The Official Football/Soccer Thread: 2017-2018 Season
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lazydynamite88:
unclesox:
21st Century Paul:
well none of us guessed what happened yesterday. None thought that Germany's XI would be that.
Everyone was surprised with the three changes. Here in the U.S. the games are on ESPN and Michael Ballack is one of the pundits. He was dumbfounded by the changes although he still believed it would not affect the performance. After the game he felt Reus was the best of the three (Klose and Schürrle) and although he'd like to see Reus remain in the lineup he believes the regulars (Gomez, Podolski, Müller) will return for the semifinal. He also was not impressed with the defence conceding twice and would like to see Bender start for Boateng.
bottom line is the germans have a quality in their team the likes of england could only dream of...germany play exciting quick football that is great to watch..okay they might not be as technically gifted as the spanish or indeed have the ultimate player [ronaldo] of the portugese....but for me they have been fantastic to watch .....compare that with the negative kick and rush tactics of the england team !!..but hey miracles do happen.an english club team [allbeit without many englishman] played negative dull defensive,lucky football all the way to champions league glory this season,so anything is possible especially after watching a completely average,defensive 'greece' side actually win this tournament not so long ago. italy v england,is pretty hard to call ..italy are not the superpower they once where.i still think they will be too good for the english though. england may well just get lucky and do something this time,it will be very bad for the sport though if they do...however i believe the spanish and the germans will be so superior angainst them that even good luck will not be enough.
And the Germans have many technical players that they just don't use much... Bender, Gotze... I like Italy this year. They played great against Spain. But they possibly will get defensive now they are on the knockout matches. * Other thing happening in 1966 is that player injuring Pele disminish Brazil's chances.
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Macsback:
dance-tonight:
lazydynamite88:
dance-tonight:
So, in a few hours, Germany vs. Netherlands. Could be an awesome game. Or a game with many red cards. The mood in both countries is again very hateful, like in the 80s and 90s, a bit like Poland vs. Russia yesterday. Well, as a German, nobody likes you and the other way around. It's difficult for a German to keep fingers crossed for another country, f.i. in the game France-Enland, we don't like either of them. I doubt that one other country has as many archrivals as Germany. We don't like England, France, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Argentina and so on. From the big football-nations, maybe only Brazil and Spain are okay.
wrong. my country 'scotland' has always had a soft spot for the germans...especially considering all the pain you have inflicted on the english team down the years
I was talking about the big football-nations. Nice to know that at least someone likes us. And Germany won against the Netherlands. Great game, could be better from Germany in the second half, but still good. The 1:2 was unnecessary, Germany should've made the 3:0 instead. But anyway, two games, two wins, today against Denmark.
Just as well Germany are not to bad at football because you're pish at fighting
Come over here and I show you how good I am at fighting.
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Macsback:
21st Century Paul:
Macsback:
21st Century Paul:
Macsback:
Spain are still the team to beat.
yeah, it looks the quarterfinals will be Spain vs England... Then I'll have someone to talk about it in this board. England vs Spain Gerrard vs Iniesta Liverpool vs Barcelona The founder vs The Disciple McCartney vs Sanz lol ... but if you want some symbolic match Germany vs Greece * * I don't know if these belong to the political thread
The Germans rode their luck last night, that was a stone wall penalty to Denmark.
who wants Greece to win? or is this a political thing?
Coming from Scotland we've had to put up with the SFA continuing to back the establishment club albeit they are now a newco, they cheated their way to domestic titles and cups for years. The politics in football these days are nothing short of a disgrace, everything is pointed towards the big countries qualifying wither it be in International or European football, look at the champions league, how can it be for champions when the big nations have 4 teams in the competition?? I like the way the Germans play, but they should be OUT!! wtf does that official behind the goal get paid for? As much as i want Spain to win the competition it wouldn't bother me if Greece won, they done it b4, btw Samaras was good the other night.
That was also a penalty for Croatia against Spain and a goal for Ukraine against England. So Spain and England should be out as well.
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Great match from Germany, we have destroyed Greece. After the game against Denmark wasn't that good, but now everything goes well, I think we have the best forwards of all teams: Gomez, Klose, Özil, Podolski, Müller, Reus, Götze, Schürrle...and behind them, Schweinsteiger and Khedira. Brilliant.
