Global Football Odds & Ends

Kliq

Kliq

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Bale is the rare type of athlete who accomplished a ton in his career, but had so much raw talent that even a case full of trophies, a bunch of memorable goals, and a incredible international career (relative to his nation) and he still feels like he left something on the table. I kind of think of Randy Moss in the same way; top five in a bunch of career categories, some record setting seasons, but yet still felt like they underachieved a bit, that was just how outrageously gifted he was.

View: https://twitter.com/COsoccerpod/status/1612487176301981699?s=20&t=UgKLJs9LX4augYJ6IYQugA
 
67YAZ

67YAZ

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A friend of mine played a season in the Southampton academy with Bale and has wild stories about a teenaged left back leading the reserve team in goals. Such outrageous talent. Too bad we never got to see him week in and out at Madrid.

From a USMNT perspective, very glad to see Martinez off the market.
 
Royal Reader

Royal Reader

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Kliq said:
Bale is the rare type of athlete who accomplished a ton in his career, but had so much raw talent that even a case full of trophies, a bunch of memorable goals, and a incredible international career (relative to his nation) and he still feels like he left something on the table. I kind of think of Randy Moss in the same way; top five in a bunch of career categories, some record setting seasons, but yet still felt like they underachieved a bit, that was just how outrageously gifted he was.

View: https://twitter.com/COsoccerpod/status/1612487176301981699?s=20&t=UgKLJs9LX4augYJ6IYQugA
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I think the American comp for me is Kawhi. Incredible player, at his best top-5 in the sport, crucial to winning the biggest prizes a handful of times. No-one thinks their overall resumes are close to the LeBron/Steph/Ronaldo/Messi tier, but on their day they could be just as unstoppable as those guys. Barely played on the back nines of their careers.
 
Titans Bastard

Titans Bastard

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67YAZ said:
A friend of mine played a season in the Southampton academy with Bale and has wild stories about a teenaged left back leading the reserve team in goals. Such outrageous talent. Too bad we never got to see him week in and out at Madrid.

From a USMNT perspective, very glad to see Martinez off the market.
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How many players go from being a youth fullback to a winger as a pro, anyway? It's an unusual evolution.
 
Morgan's Magic Snowplow

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Kliq said:
Bale is the rare type of athlete who accomplished a ton in his career, but had so much raw talent that even a case full of trophies, a bunch of memorable goals, and a incredible international career (relative to his nation) and he still feels like he left something on the table. I kind of think of Randy Moss in the same way; top five in a bunch of career categories, some record setting seasons, but yet still felt like they underachieved a bit, that was just how outrageously gifted he was.

View: https://twitter.com/COsoccerpod/status/1612487176301981699?s=20&t=UgKLJs9LX4augYJ6IYQugA
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I think he did underachieve in some ways. Not in terms of trophies or big CL moments, obviously. But he basically had a great five year peak from ages 22-26 and then became a part time player who would occasional flash. Injuries played a huge part but in the end I don't think he had the mentality to really push himself to be a top top player. It's like he got to Madrid, eventually realized that he was never going to push Cristiano out of the spotlight, and then became content to play half the season and work on his golf game. The difference between him and Cristiano was mostly mental, one guy having Tom Brady/Tiger Woods levels of competitiveness and desire to be the best and the other guy just being a normalish dude.
 
OCST

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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Just thank God someone got Martinez before he went back to Everton.

The Everton brass even wanted to hire him while he was still managing Belgium in summer 2022- ie they would let him do both jobs *headdesk*
 
OCST

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Royal Reader said:
I think the American comp for me is Kawhi. Incredible player, at his best top-5 in the sport, crucial to winning the biggest prizes a handful of times. No-one thinks their overall resumes are close to the LeBron/Steph/Ronaldo/Messi tier, but on their day they could be just as unstoppable as those guys. Barely played on the back nines of their careers.
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playing for a small country limited his ability to dominate in the zeitgeist. Messi wouldn’t be Messi if he played for Wales.
 
