[LeightonBlackstock]

Cruel end to the match for Scotland

20 years of not qualifying for a major tournament now

[Renton1875]

(10-08-2017 11:19 AM)911 Wrote:  

Scotland in hot pink and black - goodness gracious...

FFS 911 I was trying to keep that under wraps!

It's a beauty, innit. Looks even worse in real life.



Miss Scotland bleach:






Strachan the manager, probably the smallest manager in international football, has blamed it on genetics

Quote:

"Genetically, we are behind," said Strachan. "In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain.

"Maybe we get big women and men together and see what we can do."

We're not poor enough as a nation now to produce the players we did of yesteryear. Poverty breeds the best players, once your society softens up you lose that raw skill.


Looking forward to the Wales v ROI tonight.

[BigL]

I wish Syria go to world cup. Imagine Syria beat Saudi Arabia in Moscow. Considering the war in Syria and everything, that would be wonderful.

[911]

Ireland leading Wales 1-0 at teh hour mark, they need to win to qualify, Wales go through with a tie.

stream here.

Croatia is in, up 2-0 against Ukraine, who need to win to clinch 2nd place. Congrats to the Eel!

[Renton1875]

Well done ROI. (Edit: and Norn Iron)

They'll be dancin in The Fields of Athenry alright.....

Poor defence from the Welsh for the goal, but great dummy/step over to allow McLean the space to score.

Unlucky Wales, even a draw would've left them in 9th place for the play-offs.

Bale was huge loss.

[LeightonBlackstock]

Iceland have qualified

I hope they're not in our group....

[Matsufubu]

(10-09-2017 08:04 PM)LeightonBlackstock Wrote:  

Iceland have qualified

I hope they're not in our group....

After watching the last two England matches I'd be worried about being in a group with this Iceland team:

[rottenapple]

Portugal did what they had to do, Switzerland to the play offs. Slovakia is the worst second so we are seeing the following draw:

Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Denmark vs. Greece, Ireland, N.Ireland, Sweden

Australia made it through as well after a thriller, now vs. Panama or Honduras, do-able, but in all honesty these are 3 weak teams unworthy of the World Cup.

Africa has Egypt and Nigeria qualify already. For the last spots its between Tunisia/DRC, South Africa/Senegal and Morocco/Ivory Coast.

South America the big final 2,5 hours from now. I'll be watching live in the stadium in Quito, hopefully to see Messi and Argentina go out.

[casa-nostra]

(10-10-2017 04:12 PM)rottenapple Wrote:  

Portugal did what they had to do, Switzerland to the play offs. Slovakia is the worst second so we are seeing the following draw:

Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Denmark vs. Greece, Ireland, N.Ireland, Sweden

Australia made it through as well after a thriller, now vs. Panama or Honduras, do-able, but in all honesty these are 3 weak teams unworthy of the World Cup.

Africa has Egypt and Nigeria qualify already. For the last spots its between Tunisia/DRC, South Africa/Senegal and Morocco/Ivory Coast.

South America the big final 2,5 hours from now. I'll be watching live in the stadium in Quito, hopefully to see Messi and Argentina go out.

Tunisia is also 99.99 % qualifiad, they won all there games, except a draw in DRC , now they have just to draw with lybia , and the game will be played in Tunisia, lybia is the weakest country in the group, so i would say they are in Russia. So after missing the two last versions of world cup , Tunisia came back but with a stronger team.

[Rossi]

If anyone who did not bet on Argentina yet, do it as soon as possible. This match is fixed.

I bet 4 figures on it. I got it from 1.52 last week but odds are down to 1.40 right now.

[Kona]

I'm gonna start following football aka soccer. My primary team will either be England, Ireland or Switzerland. My secondary is Samoa just for the novelty factor.

Aloha!

[Rossi]

(10-10-2017 05:24 PM)Rossi Wrote:  

If anyone who did not bet on Argentina yet, do it as soon as possible. This match is fixed.

I bet 4 figures on it. I got it from 1.52 last week but odds are down to 1.40 right now.

Well, I did say it

[AManLikePutin]

May sound a bit cruel, but very poetic that US fail to qualify for the Russian-hosted World Cup after all those sanctions.

I guess the USSNT will blame Russian hacking

[Paracelsus]

(10-10-2017 04:12 PM)rottenapple Wrote:  

Australia made it through as well after a thriller, now vs. Panama or Honduras, do-able, but in all honesty these are 3 weak teams unworthy of the World Cup.

Fuck thrillers, 2-1 after extra time against Syria is an embarrassment for Australia, though probably not quite as big an embarrassment as going to playoffs on goal difference after scoring a goal or so against fucking Thailand.

Ange Postecoglou coaching Australia has finally given a raised middle finger to his critics: whether Australia qualifies or not, he's not taking them into the World Cup. Probably off to coach somewhere in Europe. He drew a lot of heat for changing the Australian formation which was used in the past few matches, might've contributed to the shit run we've had, but who knows.

[LeightonBlackstock]

USA out

Unbelievable

Trinidad and Tobago get revenge for 1989

[Rossi]

(10-10-2017 11:16 PM)LeightonBlackstock Wrote:  

USA out

Unbelievable

Trinidad and Tobago get revenge for 1989

More like, Mexico lost on purpose to kick USA out.

[LeightonBlackstock]

(10-10-2017 11:41 PM)Rossi Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 11:16 PM)LeightonBlackstock Wrote:  

USA out

Unbelievable

Trinidad and Tobago get revenge for 1989

More like, Mexico lost on purpose to kick USA out.

