I had a choice tonight. I could do my dishes or put together the WCR Top 25. Somebody once broke into my apartment and did my dishes. Nobody has ever broken into my apartment and compiled the WCR Top 25. In hopes of history repeating itself, I decided to do the Top 25 and leave the dishes to the cleanliness-obsessed burglars in my neighborhood.
The big news of the week involved matches in the Champions League, as well as some great domestic battles in Europe. There were some surprises in the European tournament this week (see, e.g., Roma v. Chelsea, Barcelona v. Basel), but none were bigger to me than the draw between Inter Milan and Anorthosis Famagusta. I’m not yet ready to move the Cypriot club into the WCR Top 25, but after four weeks, Anorthosis are in position to advance to the knockout stages. I’d make some cute comment along the lines of stranger things have happened, but I can’t honestly say that stranger things have happened, so I’ll forego that at this point.
Domestically speaking, there was a lot of excitement all over the place this weekend. This isn’t particularly uncommon, but the matchups seemed to be uncommonly good this weekend. In England, Arsenal and Manchester United both played against recent form as the Gunners scored a 2-1 victory over the Red Devils. Late goals were the rule of the day in Italy and Argentina, allowing Inter Milan and Boca Juniors to score 1-0 injury time victories over Udinese and San Lorenzo, respectively. Four goals were the rule of the day in Spain as Samuel Eto’o and Gonzalo Higuain scored and scored and scored and scored again for Barcelona and Real Madrid. Of course, other games were played, other clubs celebrated, others were broken-hearted, etc. We’ll get into some of those below.
What’s coming up this week? Crap. Some of the crap smells less than other crap, but next week promises to be pretty craptacular, nonetheless. During midweek, we should see a lot of domestic cup action, where we get to see good clubs scrape together their worst players to play clubs that you have never heard of again. (Copa del Rey, anyone?) There are always exceptions, and the AZ Alkmaar match against PSV Eindhoven in the KNVB Beker may be interesting. Next weekend, there will be some decent matchups, including Bayer Leverkusen/Schalke 04, Arsenal/Aston Villa , Ajax/PSV and Lazio/Roma. Come to think of it, that’s not the worst lineup in the world. On the other hand, we don’t have a single matchup next weekend involving a pair of WCR Top 25 clubs, so while we have a handful of good matches, there is a dearth of great matches.
I’ll still be watching, though. I’m such a sucker for this game. And the rankings. Speaking of which, here they are.
World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – November 10, 2008
1. Chelsea (Eng) (1) – At the moment, the top two clubs in the world are pretty much beyond question. According to the formulas, when two clubs are so much better than the rest, the tie-breaker goes to the club in the best league, which currently is the Premiership. Chelsea didn’t look like the best club in the world against Roma, falling 1-3, but remains atop its Champions League group. In England, Chelsea remains in first place after defeating Blackburn Rovers 2-0. This Week: In the Carling Cup, Chelsea will host Burnley and hope to escape last season’s FA Cup embarrassment. Over the weekend, Chelsea will take on West Bromwich Albion.
2. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – Barca qualified for the next round of the Champions League despite drawing 1-1 with Basel. Samuel Eto’o then went crazy over the weekend, scoring four goals in Barcelona’s 6-0 victory over Real Valladolid. This Week: The return match against Bendhorn in the Copa del Rey will be an appetizer before Sunday’s match with Recreativo de Huelva in La Liga.
3. Inter Milan (Ita) (13) – Defensive and offensive problems both hit Internazionale this week, just not in the same match. Inter couldn’t stop Anorthosis Famagusta in the Champions League, but still managed a 3-3 draw. In Serie A, it took an injury time goal to slide past Udinese 1-0 and to move to the top of the Serie A table. This Week: Inter Milan will travel to Sicily to take on Palermo on Saturday.
4. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (8) – In a tale of two matches, Leverkusen took a 3-0 lead, but couldn’t hold on, drawing with Karlsruher 3-3. This still was enough to take advantage of Hoffenheim’s loss and move to the top of the Bundesliga, though Bayern is hot on its heels. This Week: Bayer Leverkusen will host Schalke 04 on Saturday.
5. Liverpool (Eng) (6) – A 1-1 draw against Atletico de Madrid was enough to guarantee Liverpool advances to the knockout rounds of the Champions League. A 3-0 victory over W.B.A. was enough to keep ‘Pool in second place in the Premiership. This Week: At midweek, Liverpool will take on defending champion Tottenham in the Carling Cup. Over the weekend, Liverpool will take on Bolton Wanderers.
6. AZ Alkmaar (Ned) (10) – It seems odd to have AZ up this high, but the club has been whatever the Dutch term is for en fuego in the Eredivisie this season. A 3-0 victory over FC Twente kept AZ atop the domestic table. This Week: In a rare interesting cup match, AZ Alkmaar will host PSV Eindhoven in the KNVB Beker. In the Eredivisie, AZ will take on Vitesse on Sunday.
7. Arsenal (Eng) (8) – This ranking, on the other hand, feels much more natural. After a scoreless draw against Fenerbahce in the Champions League, Arsenal played against recent form to defeat Manchester United 2-1 on Saturday morning. At least it was morning (7:40 am) here. This Week: Arsenal’s Carling Cup match against Wigan Athletic doesn’t look to interesting, but when Aston Villa comes to Emirates Stadium over the weekend, sparks may fly.
8. AC Milan (Ita) (4) – Milan probably should be atop the Serie A table, but a late goal by Lecce left AC Milan with a 1-1 draw, which followed up on Milan’s 1-0 UEFA Cup victory over Sporting Braga. This Week: On Sunday, Milan will host Chievo Verona at the San Siro.