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lazydynamite88:
dear unclesox with the greatest respect you did ask me to name 'lucky breaks' england have had post 1966,you are correct . however if you also add the caveat of ...."I'll give you this one. Still, in the end they didn't lift the trophy so what good did this "luck" have?" then surely even by your own rules you leave me with an impossible task as england havent even come close to winning a major championship before or since. infact i dont even count the 1966 triumph as valid..it was more of a series of home wins in an outdated international series that expanded into a genuine world competition in the 1970s.
Okay, fair enough. England were kept alive in most of those situations that you listed. But let's face it, every team has received both good and bad luck over the years. And we could probably argue which teams received more good luck than bad and more bad luck than good. As great as they were, even Brazil 1970 were gifted a few times in their run to the title.
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dance-tonight:
Macsback:
dance-tonight:
lazydynamite88:
dance-tonight:
So, in a few hours, Germany vs. Netherlands. Could be an awesome game. Or a game with many red cards. The mood in both countries is again very hateful, like in the 80s and 90s, a bit like Poland vs. Russia yesterday. Well, as a German, nobody likes you and the other way around. It's difficult for a German to keep fingers crossed for another country, f.i. in the game France-Enland, we don't like either of them. I doubt that one other country has as many archrivals as Germany. We don't like England, France, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Argentina and so on. From the big football-nations, maybe only Brazil and Spain are okay.
wrong. my country 'scotland' has always had a soft spot for the germans...especially considering all the pain you have inflicted on the english team down the years
I was talking about the big football-nations. Nice to know that at least someone likes us. And Germany won against the Netherlands. Great game, could be better from Germany in the second half, but still good. The 1:2 was unnecessary, Germany should've made the 3:0 instead. But anyway, two games, two wins, today against Denmark.
Just as well Germany are not to bad at football because you're pish at fighting
Come over here and I show you how good I am at fighting.
My bomber is in the hanger being refurbished, poor excuse i know but its true
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dance-tonight:
Macsback:
21st Century Paul:
Macsback:
21st Century Paul:
Macsback:
Spain are still the team to beat.
yeah, it looks the quarterfinals will be Spain vs England... Then I'll have someone to talk about it in this board. England vs Spain Gerrard vs Iniesta Liverpool vs Barcelona The founder vs The Disciple McCartney vs Sanz lol ... but if you want some symbolic match Germany vs Greece * * I don't know if these belong to the political thread
The Germans rode their luck last night, that was a stone wall penalty to Denmark.
who wants Greece to win? or is this a political thing?
Coming from Scotland we've had to put up with the SFA continuing to back the establishment club albeit they are now a newco, they cheated their way to domestic titles and cups for years. The politics in football these days are nothing short of a disgrace, everything is pointed towards the big countries qualifying wither it be in International or European football, look at the champions league, how can it be for champions when the big nations have 4 teams in the competition?? I like the way the Germans play, but they should be OUT!! wtf does that official behind the goal get paid for? As much as i want Spain to win the competition it wouldn't bother me if Greece won, they done it b4, btw Samaras was good the other night.
That was also a penalty for Croatia against Spain and a goal for Ukraine against England. So Spain and England should be out as well.
I'll give you the England one, alls fair in love and war
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dance-tonight:
Macsback:
21st Century Paul:
Macsback:
21st Century Paul:
Macsback:
Spain are still the team to beat.
yeah, it looks the quarterfinals will be Spain vs England... Then I'll have someone to talk about it in this board. England vs Spain Gerrard vs Iniesta Liverpool vs Barcelona The founder vs The Disciple McCartney vs Sanz lol ... but if you want some symbolic match Germany vs Greece * * I don't know if these belong to the political thread
The Germans rode their luck last night, that was a stone wall penalty to Denmark.
who wants Greece to win? or is this a political thing?
Coming from Scotland we've had to put up with the SFA continuing to back the establishment club albeit they are now a newco, they cheated their way to domestic titles and cups for years. The politics in football these days are nothing short of a disgrace, everything is pointed towards the big countries qualifying wither it be in International or European football, look at the champions league, how can it be for champions when the big nations have 4 teams in the competition?? I like the way the Germans play, but they should be OUT!! wtf does that official behind the goal get paid for? As much as i want Spain to win the competition it wouldn't bother me if Greece won, they done it b4, btw Samaras was good the other night.
