Match Day 1 - Season 01. Opening Day!

Welcome to opening week At Caringa Park and the WCD Table Football League.

Week one match-ups include: Sir Iwan Thomas coaching Arsenal against Justin Buhr's West Ham. The Liverpool Reds (or Greens in this case), with Eryn Roston at the helm, against Adam Spragg's Schnitzel loving lads of FK Austria Wien. Finally the Ladies took to the pitch with an "under construction" version of Trisha Manbeck's Fiorentina against Maja Stoevhase's Stuttgart.

Match 1
Despite scoring 2 goals on the day, Arsenal proved to be no match for the methodical attacking style of West Ham, who set the tone of the game early with a goal in the opening minutes. Iwan's squad would equalize, but than allowed the Hammers to drive home 2 more goals, the third being the nail in the coffin for the gunners. Aresnal's last-second goal was too little too late and West Ham secure the first 3 points of the league. Final score West Ham 3, Arsenal 2.

Match 2
The Scoring didn't come quite so easy in the match between Liverpool and FK Austria Wien. Liverpool came on strong early in the match with several good looks on goal but nothing to show for it but insults from the crowd. It was the Austrians who made the most of their chances in the first half with a solid shot from a tough angle, beating the Liverpool keeper to the far corner of the net. Things were looking grim for Liverpool but they finally slipped through the Austrian defense late in the second half and equalized with just 4 minutes to spare. FK Austria Wien had one solid chance at victory on a set piece with 2-minutes remaining but couldn't capitalize and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Match 3
Finally we come to Fiorentina against Stuttgart. This was a game characterized by defense and ball control. Both sides playing strong "possession" football, with Fiorentina playing particularly tight defense. There was a minimum of chances on goal for both sides but Fiorentina managed to break the deadlock with a goal in the second half and never looked back. Stuttgart, who managed zero shots on goal, will be looking to improve their offensive game in the coming weeks to be sure. Final score: Fiorentina 1, Stuttgart 0.

And so after the first week's matches we see the Hammers sitting on top of the tables, with 3 points, +1 goal differential, and 3 goals for. Congrats to the Hammers -- the early favorites for the cup! Look at those Hooligans celebrate...



Current Standings
1) Hammers
2) Fiorentina
3) Liverpool (t)
3) FK Austria Wien (t)
4) Arsenal
5) Stuttgart

The Final Countdown part six. FK Austria Wien

We come at last to the final team of the league, FK Austria Wien out of the Austrian Bundisliga, also known as Die Veilchen "The Violets". (Does that make two "violets" and two "reds" in the league?)

Austria Wien make the sexy stadium of "Horr Stadion" their home base.

The team was founded in 1911 and had it's most successful run between 1975 and 1986 when they won 8 national titles. While their performance since than has been mostly unexceptional, there have been bright spots (including a quarter-finals appearance in the 2005 UEFA cup).

Some notable players include: young scoring sensation Rubin Okotie and defensive midfielder Joachim Standfest.

Here's some highlights set to the themes from Magnum PI and Dallas

The Final Countdown part five. The Hammers!

Only two teams left in our countdown and it's back to England to cover West Ham United F.C.

West Ham's home stadium, Uptown Park is located in London and is the second London team in our league (The other being Arsenal).

The Hammers have the dubious distinction of being more well known for the antics of their supporters than they are for the performance of their players. West Ham Hooligans are the subject of several films.



West Ham's lively supporters adopted "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" as an anthem. (I expect Little Buhr to have this song memorized)

West Ham have never won the Premiere League (placing as high as fith place). Their most recent FA cup win came in 1980 and have won the UEFA cup once back in 1965. Notable players include Australian "Socceroo" Lucas Neill, and Dean Ashton.

In 2006/07 West Ham was facing Relegation for the 6th time in their club's history. However they made a dramatic run at the end of the season winning 7 of their last 9 games. Included in those wins were victories over league giants like Arsenal and Manchester United. Here's some highlights from that season.

State of the Pitch

First off: the goals are now secured (thanks to the birdman). So no more holding on to the posts while goal tending.

This morning the players from the practice squads lined up on the pitch to see a strange sight:

The Final Countdown part four. VFB Stuttgart

Another entry from outside the EPL, this time we head to Germany and the Bundesliga.

Stuttgart is known as "The cradle of the automobile". Mercedes-Benz and Porsche both call Stuttgart home. Stuttgart is also home to "Die Roten" ("The Reds" but not the Liverpool "Reds"), the local football team over at Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Stuttgart has had it's ups and downs in Germany's upper division soccer league but have seen some great success in recent years, including a Bundesliga title in 2006/2007.

Prominent players include Mario Gomez and Cacau.

Here are some highlights from the 2006, 2007 season

Interlude. Instructional Videos

For those who have not seen these yet:





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The Final Countdown part three. Fiorentina

Now for our first team who isn't from the English Premier League, ACF Fiorentina.

Based in Stadio Artemio Franchi, in Florence, Fiorentina also goes by the nickname "Viola" (Purple) thanks to their distinctive purple uniforms.

Fiorentina have a long history in Italy's top tier soccer league but have not played with particular distinction since the mid 1990's. This was back when one of my favorite players, the Argentinian striker, Gabriel Batistuta was on the squad (also known as "Bati-gol").

Current stand-out players for Fiorentina include Sébastien Frey, and Adrian Mutu.

Here's some highlight footage of Fiorentina in action against Roma:

The Final Countdown part two. Arsenal

Alright Next up on our countdown we have Iwan's team: Arsenal.

Based in Emirates Stadium, This team certainly has the coolest combination of [Name] - [Nickname] - [Logo] compared to all the other teams: [Arsenal] - [the Gunners] - [an artillery cannon].

Arsenal was founded in 1886. Some of Arsenal's notable players include:

Emmanuel Adebayor
Tomas Rosicky
Cesc Fabregas

Arsenal has been a very successful team in the early part of this decade. They were Premier League Champions in 2002 and 2004 and FA cup winners in 2005. Here's a little compilation video of some of their finest moments from that 2005 season

Arsenal - Our Lives - (9) Our Lives 2004-2005
Uploaded by Nvboy. - Discover the latest sports and extreme videos.

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The Final Countdown part one. Liverpool

Welcome to the official home of the WCD Table Football League.

With our 6 teams making the long slow journey across the Atlantic I thought we could count down the days to their arrival by spotlighting each team in our league. What better place to start than with my team: Liverpool FC!

Liverpool FC was founded in 1892. Their home stadium is Anfield. Based on my research, their official song, "You'll Never Walk Alone" is another in a long line of horrible soccer anthems heard across Europe.

Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are among Liverpool's notable players.

One Liverpool highlight of recent years is their FA cup victory over Little Buhr's boys: West Ham. Paul Konchesky of West Ham scored the craziest goal of the match but Gerrard's dramatic last second equalizer was almost as fantastic and set his team up to win in penalty kicks. See the dramatic highlights here:



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