Soccer Thread 2011-2012
 

Sweet, sweet music. C'mon City! :cool:

i hope bradley gets fired. we need new blood

Tevez puts in another transfer request. Thanks and goodbye!

Kun Aguero = yes please

How's this for a missed handball/penalty?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c-5ebHnlsE

The ball comes across from the left and is met at the near post by an attacker. The shot hits the left hand post and bounces out into the middle of the six yard box. A defender catches the ball, walks a couple of paces holding it in two hands and then, realising what she's doing, drops the ball which the 'keeper picks up and clears. No penalty given.

An attacker has the time while the defender holds the ball to stop, stare in astonishment, point at the defender and turn to the ref and say something like "look what's she's doing" and the look of sheer disbelief on her face as the ref waves "play on" is a classic.

Kun is great.

cue offside rule joke

http://www.mlssoccer.com/videos?catid=1916&id=16573

From last night's MLS game. You can't see it from this replay, but Feilhaber was a good 6 yards offside on the goal kick, yet the linesman didn't flag it. Then Borchers didn't even touch him while kicking the ball out of bounds, getting a red card.

So to recap, Offside - no call. Clean tackle - red card and penalty shot. New England then scored 10 minutes later. Salt Lake came back to tie it 3-3.

Mac: You're the one with egg on your face:

BBC SPORT | Football | Laws & Equipment | Think you know your offside?

You are not offside if: You receive the ball directly from a goal kick, a throw-in or a corner

Hmmm. Knew the corner and throw. Didn't know the goal kick. I know I've seen it called before, but it must have been erroneous.

The last couple of days Jozy Altidore has been linked with AZ. That would be a nice addition for them.

Different positions and all...but if they want an American they should go with Adu (based solely on current form admittedly).

Altidore would be okay I guess, but please god if they sign him, please play him and develop his ass, instead of letting him rot.

He also touched him but it was after he had the ball. To be fair though, in a bang bang play like that, I dont think any ref wouldn't have given that less than a red card from the angle the ref was at.

It would be nice if instead of/in addition to signing players in positions where the team already has a number of good to great options (other than the de Gea signing obviously), Man Utd went out and bought a central midfielder. Preferably two of them, a ball-winner and a creative one who can score a few goals. So far the club's only been linked with the latter kind though.

Part of my wonders if they might shift Nani inside into a false 9 type of role, leaving young and valencia on the flanks and someone like fletcher acting as a destroyer in a 4-4-2 diamond type of deal. I know hes a winger, but hes the only player I see on the top team right now with the flair to pull it off(oh magnus eikrem, how i miss you so)

Rooney had done quite well towards the end of the season playing in the hole with Chicharito ahead of him, I imagine that is where he will be next season.

I don't think the 4-4-2 diamond is a formation SAF will be using next season, the 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 worked really well once Rooney found his form again. If Arsenal actually do sell Nasri to Man Utd (I still doubt this is going to happen), I assume he would be played as part of the two in the middle but I wonder if he can contribute enough defensively for this to work against some of the better teams.

Real Madrid is forming an incredible deep team, in fact they could field two different teams able to compete at the top level.


And still one forward more to sign, either Kun Aguero or Neimar.

Between this and Barcelona, the Spanish league is becoming more and more of an Scottish league clone, with two teams who lose 1 or 2 games in the whole season and end with 40+ points over the 3rd team.

Hey Icy, I'm curious about how often Atletico and Real do business. How upset would Atletico fans get if they sell their star player to their major rivals? All other factors relatively even, wouldn't they be better served to sell Aguero to any other team?

That's very unlikely to happen, AZ won't be spending all that money to not actually play Altidore. This ain't one of those leagues where clubs can get away with spending money despite being in serious debt. Based on what I heard about Altidore, I think he would be a great fit overhere.

Sexist it may be (though I think tongue in cheek) but I had to laugh at the comment "that's why they should be in the kitchen" :)

There could be a quarter-final match-up between the USA and the Matildas (Aussie women) depending on the USA's last game.

So is Qatar really going to get the World Cup? Christ.

This Qatar shit is fucking idiotic.

Atletico has stated that they won't ever sell Aguero to R.Madrid as the fans wouldn't ever accept it. But in Spain players have a release clause, so R.Madrid can pay it (45Million Euros) and the player is free to sign with them.

But...R.Madrid president has a honor pact with Atletico one about never using that clause against each other so... it's all about if R.Madrid will honor that pact or not.

Also related to that release clause there are some issues too and lawyers are discussing about it in the news. It's a bit complex but i'll try to explain:

The release clause is always paid by teams but the written law says that as it's the player who is paying to void his contract, it must be the player who pays that clause, not the buying team. In that case, R.Madrid can give the 45M to Aguero and he pays it but... it'¡s not that easy. If R.Madrid gives 45M to Aguero, it's like a salary, so Aguero needs to pay taxes over it. So to get 45M to pay Atletico, Aguero would need to receive from Madrid like 70M, that is way over his price.

