The Football Thread

Not been on for a week so I’ll take the opportunity now to say

See ya’ next year in the Champion’s League Yodlaf

As any green jersey team won anything somewhere :frowning:

[quote=“scherpschutter, post:2302, topic:527”]See ya’ next year in the Champion’s League Yodlaf[/quote] 8)

A week late, but happy St. Tots.

[size=12pt]The Cup is ours
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[size=36pt][font=impact]SPORTING[/font][/size]

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In this world there are two kinds of football players: those who lose, and those who [size=14pt]win[/size] penalty shootouts

I would dare to say there’s a third kind, those who play with ten against eleven more than 105m losing 2 -0 and still coming back to win

[font=impact][size=10pt]La La La La La La La
La La La La La La La
Força Sporting Aléz
La La La La La
Sempre Contigo Aléz
La La La La La
Só eu sei…
Porque não fico em casa!
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Although of course, the real victory this season was Team Blatter: 1 - 0 against everyone else.

I guess football, the sport, is the great loser.
The choice for Russia and Qatar as hosts for the next two World Cups could be the death blow to football. Wouldn’t surprise if any of these two tournaments wouldn’t take place, at least not with all possible countries involved.

Not for league sides (the Premier League will never die!), but you could be right, for international football, there are very choppy waters ahead.

The Premier League is of course alive and kicking. I think the emphasis will be more on club football in the future. The Big Clubs are already complaining that they are forced to give their players permission to play for the national teams, national associations have complained about the World Cup 2022 being held in November/December, etc. All signs that the club teams and national associations aren’t happy with the actual situation. Add the political turmoil in the wolrld to all this, and you get a clear picture of how murky the waters are for national teams.

[quote=“scherpschutter, post:2310, topic:527”]I guess football, the sport, is the great loser.
The choice for Russia and Qatar as hosts for the next two World Cups could be the death blow to football. Wouldn’t surprise if any of these two tournaments wouldn’t take place, at least not with all possible countries involved.[/quote]Qatar getting it stinks of corruption, why is it bad Russia getting it though?

Russia wasn’t a bad choice, but if the situation in the Donbas region gets worse, I don’t know what the consequences are for the tournament.

Well, no. Apart from annexing the Crimea, deploying troops in the Ukraine, the still-rampant culture of racism at football grounds and the government-approved discrimination of homosexuals. Fantastic place for a global sporting celebration.

Anyway, Blatter’s gone now, thank Christ. It’d be nice if those WC bids were opened back up again. Doesn’t matter that 2018 is only three years away, there are plenty of countries who could host a World Cup at shorter notice than that. And I’m not saying that as an embittered Englander either; give it to Portugal/Spain, since their bid was considered second to Russia in the bidding process.

I don’t think Blatter stepping out it’s going to change things per si, Blatter is just the face of a system, like Havelange was before him (even a worst figure in the sense of his corruption and ilegal gamble Money laudering connections in Brazil), the problem is the system that it’s corruption bound. Trading votes for money it’s pretty easy

Well, I referred to this as ‘Donbas’, that’s where it’a ll happening now, the plans for annexation, deploying of troops, etc. But my point was that the Crimea, troops in Ukraine, etc. all happened after the tournament was given to Putin & Russia.

I agree that, apart from all this, Russia is not the best place for a great tournament, and never was, but was South-Africa such a good choice? Okay, apartheid is officially history, but most historians who are experts on the country (and in Holland and Belgium we have kind a few of them) think the situation today is worse. There are, in fact, not that much countries or regions that are 100% okay. Brasil had and has its problems too. China (Olympics 2008), should we avoid all these countries?

Yes, I know you had. I wasn’t saying you hadn’t. But saying it right alongside “Russia wasn’t a bad choice” was, IMO, a little astonishing. I’m unsure as to how you can marry the two statements.

Indeed. But not so late that the tournament can’t be removed from Russia as a result.

Few places on Earth - let’s amend that: NO place on Earth - is 100% perfect, you’re quite right. Maybe we SHOULD have avoided those countries you mentioned (I’m not sure that South Africa’s government’s present atrocities are quite as objectionable as Russia’s but there you go). But we didn’t, and the moment is gone. A bit late now to oppose South Africa’s bid to host the 2010 WC. But NOT too late to oppose the Russian bid. Are you saying that, because other countries aren’t so great, that Russia SHOULD be awarded a tournament like this? “I know they discriminate openly against homosexuality, the man who oversaw their bid claimed very publicly that “Monkey chants aren’t racist” and they launched a stealth invasion of the Ukraine which was initially outright denied by their duplicitous president, but Apartheid was sh*t in the eighties, wasn’t it? So let’s give those warmongering homophobes a go…”

Russia shouldn’t be hosting a global sporting tournament while they’re doing what they’re doing. That’s just my opinion, though. Doesn’t mean I’m right. Maybe Russia is a fine place for a World Cup and thoroughly deserving of hosting one, as you’re suggesting.

Sadly, you’re probably right El Topo. Still, this feels like as close as FIFA’s ever gotten to an opportunity to sweep clean, so I’m going to hope. And even if Blatter is replaced like a f*cking Hydra head by another corrupt tosspot, at least Blatter had to take off. And who knows? Maybe the feds will still bring him to book yet.

The problem though, is the World Cup is kept only a to countries that have an admirable human rights and foreign policy records, the event is only ever going to held now and in the near future in Europe, North America and Australia/New Zealand. I can actually understand the reasoning for wishing to expand it globally and despite the evident corruption in South Africa and Brazil (and incompetence in the latter actually being able to build the venues), I think they were probably still positive moves to hold them there. This is of course the dilemma the IOC faces as well, although it seems crazy that Brazil get both the WC and the Olympics. Russia and Qatar always seemed like terrible choices, even more so now with Russia’s behaviour and Qatar’s WC having to be played in winter. FIFA essentially needs to end the opportunity for its president to act in an authoritarian way but instead have a system with concrete checks and balances; alas, I fear whoever succeeds Blatter will try and claim all is solved without actually altering the organisation’s structure.

(Scherp) my point was that the Crimea, troops in Ukraine, etc. all happened after the tournament was given to Putin & Russia.

(Last caress) Indeed. But not so late that the tournament can’t be removed from Russia as a result.

True, but they will not do that. Both World Cups could be taken away, from Russia and Qatar respectively, but it would cause an enormous international scandal: Russia and the entire islamic world would be outaged. The Fifa will want to prevent this, because it would mean the end of the organisation.

They can take it away from Russia in case of a war breaking out, but … in that case the tournament probably won’t take place at all