Ongoing Soccer Thread

[beardyian]

Barca looked amazing again and Real resorted to their usual old 'if we can't beat them then we'll kick them' tactic - and still failed :rofl:

 

[S93]

Whats more interesting is that 11 out of the 14 players that played for Barca came from there youth academy where as Real had what, just Casillas?
I always enjoy seeing Real fail, few clubs I hate as much as them.

Spent 300M to build up a new squad after the 6-2 game, almost win the league with Pellegrini , sack Pellegrini and bring in the special one only to be thrased 5-0.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

Oh God I'm going to Blues-Villa tonight and am probably going to freeze my balls off it's so bloody cold here.

With Man U gone (lol at last night) and the other teams in it being a bit crap, Arsenal's reserves aside, we might actually have a shot at winning this, which would be nice (even if it is a joke competition).

Whats more interesting is that 11 out of the 14 players that played for Barca came from there youth academy where as Real had what, just Casillas?
I always enjoy seeing Real fail, few clubs I hate as much as them.

Spent 300M to build up a new squad after the 6-2 game, almost win the league with Pellegrini , sack Pellegrini and bring in the special one only to be thrased 5-0.

Yeah, and they finished with a ridiculous number of points last year too, the only problem was Barca finished with a slightly more ridiculous number of points. Real's total last year would have been enough to win the league any other year, so it's not like they were going backwards under Pellegrini. I guess I don't blame them for getting Mourinho given his track record though.

 

[ThunderPT]

With Man U gone (lol at last night).

That's it, FC Porto is the only undefeated team in Europe this season! arty:

Yeah, and they finished with a ridiculous number of points last year too, the only problem was Barca finished with a slightly more ridiculous number of points. Real's total last year would have been enough to win the league any other year, so it's not like they were going backwards under Pellegrini. I guess I don't blame them for getting Mourinho given his track record though.

Yup, it was actually a record for Real Madrid, both in points and in goals. But the Champions League was the biggest failure and that's where Mourinho is supposed to make a difference. Actually, that's why he was hired by Inter too, before him they were already winning the Serie A every year, it was in the Champions League they were failing.

 

[Gesshoo]

Oh God I'm going to Blues-Villa tonight and am probably going to freeze my balls off it's so bloody cold here.

With Man U gone (lol at last night) and the other teams in it being a bit crap, Arsenal's reserves aside, we might actually have a shot at winning this, which would be nice (even if it is a joke competition).

Only a joke competition when you are out of it - in the semis it is no longer funny!

Good win tonight Chris - good luck in the semis.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

Well that was fun!

Probably a thousand of our more mentally challenged fans decided to invade the pitch and run over to the Villa fans to taunt them at the final whistle. Predictably they didn't like this very much and started throwing everything from bottles to flares and seats at them. Happy days!

There was a bit of trouble outside the ground too but we just fled pretty quickly after the final whistle and probably avoided the worst of it.

Still, I don't really care because we've got a pretty decent shot of losing to Arsenal in the final now!

 

[blott]

good competition for the "also rans" in the premiership.

final at Wembley and easiest way to qualify for chance of Euro glory.

 

[ThunderPT]

FIFA is about to decide who'll host the 2018 and 2022 world cups.

2018 bids:
Belgium & Netherlands
England
Russia
Portugal & Spain

2022 bids:
Australia
Japan
Qatar
South Korea
USA


I'm not really informed about the 2022 bids but for us europeans Qatar would be the best one, the others would give us games either in the morning or late in the night. I don't believe Japan or South Korea stand a chance since they hosted the WC in 2002. USA did it in 1994 and the WC never went to Oceania so I think if Australia's bid is strong, they'll take it.

As for the European bids, the belgian/dutch bid has no chances, between the others it's close. I'm surprised to see Portugal and Spain seem to be in the lead, as FIFA doesn't like two-nations bids and this one isn't even going to be 50%-50%. Still, they match the hotel requirements better than England, they don't have Russia's disadvantage of the long distances and they're estimated to sell the most tickets.

 

[onemorechance]

2018 - England obv
2022 - Who cares

 

[onemorechance]

baaahahahahahahaha FIFA you are such a joke

 

[ThunderPT]

First round of votes:
Russia 9
Portugal/Spain 7
Belgium/Netherlands 4
England 2 -> eliminated

Second round of votes:
Russia 13
Portugal/Spain 7
Belgium/Netherlands 2 <--- ??? Two guys suddenly changed their minds? :s

Similar thing happened with the 2022 voting.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

Belgium/Netherlands 2 <--- ??? Two guys suddenly changed their minds? :s

Similar thing happened with the 2022 voting.

Seems like two pro-Russia dudes voted Holland/Belgium with the intent of knocking England out in the first round, perhaps because they thought they would pick up a lot of votes in later rounds or perhaps just for the lolz.

