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Football Thread |OT19| LA DECIMATED

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Well shit, undeserved pen for Emelec.

Wait, nobody watches Libertadores, right? Me neither, but nothing else is on right now and I'm cleaning my room. :C
 
Vivalaraza said:
From what I've seen of him Strootman isn't THAT good, like he isn't going to be a Yaya Toure or Vidal IMO, he isn't at that level.

But he is still quite good. A well rounded player and very much box to box. Seems a good fit for United. Strong and mobile, decent on the ball, bit of a knob, can clank. I really want us to sign him because I think he has a good mentality which is lacking in out other CM options.

Hopefully we do but there hasn't been a credible story about it in ages.
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What I want is for an opposition player to think "now, I can't just stroll down the middle, because that fucker will be there, and he will give %100 to stop me, and he is good at what he does".

We really don't have that. Phil doesn't count.
 
lambda may appear all intense on the outside but this is him really... :p

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cmon chelsea!!!
 
Milan signed 18 year old Jherson Vergara Amú. Has anyone seen him play? Andrés? He's colombiano.

Also, some Italian newspaper claims Milan might go after Cesc Fabregas. Don't know how to feel about it.
 
Blatter wants to ruin the World Cup by taking away spots from UEFA and CONMEBOL

"We have to start to see the access to the World Cup, the access to the World Cup should be a little bit better balanced," Blatter said.

"In 2014 in Brazil 32 teams, one has qualified from South America and then you have 13 teams from one of the continents, which is Europe, and possibly five more from South America," Blatter said.

"If this happens then you have 19 out of 32 there is no chance to kick them out before one of them is in the semi-finals, this is the law of the numbers.

"We shall have a look on this, you should have a look on that and bring such items on the agenda because we should have a better balance."
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I'm not too bothered by it. The point of having a world wide competition is that the competition is world wide. Based entirely off of merit, it'd become more and more of a SA vs Europe tournament. There's a reason that only 3-4 teams can come from the top European leagues in the CL – it'd be awful of teams like Basel, Galatasaray, Shakhtar, Benfica etc. couldn't compete.

IMO there are too many spots available for Euro and SA countries.

Especially considering that in a knockout tournament, even minnows have a chance to win if they just play really well in their (relatively) small amount of fixtures. I'd like to see other Asian countries besides just Japan and Korea, other NA teams besides the USA and Mexico, more African teams as well.
 
odd_morsel said:
I'm not too bothered by it. The point of having a world wide competition is that the competition is world wide. Based entirely off of merit, it'd become more and more of a SA vs Europe tournament. There's a reason that only 3-4 teams can come from the top European leagues in the CL – it'd be awful of teams like Basel, Galatasaray, Shakhtar, Benfica etc. couldn't compete.

IMO there are too many spots available for Euro and SA countries.

Especially considering that in a knockout tournament, even minnows have a chance to win if they just play really well in their (relatively) small amount of fixtures. I'd like to see other Asian countries besides just Japan and Korea, other NA teams besides the USA and Mexico, more African teams as well.
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Agreed, especially with the bolded
 
Then the tournament becomes like qualifying, teams completely outclassing others. World Cup games ending 13-0 isn't something I really want to see.
 
odd_morsel said:
I'm not too bothered by it. The point of having a world wide competition is that the competition is world wide. Based entirely off of merit, it'd become more and more of a SA vs Europe tournament. There's a reason that only 3-4 teams can come from the top European leagues in the CL – it'd be awful of teams like Basel, Galatasaray, Shakhtar, Benfica etc. couldn't compete.

IMO there are too many spots available for Euro and SA countries.

Especially considering that in a knockout tournament, even minnows have a chance to win if they just play really well in their (relatively) small amount of fixtures. I'd like to see other Asian countries besides just Japan and Korea, other NA teams besides the USA and Mexico, more African teams as well.
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I kind of want to see that too, but the other Asian countries just aren't playing at a good enough level yet. Same with the other NA teams when they have to play away from home.
 
LegoArmo said:
Then the tournament becomes like qualifying, teams completely outclassing others. World Cup games ending 13-0 isn't something I really want to see.
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We aren't talking about suddenly throwing in San Marino here. I don't think Qatar or Jordan would lose 13-0, nor would Honduras or Canada. There are quite a few countries that are on the cusp of qualifying but cannot because there aren't enough places.

I'd rather see Saudi Arabia get a shot at a good run than see Ireland, Scotland and Wales go out in the group stage year after year.
 
KidA Seven said:
I kind of want to see that too, but the other Asian countries just aren't playing at a good enough level yet. Same with the other NA teams when they have to play away from home.
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But – and I may be alone in thinking this – I don't think the WC is an exciting competition because the quality of football is good. It's quite poor to be honest.

European countries, especially England, have a rather diminished national pride. They've become to complacent in the competition. Give a country like Thailand an opportunity to fight for national pride and I think they'll surprise – they'd never take their position for granted. If they had a good run their players would be become idolized.
 
odd_morsel said:
I'm not too bothered by it. The point of having a world wide competition is that the competition is world wide. Based entirely off of merit, it'd become more and more of a SA vs Europe tournament. There's a reason that only 3-4 teams can come from the top European leagues in the CL – it'd be awful of teams like Basel, Galatasaray, Shakhtar, Benfica etc. couldn't compete.

IMO there are too many spots available for Euro and SA countries.

Especially considering that in a knockout tournament, even minnows have a chance to win if they just play really well in their (relatively) small amount of fixtures. I'd like to see other Asian countries besides just Japan and Korea, other NA teams besides the USA and Mexico, more African teams as well.
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You're making it sound like Asia is only allocated 2 spots currently when they have 4.5, Africa currently has 5, North America 3.5. I think it is already well balanced between merit and worldwide access. I'd love it if you give me your preferred continental allocation spots.
 
