Suitcase of Courage

The Champions League Ramp Up Knock out Round/Can Manchester United Be Stopped by Inter? Special

Apologies if anyone noticed Football’s prolonged absence.

The Champions League Ramp Up Knock out Round/Can Manchester United Be Stopped by Inter? Special

Apparently we have some matches that are worth paying attention to starting in Midweek.

Tuesday’s Matches feature the three teams in the best current form when Man Utd face off against “The Special One” and Serie A Leaders Inter Milan at the San Siro. Also Barcelona travel to France to face everyone’s favorite transfer target Karim Benzema and Lyon.

Wednesday Features some matches that seem very interesting on paper, specifically Real Madrid v Liverpool and Chelsea v Juventus. Finally will Landon Donovan play Champions League Football for FC Bayern?

Schedule Below

Tuesday, 24 February 2009

Matches

Arsenal v Roma

Atletico Madrid v FC Porto

Inter Milan v Man Utd

Lyon v Barcelona

 Wednesday, 25 February 2009

Chelsea v Juventus

Real Madrid v Liverpool

Sporting v Bayern Munich

Villarreal v Panathinaikos

Now as much as it may pain some of you Manchester United despisers out there we need to examine the question Can Manchester United be Stopped?

With the Champions League Knock out Stages Approaching I examine the possibility. Right now Sir Alex Ferguson is in the position to win 4 Trophies. The last man in that Position with an England Club was the Special One himself.  It is fitting that I believe the Special One has the best opportunity to sink the Red Devil’s hopes of repeating as Champions of Europe and winning “the quadruple”.

Reason why Inter will Stop Manchester United

Manchester United will go into the San Siro with Weakest Back 4 it has played all Season.

Mind you, this is an understatement of terms, not the weakest comment, but the Back 4 comment. It has really become a Back 8 with Neville, the Da Silva twins, Ferdinand, Vidic, O’Shea, Evans and Evra all seeing time. With Vidic on a suspension and Neville injured Ferguson would have to rely on at least two newcomers. However, with Evans looking like he is injured and O’Shea also racing to pass the fitness test things could be even more complicated.  

In a worst-case Scenario I see the back four consisting of the Da Silva brothers on either wing with Ferdinand and Evra in the middle. Wes Brown had some minor success making the slide I believe that Evra would be asked to make in the worst circumstances. This will leave the Left Side a little more vulnerable to attack from a resurgent Adriano.  The Special One will clearly look to exploit any weakness.

A Best Case Scenario will see Evans fit to play and Evra lining up on the Left Side with Ferdinand and Rafael Da Silva unchanged.

If O’Shea is fit and Evans is not I am not sure how Ferguson proceeds. O’Shea can play as a center back or on the left.

Reasons why Manchester United will not be Stopped

United have an Embarrassment of Attacking Riches. United should go forward against Inter. As the commentator said yesterday “Ferguson will have to make due with Carlos Tevez given Wayne Rooney’s Injury recovery.”  

If I were The Special One I would be staying up nights trying to figure out how to stop any of the scores of combinations Ferguson can throw at me.  

Edwin Van der Saar has kept a clean sheet or two lately. 

Tour of California Leaderboard

I'll be updating this daily throughout the Tour. Thanks for your predictions!

    
click to enlarge

If anyone else would still like to guess individual stage winners, feel free to do so in the comments. I'll add you in for any upcoming stages and the points tally. GC predictions are closed after stage 1 starts. For the stages, it works like this. You pick your stage winner, and if he wins you get 1000 points. If he gets 2nd - 600, 3rd - 400, 4th - 300, 5th 200. At the end of the week whoever has ammased the most points wins... something. It'll be sweet.

Tour of California 2009

This weekend marks the fourth running of the Tour of California, and it promises to be the best edition yet. A stage race in California just makes sense, and the peleton's reaction since its inception has shown that Europe's best can get into a little California Dreamin'. Two years ago Paolo Bettini was perhaps the best known european racer in attendance sporting his world champion jersey, while his teammate Tom Boonen continued the euro-pilgrimage last year and found he liked things as well. This year's field is incredible, and the best teams are sporting Tour de France caliber squads. Here's my take on things to come.

