Soccer Thread 2024-25 Edition

[AlexB]

Not sure if you know who Peter Crouch is, but he was a very good footballer with an even better sense of self deprecating humour.

Due to a lost bet, he was a mascot in a non-league game!

Peter Crouch returns to the pitch... as Farnham mascot! | Football News | Sky Sports

[flere-imsaho]

Peter Crouch is great.

[Ghost Econ]

They showed Madonna on the Liverpool-Chelsea broadcast and she was eating popcorn out of a Ziploc bag.

I don't feel bad being a cheapskate.

[Ghost Econ]

Arne Slot is the Ed Orgeron of soccer

[Ghost Econ]

I'd give anything to watch a Super Bowl in the snow

- YouTube

[Critch]

Now that's a proper betting scandal:

Turkey FA suspends 1,024 players in betting probe

[SirFozzie]

Turkey says "You're all Suspended. You? Suspended. You? Arrested. You? DOUBLY SUSPENDED"

1,024 players in the professional ranks! To compare that, the TOTAL amount of players who've made at least one Premier League Appearance (as of 2024 ish? 4,776.


Add a club chairman, six officials and an 8th individual arrested.


The third and fourth divisions of the Turkish league have been shut down for two weeks, and Turkey is asking FIFA for an emergency 15 day transfer window to fill all the holes.

[flere-imsaho]

Go big or go home.

[Ghost Econ]

MLS owners are going to vote on aligning the calendar with most of the rest of the world, with a winter break kinda like Germany. Should be interesting and give us some nice snow games while avoiding at least some of the hottest days of the year.

Also proposing a split to 5 regional divisions of 6 teams that play home-away and then playing everyone else once. Probably the best solution if they insist on having a massive league. I'd say ideally they eventually get to 36 teams then split AL/NL style to play home and away in their conference then just have a larger playoff between the sides at the end.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

MLS owners are going to vote on aligning the calendar with most of the rest of the world, with a winter break kinda like Germany. Should be interesting and give us some nice snow games while avoiding at least some of the hottest days of the year.
.

I can't fathom MLS drawing crowds in cold weather. Maybe people who would sit in the cold for that product exist, I'm simply not sure how they aren't in facility with nice padded walls.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I'm simply not sure how they aren't in facility with nice padded walls.

Nah, MISL was ultimately a failure too.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Nah, MISL was ultimately a failure too.

Well played actually.

Fun fact: arguably the most intense pro sports environment I'd been in up to that point in my life (circa 1990) was an NPSL match between Atlanta and the (league dominant) Canton (OH) Invaders. Atlanta wins on a goal with under :01 left, and The Omni came unglued (as much as a crowd of maybe 3k can).

I worked for the radio station that was the broadcast outlet for the short-lived club in their two year stint so I saw a lot of them, met quite a few players, etc. All in all a very fun experience as a fan, the very unstable nature of the league & its financials notwithstanding.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Instead of playing snow games, they're going to take a 6-8 week break (mid-Dec to early/mid Feb) just past the halfway point of the season. I'm not sure which of those options sounds like a nuttier idea tbh.

MLS switching schedule from summer to align with world soccer - ESPN

[sovereignstar v2]

Norway and Erling Haaland are essentially qualified for the WC. Noice

[SirFozzie]

Scott McTierney will never have to buy a drink in a Scotland pub ever again.. Even (Glasgow) Rangers fans will treat him.

[miami_fan]

We are more likely to hear the Spanish commentators on this side of the world but this right here is what international sport is all about. Congrats to the Tartan Army. Hope to see you next summer.

This commentary!!!! UNREAL @ScotlandNT @BBCScotland #SCODEN pic.twitter.com/lV5gdkRMdL

— Greg James (@gregjames) November 18, 2025

And who says there should be no cheering in the press box?

Sit back and enjoy Steven Thompson and James McFadden going absolutely wild on commentary 😅🎉#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/oOC5NoxVUY

— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) November 18, 2025

Finally, congrats to Curacao and Haiti for qualifying as well. Curacao is the smallest city by population to make it having about 10,000 more people that Gainesville, Florida.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Scott McTierney will never have to buy a drink in a Scotland pub ever again.. Even (Glasgow) Rangers fans will treat him.

