Euro 2008 Final Germany v Spain

Hmmm...so this is hard one for me as you know I am strong supporter of German Football and anything else Der Kaiser related.

At the start of this tournament, my odds on bet to advance to the finals were the rather predictable Germany v Spain match we have today. However the route has been anything but predictable as Germany hasn't looked nearly as strong as I thought they would and Spain obliterated the Russian squad (and anything else in its wake). Along with the stunning disguise of San Mario and Faroe Islands squads as Italy and France left this Euro full of surprises

For this final match I can't help but side with German team simply "knowing how to win" and thus casting my chips on them. Spain has looked daunting at times but I think Joachim Löw's German squad with Michael Ballack will take a firm grip of the helm. For German fans, Michael Ballack's return to strength from a training injury is a key mix but I do not doubt for a moment he will be up to the challenge. In this star-studded affair watch for the continued growth of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski to offset the speed of the Spanish assault of led by Fernando Torres which will feel the enormous loss of David Villa.

19-11 after Spain ruined the possible German - Russia final I had been hoping for...

Viva la Vida

eTomorrow (17th in North America), Coldplay's brilliant ten-track Viva la Vida is released. It's an absolute must and strongly recommended.

The cover (my, my what a clever little seque) makes use of one of my favorite painters, the French romantic Eugène Delacroix and his masterpiece, "La liberté guidant le peuple". "La Liberte", painted in 1830 and hangs today in the Louvre, captures the noble sentiments of Parisians under the flag fighting onward for liberty and freedom. To say the work mes amis, this spell-binding masterpiece, is awe-inspiring is a pale understatement as it alone is worthy of trip across the globe to behold in life enriching Paris.
















Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple

Euro 2008 preview

don't forget to check out my Euro 2008 preview at my good friends, bodybuilding.com

funny, I'm bored about the same thing

Euro 2008

I have to admit...I tried to hold out as long as possible but there are limits. With it only eight days till the first match, I thought it's time to open up the Euro 2008 discussion.

Held jointly in stunning locations throughout Austria and Switzerland, the Euro 2008 pits the best Footballing nations in Europe in the tournament held every four years. I'll be going through each of the squads, matches and even supplying some of my own photos (below image per Getty Images / UEFA).

Groups are broken down as such:

Group A Czech Republic Portugal Switzerland Turkey

Group B Austria Croatia Germany Poland

Group C France Italy Netherlands Romania

Group D Greece Russia Spain Sweden

Ligue 1 Orange finale

It's a peculiar thing to start the review of the final day of the season in which the title was won by Lyon to note first, thankfully PSG was saved from relegation but such is the case. With PSG's noble victory 2-1 over Sochaux on the strength of Amare Diané two goals and Bordeaux and Lens 2-2 draw, PSG was saved.















Of course the real story was Lyon's victory which secured their seventh consecutive Ligue 1 title. Their 3-1 victory over Auxerre was never in-doubt as only a minute into the match Karim Benzema scored and the second was added by Fred ten minutes later.

On the opposite end of the table, Lens which had flown so high last year and bordered upon a Champions League spot is sent down to Ligue 2 with Strasbourg and Metz. It is a painful taste for Lens and hopefully a short-lived exodus. Equally said, PSG and Toulouse which look condemned pulled-off the Ligue 1 "great escape". From Ligue 2, Le Havre, Nantes and possibly the best excuse for a road-trip next season Grenoble.

In another odd side-story with Nancy seemingly having locked up third place and the final Champions League spot, they lost to Rennes 3-2 while Olympique Marseille beat Strasbourg 4-3 on two Djibril Cisse goals as well as one each by Sami Nasir and Mamadou Niang. With this swing, Marseille which seemed to have dropped any chance of the Champions League next season with squandered points finds itself in third place and in the Champions League. Allez l'OM Allez!

