A Glicko Sports Blog

Tue 16 Mar 2010

Inter in That's a Loss

This week's The Upsets

46.7- Catania       3 Internazionale   1
22.2- GENCENBIRGLI  0 Fenerbahce       0
41.4- Peterborough  1 Sheff Utd        0
40.0- Tenerife      4 Espanyol         1
19.8- LIVORNO       3 Roma             3
38.1- Bayonne      22 C. Auvergne     13
37.0- Fiorentina    3 Bayern Munchen   2
36.8- Hannover      2 Eintracht F'furt 1
36.7- Preston N End 3 Notts Forest     2
35.9- Udinese       3 Palermo          2

Do we care about the European competitions? Not really, and certainly not enough to post on Fridays about them. Catania have the biggest shock of the week, putting a cramp into Inter's title ambitions, and allowing AC Berlusconi to close within a point. They'll play the rest of the season without journeyman midfielder David Beckham-Posh-Spice-Aadams, who tore a tendon in Sunday's game. Peterborough remain at the foot of the Division II table, even after their win, eight points adrift of safety. Tenerife are in the last relegation spot for Spain. Wins for the top three in Germany, and Nürnburg beat Hertha to move out of danger - at least for now. The top six in France are split by just three points, with Bordeaux and Marseille having a game in hand over all other contenders.

The Rest of Europe

  Austria
SLZ   973   109.2  -64  -0.58   Salzburg
RAP   887   101.2   32   0.32   Rapid Vienna
GRA   830   145.6    0   0.00   Sturm Graz
AWI   743   115.8  -24  -0.21   Austria Vienna

  Belgium
AND  1010   102.0   23   0.22   Anderlecht
LIE   983   100.6   15   0.15   Liege
BRU   974   145.8  100   0.68   Brugge
WRG   819   133.7   39   0.29   Waregem

  Bulgaria
LIT   886   135.5   32   0.24   Liteks Lovech
LSF   719   123.8  -26  -0.21   Levski Sofia
CSS   689   151.1    0   0.00   Cska Sofia

  Belarus
BAT   887   129.1    0   0.00   Bate Borisov

  Switzerland
BAS   908   112.1  -41  -0.37   Basel
ZUR   874   119.5    0   0.00   Zurich
GRZ   834   118.5   97   0.82   Grasshoppers Zurich
THU   616   204.3    0   0.00   Thun

  Cyprus
APN   923   139.5    0   0.00   Apoel Nicosea
ANF   881   176.5    0   0.00   Anorthosis Famagusta

  Czechia
PRG   951   113.5   19   0.17   Sparta Prague
LIB   834   130.2    0   0.00   Slovan Liberec
SLP   833   115.8  - 1  -0.01   Slavia Prague
TEP   824   131.8    1   0.01   Teplice
BLV   761   131.1  -26  -0.20   Mlada Boleslav

  Denmark
COP   934   102.7  -10  -0.10   Copenhagen
ODE   916   126.1    0   0.00   Odense
AAL   909   128.1    0   0.00   Aalborg
BRO   845   125.6  -31  -0.25   Brondby

  Greece
PAN  1066    95.9   14   0.15   Panathanaikos
OLY  1002   102.9  -14  -0.13   Olympiakos
PAO   907   106.2    9   0.09   PAOK Salonika
ASS   888   111.8   20   0.18   Aris Salonika
AEK   879   101.4  -13  -0.13   AEK Athens
PIO   729   122.0  -11  -0.09   Panionios
LAR   722   114.4   24   0.21   Larissa

  Croatia
DZA   765   130.4    0   0.00   Dynamo Zagreb

  Hungary
DEB   812   142.6    0   0.00   Debrecen

  Israel
HTA   914   112.0  - 7  -0.07   Hapoel Tel-Aviv
MHA   897   122.4   23   0.19   Maccabi Haifa
MPT   767   145.3  -35  -0.24   Maccabi Petah-tikva

  Latvia
VEN   718   131.4    0   0.00   Ventspils

  Moldova
TIR   785   137.8    0   0.00   Sheriff Tiraspol

  Norway
ROS   952   145.7    0   0.00   Rosenborg
BRN   835   148.5    0   0.00   Brann Bergen
VRG   787   147.8    0   0.00   Valarengen
VIK   786   150.2    0   0.00   Viking Stavanger
TRO   729   143.5    0   0.00   Tromso

