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Should we start a new football thread?

  • Yes... - Lets Start Fresh

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  • Nah... - Lets Just Keep This Going

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If you want to crown him, then crown his ***. Word to Denny Green

But seriously I'm not a fan of calling someone a GOAT while they are playing, like dudes do with LBJ.
 
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Don't think there's any logical reason why somebody still playing has to do with that.

I understand if a player has maybe the 2 greatest seasons ever seen early in his career and you say well can he do it over the span of his career. Because then there's the issue of body of work and longevity. But Messi has been playing for Barca for about 10 years now.
 
Oh and haven't really spoken to him about it yet, but my brother was chillin with Rooney and Wesley Sneijder today at Lavo earlier :lol

Cue Sneijder to Man U rumors again :rollin
 
Guatemala really shrunk out there today.

Even if they had their #10, he wouldn't be enough to make up for that terrible back line.

This is mexico's B squad aka copa america squad too, without vela, gio, guardado and herrera.

Don't really see guatemala as of right now tbh.

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apparently this is roma's 3rd kit...

Looks like a training kit tbh

Nike is just not giving a damn anymore. The home kit looks ******* terrible too.
 
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Missed the Copa Del Rey final due to work but watching it over, Messi :x, I will be boasting to my children about how I got to watch the best player to have ever played the game!
Requested next Saturday off and got it, hoping to see Barca lifting that champions league trophy!
 
RESIGNATION: Absa Premiership champions Kaizer Chiefs and coach Stuart Baxter have reportedly agreed to part ways, according to the Sunday Times.

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Thanks for everything Stuart :{ :\

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Small clubs, youth teams feel victimized by FIFA scandal
By STEPHEN WADE
May. 30, 2015 5:19 PM EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The accused in the FIFA scandal are easy to spot: globe-trotting executives charged with diverting millions meant to build the game to their personal accounts. Those who feel victimized aren't as obvious: Youth players with hand-me-down equipment, semi-pro clubs that can't afford to travel and developmental leagues that can't pay referees.

Players and coaches can only dream about millions reportedly siphoned off by top soccer officials.

"The reason that these people were able to make so much money corruptly goes to the love that people have for the sport," Kelly Currie, the acting U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, said as 14 top world soccer officials were indicted. "And so it's taking that love and skimming off the marketing rights that allowed these people to enrich themselves and line their pockets."

Take Fabio Braz, a 36-year-old defender on Brazil's lower-division America Football Club, which is deep in debt and having trouble paying for basics. He doesn't see money trickling down from powerful Brazilian Football Confederation, whose new $35 million headquarters is a monument to wealth and power and whose former president was arrested Wednesday.

The indictment claimed Brazilian soccer officials took bribes for decades, selling off TV rights and marketing agreements while millions were delivered to them personally.

"They take away our money," Braz told The Associated Press after Friday practice. "We are here daily working our butts off, earning our keep, defending our families, fighting for our survival."

Narinder K. Bhatia, the vice president of India's Delhi Soccer Association, said little money trickles down to the grassroots.

"It's been very difficult to run the game," Bhatia said. "We are unable to provide nutrition. A cup of tea and a snack is not enough for players during matches."

In South Africa, revelations that bribes were paid to get the 2010 World Cup have angered millions.

The indictment said "youth leagues and development programs" were hit hardest by corruption. FIFA spent $1 billion on development projects the last three years. But it's unclear how much of that money got to players and clubs, or ended up in the bank accounts of FIFA officials.

Christopher Gaffney, who studies global sports events at the University of Zurich, said the victims stretch beyond field, pointing to businesses involved or hurt by the schemes: Employees making shoes in Asian sweatshops who went underpaid, while their companies paid millions in bribes; Nepalese workers who died building massive stadiums so tiny Qatar can host the 2022 World Cup.

"The victims are hidden by the spectacle," Gaffney said in an email. "White-collar crime has its greatest impacts on those who don't own a suit."

___

BRAZIL

A worker leaned a ladder on a wall at dawn Thursday and pulled down — letter by letter — a sign on the Brazilian Football Confederation building that read: "Sede Jose Maria Marin," Jose Maria Marin Building.

Marin's was among those arrested in Switzerland and is charged with taking millions in bribes from multiple companies. He stepped down in April to become a CBF vice president.

About 45 kilometers (25 miles) north of the lavish CBF headquarters, Braz practiced Friday at Giulite Coutinho stadium, the home of America Football Club on the gritty outskirts of Rio.

The club's 11,000-seat stadium is surrounded by dilapidated cinderblock houses, abandoned factories and mountains of trash strewn at every corner.

