Soccer Thread 2012-13

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

I wondered where the coin came from, as they were celebrating in front of the Man Utd fans. If it came from a City fan he has a hell of an arm.

i just figured there is no reason in hell for a ManU fan to throw a coin there.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

I wondered where the coin came from, as they were celebrating in front of the Man Utd fans.

United fans are surrounded by City fans with just a line of stewards between them.

Good to see a referees mistake didnt affect the result in the end, and also good that I dumped Aguero for Rooney on my fantasy football team this week.

[Marc Vaughan]

Bloody amazing derby - great advert for the Premiership and a fair result in my eyes after (I believe) a Man Utd goal was incorrectly disallowed earlier in the match.

(shame about the idiocy at the end - less said about that the better imho)

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by Critch

Good to see a referees mistake didnt affect the result in the end, and also good that I dumped Aguero for Rooney on my fantasy football team this week.

I picked up Torres and made him my captain this week, so I am looking like a genius.

[sovereignstar v2]

[Marc Vaughan]

Blooming heck - two brilliant matches in one day, great turn around by Liverpool to beat West Ham ... not as technically 'great' as the Manchester Derby but an exciting match all the same

[miami_fan]

2 goals tonight.....86 goals in 2012. Amazing!

[whomario]

I´m almost sure that Messi is some sort of Cyborg experiment

[Critch]

Well done to League Two Bradford City on winning their 9th penalty shootout in a row. Not a bad record in a part of the game that's supposedly a lottery.

[BishopMVP]

One solitary Udinese fan showed up in Genoa for his team’s match against Sampdoria | Dirty Tackle - Yahoo! Sports

[SirFozzie]

Second Leg of the Copa Sudamerica abandoned at halftime after argentina's Tigre alleged that security officers beat Tigre's players with clubs and pulled guns on them. Brazil's Sao Paolo, who was leading 2-0 in the second leg at home after a scoreless first leg, was awarded the title.

Violence stains Copa Sudamericana final - News | FOX Sports on MSN

[miami_fan]

Okay so I know that Chelsea probably did not care too much about this tournament in the same way they did not care about the UEFA Super Cup but Corinthians beat the Blues to win the FIFA Club World Cup for the second time.

[MIJB#19]

Chelsea looked uninspired, despite that I don't think they were. Apparently it's difficult to get into shape both mentally and phisically for this kind of tournament in the middle of the season and just a week after the Champions' League knock out. At the same time, Chelsea is a defensive minded team, it would have been uncharacteristic to try to win in regulation.

[whomario]

Mario Götze is awesome

[whomario]

1/8 final draw just finished :

Galatasaray - Schalke
Celtic - Juventus
Milan - Barcelona
Arsenal - Bayern
Shakhtar - Dortmund
Real - ManU
Valencia - Paris
Porto - Malaga

[gstelmack]

I missed this story when it happened apparently:

SI's Signs Of The Apocalypse - Photos - SI.com

Sorry, apparently it doesn't go to the specific picture. #11:

After being knocked unconscious on a play in a Belgian amateur soccer league match (suffering a concussion and three displaced vertebrae), midfielder Julien Lecomte was issued a yellow card for diving; then—because it was his second yellow of the game—given a red card while being carted off the pitch.


Read More: SI's Signs Of The Apocalypse - Photos - SI.com

[MIJB#19]

Yeah, Belgian referees are the best.

[SirFozzie]

You won't so often see the home fans chant "You don't know what you're doing" when the ref sends off a player.. on the other team! That happened today in the Everton-West Ham game

[Icy]

Mourinho reign in R.Madrid seems to be ending.

Yesterday he benched Casillas, the R.Madrid captain and starting GK for the last 10 years, and icon for the team and the fans. It was just a technical decision in Mourinho words but it shows that he has a huge internal problem with the players, and no coach can last a lot of time in a disgruntled team.

I guess Mourinho is trying to get fired now to avoid paying the huge fee if it's he who resigns, there is no other explanation to this, the fans and even the R.Madrid backboard is shocked about the decision.

The team lost it's 7th game of the season, already 1 more than in the whole past season, and it's sitting 3rd in the league 16 points behind Barcelona.

