Football (Soccer) Thread

[Norgy]

I was sort of pleased that Nottingham Forest beat Porto last night. The Bednarek tackle on Chris Wood was simply ugly and was one of the clearest red cards I've seen in recent years.

Now awaits Aston Villa.

The Europa League is kind of the good minnows of Europe's competition. It goes to show the EPL's quality that two clubs are in the semis. Ferencvaros of Hungary had been on a rampage before the play-off game against Forest, but their lack of quality against players who week in, week out play some of the best players and teams in the world was showing. I have not seen a poorer team at the City Ground.

I am a bit afraid that the English dominance will be a bit like the Norwegian one in cross-country skiing. It may very well be what kills the sport.

Porto, however, will have every right to feel aggrieved that they did not get a goal, they hit the crossbar twice.
That stone cold, foolproof defence from last season is nowhere to be seen at Forest. I worry, probably with no real cause, that foreign coaches like Pereira are not great at getting their messages across to the players. Pereira's press conferences are at best confusing.

[Sheilbh]

Honestly I'd really like Everton to qualify for the Europa League or Conference because I think it is a trophy we would have a realistic chance of winning which would be nice - and Moyes has experience with West Ham. And while there is the English dominance problem in the Europa League specifically there is also the very competition specific Emery supremacy

On the English dominance point I think the European competitions kind of demonstrate it. I listen to some Athletic podcasts and James Horncastle who covers Serie A always pushes back on any talk of a "big five leagues" in Europe and says there aren't five big leagues, there is one big league and a collection of big clubs around the rest of Europe. I think the Champions League kind of covers that up because you have PSG (who look fantastic and ominously still feel like they're building), Real, Barca, Bayern etc. But I think when you see the strength of mid-table (or lower) English clubs in the Europa and the Conference it really does show the strength of the Premier League to all others.

[Duque de Bragança]

I was sort of pleased that Nottingham Forest beat Porto last night. The Bednarek tackle on Chris Wood was simply ugly and was one of the clearest red cards I've seen in recent years.

Now awaits Aston Villa.

The Europa League is kind of the good minnows of Europe's competition. It goes to show the EPL's quality that two clubs are in the semis. Ferencvaros of Hungary had been on a rampage before the play-off game against Forest, but their lack of quality against players who week in, week out play some of the best players and teams in the world was showing. I have not seen a poorer team at the City Ground.

I am a bit afraid that the English dominance will be a bit like the Norwegian one in cross-country skiing. It may very well be what kills the sport.

Porto, however, will have every right to feel aggrieved that they did not get a goal, they hit the crossbar twice.
That stone cold, foolproof defence from last season is nowhere to be seen at Forest. I worry, probably with no real cause, that foreign coaches like Pereira are not great at getting their messages across to the players. Pereira's press conferences are at best confusing.

It's a self-inflicted lethal wound by Porto. The previous game should have been won, not tied, even taking into account one of the flukiest own goals I have ever seen. Red card was deserved and totally stupid for a brutal foul. The player is still young, hopefully he learned a useful lesson.

As for PL quality, Forest has still a bigger budget than Porto, among the top three in Portugal but still recovering from the disastrous, financially-wise, last mandate of the late yet cult president.
Money, money, money...
Where would be the French league without Qatari gas? Still without any legit C1.

OTOH, Porto would have really been in trouble, even on a normal day, vs Villa.

At least, Braga won 4-2 after starting by losing 2-0, with a great turnaround vs Betis, game which had the greatest attendance of all time in this Europa League so far: 66,694 people in Sevilla.

Third time only that one Portuguese club outside of the top three makes it to the semi-finals (first one was Boavista now bankrupted thanks to the Hispano-Luxemburguese-French crook Gérard López).
Braga made it to the final in 2011 before losing to Portugal but not after getting Benfica (!) out of the way in semi-finals.

[Norgy]

That own goal will stay on the UEFA blooper reel for a long, long time. 

I am very torn on all that TV, oil and various other types of money going into football. While I see a good part is being spent on academies and youth football (varies a lot from club to club), I think the old working class game is gone. What I really dislike, though, are the Red Bull clubs. And all the sports betting advertising.

Porto is a lovely city, and the team played well 10 vs 11 in the second half. Forest's owner Marinakis also owns Rio Ave, which I gather is rather a team of no-hopers. I can understand Bednarek. Wood is a tough opponent, his elbows are no strangers to hitting a chest here and there. I suppose he just wanted to impose himself, and first the referee seemed to let the situation slide. But a straight foot, studs first, that is a red card.

