Discussion The Football/Soccer Thread

[Mendes]

I think the scolari think is just rumours, but why dont you like him? He got portugal to a Euro final, he's done a good job.

Because I dont like loosing a final against Greece in our home. I dont like loosing against France (again) in the semi-finals. Portugal has 0 wins in any main tournament and we wont go further if we continue thinking a 2nd-4th place is a great campaign. We have our best team ever in history by far so we cant waste opportunities like in 2004.

Now its not like Scolari's results are bad overall, its just that the guy is too conservative. He uses the exact same players, no matter how bad their current shape is and how good the shape of other players is. Back in 2004, he needed to loose the 1st match to apply obvious changes. That time was obvious Deco was in superb form, although he kept using a tired Rui Costa, Ronaldo was already reaching the top of his game and he kept using Simao or Boa Morte, Paulo Ferreira is a joke, and Miguel was at his finest in the bench, Ricardo Carvalho was in the bench as well with Fernando Couto in the 1st 11 (can you believe it?) and he didnt even call to the Euro Cup that time players like Quaresma (best player in the league that time) and Vitor Baia (because he doesnt like him, that's all), who was given the best Keeper in Europe award for the champions league that year.

His personality rocks... too much. I was amazed at how our FA decided to defend him instead of firing him when Scolari nailed a right hand punch on Serbia's Dragutinovich in the middle of a match for No reason. In the flash interview, he decided to show up and instead of apologizing, he told the world he did the right thing because he was 'defending the boy(quaresma, who was in the other side of the pitch...)'

Well, as you can see, Scolari sure bugs me...
Changing subject, Arsenal is about to loose another 1st team player at the end of contract. Wenger confirmed Hleb is out, probably to Inter Milan (yupi!). Nowdays its rare for a team as great as Arsenal to loose important players, specially when they're at their finest age for football, at 0 cost. What's happening to Arsenal's management of the players contracts? After Flamini, Hleb adds insult to injury on the gunners. I guess Arsenal will be a very busy club in the next market season. I wonder if some of Porto's players will take the flight to London

 

[Pirulito]

Yeah!

Football Thread!

Finally, I found it!

I want Scolari turn back to Brazil. Dunga, atual Brazil´s coach, fails to convince that he is a good coach although Brazil won American Cup with him

 

[Imperium]

^ You know the only thing i like about Dunga is that he doesnt bother to treat the "stars" as special or different, everybody is equal with him. But what are you complaining about you beat argentina 3-0, twice. Doing that to france or germany with our team doesnt seem likely...

Changing subject, Arsenal is about to loose another 1st team player at the end of contract. Wenger confirmed Hleb is out, probably to Inter Milan (yupi!). Nowdays its rare for a team as great as Arsenal to loose important players, specially when they're at their finest age for football, at 0 cost. What's happening to Arsenal's management of the players contracts? After Flamini, Hleb adds insult to injury on the gunners. I guess Arsenal will be a very busy club in the next market season. I wonder if some of Porto's players will take the flight to London

Hleb's agent confirmed it, while [ul=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11854_3542369,00.html] wenger [/url] has denied it. Agents always talk rubbish, but it could be true. Inter did contact him on the day of the match with Milan. I dont know, but the flamini thing cant be blamed on Wenger. He was given a new contract which was a lot better than his previous one and would make him a high earner at the club. Didnt take it, so what can you do. Flamini was free anyway, hleb is still on a contract. He could do that bosman ruling thing (?) and buy himself out of it, but that would take a lot of money and apparently its more complicated. And Arsenal is never busy in the market, they buy below the radar. The last time they bought a "star" it was probably bergkamp, and that was even before Arsene was manager. >.>

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@Mendes - Just read the porto news, a shame. Your FA seems a bit lenient i was thought it would be something more akin to the Juventus shamble at italy. But you still have the trophy, which goes to show its best to win in style, you never know whats going to happen. >.>

 

