Official Football Thread

He was shit in the last couple of seasons in Milan, that contract was realistic. Excerpt from his autobiography that solidified my view of him, when Galliani didn't let him move to Real Madrid:

"You’re then forced to tell the media a lot of crap; provided, of course, that they manage to ask you the right question. If they enquire whether it’s right you’d practically signed for Madrid, you’re dutybound to respond hiding behind well-worn clichés and half-truths. You read a dull, lifeless script written by press officers with no talent or creative spark. “No, that’s not the case. I’m perfectly happy at Milan.” Fuck off! It’s a pity it went the way it did. I’d have signed for Real in a heartbeat. They’re a club with more glamour than Milan; more prospects, more appeal, more everything. They strike fear in their opponents, whoever they happen to be. All that said, I had the consolation of winning the Champions League at the end of the season. It could have gone a lot worse."

He also complains about not being allowed to go to Chelsea and Barcelona. It's quite disappointing to have a player play for your club for 10 years only to slag it off as a stepping stone at every corner after leaving. He obviously never was a Milan fan, or a big fan of any club anyway, just a mercenary. There's a chapter where he said he'd leave immediately if Milan got relegated for Calciopoli... I honestly have more respect for Buffon and Del Piero for not leaving Juve when they were relegated than this guy.

And if you can hate RVP for moving to Manchester United, then I can hate Pirlo for moving to Juventus :P
 
USA won the Women's World Cup last night. The day after Independence Day, after beating Germany in the semi-finals they beat Japan in the final. Seventy years after the end of World War II... :innocent:

It's strange that quite a few countries have a much better women's team than men's team. Both finalists are obvious examples, and England as well.
 
Night Prowler said:
And if you can hate RVP for moving to Manchester United, then I can hate Pirlo for moving to Juventus :p
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I don't hate RVP for leaving Arsenal. He did all he could, left fair and square, then didn't diss the club. I only hate Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Adebayor for what they did.
 
Bizarre. Arda isn't better than Iniesta, Rakitic, Pedro or any of the deadly front three, so he'll be first sub for the midfield and second for the attack. Plus he won't be able to play until January. Makes sense that they needed a player like him, but to pay that much money for a sub... plus it's bizarre that he chose to be a sub and not play a club game for 7 months...
 
Black Wizard said:
It's strange that quite a few countries have a much better women's team than men's team. Both finalists are obvious examples, and England as well.
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Well, as LC points out, there are not so many countries that have put any real effort into becoming good at women's football. For example, there isn't a single Eastern European nation who have a good team - despite many of those having strong men's teams. And my own country? Our women's team have won both the World Cup (1995) and the Olympic Games (2000) in addition to two European Championships. Our men's team have an Olympic bronze medal (from 1936!), participating in the World Cup only three times (with 2nd round in 1998 as the best achievement) and in the European Championship only once. It's simply because we were among the pioneer nations in women's football - among the first where it became at least semi-professional. We have since been surpassed, of course, by some of the big nations.

What surprises me most is that Denmark don't have a strong women's team (never qualified for the Olympics, failed to qualify for three of the four last World Cups). In terms of gender equality issues - including having women participate in sports - Denmark have been at the front.
 
The Flash said:
Arda Turan signs for Barcelona for €34 million. Nice to see our former captain reach this level.
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Wait don't you hate Barcelona? I remember last summer during the World Cup many ppl here hating on the Barça style of play which is how the national team plays because of so many Barça players. Arda fits perfect for that style
 
TheSeventhSonRoberto said:
Wait don't you hate Barcelona? I remember last summer during the World Cup many ppl here hating on the Barça style of play which is how the national team plays because of so many Barça players. Arda fits perfect for that style
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I hated the way Barça played back then. Unlike the Guardiola era, they were using the tiki-taka system as a defensive strategy, rather than an offensive one. Same with the Spain national team. Thanks to football gods counter-attacking team football destroyed tiki-taka and it's now just a piece of history.

I like the way they play now, they put way more emphasis on attack and let the forwards dictate the play. They don't have that same style that you're talking about, they completely ditched it. They keep playing passing football but they do it way quicker and more aggressively. I still dislike Barcelona as a club. I'm just happy that a player that came out of the youth system and became the captain of my local team (Galatasaray) has reached this level in his career.
 
LooseCannon said:
It'll make a comeback eventually, just like the trap.
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I highly doubt it. Tiki-taka was a very advanced style of football, it already was a continuation of a certain style (Total Football). This year's Barcelona already made significant progress upon the foundations of Tiki-taka, therefore it coming back would just be regression.
 
The Flash said:
therefore it coming back would just be regression.
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I apologize. Let me rephrase. The intended goals of the style will eventually be resurrected as various styles of football move away from what is needed to counter tiki-taka. Someone will go, hey, nobody does this anymore, let's try something like this.
 
LooseCannon said:
I apologize. Let me rephrase. The intended goals of the style will eventually be resurrected as various styles of football move away from what is needed to counter tiki-taka. Someone will go, hey, nobody does this anymore, let's try something like this.
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It's possible but since Tiki-taka is a style that takes a ton of skill, I doubt it. Only a world class team can play with a strategy as complex and advanced as Tiki-taka. And world class teams are more often pioneers of the game's strategies. They'd just prefer to find something superior than to settle for something that worked in the past.
 
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