Posted by Creaven on August 28, 2009 under England, Premier League | 
Going to make this quick this week.
Week 3 picks (remember all bets are $10):
Liverpool to beat host Bolton (-200)
Wolves to draw visiting Hull (+220)
Aston Villa to beat visiting Fulham (-142)
Last week review:
Manchester United to beat host Wigan (-200) — ManU 5, WIG 0 (WIN, $5.00)
Arsenal to beat visiting Portsmouth (-625) — ARS 4, POR 1 (WIN, $1.60)
Sunderland to draw visiting Blackburn (+225) — SUN 2, BLA 1 (LOSS, $10)
Season Review:
Record: 4-2
Money: $39.60 (started with $50)
Tags: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Bolton, EPL Betting Challenge, Fulham, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester United, Porstmouth, Sunderland, Wigan, Wolves
Posted by Creaven on August 27, 2009 under England, Premier League |
I’ve had multiple column ideas bouncing in my head the last couple days but haven’t been able to focus on one thing. So, to solve this, I’m just going to write about everything.
Here we go…
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Posted by Creaven on August 21, 2009 under England, Premier League |
I am quickly realizing this betting challenge might not last very long 
.
If you missed it last week, the game works like this. I start with $50 and bet $10 on three matches every weekend. Ideally, the goal is to see how much money I can win, but, realistically, the goal it to see how long I can last before I lose the $50.
After week one, things aren’t looking great.
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Posted by Creaven on August 20, 2009 under England, Premier League |
“Purgatory is kind of like the in-between one. You weren’t really shit, but you weren’t great either. Like Tottenham.”
That’s what Colin Ferrell’s character, a likeable child killer, tells Brendan Gleeson’s character, another likeable killer, as the two hitmen contemplate death in one of the funniest movies of 2008, “In Bruges.” After watching the scene, all football fans think to themselves, “THAT’S SO TRUE! Tottenham is stuck in purgatory!”
Since the Premier League’s inception, Spurs have finished between 8th and 12th place 11 times in 17 seasons and they’ve never finished higher than 5th and lower than 15th. They’re always a candidate to go to heaven — errr, I mean qualify for the Champions League — but they always fall short.
Will this season be different?
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Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, English Premier League, Giovani Dos Santos, Gomes, Harry Redknapp, Jermain Defoe, Ledley King, Liverpool, Luka Modric, Manchester City, Manchester United, Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Tottenham, Vedran Corluka, Wilson Palacios
Posted by Creaven on August 18, 2009 under England, Premier League |
Update: David Smith at Yanks Abroad did some actual reporting on this. Smith reports Steve Cherundolo and Michael Bradley’s absence from the Bundesliga last weeked was at least partly due to concerns over exposure to swine flu. When it come to Altidore, a Hull City press officer said Altidore is not with the club because of bureaucracy concerning the work permit; the team denied the delay has anything to do with a possible infection. That’s contrary to what the Hull Daily Mail reported Tuesday (read below).
Something very weird is going on with Jozy Altidore.
On August 10, it was widely reported Altidore recieved his work permit and was ready to start his Premiership career.
Then, all of a sudden last Friday, we learned (thanks to Altidore twittering) that, no, the work permit actually wasn’t completed and Altidore was still in the United States. So does Altidore have a work permit or not? If he does, why are Hull and Altidore pretending that he doesn’t? If he doesn’t have a work permit, why isn’t he in England so he would be ready when his work permit goes through? WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?
It looks like we have an answer, maybe…
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Posted by Creaven on August 15, 2009 under England, Premier League |
Less than an hour now until the start of the English Premier League season and I thought of another game for me to play.
“The Intelligent Soccer EPL Betting Challenge.”
This is how it works…
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Posted by Creaven on under England, Premier League |
My favorite soccer league is less than four hours away from kicking off. Before it’s too late, I thought I would give my predictions on how I think the final table will look. In nine months, this will either be evidence of my soccer brilliance or it will give readers evidence that this site should be changed to “StupidSoccer.com.” I’m afraid the latter might be more likely.
To the predictions…
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Tags: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Chelsea, English Premier League, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Portsmouth, Stoke, Sunderland, Tottenham, West Ham, Wigan, Wolves
Posted by Creaven on August 12, 2009 under United States, USMNT |
So many of the United States’ players played so poorly, it’s somewhat amazing the U.S. was less than 10 minutes away from leaving Azteca with a draw.
But, predictably, the U.S. ran out of gas (altitude matters) to lose the Concacaf World Cup qualifier, 2-1, against Mexico. A draw would have been a fantastic result and would have kept Mexico’s World Cup chances in serious jeopardy. In the end, though, the loss doesn’t mean a whole lot for the U.S. — they’ll qualify anyway. But getting a point would have been a huge confidence boost.
To the grades…
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Tags: Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Brian Ching, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, CONCACAF, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, Marcello Balboa, Mexico, Michael Bradley, Mun2, Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden, Tim Howard, United States
Posted by Creaven on August 11, 2009 under United States, USMNT |
![estadio_azteca1[1]](http://intelligentsoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/estadio_azteca111-300x174.jpg "estadio_azteca1[1]")
It’s easy to talk yourself into the United States having a real chance at leaving Mexico City with at least a draw Wednesday. The U.S. will field nearly the same team that beat No. 1 Spain and nearly knocked off Brazil; Mexico is struggling is qualifying, standing in fourth place in the six-team group; The U.S. has the best player on the field with Landon Donovan; All the pressure is on Mexico.
That all sounds good, but there’s one tiny-weeny problem — Mexico always wins at home. The U.S. has played Mexico away 23 times, losing 22 matches and tying one. In the last 40 years, El Tri has lost once in World Cup qualifying on Mexican soil; it’s the home field advantage of all home field advantages. Remember how good Costa Rica looked when it beat the U.S. 3-1 in June? Five weeks earlier Costa Rica had its date at the Azteca and Mexico cruised to a 2-0 victory. Which was expected, because — Mexico always wins at home.
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Tags: Azteca, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Brian Ching, Carlos Bocanegra, Carlos Vela, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, CONCACAF, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, Mexico, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Tim Howard
Posted by Creaven on August 2, 2009 under England, Fantasy, Premier League |
I know there are some purists out there who detest fantasy sports. That’s great, but I don’t want to hear it. To me, the invention and explosion of fantasy sports is the third best thing to happen in sports in the last 30 years (dozens of sports channels on television is No. 1 and the Internet is No. 2).
Fantasy gives fans an excuse to dissect the minutia of sports, it opens up hundreds of debates (Is Player A better than Player B? Is Player B better than Player C?) and it gives the fan a reason to watch games between terrible teams. I LOVE fantasy sports!
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