Soccer Thread 2024-25 Edition

[flere-imsaho]

[flere-imsaho]

Remind me again, how many games has it been since Erling Haaland, arguably the most talented number 9 in the world, has scored from open play for Manchester City?

[flere-imsaho]

Interestingly, the digits two and zero not only describe today's victory, but also make up the titles that Manchester United possess.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

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

Went back and saw Tromso finished third and qualified for the Europa League.

[Ghost Econ]

The USL has released their plan for a 14 team D1 league with promotion/relegation they plan to start in 2028. I'll believe it when I see it, but they also say 5-6 of the new D1 teams will likely be expansion teams. Who would pay the startup costs and franchise fees necessary to compete in a D1 league when there's a decent chance you're going to get relegated in the first or second season?

USL targets 2028 Division I launch with 14 founding teams

[Ghost Econ]

If you asked me to pick who I'd let run a country between Amorim and Trump... I would pause for a second.

[flere-imsaho]

HAHA.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

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

Since you posted this, Manchested United are 4-0. That's Four Wins and Zero Losses.

I look forward to more posts from you in the future.

[Lathum]

I am not an astute follower of the EPL but I will occasionally watch a game if I am up before my wife on the weekend. I also love going to games when I visit family over there.

When did Tottenham get so bad? Was it when they sold Harry Kane or are there other circumstances.

Didn't they recently build a new stadium? I would imagine getting relegated would be a financial disaster for them.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

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

Since you posted this on January 13th, Manchester United have not lost a game, dropping only 2 points out of a possible 21, and lie in third place (on goal difference, no less, a metric by which they have absolutely sucked for years now).

I would like to thank you, sov, for speaking this resurgence into existence.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I am not an astute follower of the EPL but I will occasionally watch a game if I am up before my wife on the weekend. I also love going to games when I visit family over there.

When did Tottenham get so bad? Was it when they sold Harry Kane or are there other circumstances.

Didn't they recently build a new stadium? I would imagine getting relegated would be a financial disaster for them.

Kane's brilliance* absolutely papered over a lot of cracks, the main of which were a predilection to change managers often and never really put a serious front office in place.

You've seen similar with Manchester United over the past 10-ish years. Changing managers so often ends up leaving you with a squad of mismatched parts that are harder and harder to mold into a reasonable tactical plan, and the players start making business decisions when it becomes obvious that managers aren't going to last anyway.

They did build a big new stadium (and it produces revenue beyond football), and they have a loyal fanbase, so I expect them to come right back up if relegated, but it'll be a pretty major blow. To get back to some sort of sustained success, they'll need a patient & smart front office to guide the club and pick a good manager and stick with him for a while, and Spurs are known for neither of these things.

*We talk about his goals a lot, but Kane also did a ton of work with link-up play and he was a pretty influential captain on top of it. The fact that he resisted a full court press from Levy and Mourinho so that he could leave for Bayern on a free really says a lot about how little faith the players have in the club.

[Ghost Econ]

We are spending a lot of money to give ourselves a 1 in 47 instead of 1 in 48 chance of winning the World Cup.

https://dpa-international.com/sports...311-99-794864/

But at least Trump got a Peace Prize.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Changing managers so often ends up leaving you with a squad of mismatched parts that are harder and harder to mold into a reasonable tactical plan, and the players start making business decisions when it becomes obvious that managers aren't going to last anyway.

I used to think the way the NBA and NFL (in particular) recycled coaches was a running joke - guys like Kevin Loughery, Jeff Fisher, etc. - but soccer takes the cake. Apparently the only thing that disqualifies coaches from being hired 10+ times in the same league is a death certificate.

[Ghost Econ]

Congrats to Morocco for winning the African Championships. It's every child's dream to win a title not on the field, but in a boardroom.

[AlexB]

It’s a farce, but this should have been the immediate decision at the time

Regardless of how bad the refereeing decisions were, walking off the pitch en masse should have been considered forfeiture of the game there and then

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by AlexB

It’s a farce, but this should have been the immediate decision at the time

Regardless of how bad the refereeing decisions were, walking off the pitch en masse should have been considered forfeiture of the game there and then

The fact that the referee did not award Morocco the forfeiture immediately is why I believe it is the wrong decision.

Both sides, the referee and most importantly CAF agreed to that match to resuming after the Senegalese team came back on the pitch. If Morocco had refused to play and/or filed a protest immediately because they believe the forfeit should have been awarded, no problem. They decided to decide the match on the pitch and only filed the protest when they lost. CAF should have left the match result as is, sent out their version of the two minute report explaining what should have happened, disciplined Senegal and the match official for their indiscretions and moved on.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

The fact that the referee did not award Morocco the forfeiture immediately is why I believe it is the wrong decision.

