The Official Football/Soccer Thread: 2017-2018 Season
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You determined all that through playing a video game, huh? : Barcelona defeated Bayern Munich 1-0 in Mehmet Scholl's testimonial. Another golazo from Messi, playing his first match of the preseason. And with the win Barca won the newly created Franz Beckenbauer Cup. It's only a preseason trophy, but that is one big bad mutha of a Cup. Henry covering Abidal's face.
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unclesox:
You determined all that through playing a video game, huh? :
No, not all. I only included Sneijder into it. Well, you know Formula One drivers train with video games, they just run into the same road they're gonna run. The bad news is that Real Madrid has lost 0-1 with Betis. Betis all time defending and a free kick scored in the last minute. But the good news is that Real Madrid has passed the ball a lot!!! Again!. When was the last time...? 2003?. Really. Gago and Sneijder took care of that. This is the way.
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The thinking is once Dani Alves goes to Chelsea, it will set off two moves to complete the merry-go-round. Robben will go from Chelsea to Real Madrid, and Cicinho will swap Real Madrid for Sevilla. Chelsea paying ?35 million for a fullback! Ridiculous.
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I would pay them too. Instead of 30 milions for Pepe. Alves was the best player is the Spanish League past season. He is not just a defender. He plays everywhere. He could play like an attacking midfielder... He is all the game running up and down, and not next the side line but Everywhere... a little too caotic for Mourinho, I really think. Caotic? That's for Real Madrid. The club of the Chaos and Creation.
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I think Alves is great going forward but I don't rate him highly as a defender. I have no idea why Mourinho would want him because I don't see him as the answer to Chelsea's right back problems. 'Too chaotic for Mourinho' is a good description. But I wouldn't mind him leaving La Liga cuz he always seems to cause havoc for Barca. But the deal appears to be off for now because Abramovich realized that he said last season there would be no more high spendings. After the defeat to Betis Schuster says they may need to bring in more players. : Barca finally got rid of Maxi Lopez. Off to FC Moscow for 2million euros. Something's better than nothing. Ezquerro and Motta should be next to go. Good to see Sevilla gain a 2-0 win against AEK. I thought the Greeks had a good shot of keeping Sevilla out of the Champions League groups. Still a 2nd leg to play though.
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Spain squad to play Greece next Wednesday: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) Pepe Reina (Liverpool) Mariano Pernia (Atletico Madrid) Pablo Ibanez (Atletico Madrid) Carlos Marchena (Valencia) Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)\ Juanito (Real Betis) Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal) Andres Iniesta (Barcelona) Xavi (Barcelona) Xabi Alonso (Liverpool) Miguel Angel Angulo (Valencia) David Silva (Valencia) David Albelda (Valencia) Joaquin (Valencia) David Villa (Valencia) Fernando Torres (Liverpool) Luis Garcia (Espanyol) Once again Eveton supporters are fuming that Mikel Arteta wasn't called up. My question to them is, who do you drop in favor of Arteta? Abundance of riches in midfield. Too bad can't say the same for defence, and Villa needs a killer partner up front.
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The best thing in Spanish is the midfield (and Casillas). The best midfield in the world I think... (Shut up England! :wink, not the defense... Sergio Ramos and obviously Puyol are the two ones that are really great. Sometimes I wondered why they never try to play with 3 defenders only. Well, Arteta could be instead of Angulo, he would be the first to being drop out. But Angulo is a very complete player, he could play in the defense too, and in forward. That's maybe why he is on the team, not for the midfield where the competence is huge. Tamudo would be a great companion for Torres, I think. ANYWAY, Spain is not about the players. If it was for the players we would have better results... but they never play as good in the Spain team as they do in their clubs... past, present, and future it seems. Think of Raul, Hierro, Michel, Guardiola, Casillas, Puyol, Xavi, Villa, Cesc, they've never played even close to how the play in their teams. But look at Brazil, Argentina, England, Italy, France and Germany and it's even the opposite, they play at least as good as in their teams or even better. Thought there are "Bad tournaments" for every team. For Spain all of them are "bad tournaments". There's no hope for the football team... well until they'll win someone like Ukraine 4-0 or so then we will go crazy until we'll play against the really good teams and then our teams goes small, small, small... That used to be the typical Spanish thing in every sport, but now it's the shame only of football. Basketball is World Champion, Tennis has won several times the Davis Cup, The Handball is world champion, the Waterhandball too, the Indoor football too and Barça, Real Madrid and others can win the European Tournaments, but no-one believes in our team.
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I would play (last post during a week for me :wink with 3 defenders and one striker. If you don't have great defenders, put a midfielder more!. If you don't have great strikers, do the same Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Pablo, Puyol; Xavi, Xavi Alonso, Cesc; Joaquin, Iniesta, Silva; Villa but in the end it doesn't matter at all with Spain...
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Spain has at times had rotten luck. EURO 84 - Arconada allowed Platini's free kick to slip through his arms. World Cup 86 - Elimnated by Belgium via penalties. World Cup 94 - Referee doesn't see Tassotti break Luis Enrique's nose in the penalty area; Italy scores last minute winner. EURO 96 - Eliminated by England via penalties. EURO 2000 - Raul skies a last minute penalty over the bar. World Cup 2002 - Eliminated by South Korea via penalties. Many believe refs favored South Korea during open play after Spain hade a couple of goals disallowed that looked legit on replay. Interesting lineup, but I've rarely seen national teams go with only three at the back.