As an aside, Marseille, which is owned by Robert Louis-Dreyfus the CEO of Adidas-Salomon, unveiled it's kit for next season using a argyle-vest pattern a hint of things to come from Adidas. The jersey is available online now -
























































































Final table ~

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Olympique Lyonnais	38	24	7	7	74	37	79
FC Girondins de Bordeaux	38	22	9	7	65	38	75
Olympique Marseille	38	17	11	10	58	45	62
AS Nancy Lorraine	38	15	15	8	44	31	60
Saint-Étienne Loire	38	16	10	12	47	34	58
Stade Rennais FC	38	16	10	12	47	44	58
Lille O.S.C.	38	13	18	7	45	32	57
Nice-Côte d'Azur	38	13	16	9	35	30	55
Le Mans	38	14	11	13	46	49	53
Lorient	38	12	16	10	32	35	52
SM Caen	38	13	12	13	48	53	51
AS Monaco FC	38	13	8	17	40	48	47
Valenciennes FC	38	12	9	17	42	40	45
Sochaux-Montbéliard	38	10	14	14	34	43	44
AJ Auxerre	38	12	8	18	33	52	44
Paris Saint-Germain	38	10	13	15	37	45	43
Toulouse FC	38	9	15	14	36	42	42
Racing Club de Lens	38	9	13	16	43	52	40
RC Strasbourg	38	9	8	21	34	60	35
FC Metz	38	5	9	24	28	64	24

Fairwell to King Khan

Bayern Munich beat Herta Berlin 4-1 to conclude their Bundesliga winning season, which was a perfect send-off to Oliver Khan and Ottmar Hitzeld who are retiring. With three goals, once again by Luca Toni and the other from Franck Ribéry, cruised to victory on this final emotional day.

With a career that started with his debut for Karlsruher SC in 1987, Khan was replaced with one minute left to a resounding ovation.

UEFA Cup: Bayern - Zenit

Just an hour away now from the second-leg of Bayern München and FC Zenit St Petersburg. The first match ended in a 1-1 draw and puts Zenit in a perfect position to pull-off a stunning upset. Without question they are in perfect position and teams that have ventured into St. Petersburg have found how difficult the challenge it is to beat them on home soil.

Zenit will have to do without Andrei Arshavin, Radek Sirl and Fernando Ricksen who are all suspended and Bayern is overjoyed to see the return of Luca Toni. Bayern will also have the services of Oliver Khan, who was injured in the first leg.

I believe the return of Luca Toni will be the deciding factor and see Bayern off the finals in Manchester. And yes, Der Kaiser will be happy (you really didn't think I'd pass up Franz Beckenbauer reference did you?).

Canadiens win game seven!

5-0, beautiful game seven win by Canadiens over the Bruins

btw...

Bayern Munich wins DFB Pokal

Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund yesterday 2-1 in the DFB Pokal on (once again) a Luca Toni brace, the final at the 111th minute to end the stalemate.

Bayern is in line to win the treble with the Bundesliga title a lock and in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. It was a great send-off the the legendary goalkeeper, Oliver Khan and Ottmar Hitzeld who are retiring this season.

Juventus - A.C. Milan update

Of the seven top matches today, the Juventus - A.C. Milan justed ended with Juve taking a exhausting 3-2 victory on a pair of Hasan Salihamidzic goals with the ageless Alessandro Del Piero adding another.

As expected it was an intense affair that you would expect of the two titans which saw Daniele Bonera sent off with a red card on the sixty-sixth minute on a horrid challenge on Mohamed Sissoko. The match started at a fast pace with Del Piero opening the scoring at the twelfth minute but A.C. quickly countered with two goals from Filippo Inzaghi. Just before the half Salihamidzic scored to tie the match at two and then headed home the winner at the eightieth minute.

Schalke 04 - Werder Bremen update

SV Werder Bremen 5 FC Schalke 04 1
Lets just say, it's been a bad week for Schalke, starting with the Champions League loss to Barcelona and the Derby-like drubbing today.

The match started strong for Schalke although numerous scoring chances were squandered in the first ten minutes but after that the momentum turned in Werder Bremen's favor. Frank Baumann and Boubacar Sanogo opened-up the scoring for Bremen before Kevin Kuranyi scored for Schalke and to take a 2-1 score into the half. Two second half goals Ivan Klasnic and another from Markus Rosenberg catapults Bremen into second-place of the Bundesliga and the important Champions League spot

Diet Solutions, part 2

In a world where the obvious is no longer obvious, honest realities rarely are heard in much of the media. Equally so, it appears that in the blogging world where daily content is the fix, "substance" has died once again and "sexy stories" are de rigueur. However this is not the time or the place for me to talk of the peculiar traits of the media and reporting or to mention how this is McLuhans vision come true but with a horrific twist and therefore I will climb down from this little soapbox and move to a simpler suggestion from my upcoming lifestyle book in response to my readers mail.

