The Ultimate Football Thread 2013-2014 Vol. 4 EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A etc

[chippedtoothsmile]

I haven't watched much of Columbia but that squad doesn't scare anyone. Maybe I'm missing something

 

[isco]

Yea man Barcelona is heaven for visitors. My relatives there live in Molins de Rei, basically the suburbs. Spent a month or so there almost every summer until I went to college Unfortunately for me, i've only gone there with my parents, and my cousins are either extra young or super old, so I didn't get to do much.And for the people that live there though, it's rough. High living costs+no jobs/very low pay even with years of experience=all bad.my cousins are engineers that would make more being Spanish teachers here I'm the States

Tried to move there..next to impossible to get a work visa..a student visa is an option..but it would cost a lot..normally go for 2 weeks every year

 

[AZwildcats]

There is decent talent on that Colombia squad. Cuadrado, Guarin, Rodriguez and others are very good players. I don't know if Martinez at striker scares anyone the way Falcao would but they have a nice squad.

 

[nomadicsole21]

Colombia will be a fun team to root for. Would of been one of my sleepers to make some noise but since Falcao is out I just hope they play some pretty football. Dont sleep on Jackson Martinez tho!

 

[oneilmatt]

Can't fathom why Falcao was left off. Was he injured? Martinez is good but Falcao is the second best pure striker in the world and a proven goal scorer in two of Europe's top leagues. Crazy to leave him out.

 

[nrg1604]

Not sure if srs

 

[User 37837]

^

 

[oneilmatt]

Definitely serious. Only Ibrahimovic tops him in that department. He is better than RvP and Messi is not a true striker. What was so unbelievable about that statement?

 

[atransta]

^ Falcao tore his acl a while ago and isn't fit enough to make the squad

 

[flyeed]

Definitely serious. Only Ibrahimovic tops him in that department. He is better than RvP and Messi is not a true striker. What was so unbelievable about that statement?

I know man Falcao was a machine for Monaco all season and definitely was there MVP in helping them finishing 2nd to P$G.

There are rumors that he slept with the coach's daughter, only sensible reason I can see him being left off the team.

 

[flyeed]

Damn atransta had to ruin it

 

[oneilmatt]

 
^ Falcao tore his acl a while ago and isn't fit enough to make the squad

Thanks. Figured it was an injury.

 

[atransta]

Damn atransta had to ruin it

man you had me going with the story, I was starting to question myself if I knew what was wrong with Falcao

 

[oneilmatt]

Thanks for all the sarcasm, guys. Really appreciate it. I didn't do any digging so I didn't know he tore his ACL. Could have just answered when I asked. * * * 

 

[larryeastwood]

I actually like the Real Madrid pink kit. I was huge fan of the Juventus one a couple years ago. Anyone know when the united chevy kits drop?

 

[tomdiginson]

I like the kit too, It just looks like they are advertising for Tmobile or pepto bismol

 

[truth-serum]

He was at united with a bad perm job before he went to Juve

Kid looks like he's going to be a real talent...United should sign him up.

 

[rook]

He was at united with a bad perm job before he went to Juve

Kid looks like he's going to be a real talent...United should sign him up.

Lol went over your head bro

 

[macbk]

Pledging my fandom now to the NYCFC .

 

[MetalMario]

I like the pink

 

[AZwildcats]

That Madrid pink jersey is ugly as **** :x

 

[Beans]

yeah that Madrid kit is horrible.. hope the third kit is in fact a dark purple.. hard to tell from the pics ive seen

 

[teamjordan79]

madrid gonna look like a box of good-n-plenty next year

 

[mastamind89]

 

[mastamind89]

The charade that tipped Bill Clinton over the edge
Date
June 3, 2014 - 11:23AM
Holly Watt, Claire Newell and Ben Bryant

Bill Clinton looked anything but happy as he strode into the Savoy Baur en Ville hotel in Zurich in December 2010. The receptionists could tell he was irritated, but had no idea just how angry he was.
After closing the door to his suite, he reached for an ornament on a table and threw it at a wall mirror in a fit of rage, shattering the glass.

