The Football/Soccer Thread

[Fwiffo]

2019 Harry Maguire: £80m, captaincy, de facto starter for England
2023 Harry Maguire: £30m, stripped of captaincy, why is he still starting for England?

 

[Fwiffo]

Neymar now rumoured to go to MLS...which club - who knows.

 

[fxh]

Live: Sam Kerr to start on the bench as Matildas take on France in Women's World Cup quarterfinal

The Matildas take on France with a spot in the FIFA Women's World Cup semifinal on the line in Brisbane. Follow all the updates in our live blog.

www.abc.net.au

 

[fxh]

Matildas must defend French connections in World Cup aerial duel | Kieran Pender

The battle between France’s aerial attack and Australia’s wall of defence will decide which team progresses to the World Cup final four

www.theguardian.com

 

[Fwiffo]

Matildas must defend French connections in World Cup aerial duel | Kieran Pender

The battle between France’s aerial attack and Australia’s wall of defence will decide which team progresses to the World Cup final four

www.theguardian.com

All y'all advance on penalties.

Was on the television at the lobby of my building.

 

[The Ernesto]

Should have buried France in the first half. Great resilience though. England are good, will be a tough game.

 

[Fwiffo]

Unfortunately for you the English women are a more resolute bunch than the English men.

Neymar has now gone to the Saudis and Fox will now broadcast their games here.

 

[Fwiffo]

Commiserations to the Aussies.

Still a third place fixture to give your team a good send off from the tournament.

 

[The Ernesto]

Commiserations to the Aussies.

Still a third place fixture to give your team a good send off from the tournament.

Cheers mate.

Ellie Carpenter clanger really ended it for us. Fair play England, set up well and actually changed approach in the game and executed it well. Good luck against España.

 

[Fwiffo]

Cheers mate.

Ellie Carpenter clanger really ended it for us. Fair play England, set up well and actually changed approach in the game and executed it well. Good luck against España.

Cinderella run is over. Hopefully it improves the prospects of the domestic game for the women.

 

[The Ernesto]

on Cinderella run is over. Hopefully it improves the prospects of the domestic game for the women.

UK league is going gangbusters. US getting left behind. Good things ahead globally. Spain's depth is frightening.

Was a good game to watch (on telly) as a neutral.

 

[Fwiffo]

In other news the Canadian national team manager is looking for new gigs because we don't have money to play any friendlies for the men's team. I believe we filled 1 of 4 planned fixtures and opted out of the rest in September.

I can't imagine the women's team will even get the same pathetic treatment.

Also my home club is on a 12 game winless streak.

 

[Fwiffo]

Aymeric Laporte signs with Al-Nassr where Ronaldo plays. I read last night that Al-Nassr needed to get rid of one of their foreign players to get into Asian champions league and it was going to be Talisca. Now they have two people they need to get rid of - or the rule is rubbish for Ronaldo's team.

 

[Fwiffo]

I have to decide whether to go to a mid week fixture where my club will 99.9999% get thrashed by a team ranked second because we're on a 10 game losing streak, 13 game winless.........or go to a vendor paid dinner at a Michelin star restaurant followed by other forms of debauchery all expensed at someone else's Amex.

 

[The Ernesto]

I have to decide whether to go to a mid week fixture where my club will 99.9999% get thrashed by a team ranked second because we're on a 10 game losing streak, 13 game winless.........or go to a vendor paid dinner at a Michelin star restaurant followed by other forms of debauchery all expensed at someone else's Amex.

How was the game?

 

[Fwiffo]

How was the game?

It's tonight. You can donate tickets to the armed forces. Some people did and now regret putting our military through a potential slaughter.

So the national manager is now going to be club manager after 1st October. He gave up managing the men's side with a guaranteed World Cup 2026 slot at home.

 

[The Ernesto]

It's tonight. You can donate tickets to the armed forces. Some people did and now regret putting our military through a potential slaughter.

So the national manager is now going to be club manager after 1st October. He gave up managing the men's side with a guaranteed World Cup 2026 slot at home.

I thought the shenanigans here in terms of running the game etc were extraordinary but you guys seem to have similar issues.

 

[Fwiffo]

I thought the shenanigans here in terms of running the game etc were extraordinary but you guys seem to have similar issues.

John Herdman was apparently the New Zealand women's national team manager until 2011. He then came here to be women's manager for Canada. That was when I first heard of him. Then he moved to be manager of the men's team and is now my hometown club's manager.

Lots of stories coming out including the current crop of players that came up under him are split between the domestic players (including MLS) and the ones that went to Europe who don't think his tactics and coaching is up to Bundesliga, Ligue 1, La Liga that they see in club football.

There's no money because the Canadian Soccer Association had to pay networks to put their games on the tele so they signed a 10 or 20 year deal with a "company" that would promise to stream their games and whatever is left from streaming/producing tv programmes + running a domestic tier 2 league (not sure how the latter fits) is then used for national team training. No one knows where all the money goes because it's a private corporation. Herdman then gets accused for having a big salary + big coaching staff. He said after he resigned he had to raise funds from private sponsors just to get his staff to games. We make decent money from friendlies at home and now won't even host those in September. It's really a shambles.

But we got our first win in 13 games with now the 2nd most expensive squad in the league (1st being Messi and the Barca alumni)


I must admit I completely lost the ability to cheer for this club but somehow I found it again last night.

 

[The Ernesto]

John Herdman was apparently the New Zealand women's national team manager until 2011. He then came here to be women's manager for Canada. That was when I first heard of him. Then he moved to be manager of the men's team and is now my hometown club's manager.

