2016 European
Football Preview
I blinked
and the season has arrived! It was a wonderful off-season, as we pretty much
had soccer all the way through. We kicked off with the Copa America which was
won once again by Chile
in a resilient fashion against Argentina ,
while the European Championships were expanded to 24 teams, which almost
benefited the champions Portugal
the entire way. They were boxed into a relatively easy group, didn’t play to
their very best, and squeaked through the “easier” side of the knockout rounds.
Then, after Cristiano Ronaldo went down, showed purpose and ambition against France
in the final. It wasn’t the most beautiful football, and it should probably go
back to 16 teams, but the greatest story of the tournament was Iceland, and without
those 8 extra slots, they are probably back at home, and we have no idea what
the Icelandic Clap even is. So I’ll take it. Now we have 3 weeks of Olympic
soccer to round out the summer, and I must say that it was nice to have a game
on just about every single day during the summer break.
I kid. Let’s get started.
English Premier League:
Champions: Manchester
United (If he expects it, I expect it, and so here we go.)
Top 4: Manchester City Chelsea
gets their spirit back, and I don’t think they’re done shopping. Liverpool
could make their way into the top 4; Klopp is working his magic, with less than
magical players sans Coutinho.
Relegated: Burnley , Hull
City Sunderland .
Sorry Moyes. I like the guy, I really do, but his squad sucks. He did not make
it better. Burnley will be tough to beat, and I really
like the Stefan Defour signing. Hull
is strange. Not sure what the deal was with Steve Bruce, but the instability of
what they might go through probably gets them back to the Championship. ß
God, I hate saying that.
Surprise Package: Everton if they keep Romelu Lukaku. Also,
if they are able to pluck Joe Hart off of City, I could see them finishing 7th. They have a solid
foundation, and a manager that I believe will get the best out of these players
this season. Ross Barkley could finally take that step up too, and hit the
world class level. Sorry Leicester .
Favorite Signing: Paul Pogba – Manchester
United. It’s personal.
Spanish La Liga:
Champions: This is so annoying. Only 3 teams can do it, and
likely it’ll be between 2. I’m going to go with Barcelona
on this again.
Top 4: Atletico, Real Madrid ,
Valencia Valencia
keeps all of their current players. They’re really getting hammered lately by
the “bigger clubs”. Sevilla made a lot of changes, Villarreal lost some pretty
big talent, and the two Basque clubs will be around, just not playing for the
Champions League places. Atletico just gets jacked up competing for this
trophy, while Real gets jacked up for the European one. I think it might play
into the stripped team’s hands this time around. Their signings have been some
of the best around, and they didn’t lose any top players this season. Look out.
Relegation: Alaves, Osasuna, Leganes .
Cute stories all, and each club has a bit of history. I still can appreciate
that Alaves played Liverpool hard to the end of one of
the greatest matches I have ever seen (YouTube it if you have free time). They
all pretty much yo-yo between the two divisions, so I thought to play it safe
this time around.
Surprise Package: Valencia .
Weird to say, considering it was a normal place for them 10 years ago. I just
like what they did bringing in Nani and Martin Montoya while not losing much.
Andre Gomes got taken by Barcelona
for 50 million, but I think that they expected him to leave. Alvaro Medran
should be able to lock up that role.
Favorite Signing: Kevin Gameiro – Atletico Madrid .
Griezmann didn’t really need help, but they got some for him anyway. If Gameiro
can play link up with Saul, Nicolas Gaitan and Griezmann, and put away some
goals, Atletico probably gets a trophy this season.
German Bundesliga:
Champions: Bayern Munich. Going back to the high-pressure
counter-attacking style sucks for the rest of the league. I feel like that’s
Bayern football at its glittering best.
Top 4: Borussia Dortmund, FC Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen .
I wanted to pick a surprise this year, because this league always seems to have
one, but these 3 really put on the pressure to become top clubs this season.
Each one of them made a massive signing that could influence games on the
European level. These 3 positions will be very fun to watch.
Relegation: Darmstadt ,
Hoffenheim. Neither club really did anything to improve since last season, and
I feel like they were both lucky to avoid the relegation zone for most of the
season. Hoffenheim loses their best player – Kevin Volland – to Bayer
Leverkusen. I’ll give 16th to Ingolstadt ,
but I think they win against whatever team it is they need to battle to stay up. FC Nuremburg
perhaps?
Surprise Package: Well... I have two. I think Bayer
Leverkusen could finish 2nd. I have them 4th, but if they
stay fit, and maybe not push so hard on the European stage, they could
challenge for a title depending on Bayern’s expectations of the league. My
other pick is FSV Mainz who made it to European football in the final weeks of
the season. They let youth play, and they aren’t afraid of the big boys. I
could see them 5th by the end.
