Football (Soccer) Thread

[Admiral Yi]

I saw that my hero Christian Pulasic was cheated out of a much deserved victory by Arsenal's underhanded tricks in the FA Emirates Cup final.

Is this the thing we talked about before, where every single team in England (just England, right?) plays?

And does anyone care who wins?

[Josquius]

Its a sad sign of how far the FA Cup has fallen that I didn't even realise the final was on.

What did Arsenal do?

[Admiral Yi]

What did Arsenal do?

Nothing.  I'm just talking shit.

[celedhring]

You mean "The Non-Aggression Pact of Gijon" and the reason why afterwards the last group matches were always held in parallel? Nah ..... 

I have seen it called the Second Anschluss 

[Sheilbh]

Is this the thing we talked about before, where every single team in England (just England, right?) plays?

Yep.

And does anyone care who wins?

It used to be the most important competition in England. I'd say it still matters - it's a little club specific (e.g. Liverpool would want to win the League more than anything, Man City probably want to win the Champions League more than anything).

But roughly it's - League, FA Cup, League Cup, the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, the various "team of the season" by various newspapers and, finally, the Community Shield

Its a sad sign of how far the FA Cup has fallen that I didn't even realise the final was on.

Although I think that's severely impacted by the weirdness of this year and timing (also it was on quite late for some reason). It's one of those things where, because it was out of it's normal sort of slot and I don't watch live TV so don't see adverts, I'd totally forgotten until I got a WhatsApp from a friend.

[The Larch]

I saw that my hero Christian Pulasic was cheated out of a much deserved victory by Arsenal's underhanded tricks in the FA Emirates Cup final.

Is this the thing we talked about before, where every single team in England (just England, right?) plays?

And does anyone care who wins?

If he's your hero you should probably learn to spell his name correctly. 

And yeah, the FA Cup is the one played by English teams, not every single one, but lots of them (the record seems to be on 763). And whoever wins is important, yes. The Carabao Cup this is not.

[Syt]

You mean "The Non-Aggression Pact of Gijon" and the reason why afterwards the last group matches were always held in parallel? Nah ..... 

I have seen it called the Second Anschluss 

10 or so years back, a Austro-German comedy duo had a skit where they commentated bits of the Cordoba match as expats "who have been living in Argentina since 1945". They treated it as training game, as "there's only one country's team on the pitch." Or, "Referee: a certain Abraham Klein from Israel - no further comment required."

The bit, in unfortunately horrendous quality, and in German: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rlUhjfqvNQ

They have a history of making fun of the extreme right and nazi fanbois.

[Josquius]

So Newcastle takeover off. Good to know where exactly football would draw the line in terms of dodgy character/countries buying clubs: the infringement of Premier League IP and broadcasting rights

Its amazing how entitled some of them can be with their wailing about this being the end of Newcastle. Most teams would kill for Ashley as an owner.

A Sunderland fanzine sums it up:
https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/2020/8/2/21350805/dear-newcastle-fans-you-lot-dont-know-youre-born?fbclid=IwAR2iiRyN4bPHfZlwC45TbjDrNktzjZhDuKQs1saRj-sNiV8D8NCKfWtPdeg

A Newcastle Utd fanzine responds in a way which does nothing but validate everything the Sunderland one said:
https://cominghomenewcastle.sbnation.com/platform/amp/2020/8/2/21351499/dear-sunderland-fans-newcastle-takeover-bid

It used to be the most important competition in England. I'd say it still matters - it's a little club specific (e.g. Liverpool would want to win the League more than anything, Man City probably want to win the Champions League more than anything).

But roughly it's - League, FA Cup, League Cup, the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, the various "team of the season" by various newspapers and, finally, the Community Shield

What makes me sad is a fair number of foreigners I've met have this idea that it still is some big important thing.
I feel like the UK has a habit of disapointing you the more you learn about it.

Although I think that's severely impacted by the weirdness of this year and timing (also it was on quite late for some reason). It's one of those things where, because it was out of it's normal sort of slot and I don't watch live TV so don't see adverts, I'd totally forgotten until I got a WhatsApp from a friend.

True the timing doesn't help. The excitement of football being back has gone and the league has been won for some time so interest has waned.
Though even in more normal recent years I've had a habit of not noticing the FA Cup final. I remember how awesome it used to be, with "We're in the final!" songs being mandatory.

[Admiral Yi]

If he's your hero you should probably learn to spell his name correctly. 

[FunkMonk]

Winning the FA Cup means a lot to Arsenal fans after the shitshow season the team has had.

[Josephus]

Its a sad sign of how far the FA Cup has fallen that I didn't even realise the final was on.

What did Arsenal do?

FA Cup hasn't fallen. I forgot it was on too, but that's just because of what a fucked up year this has been. I don't associate August with FA Cup finals.
Somebody mentioned Champions League games are on this week. Really?

[Grey Fox]

Yes, Friday & Saturday.

[Sheilbh]

Somebody mentioned Champions League games are on this week. Really?

Yeah - as a weird mini-tournament.

The big aim is to have everyone finish the league as normal next year so the Euros can go ahead, but if the situation isn't much better I can't see the multi-city/country tournament that UEFA devised would work. And I'm not even sure how internationals will happen given all of the different safety protocols in different leagues across Europe

I mean I think Serie A, Bundesliga and the Premier League are probably all interoperable given that they've safely returned. But the league in France and I think the Netherlands cancelled. I don't know about the league in Russia. But if you have players in lots of different teams following lots of different rules it feels like it'll be a nightmare - maybe need a UEFA/national team bubble for two-three weeks ahead of the tournament?

[Josquius]

The different format of the euros seems like it could be an advantage to me. The whole thing could work like standard cup qualifiers, spread out over a long time scale. It isn't planned as a single big local event so it seems in a way easier when you're just dealing with a few games per stadium.

[Sheilbh]

The different format of the euros seems like it could be an advantage to me. The whole thing could work like standard cup qualifiers, spread out over a long time scale. It isn't planned as a single big local event so it seems in a way easier when you're just dealing with a few games per stadium.

I don't know - I mean UEFA have organised all of the Champions League to take place over a couple of weeks in Lisbon and it feels easier to control a limited number of stadiums rather than 12 in 11 different countries. Especially given the group stages so are played in like Russia and Denmark, Romania and the Netherlands, Dublin and Bilbao. It just feels like moving entire media teams for the group nations, the ops teams from UEFA, the teams, coaches, medical staff etc across Europe just might not be a great idea.

Also saw today that the FA have amended the rules so deliberately coughing on another player (or match official) is a straight red plus disciplinary procedures.