.
Zenit didn’t impress us against Torino, so we consider Sevilla just a little bit favorite.

FC DNIPRO v KK CLUB BRUGGE 50%-50%

Both teams can consider themselves happy for this draw.
The team that will draw the winner of them in the Semifinal will probably consider itself lucky, but they can’t be underestimated, as any team that reached this point of UEFA Europa League.

FC DYNAMO KYIV v ACF FIORENTINA 50%-50%

FC Dynamo Kvyiv is quite convincing this year: Fiorentina surely isn’t wekear, but if the Ukrainians repeat the performance they made at home against Everton, it will be very hard for the Viola.

VFL WOLFSBURG v SSC NAPOLI 55%-45%

Looking at the squads, they are probably the teams with more quality.
Anyway sometimes Napoli has its bad days and Wolfsburg style of play is probably more concrete than Benitez’s one, so we consider the Germans slightly favorite.

L'articolo Preview: 2014/15 UEFA Europa League – Quarter-finals sembra essere il primo su the football WE like.

CS HEREDIANO – CLUB AMERICA

CS HEREDIANO

CS Herediano is one of the “big three” of Costarica (Deportivo Saprissa and LD Alajuelense being the other ones, followed by CS Caraginés), the third most successful one thanks to the conquest of 23 Costa Rican Primera División Championship.
The Costarican International Daniel Cambronero is the starting GK of this team, based in the city of Heredia, while the most important defenders are the centre-backs Christian Montero and the Mexican Luis Omar Hernández and the right back Dave Myrie (a Costarican International and a former Cadiz, Fredrikstad, Chiga Fire and Philadelphia Union player).
In the midfield the most notable names are the Captain Esteban Granados (Costarican International), Gabriel Gomez (Panamese International) and Randall Azofeifa (a former Costarican International and KAA Gent, Genclerbirligi Ankara and Erciyesspos player) and the wingers José Sanchez, Esteban Ramirez and Alexander Larín (Salvadorian International).
The most dangerous striker is surely Yendrick Ruiz, who sometimes plays for NT, while the Argentinian Jonathan Hansen is another weapon.

CLUB AMERICA

Club América from Mexico City is the most popular and successful club in Mexico, having won so far 16 Mexican Championships and 6 Copa México, 5 CONCACAF Champions’ Cups/Champions’ League,  2 Copa Interamericana cups, and 1 CONCACAF Giants Cup.
Moisés Alberto Muñoz, a former Mexican International, is the starting GK, while the main defenders are Pablo Goltz (Argentinian centre-back), Pablo Aguilar (centre-back, Paraguaian International), Paul Aguilar (right back, Mexican International) and Miguel Samudio (left back, Paraguaian International).
In the midfield there are Cristian Pellerano (Argentinian CM), Rubens Sambueza (a former CA River Plate Argentinian winger), and Osvaldo David Martinez (advanced midfielder, Paraguian International).
In the attack we point out the wingers Carlos Darwin Quintero (a former Colombian International) and Michael Arroyo (Ecuadorian International), while the most important offensive weapons are the central forwards Darío Benedetto (Argentinian) and Oribe Peralta, Mexican International.

IMPACT DE MONTREAL – LD ALAJUELENSE

IMPACT DE MONTREAL

The Impact de Montréal in a Canadian team from Québec that began playing in MLS, the highest North American League, in 2012: before a team with the same name and ownership had played in the North American second tier, winning it twice (2004 and 2009).
The Impact de Montréal won the Canadian Championships in 2013 and 2014: it’s a competition that is played just by Canadian teams, whose winner qualifies for CONCACAF Champions League.
The staring GK is Evan Bush, while in the defence the most notable players are the centre-backs Laurent Ciman (a Belgian International and former Club Brugge and Standard Liege defender), Piscu (a former Deportivo la Coruna and Wigan Athletic Spanish defender) and Bakary Soumaré (a former Malian International), the right back Hassoun Camara (a former OM and Bastia defender) and the left back Ambroise Oyongo (Cameroonian International).
In the midfield we can find Marco Donadel, a CM quite experienced in the Italian Serie A, Nigel Reo-Cocker (a former West Ham United, Aston Villa and Bolton Wanderers CM), Patrice Bernier (CM, Canadian International), Justin Mapp (winger, a former American International), Dilly Duka (American/Albanian winger), Andrés Romero (a former Argentinos Jrs. Argentinian winger/advanced midfielder) and Ignacio Piatti (a former Saint-Étienne, Lecce, Independiente and San Lorenzo Argentinian winger/advanced midfielder).
On the front the names to note are Dominik Oduro‘s (a Ghanese striker who spent the majority of his career in MLS and Jack McInerney‘s ones.