Making a long story a little longer, a number of years ago I was doing a radio show spot and was asked about important diet issues and the ever-present question of "what is the one thing I can do". Of the many suggestions I made I think one of the most important ones was to "drive by the drive-thru".

If you are starting to question why I don't write in major publications I trust that last sentence answered that question sufficiently as I won't be "bought" by advertisers or twist my word's to sell this seasons pyrite or in this case, hide the truth about one of the most destructive "hidden" elements in our day-to-day lives. I suppose it is just me as I'm still oblivious to what's so "happy" about a meal that is part of ruining the quality of life.

The fast-food industry is one of the leading causes to obesity in the world and has been remarkably successful in contaminating generations ideas of "food", dining habits, lifestyle (or is that "having style") and even the notion of fellowship with the meal. The mass conditioning of the public is complete and to suggest the abolition of fast-food as I do is that of a heretic.

However if you are serious about living a life of quality and style, of being healthy, fit and virile and not clamoring for a little blue pill (or is it purple...I have no idea actually), developing a relationship with your family and actually turning back the clock to a time when we were all better-off, one of the first changes to make is to "drive by the drive-thru".



Later this year I will be releasing my largest book to-date "A Style of Life" on lifestyle and career success that will delve into this topic in great length. Additionally this May 31st my diet fact / checklist Diet Solutions will be released in a limited edition.

Eredivisie

This past weekend in the Eredivisie:

Saturday
Heerenveen 3 Willem II Tilburg 2
FC Enschede Twente '65 1 Excelsior 0
Vitesse Arnhem 3 Sparta Rotterdam 0

Sunday
AZ Alkmaar 3 VVV Venlo 2
NAC Breda 2 FC Groningen 1
PSV Eindhoven 2 SC Heracles Almelo 0
Feyenoord Rotterdam 3 FC Utrecht 1
Ajax Amsterdam 4 De Graafschap 1
The story of the match was of-course one of the world's best strikers Klaas-Jan Huntelaar netting three goals and the endless commentary of him leaving Ajax this season. While I doubt he will stay I hope he realizes how special a career solely at Ajax would be.

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
PSV Eindhoven	32	20	8	4	63	23	68
Ajax Amsterdam	32	18	9	5	87	43	63
NAC Breda	32	18	6	8	46	37	60
FC Enschede Twente '65	32	16	10	6	49	31	58
Heerenveen	32	17	6	9	81	44	57
Feyenoord Rotterdam	32	17	6	9	60	38	57
FC Groningen	32	15	6	11	52	51	51
Roda JC Kerkrade	32	11	11	10	51	51	44
NEC Nijmegen	32	12	7	13	45	49	43
Vitesse Arnhem	32	12	7	13	46	53	43
FC Utrecht	32	12	6	14	57	54	42
AZ Alkmaar	32	10	9	13	46	52	39
SC Heracles Almelo	32	8	8	16	33	58	32
Sparta Rotterdam	32	8	7	17	48	73	31
De Graafschap	32	7	8	17	32	60	29
Willem II Tilburg	32	7	7	18	37	46	28
VVV Venlo	32	6	8	18	40	72	26
Excelsior	32	7	5	20	31	69	26

Upcoming matches:

Sunday
FC Utrecht @ De Graafschap
AZ Alkmaar @ Excelsior
Ajax @ FC Groningen
NAC Breda @ SC Heracles Almelo
Vitesse Arnhem @ NEC Nijmegen
FC Enschede Twente '65 @ PSV
VVV Venlo @ Roda
Heerenveen @ Sparta Rotterdam
Feyenoord Rotterdam @ Willem II Tilburg

Serie A

I'll let the debate rage on whether or not Serie A is the finest league...however of the top leagues it is unquestionably the best race, offers some of the most learned tactical play and each match is highly competitive. Hmm...maybe isn't much of a debate anyways. Results from this weekend:

