Soccer Thread 2015-16

[kingfc22]

Just kick England and Russia out of the tourney altogether for the continued disgrace in Marsailles. Apparently the latest has an English fan dying after being pushed in front of a subway.

[SirFozzie]

That doesn't seem to be what's happening:

All Football News
‏@AllFootballLive
UPDATE: French authorities clarifying that incident at metro involved a French woman who has been hospitalised. #EURO2016

All Football News ‏@AllFootballLive 4m4 minutes ago
Apparently it was an attempted suicide. (@LaProvenceEuro)

[AlexB]

from the footage online, it seems like England fans are doing what England fans and English do: get drunk, sing songs, be a little bit lairy, but then getting attacked by groups of unknown origin (French or Russian)

A small number have definitely responded, but that's to be expected tbh - you get fight/flight reactions.

There's scenes of England fans on crutches getting attacked, England fans already on the ground being attacked (admittedly you don't see what happened beforehand to cause them to be lying on the ground), women and children screaming/trying to climb out of the stands away from the Russians who have clearly stormed the English seating areas...

Ugly scenes without a doubt, and you'd prefer not to see anything at all, but from what I've seen so far, I think we might not be the aggressors here.

[Easy Mac]

Clint Dempsey. FURMAN!

[SirFozzie]

We just got CONCACAFd

[EagleFan]

WTF?!?!?

1st yellow was a bad call; 2nd one was on Yedlin; can't do that.

[kingfc22]

Horrible discipline by Yedlin. What a boneheaded play regardless of the fact that he slipped going in. There was still going to be pretty good contact regardless.

[EagleFan]

How was that not a foul?

[EagleFan]

The ref has lost control of this.

[murrayyyyy]

You know it's bad when the Spanish announcers on univision are sayin the same thing.

[EagleFan]

Brooks is playing one hell of a game so far.

[EagleFan]

Starting to think this isn't going to end with 21 players.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Brooks is playing one hell of a game so far.

Indeed. I'm guessing 5 extra minutes at the moment.

[EagleFan]

A second goal here could help me breath...

[EagleFan]

Well done in a really poorly officiated game.

[MizzouCowboy]

Oh hell yes!

[rowech]

Amazes me how well they can play when they have to.

[kingfc22]

Come on Ticos. 45 more minutes. Hold the door!

[SirFozzie]

Perfect volley on that own goal

[MizzouCowboy]

Ticos!!!!

[MizzouCowboy]

Ruh-roh

[Critch]

I think the Colombia player Cardona has stopped more Colombia attacks than the Costa Rica defense.

[SirFozzie]

USA wins the group. Will play most likely Peru in the quarterfinals.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

USA wins the group. Will play most likely Peru in the quarterfinals.

I'd say Ecuador is a more likely foe. Brazil beats Peru and all Ecuador has to do is beat Haiti which shouldn't prove too difficult. If that happens we're facing Ecuador.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by AlexB

from the footage online, it seems like England fans are doing what England fans and English do: get drunk, sing songs, be a little bit lairy, but then getting attacked by groups of unknown origin (French or Russian)

A small number have definitely responded, but that's to be expected tbh - you get fight/flight reactions.

There's scenes of England fans on crutches getting attacked, England fans already on the ground being attacked (admittedly you don't see what happened beforehand to cause them to be lying on the ground), women and children screaming/trying to climb out of the stands away from the Russians who have clearly stormed the English seating areas...

Ugly scenes without a doubt, and you'd prefer not to see anything at all, but from what I've seen so far, I think we might not be the aggressors here.

So the England fans singing "Isis where you at" and smashing up cafes on the first night in Marseille with Russians nowhere in sight is completely fine right? I feel sorry for the genuine fans who got attacked and seriously hurt, and the Russians are animals, but at some point if the shoe fits you have to wear it. A significant minority of England fans are trouble seeking arseholes and this happens at every single tournament. Stop and shame those and who knows, maybe there will stop being trouble at every single tournament.

