What a week of Futbol/Football/Soccer/Calcio

So much going on this week in world futbol.  First you have the UEFA Champions League (cue the Heineken song...), the Copa Sudamericana (the 2nd tier South American Championships), and more...

On Tuesday and wednesday, the world was stunned by the shocking exit of Manchester United and Manchester City from the Champions League.  City fans at least have an excuse - this is their 1st time inthe competition.  The Red Devils on the other hand...losing in shocking (and very muddy) fashion to FC Basel in Switzerland was stunning.  The main culprits went thru: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Chelsea, Arsenal and Lyon (more on this mainstay from the group stages in a minute), while upstarts Napoli, Marsielle, Zenit St. Petersburg, CSKA Moscow, Basel, Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica and finally Apeol round out the Final 16 for the knock-out stages.

• Manchester United's shocking exit
• Machester City wins but loses out to Napoli
• Manchester in mourning
• Madrid's amazing undefeated group play
• Barcelona keeps rolling - even with their babies
• Italians send 3 teams as the final 16 is set
• tiny Apoel is the 1st team from Cyprus ever to make it thru - EVER!
• more here...

Copa Sudamericana:

• Liga de Quito (Ecuador) vs Universidad de Chile (Chile)
• finals are home-and-home starting Dec 8th (Quito) and finishing Dec 14th (Santiago)

Olympic Qualifying groups and locations set

• USA will be in Nashville
• Mexico will be here in LA
• semis and finals will be Livestrong Park in Kansas City
• more info...

tomorrow: El Classico!

and now from a Parent's Perspective!

*written by the one and only - Adam Sacuy!  This is kind of a recap for all those who stayed home and those who went but can't remember the last 4 days. I will just cc you my diary.

   

Wed Nov 30---- Dear diary -----next time I fly remember that the guy's in the blue coats don't know squat and the more your daughter cries the easier it is to get the red coated managers to rebook you.Maybe Madison should have been an actor or was that not acting? Wow---- if I didn't get there--that would have been great ---- 30 people arriving at Atlanta with no cars- but not to be---- we all made it and yes you can fit 30 people and luggage into two mini vans! Kids dropped off at hotel ---- "I Coach's" (formerly Coach M) phone is charged and the Atl homies are mad at me because bar at house was not stocked properly. That's what I get for coming early and waiting at the airport for 5-1/2 hours for all pick ups.Can't wait till tomorrow.

 

Thur Dec1 ---- Dear diary ----I hope Mackenna uses the money I left for buying moms birthday gift------ for buying moms birthday gift? Her Facebook says different? Oh well Tracey has put up with it for 24 years ,she must be use to it by now. Maybe Mackenna will invite her to the rager---what ever that is? Had lunch and food shopped ---who knew uncle Ted is a restauranteur in Sandy Springs---who knew MJ was such a good shopper. Game time was 7 pm and 32 degrees. Tough game we had our chances --- a tie -- surprised how many coaches came to watch!----- CPK for dinner ---girls call.

Georgia From A Player's View

*(written by the GU16 White)
Wednesday, November 30th:
We all met at LAX to head off to Atlanta, Georgia. We were so ready to play our first National League Game. We landed around midnight, drove to the hotel in our vans, and went to bed.

Thursday December 1:

We started with a 10am breakfast of a horrible bagged breakfast...hahaha. Then we went for a walk around the area chanting many Beach cheers. We came back to the hotel and had a short break before heading out to check out the fields. We made a quick stop at Subway on our way back from the fileds (not a good thing for Kirsten btw). When we got back to the hotel we had a couple hours of study(mostly nap time). We left the hotel around 5pm for our first game. We were all very nervous and excited and when we got out of the car we felt the 35 degree chill. It was very obvious that we were from California when we saw the looks on the faces of other teams and their parents. As we started to warm up jackets slowly were taken off and we were ready for are first competiton. Yeah so that game ended up being a tie 0-0. The MVP being Katie Pratt........Thompson. On the positive note we had pizza at CPK yes at Georgia but we MISS home. REMEMBER don't have your phone out at dinner, its a great opportunity to have some bonding times and color from the four cheap crayons they always give us. But Coach Mauricio had a pretty deep speech which made us feel a lil' better. We had a big prank on Coach Fred and nobody went to his car HA-HA. He cried on the inside but he's cool now.

Grandma, Seles, Grace & Meghan blogging