That was also a penalty for Croatia against Spain and a goal for Ukraine against England. So Spain and England should be out as well.
well, the talk about referees mistakes could be neverending and it's not exactly talking bout football. The referees have been chaotic in this tournament with Spain. Spain have commited penalty that have not been given, and the rivals have commited penalties over Spain that have not been given too. It seems they don't sign penalties easily.
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unclesox:
lazydynamite88:
dear unclesox with the greatest respect you did ask me to name 'lucky breaks' england have had post 1966,you are correct . however if you also add the caveat of ...."I'll give you this one. Still, in the end they didn't lift the trophy so what good did this "luck" have?" then surely even by your own rules you leave me with an impossible task as england havent even come close to winning a major championship before or since. infact i dont even count the 1966 triumph as valid..it was more of a series of home wins in an outdated international series that expanded into a genuine world competition in the 1970s.
Okay, fair enough. England were kept alive in most of those situations that you listed. But let's face it, every team has received both good and bad luck over the years. And we could probably argue which teams received more good luck than bad and more bad luck than good. As great as they were, even Brazil 1970 were gifted a few times in their run to the title.
now i completely agree with you....enjoy the rest of the tournament..all the dross has gone now,only the potential winners are left....i hope the team that wins play attacking football thats all.
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And that's that! After 90 mins normal playing time and 30 mins extra time England finally go crashing out of the competition. Because of f*cking penalties. Again! Shocking!
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To be honest, Italy deserved to go through. Had the better of the play. And Pirlo's penalty... Calmest person in the stadium. So when does the talk of "If Capello was still around..." begin?
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Once again, very pleased with the frank, honest assessment of the BBC commentors, summarisers and studio guests. They openly declared the Italians the best team of the night and the outcome of the penalty shoot-out "natural justice" with the result going to the more deserving team on the night. Saves me fretting over the semi final clashing with work on Thursday night, half an ear on the radio and more full attention as I drive home through the second half will suffice. If it goes to penalties I'll be home in time to watch those. I wonder how many of the team will now declare late availability for the Team GB squad for the Olympic games? Martin
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Darth_McCartney:
And that's that! After 90 mins normal playing time and 30 mins extra time England finally go crashing out of the competition. Because of f*cking penalties. Again! Shocking!
the only thing 'shocking' josh was the complete fluke that england actually made it to penalties. 'italy' where in a complete different class.'england' are a complete shambles reliant on pure luck and defensive rearguard actions...i was actually quite embarrased FOR england such was the one sided nature of this match...infact losing on penalties may have done the english a huge favour as i can hardly see the german team being quite so wastefull and reckless infront of goal like the italians . infact if you sum up englands whole campaign and take an honest viewpoint you will find a team of completely average players lucky to the point of embarrasment in almost every game.indeed in all 4 games england played the where not the best team in ANY of the matches..a mixture of amazing good fortune,a very kind draw and some decent finnishing got the english team into the last eight. as i have said before if a team playing the way the english play ever had succsess at one of these championships it would be a bad day for football[see champions league 2012!] so thats it 4 teams left.all have their own qualities....even the weakest team of the four have the best player in the tournament [ronaldo/portugal] the tournament is still wide open and exciting now that the dross who scrambled into the last eight from kind draws and good luck...greece,czech republic and england are happily on their way home. germany are still my favourites although i did back the italians pre tournament at 16/1 [£10]...however spain are still a class act so who knows?
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For 35 years we've been bleating on about teaching tic-tac football from grass roots upwards and we're still waiting. The FA and Premier League are only interested in milking the gravy train and massaging their own egos....always have been and probably always will be. We had players out there who obviously weren't at the races.....ie, Ghastly Young! Last night, a long season and the complete inability to keep the ball and pass it around to look for the opening did for us once again. I thought we were building up steam in these Championships and would get better, but in fact we ran out of steam from 45 minutes onwards last night....we looked knackered! Lord knows what the Germans would have done to us in the semis. Not sticking a man on Pirlo was a big mistake, he is a class act. The Italians were way better and deserved to get into the semi's where they will be well beaten by the Germans. We provided no balls into the danger zone from wide either, which was bad when we had Milner and Ghastly on the flanks who were supposed to be able to provide the ammunition for Wellbeck, Rooney and of course Andy 'What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster, is it a monster!' Carroll. Even shots from distance were non-existent. The performances throughout the tournament of Terry and Gerrard got us to the quarters and truthfully, it was as far as we deserved to go.
