Goooooooooooooooooooooooooool

[Brad]

8 minutes ago, uli said:

A disgrace. 

3 hours ago, erwbol said:

We will probably still be crap four years from now.

Hopefully not.  There is something about the Orange that is special. 

[mjazzg]

10 hours ago, uli said:

That just makes my flesh crawl. Deserve each other but sadly neither of the countries that they "represent" deserve them.

In all the football mania of the WC I for one was guilty of taking my eye off the huge propaganda coup it has been for Putin. 

[Brad]

1 hour ago, mjazzg said:

That just makes my flesh crawl. Deserve each other but sadly neither of the countries that they "represent" deserve them.

In all the football mania of the WC I for one was guilty of taking my eye off the huge propaganda coup it has been for Putin. 

I was glad that Pussy Riot tried to bring some of it back. 

The Moral Clarity Of Pussy Riot’s Protest

 

[mjazzg]

40 minutes ago, Brad said:

I was glad that Pussy Riot tried to bring some of it back. 

The Moral Clarity Of Pussy Riot’s Protest

 

Me too. Once I heard it was them rather than some drunken fans I applauded the action from afar

[mandrill]

2 hours ago, mjazzg said:

That just makes my flesh crawl. Deserve each other but sadly neither of the countries that they "represent" deserve them. 

 

Alas, Joseph de Maistre's "Every nation gets the government it deserves" rings true for both countries.

Edited July 17, 2018 by mandrill

[Dmitry]

 

I'm really looking forward to the start of the La Liga and Serie A seasons, especially Juventus.

A bit of trivia - Which club was represented by the most players in the WC 2018 final two teams? Try exercising your memory before consulting the Internets.

Also, dawned on me a few days ago - I may be wrong, but imho not a single English team footballer plays outside England. Talk about the lack of international experience...

Edited July 18, 2018 by Dmitry

[Brad]

56 minutes ago, mandrill said:

 

Alas, Joseph de Maistre's "Every nation gets the government it deserves" rings true for both countries.

This was a lesson my father drilled into my head years ago.  

I am also reminded of what Benjamin Franklin said. We have a republic if we can keep it. 

[mjazzg]

29 minutes ago, Dmitry said:

A bit of trivia - Which club was represented by the most players in the WC 2018 final two teams? Try exercising your memory before consulting the Internets.

I don't know about the final (my brain gave up) but the 3rd place play off was like a Spurs training match there were so many of them on the pitch

 

29 minutes ago, Dmitry said:

Also, dawned on me a few days ago - I may be wrong, but imho not a single English team footballer plays outside England. Talk about the lack of international experience...

This has long been a bugbear of mine for ages. The inability for English players to see beyond the Channel. I'm convinced our national team would have performed so much better over the years if more had exposed themselves to other cultures, footballing or otherwise. There really hasn't been any notable exports since the days of Lineker, Gascoigne, Waddle etc that I can think of

However, only yesterday I was reading an encouraging article that listed at least six players from recent England age-group winning squads that are now playing in Europe, perhaps most notably Ademola Lookman at RB Liepzig. With opportunities for first team match time so limited at most Premiership squads I'm hoping this becomes a greater trend and that we see the the positive outcomes in the national team as soon as possible. I'm confident that Southgate's a manager who would encourage such development.

Edited July 17, 2018 by mjazzg

[Brad]

42 minutes ago, Dmitry said:

A bit of trivia - Which club was represented by the most players in the WC 2018 final two teams? Try exercising your memory before consulting the Internets.

I don't know the answer but I know Real had three (if you count subs). 

If you broaden it to countries, Spain had five that I can think of. 

Edited July 17, 2018 by Brad

[Dmitry]

31 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

 

 

This has long been a bugbear of mine for ages. The inability for English players to see beyond the Channel. I'm convinced our national team would have performed so much better over the years if more had exposed themselves to other cultures, footballing or otherwise. There really hasn't been any notable exports since the days of Lineker, Gascoigne, Waddle etc that I can think of

 

Maybe their services are not needed elsewhere, or the salaries they draw in the PL and CL are higher than what they would get in foreign lands...

 

 

15 minutes ago, Brad said:

I don't know the answer but I know Real had three (if you count subs). 

If you broaden it to countries, Spain had five that I can think of. 

