football thread No11

[warpus]

Your confidence in a US qualification is strange. The US barely qualified, and is going to face Iran (their main objective will be to beat the US) and a solid european team in addition to England : even though England is an obvious favorite, anyone else can qualify here

From an American pov Iran is definitely beatable, Ukraine/Scotland are as well, Wales are a bit tougher but also beatable, and England are tie-able. There's more than enough points for the taking for the Americans to get out of their group.

 

[AdrienIer]

From a non American POV losing badly to England, losing to Uk/Sc/Wa and tie-ing Iran (therefore ending in 4th place) is also definitely a possibility. So I'm kind of surprised at how confident you seem to be. You definitely have the skills to end up in the first two spots, but you'll have to fight for it.

 

[warpus]

I mean, anything is a possibility. I'm not American, but when I look at that group, it seems to me that the 2nd place spot is reasonably within reach for the U.S. Iran is one of the weakest teams in the tournament and Scotland and Ukraine are weaker on paper than the U.S. as well. Wales, I'm not really sure tbh

 

[Grendeldef]

Tim Howard. Wiki says he's part owner and sporting director for a division 2 club in Memphis TN now, and the "international ambassador in the US" for Everton, whatever that means.

Currently it means that he's deep underground somewhere hiding. There has been better times being associated with Everton.

 

[Grendeldef]

Benzema is a machine.

 

[Snerk]

Benzema is a machine.

Mendy too, but a faulty one. At least tonight.

 

[Takhisis]

Iceland eliminating England in the EURO 2016 is still the highlight of football history.

Iceland holding Argentina to a 1-1 draw was both the high point for Iceland and the low point for Argentina; the former have since gone down while the latter have an unbeaten streak that stretches to 11 matches, including a so-far unbeaten campaign in the WC qualifiers (1 match pending, away against Brazil) and an unbeaten (7-match) Copa América win last year.

(also, strangely enough, Argentina's general and ongoing string of catastrophes both on the football pitch and in general public life (who the crap sustains two-digit inflation non-stop for 15 years?) has for once tamed the general public, which is still not in ‘we're already champions’ mode. Although the fact that the tournament's not in barely over a month but at the end of the year instead might have something to do with that, as well.

Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.

Let's see, Iran in 2014 should have beaten Argentina but Argentina got a “favourable” referee. In 2018 they actually proved competitive and were only narrowly edged out in a Group of Death™ that included Portugal and Spain!
And also they have a 100% record in competitive matches against the U.S.A. national ‘soccer’ team.

 

[Grendeldef]

Mendy too, but a faulty one. At least tonight.

A spanner in the Benz?

Yup, not the most convincing performance but in his youth he missed all classes were goalies were told that it's ok to play ball with feet. It might even be expected at some point. On the other hand Kepa is only option when one is willing to let him stay forever on pitch.
I could see this as tactic for selling him in an away game.

 

[Grendeldef]

Bodø rules, Italian football not so much and Payet scored another epic - nothing new today.

---
Fixed personal laziness.

 

[Snerk]

Bodö rules, Italian football not so much and Payet scored another epic - nothing new today.

Suuuuper impressed by BodøGlimt these days! They are of course our bitter rivals but I'm still stoked.

 

[Pangaea]

Incredibly results by Bodø/Glimt over several years now. May not get past Roma over two legs ofc, but this was a massive result. It's certainly possible, though, and they're not even in a season yet. They've lost many good players too, but just keep going. Remarkable. It's good to see such fairytales is still possible in this sport, if we can even call it that these days. So much corruption and bent rules and people.

 

[thetrooper]

Apparently there was also a brawl at the end of the game? Love it. And I absolutely love to see Mourinho whine like a little girl.

 

[Takhisis]

While Peru in convulsed by demonstrations, curfews, rioting, looting and a few people get killed with the army on the streets… CONMEBOL says ‘no problem’ and international matches in Peru are played all the same, crowds and all.

 

[Grendeldef]

Replaced ö with ø in Bodø. I've been there often enough to know the spelling but I was lazy and hasty at the time of writing.

I still do have an issue with the stupid full name Bodø/Glimt. Call it Blimt or Glidø or come up with a new name instead of that monstrosity. Same with Brighton & Hove Albion - if the team is incapable of having a decent name the cities should merge under a new name for inspiration.

The Special One is an interesting case - he seems most often miserable in the sidelines which probably reflects his success in recent years but why be disappointed 24/7/365 for years when yoi have all the money you need? Sure, the weather in Rome prolly beats that in England but he's not a happy man and while traveling broadens one's view the recent trips to Norway were unmitigated disasters in practical terms.

 

[Takhisis]

CONMEBOL once again strikes. This time they're ‘inviting’ Mexican teams to rejoin the competition, in the spirit of continental brotherhood or something. Not related to a market of over 100 million potential TV spectators, not counting Unitedstatesian Mexicans.

 

[Pangaea]

Mumbles something about the integrity of the "sport".

 

[Takhisis]

*makes generally agreement-sounding noises*

 

[warpus]

Check out this Canadian Premier League last minute equalizer. Candidate for goal of the year and the season has just started

 

[Grendeldef]

Not a bad one - few more and he'll Haller be of Canada.

 

[Takhisis]

Coach in Brazil headbutts lineswoman, is caught on tape, gets fired, says she's playing the victim because she's a woman.