Soccer discussion thread

[Seeitsaveit13]

so yesterday probably couldn't have gone worse. USA lost in Honduras 2-1. I watched both other games and wow... the hex is gonna be rough. Jamaica drew AT Mexico City. Mexico's all-time record before that games is like 60-5-1 (Costa Rica beat them there and the game is still talked about). Jamaica had 2 amazing first half chances and were unlucky not to get a goal. The thing about Jamaica is they re-vamped their side with British born players of Jamaican origin. This is not the same Jamaica team we are used to seeing.

Panama was up 2-0 on Costa Rica at home but ended up tying 2-2. Costa Rica has long been regarded as the 3rd best team CONCACAF but has faded a bit in recent years. They really only have 1 star abroad (Striker Ruiz at Fulham) but he played very well. The USA needs to watch out for him.


Next up is a pair of games for each team in late march. USA is home to Costa Rica and away to Mexico. Anything but a win against Costa Rica is a very bad result. We need maximum points and to assert dominance over the lesser teams. Especially since our 2nd game is at Mexico, a place WE haven't gotten a point in qualifying in ages.

The big team to watch to see how this group is going to play out is Panama. Widely regarded as the weakest team in the hex they only have 1 european based player. They are away to Jamaica and home vs Honduras. Them becoming a group whipping boy DOES NOT work in our favor... Whipping boys means the points needed to qualify is higher and the USA tends to fuck up against them (see Antigua last round). We also play at Panama our final hex game and want that game to be dead rubber, not needing anything.

The only saving grace is that the 4th place team from this group doesn't have to play the 5th from South America this year, they get to play New Zealand who is just playing complete shit ball right now. So I would think we only need to finish in the top 4... Still I would rather outright qualify.

The USA is sending Costa Rica to Denver in march for the game which is a great move. Central American teams are just awful in the cold. Jamaica won't mind because they mostly play in europe anyways. If Denver doesn't provide a good homefield the USA needs to just suck it up and stop trying to give hex games to a bunch of cities. The only two REAL homefield advantage cities we get are Columbus, Ohio (where we ALWAYS send Mexico) and Kansas City. Send them all there.

Fuckin right columbus represents!

[Uuaww]

I've been having some serious doubts about Klinsmann lately. This didn't help to ease them.

The problem is we don't have a defense... and the ones we do have are slow. Not a good situation against teams who's best players are always strikers.

So, there's a good chance the US doesn't even make the World Cup?

No, the good thing about the hex is how forgiving it is. If Panama really is as bad as everyone says they are and they finish last in the group... This really turns into a 5 team group for 4 spots (New Zealand is truly awful). So we would have to fuck up to miss out. The bad results really are when Mexico concedes any points to other teams because those other teams are never USA. Mexico always brings out its best against us and seems to kick our ass. When teams are getting draws and away wins vs Mexico, it really hurts us.

[VeniVediV1ci]

So, there's a good chance the US doesn't even make the World Cup?

if so, so much for my trip to Brazil...

I watched most of the game, seemed like the defense got lazy late and it all blew up. Also a lot of the guys I remember weren't out there, so with youth I guess that sort of thing is expected.

Sucks to take a 1-0 lead and then leave without any sort of point. I think I'm gonna follow this as much as I can because I've really loved the WC & Euro the past four years

[jsence2]

It's killing me I can't watch this match.

Madrid has 14 shots in the first half, both teams have scored and both teams have a near goal each. That said, reading the live commentary is much better than listening to Gus Johnson.

[BIGmike]

Madrid turned it on towards the end of the half, United did not look very good.

[jsence2]

Madrid turned it on towards the end of the half, United did not look very good.

Yeah I'm just glad they survived long enough to get to the half.

Hoping they don't go into a shell like they did vs Everton on Sunday and invite pressure, Madrid will kill them. Also hoping Smalling doesn't come on, Ozil will eat him alive.

[jsence2]

Rooney starts the match on the bench vs Real Madrid.

I am at a loss for words. This could very well be the end for Wayne Rooney at United, especially if the rumors of PSG offering an absurd amount of money for him is true.

[nick]

im gonna start playing football manager soon. turn some 3rd level Estonian team to champs league champs

[Seeitsaveit13]

Rooney starts the match on the bench vs Real Madrid.

I am at a loss for words. This could very well be the end for Wayne Rooney at United, especially if the rumors of PSG offering an absurd amount of money for him is true.

Sucks brah

[jsence2]

A horse is a horse, of course of course.

The horse just scored an own goal. He shaved the mane but he's still a horse. United lead 2-1 aggregate

[jsence2]

That is an AWFUL red card. Nani had eye on the ball the whole way.

[shel311]

Rooney starts the match on the bench vs Real Madrid.

I am at a loss for words. This could very well be the end for Wayne Rooney at United, especially if the rumors of PSG offering an absurd amount of money for him is true.

Soccer always seems like that great players go from great to losing their starting spots in the blink of an eye.

It was just last year I believe I started a thread asking and Rooney was like concensus top 3 or 5 or something like that. Now he can't even start for his team? Crazy.