Saturday
A.S. Roma 3 Genoa C.F.C. 2
A.C. Milan 3 Cagliari Calcio 1

Sunday
Empoli F.C. @ Torino F.C.
Catania Calcio 3 Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli 0
U.C. Sampdoria 2 AS Livorno Calcio 0
Udinese Calcio 1 A.C. Siena 1
Società Sportiva Lazio 1 Parma F.C. 1
F.C. Internazionale Milano 2 Atalanta B.C. 0
ACF Fiorentina 2 Reggina Calcio 0

Palermo 3 Juventus F.C. 2
This was definitely one of the most exciting tactical matches of the season. Two Carvalho De Oliveira Amauri goals in the first half gave Palermo a solid 2-0 lead. Alessandro Del Piero strikes for two goals in the second half to level the match and looked to be close to scoring the go-ahead goal but just one minute before the end of regulation time Mattia Cassani struck for Palermo with a stunning goal.

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Inter Milan	32	21	9	2	59	21	72
Roma	32	20	8	4	58	32	68
Juventus F.C.	31	16	10	5	53	28	58
Fiorentina	32	16	8	8	47	32	56
AC Milan	32	14	10	8	48	28	52
Sampdoria	32	15	7	10	46	37	52
Udinese	32	14	9	9	43	40	51
Genoa	32	11	9	12	40	46	42
Atalanta	32	10	11	11	46	46	41
Napoli	32	11	7	14	41	47	40
Lazio	32	9	12	11	39	41	39
Palermo	32	10	9	13	42	51	39
Siena	32	8	13	11	34	39	37
Torino	32	6	16	10	32	39	34
Catania Calcio	32	7	11	14	28	38	32
Parma	31	6	12	13	37	49	30
Livorno	32	6	11	15	29	47	29
Empoli	32	7	8	17	25	45	29
Cagliari	32	7	8	17	29	50	29
Reggina	32	5	12	15	27	47	27

Upcoming matches next weekend:

Saturday
Catania Calcio @ Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo
A.C. Milan @ Juventus F.C.
quite obviously a highlight match of the weekend. A loss by AC Milan could send them out of UEFA Cup spot and sink their hopes for the Champions League.

Sunday,
Atalanta B.C. @ SSC Napoli
Cagliari Calcio @ AS Livorno Calcio
this will be a heavyweight battle for safety

A.S. Roma @ Udinese Calcio
Totti is listed as available for the match although this will need to be updated.

U.C. Sampdoria @ Reggina
Parma F.C. @ Empoli F.C.
another massive test for two teams fighting against relegation

A.C. Siena @ Lazio
Torino F.C. @ Genoa C.F.C.
ACF Fiorentina @ F.C. Internazionale Milano
Inter will be in a good position for this as Fiorentina plays a few days earlier in the UEFA Cup. I expect a stellar performance by Fiorentina though and will be updating this later in the week.

Bundesliga

The Bundesliga title is Bayern München's as they have an comfortable nine-point lead and will now push forward towards their goal of the treble and the culmination of their incredible turn-around from last season.

With eight matches left in the campaign the race for the European bids are wide open with at least seven teams in the running for four possible berths. Results from the weekend:

Friday
Energie Cottbus @ MSV Duisburg

Saturday
FC Schalke 04 1 FC Hansa Rostock 0
SV Werder Bremen 2 Hertha BSC Berlin 1
Arminia Bielefeld 1 Karlsruhe SC 0
clutch win by Arminia Bielefeld as they fight out of the relegation zone with a Leonidas Kampantais goal one minute into added-time.

VfB Stuttgart 1 Hamburger SV 0

FC Nürnberg 3 Eintracht Frankfurt 1
another clutch victory from a squad facing relegation.

VfL Wolfsburg 3 Hannover 96 2

Sunday
Borussia Dortmund 2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1
terrible collapse by Leverkusen in allowing two late goals to give Dortmund the win.

