A lot to go through this week, let’s see if I can cover at least a portion of it. First of all, bonus points have been eliminated for teams that have been eliminated from their continental competitions. The big losers in the Top 25 this week are Barcelona, Liverpool and Deportivo Saprissa. The big winners turn out to be everybody else who move up to fill in spots that those teams left behind. There will be another shakeup next week with respect to South American teams as the Round of Sixteen concludes on Thursday. Currently, the eight group winners in the Copa Libertadores have received bonus points. Next week, those points will belong to the eight teams that advance to the quarterfinals. In the annual rankings, which is done at the end of the year, bonus points will be awarded to all teams that reached the semifinals in their respective continental competitions, but since the weekly rankings merely are a snapshot at the football world at the moment, it seems appropriate only to award them for those teams still alive in the weekly rankings. (The weekly rankings are a work in progress and comments that don’t hurt my feelings are always appreciated.)
The rankings also go a little crazy this week with respect to Italian teams because they went a little crazy themselves. Fiorentina went from the catbird’s seat to the corner seat with the dunce’s cap after falling to Cagliari and allowing AC Milan into the final Champions League spot. Inter actually moved up in the rankings, despite the loss, because of the fall of Barcelona and Liverpool, but AC Milan moved up a lot, returning to the Top 25 in a big way. Contrarily, Fiorentina , after falling (sort of) to Rangers in the UEFA Cup and Cagliari in Serie A, fall from the rankings completely.
As always, there are lots of great games this week. There are no real matchups of titans this weekend, but with so many teams fighting for European spots or trying to avoid relegation, there are hardly any meaningless games this week. In addition, the much anticipated (at least by me) Brasileiro League begins this weekend. The only two matchups between Top 25 teams both take place at midweek this week. Real Madrid hosts Barcelona on Wednesday in a game that will not have a great deal of importance with respect to where the teams place in La Liga, but has a lot of importance to lovers of great football. On Thursday, River Plate hosts San Lorenzo in the second leg of their Copa Libertadores Round of 16 matchup, with River Plate having to overcome a 2-1 deficit that it earned in its away match.
I want to give some props to some newly crowned champions. Bayern Munchen clinched the Bundesliga title and Real Madrid rode two late goals in rapid succession to claim a second consecutive (and 31st overall) La Liga Primera Division title. Most of all, I’d like to congratulate Pachuca for winning the CONCACAF Champions Cup and being the first team to punch its ticket for the FIFA Club World Cup. I wish there was a place for them in the rankings, but they didn’t even qualify for the playoffs in the Mexican Primera Division and that’s enough to keep them out.
Finally, last week, this site saw by far the most traffic it has ever seen due to being posted on several forums and fan sites. This is, in large part, due to the fact that it was picked up by C’mon You Irons last week and it’s greatly appreciated on our parts. Hopefully, they’ll make our rankings a new tradition at their site.
Saprissa’s out. Fiorentina’s out. Who’s in? That’s what the rest of the article is about.
World Club Rankings – May 5, 2008
1. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – Unsurprisingly, Manyoo advanced to the first-ever all-England Champions League final by defeating Barcelona 1-0. Even more unsurprisingly, Manyoo moved closer to a second consecutive Premiership title by defeating West Ham 4-1 at Old Trafford this weekend. Coming up, Manchester United has an opportunity to clinch the title against Wigan Athletic, if Newcastle United doesn’t clinch it for them first by picking up a point or three against Chelsea today.
The rankings also go a little crazy this week with respect to Italian teams because they went a little crazy themselves. Fiorentina went from the catbird’s seat to the corner seat with the dunce’s cap after falling to Cagliari and allowing AC Milan into the final Champions League spot. Inter actually moved up in the rankings, despite the loss, because of the fall of Barcelona and Liverpool, but AC Milan moved up a lot, returning to the Top 25 in a big way. Contrarily, Fiorentina , after falling (sort of) to Rangers in the UEFA Cup and Cagliari in Serie A, fall from the rankings completely.
As always, there are lots of great games this week. There are no real matchups of titans this weekend, but with so many teams fighting for European spots or trying to avoid relegation, there are hardly any meaningless games this week. In addition, the much anticipated (at least by me) Brasileiro League begins this weekend. The only two matchups between Top 25 teams both take place at midweek this week. Real Madrid hosts Barcelona on Wednesday in a game that will not have a great deal of importance with respect to where the teams place in La Liga, but has a lot of importance to lovers of great football. On Thursday, River Plate hosts San Lorenzo in the second leg of their Copa Libertadores Round of 16 matchup, with River Plate having to overcome a 2-1 deficit that it earned in its away match.