Clearly Astana will be in the driver's seat from the get go because of Levi Leipheimer's status as defending champ. Backing up the Santa Rosa local is a team so strong its amazing to think they've still got Alberto Contado and Andreas Kloden on ice. Lance Armstrong will transform the race, bringing A-list star power to a race which has already brought enormous attention in the past. I think we'll see some rediculous crowds looking to catch a glimpse of Big Tex's comeback tour. With Chris Horner, Yaroslov Popovich, and Janez Brajkovic all riding shotgun you'd think Astana may have a walk of it, but I'd say they're going to be up against pretty stiff competition.

First off, Saxo Bank, previously CSC, is coming loaded for bear. Specialized will be seriously stoked to see superstars like Fabian Cancellara, the Schleck brothers, Jens Voigt and Stuart O'grady rocking their bikes through the company's back yard. You've got to think that if Bjarne Riis is taking the time to bring a squad of this caliber over, they're not here just to go through the motions.

High Road and Slipstream will both be looking to make some waves as America's two pro tour teams. Hincapie is always good for some attacking riding, and he may be looking to pull a trick on his old boss Armstrong by launching someone on his new team to glory. Mark Cavendish seems almost guaranteed a stage win if he can make it into a mass sprint, while Michael Rogers is rumored to riding very fast at the moment. The big Aussie powerhouse is exactly the kind of rider who could ruin Astana's dreams of delivering Leipheimer a third consecutive win.

Slipstream's stated goal this year is to transfer all the seconds and thirds of last year into wins this year. Anything short of a stage win or two will be a major disappointment for the Argyle Armada. Tom Danielson seems motivated to re-discover his winning form, while Dave Z and Svein Tuft are likely to throw the hammer down during Solvang's decisive TT. As this could end up being the critical stage of the race, Slipstream may find themselves in a winning position if someone can nail the time trial.

Tom Boonen won't be going for the overall win, but you can bet the Belgian playboy will be looking to flash his smile for the ladies on the West coast by taking down a sprint, if he can beat Cavendish. Its great that this year's Tour of California boasts the world's two fastest sprinters as well as a veritable who's who of Grand Tour contenders. Of course, Rabobank's Oscar Freire may have something to say about Boonen and Cavendish taking all the glory, so look for this three time world champion to show his face in the fast finishes.

Another familiar face we'll get to see this year is Tyler Hamilton. After getting snubbed last year Hamilton should be pretty motivated to do his stars and stripes national champ jersey justice with his Rock Racing team. I haven't heard how his form is coming along, but Tyler has won some of the biggest races in the world so I'll be on the lookout for some aggressive riding from him.

Ivan Basso and Floyd Landis are both disgraced grand tour winners making their comeback post suspension. I think Basso will be on cruise control as he's got bigger fish to fry later this year, but Landis should be flying because this is his big chance to take it to the big boys. His Ouch Cycling team has some real talent, but they'll spend the rest of the year racing in America so California is the biggest stage they'll get to dance on, and Landis won't want to waste the opportunity. Expect a strong TT out of him in Solvang, and I have a sneaking suspicion he's planning an attack over Mt Palomar on the race's final day.

The new Cervelo Test Team will be along for the ride with last year's Tour de France champ Carlos Sastre. Like Basso, he'll likely just be putting in the base miles for later this summer, but its sweet to have the TdF winner stateside. Thor Hushovd could be someone to watch out for. The 'god of thunder' can beat Cavendish and Boonen on a good day and he seems to thrive in the brutal weather that may be on the menu this year.

Speaking of weather, last year it was brutal, with some in the peleton labeling the stage down route 1 as the hardest of their career. Tom Boonen, speaking with Velonews about the race, said he had one wish; less rain. He may be dissapointed. After an unseasonably warm January the skies have been opening up lately in the sunshine state and Tom Danielson posted a picture on Twitter the other day from the top of Mt. Palomar. How did it look? White, as in 10" of fresh pow white. Got me thinking of Andy Hampsten's legendary day on the Gavia.

Longtime Suitcase of Courage readers will know that we've provided on the scene coverage of the race in the past, and after last year's gap we'll be back at it this year. Before we've visited the northern end of the race, but this year we'll be in Pasadena and on the snowy mountain for the final stage. Stay posted for an incredible week of racing!

Here are our previous AToC posts

Red Bull shows us 2009