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Football thread 2014/15 season

The Fox

By The Fox,
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SMD

SMD

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I guess after Shevchenko and Torres both fucked up their careers there, they figure it's gotta be third time lucky for a big-name striker.

Fixtures in 20 minutes! Do we need a 2015/2016 thread already?

Chris Sutton is gutted by this post.

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glb

glb

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So, my friend the goalkeeping coach is currently part of big things in Guam. The tiny island, who lost their previous World Cup qualifiers in 2002 19-0 and 12-0, currently sit top of Asian Qualifying Group D after shock victories over Turkmenistan (1-0) and India (2-1). The mighty Iran and Oman are up next in September. G'wan Guam!

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Fry Crayola

Fry Crayola

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England tonight only need a draw to guarantee progress, given the results over the last few days saw Thailand and Sweden finishing on three. A defeat might see them through anyway, but they'd be waiting on the results of Group F.

Really enjoyed watching Cameroon yesterday, who I'd not had a proper look at before. Some lovely tricks and pace from their front players.

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Fry Crayola

Fry Crayola

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So, my friend the goalkeeping coach is currently part of big things in Guam. The tiny island, who lost their previous World Cup qualifiers in 2002 19-0 and 12-0, currently sit top of Asian Qualifying Group D after shock victories over Turkmenistan (1-0) and India (2-1). The mighty Iran and Oman are up next in September. G'wan Guam!

19-0 (to Iran) and 16-0 (to Tajikistan). As far as I know, the worst qualifying record of any team, ever.

Yes - actually worse than American Samoa, who shipped 57 goals in 2002 qualification, an average of 14.25 per game. Room to spare on Guam's 17.5.

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Fry Crayola

Fry Crayola

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Why are India so rubbish at football? Are they so obsessed with cricket that football doesn't get a look in?

There's that, and I believe money is also a major issue - the I-League isn't in great shape, was only formed in 2007 and yet they've still taken the step to establish the Indian Super League as an alternative top tier running for four months in the year. They've got 1.1 billion people, but insufficient infrastructure to develop those who want to play football to the standard required.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Falcao to Chelsea. I'm trying to figure out the logic in this one, to be honest. Still, they seem to have got him much cheaper than Man United did (£4m loan fee, plus only paying a proportion of his £13m salary).

Some sort of Bebe-esque favour/bung to Mendes surely, either for a transfer that's already happened, or one that's yet to come (thinking Griezmann).

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Fry Crayola

Fry Crayola

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India are terrible but the Uzbeks aren't bad, their domestic sides always do alright in the AFC.

They've been close to qualifying for two of the last three World Cups - fucked by a refereeing decision in 2006, and then missed out on automatic place in Brazil by two goals. Or one goal, if you're really picky - the 93rd minute concession at home to Iran, or the own goal conceded in their penultimate game against South Korea, without either of which they'd have been on that plane.

A bit shit in 2010 when they finished with just four points in the final group phase, though.

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Gabe

Gabe

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Good time to get a second, Columbia were starting to get back into the game. Now they're starting to get a bit rattled and I wouldn't be surprised to see them reduced to 10 women at some point.

As an aside, this tournament is another reason to love the Beeb. No commercial channel would be able to devote such coverage to this tournament, and that would be a real shame (even though the Japan game last night was terrible). Three cheers to the BBC!

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Fry Crayola

Fry Crayola

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Cracking finish in tonight's Group F match.

South Korea coming from behind to lead 2-1 thanks in part to a cross that flew right over Ainhoa Tirapu's head and into the goal, it reaches the fifth minute of injury time and Spain win a free kick. If they score, they go through, otherwise it'll be Korea. Up steps Sonia Bermúdez, opts to place it, over the wall... and just off the top of the bar.

Ref calls it time, South Korea finally win a World Cup match and get to play France in the next round. Germany play Sweden and Cameroon play China on Saturday night. I suppose I might look at this Copa America thing in the meantime.

