MisterIceTeaPeach Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 I just heared randomly by watching the final of the World Snooker Championship that there's a new champion in the Premier League. A proof that smaller clubs still have a chance for the big sensation. I guess it'll never ever happen in Germany again since Bayern Munich buys all the good footballers from the rivals. Admittedly I'm no big soccer fan, because it's actually more politics than sports. The unbalanced economical power relationships of the clubs in Germany make the league very unattractive for me to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullwine85 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 mon the foxes some change in the Premier League, what I like to see. IIRC it's the first time in 21 years that the Premier League champion was NOT from either London or Manchester. Congrats to Leicester! and more importantly, Tottenham not winning was just as delicious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tryhard Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Unfortunately quite a few leagues have been like that for a while - Scottish included. The Premier League is at least more interesting because it has a few more contenders but has never had any team like Leicester winning it before. Sometimes I wonder if tighter financial fair play restrictions wouldn't just allow teams like Man City to buy all the shit where they really have no excuse for not winning every year with the team they have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterIceTeaPeach Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 (edited) The football of today: Money wins the titles Leicester was one of very rare and positive surprises. I'm going to watch football this evening just to see tears in the eyes of the players of Bayern Munich... tears of sadness of course. Edited May 3, 2016 by Ayama Wirdo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rei Rei Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 When we talk about money politics and regulations, the Bundesliga is the "fairest" of the european big 5 (Premier League, Serie A, Ligue 1, Bundesliga and La Liga). That's what made teams like Wolfsburg and Stuttgart win titles not long ago, or even Borussia Dortmund with back to back titles. It's, however, fairly unballanced, no argument about it. Still, it's not like Leicester didn't have any sort of investment behind it. The club's owner is very, very rich (not Abramovic rich, but still) and there was some planning involved. The true miracle is when you consider that Vardy was playing in the 8th or 7th division not long ago, while also working on a factory. Mahrez was playing on a Ligue 2 club. It's the perfect ragtag bunch of misfits story, bar the source of them moneys. I am very happy for Leicester, specially for Ranieri. However I don't think I'll ever see something like that ever again. At least not so soon. Can you guys imagine, I dunno, Zaragoza winning La Liga? It's near impossible. Let's savor this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterIceTeaPeach Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 (edited) I understand the point. These clubs like Manchester City or Chelsea became rich just by one person while Bayern Munich invests with its success from the past. or even Borussia Dortmund with back to back titles. It's, however, fairly unballanced, no argument about it. That's exactly the problem I see in German football atm. Munich buys all good Dortmund players. Latest example is Mats Hummels, who's going to Munich next season. Wolfsburg has with Volkswagen a sponsor, which invested tons of millions in this club. Edited May 3, 2016 by Ayama Wirdo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Masters Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 (edited) Hello! I just discovered this Thread, haha :P So I live in uruguay, and my team is Peñarol. Used to be amazing, nowadays....eh.... Edited May 10, 2016 by Ken Masters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rei Rei Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Goddamn Nacional is sweeping our brazilian teams in Libertadores, bro. What the fuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tryhard Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 (edited) i didn't want to say it prematurely but how do sunderland keep surviving relegation when they look fairly nailed on to be, parrhesia?and sending their rivals newcastle down Edited May 11, 2016 by Tryhard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Masters Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Goddamn Nacional is sweeping our brazilian teams in Libertadores, bro. What the fuck I'm in the same awe as you, haha. Every once in a while an uruguayan club suddendly does good (even if playing awful) and it's just so weird :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tryhard Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 (edited) oops mispost Edited May 11, 2016 by Tryhard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrhesia Posted May 12, 2016 Author Share Posted May 12, 2016 i didn't want to say it prematurely but how do sunderland keep surviving relegation when they look fairly nailed on to be, parrhesia? and sending their rivals newcastle down We're that sweet spot of 'consistently shit, but not quite shit enough'. And then the new manager bounce keeps us up and we celebrate by not managing to keep our best players on their contracts and then buying a bunch of frees and Jozy Altidore. This year though We're breaking the cycle and getting relegated for reanot being in the relegation battle at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullwine85 Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 (edited) We're that sweet spot of 'consistently shit, but not quite shit enough'. And then the new manager bounce keeps us up and we celebrate by not managing to keep our best players on their contracts and then buying a bunch of frees and Jozy Altidore. This year though We're breaking the cycle and getting relegated for reanot being in the relegation battle at all On behalf of the United