[Mendes]

Yeah this process finally came to a conclusion. I'm pleased that finally justice in Portugal starts to move forward, coz this would have never happened years ago (and corruption always comes and goes in here). I find it hard to swallow that Porto was charged 6 ridiculous and meaningless points by non-accomplished attempt of corruption and Boavista goes to the lower league by active corruption in 3 matches. If this was in Italy we'd probably loose about 17-20 points like Milan and fiorentina, and a punishment starting the following season with significant negative points. Another thing that bugs me is that our chairman only gets 2 years of suspension in football... I mean, shouldnt sports corruption be charged with a penalty in prison? At least he should never be allowed to go back to football...

Although I know Pinto da Costa is corrupt, at least we didnt win any match (in recent times I mean) by an invisible hand and I can tell for sure that since I remember, Porto wasnt benefited by referees. Still, its very possible that many chairmans in Portugal use their club's finances as their own personal wallet change. It happened before and a former Benfica's chairman was imprisoned coz of that. Now you get why I love to talk about foreign leagues... our league is terrible in Every way :/

What bugs me is that every person proved guilty on this process has appealed against the decision. If I know our beloved justice system well, they'll be absolved of every penalty except for a monetary fine -_-

I feel sorry for Boavista, since they are basically finished. They were already having terrible problems with delayed salaries and players on strike. Most players have 1 year contracts and will leave as soon as it ends and now they're going to a second league that has no profit at all. On the other side, our lower leagues are completely ignored and they're not transmitted by TV. The sponsors will most likely stop sponsoring the club and they even get a monetary fine... I honestly think they are done

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Yeah!

Football Thread!

Finally, I found it!

Welcome my friend. You're a Sao Paulo fan right? I dont usually watch the Brasileirao, so I dunno who the favorites are. I think Santos, Sao Paulo and Flamengo are the stronger, huh? How's Corinthians taking the relegation to the lower league? Unload brazilian football on us please :P

I want Scolari turn back to Brazil. Dunga, atual Brazil´s coach, fails to convince that he is a good coach although Brazil won American Cup with him

Careful what you wish! Although I agree Dunga is unconvincing as a coach for such a huge team. Then again, who could replace him? I'd love you to take Scolari from us, but I'm confident that wouldnt solve your problem. Zico seems like a great coach and he's accomplished much in Fenerbahce this season. I think he has what it takes

Hleb's agent confirmed it, while [ul=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11854_3542369,00.html] wenger [/url] has denied it. Agents always talk rubbish, but it could be true. Inter did contact him on the day of the match with Milan. I dont know, but the flamini thing cant be blamed on Wenger. He was given a new contract which was a lot better than his previous one and would make him a high earner at the club. Didnt take it, so what can you do. Flamini was free anyway, hleb is still on a contract. He could do that bosman ruling thing (?) and buy himself out of it, but that would take a lot of money and apparently its more complicated. And Arsenal is never busy in the market, they buy below the radar. The last time they bought a "star" it was probably bergkamp, and that was even before Arsene was manager. >.>

I just think the players shouldnt even reach the last year of contract in this kinds of clubs. They should be awarded long time contracts and renew them once a year or once in 2 years. They get their salary raised but their value increases. Manchester United is able to keep their young players this way till they turn old (Giggs, Scholes, Brown, Ferdinand, etc etc) and they're even capable of keeping players who're constantly followed by Barça and Real Madrid every year. Loosing players by bosman rule is something for smaller clubs(Ajax suffered that in the skin) to deal with or for old players who're looking for a new challenge (like schevchenko, ballack, etc). Loosing a 19 year old amazing player like flamini at 0 cost is a huge hit and a huge flaw in my view as well

 

[ichiedan]

Hello! I'm new here. I like manga and football very much. Manga is the 3rd and football is 4th. My favourites top 5 lists!

Enough with my intro, let's talk about football!