Tangled Up In Red

Tangled Up In Red

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Puskas nominees. Curious as to SoSHpicks. No brainer for me (and my wife).


Edit: need to go through the Twitter post for all 11.
 
InstaFace

InstaFace

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going purely off of what goals would make me jump up out of my chair and run around the room screaming for an immoderate period of time, I think I'm at:

1. Marcin Oleksy (one-legged guy)
2. Payet
3. Richarlison
4. Salma Paralluelo
 
SocrManiac

SocrManiac

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I can't disagree with your list, though I feel like Kuol belongs somewhere.

Am I alone in feeling like, as good as some of these are, it's missing that one banger with some otherworldly combination of luck, skill, and situation?
 
InstaFace

InstaFace

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Cynical, but kind of genius. I've moralized on the Luis Suarez incident recently here, but I think that one just barely crosses my line into "I'll allow it" territory. Was it unsporting to the point of making a mockery of the game? I think not quite, for one particular reason: the speed with which the ballboys get balls to the player who's going to inbound it often have a sharp difference between when it would help the home team vs when it would help the away team. And here, the Twente attacker who wanted the fast throw-in was playing for the home side, and clearly got a home level of urgency on the ball toss. If we're going to tolerate that level of gamesmanship, then in a rare situation where it really does make a difference (goalie 30 yards out of position, having just made a clean play), I think the level of gamesmanship he showed in return was commensurate. With a normal (or equitable) level of urgency on the ball retrieval, he doesn't even need to do that.
 
Time to Mo Vaughn

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Mar 24, 2008
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I don't see how that's any different than kicking the ball away or standing right in front of it as a defender to prevent a quick restart for a foul in transition. Deserving of a yellow and worth the yellow.
 
HowBoutDemSox

HowBoutDemSox

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Report prepared by UEFA places the primary blame for the security fiasco at the 2022-23 UCL final on . . . UEFA:
Uefa bears “primary responsibility” for the catastrophic organisational and safety failures that turned last season’s Champions League final into a horrific, traumatic experience for thousands of supporters, Uefa’s own review has concluded.

That central finding, and alarming criticisms of the culture and operations at the confederation of European football, and of the French police, are made in a damning report produced by the panel Uefa appointed to review the chaos that engulfed the final between Liverpool and Real Madrid at the Stade de France in Paris last May.

At the report’s heart is a conclusion that Uefa has “marginalised” its own safety and security unit, headed by Zeljko Pavlica, a close friend of the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, in their native Slovenia. The report also strongly rejects claims made persistently by Uefa and the French police and government ministers, that thousands of Liverpool fans without valid tickets caused the problems. The report states that there is no evidence to support such claims, which were made in a “reprehensible” attempt by the authorities to avoid responsibility.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/feb/13/champions-league-final-report-uefa-primary-responsibility-chaos-paris-liverpool-real-madrid
 
Kliq

Kliq

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I was going to guess the member of the Brunei Royal Family who used to be an academy player for Leicester.
 
Titans Bastard

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67YAZ said:
Atsu was found and is now being treated in a hospital.

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It seems like reports from last week were erroneous and he is still missing. It doesn't sound great.

According to Sechere, Atsu’s room has been located and two pairs of his shoes have been found but they are yet to locate him through the rubble.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/football/christian-atsu-turkey-earthquake-missing-intl-spt/index.html

“This is a difficult situation and we are extremely grateful to all the Turkish and foreign rescue teams, local civilians and volunteers for their efforts and response in rescuing survivors. However, we urgently need more resources, including a translator, on the ground,” Sechere added.

Ghana’s Ambassador to Turkey, Francisca Ashietey-Odunton, told CNN that she had no update on Atsu’s whereabouts.
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Titans Bastard

Titans Bastard

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https://www.espn.com/soccer/hatayspor/story/4880197/christian-atsu-found-dead-under-rubble-in-turkey-earthquakes

Ghanaian footballer Christian Atsu has been found dead under the building where he lived in southern Turkey after last week's earthquakes in the region, the ex-Chelsea winger's agent said on Saturday.