  Poland
LPZ   919   156.8    0   0.00   Lech Poznan
WIS   797   185.6    0   0.00   Wisla Krakow

  Portugal
PTO  1122   100.5  - 5  -0.05   Porto
BEN  1100    98.8   22   0.23   Benfica
SLS   997    92.1   26   0.29   Sporting Lisbon
BRG   986    99.8  -23  -0.23   Braga
GUI   879   118.8  - 1  -0.01   Guimares
NFN   771   114.7  -35  -0.31   Nacional Funchal

  Romania
DIB   910   112.6  - 9  -0.08   Dinamo Bucharest
UNI   861   105.5  -91  -0.86   Unirea Urziceni
CLJ   857   108.7   48   0.44   Cluj
STE   857   109.6    4   0.03   Steaua Bucharest
TIM   847   112.8  -25  -0.22   Timisoara
RBU   790   178.5    0   0.00   Rapid Bucharest

  Serbia
PBG   833   127.2    0   0.00   Partisan Belgrade
CRV   665   163.2    0   0.00   Red Star Belgrade

  Russia
RKZ  1101   101.8   36   0.35   Rubin Kazan
ZSP  1058   128.0    0   0.00   Zenit St Petersburg
LOK   975   131.4  -36  -0.27   Lokomotiv Moscow
CSK   972   103.1  -10  -0.09   Cska Moscow
FCM   887   145.8    0   0.00   FC Moscow
SPM   852   132.6    0   0.00   Spartak Moscow

  Sweden
ELF  1073   148.9    0   0.00   Elfsborg
HAL   803   173.7    0   0.00   Halmstads
HEL   639   178.3    0   0.00   Helsingborg

  Slovakia
ZIL   803   178.8    0   0.00   MK Zilna
ART   615   204.3    0   0.00   Artmedia Bratislava

  Turkey
FEN  1033   110.6  -53  -0.48   Fenerbache
GAL  1030   111.8  -34  -0.31   Galatasaray
BES   975   123.9   18   0.15   Bestiktas
GEN   773   143.7    1   0.01   Gencebirgili

  Ukraine
KYV  1113   112.0    0   0.00   Dinamo Kyiv
SHA  1064   104.9  -22  -0.21   Shaktar Donetsk
MKH   951   131.6  -31  -0.23   Metalist of Kharkiv
DNI   813   163.0    0   0.00   Dnipro

Changes are from 14 December, since when many leagues have been on a winter break. Brugge and Zurich have done well in Europe, Unirea have lost both domestically and in international competition.

Europe's First XXII

01 --  BAR   es   1277   85.8
02 +2  RMD   es   1243   85.9
03 --  INT   it   1206   83.5
04 +3  MUN   en   1204   84.3
05 -3  CHE   en   1200   89.8
06 --  BAY   de   1182   85.4
07 -2  BDX   fr   1176   84.2
08 +6  ANL   en   1157   83.1
09 +2  ACM   it   1146   81.9
10 -2  ROM   it   1138   81.0
11 +8  SNV   de   1125   87.3
12 --  SEV   es   1124   80.8
13 -3  PTO   pt   1122  100.5
14 +4  MAR   fr   1118   79.9
15 -6  VAL   es   1117   81.8
16 -1  KYV   ua   1113  112.0
17 **  SOC   es2  1112  107.6
18 **  RKZ   ru   1101  101.8
19 **  AUX   fr   1101   84.5
20 **  BEN   pt   1100   98.8
21 re  LYN   fr   1097   82.8
22 -6  BYL   de   1095   90.1

Changes are from 9 February. Out have gone Deportivo (13-25), PSV (17-41). Manchester al-City (20-24), Shakhtar Donetsk (21-33), and Fenerbache (22-49). Still missing from earlier in the season are A Madrid, Fiorentina, Genoa, Hamburg, Juventus, Liverpool, Mallorca, Marseille, Panathanaikos, Rangers, Villarreal, Werder Bremen, Wolfsburg. Sociedad are the first second-tier side to crack the top 22, and rank ahead of the champions in Russia. This may actually tell us something about the strength and depth of the Spanish league.