[nick]

least Man U fans have an excuse now. what a cannon tho

[jsence2]

Ref ruined this match and probably cost us the match w that red card. When people like Rob Stone, Jozi Altidore, etc are saying the same thing....

Rooney has to come on at this point.

[nick]

ew Ronaldo

[BIGmike]

Bout to get UGLY.

[jsence2]

I'm still angry as hell. That ref fucked us royally; even before the red card (and after), he gave every single decision Madrid's way but we were dealing with it. We were in control of that match, we were the better side for 58 minutes, and then he makes one of the worst decisions I have EVER SEEN in a soccer match. Every United fan I know is still pissed about it as the night ended; pundits are still shocked; hell, even people in football are still shaking their head about it...it's not just me being upset about a ref:

Warren Barton as it happened stated that it should be a "yellow card....if that". When they showed the red: "I'm speechless. I've been in this game for twenty-five years, and I've never seen a red card given for that".

Jozi Altidore, USMNT: "Well done ref you ruined the game"

Rob Stone, Fox Soccer studio host: "Worst red card ever?? Wow"

Andy Glockner, SI: "Preposterous red card"

Ian Darke, play by play: "Lucky Real. Ref won the tie for them with very poor decision to send off Nani."

Retired referee Dermot Gallagher on BBC Radio 5 live: "[The decision was] harsh to say the least, but in fairness the Real player did Nani no favours whatsoever. At worst Nani catches the underside of his arm, certainly not the ribs as the guy has gone down and shown.
"I can't reiterate enough that he [Nani] is watching the ball over his shoulder, there was no malice in him. At worst it was a yellow for dangerous play, but if I was refereeing that game I cannot see by what stretch of the imagination I would have sent him off for that."

Everton (a rival club of United) manager David Moyes on BBC Radio 5 live: "I think tonight Sir Alex Ferguson will be rightly as angry as he has ever been. The decision changed the game. I am looking from a manager's point of view and Manchester United have had a hard time tonight. I think they have a right to surround the referee. The decision was poor and it has cost them the biggest prize in football."

Former Liverpool and Germany midfielder Dietmar Hamann on Sky Sports: "He wants to bring it down, I think no Real Madrid player expected it, nobody was claiming a red card. He didn't see him he didn't mean to do it, it's not even a booking."

What upsets me the most about it is that the Madrid players (outside of their captain Ramos) weren't even calling for a card; hell, Xabi Alonso was standing over him and was pointing at his wrist, acting like Nani was wasting time. When the ref gave out the card, Xabi turned and mouthed "wow" and looked absolutely stunned.

But no biggie. I mean, with Milan about to knock out Barcelona, this was only going to be one of the easiest paths to the title in memory, with a team that is on fire. It's only millions of dollars/pounds/Euros/whatever money that it's cost us as a club in gate, TV, etc. It's only possibly the final year for Ferguson, Giggs, Rooney, and Scholes at the club. No biggie.

[jsence2]

And then I read this.....

The 36-year-old Turk, with his authoritarian manner in the middle, is also highly thought by the Turkish Federation and is regularly asked to take charge of the biggest games in the Super Lig, including the combustible derbies involving Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray.

But Eurosport Turkey's Efe Yilmaz says: "Most fans don't like him. They think he behaves differently in Super Lig games and European games. Because of this reason they don't like him."
Cakır, who works in insurance in Istanbul, made his European debut in the UEFA Cup in 2008-09, a match between Twente and Schalke, before progressing to the Champions League in 2010 in a clash between Rubin Kazan and Barcelona.

In 2011, Cakır took his no-nonsense brand of refereeing to a Europa League game between Manchester City and Dynamo Kiev, dishing out eight yellow cards and claiming his first scalp from an English club, Mario Balotelli.

He continued to make a name for himself and was rewarded with the Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Chelsea in 2012, when he punished John Terry's sly kick with a red card.
He became the youngest referee at the age of 35 to officiate at a European Championship, taking charge of several Euro 2012 games including the semi-final between Portugal and Spain when he showed nine yellows.

His card-happy reputation continued to grow when Steven Gerrard, playing for England against Ukraine in a World Cup qualifier in September last year, and then Chelsea's Gary Cahill at the Club World Cup, fell victim to him.

Cakir was even at the centre of controversy in the days leading up to the United-Madrid clash after he failed to give a penalty in a domestic game between Akhisar and Elazıgspor. Fans protested and the match was stopped for several minutes.

So for Shel notes.....in the last two years, he has refereed in five key matches involving England's national team or an English club; four of the matches dictated if that club/team would advance in said tournament (although if England hadn't gotten lucky in later matches, their match vs Ukraine where he sent off Gerrard would've knocked them out of WC); and he sent off a player from each of the English sides each time, leading to three teams being eliminated (Chelsea barely hung on). Add to it the fact that he's a ref in the Turkish league (one of the most notorious match-fixing leagues in the world) and things begin to make more sense now.

[ReignOnU]

This guy should never ref a UCL game again. Pathetic.

Milan is winning this thing anyway.

[nick]

Roy Keane, former Man U captain, said it was the right card.