[AlexB]

I haven't seen the Isis song referenced before, but tbh without the trouble that song would be seen as pretty dumb, but nothing more.

The reports I've seen have said the first night the fans were attacked by French fans, the second night by a mix of mostly Russian but also French again.

If English fans have smashed up a café for no reason I agree with you, and I'm not saying it hasn't happened, I just haven't seen reports of that incident.

Northern Irish fans have been attacked & hospitalised too FWIW, with one fan in critical condition.

[whomario]

There´s been plenty of reports of this sort of behavior before the russians came into it (and yes, those quasi-professional hooligan groups are a big problem ...). Fact of the matter is that everybody involved in fan management agrees on 2 things: 1) English fans are fun at the games and 2) English Fans are a terrible pain in the ass in the run-up of it and afterwards.

Funnily enough, the english as a group are also considered by far the worst tourists. There´s a very prevelant notion that everybody around is only there as a scenic backdrop or to make sure they have fun.

Originally Posted by AlexB

I haven't seen the Isis song referenced before, but tbh without the trouble that song would be seen as pretty dumb, but nothing more.

While political correctness might annoy some, i am pretty sick and tired of marginalizing things that are clearly incredibly offensive.

Just image the "private" rquivalent: Dude comes to a party and yells: "Hey, murderers of my hosts children, where you aaaat !"

yeah, you could call it "pretty dumb". Or there´s probably a few more fitting nouns in the dictionary.

[EagleFan]

Have caught about 6-7 minutes of this Poland-Northern Ireland match so far but this looks like it will end up with Poland winning 4-0 or Northern Ireland scoring on a counter attack after a mistake by Poland and winning 1-0.

Of course as I typed this Northern Ireland has had more possession time than they had for the entire time that I watched up until this point.

[SirFozzie]

Holy shit



Brazil out?????

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Holy shit



Brazil out?????

Out? Thought they won their group? At least that's what all the fuss about the US winning their group seemed to be, to avoid playing Brazil first.

[EagleFan]

I guess they were a little premature declaring Brazil the group winner yesterday.

[SirFozzie]

Nope they were all assuming they'd beat or draw against Peru.. instead Peru just pulled off their first win against Brazil since 1985.

Edit: the goal was a hand of Quetzalcoatl that shouldn't have counted

[BillyNYC]

About 28 hours ago, seemed likely I'd be seeing Brazil/US in NJ on Friday. Instead, will be Peru/Colombia. Sports are funny.

[RainMaker]

Is Ecuador good?

[Easy Mac]

We beat them in a friendly 2 weeks ago, and we didn't really struggle, but who knows

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Is Ecuador good?

Yes. They are currently ranked 13th in the world. Don't give too much to weight to the 1-0 friendly win before the Copa, both teams were definitely not playing at full speed.

[cartman]

That was a pretty amazing pass by Italy to set up that goal.

[whomario]

Belgium is way overhyped when you break their team down a little. Their 2 best players are both best when finishing off attacks (scoring/dribbling or making the final pass), their 3 central midfielders all kinda, sorta similar (B2B midfielders), they have no Fullbacks and an ok CB pairing at this level.

Coupled with a coach who is firmly entrenched in the "all we have to do is play haaaaarder" school of thought that´s not really enough.


Very veteran performance by Italy. Still think they have no shot at winning the title due to an utter lack of class in midfield/forward after the wave of injuries, but they´ll be a tough nut to crack for everybody.

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by cartman

That was a pretty amazing pass by Italy to set up that goal.

Bonucci had at least two amazing long passes, including the one for the goal. Didn't realize he had that kind of accuracy in him, but then again I don't catch much Serie A.

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by whomario

Belgium is way overhyped when you break their team down a little. Their 2 best players are both best when finishing off attacks (scoring/dribbling or making the final pass), their 3 central midfielders all kinda, sorta similar (B2B midfielders), they have no Fullbacks and an ok CB pairing at this level.

Coupled with a coach who is firmly entrenched in the "all we have to do is play haaaaarder" school of thought that´s not really enough.