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glb

glb

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19-0 (to Iran) and 16-0 (to Tajikistan). As far as I know, the worst qualifying record of any team, ever.

Yes - actually worse than American Samoa, who shipped 57 goals in 2002 qualification, an average of 14.25 per game. Room to spare on Guam's 17.5.

16-0? I lost count after 12! Staggeringly bad record though, making the recent results even more impressive. Would be a fairytale if the islanders can nick something off Iran, especially given the score last time they met.

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Tourist

Tourist

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As an aside, this tournament is another reason to love the Beeb. No commercial channel would be able to devote such coverage to this tournament, and that would be a real shame (even though the Japan game last night was terrible). Three cheers to the BBC!

Is that the Japan-Ecuador match? I only caught the very end of it and found it a bit of a surprising result. Were Japan resting some players or something? They are usually a joy to watch.

I have been fairly unimpressed with the TV coverage over here. I don't think Japan are favourites to win it but they are the reigning champions and in with a strong shout, but the coverage seems a little subdued.

I've been a bit underwhelmed by The Guardian's coverage, too - I thought they had a fairly strong, publicly stated commitment to women's football, but outside of England and the US I think their coverage is pretty poor.

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gospvg

gospvg

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New season, new thread, I reckon.

We could have a look at weekly game threads perhaps also.

I like the weekly thread idea with also some prediction fun, new thread posted every Monday listing the matches being played for the upcoming Saturday to Friday (so it covers any midweeks games). The first post can also be updated with results after the matches have been played.

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Fry Crayola

Fry Crayola

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Is that the Japan-Ecuador match? I only caught the very end of it and found it a bit of a surprising result. Were Japan resting some players or something? They are usually a joy to watch.

They rested some, though were still pretty strong. They'd already qualified, though, and wouldn't have expected Ecuador to put up any meaningful threat given they'd conceded 16 goals in two matches.

Cameroon - Switzerland was the game to watch at the time. Two teams level on points and fighting for second place.

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Skeeez

Skeeez

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Please let me not be the only one hoping Jonathan Pearce has a heart attack before he patronises everybody at this World Cup to death.

He referred one of the England players doing a neat Cruyff turn as a 'lovely twirl' during last night's commentary. :lol:

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Dudley

Dudley

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Falcao to Chelsea. I'm trying to figure out the logic in this one, to be honest. Still, they seem to have got him much cheaper than Man United did (£4m loan fee, plus only paying a proportion of his £13m salary).

Really he's replacing Drogba rather than having to lead the team so it's probably a step up and if anyone can "fix" him it's Jose.

That said, still not sure.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Really he's replacing Drogba rather than having to lead the team so it's probably a step up and if anyone can "fix" him it's Jose.

That said, still not sure.

It's clearly dodgy fuckery between Mourinho and agent/kingpin Jorge Mendes. Hardly the first time they've done it either (I'm not saying they're the only manager/agent combo who do this type of thing, mind).

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Petrousgyre

Petrousgyre

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That's a bit conspiratorial. He had an awful season at United last season but they were such an odd team, particularly up front that it's hard to draw too many conclusions. He was magnificent just a few seasons ago and has played with Costa while at Atletico. Sounds like Chelsea are paying a fraction of what United did - so for a backup plan to the backup plan they could do far worse.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Obviously it's conspiratorial in that I can't prove it, but it's grounded in logic. Mourinho has a long history of signing players represented by his agent, most notably when he bought Coentrao for €30m when Real already had a better left back in Marcelo. He even went as far as trying to sign Hugo bloody Almeida for Madrid before Perez blocked it. He's now apparently about to get Witsel, another Mendes player, and there have been rumours about Griezmann too.

No one in their right mind would take this Falcao for purely footballing reasons. His fee may be reduced from what United paid, but it's still hefty. It's not just Utd either where he's been awful; look at him in the Copa America right now.

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