LD ALAJUELENSE

The Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, often nicknamed “La Liga”, is a club from Alajuela, and is one of the most successfull ones in Costa Rica, having won so far 29 Costa Rican Primera División Championship and 2 CONCACAF Champions’ Cups/Champions’ League (1986 and 2004).
The starting GK is the Captain and Costarican International Patrick Pemberton, while the main defenders are come Costarican Internationals, such as Jhonny Acosta (centre-back), Porfirio López (centre-back), José Salvatierra (right back), while Kenner Gutiérrez (centre-back) and Ariel Soto (a quite interesting left back) aren’t in NT but are important as well.
In the midfield we can find Ariel Rodríguez (CM), Diego Calvo (left wing), Johan Venegas (right wing), Allen Guevara (right wing) and Álvaro Sanchez (advanced midfielder), who are all part, or have been part, of Costarican National Team.
On the front, the main strikers are Jonathan McDonald and Armando Alonso, who are, or have been, both Costarican Internationals.

L'articolo Preview: 2014/15 CONCACAF Champions League – Semi-finals sembra essere il primo su the football WE like.

EVERTON FC - DYNAMO KYIV 60%-40%

It should be a quite balanced tie, but Everton should have something more.

FC DNIPRO – AFC AJAX 55%-45%

They were probably two team to get, especially Ajax, and they’ll face eachother. Both of them can’t complain, but the Ukrainian team should be a bit favorite.

FC ZENIT - TORINO FC 65%-35%

Zenit is stronger and favorite. Russian teams, Zenit included, sometimes have some bad days.
In that case Torino, that has a quite skilled Manager, could have few chances, considering that once Zenit was eliminated by Udinese. The winter break aftermaths should be over for Russian teams.

VFL WOLFSBURG – FC INTER 60%-40%

Wolfsburg is one of the favorite teams to win this Europa League, while FC Inter, after Torino, is probably the weaker Italian team.
Wolfsburg vs Fiorentina or Roma or Napoli would have been a 50-50 tie, but against Inter the German team should be a little bit favorite.

VILLARREAL CF - SEVILLA FC 50%-50%

A very balanced tie between two quite similar teams that are quite close in La Liga. I can’t see a favorite.

SSC NAPOLI – DYNAMO MOSKVA 55%-45%

Napoli has its bad days in Europe. Does Dynamo have them as well ?
Napoli has maybe more quality, but the Russian team is maybe more physical and solid.
The tactical aspect could be the key of this tie.

CLUB BRUGGE KV - BESIKTAS JK 45%-55%

Club Brugge was probably a team to get, but it doesn’t have to be understimated. They are quite physical but also have some talent, while Besiktas is probably more solid and showed to be not weaker than Tottenham and Liverpool.
The Turkish team has faced stronger opponents than CB so far, and should be a bit favorite, but the tie is quite open. Both teams could have had worse draws.

ACF FIORENTINA - AS ROMA 55%-45%

A very infamous draw for Italy because two of its best team will face eachother.
Roma is maybe stronger, but maybe I’d bet on Fiorentina, that usually takes EL more seriously, plays better, has a quite long cover, doesn’t have to fight for CL places in the League and doesn’t have to play always with Totti, who doesn’t run a lot and that sometimes could affect the teamwork.

L'articolo Preview: 2014/15 UEFA Europa League – Round of 16 sembra essere il primo su the football WE like.