"Atsu's lifeless body was found under the rubble," Murat Uzunmehmet told reporters in Hatay, where Atsu's body was found. "Currently, more items are still being taken out. His phone was also found."
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Jimy Hendrix

Jimy Hendrix

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67YAZ said:
Old friend Jurgen Klinsmann appointed manager of South Korea.
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Country's most successful player of all time in his early 30s and probably a waning force by the time the 2026 World Cup rolls around. I've done the research now and there is a Korean in the Bayern 2 squad ready to be inexplicably given his spot.
 
67YAZ

67YAZ

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Jimy Hendrix said:
Country's most successful player of all time in his early 30s and probably a waning force by the time the 2026 World Cup rolls around. I've done the research now and there is a Korean in the Bayern 2 squad ready to be inexplicably given his spot.
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Just yesterday we spent the day with my wife’s whole family and we had some general talk about taking a big trip to see Korea play during the next WC. My father-in-law & bro-in-law actually went down to Dallas to see them, which ended up being an epic comeback and legendary match.

But the Klinsmann news kinda blunts that excitement. Ugh.

Also - what great pair of kits in this match.

 
Zososoxfan

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And that's in a relatively small city, Rosario. The biggest clubs and supporter groups are in Buenos Aires.

My club, River, has played in El Monumental since the 30s. As an olympic stadium, it's had a track ring for as long as I can remember, but the track recently made way for new seats. The stadium is now the largest in South America with a capacity of 84K:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PFSmRzYRl8


And while I'm sure it's no picnic to play there, I'd still guess that rival Boca's stadium is even a bit more intense, as it's a lot smaller and the fans are right on top of the field:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLYCkpBC1jU
 
OCST

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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If you go back in this thread, you’ll find my fascination with Club The Strongest, from the Bolivian first tier.
 
dirtynine

dirtynine

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This is good news - FIFA could scrap the change to 3-team groups in 2026. That the third match day was so exciting this past edition has given them pause. No final word on a successor format. Also buried in that article - teams should be expected to play in geographic pods in the group stage. I had not heard that before. So a team that is playing in New York will probably play in Boston and Philly too. Pretty cool, makes planning to follow a team a lot easier.
 
67YAZ

67YAZ

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The Athletic reporting that Caicedo just extended with Brighton. Huge news for the player (he was on £3500/week) and the club. It’s great for the league, even if he would have been perfect for Liverpool.
 
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Zososoxfan

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HowBoutDemSox said:
Neymar having ankle surgery and will be out three months, so that should be season ending:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/paris-saint-germain--frapsg/story/4894631/psg-star-neymar-to-miss-rest-of-season-with-ankle-injury-set-to-undergo-surgery

There’s still a lot of talent on that team but a blow to their UCL chances (they’re eight points clear of Marseille currently in Ligue 1).
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Call me crazy, but I think it may help them. PSG never make sense when all 3 play simultaneously, as none feel compelled to defend. It's insanely difficult to carry one player who doesn't get involved in the press and doesn't track back, having 3 is asinine. Galtier should rummage through his memory and history books and look up 2-striker formations from the 90s.
 
SocrManiac

SocrManiac

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Zososoxfan said:
Call me crazy, but I think it may help them. PSG never make sense when all 3 play simultaneously, as none feel compelled to defend. It's insanely difficult to carry one player who doesn't get involved in the press and doesn't track back, having 3 is asinine. Galtier should rummage through his memory and history books and look up 2-striker formations from the 90s.
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I agree, for the exact same reason. I can't find the article (I thought it was an Athletic piece), but there was a deep dive into PSG's production with and without Neymar. They're a far better side without him this year. He's always a dive away from a simulation card, and has already been sent off for it this year. He's just not a net positive on this PSG side.
 
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