Might as well start a general Footy/Soccer thread

After being saved from dropping points against Elche earlier in the week by the ref (did you guys see that call? Same ref who took a legit Sevilla goal off the board when they played Barca. Pepe is a classless dickbag of a football player), Real got served by Atletico in the Madrid derby. Atletico is no joke and I wouldn't be surprised if they finish ahead of Real this year.
Messi scored yet another wonderful goal yesterday, but his hamstring could be an issue all year. Doubt he'll play this week against Celtic.

Pepe's dive. Love the announcer just laughing at how bad of a call that was at 3 seconds in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJMe-1lPmFE

Bayern is kicking ass at the moment

Im not a big Charlie Rose fan, but this is a fantastic interview with SAF.

http://www.charlierose.com/watch/60274655

HAHAHAHAHA Mexican'ts! This is fantastic! This guy goes nutz and tells it how it is. I wish American announcers would sack up and tell it how it is more often.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oz1XhaBT45I


"GOOOOAAAAAAL The US of A PUTS us in the playoffs!!!!!" USA!

"It is because of the USA that we are being placed in the playoff ...BECAUSE OF THEM , NOT DUE TO YOU..NOT ANY OF YOU in the green shirts ....IT WAS THEM!!.NOT YOU!..THEY DID IT!!!!!NOT YOU! remember this forever..... KEEP THIS CLEARLY IN MIND FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES! You do NOTHING for the shirt, you do NOT put the effort, you have NOTplaced us in the playoffs , you HAVE NOT placed us in the WORLD CUP ..YOU WOULD NOT HAVE KEPT US ALIVE....IT WAS ESTADOS UNIDOS, NOT YOU.! .NOT YOU AND YOUR ARROGANCE/CONCEIT.....NOT YOU AND YOUR INFAMY....NOT YOU AND YOUR MORONS/PUNKS....
....
"IT IS A FAILURE.....and UNDESERVED -to go through to the playoff- WE HAD NO ARGUMENTS to earn the playoffs, THE USA, WITH SUBS , WITH MANY SUBS as the visiting team shows us once again what the USA is all about ....how to play the game with dignity, how to approach the sport..MExico is a horror, just terrible....A FAILURE....
......
THE USA HAS SURPASSED US ..They are better than Mexico in SOCCER ....THEY EVEN HAVE THE LUXURY OF PLAYING THEIR SUBS and KEEPING US LIVE.... I hope our coach wears the pants and resigns..He has failed as coach.

Hopefully Vucetich PUTS ON PANTS OR HANDS IN HIS RESIGNATION TODAY! He is ALSO FAILING AS TECHNICAL DIRECTOR! He is NOT WORKING OUT AS COACH OF THE NATIONAL TEAM! We need someone who WEARS PANTS (ie, has courage) AND WHO REMOVES THE EUROPEANS (Chicharito?, dos Santos? Aquino? Marquez - although he doesn't play in Europe any longer?) and who leads us out of the qualification round. The Europeans DO NO EXIST in this team at this moment, doctor (does that mean they are invisible?) . . . No, and they don't exist either . . . (2nd announcer then interrupted by end of U.S. game) . . . The match in Panama has just finished and Mexico will play against New Zealand . . . dragging its legs . . . its digni . . . (video cut off)

Attachment 142788

Portugal/France playoff would be fun. I cant see TPTB allowing it to happen though.

Panama v. US highlight reel

Real class shown by Jorgensen at the end.

I thought the whole team showed a lot of class at the end.






Or they didn't want to get shot.:frown:

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Spo...04_4843618.jpg

Group F is nasty. NASTY. Naples/Dortmund/Arsenal all sitting on 6 points after 3 matches. It's a shame one of those clubs wont make it out of the group.

Good God, barca's defense looked horrendous today.

Uummm

Zlatan is fucking killing it.

Pep is killing it. Bayern is nuts. 33 attempts and 79% possession?

Yep, Bayern is going to be tough to beat.

My favorite moment of the match day:
http://nesncom.files.wordpress.com/2...if?w=500&h=281
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xrBGAF17qM

Great Classico today. Goalaso from Alexis. Ronaldo probably should've had a penalty, but he's a whiny bitch so fuck him. 6 points clear of los cabrones.