I'm not even that annoyed at us losing so spectacularly - I was for a few minutes but then my annoyance was replaced with bewilderment when Qatar won 2022.

Then I remembered that FIFA is FIFA and that Russia and Qatar were backed by the richest people (Abramovich, Abu Sultan Al-Oil Baron or whoever he is).

 

[onemorechance]

Then I remembered that FIFA is FIFA and that Russia and Qatar were backed by the richest people (Abramovich, Abu Sultan Al-Oil Baron or whoever he is).

I'm sure it's a coincidence

 

[AtiFCOD]

Qatar won 2022...lol. It must be a joke. :-/

 

[ThunderPT]

Qatar won 2022...lol. It must be a joke. :-/

They'll have 12 stadiums in that minuscule country, 6 of them in Doha! lol

 

[vanquish]

RUSSIA 2018 AWWWW YEAHHHH BITCHEEEES

 

[vanquish]

SUCK IT ENGLAND

 

[S93]

How Russia won it is beyond me.
Spain/Portugal, Belgium/Netherlands and England all had better bids imo.
But FIFA doesnt want it to be held in 2 countries and Blatter clearly has a biased against England so Russia got it.

As for Qatar, I actually think they had the best bid.
South Korea and Japan where never getting it because they recently held it.
Australia have the huge time difference with Europe(FIFA´s biggest market) going against it.
They US had a decent bid.
But Qatar has:
-The strongest financial bid.
-The stadiums will be build modular and dismantled and given to poorer countries after the WC.
-Air conditioned stadiums and fan zones.
-WC has never been in the middle east
-Each stadium just a hour away from downtown Doha.
-Central Location

 

[onemorechance]

How Russia won it is beyond me.
Spain/Portugal, Belgium/Netherlands and England all had better bids imo.
But FIFA doesnt want it to be held in 2 countries and Blatter clearly has a biased against England so Russia got it.

As for Qatar, I actually think they had the best bid.
South Korea and Japan where never getting it because they recently held it.
Australia have the huge time difference with Europe(FIFA´s biggest market) going against it.
They US had a decent bid.
But Qatar has:
-The strongest financial bid.
-The stadiums will be build modular and dismantled and given to poorer countries after the WC.
-Air conditioned stadiums and fan zones.
-WC has never been in the middle east
-Each stadium just a hour away from downtown Doha.
-Central Location

Really?

 

[Gesshoo]

But Qatar has:
-The strongest financial bid.
-The stadiums will be build modular and dismantled and given to poorer countries after the WC.
-Air conditioned stadiums and fan zones.
-WC has never been in the middle east
-Each stadium just a hour away from downtown Doha.
-Central Location

Can we put LFC down for one please? Might be the only way we get one.....

 

[Gesshoo]

No big surprise really. You know FIFA wants to expand their empire, hence USA 1994, South Korea/Japan 2002, South Africa 2010. Now Russia and Qatar.

 

[midgetfactory]

Actually, I think the standard in MLS is pretty good. MLS teams have also acquitted themselves well in pre-season games against the top teams from Europe. The US national team has been ranked in the top 10-15 in the world for several years now, and of course the US women's team are former world cup holders.

The MLS teams wouldn't be at the top of the leagues in the top European countries, but enough MLS players have graduated to play in those leagues to deserve some respect, IMO - several in the English premiership.

Mls teams are absolutely no match for european teams... them pre season frienlies are pointless for making comparisons. the US team is not in the top 15 teams in the world even though the rankings say so, they are in one of the weakest confederations, only mexico can give them a good game in north america, so they play most of their games against weaker nations, i.e they build up ranking points. if they played in europe there would be 20 nations better than them...

 

[midgetfactory]

SUCK IT ENGLAND

i watched sky news all morning (im ireland but we get the uk version) they had england 1/2 to win russia 6/1 i was so happy they didnt get it, they are so cocky and stuck up they wer sure they wer gona win. they didnt even deserve it imo, they already have hosted it, they have olympics nxt year, commonwealth games(pure manure) cricket and rugby world cups. they didnt deserve it end of story, too greedy...

 

[S93]

Really?

little brown envelopes...

 

[onemorechance]

i watched sky news all morning (im ireland but we get the uk version) they had england 1/2 to win russia 6/1 i was so happy they didnt get it, they are so cocky and stuck up they wer sure they wer gona win. they didnt even deserve it imo, they already have hosted it, they have olympics nxt year, commonwealth games(pure manure) cricket and rugby world cups. they didnt deserve it end of story, too greedy...

There's a difference between being cocky, and being confident based on the fact that we had the most technically sound bid, the most profitable bid, the fact that support from at least six nations was promised and Blatter called our presentation 'remarkable'. The fact we finished last has nothing to do with the strength of our bid. You know that right? Of the technical bids for 2018, Russia had the worst, of 2022, Qatar had the worst.