Global Football Odds & Ends

Zososoxfan

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South of North

"Momento del pitazo en el que los jugadores del Lara y Anzoátegui no se movieron en solidaridad con los hechos que ocurren en el país"

Loose translation: Moment of silence held by players from Lara and Anzoategui after the kickoff to show solidarity and recognize what is going on in the country.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Dec 9, 2003
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As Benfica today clinched their 4th consecutive national title, a special congrats goes to Fejsa. He has now won 10 consecutive league titles (3 Serbian, 3 Greece, and 4 Portugal)
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Jul 22, 2006
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Congrats to @Tony the Pony

I had no idea it had been so long since Feyenoord won the Eredivisie. Losing to Excelsior last weekend must have been an awful moment, especially with Ajax's form, but Kuyt to the rescue.

As Benfica today clinched their 4th consecutive national title, a special congrats goes to Fejsa. He has now won 10 consecutive league titles (3 Serbian, 3 Greece, and 4 Portugal)
That's remarkable. Granted he picked the right clubs in the right leagues, but damn.
 

Titans Bastard

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There was a match-fixing attempt for a game between two prominent Swedish clubs. One of the players who was approached went to the police and the game has been postponed.

It's always a little disconcerting to see stuff like this. The Swedish league ain't the EPL, but it's not exactly the Romanian second division either.
 

soxfan121

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This fucking guy:

Blatter said he accepted that the investigation had found evidence of corruption but pointed the finger at the individual confederations and said: "Why the hell then should the FIFA president bear all the charges, the responsibility and the blame?"
 

SoxFanInCali

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Iran has banned captain Masoud Shojaei and midfielder Ehsan Haji Safi from the national team for life.

Their offence? They played in a Europa League playoff game against Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv for their Greek club Panionios.

FIFA forbids political interference in football matters, so it will be interesting to see how this is handled. Iran has already qualified for the 2018 World Cup.
 
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Infield Infidel

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Jul 15, 2005
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Benfica playing Rangers on Oct 6 in Hamilton, Ontario. Seems random, especially the date. Although there are a lot of Portuguese people in Toronto who would make the 1-hour trip west

 
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Vinho Tinto

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Benfica had scheduled to play Chapecoense for their Eusebio Cup match in July. The CBF forced Chape to withdraw. Benfica had looked into holding it in Toronto before the preseason ended, but the timing didn't work. The earlier start to the season didn't help. So this will likely be billed as this year's edition of the cup and as you mentioned there is a large Portuguese population in Ontario. Not to mention southern Jersey fans will make the long drive to Hamilton.

They got a good crowd at BMO when Benfica played Celtic during '09 preseason. That match had both sides playing mostly with reserves. The large Scottish population is just as much of a targeted audience. Not really a random proposition when you look at who the match is being sold to.
 

Infield Infidel

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Thank you, that all makes a lot of sense, I forgot about how many Scottish fans are here. The randomness for me is mostly the date, it's odd to see a club friendly in October.

A friend up here posited that the organizers on the Hamilton side are affiliated with the upcoming Canadian Premier League (CPL headquarters are in Hamilton) and they want to get more games at the location to build local interest
 

Kliq

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In a piece of hilarious international ineptitude, France had a 0-0 draw against Luxembourg at home, despite outshooting the visitors 19-2, owning 74 percent of the possesion and completing 500(!) more passes; and also having a team of superstars playing a bunch of Sunday-leaguers. Luxembourg actually had the best chance to win the game imo on a counter late that just missed hitting off the inside of the post and clanging in. It's a fun match to watch; especially if you like watching Paul Pogba butcher opportunities from outside the box:


With Sweden beating Belarus 4-0 today, France leads Group A by a single point. Sweden closes against Luxembourg and at the Netherlands, who got waxed by France 4-0 earlier this week. France hosts Belarus and plays Bulgaria.
 

Arroyo Con Frijoles

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Jul 19, 2005
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Easier said than done to just drop them after bring a fan for all these years, especially since they're our local squad. I have preferences in other leagues, but following a team in Europe isn't the same to me. So we soldier on, sinking deeper into irrelevance with every passing year.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Jul 22, 2006
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Yeah, I’m sorry.

Have some friends that are pretty hooked, it’s rough. I keep t lying them to pulla Charlton or Blackpool.

If we had 3 tiered professional pyramid with pro/reg, would that have changed Kraft’s attitude?
 

soxfan121

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@teddykgb - I imagine this is what happened when they told Mr. Squirrel that he'd have to go live at Old Trafford now.
 

SoxFanInCali

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Going into first half stoppage time, River Plate led 2-0 away at fellow Argentine side Lanus in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores semifinal, and 3-0 on aggregate in the tie.

Lanus got one back in that stoppage time, and 3 more in the first 25 minutes of the second half to win the tie 4-3 and advance to the final.
 

Senator Donut

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As out there as Tommy could be, at least he didn't make me want to break my TV like Ray Hudson often did.

