Barstool's Makin'-Ya-Rich Midweek Soccer Guide (Part II)
Sam’s Midweek Soccer Guide (Part II)
Sup haters, got a lil mo’ midweek soccer action to tell you about. No need for an introduction. If you like soccer or MONEY (or looking at pictures) read on. If you don’t, that’s what the “back” button is for.
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ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
A rundown of last weekend’s games will be included in Friday’s post, but here’s quick recap of what happened yesterday:
1) Bookies inexplicably made Hull (+325) a massive underdog
2) Sam called the bookies stupid and told you to bet on Hull
3) Hull won
4) We all got rich af
Anyway, I’m not going to tell you how to live your life, or bet your money. But goodness gracious have you been missing out on a recent bonanza of winning. In fact, over the last week the only game ya boy Samuel has gotten wrong was Burnley/Lester on Saturday, when wee Burnley missed a PK then immediately conceded an own goal in what was undoubtedly the costliest 60-second span in the club’s – if not EPL – history (if those points ends up being the difference between survival and relegation).
Which brings us back to… LESTER. The club was mired in 20th (aka last) place a few weeks ago before reeling off four wins in a row, making it the fourth “hottest” team in the entire league over the past six games:
The club isn’t suddenly contending for Champions League or anything, but having moved out of the relegation zone will offer its supporters a little respite:
What’s more, the club has a relatively manageable schedule coming down the stretch, with four of five games at home against the likes of Zombie Newcastle and fellow relegation contenders QPR and Sunderland (the latter being its only away game), PLUS it has a game in hand on many of the other cellar dwellers.
That was the good news. The bad news: the game in hand is today against Chelsea.
As some people have pointed out to me on Twitter, the line does indeed look a little suspicious considering its the EPL’s league leader against a 17th-place club:
Lester (+400)
Chelsea (-145)
Draw (+290)
Which has everything to do with Lester (1) being at home, (2) in its best form all season and (3) perhaps slightly more motivated than the Blues, which even Arsene Wenger admitted has basically secured the title at this point. And perhaps the incredibly defensive outing Chelsea had against Arsenal over the weekend may play into it as well, which is precisely why I’m banging the Blues in this one. Yes, Mourinho tends to do a little more bus-parking than neutrals would like to see from an English champion, but he only calls for it in certain situations when points are needed (or goals have already been scored) against formidable opposition. And despite Lester’s recent form, their wins have come against two less-than-fully motivated clubs (West Ham and Swansea) and two less-than-fully talented clubs (West Brom and Burnley).
Chelsea represents an altogether different type of foe than Lester has been beating, just like Lester represents and altogether different type of foe than Chelsea has been playing it safe against.
The ONLY thing that gives me pause in this game is that Didier Drogba is likely going to be called on again up top and, as I’ve noted previously, he’s a shadow of his former self at this point. Nevertheless, with the EPL’s POY Eden Hazard – apparently there is a movement afoot among idiot journalists to give it to John Terry, who has had a fantastic season, but does not deserve the award – powering the side forward, the Blues should still have enough. Chelsea to win 2-0.
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REST OF EUROPE
La Liga: 17th-place Almeria gets thrown to the 2nd-place Real Madrid wolves (2pm ET on beIN Sports), though one thing potentially notable about the game is that Norwegian “starlet” Martin Odegaard has been named to the subs bench for the first… so maybe the little bugger will see the field? Probably not.
Serie A: 1st-place Juventus host 6th-place Fiorentina (TAPE DELAYED at 3:55pm ET on beIN Sports)
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INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONS CUP
I’m regurgitating this section from yesterday, so if you ready before no need to do so again, but Soccer Twitter was really excited about yesterday’s unveiling of this summer’s schedule for the ICC tournament and, well, yeah here it is:
I find it hard to get too excited about summer friendlies – even those being played by some of the best players in the world – because the only reason the games are scheduled is for “commercial exposure” and you never even know how many of the ‘stars’ you’ll actually see until just before the game.
One observation I – as a proud member of Flyover Country – couldn’t help but notice is the geographical representation of the games that have been scheduled, and more notably where they have NOT been scheduled. Sorry non-coastal MLS cities. Maybe vote Democrat next time and Obama will force Guinness take a more socialist approach to the scheduling.
(Note: the schedule includes THREE games at Red Bull Stadium and, yes, all you geographical nazis, I ignored Portland because it is within easy driving distance of Seattle and Vancouver because they too high on heroin to give a shit about some dumbass glorified friendly soccer practices. “But what about Montreal?” They aren’t officially in MLS until they win a game – duh.)
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Aight din. Check ya’ll on Friday. Fur realz this time.
Note: if you ever are DYING to read words about soccer, the link to my latest post can always be found on my twitter homepage (just an FYI)
Holler,
Samuel H. Army