Everyone loves an underdog, and going into the semis, only one team is not an underdog. Aston Villa. It is clearly the strongest side in this competition.
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[Duque de Bragança]

Rio Ave is from Vila do Conde, in the Greater Porto area or district, 20 km from the city centre, linked by a light rail/metro line so it is almost like a derby.

A small club indeed, but even the small have a role to play in a competitive league, granted not exactly the I Liga, and not just as a feeder of unknown jewels for top clubs.
Many small clubs are becoming prey of such investors.

In France, Chel$ea B', also known as Racing Strasbourg, made it to the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League, a first for the Ligue des Ta(s)Lents. Epic game vs Moguntiacum or Mainz, won 4-0 to compensate for a 2-0 loss in the first leg.

[Jacob]

As Norgy said "the old working class game is gone", mostly. It's now a highly polished set of life-style brands and entertainment experiences optimized to provide return on investment.

I'm nostalgic for what was, and much less interested in the new investment product.

[Norgy]

Forest bought Bakwa from Strasbourg. Let's say, neither he or Dan Ndoye from Bologna have been big hits. Neither has James McAtee from Man City, so it might have to do with the coaches.

Norwegian clubs seem to avoid all this. Not because they are rich, but because there is no money to be made. With crowds maxing out at 20.000 at a game, and with travel costs up the a-hole, we are still absolute beginners here.

Speaking of travel costs, new reports suggest US rail and bus companies are going to be minted before and after the World Cup, they are already increasing prices. 

So a bus ticket in Boston would be like 120 dollars or something on matchday. Way to make hay, USA!

[Sheilbh]

As Norgy said "the old working class game is gone", mostly. It's now a highly polished set of life-style brands and entertainment experiences optimized to provide return on investment.

I'm nostalgic for what was, and much less interested in the new investment product.

Yeah. I still like/watch my team and I do get invested every World Cup/Euros.

But I am less interested in the "top" of the game like the Champions League or the European Super League clubs (slight exception for monitoring Spurs ).

Totally separately but on that nostalgia point a bit. I struggles to understand the conservative impulse in every other part of the way I think about things and am generally very pro-change - but it's not the way I am with football And I get it. It's a helpful like window into that Burke/Chesterton mindset for me. BBoy observing the modern world with the cold horror I feel watching Gianni Infantino announce a half-time show curated by Coldplay.

[Norgy]

As Norgy said "the old working class game is gone", mostly. It's now a highly polished set of life-style brands and entertainment experiences optimized to provide return on investment.

I'm nostalgic for what was, and much less interested in the new investment product.

Yeah, mate. Give me Elkjær over Erling Haaland any day. Half-drunk, having a private vendetta against Belgium's goalie Jean-Marie Pfaff.

I think it started with Heysel. Which was tragic. Although, I still think the English fans had to shoulder too much of the blame. Then came Hillsborough. A semi-final in the FA Cup, when it used to mean something. 96 dead Liverpool fans.

Maggie Thatcher was having none of that, and saw another chance to stab the English working class where it hurt. The Taylor Report recommended removing the old stands and replacing them with seats. The Taylor Report and bSkyb's interest in a monopoly of showing football through what was then mostly parabol, those ugly SETI program-like things people put on their houses, it gave birth to the Premiership. The top 22 clubs said bye to the rest of the Football League, and hello money. Barclay's Premier League.

Brian Clough once said "I don't talk to agents". Which, I suppose is true, he did talk to other managers for a bung when selling players, though. That, however, was small sums, compared to the money that came pouring in. In the early 1980s, when things had gotten a bit heated, English managers made a gentleman's agreement not to pay over a million pounds for a player in transfer fees. I think the WBA to Man Utd transfer of Bryan Robson was the catalyst for that. 1.7 million pounds. "And it is not even a gamble", Ron Atkinson, the Man Utd manager said.

14 years or so later, Liverpool pay Nottingham Forest 7.5 million pounds for a striker that has had one good season at top level. Stan Collymore.

The hype was on.

But I digress, as I am wont to do. Football used to be about communities, local rivalries, singing and cheering in the stands. Yes, the stands. Not on some seat.

The only way I find that feeling I had with football before is when I see my pathetic hometown club play. One of the stands at the stadium is in such poor condition it has been declared a hazard. The cement is just dissolving. But there is lukewarm hotdogs and horrible coffee to be had. And a young, very young, team that has won two out of two so far this season.

In a 12 team race, you really need to win about 19 out of 22 to get promoted. And then there are play-offs.

Jacob, I understand little of how the Danish league system works now. I know you don't live there, but you probably follow it more closely than me.