True. Looks very fishy

[DamienCasanova]

(10-10-2017 11:41 PM)Rossi Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 11:16 PM)LeightonBlackstock Wrote:  

USA out

Unbelievable

Trinidad and Tobago get revenge for 1989

More like, Mexico lost on purpose to kick USA out.

Mexico & Costa Rica definitely dogged it and let Honduras & Panama win....but it's still the USA's own fault. Jurgen Klinsmann started off poorly, and got fired for it. Bruce Arena came in and did a little bit better, but they still struggled at every step. And even after fucking up in the years long campaign multiple times, it still came down to just drawing your last game against the easiest team in the bracket...and they managed to blow that with an own goal, and some poor goal keeping. Can't blame it all on the coaches, the players have been poor for just about the whole campaign as well, really lacking motivation and drive. Credit to Trini also, their goal keeper had a great game, and that goal they hit was a screamer from distance. Couple bright spots for the future like Pulisic or Yedlin I guess.

Now the entire USAMNT staff needs to be cleaned out and started over fresh.

[rottenapple]

(10-10-2017 11:49 PM)DamienCasanova Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 11:41 PM)Rossi Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 11:16 PM)LeightonBlackstock Wrote:  

USA out

Unbelievable

Trinidad and Tobago get revenge for 1989

More like, Mexico lost on purpose to kick USA out.

Mexico & Costa Rica definitely dogged it and let Honduras & Panama win....but it's still the USA's own fault. Jurgen Klinsmann started off poorly, and got fired for it. Bruce Arena came in and did a little bit better, but they still struggled at every step. And even after fucking up in the years long campaign multiple times, it still came down to just drawing your last game against the easiest team in the bracket...and they managed to blow that with an own goal, and some poor goal keeping. Can't blame it all on the coaches, the players have been poor for just about the whole campaign as well, really lacking motivation and drive. Credit to Trini also, their goal keeper had a great game, and that goal they hit was a screamer from distance. Couple bright spots for the future like Pulisic or Yedlin I guess.

Now the entire USAMNT staff needs to be cleaned out and started over fresh.

Based on highlights didn't seem like Mexico gave away that win too much, but the Panama game, what's up with that first goal from Panama? Didn't even go in. That's fucked up.

The US is a disgrace tho to not win from a team like Trinidad n Tobago.

Nevertheless, I think none of these teams will make it out of the first round, not even Mexico. If we are being honest, the Northern American section based on level gets a ticket too much. I don't disagree with it, because it makes it more diverse, but teams like Italy, Switzerland, Denmark etc. would have easily qualified in that group.

Chili out as well, which is a loss for the cup, with their enthusiasm and some good talent in the squad. Let's see if Colombia or Argentina can step up their game a bit, because else it will be pretty much Europe vs. Brasil/Uruguay for the later stages. South Korea just got their ass kicked by Morocco and a weak Russia and Japan just drew against Haiti, so we don't have to expect much from Asia either. Africa is their normal chaotic self, with no real tactically disciplined teams.

[Dirtyblueshirt]

Well, looks like Alexi Lalas was right when he said the U.S. team was a bunch of "soft, underperforming, tattooed millionaires". Trinidad and Tobago? Really?? Sheesh.

[Foolsgo1d]

Considering the current political climate this loss of the US is hilarious.

Not going to Russia - the Russians did it!

Mexico lost! - Build the wall

Trinidad beat us - No more Aid!

[icrus]

https://twitter.com/SomosLaSele/status/9...04/video/1 Best commentary ever!

That said, the US will never get the results it could theoretically have with its resources (money, manpower, infrastructure) because it is lacking one fundamental thing: culture.

I wrote my thesis on the football business and why the Russian league failed to get the results it targeted a few years back when they spent big money. Among other factors, it is simply a lack of culture. That's why the old football superpowers will continue to dominate international football for decades to come and that is why small nations consistently overperform in relation to their size and resources (Croatia, Portugal, Netherlands etc.) You can transfer this to other sports as well (Czech Republic - ice hockey).

As football doesn't have the popularity and standing as it does in South America and the better part of Europe, a R16 or maybe a QF is as good as it's going to get.

Africa is the exact reverse: has the culture but lacks almost everything else.

[rottenapple]

As far as I know, football is also the nr.1 sport in Russia. They just have bad youth policy and teams buy too many foreigners. The same with Turkey for instance, one of the most football crazy countries in the world, but they have shitty policies.

Although the case of the US is different, I disagree that the main reason for them not to reach the WC or to achieve at a moderate level is culture. With the resources and population, they should easily compete with smaller countries, even though soccer is not even close to being the most popular sport. I imagine the problem is at the youth level and the formation of players. A guy like Pulisic is coming through well, why? Because Bayern Munchen is training him and not some US team.

[Rossi]

(10-11-2017 09:57 AM)rottenapple Wrote:  

As far as I know, football is also the nr.1 sport in Russia. They just have bad youth policy and teams buy too many foreigners. The same with Turkey for instance, one of the most football crazy countries in the world, but they have shitty policies.

Hockey is number 1 sport in Russia.

As for Turkey, Turkish league is the most expensive 6th league in the world but they can't grow any players because their youth system sucks so bad. 2nd division Turkish teams have brand new stadiums that are much better than Roma, Napoli, Fiorentina's stadiums.

[Brother Abdul Majeed]

Today is a national holiday in Panama. The kids showed up for school and were told that they could go home. I had to give my workers the day off too, which was just as well, as I'm a bit hungover myself.
It was a very unexpected result, but Panama qualifies for the world cup for the first time ever.

A lot of people take it for granted that their team will be in the world cup, but for a lot of the smaller nations it's truly something special.