2009-in-Review Quiz, the Answers

If you haven’t yet done our year-end quiz, stop by this post and make your guesses. (And you now have my permission to use google.)

I know I’ve made a quiz a bit too easy when I don’t have to look up my own answers. This one was a little too easy. Even so, though, it was kind of a fun way to take a look back at 2009, right?

Thomas is our winner with a somewhat randomly-awarded 45 points. Sethu came up with some that Thomas missed, as did LuKa and gt607 who also, without question, gets the Creativity Award for his response to #30, the Mad Jens question. Which everybody needs to go read.

January:
1. Name the player on the left, the loan details, and who was pissed off by all of this.

Answer: David Beckham, of course, loaned to AC Milan through the first half of the MLS season, with the pissed-off ones being Landon Donovan, the LA Riot Squad, and all of the gang in LA. (If you’re an MLS fan and still unfamiliar with the details, tell your family you want Grant Wahl’s “The Beckham Experiment” for the holidays. Trust me — you’ll learn from it.

2. Also this month, scientists declared that what medication, normally taken for other issues, can improve footy players’ performance at high altitude?

Answer: The little blue pill. Obviously.

3. Which country handed out longterm suspensions and fines against players, managers and coaches for holding a secret co-ed football game?
Answer: That would be Iran: guys’ youth team vs. women’s first team, reported to authorities by somebody with a cellphone camera. Note: If you’re going to break the rules, ban cellphones. Suspensions all ’round.

February:

4. This manager was sacked after only a few months on the job.
Answer: The top of this head belongs to… Big Phil Scolari, sacked from Chelsea to bring in Guus Hiddink as an interim manager. A wise choice, as it turned out.

5. Name the clown. (This might be a trick question. Or maybe I just liked the photos and wanted to repost them.)

Answer: Luciano Pavarotti, or Pippo Inzaghi. Your choice.

March:
6. Name the two teams in the MLS “First Kick”
Answer: Seattle Sounders played their inaugural game at Qwest Field against the New York Red Bulls on Thursday, March 17. Seattle won 3-0. And it wouldn’t get much better for the hapless Red Bulls in 2009.

7. Which new league made its debut this month?
Answer: Women’s pro soccer returns to the US with the debut of WPS — the Women’s Professional Soccer League.

8. Which European club made life a little easier for its unemployed fans by giving them free season tickets?
Answer: The good people at Villareal in the Spanish La Liga.

April:
9. Which clubs knocked the following sides out of the UEFA Champions League:
Villareal, Porto, Liverpool, Bayern Munich
Answers: Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Barcelona, respectively.

10. Which tiny little French club made it to the Coupe de la Ligue final in their first year as a professional side? (Of course, they had their dreams stomped on by a much bigger club when they got there, but still…)
BONUS questions: Who beat them in the final, and what was the final score?
Answer: Vannes OC, beaten 4-0 by les Girondins de Bordeaux. (And I’d just like to say, for the record, that the linked post is the only time I’ve ever accidentally included a video with a topless woman in any of my posts. You’re welcome.)

May:

11. Name the referee who was the inspiration for this video:

Answer: Tom Obvrebo, in the second leg of the Champions League tie between Chelsea and Barcelona. (And yes, this question was just an excuse to post the video again. It is truly a classic.)

June:
12. Name the famous father of this baby, who retired in 2009. (The father retired, that is. Not the baby. Although he probably could, given how much money his father made over his career.)
Answer: That’s baby Maldini, of course.

13. Name the winners of the 2008-2009:
English Premier League Manchester United
English Championship Wolverhampton Wanderers
Bundesliga Wolfsburg
Serie A Inter
La Liga Barcelona
Ligue 1 Bordeaux
Eredivisie AZ Alkmaar
Portuguese Liga Porto
Scottish Premier League Rangers

July:

14. Name the English legend who passed away this month.
Answer: Sir Bobby Robson

15. Which player had a very large fine upheld this month, and what was the infraction?
Answer: Adrian Mutu, doing cocaine at Chelsea.

