ESPN Soccernet Doesn’t Think Lyon Will Qualify
By: Inara | September 4th, 2007
For the non-American football fans out there, ESPN aren’t exactly known for their excellent football analysts and commentators, and are home to obvious EPL bias. Normally I try to ignore anything coming from ESPN, but I thought, what the heck. Lyon get mentioned so rarely anywhere that even depressing news is worth watching.
ESPN’s weekly Press Pass, in which a group of analysts discuss what’s happening in the football world, talked recently about the Champions League draw. But of the four “experts,” only one of them think Lyon will make it through the group stages.
Tommy Smyth, convinced Barcelona will fly out of Group E, doesn’t think Lyon have “any chance” and said, “Lyon, you all know what I think about Lyon when they represent the Champions League.” His picks to qualify are Barca and Stuttgart.
Adrian Healy claims Lyon are a fading power, though he did acknowledge that they have so much experience they can’t be ruled out. Bizarrely, he picked Rangers to take the second spot behind Barca.
Derek Rae, the host, is convinced that Group E is the Group of Death. He picked Barcelona and Stuttgart.
The one bright light among the group was Janusz Michallik, who was the only person who seemed to know anything about Lyon and more specifically knew the names of the players. He mentioned the injuries to Cris and Gregory Coupet and selected Sidney Govou, Juninho, and Karim Benzema for praise. His picks were Barcelona and Lyon.
To watch the broadcast, go here. Find the video player on the right hand side of the page, and scroll through the list of available clips to find “Champions League Group is Set.” After the short commercial, the clip will play.
Category: Champions League
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Comments
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I remember watching some of the last WC on ESPN and heard someone on there say “Kacey Keller is the best keeper in the World right now! Ghana doesn’t stand a chance”. You know they have Eric Wynalda as their soccer expert so they can’t be credible.
It would be like asking french journalists about baseball. If you ask them who won the last world series, they’ll go “the new york yankees?”. Any one of them, any year you may ask. That’s how credible I think ESPN is when it comes to football.
BUt I like the PTI guys stance much better. They don’t try to make us believe they’re experts, they just entertain.Posted from
United States
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well last year a journalist from S.I. said that Lyon were the second best team in the world so really opinions are like a$$holes…they’re everywhere.
it may be to Lyon’s advantage that people think that OL are a “fading power”, these commentators seem pretty ignorant about the players and i’m sure they don’t know what the current injury crisis is doing to OL’s lineup. Of course Barca will win the group but once Cris and Coupet are back OL will (hopefully) be back to full strength and I’m confident they have the quality to beat both Stuttgart and Rangers.
Posted from
United States -
you cant watch ESPN’s coverage of football. Its poor, then again, they are known for over analyzing every sport including spelling bees. The 4 person expert panel was a collection of idiots, they all know nothing outside of the British Isles. Picking Rangers to finish above Lyon is a clear indiciation of the bias that these “experts” have. Rangers is a pretty bad team, and thats being kind, how behind were they from Celtic last year??? Stuutgart may pose a problem or two, but there recent form suggests they may not be to much a problem. They seem to not be playing as fluently as they were last year, but outside of playing in the Nou Camp, we should be alright. Stuttgart may surprise with their play, but their lack of experience means nicking a point off them away from home may be the different between 2nd and 3rd spot. Expect Rangers and Stuttgart to lose both their games against Barca, so a point against Barca is essential.
Posted from
United States -
Inara,
2nd position looks enigma in this group. Lyon certainly lost some steel in terms of Abidal and Malouda.
In my predictions(watch out new article on my blog on predictions…which will be up in few hours) I will still go with Lyon for 2nd given their experience.Posted from
India -
I am a bit surprised by some comments.
Why do you all see Barca win easily the group? I think it is really a tough group as all the teams have something to offer and all the games will be different.
Barca and Lyon play attacking football. Stuttgart plays a well balanced game, and Rangers will be 10 at the back and are fighters in Ibrox.
I really think Barcelona won’t win more than 4 games. Stuttgart is for me the big unknown of this group as they are capable of playing great games, but also be completely out of track sometimes.I do believe all the teams in this group will at least finish with 4 points (Again, Rangers have a different style than the 3 other teams and will cause troubles).
Although Barca an Lyon have the edge, I think it’ll be close.
My predictions are:
Barca 3 wins 2 draws 1 lost
Lyon 2 wins 3 draws 1 lost
Stuttgart 2 wins 1 draws 3 lost
Rangers 1 wins 2 draws 3 lost
or something like that…Posted from
Japan -
I do think it will be close because of Lyon’s injuries.
Starting Vercoutre is never a good thing.I could see Lyon lose at least 2 games.
That said, I also see Barca losing 1 or 2, Stuttgart finishing last (they’re in big trouble right now as well) and Rangers causing problems.Barca should beat Stuttgart twice, win and lose a game against Rangers and win and lose (or tie) a game against Lyon.
Lyon should win or tie and lose against Barca, beat Stuttgart twice and win and tie against Rangers.
Stuttgart should be a tough opponent for Rangers, since german teams are quite physical. They should split the points.Which means :
Barca : 4W, 1T, 1L for 13 points
Lyon : 3W, 2T, 1L for 11 pts
Rangers : 2W, 3T, 3L for 9 pts
Stuttgart : 1W, OT, 5L for 3 ptsPosted from
United States -
euh evilo… how can rangers play 8 games?
I am surprised how much Lyon is unknown here in Japan. They only know Juninho but not the team!!
I think the first game at the Nou Camp will define if we make it or not. If we lose vs barca, we will struggle for the first 3 games. (away barca and stuttgart home rangers).
I want Lyon to be through before day6. Because playing at Ibrox in the last game is for me worse than Nou Camp!Posted from
Japan -
Oops, it should be 2W, 1T, 3L…
Posted from
United States -
no prob evilo. where are you in Japan?
Do you find lots of Lyon “experts” here?Posted from
Japan -
I’m not from Japan.
I’m from France.Posted from
United States -
I don’t see Lyon winning at Camp Nou, though if Barca are off form and Lyon are on form, they may be able to manage a draw. Maybe. Though right now it isn’t looking like it. Lyon do have a chance at the Gerland, but that will be in November, and a lot can change in between.
Posted from
United States -
Think everyone here is strongly underrating rangers. Under Walter Smith they look like a decent side and could pose just as much or more of a threat than Stuttgart who have looked poor so far this season.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Whatever happens, it’s important that Lyon not underestimate anybody. We underestimated Roma and look what happened.
I think Rangers could give Lyon a really hard time, because Lyon don’t do well against physical, defensive sides. I’ve only seen Rangers play on a few occasions, but there is no doubt in my mind that they are the most dangerous out of the fourth pot.
Posted from
United States -
Sam : I am definitely not underrating Rangers. As I said earlier, I don’t think we will win in Ibrox. Rangers for me is the type of team Lyon cannot play well against, because we usually get impatient and get caught on counter attacks 2/3rds in the game.
I only see us win there on a dead ball if Rangers are nice enough to make a foul in the 30 meters (which should happen quite a bit considering how physically they play).But I am still convinced Lyon will be more at ease in the Nou Camp than in Ibrox.
Posted from
Japan -
I guess they were right. Lyon suck. Go rangers.
Posted from
United States
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