States of America, we apologize. On a side note, got tickets to US vs. Costa Rica next month! Can't wait! Edited May 12, 2016 by Bullwine85 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrhesia Posted May 12, 2016 Author Share Posted May 12, 2016 (edited) sickkkk nothing like live football similar note; still no news of a Canberra A-League team (stop dragging your feet FFA you useless cunts) but they're hosting Central Coast vs. Wellington here, the teams that came a mighty last and second-last last season... ... er... Well! Still! Live football! Meanwhile in transfer news I hope Sydney... well, Smeltz and Dimitrijevic we're stuck with but we've got a new centre-half, we need new fullbacks, a new striker, and just... pace? Everywhere? We've already managed to jettison Faty and Tavares (great in their first season! Liabilities last year!) to Central Coast, A Bad Team, which is good. Edited May 12, 2016 by Parrhesia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 i didn't want to say it prematurely but how do sunderland keep surviving relegation when they look fairly nailed on to be, parrhesia? and sending their rivals newcastle down shoutout to sunderland, a garbage team, kicking the fuck out of everton thank christ we're going to sack our useless sack of shit manager Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullwine85 Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 sickkkk nothing like live football similar note; still no news of a Canberra A-League team (stop dragging your feet FFA you useless cunts) but they're hosting Central Coast vs. Wellington here, the teams that came a mighty last and second-last last season... ... er... Well! Still! Live football! Meanwhile in transfer news I hope Sydney... well, Smeltz and Dimitrijevic we're stuck with but we've got a new centre-half, we need new fullbacks, a new striker, and just... pace? Everywhere? We've already managed to jettison Faty and Tavares (great in their first season! Liabilities last year!) to Central Coast, A Bad Team, which is good. This will be my 3rd live match (2013 Gold Cup Final and 2015 WWC qualifier were the other two I've been to), so really excited for this one! Hope to go down to a Chicago Fire match at some point (most likely to root against them) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 shoutout to sunderland, a garbage team, kicking the fuck out of everton thank christ we're going to sack our useless sack of shit manager we sacked our useless sack of shit manager Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rei Rei Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Brasileirão is promising to be interesting this year. Palmeiras now has a decent manager, who actually has gameplans and can adapt to the opponent. Hopefully we can dispute a G4 place. Corinthians still has the country's best manager, and albeit the team isn't the same as last year's, that was even a champion, it's still very solid. Refereeing also helps them Atletico Mineiro is a offensively strong team, and their home advantage is maybe the biggest of all teams. Also we might have more surprising teams like Santa Cruz, which is still undefeated under the management of Milton Mendes, and Chapecoense, who surprised a lot of bigger teams last year, sometimes beating them soundly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrhesia Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 just going to shamelessly plug this here On an on-topic note, now that... well, 2015-16 seasons are over, how did you feel about how they went? And if your team's working on the calendar year, uh... how did the first half of your season go? Sydney for example are shit. We had comfortably one of the best two sides in the league, retained all our best players apart from our marquee (Austria's captain Marc Janko) and looked in general like we might be best placed to win the double! Just one problem - basically our entire squad was 30+. And almost all of our core players hit the year of massive, crushing decline. Dimitrijevic (player of the season two years ago) was invisible, Tavares and Faty (Senegalese internationals both, cousins who'd done really well last season) went from two of the reasons for our January resurgence to our two worst players, Shane Smeltz (of scoring against Italy in a World Cup fame) went from scoring 8 goals mostly as a substitute to scoring 4 as a starter, both our marquees were fucked by injury and, with an 18-year old leftback regularly starting (now in the running to be Australia's number 1 leftback since we have like 5 equally mediocre guys vying for the role) sold and then failed to replace him. The suspicion with our manager, who made his name with the perpetually broke Central Coast, has no fucking idea how not to be the underdog. This makes sense when you consider we're a home win or scoreless draw from the ACL quarterfinals, having already topped the group of death (with a 3-1-2 record and Four goals)... the only issue is that the quarterfinals themselves happen right in the middle of our offseason. With 2-3 months without a competitive fixture either side. Good news is that there's a sucker born every minute and Central Coast, already the worst team last season, immediately took Tavares and Faty off our hands to spare us from the further year each was contracted. We got the dedicated leftback and centre-half we need, a rightback needs to follow and then we'd have the best defence in the competition probably. We need a striker who isn't dead (Brosque) past it (Smeltz) or shit (Simon), and... that's probably enough, but I don't actually know who's out of contract yet. Then again, Jurman and Janjetovic are staying and they're pretty much the only two players I care about... