Random Soccer Thread

[JB1973]

The team was not that good but they performed brilliantly.I thought they played spain and germany off the park in that tournament.What different directions we have gone in since then.

TBH you doing pretty well for a country with a small population and a country that doesn't even have a proper professional league set up.

Plus a country that has to compete with GAA,Rugby plus the other sports like horse racing golf and boxing.


Your side has lots of good PL players but none are outstanding, maybe McCarthy and Coleman will make into a CL side the rest won't.

The sides of 88 and 90 had genuine world class players and guys who were actually playing for trophy winning sides year in year out.


I fully expect you to finish second in this group, as I said given your resources that's good going

[cormac]

Dublin to host four Euro 2020 matches. Huzzah

[blockhead]

Wouldn't it be great if we were involved in at least one of them.

[blockhead]

Dublin Chamber of Commerce believes the games will be worth €50bn to the economy

Now steady on 50,000,000,000 Euros?

[blockhead]

BBC Sport ‏@BBCSport 26m26 minutes ago

The FAI confirm Roy Keane has called the Gardai following an 'incident' & he has their full support. More soon.

Keano apparently put a fan in Hospital after a kerfuffel at hotel in Portmarnock.

[Xanthippe]

BBC Sport ‏@BBCSport 26m26 minutes ago

The FAI confirm Roy Keane has called the Gardai following an 'incident' & he has their full support. More soon.

Keano apparently allegedly put a fan in Hospital after a kerfuffel at hotel in Portmarnock.

Fixed that for you

[blockhead]

Keano leaves Villa

[LeRouxIsPHat]

That's beyond a joke. He was my hero as a player but what is he on? I would guess that there's more to this, whether it's just Grealish or some other awkwardness with Irish Villa players, but regardless of the reasoning, to leave/have to leave before December is ridiculous.

Unless he plans on keeping the assistant manager job with Ireland and then taking them over for 30 years, what's he going to do? Surely nobody will give him a job now and we know he hates punditry.

[Dave Cahill]

Good piece on Olympique Marseilles and the madness around it

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blo ... r-far-away

[blockhead]

Xavi has annpouced that he is leaving Barcelona at the end of this season.
One of the true greats, an astonishing career with the medals to back it up.
8 La Ligas, 3 Champ Leagues (maybe 4), 1 World Cup and 2 Euro Champs.
Puts Stevie Mee's career in perspective.

[Avenger]

Xavi has annpouced that he is leaving Barcelona at the end of this season.
One of the true greats, an astonishing career with the medals to back it up.
8 La Ligas, 3 Champ Leagues (maybe 4), 1 World Cup and 2 Euro Champs.
Puts Stevie Mee's career in perspective.

Xavi is a great player but he also played in a great team and great teams win trophies.
Gerrard could have left Liverpool and won plenty of medals but he chose to stay loyal to his hometown club and for that he gets ridiculed. Bizarre.

[blockhead]

Xavi has annpouced that he is leaving Barcelona at the end of this season.
One of the true greats, an astonishing career with the medals to back it up.
8 La Ligas, 3 Champ Leagues (maybe 4), 1 World Cup and 2 Euro Champs.
Puts Stevie Mee's career in perspective.

Xavi is a great player but he also played in a great team and great teams win trophies.
Gerrard could have left Liverpool and won plenty of medals but he chose to stay loyal to his hometown club and for that he gets ridiculed. Bizarre.

I compare them because they are both leaving their repective clubs at the end of this season after spending their entire careers with their hometown clubs.
Gerrard was a very good player in an average club team (apart from 1 season). For England he was part of the "golden generation" who acheived SFA (not even a semi).
His performances for England, over many years, were ordinary compared to his peers.
Xavi was a major reason why Barcelona and Spain became great teams. He was the lynchpin of both sides. A great midfielder who influenced the outcome of many competitions for club and country.

[Avenger]

I compare them because they are both leaving their repective clubs at the end of this season after spending their entire careers with their hometown clubs.
Gerrard was a very good player in an average club team (apart from 1 season). For England he was part of the "golden generation" who acheived SFA (not even a semi).
His performances for England, over many years, were ordinary compared to his peers.
Xavi was a major reason why Barcelona and Spain became great teams. He was the lynchpin of both sides. A great midfielder who influenced the outcome of many competitions for club and country.

Xavi was an exceptional player. Not as good as Iniesta in my opinion but thats just my opinion.... both wonderful players and played in one of the best teams I've seen.
Xavi is Catalan but he's not from the city of Barcelona (according to that Graham Hunter book - Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World).
For me he was the pivot midfielder - the guy who keeps things ticking over but its usually others that provide the moment of magic. He had a super set of superstar players around him that he could feed the ball to and he had the skill to do it but I remember he missed the entire 2006 season (Barca won champions league and league that season) through injury and Barcelona did not miss him... the machine simple kept going. Absolutely brilliant player but the environment in which he operated in was perfect for him.

Both lads have been at their clubs since they were children and both have not left until now... but Xavi had the advantage of playing in a far superior team in a far better run club. For a lot of Gerrard's career, Liverpool was a mess.

The whole golden generation thing was a load of bollix created by the British media who generally always go over the top about the England team. They won a wold cup on home soil 50 years ago and have won nothing since. They usually go out around the 1/4 finals and that is pretty much their level.

I appreciate celebrating an amazing career like Xavi's but I don't see why anyone would need to compare it to someone else who hasn't won as much just because he played in a less successful team.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Expected this to thread to have been bumped for LVG's speeches

Xavi is one of my favourite players ever. He ran games with such ease for the guts of 15 years and had a great ability to raise the tempo when needed. His passing was sensational. Teams couldn't really get near him and he was always able to find a positive pass to another player and weight it perfectly for them to run on to. Agree to an extent that he didn't quite have the weapons that other players did but he did have one that was unstoppable, that slide rule pass between defenders for someone to run on to from outside to in. One of THE great skills in the game IMO and something myself and a mate always call for when we're playing...rarely works, but we look good trying it.

He got a fantastic ovation from the Atletico fans the other day too.

[Avenger]

FIFA offices raided and 6 FIFA officials arrested. This could get interesting

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32895048

[Lamb of BOD]

FIFA offices raided and 6 FIFA officials arrested. This could get interesting

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32895048

Interesting timing as well; the vote is in two days. I wonder how Blatter is feeling this morning? (All reports thus far stress he's not implicated)

[Avenger]

FIFA offices raided and 6 FIFA officials arrested. This could get interesting

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32895048

Interesting timing as well; the vote is in two days. I wonder how Blatter is feeling this morning? (All reports thus far stress he's not implicated)

I don't buy that. The Vice President has been arrested. The best case scenario for him is that It happened on his watch right under his nose.

[blockhead]

FIFA offices raided and 6 FIFA officials arrested. This could get interesting

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32895048

Interesting timing as well; the vote is in two days. I wonder how Blatter is feeling this morning? (All reports thus far stress he's not implicated)

I don't buy that. The Vice President has been arrested. The best case scenario for him is that It happened on his watch right under his nose.

Not implicated, blatter doesent carry. He'll not be held accountable even. FIFA policy is guided by backhanders and brown envelopes.

[Logorrhea]

FIFA policy is guided by backhanders and brown envelopes.

Exactly. A few days on interesting paper headlines but absolutely nothing will change. Blatter will get elected and those in charge of football will continue to give their votes to those that pay the highest.

[fourthirtythree]

This is being led by the FBI tough isn't it? They have less reason to support the incumbent regime than most potential racket busters. I'd put the popcorn on.