Official Football Thread

Can someone copy and paste what the article from The Guardian says please? I cannot get the page to load up properly as there's just way too much additional crap on it.
 
Black Wizard said:
Can someone copy and paste what the article from The Guardian says please? I cannot get the page to load up properly as there's just way too much additional crap on it.
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Croatia's World Cup qualification celebrations have been marred by apparent "pro-Nazi" chants by fans and defender Josip Simunic.

Croatia qualified for the World Cup with a 2-0 win over Iceland on Tuesday. Video footage shows Simunic taking a microphone to the field after the match and shouting to the fans: "For the homeland!" The fans respond: "Ready!" That was the war call used by Ustashas, the Croatian pro-Nazi puppet regime that ruled the state during the second world war when tens of thousands of people perished in concentration camps.

The Australian-born Simunic defended his action, saying: "Some people have to learn some history. I'm not afraid. I did nothing wrong. I'm supporting my Croatia, my homeland. If someone has something against it, that's their problem."

The same chant coupled with the Nazi salute has often been used by Croatian fans in the past. Fifa and Uefa have had to fine the Croatian Football Association because of their behaviour. There was no immediate reaction from Fifa to the latest incident.

At the 2006 World Cup, Simunic was the player who received three yellow cards in one match before being sent off.
 
Flash, are you a walking encyclopedia when it comes to such info? :--)

Still, I wonder if there were more clubs that had such a huge amount of people at the World Cup.
 
Night Prowler said:
All players from PSG have qualified (more precisely their countries) for World Cup except Ibrahimović :eek:
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Have they all played for their national team in this qualification as well? Or, will they all get to play for their countries in Brazil?

Regarding Zlatan: He's so good I'm sure Sweden would be worse than Norway if he were not playing. He makes the whole difference. If he had been part of their 94 World Cup team (i,e, if he had been born a lot earlier ;) ) they might have been champions.
 
They were really good, yes. It's ironic how Denmark went from winning the 1992 European Championship to not even qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, while Sweden managed 3rd place in 94. Things go up and down in football.
 
O yes. The pressure builds up enormously when you've won it. When you say this, I immediately think of my own country in 1990: quite a fall from 1988 as well.
 
If I may ask, wasn't losing of the semi-final vs Italy more painful?
Four years later Holland lost the semi's and they were (unfortunately) not that motivated anymore in the match for the bronze.
 
Forostar said:
Flash, are you a walking encyclopedia when it comes to such info? :--)
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I know an unnecessary amount of details when it comes to football and basketball. :D

In regards to Zlatan, I always wonder how it'd be if he had chosen Bosnia & Herzegovina as his national team. An attacking line of Edin Dzeko & Zlatan Ibrahimovic with Vedad Ibisevic backing up would be hard to beat.
 
Never heard of these guys but that could say more about me I guess. I don't follow the leagues that well anymore, and I haven't been focusing on the B&H team lately.


I thought it is cool to share some older moments in football history, every once in a while.

Johan Cruijff just ended a season with the Washington Diplomats and became active in the Netherlands again. In the autumn of 1980 he trained with the Ajax side. He was forbidden by the football association to play matches because the attracting of "American" players outside the transfer period would lead to competition fraud. However, in November Cruijff was named technical adviser of coach Leo Beenhakker.

The date is 30 November 1980. Ajax was 8th in the league at that moment, and a 6th loss in playing round nr. 14 had to be prevented.
Ajax plays at home against FC Twente and is 1-3(!) behind because of two goals by Norwegian Hallvar Thoresen. Cruijff witnessed the match from the tribune and decides to join the dug-out.


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One of the things he did was bringing in Frank Rijkaard.
Ajax won with 5-3!! He gave advices, changed positions of players, but his (sudden) presence was felt and that certainly attributed to the change of spirit in the game.

Also on film (a feature on this event). It's in Dutch, but the images speak for themselves! If you find it too long, just go to the third minute where you see how he enters the field and how the score gets bended to victory.
 
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Forostar said:
If I may ask, wasn't losing of the semi-final vs Italy more painful?
Four years later Holland lost the semi's and they were (unfortunately) not that motivated anymore in the match for the bronze.
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It was painful as well but I don't think many people really believed that we could do much to stop Italy. As the match progressed, it became evident that we also had our chances and things could have gone a different way had we been given that penalty for Costacurta's foul. Losing to Italy in the semis wasn't a surprise but we fought well.

The match against Sweden was a huge disappointment for the reason you mentioned - no motivation at all and they just seemed to be a different team. They had given in even before the match started. It wasn't a good way to finish the tournament.
 
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