The Swamp

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:41 am So, I watched nearly all the matches while on vacation and am now officially hooked on soccer. Now to pick a team to follow next season.

Yeah, I'm much more into it now, too. I have a team but they are rarely on TV. Go, Leicester. Or, never on TV. Go, Blackpool.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:42 am

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:41 am So, I watched nearly all the matches while on vacation and am now officially hooked on soccer. Now to pick a team to follow next season.

Yeah, I'm much more into it now, too. I have a team but they are rarely on TV. Go, Leicester. Or, never on TV. Go, Blackpool.

Feel like I should start a thread asking for people to tell me why I should root for their team.

My boss is British and she gives me shit about the Blackpool thing all the time.

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:44 am My boss is British and she gives me shit about the Blackpool thing all the time.

I have a neighbor down the street who was born and raised in Manchester and he saw me in my Blackpool t-shirt a few years ago. Now, he wants to talk soccer with me every time we see each other (I guess he doesn't get so many opportunities around here). He is a big Man City fan and never fails to chuckle and say something like, "I can't believe you are a Blackpool fan. You know don't you, that the team is shit, the owners are shit, and the town is shit."

Are there any players you really liked during this World Cup? Cheer for his team then you'll be hooked.

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:41 am So, I watched nearly all the matches while on vacation and am now officially hooked on soccer. Now to pick a team to follow next season.

Huzzah! Welcome to the club. I'd suggest watching whatever league (EPL is easiest) for a year and see what team's style sticks out to you. We can answer team specific questions for you. Also, don't pick City. Mr. D likes City. Don't be Mr. D.

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:01 pm

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:41 am So, I watched nearly all the matches while on vacation and am now officially hooked on soccer. Now to pick a team to follow next season.

Huzzah! Welcome to the club. I'd suggest watching whatever league (EPL is easiest) for a year and see what team's style sticks out to you. We can answer team specific questions for you. Also, don't pick City. Mr. D likes City. Don't be Mr. D.

Start a thread, Giff! Include a poll with about 8 contenders. The dedicated soccer guys like chedda might make impassioned pitches for their teams

sancarlos wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:10 pm

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:01 pm

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:41 am So, I watched nearly all the matches while on vacation and am now officially hooked on soccer. Now to pick a team to follow next season.

Huzzah! Welcome to the club. I'd suggest watching whatever league (EPL is easiest) for a year and see what team's style sticks out to you. We can answer team specific questions for you. Also, don't pick City. Mr. D likes City. Don't be Mr. D.

Start a thread, Giff! Include a poll with about 8 contenders. The dedicated soccer guys like chedda might make impassioned pitches for their teams

The couple I mentioned in our escapades are big Barcelona fans...so if our meeting on Friday goes well, that might be my team.

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:11 pm

sancarlos wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:10 pm

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:01 pm

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:41 am So, I watched nearly all the matches while on vacation and am now officially hooked on soccer. Now to pick a team to follow next season.

Huzzah! Welcome to the club. I'd suggest watching whatever league (EPL is easiest) for a year and see what team's style sticks out to you. We can answer team specific questions for you. Also, don't pick City. Mr. D likes City. Don't be Mr. D.

Start a thread, Giff! Include a poll with about 8 contenders. The dedicated soccer guys like chedda might make impassioned pitches for their teams

The couple I mentioned in our escapades are big Barcelona fans...so if our meeting on Friday goes well, that might be my team.

Nothing wrong with Barca, except it may be hard to find them on the telly.

Hard to compete with that frankly...

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:40 pm Hard to compete with that frankly...

Yeah, even though they're massive, they're not as massive and prickish as their evil empire rivals, Madrid. The team shares a close identity and mindset with Catalonia who has historically been shat upon by the crown and national politics, also coming out of Madrid. Messi is still Messi they're revamping their grand old stadium. They generally play attractive football.

degenerasian wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:55 am Are there any players you really liked during this World Cup? Cheer for his team then you'll be hooked.

This is a good suggestion.

