The Official Soccer/Football/Futbol/Calcio thread

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LEEDS UNITED


P.S MANUNITED ARE RUBBBBBBIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Roy Keane quit sunderland?

[aldukes]

lets try this again-

blue cleats:

Originally Posted by aldukes

lets try this again-

blue cleats:

Aldukes FAIL!

[Don Fernando]

Originally Posted by theycallmedan'lboone

Roy Keane quit sunderland?

Yes

I knew that there was something brewing with that beard.

[Don Fernando]

exactly 100 games as Sunderland manager, it is a nice number to quit.

ahhhhhhh se nallllllllllll

ahhhhh se naaaaaaaaal

CNNSI reporting Torres out for the rest of the year with a hamstring injury. That's huge. I know the Poolies think I am going to make some sort of remark like "thanks for playing", but we all know we are days away from Rooney breaking a toe.

no no, rooney would have to score like 4-5 goals in 3 games to be close to breaking bones. Torres is just taking a longer break to give the recurring injury some time. Probably pretty smart. Benitez has a point that, he never gets injured except after or during the international break... but whatever... Keane needs to re-learn to finish, I'm certain he'll have 15 goals by the end of the PL season. I see Keane staying with Liverpool for maybe 2-3 years then retiring..

Originally Posted by theycallmedan'lboone

no no, rooney would have to score like 4-5 goals in 3 games to be close to breaking bones. Torres is just taking a longer break to give the recurring injury some time. Probably pretty smart. Benitez has a point that, he never gets injured except after or during the international break... but whatever... Keane needs to re-learn to finish, I'm certain he'll have 15 goals by the end of the PL season. I see Keane staying with Liverpool for maybe 2-3 years then retiring..

Club v. Country is an interesting debate. I think it should be up to the players. This garbage with 'fake' injuries, and Countries calling players in to verify said injuries is very stupid. Put it on the players and players alone to make the call if they are going to be called up.

The players know the fixture list. The players know where their standing is in the league. The players know what the 'club' is shooting for in terms of league/cup goals. The players also know what the country is shooting for in terms of WC qualification/Euro qualification. You are a big club player who the next week needs 3 points and it's a friendly.. Tell them you are staying home. Same difference you are 'out of the league' and it's WC qualification, your in.

Sure the country gets mad because the 'club' can dominate the players in terms of salary and make decisions for the players, but heres a little tip to the FA, they do. You can't stop that.. You need the players to be in top form to call them up, and I don't know many players who will do it for free.

I also think its amusing that the Club v. Country issues always come up the week of the games.. Its not like these international fixtures are planned 2 days before. We all have calendars. Player tells country 1 month out..I'm out for X.. Great, guess what, call up someone else.

Being asked to play "anything" for your country has to be one of the best feelings in the entire world. Let the players make the decisions..

Funnyman I think thats what made Jamie Carragher say he's done...
He wasn't going to make it into the National Squad over Rio, John Terry and Ashley Cole... just not going to happen, even though he's a great defender. He said, why waste my time setting the pine for England when I can focus on who pays me.. If Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry say "hey boss, I can't play CL final is coming up don't want to risk injury" I think that is fine. If the US National Teams coach called me up and said "we need a water boy" I'd jump at the chance... But sure playing for your country is great, but if the player doesn't want to... why make him...

[Lumpold]

Originally Posted by theycallmedan'lboone

Funnyman I think thats what made Jamie Carragher say he's done...
He wasn't going to make it into the National Squad over Rio, John Terry and Ashley Cole... just not going to happen, even though he's a great defender. He said, why waste my time setting the pine for England when I can focus on who pays me.. If Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry say "hey boss, I can't play CL final is coming up don't want to risk injury" I think that is fine. If the US National Teams coach called me up and said "we need a water boy" I'd jump at the chance... But sure playing for your country is great, but if the player doesn't want to... why make him...

But then.... World Cup and Continental International Qualifiers are held during regular season... if player like Lampard, Gerrard, Cole, Terry and other bigger players feel playing in the qualifiers is too risky, do you then leave them out of your squad for the out of season competition, playing a weaker side just because it's who you qualified with? If you take that route, you risk playing a substandard side who will fail in the final tournament, leaving a braying British media calling for the managers resignation, and yet, on the other hand, will 'lesser' players even put in the effort in the qualifiers if they know there is a large chance they'll be dropped for a 'bigger' name when the actual comp comes round?

[Jdbwolverines]

If players want to play for the national team, let them. Its not up for the clubs to decide this for them. If they don't want to play for the national team, no one should make them either. Take the US National Basketball team for example. In the early 2000s, playing for the national team had lost its appeal and a number of superstars decided that they did not want to be a part of it. Te US then lost at the 2002 World Championships and in the 2004 Olympics. It seems that many of the superstars kind of took this as a slap in face/ challenge to US basketball. In turn, a bunch of superstars stepped up and played on the team for the 2006 World Championships and the 2008 Olympics. If the players feel passionate about it, they will play. If they don't, you don't want them playing anyways.

I also think more could be done with the scheduling to help reduce the time crunch on players. More emphasis should be put on games and qualifying in the summer. They player are used to playing at least one match a week during the season, they can play more often than what they do in the off season. UEFA, or other respective governing bodies, can even dictate a few weeks off here or there during the club seasons to allow for international duty. Also, why play seemingly useless friendlies in the middle of the season. Play them for tuneups for a major tournament, but don't play them just for whatever. I think just some small changes could make a big difference.

How many transfers do you have left?
I've got 7

[aldukes]

ManU got away with 3 points- way too close.

[Lumpold]

Liverpool still top with a 3-1 victory over Blackburn, while Chelsea fans will no doubt say "it's only a point", at the end of the season, this could be the point to let us win.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by aldukes

ManU got away with 3 points- way too close.

If Sunderland had held out I may have taken a serious hiatus from watching televised football

Originally Posted by Jason

If Sunderland had held out I may have taken a serious hiatus from watching televised football

I had never seen a team just get dominated like that for a full 90 mins. Sundlnd could not even keep the ball. It was like all of us out there playing against United. During the first half I was just waiting for the first goal and the floodgates to open. I thought they lost the best chance on the Giggs/Anderson play and were doomed for the draw.

Im still so so on Berbatov, especially when Tevez gets on and does not stop working.

How bout the Deco Goal... Beautiful.. If I scored that I would retire from the game of football right after.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by funnymantrip

I had never seen a team just get dominated like that for a full 90 mins.

You obviously missed Paraguay's games in the 98 WC! They had Chilavert and clearly held out for penalties, an overtime/golden goal by Laurent Blanc finally sent them home to the collective sigh then cheers of planet earth.

I hate teams that think they can hold on defensively for 90 minutes. It's just stupid to invite 90 minutes of chances on your goal.

/rant