Bayern München 3 VfL Bochum 1

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Bayern München	27	16	9	2	47	16	57
FC Schalke 04	27	13	9	5	41	26	48
Hamburger SV	27	12	11	4	37	20	47
SV Werder Bremen	27	14	5	8	55	39	47
VfB Stuttgart	27	14	3	10	45	40	45
Bayer 04 Leverkusen	27	13	5	9	47	30	44
VfL Wolfsburg	27	12	7	8	45	38	43
Eintracht Frankfurt	27	11	9	7	33	34	42
Karlsruhe SC	27	10	8	9	30	34	38
Hannover 96	27	9	8	10	38	45	35
Borussia Dortmund	27	9	7	11	41	45	34
VfL Bochum	27	8	9	10	41	44	33
Hertha BSC Berlin	27	9	5	13	29	35	32
Energie Cottbus	27	6	8	13	29	43	26
Arminia Bielefeld	27	6	7	14	26	51	25
FC Hansa Rostock	27	6	6	15	22	38	24
FC Nürnberg	27	5	8	14	30	43	23
MSV Duisburg	27	6	4	17	27	42	22

Friday
VfL Wolfsburg @ FC Nürnberg

Saturday
Arminia Bielefeld @ Energie Cottbus
MSV Duisburg @ Hamburger SV
Eintracht Frankfurt @ Hannover 96
FC Schalke 04 @ SV Werder Bremen
FC Hansa Rostock @ Karlsruhe SC
Hertha BSC Berlin @ VfL Bochum

Sunday
VfB Stuttgart @ Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Borussia Dortmund @ Bayern München

UEFA Cup: PSV @ Fiorentina

UEFA Cup
Quarter-finals: first leg
PSV Eindhoven @ ACF Fiorentina (Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence)

Injuries:
ACF Fiorentina is without Franco Semioli.
Ismail Aissati and Alcides are both injured and not included in the PSV lineup.

Recent Form
PSV Eindhoven is closing-in on winning the Eredivisie possibly this weekend yet Coach Sef Vergoossen notes the squads complete focus is upon the UEFA Cup.

ACF Fiorentina has quickly emerged as one of the telling stories in Football over the last few years and excluding this past weekends loss to Udinese Calcio has been consistently amongst the top four teams in the Serie A. Quite possibly the one disadvantage they have is their position within domestic tables and the challenge of recovery between matches.

Areas to Watch
Fiorentina is a significantly better club at home and likely must win if they wish to move-on to play either Sporting or the Rangers in the semi-finals. Their attacking formation (4-3-3) vs. PSV (4-3-2-1) will make for one of the most compelling match-ups of the day and includes match-changing strikers of Adrian Mutu (ACF Fiorentina), Danny Koevermans (PSV) on either squad as well as PSV's wall of a goalkeeper (Heurelho da Silva) Gomes. While the advantage obviously appears to be PSV's, at every challenge Cesare Prandelli's squad has responded to every challenge.

a secret

Don’t tell anyone…it’s a little secret.

With great pain, I resisted the “April fools” joke today (well for the most part except one little volley). In the past my dry sense of humor has lead to some rather delicious little forays. Truth be told, I have a horribly dry sense of humor that borders on the ridiculous at times, which of course suits the tomfoolery and hi-jinx of “April Fool’s”.

One of the favorite little pranks that Grant and I have pulled in the business goes back a few years ago with the release of our now-infamous “manly arms” article. Roughly five or so years ago now, we announced a very special release on how to develop... ahem “manly arms”. If I can recall correctly the article description noted “arms to make all the guys in the gym jealous” and pushing the proverbial envelope of bad taste we further described "smooth arms that were gleamed of every distasteful hair". Of course this wonderful treatise wasn't available online and exclusive to those who responded to our email prompt.

As these things often turn-out the joke was on us as our little dégagement had the largest response in our history and came perilously close to crashing our servers. It was also rather funny how the "big tough-guys" who publish online responded wanting to know how "they too could have arms to make all the guys jealous". Of course it also triggered the realization that I honestly had nothing in common with the exercise, how ideas of health and fitness are filtered down to the public and the rather perverse notions of underlying motivations. I had spent my career developing powerful, healthy athletes who possessed the noble qualities of great warriors yet somehow the idea of "manly arms" had escaped my needs. Pray tell, what was I thinking?

Now if you want to understand the rationale of the title of my book "With Grace" that's another story for another time but right now thats still a secret.

