Historic Day for Fulham, Dempsey

Clint Dempsey is set to become the first American to play in a European final as his Fulham side take on Spain's Atletico Madrid in the finale of the UEFA Europa League at 2:45pm today in Hamburg, Germany (TV: DirecTV ch. 461).

Although the match is in Hamburg's HSH Nordbank Arena, enjoy some pictures from Craven Cottage, Fulham's cozy home stadium on the banks of the River Thames in London. Yes, it really was a cottage at one point. In the first picture, you can see Mr. Dempsey himself (white shirt, behind the two shirtless guys) walking off the field after a victory over Stoke City in April 2009.

England's Telegraph newspaper offers a great look at Fulham's well-traveled manager Roy Hodgson and the club's incredible journey to get to this point:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/fulham/7712559/Fulham-v-Atletico-Madrid-Roy-Hodgsons-fairy-tale-ending-is-firmly-rooted-in-reality.html

Enjoy the match if you're able to see it. Fulham has been involved in some dramatic games during their run to the finals of the competition, and though championship games can often be dour affairs with neither team willing to risk too much, here's hoping this one features plenty of attacking and some inspiration from Dempsey.

Euro 2008 Kickoff

Footy fans, today is the day that Euro 2008 finally gets under way in Austria and Switzerland. It will be great to have some actual games to talk about instead of the usual discussion of injuries and non-stop transfer speculation (looking at you, Cristiano Ronaldo.) There should be some exciting match-ups and a few upsets along the way. Greece will be looking to defend their surprise title from four years ago, which would probably be even more shocking than their triumph in 2004. Depending on who you believe, the Greeks are looking at odds of between 25-1 and 30-1, which is better than the 100-1 odds put on them back in 2004. Regardless, a winning bet this year will buy you a lot of baklava at next year's Greek Festival. TWG thinks the final four will look like this: Germany, France, Italy, and Russia, with France beating Germany 3-2 in the final. Your thoughts?

Get Real Rafa

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is in a bit of an argument with the club's new owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. The fight is over transfer funds, with Benitez insisting money be made available now to tie up any deals to be done in the January transfer window. The owners say nothing will be done until they come to England for the Liverpool-Manchester United match on December 16th. This isn't good enough for Benitez, who suggested that the owners don't understand the intricacies of the European transfer system. Maybe what they really don't understand is why Benitez, after spending over $100 million on players this past summer, is demanding new players after just six months. Or maybe they don't understand why the team is only in fifth place in the Premiership and hanging on by the thinnest of threads in the Champions League after spending all that cash in the summer. TWG isn't a huge fan of all the foreign ownership in the Premier League, but we agree with what Gillett and Hicks told their manager: you focus on coaching the players you have now, not what players you wish you had.

Judgment Day

Barcelona defeated Rangers 2-0 earlier today, the opposite of what TWG predicted. Barcelona's goals came from Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi, two pretty good players. Damarcus Beasley, obviously, did not score for Rangers. In fact, nobody did. Looks like they could have used Nolan Ryan, or at least Mike Richter in the nets. Don't worry, TWG will continue to make bold predictions, regardless of what anyone thinks, especially you Kate.

Prediction

It's Wednesday, and you know what that means: It's business time. It also means European Cup action (you might know it better as "The Champions League"). Plenty of matches on tap for today, but we'll keep it short and sweet. TWG is going out on a big limb and saying Rangers will pull the upset over Barcelona in the Nou Camp (or is it Camp Nou? we've heard it both ways). Look for Rangers to sit back and soak up pressure from Barcelona's vaunted attackers and try to catch them on the counterattack, much like they did in the game two weeks ago in Glasgow, which ended in a 0-0 tie, and had Barcelona lamenting the fact that Rangers didn't want to play, just defend. TWG is tipping fellow U.S. American Damarcus Beasley to snatch a late winner for Rangers. Bold? Yes. But it's business time.

Mourinho Out at Chelsea

Jose Mourinho, the self-proclaimed "Special One," has left Chelsea, apparently by mutual consent. Speculation about his departure had been rampant for months, but the move is still a bit of a shock, even when taking into account Chelsea's recent run of poor results. Despite the talk of "mutual consent" and Mourinho's huge payoff, TWG thinks Mourinho was simply fed up with all the outside meddling in the day-to-day affairs of his squad and decided enough was enough, he was leaving on his own terms before he was forced out. Regardless of what you thought about Mourinho, he knew how to get results and his coaching record speaks for itself. He'll have no shortage of offers for his services (Lions FC, losers of its past two games, may be in the market for a new manager). What effects will this have on Chelsea and its high-priced squad? Their first match without Mourinho is against Manchester United on Sunday, and the management team of Avram Grant and Steve Clarke have their work cut out for them....

Weekend Action

Interesting match between the US and Brazil. The US took an early lead only for Brazil to equalize on an unfortunate own goal from Oguchi Onyewu. Brazil's counterattack leading up to the goal was pure class, especially the final pass from Ronaldinho to Kaka. Tim Howard made a good save, but the rebound bounced off Onyewu and into the goal. It was a tough match for the 'Gooch, as he was also beaten by Lucio for Brazil's second goal. Clint Dempsey scored the second goal for the US after nice build-up play and a great pass from Steve Cherundolo, before Ronaldinho and Elano finished off the scoring for Brazil. The US can take many positives from the match, but the most positive thing for them would be to get back to their winning ways from the first part of 2007, before the streak of 5 straight losses began.

Virginia Tech won their annual tournament with big victories over Clemson and St. John's. The win over Clemson was also their first ACC match, and they now sit in first place in the league. While it is early, it's always important to get off to a positive start. Next up for the Hokies is a friday night match at Tulsa, which will be televised live by Fox Soccer Channel. Kickoff is 8pm.

Lions FC opened up the CVSA season with a dominating 5-2 victory over the Fan Rats. There were strong performances all over the field for the Lions, with the returning players not missing a beat and the several new recruits fitting in nicely. Things won't get any easier for the squad though, as a matchup with archrivals X-Rams looms next Sunday. Kickoff is set for 9am at Bryan Park.