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Spanish Super Cup, 2nd leg Madrid - Estadio Bernabeu Real Madrid ..... 3 Sevilla ............ 5 Real Madrid loses 3-6 on aggregate. CONGRATS TO SEVILLA, 2007 SPANISH SUPER CUP CHAMPIONS! Having been outgunned, I think Schuster needs to ask the Board of Directors to bring in another five strikers. An offer of ?75 million could be enough to tempt Sevilla to let Kanoute leave. Meanwhile, I'm wondering if a Capello-managed side has ever conceded five goals in one match
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unclesox:
Real Madrid ..... 3 Sevilla ............ 5 Having been outgunned, I think Schuster needs to ask the Board of Directors to bring in another five strikers. An offer of ?75 million could be enough to tempt Sevilla to let Kanoute leave. Meanwhile, I'm wondering if a Capello-managed side has ever conceded five goals in one match
Come again, Freddie, how big were those gaps in the Madrid defense?
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Fabio Capello let loose in an interview with MARCA. My favorite bit was his views about Real's signing policy this summer. "You can't form a winning team in July. That's what seems to be happening to them now. It's necessary to make signings in May. We had everything prepared to sign players, but they are not signed, never signed. We had a ?6 million bid for Chivu in April, with 3.5 for the player. (Real sporting director Franco) Baldini had it all sorted, but it wasn't possible to close the deal because they told us, 'We don't love players who come from the Italian league.'" "Baldini went to Brazil and saw Pato. He called (fellow sporting director Pedrag) Mijatovic and said, 'I've seen a lad here, and he's an extraordinary player.' With a bit of luck - and considering he shared a representative with Emerson - we could have got him for 2 million euros... but Madrid said, 'No, too young.' And now he's worth 20 million..."
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More from Don Fabio. On Kaka joining Real: "For me, we never even had the possibility of signing him. I have always said that to Pedja and the president. To Calderon I said, you are failing here. Berlusconi doesn't lack money and has a 'pretty face' at Milan - who is it? It was Maldini before, but now it is Kaka. The boy in all the photos is Kaka. And Berlusconi, who lives an aesthetic life, and loves the aesthetic players, will never let such a man go." Capello has had two seperate one-season spells at Real, in 1996-97 and 2006-07. On both occasions he guided Real to victory in La Liga. "I've returned once and made extraordinary work... but I won't return to Real Madrid to coach. Count on it."
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Charlton 3 - 2 Sheff Wed 6' 0 - 1 B O'Brien 15' 0 - 2 T Spurr 51' A Reid 1 - 2 67' C Iwelumo 2 - 2 87' C Iwelumo 3 - 2
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Fantasy football team: Shorey wasn't even in the Reading squad for the Bolton match... And Van Persie misses a penalty. And Lampard scores for my opponent, who happened to make Lamps his captain which means double points. Someone is happy and it isn't me.
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After the Super Cup joke the real thing starts. Real Madrid 2 - Atletic Madrid 1 And the result it's not important... but... that... THE JOY HAS RETURNED!!! The best football (or the one greater to be watched) in the Madrid stadium since... 2003?. The president said that there was no 30 metres passes since a long time ago... (and we have survived it :lol. "I survived the three years without long passes Real Madrid age", new shirt to come maybe... Watch out for the starting team of Real Madrid. Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Metzelder, Drenthe; Diarra; Robinho, Guti; Sneijder; Van Nistelrooy and Raul. Just the same of my favourite simulation a week ago. well, not! Cannavaro could not play (Pepe instead) and Emerson "flought" to Milan so Robinho took his place and Raul's Robinho's one. Barsa finished 0-0 against a 4-4 defense... as usual. When a team plays like that with 4 defenders and 4 midfielders way back, is not about football is about brains to score... you need smart players. Ronaldinho, Messi, Etoo, etc. are useless to a team that's only defending, they can't run and dribble... that's is when you need Raul for instance. He appears where he should appear... or Van Nist. The closest to that Barsa has is... HENRY!... so he's meant to play more instead of Etoo, I guess. If not... 0-0 again... Sevilla won 4-1 against Getafe, trained by my fav player ever, Michael Laudrup. he seems he's going to play instead of being the coach. My 2nd team is Getafe this year it seems. They started playing like 11 Laudrups but 2 red cards and was over. Sevilla's player Puerta almost really dies on the field, cardio-respiratory attack 3 times. mmm... it's hard to believe how much Sevilla runs and runs and never gets tired. Motivation?, special preparation...?.... doping? . After a player fainting away almost to death in the minute 30 I have a lot of doubts... http://www.as.com/recorte.php?xref=20070825dasdaiftb_14&id=SCO&type=Ies And yes, Robben and... Heinze signed. Goodbye to Emerson and Cicinho. It looks Real Madrid it's gonna become the most offensive top team in Europe since the Cruyff Barsa, at last. Probably... Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Pepe (Metzelder), Cannavaro, Drenthe (Heinze); Diarra; Robinho, Robben; Sneijder; Van N., Raul yeah I've simulated it. With Heinze instead of Drenthe because has become a lot better than when the game was out. Schuster wants to play with 5 straight attacking players (are you reading Bernd?, hello!). Robinho and Robben as "midfielders" but they are wings, if not strikers... and Sneijder as Zidane role... and two strikers more... 5 Strikers like the old times. It had already happen with Guti instead of Robben. Barsa "only" plays with 3 players that don't defend at all. We couldn't stop there... Only one more thing. Watch out for a possible huge suprise, As shy news.... they use to be right not like Marca.... Ronaldinho to Chelsea for 70 and Alves to Barsa for 40. Waiting till the last moment... I know, Ronaldinho... too caotic for Chelsea... mmm...