Even two drinks, one for Scott McTominay and one for Kieran Tierney, they both scored

I'm way too old to get teary eyed watching a football game but there I was at full time last night. Not helped by the commentary mentioning it was 10,011 days since Scotland's last game at a World Cup final, sounds even longer when it's put in days. I watched that game with my wife in a bar in DC, how did she get so old?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Critch

Even two drinks, one for Scott McTominay and one for Kieran Tierney, they both scored

I'm way too old to get teary eyed watching a football game but there I was at full time last night. Not helped by the commentary mentioning it was 10,011 days since Scotland's last game at a World Cup final, sounds even longer when it's put in days. I watched that game with my wife in a bar in DC, how did she get so old?

It would not surprise you to know that the way I found out Scotland lost on Saturday was through a voice note from a Scot I know who lives in London who was already for preparing himself for Scotland to bottle the match yesterday and any playoffs that might have occurred.

Fast forward to yesterday and I found out the Scotland result via a Facetime from the same Scot, tears running down his face just blubbering "They F-----g Made It!" over and over and over.

That and other reactions that I have seen make it seem like it was much more than just a football match. Enjoy it!

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Instead of playing snow games, they're going to take a 6-8 week break (mid-Dec to early/mid Feb) just past the halfway point of the season. I'm not sure which of those options sounds like a nuttier idea tbh.

MLS switching schedule from summer to align with world soccer - ESPN

Dumb question but how do they do things in countries like Finland and Russia? Just play in the snow or are stadiums indoors? Feels like this would have been a good decision to make before all these teams built outdoor stadiums.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Dumb question but how do they do things in countries like Finland and Russia? Just play in the snow or are stadiums indoors? Feels like this would have been a good decision to make before all these teams built outdoor stadiums.

Wiki says "As with certain other cold-climate European countries, league matches in Finland are played in summer, with a schedule usually from April to October.

Russian Premier League schedule runs July 2025- May 2026. I see several roofed / retractable roof stadiums in the league. Looks like they take a break from 12/7 until 2/28

[sovereignstar v2]

Russia must have changed to a summer schedule somewhat recently. I remember they did something closer to MLS when I was playing FM more

[sovereignstar v2]

Of course I look it up and they switched like 13 years ago lol. In my defense I was definitely playing more FM then!

[RainMaker]

Went down a weird rabbit hole trying to find the teams playing in the coldest climates.

- YouTube

[flere-imsaho]

One of my favorite European matches ever was when Chelsea had to go to Tromso (above the Arctic Circle) for a Cup Winners Cup match in 1997 and promptly lost the first leg 2-3 partly because it was played in pretty heavy snow (they won the home leg handily and moved on in the competition).

Their bald Italian striker Gianluca (recently of Juventus in sunny Turin) bags both of the goals. He died a few years ago, lovely man, wrote a great book about Italian & English football, RIP.

Anyway, makes me nostalgic for 1990s European football competitions when you had something silly like the Cup Winners Cup, which often had two teams playing who hadn't won a cup the previous year because the league Champion did (very common in smaller leagues) and that team was playing in the Champions League.

So you'd have pretty big English teams (or Italian, which was the biggest league in the world at the time) traveling to these tiny teams in places no one had heard of to play on things like sloping pitches, pitches next to oceans, pitches with stands only on one side of the stadium, etc.... Just really fun stuff. OK, going to go shout at clouds now.

[bronconick]

Curaçao is the smallest country (155k) to ever qualify for the World Cup.

[sovereignstar v2]

Maybe they can go to 72 teams next World Cup and we can get some even smaller nations in

[JPhillips]

I saw that Tromso did really well this year and with two games left they have guaranteed qualification into the tertiary Europe league.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Anyway, makes me nostalgic for 1990s European football competitions when you had something silly like the Cup Winners Cup, which often had two teams playing who hadn't won a cup the previous year because the league Champion did (very common in smaller leagues) and that team was playing in the Champions League.