Favorite Signing: Ousmane Dembele – Borussia Dortmund. I
damn near cried when I heard he signed for the Schwarz und Gelb. I knew of his
talent when last season, both Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique (of Bayern Munich
and Barcelona lore) watched one of
his games for Rennes . Then I
watched 10 and fell in love. He had all of Europe at his
feet, and decided to sign for this fantastic club. I hope it’s a happy marriage,
and I think he becomes the next €100 million player.
Italian Serie A:
Champions: Juventus. So loaded.
Top 4: Anybody. It was an interesting off-season in Italian
football. No one really made the signings necessary to chase Juventus (we still
have 2 weeks), and some of the good clubs lost guys (i.e. Gonzalo Higuain
leaving Napoli for Juventus, Miralem Pjanic leaving Roma
for... Juventus). I guess I would say Roma, Inter, and Lazio?
Relegation: Crotone ,
Empoli, Pescara . Just playing the
odds here. Sassuolo and Chievo could be close to it as well.
Surprise Package: Well Inter based on my predictions, but I
think it’s because no one else improved enough. They might even finish 2nd,
all things considered. No Champions League football, a couple healthy signings
in Ever Banega and Antonio Candreva, and a sturdy defense. Frank De Boer is a
nice little manager as well.
Favorite Signing: All of Juventus’ new players. (Pjanic,
Higuain, Dani Alves, Marko Pjaca). They had one of the best overhauls in Europe .
I don’t think they miss Pogba what so ever, and they should win this league
quite easily.
Champions League:
Final 8: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Bayern
Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Leicester City, PSG.
Just for
fun, I’m going to assume Juventus gets a dirty draw (Bayern, Real, Barca?) and Leicester
gets an Olympiakos or an Ajax .
Wouldn’t the story be amazing if they could keep the drive alive? They’d have
the entire continent pulling for them.
Champion: Barcelona .
Andre Gomes was a sneaky good signing, and I think Samuel Umtiti raises his
level to that of a Raphael Varane type player. Barcelona
could be very good this year.
Europa League Champion: Sevilla. Might as well keep picking
them, since they allow me to continue being right.
Players to Watch:
GK: Joe Hart. This has probably been rather demoralizing for
him. Let’s see how he bounces back.
GK: Tim Howard. I’m just kidding, but maybe someone,
somewhere watches a Colorado Rapids game this year because of him?
CB: Mats Hummels. I think I understand it, but I still need
to see it. Does he raise his game to become the best of this generation?
CB: John Stones. He had been progressing to this point
anyway, can he become England
and City’s best around?
LB: Luke Shaw. If he can get a full season, he might become
one of the best in Europe . In the mold of an Ashley
Cole.
CM: Ya Ya Toure: Read Joe Hart’s.
CM: James Rodriguez. He’s one of the best around, why can’t
he get a game at Madrid ?
RM: Arjen Robben. Such a wasted talent; between the injuries
and the poor sportsmanship; he could have been one of the greats. Can we get
one more year?
CM’s: Miralem Pjanic and Sami Khedira. Can they put together
a Paul Pogba type season for the black and white stripes?
ST: Diego Costa. I’m putting the over/under amount of cards
received at 20.
ST: Gabigol. Who gets the next Brazilian great? (I’m saying
Inter, because they can play him).
ST: Breel Embolo. Oh my. Could be the world’s next great ST.
How in the heck did FC Schalke sign him up?
ST: Morata. I think he’s better than Karim Benzema, if Madrid
is to repeat, can the two of them sync on the pitch?
World’s 11
GK: Manuel Neuer
LB: David Alaba
CB: Mats Hummels
CB: Leonardo Bonucci
RB: Philip Lahm (I’m not kidding, they could be sensational.
But Barca still beats them)
AM: Neymar. (I need to put him deep, but you get it).
CM: Toni Kroos.
CM: N’golo Kante (I thought his price was cheap).
AM Anthony Martial
ST: Messi
ST: Robert Lewandowski
My 11
GK: David De Gea
LB: Luke Shaw
CB: Mats Hummels
CB: Chris Smalling
RB: Lukasz Piszczek
CM: Paul Pogba
CM: Ivan Rakitic
CM: Luka Modric
LF: Marcus Rashford
10: Wayne Rooney
RF: Pierre Emmerick Aubameyang
Share your own 11’s or your thoughts on the season! So excited that it’s here!
