Official Football Thread

Foro, with respect, you make it sound like I am duty bound to support the Irish. Yes they are a neighbouring country, but I am just not really fussed about their fate in qualifying. That's all. It's simply a football issue here.

Much like I would not expect too many Irish shedding a tear when England get dumped out in 2010 - it will undoubtedly happen (unless we win it), but they will not be too sympathetic - no matter how controversial our exit could be (and believe me, we have had our fair share of those). In fact, sales of the shirts of England's opponents go through the roof in Scotland (and possibly Ireland as well) during world cups. It's all part of the banter between us English/Scots/Welsh/Irish.

Chants heard during the recent Wales v Scotland match:

"We hate England more than you."

And there's nothing wrong with that.

And there is no need to get annoyed about it, as Perun said we can't all be deep into everything.

As for the game, if FIFA replay it, it would be a real travesty. If this incident prompts them to decide to use camera technology to aid officials, then that would be a smart move...as long as it is done correctly and does not impeded on the pace of the game. Sports that already use a Fourth Official/TMO/Third Umpire/etc. have many natural stoppages - football does not. Give teams x amount of appeals (say 2) during each half - and then go to the cameras before the ref gives his decision - if the team is wrong, they lose an appeal, if correct they don't.
 
Albie said:
As for the game, if FIFA replay it, it would be a real travesty. If this incident prompts them to decide to use camera technology to aid officials, then that would be a smart move...as long as it is done correctly and does not impeded on the pace of the game. Sports that already use a Fourth Official/TMO/Third Umpire/etc. have many natural stoppages - football does not. Give teams x amount of appeals (say 2) during each half - and then go to the cameras before the ref gives his decision - if the team is wrong, they lose an appeal, if correct they don't.
Click to expand...

This sounds like a swell plan.  However, I think that many more protests and controversies will need to happen for FIFA to change their purist views.
 
Just read Foro's, Perun's and Albie's posts about Ireland and I have to agree with Perun and Albie. The banter that exists between rival fans, be it at domestic or international level is one of the many things that makes football the greatest sport on earth (IMHO).
I support Manchester United domestically and obviously England. the banter I have at work with fans of say Liverpool, Chelsea and Citeh (intentional mis-spelling) is something I look forward to, whatever the result was at the weekend.

Having said that I was rooting for the Irish the other week, not becuase of geographic closeness (I'm not sure if the Republic of Ireland is actually part of the British Isles Foro, that is Northern Ireland) but more out of a "who do I dislike more France or Ireland" view. Yeah I'm sure there were plenty of sad Irish fans for a couple of days but life goes on, you gotta go to work, pay the bills etc. Without the lows you never will never fully appreciate the highs when they come your way. Take England for instance. Since 1966 we havent really set the world on fire apart from Italia 90 and Euro 96 when we made the semi's. We've been beaten on penalties by the German and Portugese sides more times than i care to remember. Which will make us winning 2010 South Africa all the more sweeter.......erm I can be optimistic can't I.

I didnt think Foro was overly rude however and I'm sure Albie is a big boy and can take it anyway.
 
Now as I'm English I suppose I should be gutted that Liverpool are out of the Champions League.............

However I am over the freakin moon!!!    :yey:

I just hope now that the owners panic over the thought of all the lost revenue the Champions League brings in and they decide to  offload some of the talent.
Torres to Manchester United anyone??

Surely wont happen but I can dream can't I. I'm glad Arsenal qualified as I admire their attacking philosophy and I also hope Chelsea do well in the competition also. I still think the winners will be either Chelsea, Real or Barca with United and Arsenal falling at semi final stage at best.
 
The biggest upside of Liverpool going out now is the long faces of the TV hosts on the Norwegian channel Viasat, who cover the Champions League here. The hosts are always sucking up to fans pf the English clubs, especially Liverpool. Each match-day, the 45 minutes studio before kick-off is a continuous wank fest where the hosts drool over the names of the players that they will give us the privilege of watching. Not to mention what a f***ing privilege it is to listen to the Scousers singing You'll Never Walk Alone.

No, it is sweet that they're out. Good job, Fiorentina.

Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude.
 
