Champions League Final

Inter Milan takes on Bayern Munich in the final of this year's UEFA Champions League (or European Cup for you old timers), which will be played at the Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain. Inter head coach Jose Mourinho is known for his defensive ways and doesn't seem to mind winning ugly, while Bayern has scored plenty of goals in this season's competition but has suffered multiple lapses in the defensive third of the field. Both teams will come into the game full of confidence; Inter won the Italian league title and knocked off defending European champion Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals, while Bayern won the German league and cup double and has engineered several thrilling comebacks in European action behind the potent attacking play of Dutch winger Arjen Robben. Bayern will be without French forward Franck Ribery, who picked up a red card in the semifinals and is suspended for the match. Talk Footy's prediction is that Inter will sit back and absorb Bayern's pressure, and eventually score two goals on counterattacks. Bayern will pull one back late but won't be able to complete yet another comeback. Inter wins 2-1, and Jose Mourinho will start referring to himself as the "Really Special One," then leave to take the Real Madrid coaching position and convince LeBron James to join him at Madrid.

The match will be on Fox in high definition and kicks off at 2:45pm. Enjoy.

(image found at http://www.tvscoop.tv/ChampionsLeagueTrophy.jpg)

FA Cup Final: A Tale of Two Teams

It was the best of times (for Chelsea), it was the worst of times (for Portsmouth)...at least that's the storyline ahead of the 129th version of England's FA Cup Final, which features two clubs with extremely different fortunes. Chelsea, fresh off an 8-0 beatdown of Wigan that saw them claim the Premier League title, is back on top of English football and seemingly awash with cash from Russion billionaire Roman Abramovich. Portsmouth, meanwhile, has been relegated from the Premier League and faces uncertainty over the future in terms of finances, ownership, coaching staff and players. On paper, then, the final of the world's oldest knockout competition should be a stroll for Chelsea as they look to do the League/Cup double, but they don't play the match on paper (nor do they play it on dirt, despite what you see in the background of this picture of the FA Cup trophy taken at Wembley Stadium last April. There's grass there now, at least until they have to rip it up and plant it again.) Can Portsmouth pull off one last surprise this season? Will Chelsea's contingent of players headed to this summer's World Cup be content with the Premier League title and take a lax approach? England's Guardian newspaper has some great pre-match previews from both sides here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football

The match kicks off at 10am EST and can be seen on Fox Soccer Channel here in the States. If you're in the Richmond area, head down to Penny Lane Pub to catch the match in a great atmosphere, and have a pint and an English breakfast as well. Enjoy the game.

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.