 

Yes, counting the subs. That's where it gets trickier, since every squad has about  23 players.

[mjazzg]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

I don't know the answer but I know Real had three (if you count subs). 

If you broaden it to countries, Spain had five that I can think of. 

It was surprisingly diverse club-wise wasn't it? You'd expect RM, Barca, PSG, Bayern (and maybe Atletico or Man City) to have more representatives in a WC final. Probably the Croatia effect, not so many of their players at the top rank clubs

[Dmitry]

It's Atletico Madrid - they had 4 players in the WC Final.

[Brad]

I count Griezmann, Hernandez and Sime Vrsaljko. Who’s the fourth?

[Dmitry]

Thomas Lemar

[Dmitry]

Football isn't over for the summer yet. The International Champions Cup starts in a couple of days. We went to several matches last summer, and even though it was obvious that some weren't playing at 100% strength, it was still quite enjoyable to watch. Decided to skip it this year, tickets are quite expensive. Will be watching on tv instead. I wonder if Ronaldo will play against Real ... that'll be something.

https://www.google.com/search?q=international+champions+cup&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS767US767&oq=international+champions+cup&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.5156j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#sie=lg;/g/11hcnjgfmy;2;/m/0_s0sq4;mt;fp;1

[Brad]

I don’t know if that really constitutes football. They're not even friendlies, just exhibitions. Like spring training for football.   

[Dmitry]

Hazard is joining Real. So is Courtois.

[Brad]

1 hour ago, Dmitry said:

Hazard is joining Real. So is Courtois.

Despite reports to the contrary the Hazard transfer fee may not have been agreed on. Chelsea doesn't want to transfer Courtois until they have a new keeper in place. In addition, I wonder if the size of Allison's transfer fee will complicate matters. 

[Dmitry]

I had no idea that Uruguay's population is only 3.5 million. That puts the performance of their national team on a whole new level for me...remarkable!

[Alexander Hawkins]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

Despite reports to the contrary the Hazard transfer fee may not have been agreed on. Chelsea doesn't want to transfer Courtois until they have a new keeper in place. In addition, I wonder if the size of Allison's transfer fee will complicate matters. 

Yes...the Hazard rumours have maybe quietened down just a *little* bit over here in the last couple of days...I guess with both him and Courtois much will depend on how they react to Sarri's appointment as manager. FWIW however, there was talk this morning in the press of Chelsea being linked with Donnarumma should Courtois move on...

[Brad]

34 minutes ago, Alexander Hawkins said:

Yes...the Hazard rumours have maybe quietened down just a *little* bit over here in the last couple of days...I guess with both him and Courtois much will depend on how they react to Sarri's appointment as manager. FWIW however, there was talk this morning in the press of Chelsea being linked with Donnarumma should Courtois move on...

I find that the transfer rumors tend to be so wild that they have little basis in reality. For example, there was the rumor that Mbappé was moving to Madrid. 

[Alexander Hawkins]

22 hours ago, Brad said:

I find that the transfer rumors tend to be so wild that they have little basis in reality. For example, there was the rumor that Mbappé was moving to Madrid. 

Indeed...and often they seem just to be players' agents talking up their worth so they can negotiate bigger salaries! FWIW Mbappé to Madrid was getting a lot of possible play over here too...though this makes more sense to me: in their true 'Galacticos' fashion (yawn), I suppose only Hazard, Mbappé or Neymar would do at present in world football to replace Ronaldo.

Don't know if you ever look at this page? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/gossip - it can be a useful one stop shop to see the morning's rumour mill..!

[Brad]

Thanks. I sometimes look at it. ESPN FC has a similar page. I will bookmark it. 