National rankings

01 .. es   1169.4 (- 34.5)
02 .. en   1143.7 (-  1.0)
03 .. it   1128.3 (+  0.3)
04 .. fr   1115.6 (+ 11.6)
05 .. de   1108.6 (+ 11.0)
06 +1 pt   1016.9 (+  9.9)
07 -1 nl   1014.4 (-  2.0)
08 .. ru    998.7 (-  2.0)
09 .. gr    948.7 (+ 12.7)
10 +1 sc    887.9 (+  4.1)
11 -1 ro    866.2 (- 14.6)
12 .. cz    840.7 (-  1.5)
13 .. no    817.7 ( unch )

Changes here are from 22 December last year. Scotland might be advantaged because they got the European lossing out of the way last year. Just out of interest, here are the rankings for the second divisions:

es2 1005.8
fr2  868.9
de2  868.2
en2  852.4
it2  840.7
en3  683.1

We're not entirely comparing eggs with eggs: the Italian ranking is based on the five Serie B sides to have played in Serie A over the past few years, while England 2 contains all 24 sides in the division.

linkpage | ResultsTables

Tue 09 Mar 2010

PSV left numberwanged

The upsets

48.1- NAC Breda        2 PSV Eindhoven    1
47.5- Larissa          1 AEK Athens       0
44.7- Nurnburg         3 Bayer Leverkusen 2
21.8- BOULOGNE         0 Lyon             0
43.3- Leeds           19 Saracens        12
39.6- QPR              3 West Bromwich A  1
19.3- KOLN             1 Bayern Munchen   1
38.1- Portsmouth       2 Birmingham       0
37.7- Sheff Weds       2 Leicester        0
37.6- Swansea Dragons 31 Munster         22

Defeat for the runaway Dutch leaders means they're no longer the Dutch leaders - Twente of Enschede are now two points clear with just eight games to go. Neither leading side could win in Germany - Bayer found themselves tasting their first defeat of the season in Nümberwäng, two weeks after the side drew with Bayern. Another draw for the München side this week, and it allows Schalke into second place. Lyon's draw at Boulogne was part of a remarkable weekend of results in Ligue 1 - every side finished with a binary digit of goals, 0 or 1, except for Nice 2 Nancy 3. Montpellier drew level with Bordeaux, and has games in hand. England had another cup weekend - holders CSKA Kensington waltzed past Stoke 2:0, they'll play the Birmingham Browns, 4:2 winners at Reading, that match pencilled in for Old Trafford. The other game will pit Portsmouth (2:0 over Birmingham City) against either Fulham or Tottenham Nine (0:0), provisionally at the Kensington Kremlin.

Primera Division

BAR   1265   87.1  -51  -0.58
RMD   1246   88.0   18   0.20
VAL   1131   85.2  -38  -0.44
SEV   1125   81.9  -12  -0.14
DEP   1084   84.3  -42  -0.50
AMD   1073   79.6   39   0.49
MAL   1069   85.7  -16  -0.19
ABL   1035   82.7  -13  -0.16
MGA   1030   86.1   33   0.38
ALM   1029   87.7   78   0.89
GET   1021   82.5  -46  -0.56
VIL   1020   82.1  -22  -0.27
ESP   1009   86.1   25   0.29
GIJ    991   88.1   11   0.12
SAN    988   85.7  -39  -0.45
OSA    970   84.3  -22  -0.27
ZAR    962   87.4   51   0.59
VDD    930   86.6  -25  -0.28
TEN    886   96.2  -22  -0.23
XER    842   99.0   63   0.64

  Segunda Division
SOC  1112   107.6   31   0.29
LEV  1017   113.9   54   0.47
CAD   965   131.0    0   0.00
RMC   959   107.0   64   0.60
BET   956   117.9    0   0.00
CVG   920    98.1  -62  -0.63
TAR   879   107.3  -70  -0.65
HEU   867   105.2    6   0.05
NUM   827   105.5  -29  -0.27

  Segunda B
ALA   942   157.1   0   0.00

Changes are from 25 January. Barcelona has gone +4=2-1 and sunk; Real's +6=0-1 allows them to rise a little. Almeria are the big winners this month, +4=2-0, and Xerez's +2=1-3 record includes two defeats against top five sides, which really don't hurt much. Real Murcia in the Segunda have two wins and two draws; Celta Vigo and Taragon both have +0=1-2 times.