I'll always associate him and Derek Rae with Liverpool's Champions League run in 2004-05.
Just found this out and figured I'd share it. Now that Tommy Smith is gone from ESPN, he's been reunited with Derek Rae for the UK call of the Thursday night NFL game. It's available in the US if you're an Amazon Prime customer.
 

speedracer

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Jul 19, 2005
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Just found this out and figured I'd share it. Now that Tommy Smith is gone from ESPN, he's been reunited with Derek Rae for the UK call of the Thursday night NFL game. It's available in the US if you're an Amazon Prime customer.
Had no idea Derek Rae did NFL, I hope he calls someone a numpty on air.

 

Titans Bastard

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Such is the fall of Serie A that it has been reduced to the Odds & Ends thread.

Benevento were promoted to Serie A this year for the first time in their 88 year history. They lost their first 14 games this season, scoring 6 goals and conceding 34. Today, they hosted Milan and earned their first point when their GK scored a crazy diving header off a set piece deep in stoppage time.

 

Cellar-Door

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Such is the fall of Serie A that it has been reduced to the Odds & Ends thread.

Benevento were promoted to Serie A this year for the first time in their 88 year history. They lost their first 14 games this season, scoring 6 goals and conceding 34. Today, they hosted Milan and earned their first point when their GK scored a crazy diving header off a set piece deep in stoppage time.

Ah the youtube soccer classic, 10 seconds of highlight and 20 seconds of terrible music over ads for their other terrible youtube videos.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Jul 22, 2006
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Such is the fall of Serie A that it has been reduced to the Odds & Ends thread.

Benevento were promoted to Serie A this year for the first time in their 88 year history. They lost their first 14 games this season, scoring 6 goals and conceding 34. Today, they hosted Milan and earned their first point when their GK scored a crazy diving header off a set piece deep in stoppage time.

Holy Shit. I saw a note that Gattuso tied his first game but didn't realize that it was against Benevento. That 14 game losing streak to open a season is the worst in any top flight anywhere ever is my understanding.

And yeah, it is too bad about Serie A, because it's actually a halfway decent league right now.
 

Titans Bastard

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Who among us is going to bite the bullet (hopefully not literally) and do a trip report for the Eternal Derby?

 

Titans Bastard

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Canada just replaced their men's NT coach Octavio Zambrano with their women's NT coach John Herdman. Based on the commotion, the public announcement has come as a big surprise to all the players on both teams.

The USSF is an incredibly frustrating organization, but the CSA is always up to some new dysfunctional gambit.
 

candylandriots

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Who among us is going to bite the bullet (hopefully not literally) and do a trip report for the Eternal Derby?

I'm seriously putting this on my list right now. I've known about it and have wanted to do it, but I should have an opportunity in 2019 to actually do it. Thank you for the reminder.

My wife has some Serbian friends, hopefully I can convince Jelena's husband to bring me to this, because I'm not sure I want to do it on my own.
 

Cellar-Door

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I never got the appeal of those types of games. It's just an excuse for fascist scumbags and non-facist scumbags to fight. It isn't an interesting or fun environment like a real rivalry game.
 

Titans Bastard

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I never got the appeal of those types of games. It's just an excuse for fascist scumbags and non-facist scumbags to fight. It isn't an interesting or fun environment like a real rivalry game.
I find these sorts of things fascinating, but only when approached as though I'm an anthropologist.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jan/02/liv-cooke-girl-euro-2017-advert-professional-freestyler

A girl in school uniform walks out of school gates with a football balanced on her forehead, the drumbeat intro to Peaches’ Boys Wanna Be Her boldly begins. A cheeky nutmeg of a passer by. An orange, a dolls head, anything round is bounced, flicked and tricked down the street.

You most likely saw the Channel 4 Euro 2017 advert, but not many will know the woman behind the ball was 18-year-old Liv Cooke, 2017 women’s freestyle world champion. The Lancashire teen’s journey from junior football teams in Leyland to the UK’s first woman professional freestyler has been one of successes following setbacks, thanks to her uncompromising drive.

....

Cooke trains four to five hours-a-day, six days-a-week, when preparing for a competition. However she’s keen the stress the importance of coupling that with mental preparation. “It’s very much a mental game,” she says. “Because if you step on that stage and you’ve got a hint of nerves it can take over your body. If you get jelly feeling in you legs, then you’re gone.”


I didn't know that this was a thing. She is tremendous:

 

candylandriots

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I find these sorts of things fascinating, but only when approached as though I'm an anthropologist.
I think it’s fascinating to see how crowds behave in these types of environments.

But basically, I want to see any big game where there is a lot of passion on both sides. It usually makes for really exciting sport, and if you don’t behave like a moron, you can stay out of the chaos.
 

Kliq

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That’s a cool chart, with the type of teams you would expect at the top. Bigger clubs that can sign prospects and pay them for a while as they turn into stars but don’t have the cash that the true heavyweights have to retain their players forever.

With Jadon Sancho, Alexander Isak and Christian Pulisic, Dortmund’s front three attacking players this afternoon were 17,18 and 19, respectively.