All threads are temporary. This one's about soccer.

[DaveInSeattle]

I've been listening to a podcast called "It Was What It Was", with soccer pundit Jonathon Wilson, where they talk about the history of the game, and they've been doing episodes about the League Cup.

The most recent one was an interview with a guy named David Corner, who played for Sunderland against Norwich in the League Cup (then called the "Milk Cup") final in 1985. Guy was just 18 years old, and in just his 6th game, and they talked about the HUGE mistake he made, which cost Sunderland the match, and about the abuse and criticism he took from the Sunderland fans afterwards.

I found the clip on Youtube, and I can't believe they blamed this poor kid. Yeah, he was trying to let the ball roll out for a goal kick, and the Norwich player snuck in and stole the ball, and it led to a goal, but there's like 3 other players that could have stopped the play, and the shot deflected off a Sunderland player for the goal.



And then I read a story about the whole thing: Torment and catharsis: Sunderland's David Corner and the 1985 League Cup

And a Sunderland player missed a PK that would have evened it up! But this poor guy spent years getting beat up outside of pubs because of it.

[cerranoredux]

I’m bawling. Like actual bawling. Been a hard year. It just got a little better.

HOWAY THE LADS!!!

[A_B]

I’m bawling. Like actual bawling. Been a hard year. It just got a little better.

HOWAY THE LADS!!!

Take the silver to Newcastle!

[Steve of phpBB]

Woo-hoo!

[The Sybian]

I’m bawling. Like actual bawling. Been a hard year. It just got a little better.

HOWAY THE LADS!!!

Happy for you, Steve and GC. Sorry if I’m missing anyone else.

[Giff]

I’m bawling. Like actual bawling. Been a hard year. It just got a little better.

HOWAY THE LADS!!!

How I felt when Baylor won it all the year after my Dad passed. Big hugs man!!

[govmentchedda]

I’m bawling. Like actual bawling. Been a hard year. It just got a little better.

HOWAY THE LADS!!!

That's awesome, bud.

[DaveInSeattle]

I’m bawling. Like actual bawling. Been a hard year. It just got a little better.

HOWAY THE LADS!!!

Well played game. I'm a Liverpool supporter, but have to tip the cap to Newcastle (Joelinton was an absolute beast).

And it was fun seeing how much it meant to the Toon Army!

[mister d]

Good shit, Cerrano.

[degenerasian]

7 English teams can get into the Champions League next year, 3 in Europa and the 11th placed team in Conference

Liverpool, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City need to Finnish top 4 (fairly reasonable prediction)

Newcastle qualify for the Champions League in fifth, with UEFA awarding an extra place for English clubs' performances in Europe this season. (Prem already have 5 CL spots in the bag, so this is another reasonable take, although teams placed 4-10 are so incredibly close that a final position is going to be very hard to predict)

Brighton & Hove Albion qualify for the Europa League by finishing 6th (pretty specific, but I guess this is reasonable)

AFC Bournemouth finish seventh and qualify for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup (ughhhhhh)

Chelsea finish eighth and qualify for the Europa League by winning the Conference League (can win conference, but dropping to 8th? yikes)

Aston Villa finish ninth and qualify for the Champions League by winning that competition this season (the crack pipe has officially burst)

Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur finish 10th and qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa League (k)

Then whoever in 11th, Brentord! will get into Conference League

[Shirley]

That's pretty funny. (Except for the part about Chelsea falling to 8th).

[garyclark]

If you have Paramount+, queue up the opening of Celtic-Rangers derby replay.

The rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone somehow sounds louder than Anfield at full throttle.

[garyclark]

I’m bawling. Like actual bawling. Been a hard year. It just got a little better.

HOWAY THE LADS!!!

I was wiping away the tears.

Watching all of those grown men cry. Fathers and sons. Men in their 80s. Just the emotion of it.

And of course, it couldn't have been easy. They dominated the match, start to end. But it felt they they barely squeaked it out in the end. In typical Newcastle fashion, they made us earn it.

[DaveInSeattle]

I’m bawling. Like actual bawling. Been a hard year. It just got a little better.

