Official Football Thread

I've gotta put some bets for tomorrow's games, to recover from the last week when that bloody Liverpul lost against Bolton and took the money right from my hand. The internationals and the C.league's matches are more predictable than league matches. Or so they say.
 
I would never bet on football because it is, as I always say, unpredictable ;)  That's how the bookies make their money, isn't it.
 
Albie said:
Well what do you know, I go out for the night and we get two newbies to the football thread - glad of the input. About time some more joined in - ain't that so Conor? Still we will give the press a wide berth just now as talk seems to be centered on the Champions league and the Euro cup - the latter been more apt as we have some qualifications tomorrow and on Wednesday.

The match of the day has to be a slightly resurgent Scotland and a semi-decent French side (after all they were World cup runners up). A match that could determine if Scotland have a chance of qualifying - as they have to get the points from both France and Italy in Glasgow. Should be interesting. I Think England should get the three points on Saturday (they always do well at Old Trafford), but Croatia away on Wednesday will be extremely tricky. The Republic should get three points in Cyprus, but - it's a funny old game!
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The last time England and Croatia met in EuroCup, (we) Croatia lost 4:2 mainly thanks to Wayne "The World's greatest footballer"  ;) Roonie's two goals from afar over the goalie.  Croatia's best years seem to be over as evidenced by their lethargic performance against Japan and Australia.  It seems they don't want the glory again, at least not that bad.

I have only EuroCup to look forward to, as sadly, here in Canada, "soccer" (football) is not that popular and I can't catch games without satellite.  Only the two big turnaments are broadcast.  I'll have to read upon the qualifications for EuroCup.  :(
 
Conor said:
Don't bet on it Albie.  The Republic of Ireland has had quite a poor squad for a couple of years and I wouldn't be surprised if Cyprus took all three points.

I would say that Scotland will give the French a right old scare but les Bleus  will win in the end. 

You are right about that one, France is still very strong  .                                                                                                             
 
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Genghis Khan said:
Croatia's best years seem to be over as evidenced by their lethargic performance against Japan and Australia.
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I'll agree with that, but England do not travel well to teams that can potentially be a little tricky. If England leave Croatia with a draw, I'll be happy. Only mugs here are underestimating Croatia - I'm sure Steve McClaren & co won't be.
 
You should be happy, look at the disgrace that my country's national team brought to us on the World cup-Serbia 0-6 Argentina.
 
Urizen said:
You should be happy, look at the disgrace that my country's national team brought to us on the World cup-Serbia 0-6 Argentina.
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Argentina are a well established international team with players of high quality in most positions. They started the last world cup with a bang and were really on fire. Serbia are a small and new team on the international scene and will succumb to the odd result such as this at the hands of the "giants" of football. Give yourself time, football from the South Eastern Europe has yielded good teams and good players in the past and will continue to do so.
 
I want to say something derogatary about the England team but the 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Cyprus (yes, Cyprus), leaves me in no place to comment.

Fair play to the Scots though :ok:
 
Conor said:
I want to say something derogatary about the England team but the 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Cyprus (yes, Cyprus), leaves me in no place to comment.
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Now that drubbing was a real shock. But I think any bad press England would get is really disrespectful of their opponents. Macedonia were the first team to come to Old Trafford and have a positive attitude for quite a few years now - in fact not since the Greeks came and drew 2-2 (the famous injury time Beckham free-kick giving England the draw). Most teams come here and just defend.

Conor said:
Fair play to the Scots though :ok:
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Fair play indeed - What we need is a Scot with a passion for football to comment. I think that may be pushing it though, as we recently are struggling to get football fans full stop, let alone Scottish ones.
 
Plenty of surprises yesterday...

France played with its best squad, and lost.

Wales 1-5 Slovakia, on their home ground, Giggs didn't played but still.
I mean Slovakia, I didn't know they could play football 'till now

Serbia beat Belgium 1-0, good start of the qualifications for us. Seems that this new Spanish coach we got is doing something good with our team.
Well, more matches in wednesday.
And England needs to forget this draw fast, as they are going to Croatia, to play against a good team, don't you think?
 
