Football (Soccer) Thread

[Zoupa]

Job done. Thank you to the French for sending Saka home to Arsenal and for allowing Harry Kane to channel his inner Spursiness. He will return to Tottenham a shattered husk of a footballer while Saka and Martinelli carry Arsenal forward to glory.

 

That might well be, you know. I can't believe he sky'd that lol.

Although England didn't have any real threat from open play, and France is good enough to only need one or 2 chances per game.

I'd be happy for any of the 4 teams left to win it.

[Grey Fox]

Group F has 2 of the 4 teams. We could get a repeat final of a group match.

Has that happen before?

[HVC]

Group F has 2 of the 4 teams. We could get a repeat final of a group match.

Has that happen before?

Euro 2004

*edit actually it wad a repeat of the opener.

[Threviel]

WC '94, Sweden-Brazil.

[FunkMonk]

Job done. Thank you to the French for sending Saka home to Arsenal and for allowing Harry Kane to channel his inner Spursiness. He will return to Tottenham a shattered husk of a footballer while Saka and Martinelli carry Arsenal forward to glory.

 

That might well be, you know. I can't believe he sky'd that lol.

Although England didn't have any real threat from open play, and France is good enough to only need one or 2 chances per game.

I'd be happy for any of the 4 teams left to win it.

Saka missed the penalty that lost the Euros for England and came back an even better player. Kane could do the same. Although I hope not 

But yeah, results wise this is a banger of a final 4. France are the favorite but there is something about the Moroccans...

[Josquius]

France would make a hatrick of former oppressors for the Moroccans to put to the sword .

English defeatism so soon, with 8 mins of stoppage time? 

I'm British. My support for England is light.

Of course, when England is losing. 

Not really. When they win too its a case of "oh that's nice".

[Valmy]

France would make a hatrick of former oppressors for the Moroccans to put to the sword .

English defeatism so soon, with 8 mins of stoppage time? 

I'm British. My support for England is light.

Of course, when England is losing. 

Not really. When they win too its a case of "oh that's nice".

That's lame.

[Josephus]

WC '94, Sweden-Brazil.

Wasn't the final

[HVC]

Ref in the Argentina Netherlands game sent home. Not sure what that's supposed to mean, I don't think he was scheduled to ref again.

[Josquius]

One thing I've been wondering about- Does Morocco count as Africa?
Yeah, obviously, Morocco is in Africa, they take part in the African Cup of Nations, etc...
But all the talk you see over the years about the rise of African football, Pele talking about how Africans will win someday, etc...
I wonder how much people are counting Morocco's success here or if they're just meaning SS Africans.

Anyway. This is interesting.

[Duque de Bragança]

OTOH, some other people remark a lot of these Moroccans were born or/and trained ( half or more) as footballers in Europe.

Data added:

Bounou - born in Canada (trained as a footballer in Morocco however)
El Kajoui - born in Spain
Hakimi - born in Spain
Mazraoui - born in the Netherlands
Saiss - born in France
Amrabat - born in the Netherlands
Ziyech - born in the Netherlands
Zarouri - born in Belgium
Chair - born in Belgium
Aboukhlal - born in the Netherlands
Amallah - Born in Belgium
Boufal - born in France
El Khnannous - born in Belgium
Cheddira - born in Italy.

That's 13 trained in Europe as footballers, who never played in a Morrocan club. Make of that what you will.

[HVC]

OTOH, some other people remark a lot of these Moroccans were born (25%) or/and trained ( half or more) as footballers in Europe.

How many players for portugal were foreign born over the years? 

[Grey Fox]

OTOH, some other people remark a lot of these Moroccans were born or/and trained ( half or more) as footballers in Europe.

Data added:

Bounou - born in Canada (trained as a footballer in Morocco however)
El Kajoui - born in Spain
Hakimi - born in Spain
Mazraoui - born in the Netherlands
Saiss - born in France
Amrabat - born in the Netherlands
Ziyech - born in the Netherlands
Zarouri - born in Belgium
Chair - born in Belgium
Aboukhlal - born in the Netherlands
Amallah - Born in Belgium
Boufal - born in France
El Khnannous - born in Belgium
Cheddira - born in Italy.

That's 13 trained in Europe as footballers, who never played in a Morrocan club. Make of that what you will.

That it doesn't matter, it never was about where you play professionally.

[Duque de Bragança]

OTOH, some other people remark a lot of these Moroccans were born (25%) or/and trained ( half or more) as footballers in Europe.

How many players for portugal were foreign born over the years? 

Much less than Morocco. In the current squad, only Guerreiro was born and trained as a footballer in France or Europe.
There's Pepe and Otávio, born in Brazil, with most of their career in Portugal.

I can't help but think of Cédric Soares, Euro 2016, born in Germany but trained as a footballer in Sporting.
Not to mention, for another squad of Griezmann (not German Noah Trevor easy there) but trained as a footballer in Spain, and with a Portuguese mother, so he threatend to join the Selecção if harsh sanctions against him after a wild party night were taken.

[Sheilbh]

That it doesn't matter, it never was about where you play professionally.

Yeah and personally I quite like it (but I would say that as an Ireland fan ).

I've read a few pieces in the last few years and countries with big diasporas have put a lot of thought - and in the case of Morocco investment in facilities - in how to attract diaspora talent. Those associations now have a real system in place to identify potentially eligible players young and a strategy in convincing them to pick for their team.

For some it will be because of a genuine sense that that's who they want to play for - Ziyech turning down the Netherlands. I believe it's also quite a big thing in, say, the Bosnian team and younger age categories of Croatian players.But for others it will also represent a better chance at getting picked internationally.

All I'll say is that Ireland would never leave Grealish on the bench until the 96th minute