2008/2009 Football (Soccer) Thread

[Amarr HM]

Still waiting for Benitez to come good...

Fixed it for you.

[HaemishM]

Still waiting for Keane to come good...

Hard to do that from the stands.

[lamaros]

It's pretty easy to wait, actually.

[Amarr HM]

The bookies have Benitez odds on to be out of a job in September doesn't bode well.

[HaemishM]

If Benitez loses his job, he only has himself to blame.

Taking off Gerrard for Keane in the 81st fucking minute? REALLY? That's what you got? Why the fuck is Babel getting a full 90, when he's had one decent pop at goal the whole night, and has spent the rest of the time mostly losing possession on the edge of the box? And Lucas? WTF? Take Lucas off and put Keane up top with Gerrard in the middle and let Javier hold the middle. There were so many better ways to have subbed in Keane last night than what he chose.

[Endie]

I concur.

[HaemishM]

EL NINO, BITCHES!!!!!!

That red card against Lampard was total bullshit. And I say this as an absolute hater of Lampard, but he got rooked. At best, that should have been a yellow, or if Riley was going to show Lampard a red, he should have also showed Alonso a second yellow for his challenge. That was totally crazy and has probably ensured that Chelsea's title hopes are done (what with Lampard being suspended 3 games for a straight red). Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if the FA rescinds Lampard's red then gives Bosingwa a red for stomping on Benayoun's back in the corner. That shit was completely ridiculous and Bosingwa was lucky to finish the match.

[lamaros]

Heh, scolari clearly prefers to have lampard in the team too, as he suggested the same thing.

[HaemishM]

It's official. Keane is headed back to Spurs.

Fuck's sake. Really? Better have a goddamn bubble built around Torres' hamstrings because if he goes down, WE ARE FUCKED.

[sigil]

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY JOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[Amarr HM]

It's official. Keane is headed back to Spurs.

Fuck's sake. Really? Better have a goddamn bubble built around Torres' hamstrings because if he goes down, WE ARE FUCKED.

I could only understand this if you were going to receive Lennon or to a lesser extent Jenas in return for him you desperately need a right winger.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, a swap deal for Lennon would have been worth it's weight in fucking gold. As it is, they apparently got 12 million pounds with escalator clauses built in, are down a player to back up Torres' fragile hamstrings and Rafa looks like a DOUCHE for mistreating a good player. If Pool don't win the title or the Champion's League, Rafa should be gone.

But then, Tom Hicks should have been gone a fucking year ago. This little feud probably has more to do with player problems than anything else.

[Amarr HM]

Keane's an odd one, I don't know if really like the guy but I think he's got a touch of class on the field and plays with a lot of heart unlike Kuyt who just has one of those traits going for him (no prizes for guessing which one). What's odd about him is I get the impression he might be a bit of a pain in the arse to have in your team though I can't imagine he's anywhere near as bad as Craig Bellamy.

Actually I decided to add to this: outside of my personal prejudices against Keane which may be completely arseways and media driven anyway. Rafa stated publically to the fans and media he wasn't going to sell him and then just went ahead regardless. Now I know he hasn't been having a great season but if you compare the situation to Berbatov it's fairly similar. You wouldn't see Fergie even dream of selling Berbatov he's an absolute gem of a player (on his day) and is willing to play as sub or in rotation as long as he is in a team competing for honours, I would imagine that's every managers dream. Now I don't understand why the media and people piled on Keane's performances in the way they seem to have done but Berbatov got a few initial bad writeups and then you have Kuyt wow that guy is a bit of a donkey if truth be told why not harangue him out the door? I think the problem is Benitez has become a total reactionary and is really trying to play up to the media and the fans/trolls more than he should, but then he keeps playing donkey legs IJDGI lol.

[sigil]

So, for my American Bretheren.

Who's ready for the 11th? 

[Mr_PeaCH]

So, for my American Bretheren.

Who's ready for the 11th? 