HOWAY THE LADS!!!

I was wiping away the tears.

Watching all of those grown men cry. Fathers and sons. Men in their 80s. Just the emotion of it.

And of course, it couldn't have been easy. They dominated the match, start to end. But it felt they they barely squeaked it out in the end. In typical Newcastle fashion, they made us earn it.

Congrats to all the Swamper Geordies. They really did outplay Liverpool yesterday.

I do wonder though...if Pope hadn't made that one handed save of the Curtis Jones' shot, if things might have gone differently.

[garyclark]

I’m bawling. Like actual bawling. Been a hard year. It just got a little better.

HOWAY THE LADS!!!

I was wiping away the tears.

Watching all of those grown men cry. Fathers and sons. Men in their 80s. Just the emotion of it.

And of course, it couldn't have been easy. They dominated the match, start to end. But it felt they they barely squeaked it out in the end. In typical Newcastle fashion, they made us earn it.

Congrats to all the Swamper Geordies. They really did outplay Liverpool yesterday.

I do wonder though...if Pope hadn't made that one handed save of the Curtis Jones' shot, if things might have gone differently.

I don't doubt it. I think a better question is, what would have happened if Jones started? He changed the dynamic of the match.

That was Liverpool's first shot on goal, I think. Or something like it. And dominating the match only to lose is exactly the way Newcastle would lose.

I would also add that the Bruno offsides call on what would have been Isak's second goal, and made it 3-0, could have easily been allowed. The call was made because Bruno was in the keeper's area. But he was to the keeper's left. And Isak scored on his right.

From a tactical perspective, I remain mystified why Slot put Macalister on Burn on corners. Burn almost scored earlier on a header. Macalister is like half his size. It made no sense to me, or to the match commentators, nor the analysts at halftime or postgame. But Slot kept doing it. I was sad when Macalister was subbed.

I also do not recall any match in which Mo Salah was that invisible. He normally slices and dices us to bits. I completely he forgot he was even on the pitch for much of the match. Not sure if that was down to performance, or great defending, or tactical, or what.

[DaveInSeattle]

From a tactical perspective, I remain mystified why Slot put Macalister on Burn on corners. Burn almost scored earlier on a header. Macalister is like half his size. It made no sense to me, or to the match commentators, nor the analysts at halftime or postgame. But Slot kept doing it. I was sad when Macalister was subbed.

From what I heard, Slot was asked about that. The reasoning was that Burn was positioned outside the box on the corners, rather than being in the "mixer" in the 6 yard box. So if they had moved Virg or Konate out to mark him, it would have opened up a space in front of the goal for someone else.

And, Burn's header was kind of a miracle shot. Headers hit that hard, from that far out, and so perfectly placed, just don't happen all that happen. So fair play to him.

And jeez...Burn is a big dude. Don't think I knew that until they showed him standing with some other players. He was about 2 1/2 feet taller than Macalister.

I also do not recall any match in which Mo Salah was that invisible. He normally slices and dices us to bits. I completely he forgot he was even on the pitch for much of the match. Not sure if that was down to performance, or great defending, or tactical, or what.

You are right...Salah was pretty much invisible for the match. I wonder how much not having Trent on the right side to feed the ball to Salah had an effect. And Newcastle's midfield completely dominated the match, so the Liverpool midfield wasn't able to feed him either.

And...I was reading somewhere that Salah generally has a bit of a fall off during this time of the season. Hesitant to connect it with his observing Ramadan, but not everyone can be like Hakeem Olajuwon and dominate without eating or drinking all day.

[mister d]

I could perform at a Carabao Cup level without eating, but not drinking would probably slow me down a bit.

[cerranoredux]

I’m bawling. Like actual bawling. Been a hard year. It just got a little better.

HOWAY THE LADS!!!

Happy for you, Steve and GC. Sorry if I’m missing anyone else.

The only one else was boxcar Fritz, I think.

[cerranoredux]

Good shit, Cerrano.