16. Name one or more players who got into Tweet trouble for their Twitter usage sometime this year.
Answers: The ones I can think of off the top of my head: Darren Bent, Jozy Altidore, Brian Ching. I know there are more, so this question is still open.

On a related note, I also need to pass onto you my newest discovery: The Footballer Tweets Collection form FootballFilter, which I discovered while researching answers to #16. (I know Daryl discovered it a couple of months ago, but I somehow missed it then. You may have also. If so… Well, wave goodbye to your life.) I’m pretty sure there are some deep philosophical lessons here. Even if they amount to, “Sir, step away from the electronic device.” You’re welcome.

August:

17. To which player did this apply: Dive. After-the-fact ban. Haha, just kidding?
Answer: Eduardo, Arsenal.

18. Which club responded to their fans’ discontent by giving out free beer?
Answer: Bayern Munich, who made the potentially unwise assumption that Football Drunks are Happy Drunks. Seems to have worked out okay for them, though.

19. In an attempt to slow the spread of swine flu, what activity did one small-town mayor want to make a bookable offense?
Answer: Spitting. This came from Christophe Rouillon, mayor of Coulaines, France. (Admit it. This question kind of scared you, didn’t it?)

20. Just for fun, who were the five most expensive transfers into La Liga last summer and what club(s) did they end up at? (Some were finalized before August.)

Jun ‘09 Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid from Manchester United €94m
Jun ‘09 Kaka to Real Madrid from Milan €86
Jul ‘09 Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona from Inter €46
Aug ‘09 Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid from Liverpool €35
Jul ‘09 Karim Benzema to Real Madrid from Lyon €35

September:

21. Which two famously feuding footy gear companies buried the hatchet this month?
Answer: Adidas and Puma

22. Which US team became the first expansion side ever to win the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup?
Answer: Seattle Sounders FC

October:

23. Which Prem side beat which other Prem side with the help of which inanimate object?
Answer: Sunderland beat Liverpool with the help of a beachball. Of course.

24. Which Prem side (led by the guy to your right) prevented a woman from jumping off a suspension bridge?
Answer: Hull City, with Phil Brown. (Interesting story if you haven’t read it.)

November:
25. Name all the countries involved in the World Cup playoffs this month.
Answers: France, Ireland, Bosnia and Herzigovina, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Greece, Ukraine, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain, New Zealand. (Thanks, Thomas — I just cut and pasted what you wrote in your answer.)

26. What school did the now-suspended hair-pulling female player play for? And what team was her team playing at the time?
BONUS: Give me the Seinfeld quote the fascination with this incident makes me think of. (Okay, for this one you have my permission google.)
Answer: New Mexico, playing against Brigham Young University.
Bonus: Jerry Seinfeld quote on the male fascination with catfights: “Men think if women are grabbing and clawing at each other there’s a chance they might somehow, you know, kiss.”
Seriously, that’s the only way I can explain the longevity of this story.

27. MLS Cup 2009. Who made the two goals in regular time, and who made the winning penalty kick?
Answer: Mike Magee, LA Galaxy; Robbie Findley, Real Salt Lake. Winning penalty came from Robbie Russell of RSL.

December:

28. Which newly-promoted French side has surprisingly found itself consistently in the top five this season?
Answer: Montpellier Herault Sport Club, currently sitting in fifth in Ligue 1, but just two points out of second.

29. Which European club recently scored three own goals in one game?
Answer: Hannover

30. What did the player below most recently make the headlines for?

Answer: I would have accepted a number of answers here, including Thomas’ “Peeing on an advertisement board during a match.” But the winning answer has to come from “gt607′:

Seeing as the question says “most recently”: conceding a penalty and being sent off, then snatching a fan’s sunglasses and refusing to return them, then being criticised by Ludovic Magnin for being a negative force in the dressing room. I would add the bit about him being fined by Stuttgart for shooting his mouth off, but I can’t remember if it came before or after last weekend’s match – he was criticising “prepubescent” fans, IIRC, for forcing the board to fire Markus Babbel. Since Babbel was fired before the Unirea match (which was before he got sent off last weekend), it all gets a little messed up, really. We need a timeline for Mad Jens.

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Category: World Football