Champions League Action

Match day one of the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League is complete. The day was dominated by the home teams that went 6-2-2. The one big surprise was Lincoln Red stunning Celtic FC.

The good news for most teams is that all games this morning were relatively close games. Therefore, there is a lot to play for when the second leg will take place next week.

Tomorrow, or depending where you are in the world, later tonight the other first leg games take place.  The marquee game tomorrow is Rosenborg taking on Swedish champion Norrköping.  The Sweden side will end their 51 year Champions League drought when they travel to Norway . 

Seattle Mariners fans think they are hard done by having a 15 year playoff drought. Could you
imagine if they went 51 years without making the playoffs??

It should be a pretty big day for Norrkoping fans tomorrow. Going 51 years without playing in Europe's top tournament

is almost a lifetime ago for some fans. Anyone under the age of 63 at least has no memory. 

Other notable teams that start their campaign are Astana FC who competed in the group stage and København from 

Denmark. Both teams have aspirations of sneaking into the group stage this year. 

The first legs will be played on 12 and 13 July, and the second legs will be played on 19 and 20 July 2016. Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg Qarabağ   F91 Dudelange 2–0 20 Jul Hapoel Be'er Sheva   Sheriff Tiraspol 3–2 19 Jul Olimpija Ljubljana   Trenčín 13 Jul 20 Jul Red Bull Salzburg   Liepāja 1–0 19 Jul Vardar   Dinamo Zagreb 1–2 20 Jul The New Saints   APOEL 0–0 19 Jul Zrinjski Mostar   Legia Warsaw 1–1 19 Jul Ludogorets Razgrad   Mladost Podgorica 13 Jul 19 Jul Dinamo Tbilisi   Alashkert 2–0 19 Jul Žalgiris Vilnius   Astana 13 Jul 20 Jul Partizani Tirana   Ferencváros 13 Jul 20 Jul BATE Borisov   SJK 2–0 19 Jul Valletta   Red Star Belgrade 1–2 19 Jul Rosenborg   IFK Norrköping 13 Jul 20 Jul Dundalk   FH 13 Jul 20 Jul Lincoln Red Imps   Celtic 1–0 20 Jul Crusaders   Copenhagen 13 Jul 19 Jul

Euro Cup is over, Soccer Isn't

The Euro Cup is over but the European soccer season for club soccer is just around the corner. In the coming weeks, all the major winter European leagues will get under way.

In addition, the UEFA Champions and Europa League Group Stage will begin in September, but there are still teams needing to punch their ticket into Europe's most competitive event in on the UEFA club calendar.

During the summer months, the Qualifying for the UEFA Champions League Group Stage takes place as each team hopes to be this years Cinderella. In the qualifying phase, the likes of Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid are not playing as the European giants all get byes into the group stage.

The Champions League is a mega tournament that represents the best teams in each country. Each country has a number of allocated berths that is given to the country based on how well that countries club teams did in previous Champions League Competitions.

Here is the schedule for tomorrows games:

For these teams in the small countries these are big games. For some of them, its their only international soccer exposure they will get all year. For others, the chance of going on a run to the Champions League Group Stage and beyond gives the club to believe they can build their club to be a global name around the world.

For instance, Celtic FC was in the CL Round of 16 a few years ago and Croatian powerhouse Dinamo Zagreb was in the Group Stage a couple of years ago.

Winning on the road in Champions League is very difficult and therefore, making sure a team wins there home games is crucial for survival. I'm looking forward to the soccer action tomorrow and will hopefully post back tomorrow. 

Tuesday, July 12
HSK Zrinjski Mostar Game 1 9:30 AM Legia Warsaw	Dinamo Tbilisi Game 1 10:00 AM Alashkert
Qarabag FK Game 1 10:00 AM Dudelange	H. Be'er Sheva Game 1 10:50 AM Sheriff
BATE Game 1 11:00 AM SJK	The New Saints Game 1 11:00 AM Apoel Nicosia
Lincoln Red Imps FC Game 1 11:00 AM Celtic	Valletta Game 1 11:00 AM Red Star Belgrade
Red Bull Game 1 11:30 AM Liepāja	FK Vardar Game 1 11:45 AM Dinamo Zagreb

Where Does Canada Men's Basketball Team go Next?

For the fourth straight Olympiad the Canadian Men's basketball team will not be taking part in the Summer Olympics. 

If this was soccer, Jay Triano would have stepped down from the coaching position, grassroots at the youth level would be criticized along with the number of uneducated coaches at the youth level that is required to build a powerhouse at any world class sport. 

However, exactly the opposite is happening. The amount of youth playing basketball has grown astronomically in recent years and so has the quality of players playing as well. Canada isn't in the Olympics in basketball for Rio 2016 not because they aren't one of the best 12 teams in the world, there not in it because they didn't win the games that mattered the most in a Qualification process that gives very little margin for error. 

Canada went 11-3 in Olympic Qualifying which is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, in games where they had a chance to punch their ticket to Rio they were 0-2. That is the number that sticks out the most. 

It's a shame that our Canadian NBA players didn't want to participate in the qualifying this summer but I wouldn't be putting the blame on them. The guys who were there couldn't make the shots when they needed to including Brady Heslip who had a horrible week from long range. 