I want to give some props to some newly crowned champions. Bayern Munchen clinched the Bundesliga title and Real Madrid rode two late goals in rapid succession to claim a second consecutive (and 31st overall) La Liga Primera Division title. Most of all, I’d like to congratulate Pachuca for winning the CONCACAF Champions Cup and being the first team to punch its ticket for the FIFA Club World Cup. I wish there was a place for them in the rankings, but they didn’t even qualify for the playoffs in the Mexican Primera Division and that’s enough to keep them out.
Finally, last week, this site saw by far the most traffic it has ever seen due to being posted on several forums and fan sites. This is, in large part, due to the fact that it was picked up by C’mon You Irons last week and it’s greatly appreciated on our parts. Hopefully, they’ll make our rankings a new tradition at their site.
Saprissa’s out. Fiorentina’s out. Who’s in? That’s what the rest of the article is about.
World Club Rankings – May 5, 2008
1. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – Unsurprisingly, Manyoo advanced to the first-ever all-England Champions League final by defeating Barcelona 1-0. Even more unsurprisingly, Manyoo moved closer to a second consecutive Premiership title by defeating West Ham 4-1 at Old Trafford this weekend. Coming up, Manchester United has an opportunity to clinch the title against Wigan Athletic, if Newcastle United doesn’t clinch it for them first by picking up a point or three against Chelsea today.
2. Chelsea (Eng) (2) – It must be tough being the second best club in the world, only to play in the league with the best club in the world. Defeated Liverpool 3-2 to advance to the Champions League finals against Manyoo. Obviously, they have a fair shot in that game. Furthermore, all hope is not yet lost with respect to the Premiership title. First of all, Chelsea needs a victory at St. James’ Park later today. They also need a victory against Bolton this coming weekend. They also need some luck and a Wigan Athletic miracle. (Speaking of which, that 1-1 draw at home against Wigan a few weeks ago may keep giving Chelsea supporters nightmares throughout the summer.)
3. Internazionale (Ita) (6) – Obviously, they move up because of the falling of those teams defeated in the Champions League this week and not by virtue of their 1-2 defeat at the hands of their cross-town rivals. Along with Roma’s victory, Serie A is once again beginning to look competitive, but the road for Inter should get easier as we go on. This week, Inter travels to Rome to play the second-leg of their Coppa Italia semifinal with Lazio, after a goalless draw in the first leg. In Serie A action, Inter hosts Siena as it tries to close the door on another title.
4. Sao Paulo (Bra) (4) – Managed a draw on the road against Nacional (Uru) in the first leg of their Copa Libertadores Round of Sixteen matchup. Second leg is this week in Brazil. This weekend, Sao Paulo begins its defense of its Brasileiro League title at home against Gremio.
5. Real Madrid (Esp) (9) – In a week when all of the teams at the top of the table in La Liga won for a change, Real Madrid defeated Osasuna 2-1 to clinch its second consecutive Primera Division title. I would say that the rest of its games are meaningless, but since they host Barcelona on Wednesday, that can’t be said because no game between Real Madrid and Barcelona is EVER meaningless. Games between Real Madrid and Real Zaragoza, however, may be meaningless and one of those take place on Sunday.
6. Porto (Por) (8) – Last week, I was proud that Porto played so well against Vitoria Guimaraes even though they had already clinched the bwin Liga title and the game was meaningless to them. It looks like they went ahead and called it a season this week as they lost for the first time at home this season as they fell to Nacional (Por) 0-3. Will they show up this weekend against Naval? Does it matter?
7. Roma (Ita) (10) – Defeated Sampdoria 3-0 this weekend to move three points closer to Inter Milan in its quest for a Serie A title. This weekend, they host Atalanta as they hope for similar results for both themselves and Inter. In the meantime, Roma goes on the road to play the second leg of their Coppa Italia semifinal with Catania, holding a 1-0 advantage.
8. Arsenal (Eng) (12) – Defeated Everton 1-0 this weekend to keep itself within striking distance of Chelsea for second place in the Premiership. The Gunners head northeast this weekend to take on Sunderland.
9. Juventus (Ita) (14) – I’m not sure why Juventus jumped past Lyon this week after falling 0-1 to Siena yesterday, but the numbers do what they do and I just type them up once a week. This week Juventus hosts Catania in Serie A action.
10. Lyon (Fra) (13) – Similar to the race in Italy, every time Lyon looks like they’ve gotten things all wrapped up, they slip. This week, Lyon scored a goalless draw against Nice to allow Bordeaux to move a few points closer to the top. This week, Lyon faces Sedan in a domestic cup semifinal and then host Nancy Lorraine this weekend, who are currently in the final Ligue Un Champions League spot.
11. Bayern Munchen (Ger) (16) – This move would be even more surprising than Juventus’, except for the fact that UEFA Cup matches are of minimal value in these rankings. Nevertheless, losing 0-4 to Zenit St. Petersburg in the semifinals of that competition had to be embarrassing, not to mention tremendously disappointing. Perhaps they are over it by now, however, after clinching another Bundesliga title (and their first in a row . . .) by scoring a goalless draw against Wolfsburg this weekend. Now their games are meaningless and they have two of them this week – first against Arminia Bielefeld on Wednesday and then against Duisburg on Saturday.