ETA: que golaso senores
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrcmqmG84yc

That was a hell of a goal from Alexis. And Neymar looks like the real deal.

Boring El Cashico. Royal Madrid look very out of sorts when Bale is on the field. It wasn't until he was taken off that they started to flow & apply pressure. Last week against Juve was the same thing. Bale comes on in the second half and with even with a man advantage everything seemed to get bogged down. I know he joined the club late and he's been hurt but I hope this doesn't turn into a throw away year for the kid.

I think Bale is going to regret that move.

Yeah, I think both sides will regret it. Madrid overplayed by about $50 mil for a guy who's been hurt for the majority of his career and whom they don't really have a place for in their system. Par for the course for Madrid though.

Does Real have a system? Barca defense still looked shit.

Bale probably wasn't worth the transfer fee (especially because he'll never be in the World Cup, ever, no free marketing) but he's not in the same league of overpaid as Zlatan. PSG is paying the flattrack stud~€15m a year post tax which thanks to the frog socialists is something like ~€55m pretax. Bale is getting ~€20m pre tax 66% of Ronaldo's wages. Fucking silly money for the few top-end clubs.

Zlatan scores goals. He's an asshole and I love watching him play.

Bale can score goals. He's a nice lad and I love watching him play.

Zlatan will never be a hero. A well respected mercenary.

Bale could have been a hero if he stayed at Tottenham. He might be one at Real. Or where ever else he gets transferred down the line.

Can't argue against CR or Messi.

I'm looking forward to Sweden v Portugal.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

Does Real have a system? Barca defense still looked shit.

---

Yeah, not really the system, per se. More like they already have a guy, CR, who you give the ball to and get out of his way, not sure if there is room for two of them on the team.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by telemike

I'm looking forward to Sweden v Portugal.

---

Yep. I guess it kind of sucks for soccer that either CR or Ibra won't play in the World Cup, but I, for one, am stoked that one of those arrogant douchebags isn't going to Brazil.

Gareth Bale - Captain of the Welsh diving team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQwNooJxPFc

Heh. He did have a sweet game Wednesday though.

What a difference a few days make. Against Barca Carlo had Bale up top being supported by Cristiano & Di Maria on the wings. That didn't seem to work all that well. Against Seville Benzema took over the 9 role with Cristiano, Bale & Isco slightly behind him for support. This was a pretty common setup when Mou was in charge so maybe going back to a familiar formation helped things. Or maybe they were just playing an inferior opponent. Either way I was happy to see Bale put together a good game. And I dont think he will regret moving to Real. He'll never get a chance to play in a World Cup or Euro Cup. And if he stayed at Spurs there wasn't a very good chance he'd get to play in the CL every season. And did Real overpay? of course they did. All the big clubs overpay. Unless they're buying from Arsenal. :tongue:

Neymar's double nutmeg assist in today's derby match. Sexy time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWXC8MAWuRc

big day for the premiers.
Newcastle - Chelsea "I will slap Jose Mourinho if he repeats crowd-jumping antics, says Alan Pardew"

Big evening match: Arsenal - Liverpool... firing squad? Im sure after last weeks upset, Real no es muy cantado to have traded Ozil.

Aaron Ramsey


a man reborn...

In Arsene We Trust

that is all.

England U21 v San Marino U21 is quite entertaining...

Ronaldo 4: Zlats 2 on agregate. Frogs didn't surrender (hopefully they wont' play as shit as 2010 or 2002), Greece and Croatia. Now a miracle in Wellington....

fuck the god damn French

Sweet goals from Norwich's Uruguayan poltergeist Wednesday, and now... WORLD CUP DRAW ARMADILLO!

Wednesday's Suarez show was outrageous. He had two top 100 goals.

so the US plays Ghana, Portugal and group stage final against Germany. Ouch.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/final-draw/draw.html

Groups B,D and G look like the toughest. In my non-expert opinion.

Portugal has not played extremely well in qualifying, but they have CR7 who is capable of really taking things over.

Group G has 4 teams that would all have legitimate shots at moving on if they were in other groups.

Argentina looks to have the "easiest" route to the Semis. Bracket listing because it's a PITA to find on FIFA:
http://www.printyourbrackets.com/wor...t-bracket.html

Holy group of death. US will be lucky to get a point.