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Masters Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 just going to shamelessly plug this here On an on-topic note, now that... well, 2015-16 seasons are over, how did you feel about how they went? And if your team's working on the calendar year, uh... how did the first half of your season go? My team (Peñarol) is being Peñarol, as usual. Waiting till the very last match and the very last secons to score a goal and win the league. Because god forgive us if we ever show some consistency with our line-ups and, you know, actually score in the reglamentary time. At least we win? That's what matters in the end, but it is just so discouraging! If we could just be consistent, like we were back in 2011, we would be again fighting in the finals of the Libertadores. Oh well, what can you do. And Diego Forlán. I love the man, he is a Uruguayan legend, but he's 37 years old. Our manager can't just make him play 90 minutes, because he gets tired and his accuracy in freekicks (which was the reason he was bought) decreases like hell. He can't play a full match, man. But we will surely win this league, we tied the derby with Nacional at the last second possible (it was delicious :3 ) and are qualified once again to the Libertadores. Here's hoping the stars align and we can play propper football. La Garra Charrúa can only take you so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrhesia Posted May 26, 2016 Author Share Posted May 26, 2016 Well, Graham Arnold - our manager - has celebrated our unlucky away goals defeat to Shandong by releasing the idiot who was sent off and gave away a penalty, as well as seven other guys. So, eleven releases in all this off-season, of whom two were decent players. This leaves literally fifteen guys left (including our two signings), and two slots for foreigners left. That's just a quirk of the A-League, I guess, and the short contracts that the salary cap system encourages - but at the same time, it's kind of weird that it's a mystery Obvious purchases would be a backup goalkeeper, a good foreign striker (God it would rule so much if we inexplicably landed Balotelli even though we aren't trying to, he wouldn't come and he wouldn't be good enough, let me dream), a rightback and... God, some pace. Please give us some pace. On the bright side, calls for a professional second division are ramping up. There's a couple of structural problems with Australian football at the moment. A) a pretty good professional league is the first tier, a set of semi-professional state leagues is the second. That's a huge bridge in quality, and in the two years of the FFA Cup only once has a state league side beaten an A-League one. It's also a huge bridge in money. While promotion/relegation is on the agenda, you can't possibly shuttle teams between those two tiers. B) that means that young players need A-League experience because the state leagues aren't good enough, and with 10 clubs (expanding soon enough, surely) there's not much room going around. C) the FFA are pursuing a policy of only 'fishing where the fish are', which means big population centres, while plenty of perfect places (Canberra, the Gold Coast, you might give Auckland another shot, a bunch of places that this thread has never heard of...) go without professional football. Now that the press is starting to catch onto the issue, I think it's only a matter of time, and it'll happen soon. Not immediately, but soon. Surely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullwine85 Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Meanwhile, teams are getting ready for their upcoming summer (or winter for those Southern Hemisphere folks) internationals. The US just had two tune up matches. A "transition" match vs. Puerto Rico this past Sunday where they won 3-1 with an experimental squad (if you had told me three months ago that we'd play Puerto Rico, and they'd score on us.....I would have believed you). This past Wednesday they had a tale of two halves vs. Ecuador. An atrocious first half was turned around after halftime when Herr Klinsmann decided to play some of the younger players like Wood, Nagbe, and Pulisic. Combined with Bradley playing *gasp* as a defensive midfielder like he should be, the US controlled the run of play in the 2nd half, and came away with a 1-0 victory thanks to a Nagbe goal. Tomorrow will be their final tune-up for the Copa America Centario when they play Bolivia. Here's hoping we get to see more of the young guns! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrhesia Posted June 1, 2016 Author Share Posted June 1, 2016 It's that time of year again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullwine85 Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 (edited) USA opens with a 2-0 loss to Colombia to start the Copa America Centenario Defensively they played their hearts out, and if it weren't for a screwup on a corner and a penalty we could be looking at something very different. But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? Seriously, I know Colombia is 3rd in the world, but Bradley was woeful, communication issues all over the place, and one....ONE shot on goal. Thankfully we got the toughest of the group matches out of the way. I'll be in attendance for USA vs. Costa Rica on Tuesday (Complete with cheesehead draped in spare American flag bandanas, scarf, and 1998 US away shirt), so hopefully they at least score....or at least string a few passes together. Edited June 4, 2016 by Bullwine85 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Masters Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 USA opens with a 2-0 loss to Colombia to start the Copa America Centenario Defensively they played their hearts out, and if it weren't for a screwup on a corner and a penalty we could be looking at something very different. But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? Seriously, I know Colombia is 3rd in the world, but Bradley was woeful, communication issues all over the place, and one....ONE shot on goal. Thankfully we got the toughest of the group matches out of the way. I'll be in attendance for USA vs. Costa Rica on Tuesday (Complete with cheesehead draped in spare American flag bandanas, scarf, and 1998 US home shirt), so hopefully they at least score....or at least string a few passes together. Geez man, you guys always get a hard ass group. Seems like tradition, now. I'll root for you against CR! :3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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