Thanks guys. I spent all day Monday day watching highlights and just existing in a puddle. It just got me, this guy whose only been following for 15 years, somehow tapping into unspent emotion from my last 9 moths and merging those with what some fans had to feel at the age of 75/80, and to know no other. Victory that I’ll see in my time will compare to the last 48 hours. It been wonderful to hear from neutral’s congratulations here and elsewhere, and to know that’s a different club now.

Hugs to Giff, to Syb: fuck Theo Walcotts goal, to Steve and Gary “HOWAY THA LADS!” This has been as big as the first ‘08 Phils WC for me and I hope to exeren e another UCL.

[garyclark]

From a tactical perspective, I remain mystified why Slot put Macalister on Burn on corners. Burn almost scored earlier on a header. Macalister is like half his size. It made no sense to me, or to the match commentators, nor the analysts at halftime or postgame. But Slot kept doing it. I was sad when Macalister was subbed.

From what I heard, Slot was asked about that. The reasoning was that Burn was positioned outside the box on the corners, rather than being in the "mixer" in the 6 yard box. So if they had moved Virg or Konate out to mark him, it would have opened up a space in front of the goal for someone else.

And, Burn's header was kind of a miracle shot. Headers hit that hard, from that far out, and so perfectly placed, just don't happen all that happen. So fair play to him.

And jeez...Burn is a big dude. Don't think I knew that until they showed him standing with some other players. He was about 2 1/2 feet taller than Macalister.

I also do not recall any match in which Mo Salah was that invisible. He normally slices and dices us to bits. I completely he forgot he was even on the pitch for much of the match. Not sure if that was down to performance, or great defending, or tactical, or what.

You are right...Salah was pretty much invisible for the match. I wonder how much not having Trent on the right side to feed the ball to Salah had an effect. And Newcastle's midfield completely dominated the match, so the Liverpool midfield wasn't able to feed him either.

And...I was reading somewhere that Salah generally has a bit of a fall off during this time of the season. Hesitant to connect it with his observing Ramadan, but not everyone can be like Hakeem Olajuwon and dominate without eating or drinking all day.

Interesting on Salah.

On Macalister, Burn was lining up, but then moving in to charge the header with velocity. And yes, it was a wonder-goal, but the announcers were bringing it up time after time because the threat was consistently there.

Slot's been nothing short of a revelation, and I absolutely love the guy. He is super straightforward and honest. Managers are a big contributor to my enjoyment of the EPL, and he replaced someone who felt irreplaceable. So I think he's telling the truth. But it's surprising, because it feels like an obviously poor tactic. Maybe Eddie knew he would do this via scouting and lined Burn up there on purpose.

In the postgame, Burn said he had been practicing from that position and distance, and Howe even gave him some stick because he had missed so many in practice.

[degenerasian]

Bulgarian football has a moment of silence for a guy who's not dead

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... being-dead

If he had been home 10 minutes sooner, he would have seen his own tribute.

[rass]

I found this helpful, as I hadn't circled back to look at the landscape in a few years:

It sounds like USL may vote on promotion relegation soon.

A year and a half later they tried again and...

In a historic move, United Soccer League (USL) owners voted Tuesday to become the first professional soccer entity in the United States to adopt promotion and relegation, sources with knowledge of the vote told The Athletic.

USL owners passed the vote with a supermajority, according to those sources.

The USL currently operates two pro leagues: the second-division USL Championship and third-division USL League One. Last month it announced it will launch a new first division, with expectations to begin play in 2028. League owners now will look to introduce promotion and relegation throughout that three-tiered pyramid, with an aim to launch pro-rel along along with the new Division 1 league.

[wlu_lax6]

US Beach team finished 3rd at the Concacaf Beach Championship. The semifinal PK loss means no Beach World Cup in 2025.

Also the US Open Cup is underway. Only 1 cupset in the first round so far (Amateur teams v pros). A bunch more games tonight

[degenerasian]

I wonder where Canada teams fall in this? Can Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal be relegated? And if so to where? Does the CPL merge with the USL?