The former US president, who had spent two years travelling the world glad-handing members of football's governing body, FIFA, could not believe America's bid to host the 2022 World Cup had been beaten by, of all places, Qatar.
Clinton, the honorary chairman of the US bid, had wheeled out such big-hitters as Brad Pitt, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Morgan Freeman and Spike Lee to add lustre to the US Soccer Federation bid. Australia and Japan's bids had seemed the biggest threat, but few had seriously entertained the idea that Qatar, a footballing desert, could win.
"Clinton was fuming," said one well-placed source. "He felt humiliated and felt the decision did not make sense."

As Qatar's bid team celebrated and the FIFA president Sepp Blatter declared football was going to "new lands", questions were already being asked about the decision-making process. Why would FIFA award the World Cup to a small Gulf state with no footballing history, let alone stadia, where summer temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius?
The answer could lie in a series of payments made by a senior Qatari official to various FIFA members. The Qatar 2022 bid committee is adamant that there is no link.
In the wake of Qatar's victory, the US and Australian governing bodies, or sources close to them, each hired teams of private detectives who have worked behind the scenes since, interviewing witnesses and obtaining documents in the search for what they were certain was the hidden truth about the motives of FIFA members in voting for Qatar.
Not happy: Clinton at the vote announcement for the 2022 World Cup in Zurich in 2010. In the foreground is Mohamed Bin Hammam.
Not happy: Clinton at the vote announcement for the 2022 World Cup in Zurich in 2010. In the foreground is Mohamed Bin Hammam. Photo: Getty Images
Whether there is any connection between these investigations and the leak of documents to The Sunday Times is unclear, but Australia and the US have most to gain if Qatar is stripped of the World Cup.
Meanwhile, newspapers have been making their own inquiries into the controversy.
In March this year, The Telegraph disclosed that Jack Warner, the former vice-president of FIFA, and his family were paid almost £1.2 million ($2.17 million) by a Qatari firm linked to the World Cup bid. This newspaper also revealed that the 10-year-old daughter of a Brazilian FIFA executive who participated in the 2010 decision had more than £2 million put into a savings account set up in her name.
Now The Sunday Times has been given millions of leaked documents that appear to show a further £2 million in bribes that were paid to FIFA members in a plot allegedly organised by Mohammed Bin Hammam, Qatar's most senior football official at the time.
Bin Hammam is alleged to have used 10 secret slush funds to make dozens of payments, many of them to accounts controlled by the heads of 30 African football associations who could lobby the continent's four executive members over how to vote.
Bin Hammam was banned from world football in 2011 after he was caught bribing voters in his bid to be elected FIFA president.
Now The Telegraph has discovered that Michel Platini, the president of Europe's governing body UEFA, held secret meetings with Bin Hammam, and that Thailand was offered a gas deal in return for its support of the Qatar bid.
The clamour for Qatar to be punished has now built such momentum that Australia is said to be ready to re-run its bid if the 2022 tournament is up for grabs again, with the US likely to follow suit.
Where that leaves England's World Cup ambitions is less easy to predict. England bid for the 2018 World Cup, given to Russia on the same day as Qatar was awarded the 2022 tournament.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Duke of Cambridge were among those lobbying FIFA in the run-up to the vote in Switzerland, yet the bid got just two votes and was eliminated in the first round of voting.
Andy Anson, the chief executive of England's bid, said some executive committee members had told lies. He had been confident that England could secure seven votes in the first round, a base that would have provided a platform for victory.
"I do feel people let us down, I'd be lying if I said they didn't," he said. "People who promised us our vote obviously went the other way."
Even before Russia annexed Crimea, concerns had been raised about the country's human rights and safety record, and there is speculation that if the 2022 vote has to be re-run, the 2018 vote would have to be re-run also.
FIFA is already looking at the possibility of moving the 2022 tournament to the winter months, and speculation is growing that Blatter is looking for an excuse to reverse the decision altogether, with health concerns being a potential excuse.
A spokesman for the Qatar 2022 bid said Bin Hammam had never worked for the bid and they knew nothing about his activities.