Football (Soccer) Thread

[Liep]

Best thing I've seen this season: Hazard kicking a ballboy.

[Tamas]

he went for the ball 

[FunkMonk]

Vicious attack on an innocent ballyoungadult. 

[Sheilbh]

The initial Chelsea response was extraordinary:
Has football gone mad? Hazard is sent off for kicking the ball under a ball boy attempting to smother the ball rather than return it

[Viking]

Best thing I've seen this season: Hazard kicking a ballboy.

We know two things about Eden Hazard, he is the most talented player ever to come out of Belgium and he is a dick. This is him living up to the latter.

[Zanza]

The Euro 2020 will be held in 13 cities in 13 different countries. Not sure if I like that concept. I guess flight times or so aren't a big problem as you can travel the length of Europe in about four hours anyway, which is not much more than some world cup countries by themselves (e.g. USA). Not having a host nation is actually a plus in my book as that increases the chance to have the best teams competing - however with the new, silly 24 team tournament modus, you'll always have some poor sides.

[The Larch]

The Euro 2020 will be held in 13 cities in 13 different countries. Not sure if I like that concept. I guess flight times or so aren't a big problem as you can travel the length of Europe in about four hours anyway, which is not much more than some world cup countries by themselves (e.g. USA). Not having a host nation is actually a plus in my book as that increases the chance to have the best teams competing - however with the new, silly 24 team tournament modus, you'll always have some poor sides.

Let's see how many people go to a Swedish stadium to watch a Belgium - Switzerland match. 

[Ed Anger]

Millwall. 

[Pedrito]

...and Juventus signs, of all the players in the world, the idiot Anelka.

It's for six months only, luckily, but it's too much anyway.

L.

[Josephus]

So is Juve collecting forwards now, so no one else can have them?

[Ed Anger]

LOLerpool. 

Plus Gerrard's angry/derp face when he had to come in. 

[FunkMonk]

Just watched the USA - Canada friendly and now I want to kill myself 

[katmai]

Not me, i had a nice peaceful nap because of it. :

[FunkMonk]

I should have known. Luckily I was cooking for half the game so I didn't waste the entire 90 minutes.

[katmai]

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- American forward Jozy Altidore was the target of racist chants Tuesday during AZ Alkmaar's 5-0 win over second-tier Den Boscha in the quarterfinals of the Dutch Cup.

Altidore, who is black, said he had never faced such serious abuse from the stands.

''There's nothing I can do about it,'' he told Dutch television's Eredivisie Live. ''All I can do is pray for them and hope they can become better people.''

Referee Reinold Wiedemeijer wanted to stop the match in the first half because of ''jungle sounds chanted at Altidore,'' according to AZ's official Twitter feed. But AZ players, including Altidore, who is black, persuaded him not to.

Wiedemeijer halted play briefly in the second half because of fans throwing balls of ice at his linesmen, according to the Dutch Eredivisie official Twitter feed and Dutch news website Nu.nl.

''It is terribly sad that this can happen for those involved and for lovers of football in the Netherlands,'' AZ soccer director Earnie Stewart, a former U.S. national team midfielder, told Dutch television's Eredivisie Live at halftime. ''You hear that and wonder what on earth is going on.''

Stewart said Den Bosch officials are ''ashamed'' of the fans involved. The club repeatedly urged its fans to halt the chants, to no avail.

Altidore scored one goal in AZ's 5-0 victory, increasing his total this season to a career-best 20, one more than in 2011-12. Den Bosch finished with nine men after two players were ejected.