IN.  So we going to be playing the 1st stringers, right?  Unlike that friendly v Sweeden?  (Which was actually fairly entertaining.)

Back to Pool v Chelsea for a second; I think the unsung man of the match would have to be Mascherano coming on late.  He totally fired up the offense and should have had a goal of his own in the mix there in the final minutes.  Hand it to Benitez for that subbing.  I was coming off the couch though with the Gerrard feed in to Torres... that is what it is all about for me watching football.

[HaemishM]

You must mean Benayoun. He came on late. Mascherano was on from the get go.

[sigil]

So, for my American Bretheren.

Who's ready for the 11th? 

IN.  So we going to be playing the 1st stringers, right?  Unlike that friendly v Sweeden?  (Which was actually fairly entertaining.)

Back to Pool v Chelsea for a second; I think the unsung man of the match would have to be Mascherano coming on late.  He totally fired up the offense and should have had a goal of his own in the mix there in the final minutes.  Hand it to Benitez for that subbing.  I was coming off the couch though with the Gerrard feed in to Torres... that is what it is all about for me watching football.

This is it, man, This is GAME FUCKING ONE of the fucking WORLD CUP qualifying FINALS! Against FUCKING MEXICO. In Columbus. Where we own them.

Yeah, this will be the the people Bob expects to start  in South Africa.   I'm  really looking forward to seeing who gets the nods.


Oh, he's in league one, so take it with a ton of salt, but check out Jemal Johnson. Dudes on fire for MK Dons, and If he can keep the form up I'd expect to see him in something like the gold cup or a qualifier if we wrap up top seed. God that would be sweet.


Feels good to have Keane back.

[WayAbvPar]

Mexico is going down hard. They don't like the cold weather much.

[Mr_PeaCH]

You must mean Benayoun. He came on late. Mascherano was on from the get go.

Grr.  Yes, that one.

[Amarr HM]

Have to say though it was only Portsmouth Benitez might be having last laugh Kuyt's goal was superb and very important, you would think a team managed by a class central defender would be able to defend well, the defending from the freekick especialy was schoolboy shit, they didn't even make a wall.

[HaemishM]

Liverpool's free kick defense has at least one or two plays a game where they just fall the fuck asleep. The announcers keep blaming the zonal marking Rafa uses but I just think they go to sleep. I was pissed most of that game. I mean, Pompey has been playing for shit, but that lineup Rafa put out there was fucking clownshoes territory. 3-4-2-1? WTF? He was essentially playing 6 fucking defenders in that lineup - Carragher, Agger and Skrtel in the back, Dossena and Arbeloa on the sides and Aurellio in Alonso's playmaker position. Little fucking wonder they failed to score until they subbed in. That's the kind of defensive stacking you use against a Man U or a Chelsea, not fucking POMPEY.

Babel is just a completely worthless player to me. He absolutely cannot hold fucking possession. He only knows one style, run right the fuck at someone and hope you can blow by him. When he can't, which is often, his lazy, clumsy feet lose him the ball 9 times out of 10. He's ok as a sub to stretch some tired legs, but he is fucking worthless from the get go, and I say that as someone who wanted him to get more starts. That experiment needs to be over.

[sigil]

So, Who  pill pick up the ashes for Pompey? And who would you pick to man the good ship Chelsea?

[Amarr HM]

Nah United would never have won Ronaldo wouldn't have been allowed much space Liverpool defended immensely. Yeh I would have liked to see Nani on sooner I think the Giggs Scholes thing is kinda old hat at this stage.

Chewing these words after Sundays performance I've never seen Giggs looks so spritely & Scholes is class always been class wtf was I thinking about. Though they did look a bit ring rusty at the start of the season.

[Endie]

That was classic Giggs: really like that goal from about seven years ago where he ran down the wing (vs Arsenal?) to score, seemingly passing every defender twice on the way.