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I'm trusting that Real Madrid won't win their remaining 37 matches, so I'm not willing to concede defeat just yet. Besides, Puyol and Edmilson were injured; Milito was suspended. Bojan is scoring goals for Spain in Korea. And Giovani was unavailable because of his EU status, which will be solved this week. Can't comment on either match because the dispute between Mediapro and Sogecable prevented both games from being shown outside of Spain. But taking off Messi... even the RAC1 commentators were saying at the time that it was a mistake. Ronaldinho, Messi and Eto'o can't run or dribble? Or you serious? I don't know whether to post the laughing or rolling eyes emoticon. Ridiculous statement. I'd like Ronaldinho to stay and I believe he will. Alves, I don't want. Many surprising results throughout La Liga, not just at the Bernabeu.
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21st Century Paul:
Sevilla's player Puerta almost really dies on the field, cardio-respiratory attack 3 times.
What's the latest on Puerta? I was watching that match and I almost turned pale the way the players and officials reacted when he collapsed. I heard he went into cardiac arrest after returning to the dressing room and required CPR treatment en route to the hospital. The last prognosis I heard described his situation as "muy grave" and that he was under intensive care, needing mechanical ventilation because he was unable to breathe on his own and required IV medications to help keep his heart beating adequately. Forget his playing career cuz that's over. I just hope he recovers.
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unclesox:
Ronaldinho, Messi and Eto'o can't run or dribble? Or you serious? I don't know whether to post the laughing or rolling eyes emoticon. Ridiculous statement.
No, I didn't say they can't dribble!... or I didn't mean it. I say that they can't do it when the other team is back with two lines of four near the goalkeeper, like Liverpool did to them, for instance. Of course they can dribble if the team is not defending like that. Try to play against them with the defense in the midfield. You'll get that spectacular goals of Ronaldinho, Etoo, Messi, Henry, you know... But they're based on that. Run, dribble... but that is stopped with a defense near the goalkeeper. Then it's about searching for the empty space, etc. (Raul scores all of his goals like that). I think not Ronie, Etoo or Messi are real strikers, for me they are wings or offensive midfields, but they don't have the space concept to look for the goal. Puyol, Milito wouldn't have done much to score goals... BUT!... from what I've seen (a bit) of Bojan, he's the kind of "smart" striker, the real striker. But let's see if Rijkaard has the courage to take out Etoo and Henry and put the 17-old Bojan. I don't think so. He likes to play safe. I would do it the next game, not Etoo or Henry or Ronie or Messi but Bojan as striker. I even had applied all that in 5-people football, indoor football. Some years ago my friends and me played against a team on a regular league, they train twice a week (still)... etc. So... we can do nothing to run like them, lol... Okey, four players and the goalkeeper. I told one of my friends that he and me should play on the defense just in front of the goalkeeper. And they couldn't score at all. We went on playing... and we scored slowly one, two, there.... nine in a row. 9-0. Then we really were bored of being on the back and we choosed a bit of chaos and creation... and we won 13-4 or so... We always won against them.... 8 times in a row or so... and we never run or train. Football it's more about brains that it seems. I've defended players that have played in Spanish first division of indoor football... and they couldn't score anyway... But football would be boring without Ronaldinhos and Messis (or Robinhos...)... but they are fire works really... it's the smart players that set the difference. You'll see almost every kid everywhere being skilled with the ball... but they don't know how to place themselves not in attack or defense.
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unclesox:
21st Century Paul:
Sevilla's player Puerta almost really dies on the field, cardio-respiratory attack 3 times.
What's the latest on Puerta? I was watching that match and I almost turned pale the way the players and officials reacted when he collapsed. I heard he went into cardiac arrest after returning to the dressing room and required CPR treatment en route to the hospital. The last prognosis I heard described his situation as "muy grave" and that he was under intensive care, needing mechanical ventilation because he was unable to breathe on his own and required IV medications to help keep his heart beating adequately. Forget his playing career cuz that's over. I just hope he recovers.
Well, the latest of Puerta is kind of what you say. The medicians do regular updates. "Estado Critico", I guess it could be said as... "really dangerous" "Critic state".... his life is in danger. They just have said that at least he has not get worse lately. Alves is not gonna go to play against Milan. He is virtually out of Sevilla, but who knows where?