Men's Soccer (Football) Thread (Archived) Soccer • Page 638

Watching England U17’s play The Netherlands. Currently 3-2 up.

Some really great technical players. Standouts have definitely been Max Dowman (15, Arsenal), Harry Gray (16, Leeds), and Rio Ngumoha (16, Liverpool).

 

Harry needs to join his brother at Spurs

 

You mean you're not watching the live episode of Eastenders?!

 

Player running in on goal one on one, but manages to get a shot off. Keeper takes him and the shot doesn’t go in. Penalty or not?

 

Ha! I think the last episode of Eastenders I watched was when Peggie died, and before that it had been a decade at least ha.

 

Ajax two nil down and had Klassen sent off for deliberate hand ball

 

I think it’s a grey area. Seems the refs decide it based on severity and lateness of the challenge.

Seem to remember this happening in an Arsenal vs Milan match in like 2012 or something.

 

I'd want a pen as a fan after any given shot. It's kinda similar to Alvarez's goal for us v Palace last week. Will Hughes handled it as clear as day, but the ref allowed play to continue and the final shot went in. I'd be crying for a penalty had Alvarez fired over, so yeah, there is that.

 

It’s very odd watching the most successful team in Ireland the last few years playing in a European knock out tie and the only international footballer is a Cape Verde player.

I really hope we can start to properly improve the league here and seeing the Ireland manager saying “players need to leave” to be considered rather than improving the league is awful. Especially after Bohemians vs Shamrock Rovers brought in 31k people to the first game of the season.

We have a top 3 in the world rugby team, and rugby had a much lower player base in the country than football. It’s possible to improve, the FAI just doesn’t give a fuck.

 

Did you happen to catch this Guardian article? Record crowds, record transfers: Irish football reaches a watershed moment

I actually thought of everyone Irish I communicate with when I read it and that includes you lol

 

I hadn’t read it, but yeah Bohs are my local team. Their stadium is at the bottom of my road lol. The area is absolutely mad about the team.

The League of Ireland has improved a fucking ton since the pandemic. Fans want to go to games. If every Dublin derby was in the Aviva you’d get 30k every time. We want football but the FAI don’t care. They’re probably happier with Melia going to Spurs for over a million than him becoming a top League of Ireland player or investing any money into improving academies or grassroots football here. The league isn’t even shown regularly on tv here ffs.

This paragraph highlights everything wrong with Irish football

Issues do remain in Irish football. Broadcasting revenue is well short of what it should be. Academy football is still underdeveloped. Shelbourne’s prize money for winning the top flight last season (€125,000) was less than Shamrock Rovers received for drawing 1-1 with Apoel (€135,000) in the Europa Conference League in October. The Football Association of Ireland is still debt-ridden after the John Delaney years and “doesn’t give financial support to clubs in any way, shape or form”, according to Martin. “The FAI has 350 employees and a wage bill of €17m, which is out of kilter with nearly every single football association in Europe.”

 

Shamrock Rovers are into extra time vs Molde, who’ve just had a player sent off.

Hoping they can nick a winner.

 

Penalties now

 

Shame for Shamrock Rovers but the saved penalty was SO bad.

 

Few tasty looking UCL draws already.

 

CL Draw

Arsenal vs PSV
Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid
Club Brugge vs Aston Villa
PSG vs Liverpool
Borussia Dortmund vs Lille
Benfica vs Barcelona
Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen
Inter vs Feyenoord

 

Madrid derby, Bayern vs Leverkusen, PSG vs Liverpool are all massive

 

Gutted we don’t get to play Van Persie’s Feyenoord. The booing at The Emirates would have been legendary

 

They saw my post and knew I was on to them and immediately called in some upsets and flipped every single matchup but one like I wouldn’t notice.

 

If Liverpool get through, they'll likely play Villa in the quarters and one of Real Madrid or Arsenal in the semis. Music to my ears, hopefully the wheels fall off.

 

I suppose this bracket feels pretty balanced, maybe a smidge harder top half. Kinda feels like Barcelona’s to lose, though, which means they could crash out at any second.

 

United and drawing Spanish teams in Europe, name a better duo.

 

Not a bad draw for Spurs

 

That theoretical (and fairly likely) Lazio vs Athletic final will be the most obvious evil vs good final in history

 

I think Spurs should be able to make it to the semis at the least. Assuming we face Lazio at that point, it’d be a good matchup. If we did make it to the final, Athletic is the last team I’d want to face just because it’d be like a home game for them.