Nando De Colo who doesn't even play in the NBA currently  had a outstanding tournament that propelled France to a Olympic berth. This demonstrates that you don't need to be a NBA player to succeed at the FIBA level. Ultimately, NBA players realize this and they know they aren't making as much of a difference to their eventual replacement playing over in Europe. 

In other words, there WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is minimal compared to what it would be if they were injured on there NBA team. This is noticeable when Melvin Ejim scores 19 in the losing effort. In a case where Wiggins and Olynyk are on the team. Ejim's minutes would be reduced and not able to chip in as much with his 19 points. Yes, defensively, your team might be better but at the end of the day, when a player is playing at this level of basketball, everyone is trying to play defense to there best ability. 

As it stands, France won because they had more experience. Therefore, I'm not pointing the finger at any of the NBA holdouts. With the new FIBA format that comes into place in the fall of 2017, it is anyones guess what Canada's roster will look like with NBA players not expected to participate. For that reason, it might turn out to be a blessing that Canada was able to play so many non NBA players to get the experience that they will need in the future. 

The future is also a bit of a question mark for Head Coach Jay Triano. With him being hired as a Assistant Coach with the Phoenix Suns, it is unclear if he will be able to coach for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers. 

To close, the fact that Canadians are disappointed that they weren't able to qualify for Rio 2016 demonstrates that the program is headed in the right direction. We will just have to be patient and wait for our opportunity. 

Canada Striving High for Rio Success

As the 2016 Olympics in Rio approaches, Canadian athletes are setting their sights high this August. With the latest success story coming from Wimbledon as Milos Raonic soared passed Roger Federer on Friday in five close sets to stamp his place in Sunday mornings Final.

Two years ago, both Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic looked like they were going to be medal favorites for Canada as the phrase “Canada has reached new heights in Tennis” were being shouted on TSN on what seemed like a monthly basis. Currently, Canada has only secured one medal at the Summer Olympics. That went to Daniel Nester and  Sébastien Lareau at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Success involving Men’s Tennis was few and far between before 2014. Since then, Raonic has catapulted onto the scene after reaching his first and hopefully of many Grand Slam Final appearances.

In fact, Raonic has dazzled not only the tennis world but also Canada so much that there is a good possibility that he will be Canada’s Flag Barer at the Opening Ceremonies on August 5th in Rio, regardless of what happens against the favorite Andy Murray on Sunday.

Not to be out done, the Canadian Men’s basketball team is making a strong push for the Summer Olympics, after winning their three-team group with a 2-0 record. Canada stands two wins away from their first berth at the Olympics since 2000.

In Canada’s way is a scrappy New Zealand team and potentially France in the Final. Last Wednesday, Canadian sports were peaking at an all-time high. With Ranoic’s quarterfinal game against American Sam Querrey and then 90 minutes later in a different continent was Canada’s match against Senegal. Canada has officially reached the “Gold standard” in sports and for a 20 minute period on Wednesday, Canadians were able to watch both events while currently knocking on the door of greatness.

There is no guarantee that Ranoic wins Wimbledon and the same can be said for the Canadian Men’s basketball team. However, with four NBA players on Team Canada, talent and interest is rising in the country for both sports on top of many others. In fact, a Canada win tomorrow morning against New Zealand, plus the Wimbledon Final, and the Olympic Qualifying Final will set a new standard. Both are in unprecedented territory on their quest for immortality. This is something that seemed unthinkable a decade ago but now is finally coming true.

A Good Strategy to Sports Betting

About a month ago, I was staring at the Euro 2016 odds for winning the title. Betting on a Champion is very risky. Out of the 24 team tournament, only one team will be the Champion. I'm starring at the Champion. However, at this point last month I had no idea which one it was. 

Of course, it can be a process of elimination. Out of the 24 team tournament, only seven or eight teams realistically have a shot of winning the title. Out of those eight. The top two favorites usually aren't worth the risk for the small payout if I picked correctly. That narrowed my guess down to six

teams. 

I then looked at the "it" factor that some teams have that sometimes propels a team to a Championship or in this case a Euro Title. 

After eliminating 1-2 teams, my next step was to find a team that had an intimidating force. This step was a huge step in finding the team that I thought were going to win the Euro Cup. This team was also a fun team to watch and usually find a way to win. 

The team I am talking about is Portugal. They were 20/1 odds to win the tournament has great reward for the quality of team Portugal has. The skill that Cristiano Ronaldo has is simply unrepresented as one of the best players in the game. 

Unfortunately, I didn't place a bet. However, my confidence is sky high from a betting point of view as I will continue to look for possible good bets in professional leagues and tournaments that are followed world-wide. 

Last October, I told my Dad to put $20 down on the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the 2016 NBA Championship. At the time, the website I was looking at had the Cavs at 4/1 odds. Do the math of how much my Dad would have won. 

Previously, my Dad and I placed a bet on the Seattle Seahawks on their quest to win back to back Super Bowls. We know how that ended. 

Moral of the story, I think I have this sports betting thing understood. By no means is sports betting a retirement solution, that being said it is fun to know that someone to make money off their sports knowledge.