La Primera División de México

From La Primera División de México this weekend;

Saturday
Club San Luis 2 Chiapas (Jaguares) 0
Itamar Batista scored twice within five minutes Jaguares to lead to victory
Cruz Azul 2 Puebla 0
Pachuca 2 Atlante Futbol Club 0
U.A.N.L. 2 UNAM (Pumas) 0
F.C. Atlas 1 Monarcas Morelia 0
Veracruz 4 Club América 0
Veracruz assault led by three Claudio Graf goals

Sunday
Monterrey 1 Toluca 1
Club Santos Laguna 4 U. A. de G (Tecos) 0
After a scoreless first half, Santos devastated the Tecos defensive for four goals in less than twenty minutes including two by Mexican international, Fernando Arce.

Necaxa 1 Guadalajara 0
Guadalajara's unbeaten streak finally ends as Necaxa played a highly tactical match.

Group 1	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Chiapas (Jaguares)	12	6	3	3	17	12	21
Toluca	12	5	4	3	16	15	19
Pachuca	12	5	2	5	21	17	17
UNAM (Pumas)	12	4	3	5	14	19	15
Puebla	12	3	5	4	18	15	14
U. A. de G (Tecos)	12	3	3	6	14	22	12

Group 2	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Club Santos Laguna	12	5	5	2	23	15	20
F.C. Atlas	12	4	4	4	17	17	16
Monterrey	12	3	5	4	15	16	14
Veracruz	12	3	4	5	16	15	13
Atlante Futbol Club	12	2	5	5	17	23	11
Club América	12	2	2	8	8	18	8

Group 3	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Guadalajara	12	7	4	1	22	8	25
Club San Luis	12	6	4	2	18	15	22
Cruz Azul	12	5	4	3	20	13	19
Necaxa	12	3	7	2	13	9	16
U.A.N.L.	12	4	3	5	14	21	15
Monarcas Morelia	12	4	1	7	6	19	13

Friday
U.A.N.L. @ U. A. de G (Tecos)
Necaxa @ F.C. Atlas

Saturday
Veracruz@ Monterrey
Cruz Azul @ Chiapas (Jaguares)
Club Santos Laguna @ Monarcas Morelia
Guadalajara @ Atlante Futbol Club

Sunday
Club San Luis @ UNAM (Pumas)
Pachuca @ Club América
Toluca @ Puebla

Eredivisie

This past weekend in the Eredivisie:

Saturday
Ajax Amsterdam 4 Heerenveen 2
Once again Ajax sharp-shooter Klaas-Jan Huntelaar struck for two goals. One of the great emerging strikers in the game, I expect Huntelaar to gain deserved international attention at the Euro's.

Excelsior 2 VVV Venlo 1
huge victory for Excelsior as they fight to get out of the automatic relegation spot

SC Heracles Almelo 0 Roda JC Kerkrade 0
PSV Eindhoven 0 NEC Nijmegen 0

Sunday
NAC Breda 3 Feyenoord Rotterdam 1
NAC dominated play with a powerful counter-attack and superb marking. The result moved much closer to securing a Champions League playoff qualifying spot.

FC Enschede Twente '65 1 FC Utrecht 0 - 1
final minute goal by Stein Huysegems to move Enschede into a Champions League playoff qualifying spot.

Sparta Rotterdam 2 - 2 Willem II Tilburg
AZ Alkmaarr 2 Vitesse Arnhem 1

		GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
1	PSV	31	19	8	4	61	23	65
2	Ajax	31	17	9	5	83	42	60
3	NAC Breda	31	17	6	8	44	36	57
4	FC Enschede Twente '65	31	15	10	6	48	31	55
5	Heerenveen	31	16	6	9	78	42	54
6	Feyenoord Rotterdam	31	16	6	9	57	37	54
7	FC Groningen	31	15	6	10	51	49	51
8	Roda	31	11	11	9	51	49	44
9	FC Utrecht	31	12	6	13	56	51	42
10	NEC Nijmegen	31	11	7	13	43	49	40
11	Vitesse Arnhem	31	11	7	13	43	53	40
12	AZ Alkmaar	31	9	9	13	43	50	36
13	SC Heracles Almelo	31	8	8	15	33	56	32
14	Sparta	31	8	7	16	48	70	31
15	De Graafschap	31	7	8	16	31	56	29
16	Willem II Tilburg	31	7	7	17	35	43	28
17	VVV Venlo	31	6	8	17	38	69	26
18	Excelsior	31	7	5	19	31	68	26

Friday