[Critch]

At the start of the season somebody posted in this thread about suggestions on who to pick as their team and I suggested Aston Villa because they couldnt get worse.

I hope whoever it was ignored me.

[Big Fo]

When I find myself in times of troubles
Chicharito scores for me
Javier Hernandez
Little pea

What a game that was.

[whomario]

if anybody is a) interested in Borussia Dortmund or b) has a general interest in the financial state/strategy used in big time soccer : The Swiss Ramble: Borussia Dortmund - Back In The Game

ton of informative graphics comparing the big power clubs and showing the vast differences between them and the next tier (like Dortmund). For example does Real Madrid earn 3 times as much money per home game than Dortmund (despite a similar sized stadium and a lower average attendance) due to astronomical ticket prices.

[sovereignstar v2]

Premier League referees fucking up one game at a time.

[rowech]

Has there ever been a call for the leagues to have salary caps or spending limits?

[whomario]

Originally Posted by rowech

Has there ever been a call for the leagues to have salary caps or spending limits?

sort of, look for "UEFA financial fair play" on google. Not knowledgeable enough to comment much on it, but at least in theory it is in that general direction.
Salary Caps however will never (and imo should never) happen.

[MIJB#19]

It will be interesting to see how the 'UEFA Financial Fair Play' will work out. It's supposed to start in 2013/2014, that's coming up soon, and at this point there are little signs the top clubs in Europe even act to it. A couple of clubs are close to being suspended from UEFA competitions already, most notably Malaga (still active in this season's Champions' League) and a couple of Croatian and Romanian clubs. Source: CFCB adjudicatory chamber decisions – UEFA.com .

Unsurprizingly, I don't see any mentioning of the big clubs that are known for being in debt year after year. Right now, it makes AC Milan's selling of unaffordable Ibrahimovic look premature.

[MIJB#19]

Doing some reading in the Financial Fair Play Regulations 2012 (Source: The official website for European football – UEFA.com, unless I'm misreading it, technically clubs are allowed to be -€5M in profit/loss to be allowed to play, but practically they are still allowed to be -€45M in the next two seasons, allowed to be -€30M in the three seasons after that and the acceptable line for 2018/2019 hasn't been set yet.

[kingfc22]

Okay. Can Arsenal please sign Walcott now and keep playing him up top.

Hopefully the Gunners sign some defenders during the transfer window as well.

[law90026]

I have serious doubts that the FPP will really have the bite necessary to keep things in check but we'll see how it goes.

The EPL is in discussions to have some sort of formula/cap for salaries (18 out of the 20 current EPL clubs voted in favour of this) but it's very preliminary and no real indication how it will eventually look.

And yes, Arsenal needs to sign Walcott rather than spend a lot to find a replacement.

[MrBug708]

Galaxy are looking at Frank Lampard to fill their last international spot on their roster. They wanted a Central/South American player, but talks between Ronaldinho and Kaka didn't get far enough

[sovereignstar v2]

Knight Rider is in the stands at the City game. If being English Champions didn't make us big time, then this surely seals it.

[Big Fo]

Wow, QPR won at Stamford Bridge. Hey Rafa, those results won't get you back in the title race. Fact.

[miami_fan]

'ARRY

[bhlloy]

Totally Rafa's MO all over - look pretty good for a while and then blow a game to a team you should beat easily to bring momentum to a screeching halt. Horrible squad management with the FA Cup week coming up as well. That's when you rest the best players in your team, not against a motivated bottom side with a new manager

[finketr]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I missed this story when it happened apparently:

SI's Signs Of The Apocalypse - Photos - SI.com

Sorry, apparently it doesn't go to the specific picture. #11:

to go along with that one:
SI's Signs Of The Apocalypse - Photos - SI.com[/quote

[SirFozzie]

Rafa just wanted to prove the falseness of the statement that "Any dope can manage Chelsea"

[SirFozzie]

Dola:Shameful scenes in Italy as AC Milan's friendly against Pro Patria is abandoned mid game due to racist chants from Pro Patria fans....

Prince "No More" | News | beIN Sport US

edit: Oh, wait, it gets BETTER. The mayor of the city where Pro Patria plays.. is blaming the players.

