Football (Soccer) Thread

[Valmy]

France 98's victory is the day a Celebrate the most in my life.

What a day!

Hey! Me to!

[mongers]

Oddly all three south coast teams avoided relegation from the premiership; Saints by the skin of their teeth, though not quite a 'great escape'

I was convince at least one if not two were not going to survive.

[Duque de Bragança]

France 98's victory is the day a Celebrate the most in my life.

What a day!

Footix !

[Grey Fox]

I had to google that. I didn't know/remember the name of that Mascot.

[Tamas]

Well you can stop celebrating now that Platini has admitted it was won thanks to cheating

[Valmy]

Well you can stop celebrating now that Platini has admitted it was won thanks to cheating

Nah. Maybe it was made marginally easier in the group stage but that was a pretty loaded French team. They probably would have gotten through either way.

[Duque de Bragança]

Well you can stop celebrating now that Platini has admitted it was won thanks to cheating

Nah. Maybe it was made marginally easier in the group stage but that was a pretty loaded French team. They probably would have gotten through either way.

Yeah, with top players such as Guivarc'h or Diomède. 
If you want a pretty loaded French team, try 2000, and even there they had some luck with refereeing though no outright Platini-magouille, of course, nor mysterious Ronaldo poisoning. 

[Valmy]

I was there for 2000 as well 

Good teams always seem to have "luck". Weird.

[Duque de Bragança]

I was there for 2000 as well 

Really? In Belgium and the Netherlands? 

Good teams always seem to have "luck". Weird.

Sometimes more than luck, cf. France '98. QED. 

[Grey Fox]

This is some ballsy revisionist history to move the cheating from the Quarter-finals to the Group draws.

[The Larch]

Rabiot, a PSG midfielder selected in a group of backups for the French squad, has apparently had a diva tantrum and told the French Federation that being a reserve is beneath him and to not count on him for the WC. The competition has not even started and there's already turnmoil in Les Bleus. 

[Valmy]

Really? In Belgium and the Netherlands? 

Yep. Now bear in mind I did not attend any of the matches in person either time but I was there taking in the chaos.

Sometimes more than luck, cf. France '98. QED. 

Other times your star player headbutts the opposition in a key moment. Hey it wasn't luck that beat Brazil.

[Valmy]

Rabiot, a PSG midfielder selected in a group of backups for the French squad, has apparently had a diva tantrum and told the French Federation that being a reserve is beneath him and to not count on him for the WC. The competition has not even started and there's already turnmoil in Les Bleus. 

They bring a certain 'je ne sais quoi' to every competition.

[Duque de Bragança]

Yep. Now bear in mind I did not attend any of the matches in person either time but I was there taking in the chaos.

I'd say, given my memories of the Euro '2000, since I attended a game there, speaking of chaos is grossly exagerated. 

Other times your star player headbutts the opposition in a key moment. Hey it wasn't luck that beat Brazil.

Yeah, some food poisoning.   

As for Rabiot, turnmoil within the Bleus, not yet. He has not been a key player for the national squad by any account. Final diva tantrum with Deschamps as national coach? Perhaps, yes.
A coach known for his luck, at least in group phase, with the best player of a rival side out of the competition for doping, Paolo Guerrero. Without his appeal, Guerrero would have played the World Cup.

[Valmy]

I'd say, given my memories of the Euro '2000, since I attended a game there, speaking of chaos is grossly exagerated. 

Whatever. It was fun. And shows that whenever I am there France wins.