You guys discussing Euro, right? Any ideas which players who will be brought in Italy Squad? I know they were bad at Quals, but hey, it's Italia man!

I also support Portugal and Swiss, they have packs of wonderkid!

 

[rykarreolacr]

You guys discussing Euro, right? Any ideas which players who will be brought in Italy Squad? I know they were bad at Quals, but hey, it's Italia man!

They came first to France, Scotland and Ukraine... I fail to see how they were bad...

 

[Imperium]

^ Ryk's right they were quite good. But they did lose to france and spain, and those two countries are among the favourites for the Euro.

I just think the players shouldnt even reach the last year of contract in this kinds of clubs. They should be awarded long time contracts and renew them once a year or once in 2 years. They get their salary raised but their value increases. Manchester United is able to keep their young players this way till they turn old (Giggs, Scholes, Brown, Ferdinand, etc etc) and they're even capable of keeping players who're constantly followed by Barça and Real Madrid every year. Loosing players by bosman rule is something for smaller clubs(Ajax suffered that in the skin) to deal with or for old players who're looking for a new challenge (like schevchenko, ballack, etc). Loosing a 19 year old amazing player like flamini at 0 cost is a huge hit and a huge flaw in my view as well

Flamini is not 19 >.>. If he was we probably would have done more to keep him. The main reason we lost him is because he promised to sign the new deal. It was not under the bosman ruling, his contract ended in janurary, so he was a free agent. Things started to drag on and he still promised he wanted to stay. Then finally he suddenly goes to milan. But hleb is another thing, his agent is quite is the problem. Le boss says its all rubbish and hleb is staying. If it quitens down then its most likely his agent trying to get him a larger and more expensive contract if it doesnt then might go too. And besides Inter have recently been linked with Gerrard and liverpool had to come out and say its rubbish. >.>;

 

[Mendes]

You guys discussing Euro, right? Any ideas which players who will be brought in Italy Squad? I know they were bad at Quals, but hey, it's Italia man!

I also think they did well in the qualifiers. Their style may seem like they dont play with the same virtuosity as other Nations, but that's the same style as ever in Italy.
You pointed out something I was trying to figure out since Totti, Del Piero, Nesta are out of the picture (they are, arent they?), Italy has to do some renovation for this Cup. Who are the new faces? Against Portugal I saw some of them, but it was a friendly so it was hard to tell who exactly plays in the 11. Do you guys know Italy's 1st 11?

Flamini is not 19 >.>. If he was we probably would have done more to keep him. The main reason we lost him is because he promised to sign the new deal. It was not under the bosman ruling, his contract ended in janurary, so he was a free agent. Things started to drag on and he still promised he wanted to stay. Then finally he suddenly goes to milan. But hleb is another thing, his agent is quite is the problem. Le boss says its all rubbish and hleb is staying. If it quitens down then its most likely his agent trying to get him a larger and more expensive contract if it doesnt then might go too. And besides Inter have recently been linked with Gerrard and liverpool had to come out and say its rubbish. >.>;

I thought I read somewhere Flamini was 19, but he's actually recently made 24 :/ Well, if Hleb is still to keep, I guess Arsenal will be the same as ever in the market.

Speaking of which, Bosingwa is the 1st Porto's player confirmed to leave. Its 20M€ to Chelsea and you can bet that he'll make a huge impact on the premier league. I'd love him to go to Man U, coz I consider him one of the best side backs in Europe and when I look at MU's Brown screwing up, I feel like crying for a decent right back.

Jose Bosingwa's main skill is speed. He was the fastest player in our league, and he's so well prepared in physical condition that he can keep the high pace in 90 minutes every match. He can dribble very well and does mixed crosses, some better, some worse and he learned to defend well in the past few seasons. Now Sagna will have competition for the spot of best right side back in the league

 

[Pirulito]

^ You know the only thing i like about Dunga is that he doesnt bother to treat the "stars" as special or different, everybody is equal with him. But what are you complaining about you beat argentina 3-0, twice. Doing that to france or germany with our team doesnt seem likely...