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I was right Italy will defeat England on penalties. I was wrong in that it will end 0-0. As soon as I knew the two XIs I decided not to watch the game. Very defensive stuff... Italy, if ever would attack... Italy had a much better team for the penalties... as it uses to happen when you have the most offensive XI and a better keeper ... so it was done.
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Standings 1 unclesox 60 211 2 Oliver Sanz 66 200 3 Daniel 54 157 It seems unclesox and me gonna have an epic ending. Two rounds left and 11 points between us!
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21st Century Paul:
I was right Italy will defeat England on penalties. I was wrong in that it will end 0-0. As soon as I knew the two XIs I decided not to watch the game. Very defensive stuff... Italy, if ever would attack... Italy had a much better team for the penalties... as it uses to happen when you have the most offensive XI and a better keeper ... so it was done.
utter nonsense '21st.' actually the first 25 mins of this game [england italy] was as open and exciting as any game in the tournament...the only problem was that the english couldnt keep it up because they didnt have the ball /skill/retention to do so.but italy continued to create chance after chance and attack after attack. to labell the game defensive though shows a complete lack of knowledge about football...perhaps you should take your blinkers off before watching the next match! italy 31 shots in total-england 8 shots in total italy 18 shots on target=england 4 shots on target so this 'defensive' game had a totall of 39 shots/attempts on goal...and is labelled 'defensive' by a man [21st] who claimed earlier in this thread that the spanish teams 14 shots on target against the irish is infact some kind of world record : :
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lazydynamite88:
21st Century Paul:
I was right Italy will defeat England on penalties. I was wrong in that it will end 0-0. As soon as I knew the two XIs I decided not to watch the game. Very defensive stuff... Italy, if ever would attack... Italy had a much better team for the penalties... as it uses to happen when you have the most offensive XI and a better keeper ... so it was done.
utter nonsense '21st.' actually the first 25 mins of this game [england italy] was as open and exciting as any game in the tournament...the only problem was that the english couldnt keep it up because they didnt have the ball /skill/retention to do so.but italy continued to create chance after chance and attack after attack. to labell the game defensive though shows a complete lack of knowledge about football...perhaps you should take your blinkers off before watching the next match! italy 31 shots in total-england 8 shots in total italy 18 shots on target=england 4 shots on target so this 'defensive' game had a totall of 39 shots/attempts on goal...and is labelled 'defensive' by a man [21st] who claimed earlier in this thread that the spanish teams 14 shots on target against the irish is infact some kind of world record : :
Well, I haven't seen the match, so I didn't know about the chances. Then what is really shocking how Italy didn't score after shooting 18 times on target, that must be some kind of record... Then it was not so defensive... Well, it was attacking but poor attacking how on Earth no goal after 49 shots?
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I picked 3 of the 4 semi finalists still fancy a Spain v Italy final, Germany for me are a great team but imo haven't improved since the World Cup. its still Spain for me all the way.
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Macsback:
dance-tonight:
Macsback:
dance-tonight:
lazydynamite88:
dance-tonight:
So, in a few hours, Germany vs. Netherlands. Could be an awesome game. Or a game with many red cards. The mood in both countries is again very hateful, like in the 80s and 90s, a bit like Poland vs. Russia yesterday. Well, as a German, nobody likes you and the other way around. It's difficult for a German to keep fingers crossed for another country, f.i. in the game France-Enland, we don't like either of them. I doubt that one other country has as many archrivals as Germany. We don't like England, France, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Argentina and so on. From the big football-nations, maybe only Brazil and Spain are okay.
wrong. my country 'scotland' has always had a soft spot for the germans...especially considering all the pain you have inflicted on the english team down the years
I was talking about the big football-nations. Nice to know that at least someone likes us. And Germany won against the Netherlands. Great game, could be better from Germany in the second half, but still good. The 1:2 was unnecessary, Germany should've made the 3:0 instead. But anyway, two games, two wins, today against Denmark.
Just as well Germany are not to bad at football because you're pish at fighting
Come over here and I show you how good I am at fighting.
My bomber is in the hanger being refurbished, poor excuse i know but its true
Who cares about bombers? I want a good old fist fight like real men!