I wonder: is that something a referee can do though? At the best of my knowledge, the only thing the referee could have done is postpone or cancel the match for the fact that one of the two teams refuses to be on the field, but still requiring to talk it over with the local authorities and possibly some CAF officials.

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Both sides, the referee and most importantly CAF agreed to that match to resuming after the Senegalese team came back on the pitch. If Morocco had refused to play and/or filed a protest immediately because they believe the forfeit should have been awarded, no problem. They decided to decide the match on the pitch and only filed the protest when they lost. CAF should have left the match result as is, sent out their version of the two minute report explaining what should have happened, disciplined Senegal and the match official for their indiscretions and moved on.

The way things went down, this out of nowhere decision to award Morocco the trophy doesn't sound like it will uphold over at the CAS. Sure, Senegal deserves a fine for leaving the field, but they can't be blamed for the game being played out to a real result.

[bhlloy]

Yeah, as childish and poor as it was for Senegal to do what they did, and I want to say it's deserved, it's a really uncomfortable precedent to set that a game that was completed to the referee's satisfaction can then be determined to be abandoned after the fact. It's not hard to imagine any number of scenarios where that can be taken advantage of, in good faith or not.

Of course nobody hearing is talking about the other half of the decision, which is the fines Morocco got for having ballboys interfere with Senegal players and shine lasers at Senegal players during the game got cut in half. And coincidentally the first VP of CAF is Moroccan, of course. Nothing to see there I'm sure.

[miami_fan]

Can we say USMNT have passed Italy as a soccer world power?

Well no but I feel like USMNT has garnered more silverware and progress further in major competitions than the Italians have.

[flere-imsaho]

Uh, Italy have won the World Cup four times, most recently in 2006. They have been runners-up twice and third place once.

They have won the European Championship twice, most recently in 2020, and been runners-up twice.

The best the U.S. have done at the WC was third place in 1930. They made the quarter finals in 2002 and the Round of 16 in 1934, 1994, 2010, 2014, 2022.

They've won the Gold Cup a lot and the CONCACAF three times, but neither of those are close to the level of the European Championships.

So no, Italy remains more accomplished.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

So no, Italy remains more accomplished.

But also even less relevant in 2026.

I described their current situation -- a single WC match victory since their WC win -- as being a little disorienting for anyone over the age of 30-35.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Uh, Italy have won the World Cup four times, most recently in 2006. They have been runners-up twice and third place once.

They have won the European Championship twice, most recently in 2020, and been runners-up twice.

The best the U.S. have done at the WC was third place in 1930. They made the quarter finals in 2002 and the Round of 16 in 1934, 1994, 2010, 2014, 2022.

They've won the Gold Cup a lot and the CONCACAF three times, but neither of those are close to the level of the European Championships.

So no, Italy remains more accomplished.

Oops, looks like I forgot to add the big caveat of since 2010.

Obviously I was being fictitious. However, since 2010, Italy has finished 26th and 22nd in consecutive World Cups, and missed the next three. They won in 2020 (played in 2021 but do we really count anything that happened during COVID? ), were runners up in 2012 and were 7th and 14th in their continental competition held every four years.

USMNT finished 12th and 15th int the 2010 and 2014 WCs and after missing in 2018 finished 14th in 2022. In their continental competition held every two years, USMNT has three titles and been runner up three times.

The commentary is more of a criticism of Gli Azzurri then any sort of praise for USMNT. However facts are facts. Both sides are facing teams of their level given the sport's importance in the confederation. saItaly's tournament record since 2010 has been subpar. If i am being honest, you could go back to after its last WC win in 2006 and the results are even more stark. Italy has won exactly one WC match during that time. USMNT has won three matches at the World Cup during that same time period. Italy has definitely accomplished more overall than USMNT. But over over the last 15 or so years? Not so much.

[flere-imsaho]

Yes, but, in terms of difficulty, it goes like this:

World Cup
European Championship
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Gold Cup
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.CONCACAF Nations League

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Can we say USMNT have passed Italy as a soccer world power?

That isn't a major achievement, based on the last 4 World Cups, there are 36 countries that can proclaim to be ahead of Italy. Once the World Cup 2026 is in the books, it's fair to assume that Saudi Arabia will join those 36 and something like a surprise R16 performance will lift South Africa, New Zealand or Bosnia-Herzegovina ahead as well.

But Italy did win the European Championships in 2021 and lost the final in 2012 as well. They haven't sucked for 20 years straight.