The club was one of Rio's best 40 years ago, but now plays three levels below Brazil's top teams.

Braz has played for top Brazilian clubs and probably earns twice the average of 5,000 reals ($1,650) monthly salary for players on the team.

"The majority of soccer clubs in Brazil have big problems," Braz said. "Players aren't paid, and then you see how the CBF benefits with so much money and luxury."

The 100-year-old club is $20 million in debt, said Wagner Tardelli, head of soccer administration at the club.

Tardelli was a referee until he was pulled off a key match in 2008 by Marco Polo Del Nero, now the CBF president.

Del Nero accused Tardelli of match-fixing. Tardelli sued Del Nero and won his case, but the scandal ruined his career. He said he'd like to see Del Nero "arrested and put in jail."

"What we see with the CBF is impunity," Tardelli said. "The truth is the CBF operates as a separate state, and no president in this country has been able to change that institution."

Tardelli gazed around at a field of young players.

"If this money had been used for the kids and junior leagues — for example — wouldn't that have been a great help?"

___

INDIA

At the Asian Games last year, India was eliminated without scoring a goal. The massive nation has never played in the World Cup.

Rahul Paswan practiced this week with the semi-pro Royal Rangers on the uneven turf at New Delhi's Ambedkar Stadium.

"The biggest problem for us is buying equipment," said Paswan, an 18-year-old midfielder. "My family is unable to support me enough. I can't think of buying top-notch soccer boots. We also seldom get to play on a decent field."

Bhatia, the vice president of the Delhi Soccer Association, said development money from FIFA seldom filters down.

"Most of the money is spent on high staff salaries and hotel bills," Bhatia said. "There should be no diversion of money, it should go toward developing the game."

___

AFRICA

Revelations of bribes from the indictment have been front-page news in South Africa, where soccer clubs are crying out for funding.

South Africa's northern neighbor Zimbabwe is a stark example in Africa of how soccer still struggles in poorer countries.

The Zimbabwe Football Association recently had to auction off an artificial-surface training field for $115,000 to pay down its debt.

In West Africa, FIFA has funded the Guinea Football Federation's new headquarters, with gleaming offices and boardrooms, a reward for top officials who keep FIFA President Sepp Blatter in office.

Critics say that money would have been better spent on fields and equipment.

"FIFA has become a danger for small nations like Guinea," Guinean political analyst Aliou Diallo said. "The heads there butter themselves up with the misery of our fragile economies."

___

C. Rajshekhar Rao in New Delhi, Renata Brito in Rio and Gerald Imray in Johannesburg contributed to this report.
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Crazy Portoguese Cup Final on GolTv... Don't eem know if this happened already but this game is crazy...
 
Whelp, my son's U11 team finished as spring division champs! A team that had a tie breaker with us lost today which helped us win. Not bad for our first foray into 11v11. Looking forward to seeing the boys play this summer.

Our coaches are brining in some coaches from the Dutch Soccer School for a summer technical training camp. The lead coach is someone that is a KNVB UEFA A license holder & the second coach currently plays in the Eerste Divisie (Dutch second division). I'll find out what team he plays for.

Milan's Silvio Berlusconi is saying he wants to bring back Carlo & Ibra... That would be interesting but I don't think that's going to happen. That team has a lot of deficiencies & won't be in contention for anything for quite some time.

I'd actually like to see Gundogan go to Bayern. I think that would be a fantastic fit...

It's official, Barca B has been relegated to third division... :{ This is an indictment on the leadership of the club for letting this happen. They have lost focus on La Masia & the youth teams. Utterly directionless. Barca B got thrashed 5-2 by Leganes. :{ Despite all the talent in the world, Barca B displayed no heart... Munir, Halilovic, Sandro, & Jean Marie Dongou really need to look at themselves & ask if they're worthy of playing for the Blaugrana...

I will say though, this does speak to the level of talent in the second division in Spain. I've gotten to see a lot of Segunda División trying to follow Barca B & there was a lot of great play but also a lot of solid coaching.
 
Napoli/Lazio just got interesting. Rafa's boys showing some fight now...

:eek
Lazio down to 10, Pipa ties it. 25 minutes to get another...
 
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lol @ the fat spanish weighter

so now we are linked with Schneiderlin.. man I just want this Otamendi deal to go through..
 
Anyone follow the Brazilian league or players specifically? Word is that Gerson has signed to Barca or is going to. Thiago Silva has been talking about him lately, wishing that he was at PSG and compares him to Neymar.

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