[Amarr HM]

Oh you mean the greatest FA cup goal ever yeh that was pure magic He had a fairly average season last year by his standards figure he's got to be pushing on, but he's a consumate pro and keeps going on and on like a Duracell bunny.

[Endie]

I seem to remember hearing a commentator saying that was all 17 premiership seasons with at least one goal in every single one.  Gobsmacking.

[lamaros]

Aye.

Fucking hiddink. If anyone can get something out of Chelsea for the rest of the year it's him.

[sigil]

Well tonights the night

Forecast: 50 degrees at gametime, with rain and winds in the mid twenties with gusts up to 60.

7 Eastern they'll probably get it started a few minutes after to get the game in before 9

ESPN2.

I predict a gritty slugfest, with a few fights and maybe even an ejection.  USA coming out on top 2-1. Man of the match going to Landon Donovan, but really belonging to Brian Ching.

[sigil]

Dos a cero yet again.

We own Mexico.

[Mr_PeaCH]

The coaches son actually has some game, doesn't he?  Very nice effort from the U.S.  I was hoping that Dempsey would show up in the scoresheet but despite some creative efforts it didn't pan out.  Still, 2-0 is great.  Stay classy, Mexico.

[HaemishM]

Good game! U-S-A U-S-A!!!

Bradley has definitely got game. He keeps this up, he might get some sniffs from a better league than one of the Scandies. That red card for Marquez though? In real time, I thought that was a nothing bump, but the replay showed that the ref has better eyes than me. That was a horribly stupid unnecessary challenge. Marquez should know better.

[Xuri]

Not that anyone cares, but Norway beat Germany 0 - 1 in a friendly yesterday! First win against them since we took a bronze medal in Adolf's olympic games in 1936 :P

We had no wins throughout all of 2008 against rather medicore opposition, and then a few weeks ago(!) we got our glorious fotball professor of a coach (Egil "Drillo" Olsen, though few/none of you will likely recognize the name) back, and we all of a sudden beat Germany (#2 on Fifa Ranking right now) 0 - 1!

It's the same coach who previously brought us to two world-cup play-offs (in 94 and 98), beating England at Wembley during the 94 qualifiers and Brazil in Marseille in 98, amongst other things. We also beat Brazil 4 - 2 in a friendly earlier the same year, btw. Interesting note there: We've got the only national team in the world who've played Brazil and never lost (2 wins, 2 draws). :)

Anyway, I'm all of a sudden starting to get my enthusiasm for my national team back. Huzzah!

[Amarr HM]

The only player I can think of who plays for them is Pedersen so must be a few handy unknowns in your team. Good one for stuffing the Germans, Brazil are funny like that in Euro friendlies they don't tend to shine Ireland have had pretty good results against them aswell. Speaking of which Ireland won 2-1 yesterday with a little generosity from the ref  =) Our pal Robbie Keane grabbed a brace despite having a fairly lacklustre game against some tenacious Georgian defending.

[sigil]

Bradley is in Bundesliga. Granted  it's with Borussia Monchengladbach, but still.

And you can see where that defensive play was a great benefit.  Any ball within five yards of him was his. he covered for some serious lapses by Pearce.  and kept the lack of communication between Gooch and Bocanegra from being terribly explioted.

Having said that, we know why Gio's on the back bench at Tottenham now. Wow, he couldn't finish for shit.

Also, One of the assistants for Mexico punched Frankie after the game, but all concerned think it was just a misunderstanding of what Hedjuck  said after the game.

I literally did not recognize Sasha without the hair. Also, great job one the field. as bad as it was before gametime,

Also, Jozy got a little introduction to the big time. No Jozy, you can not stand up  with the ball on your feet against mexico that close to the penalty area with the lead and expect to hold onto it.

Edit: Congrats to Norway on the great job getting the win.

[HaemishM]

I thought they said Bradley was loaned out to Heerneveen or some other unpronouncable (by my crude American tongue) Scandie club.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=41952&cc=5901

Yep, Heerenveen.