“It was above all the fault of a bunch of idiots, maybe even of a bunch of professionals who didn’t know how to do their jobs properly – by which I mean the referee and some players,” declared Mayor Gigi Farioli.

“If these professionals had been able to do their jobs, then it wouldn’t have ruined a festival of football that at that point could no longer continue.

“Boateng kicked the ball at 200km/h at a fan and we all know that a reaction foul from a professional player is punished more severely than any other foul. In any other stadium in Italy, he would’ve been sent off.

“But if this had been at the Bernabeu or at San Siro, Boateng would not have had such an improper reaction.”

Farioli was elected with support from the Lega Nord (an anti-immigration party that wants to separate the north of Italy from the poorer south) and the Popolo della Liberta (Milan President Berlusconi’s centre-right party)

[sovereignstar v2]

That whole country is shameful in regards to racism.

[whomario]

Yeah, absolutely shameful display once again ...

Italian soccer (be it finances or it´s fan "culture") is so deeply messed up right now, there´s no coming back from it imo.

Every time a german fan bitches about stricter security and "taking away the fans freedom" i merely point him to look at Italy to see what happens when you don´t regulate things more and let it escalate.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by whomario

Every time a german fan bitches about stricter security and "taking away the fans freedom" i merely point him to look at Italy to see what happens when you don´t regulate things more and let it escalate.

Ballacks - its not down to 'security' imho, its about acceptance of behavior within society.

Some countries are more tolerant of violence and racism than others - in England we sporadically have issues but our society doesn't generally tolerate such things in most sections of society and so they're stamped out fairly fast if they rear their heads at a public event*.

(whenever something occurs within England like the coin throwing there is a huge outcry etc. - compare this to the reaction within Italy where an authority figure is blaming things on the players and officials involved)

*Please note this is not pretending there aren't sections of society within England which are racist and/or contain ars*holes ....

[Big Fo]

I had no idea that the West Ham vs. Man Utd FA Cup match was live on big Fox tomorrow. That's pretty cool.

[Marc Vaughan]

Brighton vs Newcastle (FA Cup) now live on Fox Soccer Plus - good match so far ...

Brighton are a division beneath Newcastle but like to play a nice passing style and have had the bulk of the posession and chances in the first 10 minutes (and yes I am a supporter of them, but thats the truth so far - whether we can sustain things is yet to be seen ).

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Brighton vs Newcastle (FA Cup) now live on Fox Soccer Plus - good match so far ...

Brighton are a division beneath Newcastle but like to play a nice passing style and have had the bulk of the posession and chances in the first 10 minutes (and yes I am a supporter of them, but thats the truth so far - whether we can sustain things is yet to be seen ).

Newcastle now 0-16 away from home, wow.

[BYU 14]

Dola, after seeing the piece on Mansfield Town, really looking forward to their match against Liverpool tomorrow.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Newcastle now 0-16 away from home, wow.

Was a tidy performance - although in Newcastles defense they fielded a half-strength (or under) side and as such got what they deserved really ...

[sovereignstar v2]

Newcastle have been ravaged by injuries. Are you taking that into account?

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Newcastle have been ravaged by injuries. Are you taking that into account?

Yeah they're carrying injuries BUT ... Fabricio Coloccini & Papiss Cisse are officially out with a 'knock'* and expected back for the next Premiership match (ie. probably could have played) and they rested several more (ie. Simpson, Marveaux etc.) which was surprising in the circumstances (ie. having just sold Ba you'd have thought they'd want a win to show supporters they still have a decent squad etc.).

For example - Sammy Ameobi (8 apps this season), Tavernier (7 apps this season), Rob Elliot (4 apps this season) all started the match - Marveaux did come on, but I got the impression this was an 'expandable' match for Newcastle in their managers eyes.

Still regardless a good victory for Brighton and one which will hopefully help ensure high spirits and further wins for us

*Source - physioroom.com

[miami_fan]

Lionel Messi has won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the fourth consecutive year.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Lionel Messi has won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the fourth consecutive year.

He so good. Reminder to myself that I should go home and tweak the tactic of Argentina in FM (I just took over as Manager of the national team) in order to maximize him.

[Big Fo]

USA striker Abby Wambach won the women's award.