12. Barcelona (Esp) (3) – I guess this shows you how important the Super Bonus Points were to Barcelona’s rankings last week, falling nine spots after being eliminated by Manchester United despite crushing Valencia like a rotten orange, 6-0. Barcelona’s games still have meanings as they try to chase down Villarreal for second place in La Liga. Most importantly, they travel to Madrid to play Real in what is always one of the big games of the year. With whatever adrenaline is remaining, Barca hosts Real Mallorca this weekend.
13. Villarreal (Esp) (17) – Still just below Barca in the rankings despite being ahead of them on the table based upon goal differential. Most importantly, Villarreal’s goal differential against Getafe was +2 this weekend as they defeated the tough out 2-0. Play two games against two potentially (occasionally?) tough teams in Recreativo de Huelva at midweek and Espanyol this weekend.
14. Fluminense (Bra) (15) – Move up a notch after defeating Atletico Nacional 2-1 in Colombia in the first leg of its Copa Libertadores Round of Sixteen matchup. Come back to Brazil for the return leg on Tuesday and then open up its domestic league season this weekend against Atletico-MG.
15. Liverpool (Eng) (5) – This seems to be much closer to where Liverpool should be as a fourth-place team in the Premiership. Liverpool was eliminated by Chelsea in the Champions League, as I’m guessing you’ve heard by now. Defeated Manchester City 1-0 this weekend, which is admirable against a solid team, given that the competitive portion of Liverpool’s season already has concluded. This week, Liverpool travels back to London to face Tottenham Hotspur.
16. River Plate (Arg) (7) – Dropped nine notches without being eliminated from the Champions League, which I suppose is sort of notable in its own right? What was River’s reason for falling? A pair of losses. Lost the away leg of its Copa LIbertadores Round of Sixteen matchup with fellow Argentine team San Lorenzo. To follow that up, River fell to Boca Juniors 0-1 yesterday to fall down the table of the Argentine Clausura. This week, River Plate gets another shot at San Lorenzo in CL action and hosts Independiente in domestic action.
17. Sporting CP (Por) (18) – As it attempts to hold on to second position in the bwin Liga, Sporting CP defeated Paco Ferreira 1-0 this weekend. Will try to clinch that position this weekend when they host Boavista.
18. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (19) – Good luck in the Champions League.
19. AC Milan (Ita) (NR) – Defeated cross-town rivals Internazionale 2-1 to move into Serie A’s final Champions League spot. Travel to Naples this weekend as they try to hold on to that spot against Napoli.
20. Estudiantes (Arg) (11) – Much like River Plate, Estudinates lost in its away match in the Copa Libertadores, falling to LDU Quito 0-2, and then lost 1-2 to Argentinos Juniors in domestic action. Presumably, Estudiantes will have an easier time at home for the return match with LDU, but this weekend will be tougher when they host Boca Juniors.
21. San Lorenzo (Arg) (NR) – Moved into the top of the Argentine Clausura table this weekend after defeating River Plate 2-1 in Copa Libertadores action. Face River Plate in the away match on Thursday and then attempt to defend their domestic lead this weekend when they host Independiente.
22. Ajax (Ned) (22) – Defeated Heerenveen 2-1 in the first leg of their playoff for the final Eredivisie Champions League spot. Ajax hosts Heerenveen in the return match later today and their later schedule will depend upon the results of that match.
23. Cruzeiro (Bra) (21) – Lost in Argentina this weekend, falling 1-2 to Boca Juniors in Copa Libertadores action. The return leg is Wednesday. On Sunday, Cruzeiro hits the road to play Vitoria as it opens its Brasileiro League season.
24. Bordeaux (Fra) (23) – Defeated Marseille 2-1 to move two points closer to Lyon and to move Marseille back behind Nancy Lorraine for the final Ligue Un Champions League position. As they try to reel Lyon in, Bordeaux host Sochaux on Saturday.
25. Everton (Eng) (25) – Fell to Arsenal 0-1 in London this weekend, but held on to their fifth-place position in the Premiership and held on to the final spot in the weekly rankings. Finish off their season this weekend when they host Newcastle United.
Bubbling Under (Alphabetically): Atletico de Madrid (Esp), Benfica (Por), Boca Juniors (Arg), Celtic (Sco), Flamengo (Bra).
Numbers Forty to Eighty: (40) Sevilla (Esp), (50) Vitoria Guimaraes (Por), (60) Independiente (Arg), (70) Bayer Leverkusen (Ger), (80) Nacional (Uru).
Matches Between Top 25 Teams This Week:
7 May – (12) Barcelona at (5) Real Madrid
8 May – (21) San Lorenzo at (16) River Plate (Copa Libertadores)
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