Serie A

INT  1230   84.2    8   0.09
ACM  1153   84.1  -12  -0.14
ROM  1146   81.7  - 5  -0.06
JVE  1087   80.9   31   0.39
PAL  1083   86.2   20   0.24
NAP  1039   86.3  -25  -0.29
FIO  1025   81.7  -65  -0.80
CAG  1021   85.8  - 9  -0.10
SAM  1012   87.2   42   0.48
BGA   997   87.0   63   0.72
GNA   986   83.4  - 1  -0.01
UDI   957   85.6   14   0.16
BAI   954   89.2  -48  -0.54
CAT   949   86.7   22   0.26
CHI   949   85.7  -33  -0.39
PAR   938   87.8  -37  -0.42
LAZ   931   82.3    6   0.07
SIE   908   88.4   59   0.67
ATL   880   87.6  - 7  -0.08
LVO   867   88.6  -57  -0.64

  Serie B
EMP   952   153.7   0   0.00
TOR   900   141.8   0   0.00
LEC   875   143.1   0   0.00
REG   871   128.7   0   0.00
ASC   606   158.5   0   0.00

Internazionale's gone +5=4-0, barely enough to keep their nose above water. Fiorentinas's challenge has faltered badly this month, +1=2-6 butters no parsnips. Bologna were knocked out of the cup last year, and never played in Europe, so +3=2-1 moves them up sharply without tiring out the legs.

linkpage | ResultsTables

What's Pashtun for LBW?

Slightly later than we planned, some cricket scores.

20/20

PK2  1537   160.4  -22  -0.14
SA2  1340   159.2    0   0.00
NZ2  1196   148.2  104   0.70
AU2  1108   158.6  198   1.25
EN2  1099   162.6   99   0.61
AF2  1010   159.3  260   1.63
SL2   972   154.2    0   0.00
IN2   971   163.7    0   0.00
WI2   948   156.8 -172  -1.10
KN2   853   171.7  103   0.60
NL2   808   170.9  -35  -0.21
AE2   771   170.9   21   0.12
NM2   750   200.0    0   0.00
BA2   711   186.8  -18  -0.09
IE2   611   155.9   45   0.29
CA2   511   166.1 -239  -1.44
SC2   377   176.1 -210  -1.19

The bulk of matches in the first two months of 2010 were in the 20/20 Cup Qualification Tournament, won by Afghanistan.

Won by Afghanistan.

No, us neither. They beat Ireland in the final, and those two sides will progress to the 20/20 Cup proper in the West Indies later in the spring. The UAE and Netherlands made the semi-finals, and neither Canada nor Scotland managed a win; Namibia were beaten by Uganda in local qualifying. It leaves Scotland with the lowest score we've ever published in a Glickoblog table, and Afghanistan expected to put up a good fight in their two (or more!) matches in the tournament proper.

Elsewhere, Pakistan split a series with England, and the West Indies lost to just about everyone.

One-day internationals

AU1  1354   72.0  143   1.99
IN1  1106   69.8    2   0.03
EN1  1043   82.9   10   0.12
NZ1  1037   79.4   45   0.57
SA1   972   84.6    8   0.09
PK1   962   78.6  -17  -0.21
SL1   934   76.6   17   0.22
IE1   902  115.9    0   0.00
BA1   833   79.5  -93  -1.17
NL1   820  100.4   13   0.13
WI1   809   91.5    9   0.10
CA1   770   96.4    7   0.07
AF1   737  103.1  -12  -0.11
AE1   736  124.8    0   0.00
KN1   711   96.9   12   0.12
NM1   696  124.8    0   0.00
SC1   669  112.2    0   0.00

Australia went undefeated this term, winning all five against Pakistan, and a mere four against the West Indies - one match was rained off. Bangladesh lost to New Zealand.

Tests

SL  1100   83.3    0   0.00
IN  1097   77.1   11   0.14
SA  1081   82.0   27   0.32
AU  1002   73.3    9   0.13
EN   982   76.4  -13  -0.17
WI   950   84.3    0   0.00
PK   948   81.7  -14  -0.17
NZ   919   82.7    7   0.08
BA   914   92.0  -39  -0.42
AF   821  126.9   52   0.41
KN   789  117.0  - 1  -0.01
AE   781  163.9    0   0.00
SC   768  129.1   23   0.18
IE   749  129.8  -24  -0.18
NM   719  163.9    0   0.00
NL   706  129.4  -17  -0.13
CA   696  120.6  -18  -0.15