Very veteran performance by Italy. Still think they have no shot at winning the title due to an utter lack of class in midfield/forward after the wave of injuries, but they´ll be a tough nut to crack for everybody.

I'm kinda surprised they still haven't been able to find any fullbacks, but they looked vulnerable down the wings all match long. Candreva feasted.

Not sure Fellaini should be playing the 10 either..

[SirFozzie]

Notorious far-right activist at Euro 2016 with Russian FA delegation | Football | The Guardian

Wow. a member of the Russian FA's travelling party for Euro 2016, a neo-nazi.. whose government boss suggested that he was glad that the Russian fans in stand fought.

And we're letting them host the world cup in 2018 why?

[ISiddiqui]

That Mexico-Venezuela game was quite a fun match, end to end action with two fantastic goals. Mexico looks really good in this Copa.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Notorious far-right activist at Euro 2016 with Russian FA delegation | Football | The Guardian

Wow. a member of the Russian FA's travelling party for Euro 2016, a neo-nazi.. whose government boss suggested that he was glad that the Russian fans in stand fought.

And we're letting them host the world cup in 2018 why?

English 'expert' on Russian hooligans was on the radio today saying he thinks nothing will happen in 2018.

His take was that Russia takes a perverse pride in their gangs marauding on foreign soil, but it would be embarrassing to Russia on an international stage if their security forces couldn't prevent similar at home.

As Putin and others have used the ultras on occasion to help secure areas, he thought that the ultras leaders would receive a friendly knock on the door before the tournament suggesting they kept their heads down unless they wanted to be found in possession of something they shouldn't have (and didn't even know they had ), and spend the next few years in Siberia.

I can honestly see logic in that. Still not going, assuming England qualify.

[ISiddiqui]

Yeah, I don't think anything is going to happen like this in Russia 2018. Putin would never let that occur.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by whomario

Belgium is way overhyped when you break their team down a little. Their 2 best players are both best when finishing off attacks (scoring/dribbling or making the final pass), their 3 central midfielders all kinda, sorta similar (B2B midfielders), they have no Fullbacks and an ok CB pairing at this level.

The one thing missing for Belgium is team spirit. They have a talented bunch, but still have to evolve into a team, a working machine. It broke them up in Brazil 2014. In comparison, it'll be interesting to see what Iceland can do. With a less talented collective, they are a good example of a gelling team.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

The one thing missing for Belgium is team spirit. They have a talented bunch, but still have to evolve into a team, a working machine. It broke them up in Brazil 2014. In comparison, it'll be interesting to see what Iceland can do. With a less talented collective, they are a good example of a gelling team.

Not saying they aren´t talented, but they are not that talented either compared to the real heavyweights like Spain or Germany. Plus if your 2 most talented/best outfield players play on either wing, that´s not ideal either.

"team spirit" to me is always sth that´s a bit "mystic" and near impossible to judge, which is why i personally try to avoid that variable unless it´s super obvious. What i´d agree on is that they lack cohesion within the lineup due to the makeup of the midfield and the types of players they feature (as i mentioned, might add that having 2 CBs at FB isn´t ideal if both your wingers move inside whenever possible but you can make that work in a bind, as Germany showed).

Austria with an even bigger slipup today after a great qualification campaign, loosing to Hungary. And they also have a handfull of players who are simply not up to standards. Obviously still should beat Hungary, but other than Alaba, Arnautovic and normally Dragovic, there´s a lot of mediocrity as far as individual skill is concerned.

Hungarys GK officially became the oldest player at any Euro, also one of the most atypical players around as well. No one would pull him out of a lineup when asked "tell me who´s a soccer player/athlete"

[whomario]

2 beautiful goals by Hungary as well, the first with a double 1-2 pass, the 2nd a beautiful lob on the counter over the Keeper.

[ISiddiqui]

The Mighty Magyars are back!

[whomario]

Reportedly, 8% of the icelandic population is in France for the Euro !

[cartman]

The Iceland keeper is earning his money today. Portugal easily should have 3 or 4 goals already.