Was Fergie right to pick a much weakened team against Besiktas last night??? I'm in two minds. On one count he was tight to show he had faith in the youngsters and the fringe players and to give them the experience of European football. How else will they progress into better players.

On the other however I am now worried that we'll go to Wolfsburg and end up getting beat and finishing second in the table, resulting in a more difficult second round tie. With Wolfsburg and CSKA level on points, the Germans really need a win to guarantee their progression. if they draw and CSKA win their last match then the Russians will go through.

When interviewed if he'll play a stronger side against Wolfsburg, Fergie initimated that he'll go with a weakened side again.

Will he be kicking himself if we get drawn against Real Madrid or Barcelona in the next round and ending up going out??
 
Real Madrid won't be group winners, methinks. They've got a tough away game at Marseilles - remember, the Frenchies still have a chance to go through - whereas AC Milan play FC Zürich, which they should beat.

I'm not convinced Barcelona will win their group either. Dynamo Kiev away in December is no walk in the park, not even for the title holders. And if they fail to win, Inter will be happy to snatch first place right on front of their noses. (Personally, I'd like to see Kiev beat Barca, but with Inter drawing/losing and going out anyway).

Anyway, I didn't like that Ferguson fielded a team that weak. Starting with the two youngsters up front was literally asking for trouble. When Besiktas first got ahead and started defending, Welbeck and Macheda disappeared from the game. They have loads of talent, but they're not the ones to ask when you need to break through a wall of defenders. The third youngster, Gibson, also pretty much disappeared after the goal. Same with Obertan. All in all, it was evident that the team lacked the punch with so many experienced players being rested. We saw what happened when Evra, Carrick and Owen entered.

I guess some ABUs were fuming when they noticed that the ref added 5 minutes. I can understand them, I was quite surprised myself. However, it wasn't an adequate compensation for overlooking an obvious penalty.

Now looking forward to the game on Saturday.

Not to forget all the goodies on Sunday - first the Merseyside derby (go Everton!), then Arsenal vs Chelsea and finally El Clasico from Spain.
 
I love how the commentators introduced El Clasico on Sunday: The best team in the world versus the most expensive team in the world.

So I wonder what it says about that most expensive team when the best team in the world doesn't play at its best and still beats that most expensive team 1-0. :P

Go Barca! (And I may have grumbled earlier about the Eto'o Ibrahimovitch transfer but "the big Swede" finally came up with something on Sunday :D )
 
Pots for Friday's 2010 World Cup draw: eight groups of four countries to be drawn, each group containing one country from each pot. In blue the five countries where some of us forummers live (if I forget one, please correct me).

Pot 1 (seeds): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and North/Central America): Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Mexico, Honduras

Pot 3 (Africa and South America): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay

Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia


I am glad Holland is among the seeds, but still, there are no weak countries in this tournament. And we can still meet our Angstgegner Portugal.
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/6683979/Sepp-Blatter-supports-Thierry-Henry-over-controversial-handball-incident.html

Don't think I've mentioned this yet. I think this shows exactly what first class wanker Sepp Blatter is. Stand up for the big stars, and put the blame on the referee. This is especially stupid considering that the referee did not have a clear view of the situation. From his position, he could actually not see the handball at all. But of course, as long as all the big teams qualify, that corrupt mafioso is pleased.
 
I thought it was based on the FIFA ranking, but then France and Portugal should've been ahead of England and Argentina. I guess they've excluded them from the 1st seeds because they didn't qualify directly (thus putting more emphasis on the latest qualification series). The seeded 8 teams are, after all, the host nation (South Africa) and the top 7 of what the FIFA ranking would be with France and Portugal not counted.

And seriously, after the qualification system was changed just to make sure France and Portugal would get easier opposition in the play-off, it would've been just too much if they were seeded in the World Cup as well. Too much.
 
There is a lot of talk here about who England would not want to face. They don't want France, Ivory Coast, etc. But seriously, if they have designs on winning it, they should not worry who they face.

But then again, this is just the media being crap as usual. And I think there will be a lot of teams that would not want England in their own respective group.
 
I'd like to see France joining the England group.  


The Irish will find that entertaining as well. Whoever loses the match between these giants, they'll always have fun. The same goes for me.
:D
 
The Draw:

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

Pretty happy with England's draw. Group G is epic.
 
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