Football (Soccer) Thread

[Zoupa]

Good game yeah. I would have liked to see Richarlison from the get go instead of Johnson though. I feel this is exactly his kind of game.

[FunkMonk]

Good game yeah. I would have liked to see Richarlison from the get go instead of Johnson though. I feel this is exactly his kind of game.

Yeah Johnson didn't seem to offer much. I don't know much about him though other than he came in after Kane left. Son is the main man now and Maddison is finally the #10 Tottenham have needed for a while.

In the first half, it felt like Arsenal were on the verge of cracking Tottenham open 3-0 but they just couldn't finish. Straight to Vicario or missing an open net. Then Spurs scored the equalizer and it's suddenly a game again. Hugely disappointing but a point a piece was fair.

The Arsenal discord I'm in was basically on suicide watch at FT so that should tell you how many of the fans were taking it, though 

[Zoupa]

Arsenal should have killed the game after 30 minutes, but you need a CF. There was zero crossing the whole game because you don't really have a target man. Instead you got an own goal and a dubious penalty 

[FunkMonk]

Arsenal should have killed the game after 30 minutes, but you need a CF. There was zero crossing the whole game because you don't really have a target man. Instead you got an own goal and a dubious penalty 

Arteta was absolutely bizarre. He moved our best CF out to the LW and put the backup CF up top. We are riddled with injuries right now, but that lineup was just stupid. He did a Pep Galaxy Brain again.

And it's crazy because it actually almost worked, but that's football.

Big credit to Spurs though for not giving up like last season. Really impressed with how they played out of the press and attacked. I think a CL place is definitely achievable for them, especially considering Manchester United and Chelsea are both absolute shambles. Two zombie clubs.

[Barrister]

I was just listening to an extended interview with former soccer player Dean Faithful.  His story is just kind of bonkers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Faithfull

So grows up in England, played soccer, but not at an extremely high level.  Once he graduated he goes to the US, and winds up getting a soccer scholarship at Florida Tech, where he played for 4 years.

After Florida Tech, he then kind of wanders around the semi-pro leagues, playing in Australia, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago.  The highest he ever played was in the second division in Belgium.

Anyways in 2019 with his soccer career pretty much over, he goes out for coffee with his old soccer coach from Florida Tech.  That coach gets a call from the (American) football coach at Florida Tech, so he then goes to Faithful saying "they need a kicker - you should try out".  He tries out for the (American) football coach after watching a bunch of youtube videos and is offered a scholarship - at age 33.

Unfortunately Covid hits, and Florida Tech winds up cancelling its entire football program.  But Faithful now has the itch.  He tries out for a few different football teams and gets a scholarship to play at CSU Pueblo.  He's allegedly the oldest player to ever play NCAA Division 2 sports at age 34.  He has one year of eligibility left after his college soccer career, so he plays the one year.

So here comes the CFL.  The CFL has rules about how many Canadians versus how many Americans can play on a roster (US produces so many good football players that without such a rule there'd hardly be any Canadians in the league).  But a few years ago they've tried to expand internationally.  They now have something called the "Global draft", which is to draft non-US/non-Canadian players, and each team can now have an extra spot for a "global" player.  Given that Canada and the US are the only countries where "gridiron" football is really popular there aren't really that many global players out there. 

But Faithful is English.  He tries out for some teams, gets drafted by the Edmonton Elks in the global draft.  He joins the team this year as a 36 year old rookie and the team's oldest player.  And he's having success.

Anyways, I thought you guys might enjoy the story.

[Josquius]

Yeah cool story. Glad it worked out for him. Failed footballers of his generation generally worked out less well - something they've fixed since.

[Grey Fox]

So rare to have CFL feel good stories.

[Josephus]

I forgot they were called the Elks

[Barrister]

I forgot they were called the Elks

Yeah.  I continue to think A: the Eskimos name was fine, with a majority of Inuit people being in favour of the name, but B: the name issue was never, ever going to actually go away with a loud minority very against the name, so you might as well just get it over with.

[crazy canuck]

While it is true that claim was made by the team, they never did disclose any information regarding how that stat was generated, and it later became known that the PR firm, retained to create that number has in the past, engaged in a practice of creating a false perception of public support for a controversial initiative.

One needs to be a true believer to accept that the majority of Inuit supported the name when their governing organization requested that the name be changed.

[Barrister]

While it is true that claim was made by the team, they never did disclose any information regarding how that stat was generated, and it later became known that the PR firm, retained to create that number has in the past, engaged in a practice of creating a false perception of public support for a controversial initiative.

One needs to be a true believer to accept that the majority of Inuit supported the name when their governing organization requested that the name be changed.

Why does one need to be a "true believer"?  There is very often a discordance between the leadership of an organization and its base.  In the US a lot of labour unions resolutely support the Democrats, while pluralities to majorities of the membership support Trump.

What would be reported anecdotally by Inuit people is that the Eskimos were a winning football team and they liked being associated with, and felt honoured by,  the team name.

It's worth mentioning that the Eskimos never used any Inuit imagery, never had an Inuit mascot, nothing like that.  So they're different than say the Cleveland Indians and their Chief Wahoo logo, or the Atlanta Braves and the "tomahawk chop".

But like I said, the issue was never going to go away either, so I get why they changed the name anyways.

[Zoupa]

Arsenal beaten by RC Lens in the Champions League, a team with about 5-10% of Arsenal's budget 

[Sheilbh]

wut?

David Ornstein
@David_Ornstein
🚨 Morocco, Portugal & Spain set to stage 2030 World Cup
🚨 To mark 100yrs of #FIFAWorldCup first 3 games to feature Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay at HOME
🚨 Opening ceremony + rest of event in host nations (all 6 qualify)
🚨 2034 in Asian or Oceana confeds

[Duque de Bragança]

wut?

David Ornstein
@David_Ornstein
🚨 Morocco, Portugal & Spain set to stage 2030 World Cup
🚨 To mark 100yrs of #FIFAWorldCup first 3 games to feature Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay at HOME
🚨 Opening ceremony + rest of event in host nations (all 6 qualify)
🚨 2034 in Asian or Oceana confeds

That's (Infantino's) FIFA for you.
 

2034 Saudi Arabia-Australia-NZ? 

Good job Paraguay. 

[Grey Fox]

I think that's a pretty cool plan. Morocco-Portugal-Spain is a very small geographic region.