Atletico has said that if Aguero comes with 45M to void his contract and signs with R.Madrid, they will denounce him to the tax authorities to make sure that R.Madrid didn't give that to him without paying the taxes.

So yes, there is a big war over it. Atletico doesn't want Aguero to come back as he is already hated by the fans for saying he wanted to leave, but on the other hand, they don't want to sell him to R.Madrid. The problem is that there aren't a lot of teams who can pay 45M for him besides R.Madrid, Chelsea, Juve, etc. Fans wouldn't probably accept either that Aguero is sold for less than 45M as R.Madrid is offering it already so... really complex and nobody really knows what will happen.

Word is that the USSF has contacted Bielsa about coming on as technical director (but leaving Bradley in place). I say fuck them - embrace wholesale change and bring Bielsa on as Technical Director and USMNT Head Coach. Give him the keys.

That's really interesting about the legality of the reserve clauses and taxation Icy...didn't know that was going on. Very very interesting.

Isn't that basically the same reason that Rubio didn't want to come over - that he would have to pay the release clause himself and NBA rules wouldn't let Minnesota pay him directly to pay the release clause?

The first semifinal in the U17 World Cup is underway, Brazil faces Uruguay.
2nd semi final will be Mexico versus Germany.

Should be 2 fun games, hope the german team learned sth from their late scare against England when they almost gave up a 3:0 lead with some very bad decicions on both ends. Up until the midway point of the 2nd half they played a good game although even then England was better than the score sugested.
The assist for the 3:0 was fucking brilliant btw

I'm going to miss Wes Brown and John O'Shea, both of whom are joining Sunderland.

Brown was always underrated during his prime, overshadowed by bigger names like Ferdinand, Stam, and Vidic. But he was a good player for many seasons at both right back and in central defense. A surprising fact is that he had the most appearances of any player on the 2007-8 EPL/Champs League double winning team. Unfortunately injuries, the improvement of the da Silva twins, and a falling out with SAF led to him becoming more of a squad player in recent seasons.

As for O'Shea, there have been so many great moments. Nutmegging Figo in his first season, THAT injury time goal at Anfield, the chip against Arsenal, his wonderful goalkeeping cameo against Spurs. And although he wasn't flashy he was a steady performer at fullback over the years.

Their departures leave the team with just Evra and the twins at fullback. Either someone else will need to be signed, someone from the youth team comes up (though I think the best prospects are all midfielders or wingers), or Smalling/Evans will have to play out of position occasionally.

Uruguay beats Brazil 3:0 and embraces the stereotypes along the way, that´s certainly not a squad afraid to make challenges ;) Fully deserved this win though, no question

Surprised to see both leave to be honest, I could have seen one of them going - as they're both now over 30, but both Brown and O'Shea have been useful players and are still capable of solid performances when required and their experience and stability (in terms of the squad 'knowing them' and having worked with them for years) has been a real asset to the club.

If Man Utd get a few knocks next season then they'll be missed imho ...

We often have "drink breaks" in the game over here (Australia) when the temperature rises into the mid-thirties. The ref stops play and the players all move over to the sideline to take on water or energy drinks.

The main appeal to FIFA on this, I suspect, is that it means an extra advertising break and millions more pouring into the FIFA coffers as a result. The other football codes here all, infuriatingly, have advertising during the match itself except soccer but the TV companies are very quick to take advantage of the drinks break :rolleyes:

Absolutely right, SirFozzie. But there is another rule that says a defender isn't allowed to pick up the ball and walk with it inside her own six yard box. That's called "handball" and is usually frowned on even by FIFA refs :)

I suspect the defender thought the ball had gone out of play and was handing the ball to the keeper for what she thought would be the subsequent goal-kick. But it hadn't, it had simply come back off the post. But how the ref missed it with the defender carrying the ball in her hands for a couple of paces and for 2 or 3 seconds before dropping it for the keeper (who was screaming at her in disbelief) to pick up and clear is amazing. The ref says she didn't see it but where was she looking with the ball bouncing around in the six yard box?

Unfortunately FIFA seemed to have removed the video for "copyright reasons" but I think it was out of sheer embarrassment for one of the worst missed handball/penalty events you could imagine.

You made the same mistake I did. SirFozzie was replying to Easy Mac and not you.

Ah, I see. I looked and looked, re-read my post a couple of times, in an attempt to understand how he could possibly have read it as involving the offside rule. I came to the conclusion that the video clip had been removed and MIJB#19's comment about the offside joke had perhaps misled him :)

The technology they are banking on has never been used in a large stadium and there are a lot of people who don't think it can be done on that level. I think this is going to end up being a disaster.

The video can still be found at the FIFA website, they actually let the handsball go into the highlights of the game, despite the referee blunder, which FIFA usually tries to hide from the general public.