Yeah, it’s a good point to Dunga.
But we, Brazilians, want an offensive team (hell, some matches we see the team with 3 DMF. We don't accept it); we want a magic football like in old times (not so old, of course ^^); a team to give us confidence. We don’t have this feeling when we watch the matches.

We are Brazil, football country. You might feel it’s arrogance, but our team has lot of pressure from the press and we don’t feel we have team to correspond it.

About we beat Argentina 3-0, twice: It was fortunate we played very well twice and Argentina played very very badly twice. Argentina team is of better quality than our, no doubt.

Welcome my friend. You're a Sao Paulo fan right? I dont usually watch the Brasileirao, so I dunno who the favorites are. I think Santos, Sao Paulo and Flamengo are the stronger, huh? How's Corinthians taking the relegation to the lower league? Unload brazilian football on us please :P

Thanks.

Yes, I’m São Paulo fan and São Paulo is one of the favorites to win the championship besides Flamengo (after a long time without a good team… did you know about Flamengo elimination in Libertadores? Hilarious), Palmeiras and Fluminense. Santos is always a surprise since Robinho and Diego left the team.

Série B, league below Brasileirão, is the life of the Corinthians this year. Some people says Serie B is more hard than Brasileirao, the teams give much blood to win.
Corinthians needs to go up to Brasileirão, the pressure is much big since Corinthians have the second largest crowd. (1st- Flamengo, 3rd- São Paulo).

Btw, Brasileirão and Série B starts today.

Careful what you wish! Although I agree Dunga is unconvincing as a coach for such a huge team. Then again, who could replace him? I'd love you to take Scolari from us, but I'm confident that wouldnt solve your problem. Zico seems like a great coach and he's accomplished much in Fenerbahce this season. I think he has what it takes

Zico is a excellent choice, I agree. He did a good job in Fenerbahçe and Japan team. I would be happy if he were chosen.

Vanderlei Luxemburgo is a good choice too. He was Real Madrid coach, you know, but he had no luck in that period. We believe much in him.

 

[rtyd1]

The main reason we lost him is because he promised to sign the new deal. It was not under the bosman ruling, his contract ended in janurary, so he was a free agent. Things started to drag on and he still promised he wanted to stay. Then finally he suddenly goes to milan.

Where the heck did you get this from, Flamini is leaving on a free as his contract ends on June 30 2012 and is signing for AC Milan on July 1. If his contract was over he would already be at Milan

 

[Imperium]

Where the heck did you get this from, Flamini is leaving on a free as his contract ends on June 30 2012 and is signing for AC Milan on July 1. If his contract was over he would already be at Milan

Ah, sorry if i confused you. I meant since janurary he was a free agent, i.e. he can go and talk to other clubs without arsenal interfering. That he could not physically go to a club is irrelevant but he could have a deal which would come to effect at the end of the season. Like right now he is still under contract for arsenal (till the end of the season) but a deal has already been agreed with milan. He could have done that since janurary. But your right, it is the end of the season not janurary that it specifically ends.

Btw, dont you mean his contract with milan is until 2012 not the other way around.

 

[rtyd1]

Thanks for the clarification, I meant to say 2008 not 2012 sorry.
Flamini has told news of the world the reason he left was because the missed out on the title

France midfielder Mathieu Flamini insists the pain of missing out on the title influenced his decision to quit Arsenal and join AC Milan.The Frenchman has opted to join the Italian giants instead of signing a contract extension with the Gunners, who led favourites Manchester United by five points in February.
Asked if winning the title would have made a difference, Flamini told the News of the World: "That would have weighed in the balance. It would certainly have counted.
"I actually wanted to sign a new contract at Arsenal last July but it didn't happen. AC Milan did so much to sign me I couldn't refuse.
"What happened to us after leading the league for so long was the most painful experience I had during four years at Arsenal," he added.

