Malenko

Oh that.. Nadal lost one round before what i thought he would. For as much as Nadal has improved as a all-surfaces player, he's still not at his best outside of clay. And when Coria loses in the next round, you shouldn't be too surprised either. In other news Ljubicic lost to Gasquet after having the match on his hands and now i'm getting Agassi vs Berdych which is 1|3 in the first set so far.

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I predict after this week of games, Mexico, USA, Ukraine and Brazil will get qualified. May also happen: Italy and Cote d'Ivoire.

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Group A is the easiest to predict in my opinion. I agree with public enemy on his analysis and also on his analysis of the Group B. On Group C i think Barcelona will go through easily, with Werder Bremen and Panathinaikos fighting for the second place. Udinese will be last judging by what i saw. Any team who doesn't have trouble scoring despite having 20+ shots per game will easily beat them. Anything can happen on Group D in my opinion (well, anything but Man Utd being out after the groups phase). Lille play very good football with a very good short pass game and can also rely on through balls for speedy forwards. Benfica play very well (this season) when the starting eleven is fit. Their depth is close to 0, and with injured players they'll struggle. Villarreal are an awesome team, but will have a lot more troubles defensively this season. Group E is somewhat what public enemy said aswell, but i can't see PSV to get that worse. If there's something in Holland is the ability to get good players out of the youth systems with ease. They may get good replacements. Group F will depend on Madrid's form. I have little doubt that their second half of the season will be better than the first, but as all these games will be on the first half i don't know what to think. Lyon play awesome football aswell. Group G will be decided on home games. Both Anderlecht and Betis are great at home and the chances they may get to go through will be by getting precious wins at home. Betis however are a lot worse this season than the last. I think they'll experience some troubles. Group H will probably end up with Inter going through and then someone out of Porto or Rangers. Porto started playing way worse than last season but have improved a little. I still don't like how they play, and liked it better last season. I also hate their manager. that's it.

I've been to a big bunch, but it's hard to say what an away game is when you just watch a variety of games without having the same team in it. Away from my town at least.

I thought it did matter what nationality you were. Especially for international management. For example, if two managers who were fairly close in terms of stats applied for the England job, but one was Spanish and one was English, the Englishman would get the job. They'd only consider the Spaniard if he was obviously a lot better. ←

...here we go again. Peter Forsberg is one of the elite forwards in the league. If he stays healthy, he is dominant. Mike Rathje is probably overpaid, but he's a young, mobile defensemen with an edge. Derian Hatcher is just a mean motherfucker. Expect him to continue killing people. Keith Primeau showed in last years playoffs he can be a big game player. He almost single handedly defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs. Eric Desjardins is getting older, but he's still a good quarterback, and he can still contain well. Kim Johnsson is still young and can still become a priemere player for the team. Michal Handzus isn't that good, granted. Simon Gagne a few days ago you said Gagne was one of the best players in the league. I'll stick with that description. Beyond that, you have Kapanen, Therien, Esche, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Timander, Pitkanen, and Seidenberg. The Flyers are basically the only team with 6 defensemen under contract, they have 7 NHL capable guys in Desjardins, Rathje, Hatcher, Johnnson, Pitkanen, and Seidenberg, a good NHL fill in guy in Timander, and they also have a good top pair of forwards in Primeau and Forsberg, although both are centers. You have two good, young, quick wingers in Gagne and Kapanen, and a US National Team goalie in Esche, plus the impressive Ontario Nittymaki fresh off his Calder Cup. To say that the team will not contend for the east is perhaps the stupidest thing you have said yet, and you have compiled a lengthly list of stopid things you have said. ←

I'll second NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and FM. Now, for a basketball management game there's World Basketball Manager but at least the version i have is for last season. That is a great game for european basketball, but not for the NBA as it's extremely flawed there. I used to play Baseball Mogul but i don't get where the praise came from. The game is extremely unrealistic and i wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I know there's another basketball game that's supposed to be great, but i haven't played it yet.

...uh, what? Lets look at who Boston has under contract. Joe Thornton is probably one of the best players in the league, sure. Glen Murray, not so much. He is getting older and a little slower, and a year off might have really done him harm. Alexei Zhamnov... honestly, as a Flyers fan, I can tell you this guy is way overrated. He is so out of shape. Brian Leetch is kind of in the same boat as Murray. He is not getting any younger. Sergei Samsonov is pretty good but I don't think he's an elite guy... not like Thornton. Dave Scatchard.. seriously, what the fuck... Brad Isbister...are Boston thinking? Isbister and Scatchard are both terrible. In their last season they combined for forty two points in 112 games. That's way too slow for guys who will be, wih the players under contract, second liners. Beyond that you have Axellson and Bergeron. Raycroft isn't even under contract(though I had heard reports that he was, he isn't listed anywhere), so don't hand them the Stanley Cup just yet. They will challenge for a Playoff spot, but against the Flyers, or the Lightning, or the Devils, I don't give them a long run... ←

ask and you shall receive...... http://tsn.ca/nhl/feature.asp?fid=7006 ←