[Brad]

Interesting article about the Mesut Özil affair.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/23/mesut-ozil-international-retirement-germany?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=The+Recap&utm_term=282198&subid=24953887&CMP=sport_the_recap

[Big Beat Steve]

5 hours ago, Brad said:

Interesting article about the Mesut Özil affair.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/23/mesut-ozil-international-retirement-germany?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=The+Recap&utm_term=282198&subid=24953887&CMP=sport_the_recap

Watch out, Brad, if you bring up THIS topic - this might turn out highly political ... MODS alert ... You are quoting an article from an English source that gives a somewhat one-sided slant to this affair as they fell prey to Özil's statement being worded in English (strange for someone who wants to speak out to Germans, the German national team being above all a German affair  - unless of course you consider this to be a thing that addresses his WORLDWIDE followers on the social media in the first place)

What German football authorities said after the World Cup about Özils's failure ot live up to expectations was extremely silly and uncalled for. He most definitely was not the only one who messed things up and was not the only one to blame. Such a slant in what they said was bloody stupid. And the way the German football assocation had handled this affair before the WC (hoping it would abate by itself) was just as incompetent. They simply had no balls in all this.

However, Özil and Gündogan did an utterly stupid thing in posing with Erdogan who, apart from the havoc he wreaks in Turkish society and democracy, had gone out of his way for months and months to insult Germany and Germans as Nazis (mainly because German politicians did not wish the Turkish election campaign to be conducted in Germany with public appearances by Turkish politicians here - like the Netherlands and Austria, for example, did not wish to be done too, if you remember), in openly calling on Turkish immigrants in Germany and other Western European countries to above all stay Turkish and certainly not meddle too deeply (or worse still, assimilate) in the country they live in, in insulting and threatening German politicians of Turkish descent who had openly criticised his anti-democratic and authoritarian actions, claiming they had "bad blood" and wanting their "blood" tested to see if they actually had any "Turkish blood" left in them, and so on and so on. Do you ACTUALLY think such figures endear themselves to the hearts of many here? Do you actually think those who apparently are not above posing with such a figure at a time when this Erdogan is in the middle of an ELECTION campaign will not be blamed for it - for good reasons? Would anybody be naive enough to believe for a second this was  a strictly private meeting out of sheer politeness and not a highly political meeting where the photos taken and publicized were used to raise more support for Erdogan? Remember he had significantly higher votes for himself among the Turkish community in Germany than he had in Turkey itself. What would the public reaction have been in the UK if a UK footballer of renown had posed publicly with today's offsprings of Enoch Powell, for example?
The very, very best you can say in their favor is that Özil and Gündogan were EXCEEDINGLY ill-advised by their advisers/agents (themselves of Turkish descent too, BTW) in posing for these photographs.

This unnecessary action created a lot of unrest and uproar in the preparatory phase before the WC and certainly cannot have helped in the preparations. Gündogan at least saw fit to issue a statement soon afterwards that he definitely was proud to play in the German team, etc. etc. Özil remained mute throughout. And when he did say something in most recent times (before resigning) his key statement was that he would do it again anytime.

Ain't that strange all in all? Besides, the invitation to meet up with Erdogan had been extended to another international Turkish-German player, Emre Can, who refused to participate, however. And he does not seem to have suffered from it. So there WOULD have been a way out if you have enough of an intellect to sense the implications of this situation.

Sorry to say, but if you are enough of a celeb in a position like this then you are in the public eye and have a responsiblity to assume in your role. As to those who might now ask if a celeb is not entitled to his personal view - well, he is, but if his personal views take forms like this then he is bound to meet with stiff opposition from many sides. And mind you, beyond the usual irresponsible and incurable dimwits in social media who engage in racist commentaries (and who BTW exist in the same way the other way round when it comes to insults and serious threats by diehard nationalist Turks within the Turkish community in Western Europe and/or, more specifically, Germany against those Turks or Germans of Turkish descent who openly speak out against the political situation in Turkey and/or the behavior of those openly unwilling to integrate themselves in any way in their host societies and countries - being called a traitor is the mildest insult there) Özil was NOT put down as not being a German after all but rather was criticized for the political statement he made in this way and at this time. You cannot expect a German footballer of strictly German descent to meet with much sympathy if he openly sympathizes and poses for photographs with a right-wing extremist German politician at election time (and very rightly so!) so why should Özil be cut any slack in this way if he decides to make a statement like this? If for no other reason than as a German he ought to have felt just as insulted by the Nazi insults voiced by Erdogan - unless of course he said to himself "Hey I am of Turkish background so he can't mean me" which of course raises the inevitable question of to what extent you can have your cake and eat it.

In short, Brad, let the affair rest where it is. There are many more layers and aspects to this than the Guardian managed (or saw fit) to grasp.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Big Beat Steve