 

[Imperium]

Thanks for the clarification, I meant to say 2008 not 2012 sorry.
Flamini has told news of the world the reason he left was because the missed out on the title

He is kinda contradictory...you leave one club because you just missed out on the title to go to another club who had no chance at the title. Why doesnt he just come out and say its the money, then ill stop being so bitter

"AC Milan did so much to sign me I couldn't refuse"

Those italians and their offers you cant refuse. >.>

 

[rtyd1]

AC Milan are bringing more players in to compete for the league next year and could have persuaded Flamini to sign that way. Dont really think it was the money because he only getting 5K more at Milan, its a lot of money for us but for him its not much so he never really wanted to stay at Arsenal and i think Wenger knew that

 

[Imperium]

AC Milan are bringing more players in to compete for the league next year and could have persuaded Flamini to sign that way. Dont really think it was the money because he only getting 5K more at Milan, its a lot of money for us but for him its not much so he never really wanted to stay at Arsenal and i think Wenger knew that

He did say he wanted to leave last season but the speculation was to Birmingham city. Last season he was a bit-part player, a substitute. He had a contract that was about 1million a season, we raised it to about 2.8 milllion a season, he said no. And went to milan who gave him a 5.6 million a season. I dont know but whoever you are, but three million is a lot of money.

 

[rtyd1]

What i heard was Arsenal offered him 55k a week while Milan offered him 60K as stated here http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/07052008/1/wenger-upset-flamini-departure.html

 

[Imperium]

What i heard was Arsenal offered him 55k a week while Milan offered him 60K as stated here http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/07052008/1/wenger-upset-flamini-departure.html

Yea, i the 55k a week (2.8 mil a season) is what i heard too. But since the offer by milan is being reported differently, i looked to see if anybody from milan confirmed the price of his wages, but nobody did. So it means the papers are speculating and milan is going to confirm it in july. But it is said to be a big money .

 

[rtyd1]

Seems like we'll have so wait until July as you said for confirmation of his wages. If he left for the money then my didnt Arsenal offer him more the have a lot of money now because the emirates is a goldmine for them. It seems like Hleb is going too, if that were to happen i cant see arsenal challeging for the title the same way the did this year unless Wenger brings in some big names to replace them like Niko Kranjcar, Hatem Ben Arfa, as well as Jean Makoun and David Villa

 

[Imperium]

Seems like we'll have so wait until July as you said for confirmation of his wages. If he left for the money then my didnt Arsenal offer him more the have a lot of money now because the emirates is a goldmine for them. It seems like Hleb is going too, if that were to happen i cant see arsenal challeging for the title the same way the did this year unless Wenger brings in some big names to replace them like Niko Kranjcar, Hatem Ben Arfa, as well as Jean Makoun and David Villa

As an arsenal fan i would disagree. Maybe if we lost fabregas and wenger, then we might not challenge for the title but not otherwise. But i admit Flamini was a huge loss, he was one of our most consistent and star players, but replacement can be found in maybe Makoun or one of the youngsters like diaby. As for hleb, he is a good winger but is not in the same league as say...rosicky, simply because his goal threat is non exsistent. Although finding a suitable replacement will be harder than finding one for Flamini, kranjcar might replace him but that is if portsmouth are willing to sell, he has been a good player for them. As for villa, i really dont think he is needed to be honest. Our strikers have scored a lot of goal this season in the league, and that was with two not playing a lot of games because of injury. In fact if you take out ronaldo because he is a winger, our strikers scored the most goals out of the top four. So upfront is not really the problem more like we need some quality defenders on the bench. =/

 

[rtyd1]

Man U have won the premier league and Derby, Reading and Birmingham have been relegated. Im devastated because i was going to either Reading or Birmingham next year for university.
Fabregas has admitted Hleb helps him to play better may not get the same help next year if he leaves. Imperium the next season for arsenal will be decided by how well the new recruits settle in to the club