Edit -link: http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/v...545/index.html , starting at 0:38, with the key moment highlighted at 0:53.

Not to sound like a dick here, but can you explain how Real Madrid fans look at the whole idea of buying new 'gallacticos', and then throwing the previous set of stars into the thrash can, followed by many more millions spent on yet another dozen 'gallacticos'. And All that despite the 100's of Millions that Real Madrid is in debt?
I know, the same can be said about, say, Barcelona, Manchester United or any other 'succesful big club', but Real Madrid has caught my attention for the current buy and destroy a career trend.

Amazing game between Mexico and Germany at the U17 WC last night, absolute classic. Incredible intensity from both teams, great atmosphere (in the 2nd half at least, fans showed up weirfly late) and good level of play on both sides.
And terrific goals and moments as well, german midfielder Can scored on an epic run to go up 2:1, than Mexico scores on a direct corner ! On said corner a mexican and a german heavily colide, the mexican blooding like crazy, comes back like 10 minutes later with a heavy bandage/turban to delirious cheers and then scores on an epic bycicle kick :eek:

I was rooting for Germany obviously, but boy was that still exciting :)

Haha the Bayern club chief is a douche. Tapping up Jerome Boateng and pouting when City don't want to deal with a lowballing club. You buy a 21-year old German international for over 10 million pounds, he struggles with injuries, then you apparently need to feel obligated to sell him for less money less than a year later. Fuck off, Rummenigge.




^LOL


Financial Fair Play? Oh knoes!!1!


waaaaaah waaaaaaaaaaah

I see that Rummenfuck has his dickweed quotes on front of Soccernet now. Pretty amazing how much anti-City shit these news outlets come up with. Like Adebayor and Bellamy bitching is news? Anyone remember their time previous to City? They were fucking angels, right?

As for Boateng, Mancini came out in early May and said he wasn't going anywhere. BUT BUT BUT you have got to come to the phone when Bayern Munich is calling!

Manchester City rule out Jerome Boateng sale to Bayern Munich - ESPN Soccernet

England has less then zero left in the gas tank against France, but they're just four minutes from penalties.. if they have five players who can kick the ball.

No clue how this game is in PK's right now. England has nothing left, has been the lesser team, and somehow has a 50-50 shot of winning all of a sudden.

And that's why you don't put a 20 year old with five national team appearances in your PK five.

France wins, deserved really, but still, boo hiss.

Don't know too much about English team but it sure seems like the coach would have a lot of second guessers all the way around.

England loses a worldcup game on penalties. Apparently some things are just innate to the national character. Heartbreaking stuff - the English captain looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole.

England and penalty kicks, always entertaining.

Well to be fair City have handled situations like Adebayor horribly, blame comes when warranted. Boo Hoo, you get more attention then other lesser teams. Welcome to the top 4, it comes with the territory :p

That was a great effort by Japan. It was a bit nervy near the end though.

Edited for truth ;)

Found this interesting, I knew of a few but not all of them:

With the recent promotion of Swansea to the Premier League, I was wondering whether there are any other football teams around the world which are based in, and compete in, separate countries' football leagues? Ekrem Sonmenis asked

This is an awkward situation. Technically Wales is not a different country, though it has its own national team, but is part of the United Kingdom. However, there is a separate League of Wales. Nevertheless, six Welsh teams are in the English football pyramid: Swansea, Cardiff (in the Championship) and, in non-league, Newport, Wrexham, Colwyn Bay and Merthyr Town. Newport, Wrexham and a former club in Merthyr Tydfil have all played in the Football League in the past.

However, there is an English team who play in a different league: Berwick Rangers, members of the Scottish League since 1955 and currently in the third division. To further complicate matters, one Scottish club - Queens Park - have played in the English FA Cup, albeit in the 19th Century. They reached the final in both 1884 and 1885. Cardiff, by the way, are the only non-English club to have won the FA Cup.

In addition, the League of Ireland includes one club from Northern Ireland, Derry City. They required special dispensation to join the division south of the border. Leaving the British Isles, Major League Soccer in the United States contains two Canadian teams, Toronto and the Vancouver Whitecaps and its predecessor, NASL, also included clubs from Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal as well as Toronto and Vancouver. In addition, the Australian A-League has a side from New Zealand, Wellington Phoenix. In both cases, there is a tradition of other sports competing in club leagues across the two countries while Canada and New Zealand lack a full-time professional football league.

There are other examples. The seven-times champions of France, Monaco, actually play in a separate country, though Monaco is not a member of FIFA. Exceptions are made for other small countries, too: San Marino Calcio are in Serie C2 in Italy, FC Andorra play in Spain and Liechtenstein's club sides are in the Swiss system. Perhaps the most extreme example is Singapore's S League which has featured 10 different non-Singaporean teams, though only two are in the current division.