Afghanistan's good form spread into the longer-form games, the side notched up «home» wins against Ireland and Canada. Australia and South Africa continued their domination of Pakistan and England, India split two against South Africa and beat up on Bangladesh; so did New Zealand. Scotland won in Kenya.

linkpage | Cricket

Tue 02 Mar 2010

Full coverage of Bridge and Terry

The upsets

49.1- Leeds     26 Wasps      10
40.5- Willem II  2 VVV Venlo   1
39.5- CSKA Kens  2 Man al-City 4
36.9- S Lisbon   3 Porto       0
35.1- Parma      1 Sampdoria   0
34.6- Nancy      0 Grenoble    2
33.8- Preston NE 3 Cardiff     0
33.3- Villarreal 1 Deportivo   0
33.0- Chieva     2 Cagliari    1
17.0- XEREZ      0 Espanyol    0

Defeat for CSKA allowed both al-City and Tottenham to close the gap, with Spurs ending the weekend in fourth place. Though the Birmingham Browns lost the League and Non-League Cup Final, beaten 2:1 by the Manchester Buccaneers, the result means that sixth place in the league should be enough to qualify for the European Cup. As you were in Spain and Italy, and the big result in France is a win for Grenoble Nil, now only 13 points from safety. Bordeaux and Montpellier are now level at the top. Bayern. Bayer, and Schalke have pulled away in Germany, and PSV retained their narrow lead atop the Eredivisie. Rangers are ten clear in Scotland - and with a game in hand - after snatching a last-gasp winner against Celtic.

Division I

CHE  1187   91.7  -51  -0.56
MUN  1179   87.5   17   0.20
ANL  1133   85.9  -30  -0.35
MCY  1097   83.9    5   0.06
LIV  1090   83.8   49   0.58
AVL  1070   83.5   12   0.15
TOT  1052   84.2  -16  -0.19
FUL  1019   82.6   25   0.31
BIR  1009   87.6  - 5  -0.06
EVE   998   82.8   20   0.24
STK   969   85.7   56   0.65
BLK   914   84.7    5   0.06
WHM   901   89.0    9   0.10
BOL   885   84.6    9   0.11
SUN   867   88.2  -28  -0.32
HUL   845   91.8    4   0.05
POR   844   87.1   21   0.24
WLV   830   90.0  -27  -0.30
WIG   827   88.0  -79  -0.90
BNL   798   88.9  -50  -0.56

Changes are against 18 January, and CSKA's pair of defeats this week has tilted their month firmly into the red. Liverpool's season continues to recover, and we mustn't underestimate Fulham's achievement in defeating the European champions. Stoke are the draw specialists, recording a +3=5-1 record since we last met; Wigan has gone +0=4-5 in that span, including a draw and a defeat to Notts County of Division IV.

1. Bundesliga

BAY  1211   88.1   45   0.51
BYL  1110   92.9   11   0.12
SNV  1102   90.3    3   0.03
WER  1071   85.3   10   0.11
STT  1050   87.3   60   0.68
HAM  1041   86.0  -16  -0.19
BDO  1035   91.4  -50  -0.54
WLF   995   86.1   28   0.32
EIN   983   89.4    1   0.01
HOF   954   90.0  -25  -0.28
MAI   951   93.3  - 3  -0.03
BMO   928   93.3   18   0.19
BOC   922   93.6   32   0.35
KLN   911   90.1  - 5  -0.06
HER   863   85.8  - 6  -0.07
NUR   838   95.2   26   0.28
HAN   812   92.4  -66  -0.72
FRE   808   95.5  -58  -0.60

  2. Bundesliga
DUI  1003   133.3   58   0.44
AAA   944   132.8    0   0.00
BIE   840   128.2  -44  -0.34
COT   805   121.4   18   0.15
HRS   794   131.6   10   0.08
KRR   722   116.6  -24  -0.20

Changes, again, from 18 January. Bayern's run of eleven wins came to an end on the 20th, with a draw at Nümberwäng, but +7=1-0 in this period tells its own story. Stuttgart are mounting a run on the fence, +5=1-1 has mostly been against mediocre opposition. At the foot, Hannover's woes continue, six defeats after the winter break, and Freiburg have two draws to show for their six matches. It's almost as if Hertha (+1=4-3) actually are good enough to stay up.

linkpage | ResultsTables