[wlu_lax6]

Not sure anyone really cares if a minor league adds pro/rel. Only reason this is getting noticed is ESPN has a USL tv/streaming arrangement. Those top teams are a bit more stable than in years past but if a location gets hot (san diego), MLS can just come in and force them out. Even trying to bring the Cosmos brand back was a flop becuase who cares about that when I have 2 MLS teams and games on TV all the time in the New York market. I appreciate the Riverhounds, Kickers, Switchbacks, etc...but not turning on the channel to see ex-MLSers, Concacaf islanders, and college kids who can't let it go.

and this coming from a guy who often streams Baltimore Blast games on youtube and seems to always find futsal and beach soccer on FS2.

[P.D.X.]

oh man if they lost wlu...

[rass]

I believe I’m going to el Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica this evening for the CR/Belize Gold Cup qualifier. If not, I can see the entire pitch from my hotel room.

[Nonlinear FC]

I believe I’m going to el Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica this evening for the CR/Belize Gold Cup qualifier. If not, I can see the entire pitch from my hotel room.

When did they stop playing in Saprissa? That place was a hell hole for visiting teams.

[The Sybian]

I believe I’m going to el Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica this evening for the CR/Belize Gold Cup qualifier. If not, I can see the entire pitch from my hotel room.

That’s awesome!

[rass]

I believe I’m going to el Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica this evening for the CR/Belize Gold Cup qualifier. If not, I can see the entire pitch from my hotel room.

When did they stop playing in Saprissa? That place was a hell hole for visiting teams.

no se

[rass]

I believe I’m going to el Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica this evening for the CR/Belize Gold Cup qualifier. If not, I can see the entire pitch from my hotel room.

That’s awesome!

IMG_9864.jpeg (24.34 KiB) Viewed 3238 times

[Steve of phpBB]

I believe I’m going to el Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica this evening for the CR/Belize Gold Cup qualifier. If not, I can see the entire pitch from my hotel room.

That’s awesome!

IMG_9864.jpeg

Holy crap that's great.

[mister d]

I want a villa in a Costa Rica
So I can smoke my reefer
And enjoy how life's supposed to treat ya

[rass]

Belize isn’t too good at soccer you guys, though they did score this evening (after losing to CR 0-7 last week) and it was a pretty embarrassing lapse for CR’s keeper. Crowd wasn’t happy.

But the crowd itself didn’t feel much different than a game in the US (except for the whistles instead of boos) but everything else (how the vendors moved through the crowd, what food they sold, the tile covering pretty much every surface in the interior of the stadium) felt a little different.

[Nonlinear FC]

What was the food situation?

[rass]

What was the food situation?

The vendors walk across the rows, not just down the aisles. There was a guy selling pizza, another selling bags of chips, full cups of fountain soda, but also churros, and mango cups that they doused with (I think) evaporated/condensed milk and seasoning (like Tajin?), and guy yelling “PATI PATI” and carrying a big wicker basket I’m told was full of what I would call Jamaican meat patties.

They had a 5 or 6 piece band in a lower section that played the entire game. The PA only kicked in for substitutions and cards.

Wiki says the stadium opened in 2011, is the first “modern” stadium in Centro America, and it was largely financed by China.

There were multiple Saudi Arabia tourism ads and a board behind one of the goals sponsored by the PIF.

[Steve of phpBB]

Belize isn’t too good at soccer you guys, though they did score this evening (after losing to CR 0-7 last week) and it was a pretty embarrassing lapse for CR’s keeper. Crowd wasn’t happy.

But the crowd itself didn’t feel much different than a game in the US (except for the whistles instead of boos) but everything else (how the vendors moved through the crowd, what food they sold, the tile covering pretty much every surface in the interior of the stadium) felt a little different.

Sorry if I missed this elsewhere, but how did you end up in Costa Rica? Are you on vacation, work, ?

[HaulCitgo]

Sounds like a time. And I probably would have gotten 5 of those patties. Whats the brew situation like? Any flares?

[mister d]

Had an excellent one last Friday as a consolation prize for the best banh mi I’d ever had having just closed up shop.

[mister d]

Mess of a sentence there.