A Horse Named Stranger Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 3 hours ago, Spockydog said: Another reason why Messi will never be considered as good as Maradona, who carried the Argies, almost single-handedly, to the WC in '78. Also, fwiw, I don't think anyone seriously expected Croatia to do anything at the WC, until they saw how brilliantly Modric was playing. Wrong World Cup. Diego's World Cup was 1986. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 7 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Diego's World Cup was 1986. Apologies. Senior moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Looks like the Nations League will get off to a fittingly shambolic start as Denmark have picked a squad of third and fourth tier and futsal players for their game against Wales. The first team are in a dispute over pay and they have already been given a suspended ban after a women’s match was cancelled for the same reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davrum Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Argentina only went out of the World Cup because they lost to the future champions by a mere 4-3, and Messi managed that with one of the weakest Argentine sides of all time and a coach who was off his rocker. Even Croatia - featuring a Modric with far, far more support around him on the field and in the dugout than Messi had - couldn't get within one goal of the champions. Forget the Ballon d'Or, Messi should be canonized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teng Ai Hui Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 I just discovered something called the Nations League. I can't decided whether UEFA's main goal is to try to make the international breaks appear more important or to create some nonsense that will work as a cash grab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 7 hours ago, Teng Ai Hui said: I just discovered something called the Nations League. I can't decided whether UEFA's main goal is to try to make the international breaks appear more important or to create some nonsense that will work as a cash grab. It was originally intended as a convoluted way of trying to get more European sides seeded at the World Cup. The way FIFAs ranking system worked, if you played international friendlies your ranking points would fall regardless of the result. This tournament now classifies all those matches as competitive so UEFAs teams get more points relative to the rest of the world who still play friendlies. But FIFA changed the system so that loophole has closed yet UEFA can’t back down now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan La Cabra Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 Ahhh, international break... Europe's leading coaches have asked UEFA to review the away goal rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 14 hours ago, Davrum said: Argentina only went out of the World Cup because they lost to the future champions by a mere 4-3, and Messi managed that with one of the weakest Argentine sides of all time and a coach who was off his rocker. Even Croatia - featuring a Modric with far, far more support around him on the field and in the dugout than Messi had - couldn't get within one goal of the champions. Forget the Ballon d'Or, Messi should be canonized. However, the goal margin in their encounter flattered Argentina big time. Argentina couldn't have had any complaints if France had sent them home with 4-1 spanking. In addition, Argentina was lucky to have survived the group stage. They were already on the verge of elimination then, and again, had Nigeria advanced, there also would've been very little for them to complain about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 29 minutes ago, Jordan La Cabra said: Ahhh, international break... Europe's leading coaches have asked UEFA to review the away goal rule. There's a friend of mine at work who is convinced that home goals is the way to go. He says if you can encourage home teams to really try and bang them in then it makes for a good spectacle because the away team is always going to play defensively anyway. Could make every away team park the bus though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolorous Gabe Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 21 minutes ago, Jordan La Cabra said: Europe's leading coaches have asked UEFA to review the away goal rule. That's interesting. If extra time is the alternative though, doesn't this just give further advantage to the team playing at home in the second leg? And wouldn't that suit a more cautious mindset from the away side in the first leg? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 12 minutes ago, Dolorous Gabe said: That's interesting. If extra time is the alternative though, doesn't this just give further advantage to the team playing at home in the second leg? And wouldn't that suit a more cautious mindset from the away side in the first leg? I wonder how much they're willing to push the envelope for a tiebreaker that avoids extra time. For example, a left-field idea could just be who scores the first goal of the tie - that might give an advantage to a team that plays at home first, which could somewhat mitigate the natural advantage of playing at home second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 18 minutes ago, Jeor said: For example, a left-field idea could just be who scores the first goal of the tie - that might give an advantage to a team that plays at home first, which could somewhat mitigate the natural advantage of playing at home second. Or it encourages teams to adopt a more cautious counterattacking type of play to minimize the risk of running into a counter attack, If you want to get rid of the away goals, it's gotta be extra time (unless you want to scrap that altogether and want to go straight to the penalties). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 I like the away goals rule as is. I do hope the idea of having the transfer window closing before the various leagues start is pushed through though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolorous Gabe Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 1 hour ago, Jeor said: I wonder how much they're willing to push the envelope for a tiebreaker that avoids extra time. For example, a left-field idea could just be who scores the first goal of the tie - that might give an advantage to a team that plays at home first, which could somewhat mitigate the natural advantage of playing at home second. I would be tempted to suggest the CL knockout rounds be played in one game at a neutral venue equidistant between the two clubs involved. There are both pros and cons to that and I doubt they would go for it but I'd like to see it discussed as an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 No way. It's too big a cash cow to be butchered. And besides home and away legs is something I actually like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 The only change to the away goals rule that I'd consider making is that if a game goes into extra time then away goals should no longer count. Currently if a game goes into ET, the away team in the 2nd leg has an extra 30 minutes to score an away goal which then leaves the home team with under 30 minutes to score two turning home ground advantage into a disadvantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davrum Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 5 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: However, the goal margin in their encounter flattered Argentina big time. Argentina couldn't have had any complaints if France had sent them home with 4-1 spanking. In addition, Argentina was lucky to have survived the group stage. They were already on the verge of elimination then, and again, had Nigeria advanced, there also would've been very little for them to complain about. No, sure, I was just hyperbolically goofing, especially given that a major part of the reason they were on the verge of elimination was that Modric's Croatia had wrecked them 3-0. And we're really just talking about 2nd and 3rd place anyway, I'm sure we can all agree Cristiano is once again the rightful king. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted September 6, 2018 Share Posted September 6, 2018 Quote There seems to be a new trend in sports docu-series these days: ones about international football (soccer) clubs. Following Netflix’s First Team: Juventus and Amazon’s All or Nothing: Manchester City, this new Prime Original series offers an exclusive and unprecedented look into La Liga, the first division of professional football in Spain. Unlike First Team or All of Nothing, each of which follows one team, Six Dreams follows the stories of six people during the 2017-18 league season: three players (Saúl Ñíguez of Atlético Madrid, Iñaki Williams of Athletic Bilbao, and Andrés Guardado of Real Betis), one coach (Eduardo Berrizo of Athletic Bilbao), one sports director (Quique Carcel of Girona FC), and a club president (Amaia Gorostiza of SD Eibar). Six Dreams (Prime Video) Six Dreams, the first Prime Original series from Spain and in the Spanish language, premieres in the US on Friday, September 7, exclusively on Prime Video. BOCA JUNIORS CONFIDENTIAL Official Trailer (HD) Netflix - September 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted September 6, 2018 Share Posted September 6, 2018 Kinda a disappointing reaction from Mertesacker re: Ozil. Sigh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 9 hours ago, Raja said: Kinda a disappointing reaction from Mertesacker re: Ozil. Sigh. Indeed. I thought he had more sense than this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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