Lots of stories coming out including the current crop of players that came up under him are split between the domestic players (including MLS) and the ones that went to Europe who don't think his tactics and coaching is up to Bundesliga, Ligue 1, La Liga that they see in club football.

There's no money because the Canadian Soccer Association had to pay networks to put their games on the tele so they signed a 10 or 20 year deal with a "company" that would promise to stream their games and whatever is left from streaming/producing tv programmes + running a domestic tier 2 league (not sure how the latter fits) is then used for national team training. No one knows where all the money goes because it's a private corporation. Herdman then gets accused for having a big salary + big coaching staff. He said after he resigned he had to raise funds from private sponsors just to get his staff to games. We make decent money from friendlies at home and now won't even host those in September. It's really a shambles.

But we got our first win in 13 games with now the 2nd most expensive squad in the league (1st being Messi and the Barca alumni)


I must admit I completely lost the ability to cheer for this club but somehow I found it again last night.

Wow. That sounds like an incredible clusterfuck.

Here the league split off from the Federation (with the Federation having a board rep and some veto options), the league is run by the clubs and the TV deal they did was to produce the games themselves which they then sold to a network. Hasn't turned out great but it has meant revenue and a stable broadcast deal. The Federation manages it's own revenue from national teams, sponsorships and a bit from player rego fees, it is fully self funded apart from any grants it gets from govt.

Nice win, good to see them give you something to cheer about.

 

[Fwiffo]

Wow. That sounds like an incredible clusterfuck.

Here the league split off from the Federation (with the Federation having a board rep and some veto options), the league is run by the clubs and the TV deal they did was to produce the games themselves which they then sold to a network. Hasn't turned out great but it has meant revenue and a stable broadcast deal. The Federation manages it's own revenue from national teams, sponsorships and a bit from player rego fees, it is fully self funded apart from any grants it gets from govt.

The problem is a lot of the football media pundits came to this streaming channel from broadcasters who used to have rights to Premier League, MLS, etc. They are now paid for by the same dodgy company so when there is smoke reported in traditional media they keep saying they have insider information to say otherwise. Obviously they don't want to lose their jobs.

When traditional television stations started losing La Liga, Ligue 1, Bundesliga rights the media personalities either went to this entity or they went to another laughable online betting company that happens to cover highlights and do YouTube commentary. The papers don't even have anyone that covers football full time. The last one retired in 2022.

I asked earlier about the stadium preparations because construction in this city is always measured in years and there is still bickering who picks up the cost of the stadium expansion between the association, provincial/federal government, the city and the current tenants of the stadium. There is already a joke going on Twitter we should tell Fifa we withdraw from being a 2026 host.

It is sad because a lot of the current players in their 20s on the national team were inspired to take up football a decade ago and if it all goes tits up I don't know if young kids won't look to another sport.

 

[The Ernesto]

The problem is a lot of the football media pundits came to this streaming channel from broadcasters who used to have rights to Premier League, MLS, etc. They are now paid for by the same dodgy company so when there is smoke reported in traditional media they keep saying they have insider information to say otherwise. Obviously they don't want to lose their jobs.

When traditional television stations started losing La Liga, Ligue 1, Bundesliga rights the media personalities either went to this entity or they went to another laughable online betting company that happens to cover highlights and do YouTube commentary. The papers don't even have anyone that covers football full time. The last one retired in 2022.

I asked earlier about the stadium preparations because construction in this city is always measured in years and there is still bickering who picks up the cost of the stadium expansion between the association, provincial/federal government, the city and the current tenants of the stadium. There is already a joke going on Twitter we should tell Fifa we withdraw from being a 2026 host.

It is sad because a lot of the current players in their 20s on the national team were inspired to take up football a decade ago and if it all goes tits up I don't know if young kids won't look to another sport.

That sounds pretty dire. We still have some journos that focus on football most of the time and a few that are covering for things like the local ESPN site. The amount of information, discussion about our league is at all time high due to social media and young people trying to break into media using the league as platform. It's not all brilliant, a lot of the stuff is basic but the chatter is good. As for stadia and facilities, we are chronically underfunded at every level and the World Cup helped highlight this. Hope you guys sort it out. Legit thinking of coming over to watch some games.

 

[Fwiffo]

Pogba hit with doping in Italy. Did he really need to dope?

 

[The Ernesto]

Pogba hit with doping in Italy. Did he really need to dope?

Took a supplement from an American friend apparently, not approved by the club. Supplement is ok to use in US. That's the scuttlebutt anyway.

 

[Fwiffo]

Took a supplement from an American friend apparently, not approved by the club. Supplement is ok to use in US. That's the scuttlebutt anyway.

Always found him to be a bit overrated and now overshadowed by Mbappe.

 

[Fwiffo]

Harry Maguire helping Scotland get back into the game 1-2. Kane gets the insurance goal.

 

[The Ernesto]

Always found him to be a bit overrated and now overshadowed by Mbappe.

In his prime tho...

 

[QuandoDio]

Pogba has more talent than Bellingham but what sets Bellingham apart from Pogo is two things: attitude and mental fortitude.

Pogba has always had piss poor attitude and is a mental midget and apparently also has poor discipline.

 

[The Ernesto]

Pogba has more talent than Bellingham but what sets Bellingham apart from Pogo is two things: attitude and mental fortitude.

Pogba has always had piss poor attitude and is a mental midget and apparently also has poor discipline.

For sure, as evidenced by his decision to take a supplement without talking to his club first. Idiocy.

 

[Fwiffo]

The Ten Hag critics are back in full force.