Italy won (2-0) with Ukraine, but despite the score, it wasn't an easy match for us...and, honestly, it was very boring :|
 
ABandOn said:
Italy won (2-0) with Ukraine, but despite the score, it wasn't an easy match for us...and, honestly, it was very boring :|
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Did Totti played? He's my favourite Italian player.
 
Conor said:
Fair play to the Scots though :ok:
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Yes, they were great. I like this kind of teams. They really wanted it and they got it...
Next summer, I'm gonna spend my hollidays in Scotland! :)
...





... and to those who would have the same sense of humour as I have, the answer is no: I didn't spend my last hollidays in Italy! :bigsmile:
 
Urizen said:
Did Totti played? He's my favourite Italian player.
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No, he didn't play yesterday. Actually, he retired from national team, at least for some months, until he will change his mind :p

JackKnife said:
... and to those who would have the same sense of humour as I have, the answer is no: I didn't spend my last hollidays in Italy! :bigsmile:
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:D You are welcome in Italy  :bigsmile:
 
Albie said:
Now that drubbing was a real shock. But I think any bad press England would get is really disrespectful of their opponents. Macedonia were the first team to come to Old Trafford and have a positive attitude for quite a few years now
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I agree, Macedonia really played with guts and spirit.  England took them for granted.  That match was expected to be one for Rooney to regain his form by scoring a few goals.  Many people were saying that before the match.  That arrogant attitude is what cost England the match but I suppose the English press will live and learn (probably not actually :p)
Sorry Albie, I just couldn't resist a swipe at the bandwagon-jumping media circus surrounding the England team.
 
JackKnife said:
Yes, they were great. I like this kind of teams. They really wanted it and they got it...
Next summer, I'm gonna spend my hollidays in Scotland! :)
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If you really want to go to Scotland I urge you to visit the surreal Electric Brae. I have been there on many an occasion and always I have a :huh: moment.

Anyway, back to footie - I saw a post by ____no5 who commented on Montsegur. In it he talked briefly of Toulouse and my thoughts went back to the time I went to see England play Romania in the '98 World Cup. England, you may or may not recall, lost 2-1 but the atmosphere at this game before, after and in the stadium itself was absolutely amazing. There was several thousand English in Toulouse that day and only a handful of Romanians. After the game a whole hoard of English descended on here:
LeCapitole.jpg
Someone had a ball and a game of 2000-a-side (skins v tops) took place in that massive area in front of the "The Capitole". Sort of like the Carling ad on UK TV. This was quite refreshing to see after the incident that occurred in Marseilles only days before. [/reminiscence]

Conor said:
I agree, Macedonia really played with guts and spirit.  England took them for granted.  That match was expected to be one for Rooney to regain his form by scoring a few goals.  Many people were saying that before the match.  That arrogant attitude is what cost England the match but I suppose the English press will live and learn (probably not actually :p)
Sorry Albie, I just couldn't resist a swipe at the bandwagon-jumping media circus surrounding the England team.
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I have to admit, I rarely (if ever) read the press and tend to avoid (or at least ignore) biased commentary on the TV. That way I don't get sucked into this petty arrogance (not too much, anyway). ;)
 
Croatia beats Andorra.  No offence to Andorra, but it is not that hard...  a match with England though, that ought to be good  :).  Too bad Michael Owen is injured.
 
Macedonia beats Andorra 3:0. No surprise, but the second half was downright boring since Macedonia felt secure with the 3 goals they scored in the first half.
 
Hello everyone - I'm back after a short hiatus. :)

I saw the England game at the weekend. I never get too excited about qualifiers as they're usually dull affairs;  I reserve my enthusiasm for the tournaments, but with Conor's help I am learning to control even this. :bigsmile:
Anyway, England were rubbish against Macedonia and a change in formation tonight against Croatia could go horribly wrong - we'll see. The honeymoon is definitely over for Steve McClaren with regards to the 'English Media' (that wondrous machine).

Now to QPR: last time I posted here I commented on the uselessness of our manager; no less than a day later he was sacked and a proper manager introduced in his stead: John Gregory. Most people will remember him as manager of Aston Vanilla in the late '90's, but he played for QPR back in the '80's(?) and seems to have the club's best interests at heart - he is after all a West London boy. Not only this, he is a good manager, and so far we have won our two games under him, with an especially good win away at Southampton. Maybe things are looking up!
 
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