The OTHER route is to pick a team from a city you might have some familial or ancestral roots. Especially if you have bandwagon-induced cringe holding you back.

I used to moderate the Yanks Abroad forum over on bigsoccer, back when it was kind of novel to have US players abroad. I kind of fell in like with teams like Fulham and Nottingham Forrest because they gave US players a shot.

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:51 pm

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:40 pm Hard to compete with that frankly...

Yeah, even though they're massive, they're not as massive and prickish as their evil empire rivals, Madrid. The team shares a close identity and mindset with Catalonia who has historically been shat upon by the crown and national politics, also coming out of Madrid. Messi is still Messi they're revamping their grand old stadium. They generally play attractive football.

Yes, that too. I was thinking hard to compete with the other thing.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:47 am

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:44 am My boss is British and she gives me shit about the Blackpool thing all the time.

I have a neighbor down the street who was born and raised in Manchester and he saw me in my Blackpool t-shirt a few years ago. Now, he wants to talk soccer with me every time we see each other (I guess he doesn't get so many opportunities around here). He is a big Man City fan and never fails to chuckle and say something like, "I can't believe you are a Blackpool fan. You know don't you, that the team is shit, the owners are shit, and the town is shit."

Your neighbor isn’t wrong with his Blackpool comments.

Pickford and that backline are playing with fire passing it around like this.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 1:35 pm Pickford and that backline are playing with fire passing it around like this.

And they almost got burned there at the end.

Stop fucking around in the back.

I'd be surprised waistcoat doesn't get after them for that in the locker room.

And I still don't understand that offside call. Has anyone seen an explanation for that?

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 1:53 pm And I still don't understand that offside call. Has anyone seen an explanation for that?

Which one?

degenerasian wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 1:59 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 1:53 pm And I still don't understand that offside call. Has anyone seen an explanation for that?

Which one?

On the play where Kane hit the post, after the shot, the AR raised his flag and called offside. Rob Stone just said that if that had gone in, it would've gone to VAR.

It was a pretty inexplicable call, frankly. If you are going with the the theory that the ARs aren't supposed to raise their flag unless it's really obvious, that one wasn't offside, at all.

Weird, i don't think the ref raised the flag when the pass came in to Kane. The flag went up when the ball went out of play?

But then it would be a corner.

England gonna England.

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:18 pm

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:11 pm

sancarlos wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:10 pm

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:01 pm

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:41 am So, I watched nearly all the matches while on vacation and am now officially hooked on soccer. Now to pick a team to follow next season.

Huzzah! Welcome to the club. I'd suggest watching whatever league (EPL is easiest) for a year and see what team's style sticks out to you. We can answer team specific questions for you. Also, don't pick City. Mr. D likes City. Don't be Mr. D.

Start a thread, Giff! Include a poll with about 8 contenders. The dedicated soccer guys like chedda might make impassioned pitches for their teams

The couple I mentioned in our escapades are big Barcelona fans...so if our meeting on Friday goes well, that might be my team.

Nothing wrong with Barca, except it may be hard to find them on the telly.

Not at all. They are on every week on BEIn sport (I mean if you want to support Al Jazeera sports network). But if you want to follow Barca you will get more Barca then you can handle on that channel. Almost every game gets a "90 in 30" the following week plus multiple showings of "barca tv". Plus Barca has Americans Ben Lederman (still a few years from being age eligible) and Konrad de la Fuente

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/spor ... -star.html

BeIN and 90 in 30 are great (especially if you like Barcelona or Madrid). Their app and web player are a bit lacking, and access to the channel is one of the things I miss about cutting the cord.

So both Belgium and England tried to tank when they played each other. Now they get to play each other for 3rd.

Can't really say England did something spectacularly bad. That was a bit of brilliance/good fortune for the Croatian goal.

Overall, though, I'm sure Southgate is going to take some heat for not trying to shore up the middle of the park when things got all zany after the first Croatian goal.

