World Cup 2026

[Jacob]

That penalty call was terrible. Complete bullshit.

[Valmy]

Merde 

[Threviel]

Meh, fuck it, I'll go to bed. Both teams are very good and unless FIFA cheats too much this is the real final. Whoever wins here will eat the other teams for breakfast.

[HVC]

I say that as someone that loves the game but hates time wasting lol

Fair enough 

You might be on to something then.

I whole heartedly agree with the new fight against time wasting by the goalie and throw ins, for example. Just need one more rule change

[HVC]

That penalty call was terrible. Complete bullshit.

Only saw it in the corner of my eye, trying to be a "productive" employee lol , but he took him down in the box didn't he?

[Valmy]

Meh, fuck it, I'll go to bed. Both teams are very good and unless FIFA cheats too much this is the real final. Whoever wins here will eat the other teams for breakfast.

Huh? Isn't it only 9:30...er...21:30? Wow you go to bed early.

[Threviel]

Meh, fuck it, I'll go to bed. Both teams are very good and unless FIFA cheats too much this is the real final. Whoever wins here will eat the other teams for breakfast.

Huh? Isn't it only 9:30...er...21:30? Wow you go to bed early.

I have work tomorrow. Might as well sleep as get high blood pressure.

[Norgy]

Academy poaching has become a big problem in England too - I think that players are allowed to change academy once at a younger age than in much of the rest of Europe. And agents are getting interested because there's not vast amounts of money most of the time but as a volume business enough - and I think you're seeing a lot of young players leaving academies with really good records at developing youth for bigger/richer clubs who don't have that record but have money, stockpile youth and aim to sell them on at a later date. I think agents bullshit the path and are possibly ruining long-term careers - the other side is someone like Jude Bellingham and his brother where their parents (who I think still manage them - mum with Jude, dad with Jobe) have had very clear development paths. Stayed at Birmingham until they broke through, then went to Dortmund which is phenomenal at developing young players and then make your big move - I think a lot would have their head turns by a Premier League club expressing interest in that journey (and many did).

We mostly read or hear about those who succeed. Most people probably do not remember striker Steffen Iversen. He went to Tottenham at a tender age. His father was Odd Iversen (do not laugh at our names!), a tragic figure who'd scored 158 goals in the Norwegian top tier, despite recurring injuries. Steffen was successful at Tottenham, but left all alone, he began to drink and party like his dad had done, and several injuries sidelined him. It ended okay for him, he returned to Norway, won championships with both Vålerenga and Rosenborg, but it was difficult to not consider how good he could've been if he'd had some social network and support in London.

Jon Obi Mikel of Chelsea fame was sold to Lyn Oslo at a very tender age by an agent. It was with little parental consent or much support apart from the other two Nigerian players that were also signed. One failed miserably, but Mikel and his striker mate did well. Mikel was sold to Chelsea for a huge sum. His family tried to get their due from Lyn Oslo, but all extra fees went to the agent. Who sued Lyn for more money. He lost, I think, but there was a dark cloud over the Mikel transfer.

So, there is an ugly element of human trafficking in this game. Oscar Bobb's father is from Ghana, but his mum is a Norwegian local councillor from a leftist party. She met with agents who offered this and that for her 10 year old son.
"I am not selling my son. I am a socialist". And she left it up to Oscar to decide where he'd like to go when he was 16 and had his primary education. Her only caveat was that there was a decent school alongside the football. He chose Man City. The agents, she said, hated her.

Your post about Scotland got me thinking back to the 1980s. A lot of the First Division's top players were Scottish, Welsh or Irish. Liam Brady, Graeme Souness, John Robertson (for Forest, at least), Ian Rush, Nev Southall, Norman Whiteside (Northern Ireland). There was talk, I seem to recall, of dropping the Home Countries thing and uniting as Great Britain, but that may just have been Thatcherite bluster.

A lot of those players saw football as a way out of becoming workers with insecure jobs. You'd need a fair bit of luck and talent, but you could also be Kenny Burns and simply make a career out of being well hard.

A hypothesis might be that up to a so far unknown limit, economic uncertainty and relative poverty provide for a better talent pool in football. See, historically, Brazil. No-one as white as Zico will emerge these days.

I see the Brazilians themselves blame Protestantism, or Evangelicals, which I am all for blaming. 

[Zoupa]

I guess it was a penalty, but if that really decides the game it'd be a really sad story. We'll see I guess but we look rattled. I don't think we've ever been led at this tournament.

I think Yamal is a feu de paille (don't know how to translate that). Flash in the pan? I don't see him having any impact long term.

[Norgy]

The boy is barely 18. 

[HVC]

The boy is barely 18. 

Birthday boy just turned 19 yesterday. Really impressive.

[HVC]

I think Yamal is a feu de paille (don't know how to translate that). Flash in the pan? I don't see him having any impact long term.

Still salty about euro 2024?

[Zoupa]

The Yamalists have come out I see lol. I'll stand by it. I'm not impressed.

[HVC]

Yamalist? Lol not my team  nor my player. I do think he's good though. Wouldn't be the first young player to fizzle out, i just don't see it at the moment. 

[Norgy]

I am just saying that at 19 (pardon me, HVC), he might, well, improve.

Few teams, apart from Brazil 1958, have relied on teenagers to win.

Maquis-Zoupa would probably stub out his brown Gauloisie and say "Meh, this eh Pelé, 'e is nothing. Nothing, I tell you".