[flere-imsaho]

You can say that the USMNT is more accomplished, recently, going off of tournaments won. But you can't really say they're better (unless they surprise us this summer, I suppose). That would be akin to saying a perennial national champion in DIII american football is more accomplished than a DI team that makes the college football playoffs every year, maybe wins an SEC or B10 title here and there, but hasn't won a national championship for a while. More accomplished, sure. Better? No.

[Ghost Econ]

Chelsea's next league game is May 4th. They haven't scored a league goal since March 7th. Assuming they score, it will have been almost 2 months.

[GrantDawg]

Happy birthday to me! My son just snagged us tickets to a World Cup match.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Happy birthday to me! My son just snagged us tickets to a World Cup match.

How much were they?

I was planning to go but the tickets seemed insanely high priced. Same for the Olympics. They're asking like $1000 for track finals. Even the smaller events were hundreds of dollars when France was charging like $35 to attend.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

How much were they?

I was planning to go but the tickets seemed insanely high priced. Same for the Olympics. They're asking like $1000 for track finals. Even the smaller events were hundreds of dollars when France was charging like $35 to attend.

He didntell me, but i just looked and Stub Hub. Looks like they were around $250.

[RainMaker]

That's not bad at all. I was looking to go to a game in Seattle but tickets for Egypt-Belgium were $600 at the cheapest on the secondary markets.

[Ghost Econ]

Well, I hope you're ready to go see Italy instead of Iran.

Keep politics out of sports... I guess....

reuters.com

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

That's not bad at all. I was looking to go to a game in Seattle but tickets for Egypt-Belgium were $600 at the cheapest on the secondary markets.

Yeah, I think he was surprised by the price. I had looked earlier and they were much more expensive. Looks like the non-group stage tickets are $700+ at the cheapest. Even the group stage matches with Spain are $550-$750. But all the other group matches start at the $250 range. Not a lot of blockbuster matches in there.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

Well, I hope you're ready to go see Italy instead of Iran.

Keep politics out of sports... I guess....

reuters.com

FIFA is broken as hell, but if for whatever reasons Iran gets replaced, it will be a team from Asia and the last team knocked out in qualifiers were the United Arab Emirates.

[flere-imsaho]

Starting to look real hairy for Spurs.

With 4 games left and 2 points off of West Ham in 17th, Spurs final games:

@ Aston Villa (5th)
vs. Leeds (15th)
@ Chelsea (8th, but in free-fall)
vs. Everson (11th)

West Ham's last four games:

@ Brentford (9th)
vs. Arsenal (1st)
@ Newcastle (14th)
vs. Leeds (15th)

Speaking of putative / wannabe members of the "Big 6", quite the fall for Newcastle there.

[GrantDawg]

Yeah! Just read the stadium food prices aren't going up for the World Cup in Atlanta. Everything else might be stupid expensive, but we still get the $2 refillable Cokes and $2 hotdogs.

[miami_fan]

The Nearly Men finally became Champions. Arsenal are Premier League Champions for the first time in 22 years.

Pep is set to manage his final match for Manchester City

There is still a chance Spurs could be relegated this weekend.

And still this might be the most interesting story coming out of English club football over the last 48 hours.

Southampton expelled from Championship playoffs over Spygate - ESPN

ESPN gave it the "Spygate" moniker but I can't imagine any scenario where an American sports league pulls a team out of a playoff final due to any sort of rules violation/cheating scandal and replace it with the team that the first team just beat. Especially when the playoff final is less than a week away. Even David Stern couldn't figure out a way to pull that one off. Even though I think it is the correct decision, I can't imagine all the lawsuits that will pop up due to the decision that has been made.

[thealmighty]

I can finally wear my Gunners stuff again... if I can find any of it.

[RainMaker]

The Southampton story is wild and seems fairly unprecedented. But aren't they also giving Manchester City a huge pass for cheating all those years?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The Southampton story is wild and seems fairly unprecedented. But aren't they also giving Manchester City a huge pass for cheating all those years?

I think the unprecedented part is that the other clubs and more importantly the Southampton higher ups and fans did not hide behind the "all clubs do it" defense, were willing to make a scene and forced the EFL to deal with this immediately. Leeds did this a few years ago under Marcelo Bielsa. He was upfront about it and technically, there was not a rule in place for spying on a team's practice session. The rule was created because of that incident and that was during the regular season. To do it before the playoffs and for the fans and players to mock Middlesbrough and the rest of the league when they were caught is insane.


The delayed resolution of the Man City charges feel like the NCAA deciding to return the Heisman Trophy to Reggie Bush due to "enormous changes in the college football landscape."