The Official Football/Soccer Thread: 2017-2018 Season
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Looks like the renewal of the British Home Championships. You can even invite the Republic of Ireland as well.
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You don't know how true that comment probably is. Not sure what UEFA would think of that proposal though. Martin
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It was talked about a few months ago. If it does go on it would likely take place before the EUROs, which begins June 7th. Premier League ends May 11th; FA Cup final on the 17th. Might be able to squeeze a few games in there. But enough of the silly talk and let's get to the serious business here. Likely teams in each Pot for the December 2nd draw in Lusanne. Placings are based on the UEFA coefficients for countries (I think). Top Seeds Austria (host) Switzerland (host) Greece (defending champion) Netherlands Pot 2 (second seeds) Croatia Italy Czech Republic Sweden Pot 3 Romania Germany Portugal Spain Pot 4 Poland France Turkey Russia Safe to say Holland's group will likely be the Group of Death, especially if Italy get's drawn with them.
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Talk about kicking a man when he is down........ Todays revision of the FIFA world rankings after the qualifying rounds for Euro 2008 sees England drop from the Top 5 postion they held when Steve McClaren inherited the managership to number 12. This means in the group draw for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, to be held in Durban on Sunday, England will go into the European groups second seed pot meaning almost inevitably sharing a group with a major team like Italy, France or Germany. Whoever takes over the team will already know this fact when they are approached - it may even put off a few prospective candidates. Martin
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UEFA Pots for 2010 World Cup draw (nine qualifying groups): Pot 1: Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Croatia, Greece Pot 2: England, Romania, Scotland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, Sweden, Israel Pot 3: Norway, Ukraine, Serbia, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Finland, Switzerland, Belgium Pot 4: Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Moldova, Wales, Macedonia, Belarus, Lithuania, Cyprus Pot 5: Georgia, Albania, Slovenia, Latvia, Iceland, Armenia, Austria, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan Pot 6: Liechtenstein, Estonia, Malta, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Andorra, Faroe Islands, San Marino UEFA gets 13 spots for 2010. The group winners will automatically go to South Africa. The best eight runners-up will be grouped in pairs and play off for the remaining four places.
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martinput:
You don't know how true that comment probably is. Not sure what UEFA would think of that proposal though. Martin
Btw, South American World Cup qualifying resumes while the EURO is taking place, with two rounds being played on June 14th and 17th. This article is from November 15th, before last weekend's qualifyers took place. England and Wales in the dark over tournament
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World Cup Draw European Group 6 Croatia England Ukraine Belarus Kazakhstan Andorra
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Croatia and England in the same group again.
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Here's the complete European Zone: Group 1 Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta Group 2 Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg Group 3 Czech Republic, Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino Group 4 Germany, Russia, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein Group 5 Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia Group 6 Croatia, England, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra Group 7 France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands Group 8 Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro Group 9 Holland, Scotland, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland
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Rafael Benitez is toast.....discuss. He really has urinated off his Liverpool's new American owners Gillett and Hicks.....silly boy....he has some major grovelling to do if he doesn't want to find himself unemployed by Christmas.
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david mitchelson:
Rafael Benitez is toast.....discuss. He really has urinated off his Liverpool's new American owners Gillett and Hicks.....silly boy....he has some major grovelling to do if he doesn't want to find himself unemployed by Christmas.
Nothing new here. Rafa only arrived at Anfield after the Spaniard fell out of favor with the Valencia board over (lo and behold!) the club's failure to reinforce the squad with players he wanted. And bear in mind that this was during a season which saw Los Che claim the Spanish League title as well as the UEFA Cup.