Now it feels weird being old enough to remember when the Champions League was abolishes as being limited to champions and the reigning champs. I also remember the controversy over leagues having Cup Winners Cup qualifiers for the two losing semifinalists in a native cup competition.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Maybe they can go to 72 teams next World Cup and we can get some even smaller nations in

Gwinnett County (GA) U18 Blue Lazers can't be that far away
(fictional squad, so don't nobody go poaching players)

[flere-imsaho]

Too late, they're in the FM26 database now.

[MIJB#19]

Blah blah blah. Such cringe nonsense Infantino is blabbing.

[Ghost Econ]

Trump got the prestigious FIFA Peace Prize!!!!

[MIJB#19]

There's so much cringe about this ceremony, I can't put everything in a single post.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

There's so much cringe about this ceremony, I can't put everything in a single post.

I was literally coming here to say this. Even without the trump stuff this is terrible.

[Lathum]

Ok. Shaq next to Kevin Hart was hysterical

[GrantDawg]

Trump and FIFA are a match made in heaven. The two have never seen a bribe they didn't love.

[RainMaker]

So the US draw wasn't too bad it seems. Just have to hope the last team isn't Turkey.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Trump and FIFA are a match made in heaven. The two have never seen a bribe they didn't love.

FIFA: "Hey, USA, we need a lot more money to let you guys host all these games."

Trump: "I'm thinking of starting a FIFA tariff"

FIFA: "I respect your game. How about we give you an award instead?"

[Ghost Econ]

Furman beat Portland last night on a 40 yard bomb to make the College Cup final 4. It also happens we'll be in Cary, NC Friday night for a swim meet, where the final 4 is also being held. I'm still pissed I didn't fly to Orlando for the NCAA basketball tourney game where the beat UVA, so I'm gonna work to convince my wife to sit in the cold to watch kids she doesn't know play a sport she doesn't care about at a time when she's normally in bed.

[sovereignstar v2]

Rayan Cherki: Our No.10. 🤩pic.twitter.com/ZNR4Oelmio

— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) December 6, 2025

[MIJB#19]

Having done some further analysis on the WC2026 draw, the idea to put Argentina and Spain in other halves of the playoff bracket only in part has worked out, because in that random process their groups have been tied together for the second round where the #1 and #2 of their respective groups play each other. So, if either Argentina or Spain ends up 2nd in their group and the other one wins, they will face in the round of 32. With Argentina playing in the last group of action, it's not unthinkable they will have the opportunity to calculate what result works best for them for their second round matchup, especially with 3rd place quite likely also being good enough.

The most curious part of the draw is that Algeria and Austria face each other in the last match of the group stage (simultaneously played with Argentina vs Jordan) and it's quite possible that Austria gets a chance to repeat history and in the process make peace with their historic feud with Algeria (dating back to 1982) in the process by playing to a result that puts them both into the second round.

That playing to a result will also come into play in the end games of the groups of Belgium (vs New Zealand and Egypt vs Iran), Portugal (vs Colombia and Uzbekistan vs the playoffs winner of the DR Congo, Jamaica and New Caledonia bracket) and England (vs Panama and Croatia vs Ghana).

[Ghost Econ]

This should be interesting

Iran v. Egypt for Pride Night

[miami_fan]

Chelsea confirm Enzo Maresca exit amid poor Premier League run - ESPN

Bring back Jose

[sovereignstar v2]

What’s going to happen to Chelsea after this most recent illegal invasion?

[sovereignstar v2]

Okay, I can’t hold it in any longer. At the risk of losing the derby against a terrible United side…

[flere-imsaho]

I only need to go back to page two for the last time I got to dunk on you.

[sovereignstar v2]

Easily the worst performance under Pep. And Dalot should have been sent off way before it got so bad.

[flere-imsaho]

Honestly, I feel kind of bad coming here to rub it in....

[flere-imsaho]

[flere-imsaho]

You made me do this, sov.