And Alexi Lalas saying Pickford deserved a card on his game saving stop is a prime example of why he's such a huge tool. Ridiculous comment.

England were pretty bad. Their only shot on target they had was the Trippier free kick. They just had no ideas going forward and needed to test a keeper who was hurt last game.

They just aren't talented enough yet, but this is a good building block for 2020 and 2022.

I don't know about all that. They were pretty clearly the better team in the 1st half and Croatia had absolutely nothing going on. They really should've been up 2-0 at half, Kane hitting the post and all.

Again, Southgate is going to take heat for not pushing the team to keep attacking after the break. They started dropping back too far and inviting crosses. But I don't think a team that cruised through the group stage and then was unlucky not to escape clean from Colombia would be considered wanting for talent right now.

This the fastest English team I've ever seen and they are VERY young, as you point out. But they are good right now.

So do they need a 3rd man up front to bridge Sterling's speed and Kane's finishing?

I will say this, they need to clean up their bullshit in the back. Holy fuck. I'm not sure I've ever seen that much calamity at this level/stage of the sport.

At one point that pony-tailed guy from Croatia just knocked it out of bounds and I turned to my work buddy and we just laughed. THAT'S OK TO DO, ENGLAND.

Fucking Hell.

They also had that Stones header cleared off the line by a defender in extra time. That shot goes a few inches higher or that defender doesn't rotate like that (he wasn't originally on the post, I don't think) and England goes up 2-1 in extra time.

It was a hell of a game with some pretty great momentum shifts.

Cruised through the group stage with Tunisia and Panama! Last minute goal to beat Tunisia.

Southgate will get blasted for Henderson. Just a black hold in the midfield.

degenerasian wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:25 pm Cruised through the group stage with Tunisia and Panama! Last minute goal to beat Tunisia.

Southgate will get blasted for Henderson. Just a black hold in the midfield.

They also soundly beat Sweden. C'mon man. Saying or even implying they are a bad team, having reached the semis of the WC is just kind of off the charts. Saying they are a young team that needs to improve? Sure. Part of what did them in was youth and letting some panic set in after the first goal. But just in terms of how they played this tournament, overall, they absolutely deserved a spot in the semis. I don't think anyone beats France right now. But Belgium, England, Colombia (with Hamez), and France were the best overall sides this WC.

Okay, this warmup pullover has to be for sale somewhere, right?

England's just one of those teams that's fun to bag on. Like this:



Ouch.

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:53 pm Okay, this warmup pullover has to be for sale somewhere, right?

Nike.com surely

I had a 3:00 tee time today.

So made sure to check in at 2:50 so I wouldn;t see the score on the clubhouse TV. Told the guys I was gofling with to not tell me the score. Walked by other golfers with fingers in my ears so i wouldn't hear the score.

My daughter (the soccer fanatic) watched the game, but we had planned that when I called home after the round, she would answer and I;d tell her if I hadn;t heard the score and she would cue up the dvr.

Wife answers and first thing she says is - "You're lucky you didn;t see the end of the game."

So, I immediately knew that Croatia won late.

Pissed off, but ultimately, she saved 2 1/2 hours of my night.

Croatia is a great team, but as a Jew, I can say "Fuck the Balkan States."

For the first time, to my eyes, England looked like a young team. Croatia just looked like men...experienced men who are used to playing in big moments.

And Luka Modric is a hell of a player...

Modric must win the Ballon D'or this year right? Break the string of Ronaldo and Messi, they have won since 2008. In fact they have been 1st and 2nd since 2008 other than Iniesta finishing 2nd in 2010.

Trivia: who won the World Footballer of the Year (now Ballon D'Or) in 2007?
you get 10 guesses.

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:32 am For the first time, to my eyes, England looked like a young team. Croatia just looked like men...experienced men who are used to playing in big moments.

And Luka Modric is a hell of a player...

Both England and France brought teams with an average age of 26, right behind Nigeria who had the youngest team at the WC.

Croatia - 27.9

I don't know what the average age of the guys who actually played, but I bet that difference is much wider.