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News today confirming the establishment of the "Celtic Cup" a bi-annual football tournament between the UK home nations Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland but with Eire replacing England - at the moment. Essentially a revival of the 4 nations tournament. Clearly been announced at this time to lift national spirits after the failure of all these countries to qualify for Euro 08 It will avoid timetabling clashes with European and World Cup tournaments by running in the odd numbered years starting in 2009. At this time England is not signed up however the sporting journalist at the BBC suggests it's only a matter of time before they too come on board the event. This confirms unclesox's earlier news link here: Click here Martin
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Rafa has back-tracked.....not something he is used to, raising the white flag of surrender.....but really he has little choice.....the club's new fancy stadium...(the video is spectacular).....is rising in cost and he has already had £20 million plus, so th owners are right. I think he should have money to buy one centre half then get on with it.....some attacking football and steam rolling over the opposition would be good....they should have beaten Newcastle United on saturday 0-8 not 0-3......Torres missed a hatful.
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martinput:
News today confirming the establishment of the "Celtic Cup" a bi-annual football tournament between the UK home nations Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland but with Eire replacing England - at the moment.
This is a great idea, imo. I always liked the Home Internationals but switching it to odd numbered years makes a lot of sense. Should've been done years ago. But why the "Celtic Cup"? I guess I need some educating here because I always associated the word 'Celtic' as being Irish. But with Wales and Scotland competing... Would be great if England came on board and there was an All-Ireland team. But that's probably asking for too much. The England-Scotland rivalry needs to be revived. Their EURO 2000 playoff demonstrated that it's still alive and well.
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Barcelona's 2-2 draw away to Lyon coupled with Rangers failing to defeat Stuttgart sees Barcelona finish in top spot in Group E with one matchday to play in the UEFA Champions League. Meanwhile, Sevilla's 3-1 defeat of Arsenal at the Sanchez Pizjuan puts Sevilla ahead of Arsenal in Group H. If those positions stay the same in two weeks time, 'tis possible that Barcelona could draw Arsenal in the Round of 16, a propect that leaves me a bit uncomfortable, to be honest. Although we will have Eto'o back, won't we.
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unclesox:
But why the "Celtic Cup"? I guess I need some educating here because I always associated the word 'Celtic' as being Irish. But with Wales and Scotland competing...
The Celts were the indigenous population of the whole United Kingdom however successive invasions from Scandinavia and Europe saw England overrun by fair haired Angles and Saxons forcing the Celts northwards into Scotland and West into Wales and Cornwall. I'm not sure if Ireland became so with further migration or had been so all along. However they all share a common heritage with inevitable local variations on the Celtic Language and share other common features such as Celtic artwork. As to:
unclesox:
The England-Scotland rivalry needs to be revived
It was exactly this that lead to the demise of the tournament with running battles between fans - with Scottish fans invading the pitch at Wembley pulling down the goal posts and doing other damage. I think that football supporters have matured since those days. If England want to get on board they need to do so soon before the name of the tournament becomes irreversable. Martin UPDATE I've checked that history now - the role of football violence as the demise of the tournament appears to be apocryphal - the tournament died simply because greater world wide international involvement made the competition less significant and congested the international calender - something that will remain a problem. http://www.englandfootballonline.com/CmpBC/CmpBCTmHist.html
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Group A Switzerland Czech Republic Portugal Turkey Group B Austria Croatia Germany Poland Group C Holland Italy Romania France Group D Greece Sweden Spain Russia WOO HOO, lookie at Group C! I'm quite satisfied with Spain's opponents. Lots of political history in Group B. Group A isn't too bad either. Should be an excellent tournament. I suppose we'll need to revive the predictions game again.
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Crystal Palace 2 - 1 Sheff Wed 11' 0 - 1 R Hinds 37' C Morrison 1 90' S Scannell 2
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unclesox:
I suppose we'll need to revive the predictions game again.
I was thinking about it the other day... now that the first round of the season is all but over, we could actually take up the predictions game at least for the second round, couldn't we? And then, yet another game for the Euro!
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Sergeant_Pepper:
unclesox:
I suppose we'll need to revive the predictions game again.
I was thinking about it the other day... now that the first round of the season is all but over, we could actually take up the predictions game at least for the second round, couldn't we? And then, yet another game for the Euro!
That would be great!