If Blatter wants more to expand the representation from other parts of the world, why not just increase the size of the tournament itself? Go from 32 teams to 64, or maybe 48. It would only be one extra game for each team in the tournament, so hardly some massive extra burden on the players; the only issue would be fitting all the extra games in, particularly if the host country has a lack of stadiums.
 
Sviatoslav said:
You're making it sound like Asia is only allocated 2 spots currently when they have 4.5, Africa currently has 5, North America 3.5. I think it is already well balanced between merit and worldwide access. I'd love it if you give me your preferred continental allocation spots.
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9 for UEFA, add 1 to each of the other groups would do me fine personally.
 
Salazar said:
Serie A-GAF are some bloodthirsty motherfuckers.
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We walk the Path of Conte.

http://www.blackwhitereadallover.co...-of-antonio-conte-as-narrated-by-andrea-pirlo

"Yes, coach. That moron said that we are the most hated team in the world, that everyone knows it."

"He's right about that, when we see him on the pitch we will need to thank him, even, he gave us a compliment, it means we are back. That we instill fear, that we are honoring the name we carry. Remember: only those who do not win get the opponents' full sympathy."
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Burn Redcafe to the ground

Could welbeck become out Marco Reus?

Both are agile, fast and have good feet, and are decent dribblers.

I think if we could get him playing I'm a similar way it would work well.
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odd_morsel said:
9 for UEFA, add 1 to each of the other groups would do me fine personally.
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That's very convenient since there are 9 qualifying groups from Europe. That would mean based on current standings, the following countries would NOT qualify for the World Cup: England, France, Croatia, Portugal, etc.

You suggest this would lead to a better World Cup?
 
Sviatoslav said:
That's very convenient since there are 9 qualifying groups from Europe. That would mean based on current standings, the following countries would NOT qualify for the World Cup: England, France, Croatia, Portugal, etc.

You suggest this would lead to a better World Cup?
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Yes. Just like the fight for CL places in England. They don't let Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton, etc. in.
 
If anything, they should take away spots from Asia, not give them more. They have one team in the top 32 in the FIFA rankings yet they have 4.5 births into the World Cup. Morsel thinks the current allocation is unfair to them though.

Basel is in the top 32 in the UEFA club rankings. They should give Switzerland 4.5 spots into the CL group stage! You know, to be inclusive.
 
Wow QPR

Queens Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes says he cannot rule out Mark Hughes one day returning to the club. Fernandes sacked Hughes in November and still believes the Welshman had passed his "sell by date".

But he admitted he had wanted the ex-Blackburn boss in charge long term.
Asked if Hughes could ever return, Fernandes said: "Life is a strange thing. Never say never. But at the moment you'd have to say it's a very, very long shot."

He added: "I don't think right now the fans would appreciate that. But I'm not someone who is ever going to close the door to anybody or anything.

"I like Mark and somewhere along the line something went wrong.
"If Harry Redknapp wasn't the man available then I think Mark may still be here. Maybe all the fans would dislike me intensely but he had a great record at Blackburn and Fulham."
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This is my favourite. What a total fucking berk

"I hope Harry can stay with us as long as he wants to and in that period he can groom someone else that will carry on the Harry Redknapp tradition."
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Sviatoslav said:
Except the balance of spots you suggest would make it more akin to no team outside of Manchester qualifying for the CL in England.
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Nah it'd be like reducing the PL spots from 4 to 3, which is a real danger of happening at this point.

The big difference, though is that the CL is a club competition. They're corporations fighting against each other and they do represent their leagues but not their countries. The CL is more focused on the quality of football and is judged on different criteria than the WC.

Sviatoslav said:
If anything, they should take away spots from Asia, not give them more. They have one team in the top 32 in the FIFA rankings yet they have 4.5 births into the World Cup. Morsel thinks the current allocation is unfair to them though.

Basel is in the top 32 in the UEFA club rankings. They should give Switzerland 4.5 spots into the CL group stage! You know, to be inclusive.
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Ugh, if this is how you argue your case then I'll gladly pass on any future discussions. :P
 
Blatter just sees the $$$ and 'growing the game' bullshit that isn't even sustainable (learned nothing from World Cup USA and the US league clearly). Spots should go to regions in order of football popularity - it's an event for fans of the sport.
 
odd_morsel said:
Nah it'd be like reducing the PL spots from 4 to 3, which is a real danger of happening at this point.

The big difference, though is that the CL is a club competition. They're corporations fighting against each other and they do represent their leagues but not their countries. The CL is more focused on the quality of football and is judged on different criteria than the WC.



Ugh, if this is how you argue your case then I'll gladly pass on any future discussions. :P
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We agree on the fact that the World Cup should be a balance between merit and diversity, right? UEFA currently has 18 of the top 32 ranked countries in the world but can only send 13 to the World Cup, so there is already a tradeoff. You talk about about wanting to have the World Cup have more passion and national pride but by reducing Europe's allocation you'll only worsen that because the fringe teams on the verge of qualifying or not, like Eastern European(Ukraine, Poland, Russia etc) or Balkan countries (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia) or Turkey or Greece are the ones who typify the national pride you say you want.
 
bjaelke said:
Neymar, Isco, De Gea and Hummels all linked with a move to Barcelona in an attempt to rebuild the team (Times).
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Other than Isco, the other 3 seem realistic targets. De Gea would be tough to sign, but there are other keepers better than Valdes so no biggie.
 
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