olivier in france

how right your are... there's "soldiers" in all team sports and "sissies" too... Some soccer games are truly tough and brutal... if you doubt it find a tape of the '82 World cup second round game Italy vs Argentina... i still don't know how nobody did get seriously hurt during that "game"... the italian D was made of 5 butchers!

i love both soccer and baseball and in fact i can watch baseball games for days and never get bored... while i'll probably never understand how people can actually watch car races, figure skating golf or bowling! well as they say "There must be something for everybody..." !!

this group is a real killer that's sure! good luck to the americans!

man city-man u is not that religious oriented i think..., from what i know it's more a social class thing, Man City being the blue collar team.

the Celtic-rangers games are probably the most heated games in the world of sport. I'm a big Celtic fan as they wear green as "my" Greens the ones of St Etienne! and the Celtic fans are some of the most loyal and faithful in the World, the best with the ones of Liverpool and of course us, the St Etienne fans!

hirly so far the Champions league teams are there because of what they did the year before and the G12 can do what they want they'll not take the power without the fans support and the fans don't want a league with franchises like the north american pro leagues. the hear and soul of european soccer is still the national leagues, an europena pro league is not what the fans want.

The Champions league level is really better than the World Cup. this season's Barcelona could easyly beat any world champion team in history. Club teams are real teams, national teams are made up with selection committees, most of them thinking politics before soccer and they only play together a dozen times a year while club teams are year round built and trained. and about France's team...Excuse me but what are you talking about?

everything stops for about two months from mid june to mid aug.

Yes this is the european championships, that take place the olympic years only… France won in 2000 and Greece won in 2004 To give you a more precise view for the clubs competition, i’ll take the exemple of the french league but it’s exactly the same elsewhere in Europe. Last Year the League classification was 1-Lyon, 2 Lille 3- Monaco…. So those three teams were qualified for this year’s Champions League. Three french league games remains this year and Lyon is sure to win it all, for the second and third spots a few teams are still fighting hoping to have one spot for next year’s Champions league (Bordeaux, Lille, Marseille, Rennes…) . At the end of the classification it is almost sure that Metz, Strasbourg and Ajaccio will be relegated to the second league next year, while Valenciennes, Sedan and Caen, currently at the top of the second league standings should play in the first league next year. Yesterday the French Cup semis have been won by Paris SG and Marseille, they will play the final next week. When a team won its national league and its national cup, it is called the « Double trick » , Lyon will not make the « double » this year as they had been eliminated in the French Cup quarters by Marseille last week. In the Champions League the first game of the semis have been played this mid-week , it looks like Barcelona and Arsenal have the biggest chances to play the Final . The three french clubs have been eliminated earlier in the season (Lyon in the quarters vs Milano) . The last major competition is the UEFA cup that is an European competition for the clubs that have won their national cup the year before or have been ranked 4th of 5 th in their national leagues (for the big countries at least) . « Grand Slams » (a club that wins the same year its national league, its national cup and the european champions league cup) are very rare. I think Liverpool won one in the eighties but i’m not sure… No team will do it this year… Arsenal, Milano and Villareal will not win their national leagues, Barcelona the probable future Liga champ has not won its national cup (the other Barcelona club, Espanyol did it) so, well, the Town of Barcelona may win a grand slam this year ! (the town of London too, as Chelsea (and West Ham) can win the FA cup, will probably win the league and Arsenal can win the Champions league)

the top 2 or 3 clubs of the big countries leagues and the champions of the small ones are qualified for the next year 's Champions League. The FA Cup is the english national cup.

ho yes no payoffs in soccer national leagues but for playoffs atmosphere games we have the Champions league and the national "cups". The Final of the FA Cup in Wembley is probably the greatest game of soccer of the year even if the level of play is not as high as the Champions league final, you can not beat the atmosphere of Wembley ...

it'll be great news, a new sign that the world of sports is changing , after all it's been a while since the USA has won anything in international basketball, the USA has lost the first baseball WC and Canada does not dominate hockey anymore....

fact is the level of play at the World Cups is totally overrated... The FC Barcelona or the AC Milano are playing this spring a lot better soccer than the one that'll be played by the future winner of the World Cup... If you want to see REAL good soccer watch the Champions league instead...

stay simple Miller Stops Goons

i had never heard about her before! thanks guys!! in fact LCI is a little watched all news satellite channel... that's why she's not a star here yet... but i'm sure she will very soon!! actullay we have other great news anchors.. i love Marie: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/grb89/collageGallery/drucker_1.htm others are big fans of anne sophie: http://site.voila.fr/BlouKBlouKBlouK/html/...SophieLapix.htm

well in 02 we have been awful actually we won it in 98...

exactly!!!

i 'm not in that list but my wife does... but does that really counts when that job is paid about 2.5 times less here in France?!!

not a bad death...

it all depends of the motivation of the mother... my son was born january 31st and i can tell you her mother is looking even better than before her pregnancy!

you are perfectly right!!! for the ones with (very) short memories here's a fact: i went to the famous "Houston Game" buying my ticket at the stadium boot the day of the game and it was 20 dollars! So it's crazy to think the support has declined when there is actually 75,000 people buying 100 dollars tickets to watch a second tier team ...

Good one kid! problem is for most frenchmen our "special" mentality is the first national treasure so you can understand it makes everybody nervous when the Sorbonne is closed down by protesters!

yes that's something americans can usually underestimate but you gotta know more than half frenchmen use public transportation (buses, trains, subways...) to go to their work so you can understand the pressure the unions can put on the whole economy in case of a strike.

well if your son is a student that can not study because of the strike while you're paying him a flat, his food and hope he'll finally get that damned degree next month you care...

i don't believe France has lost many jobs due to the boycott... the only big exporting sector that is facing difficulties is the wine business. it is in a deep crisis due mainly to the euro that is still very high vs the dollar and the "new world " (Chili, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and California) wines that are gaining market shares each year. If that particular case the american boycott may have added a little more pressure but that's the only field where it may have cost jobs . In the luxury brands market no effect that's for sure (i know quite well that secor!) , aeroplanes no effect (airbuses are still being sold very well), spirits like Cognac no effect (very good exports figures those last 2 years), we even had record years in the US in some niches like motions pictures (penguins anybody!!?) and well you gotta know the USA is a small export market for most exporting french groups compared with the rest of Europe or Asia