Football (Soccer) Thread

[Norgy]

The 1998 one was mine. Mostly because we beat Brazil with the most unexpected penalty decision ever.

The best one for viewing, hard to say, I got fairly involved in England's 1990 campaign. That team deserved more than third-place play-offs.
1982 had the worst tackles and the ugliest play in my lifetime, with Toni Schumacher literally punching France's Patrice Battiston, Claudio Gentile mostly standing on Maradona and a decent Brazil side again, with Eder and Zico. They did better in Mexico '86, but in 1982 they were more fun to watch.

Best player I've seen in any championship was France's Michel Platini in 1984. Zico in 1982 and 1986 a close second. Maradona's performance in 1986 was superb, but the hand of god sort of ruins it.

[Valmy]

What was my favorite?  Hmmmm....

[Ed Anger]

Will you do a full one or keep a landing strip?

I have SS runes.

[Sheilbh]

I don't know how much play this got outside of England but
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/20/yaya-toure-manchester-city-dispute

Yaya Touré is on a collision course with Manchester City over his future after supporting his agent's claim that he is unhappy – but the club are determined the Ivory Coast midfielder will not be sold.

Touré took to Twitteron Tuesday to agree with Dimitri Seluk after the agent claimed that his player is unhappy at the lack of proper acknowledgement afforded him by the club on the occasion of his birthday last week in Abu Dhabi.

One of Touré's grievances is understood to be that he felt his team-mates David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Sergio Agüero were treated with greater acclaim in Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Mansour, the club's owner, and Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the chairman.

"He got a cake but when it was Roberto Carlos's birthday the president of Anzhi gave him a Bugatti," Seluk told the BBC. "I don't expect City to present Yaya with a Bugatti; we only asked that they shook his hand and said: 'We congratulate you.' It is the minimum they must do when it is his birthday and the squad is all together.

"I hear one newspaper has written that City congratulated him from Twitter but this is a joke. It is better they don't put anything on Twitter if they are not saying anything to him. The club's owners ate a 100kg cake after winning the Premier League this season but when they and the players were all together, none of them shook his hand on his birthday. It shows they don't care about him."

And so it goes on

[Duque de Bragança]

I don't know how much play this got outside of England but
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/20/yaya-toure-manchester-city-dispute

Yaya Touré is on a collision course with Manchester City over his future after supporting his agent's claim that he is unhappy – but the club are determined the Ivory Coast midfielder will not be sold.

Touré took to Twitteron Tuesday to agree with Dimitri Seluk after the agent claimed that his player is unhappy at the lack of proper acknowledgement afforded him by the club on the occasion of his birthday last week in Abu Dhabi.

One of Touré's grievances is understood to be that he felt his team-mates David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Sergio Agüero were treated with greater acclaim in Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Mansour, the club's owner, and Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the chairman.

"He got a cake but when it was Roberto Carlos's birthday the president of Anzhi gave him a Bugatti," Seluk told the BBC. "I don't expect City to present Yaya with a Bugatti; we only asked that they shook his hand and said: 'We congratulate you.' It is the minimum they must do when it is his birthday and the squad is all together.

"I hear one newspaper has written that City congratulated him from Twitter but this is a joke. It is better they don't put anything on Twitter if they are not saying anything to him. The club's owners ate a 100kg cake after winning the Premier League this season but when they and the players were all together, none of them shook his hand on his birthday. It shows they don't care about him."

And so it goes on

Yahoo France mentioned it. Beware!

[Jacob]

FWIW I think the Americans are becoming a decent team. But I am tired of American pundits going on about group of death. It's Germany and Portugal coming out of that group. America is just not better than either of those two teams.

Sounds like it's a group of death from an American perspective, then.

[Maladict]

The press seem to be suggesting Giggs in the short-term.

The bookies favourite for this summer is Louis van Gaal.

Rules for interviewing Van Gaal. 
http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2014/05/21/british-journalists-follow-these-ten-rules-for-interviewing-louis-van-gaal/

[The Larch]

The press seem to be suggesting Giggs in the short-term.

The bookies favourite for this summer is Louis van Gaal.

Rules for interviewing Van Gaal. 
http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2014/05/21/british-journalists-follow-these-ten-rules-for-interviewing-louis-van-gaal/

He is still fondly remembered in Spain for his time coaching Barcelona. The press conferences were glorious. 



That was his puppet in a satyrical news show back in the day, kinda similar to Spitting Image.

[celedhring]

The thought of Van Gaal and Mourinho managing in the same league. The feuding and hubris will be off the scale.

[Norgy]

Well, Sir Alex and Arsenal Wenger weren't always on the best of terms, either.

And British journalists had to contend with the likes of Brian Clough before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqAZsoF-ghw

[mongers]

Well, Sir Alex and Arsenal Wenger weren't always on the best of terms, either.

And British journalists had to contend with the likes of Brian Clough before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqAZsoF-ghw

I was he the best manager England never had? 

[Josephus]

FWIW I think the Americans are becoming a decent team. But I am tired of American pundits going on about group of death. It's Germany and Portugal coming out of that group. America is just not better than either of those two teams.

Sounds like it's a group of death from an American perspective, then.

Well yeah...but it's an overused phrased. Group of death implies four decent teams of more or less the same calibre battling it out.

[Norgy]

I was he the best manager England never had? 

"I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business, but I was in the top one".

It's hard to imagine Cloughie being anything but a bit of an arse. His public personae was abrasive and sometimes downright offensive.
If he hadn't had his success with Derby and Forest, he'd be a non-entity today, much like Robin Friday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MDeWml8ZMg

Both are good examples as to why we shouldn't just diagnose kids with ADHD and get on with it. And those are just two from football.

[Sheilbh]

I am quite looking forward to Van Gaal's first explosion.

[FunkMonk]

He will level Old Trafford and the destruction of Manchester United will be complete.