9. Napoli (Ita) (21) – A 2-0 victory over Sampdoria moved Napoli into a second-place tie with AC Milan and into the WCR Top Ten. This Week: Napoli will host Salernitana (or something like that) in an early round Coppa Italia match at midweek and will take on Atalanta in Serie A action on Sunday.
10. Villarreal (Esp) (9) – A 2-2 draw against Aalborg in the Champions League made it so nobody in the WCR Top Ten managed to get a victory in the Champions League this week. A 2-1 victory over Almeria kept Villarreal on the heels of Barcelona in the Primera Division. This Week: The Yellow Submarine will try to overcome a 0-5 deficit to Polideportivo in its Copa del Rey matchup before taking on Malaga in La LIga.
11. TSG Hoffenheim (Ger) (3) – Hoffenheim drops out of the top of the Bundesliga and out of the Top Ten after falling 0-1 to Hertha Berlin. This Week: Another potential hurdle for TSG when it hosts Wolfsburg on Saturday.
12. Valencia (Esp) (16) – After a 1-1 UEFA Cup draw against Kobenhavn, Valencia scored a 3-0 victory over Getafe in the Primera Division. This Week: Valencia face Club Portugalete in the Copa del Rey and will host Sporting de Gijon this weekend in La Liga.
13. Sao Paulo (Bra) (12) – It wasn’t easy, but Sao Paulo did hold off Portuguesa 3-2 to keep atop the Brasileiro Serie A. This Week: Sao Paulo will host Figueirense as it attempts to hold off Gremio.
14. Manchester United (Eng) (7) – Two matches this week away from home and Manchester United could only walk away with a single point. If a 1-1 draw against Celtic was disappointing, a 1-2 loss to Arsenal was devastating, especially considering how well Chelsea and Liverpool are playing domestically. This Week: United plays both of it matches at Old Trafford this week, first against Queen’s Park Rangers in the Carling Cup and later against Stoke City in the Premiership.
15. Lyon (Fra) (14) – Olympique de Lyonnais did not give up a goal this week, defeating Steaua Bucuresti 2-0 in the Champions League and AS Monaco 1-0 in Ligue Un. This Week: Lyon will host Metz in the Coupe de Ligue and will take on a good Bordeaux club in Ligue Un action.
16. Real Madrid (Esp) (11) – Another loss to Juventus, 0-2, in the Champions League has Real Madrid questioning itself. Scraping by Malaga with a 4-3 victory can’t be providing a lot of answers, although it was a good day for Gonzalo Higuain, who scored all of Real’s goals. This Week: The club Real Madrid plays in the Copa del Rey has so many names, I’m not even sure how to shorten it. I won’t bother trying. I can shorten Real Valladolid, though, so I’ll tell you that Real Madrid will take on Valladolid on Saturday.
17. Marseille (Fra) (20) – Like the other Olympique club, Marseille did not give up a goal this week in its 3-0 defeat of PSV Eindhoven and its 3-0 victory over Grenoble. This Week: As OM chases down OL, it will take on Lorient in Ligue Un play.
18. Celtic (Sco) (17) – After its 1-1 draw with Manchester United in the Champions League, Celtic defeated Motherwell 2-0 to stay atop the Scottish Premier League table. This Week: Kilmarnock comes to Celtic Park for an SPL matchup this weekend.
19. Lazio (Ita) (BU) – The highest debut of the week belongs to Lazio following its 3-0 defeat of Siena in Serie A. This Week: It’s derby time in the Italian capital as Lazio takes on AS Roma on Sunday.
20. Bayern Munich (Ger) (19) – Bayern left Italy with a 1-1 draw against Fiorentina in the Champions League. Back in Germany, Bayern took a 2-1 away victory against Schalke 04 as Leverkusen and Hoffenheim start to feel the pressure. This Week: Bayern will hit the road once again this week to take on Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga.
21. Ajax (Ned) (23) – Two victory week for Ajax, first over MSK Zilina 1-0 in the UEFA Cup, then 5-2 over Sparta Rotterdam in the Eredivisie. This Week: In the KNVB Beker, Ajax will take on Volendam. In one of the better matches of the weekend, Ajax will host PSV Eindhoven.
22. Gremio (Bra) (RU) – Gremio is still hot on the heels of Sao Paulo in the Brasieiro Serie A with a 1-0 victory over Palmeiras. This Week: Gremio will host Coritiba in next weekend’s Serie A action.
23. Rangers (Sco) (22) – Ranges blew Kilmarnock away with a 4-0 victory to stay close behind Celtic in the SPL. This Week: Rangers will play a makeup match against Motherwell at midweek before hosting St. Mirren this weekend.
24. Udinese (ita) (5) – A few weeks ago when Udinese fluked its way into the WCR Top 25 rankings, we all knew it wouldn’t last long. After defeating Spartak Moscow 2-1 in the UEFA Cup, Udinese held its own for 91 minutes before finally falling 0-1 to Inter Milan on Sunday. This Week: Udinese will host Reggina twice this week, first in the Coppa Italia and then in Serie A.
25. Groningen (Ned) (NR) – Groningen returns to the rankings this week after crushing Volendam 5-0. This Week: In domestic cup action, Groningen will take on Telstar on Wednesday. In the Eredivisie, Groningen will host De Graafschap on Sunday.
Bubbling Under (alphabetically): Aston Villa (Eng), Bordeaux (Fra), Leixoes (Por), San Lorenzo (Arg), Sevilla (Esp).
CONCACAF Top Five: (50) Deportivo Saprissa (Crc), (61) Pumas UNAM (Mex), (69) San Luis (Mex), (84) Morelia (Mex), (98) Toluca (Mex).
Matches Between Top 25 Clubs This Week: None
Posts
