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Football Focus


S.A.C Martin
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I thought it was getting to be a Messi game but in the end, the Argentinians were not even Klose!!!

It looks like Higuain missed or wasted a chance when he had only Neuer to get round, plus he had another one ruled out for offside.

 

That's football, I suppose.

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I was discussing this after watching last night's final with friends who are keen rugby supporters. Why is it that during and after soccer matches the opposing fans have to be kept well away from one another while after equally hard fought rugby matches they're quite likely to meet each other in the pub and there's rarely any post-match trouble between rival fans? 

I used to think this was just a British thing to do with class and culture but I've come across it in other countries where both types of football are popular. Is it something to do with the nature of soccer itself? Is it just far more difficult to score so often leaving the spectators frustrated?

In other sports, supporters seem to be more united by their love of the sport than divided by who they support but for some reason that doesn't seem to apply to anything like the same extent with soccer.

 

I did notice last night that after Germany scored I was willing the Argentinians not to equalise. That wasn't because I was particularly partisan but simply because I really hated the idea of the whole thing being decided by yet another penalty shoot-out.     

Edited by Pacific231G
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I lived on Scotland for over 8 years and the only fight I saw in a pub was between Welsh and Scottish Rugby fans! ;)

I've changed almost never to rarely to allow for certain Welsh and Scottish fans. 

 

One of the funniest things I ever saw was the first time I worked in Glasgow rather than just changing trains there and I'd just arrived at Buchanan Street Bus Station.

Glasgow was the European City of Culture that year with the slogan "Glasgow s miles better" and  a large poster was proudly proclaiming that. The trouble was that the hoarding, carefully positioned for arriving visitors,  was next to a fairly traditional pub and under the poster two older and very drunk Glaswegians who'd just come out of the pub were swinging away at each other and fortunately mostly missing. I somehow didn't think that was quite the image of their city that Glasgow Corporation had been hoping for.

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How was that not a penalty? Leading with a knee to the head, and contact inside the penalty box?

Of course it wasn't a penalty - there's a tradition going back at least 32 years that German goalkeepers aren't subject to the laws of the game.

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I feel bad for Messi because he will always be compared to Maradona. I was seeing people ripping Messi apart because Argentina didn't win. While Maradona was quite possibly the best ball handler that I will ever see, he is a horrible human being who begrudgingly would pass the ball.

 

Lionel Messi had no support on Germany's end of the pitch.  Without Di Maria playing, Argentina's offense became average. Maradona was surrounded by great players in 1986 and didn't do much better in his other world cup appearances. He was an even bigger failure as Argentina's coach.

 

One player cannot carry an entire team. Germany had 11 men playing as a machine.

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I lived on Scotland for over 8 years and the only fight I saw in a pub was between Welsh and Scottish Rugby fans! ;)

 

"lived on Scotland" sounds slightly odd. Anticipating an Independence "Yes" vote, is the place to be demoted to an offshore island?

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Sorry if you've read/heard this one before, but it made me laugh.....

 

England manager Roy Hodgson has arranged a friendly between England and the Iceland team next Saturday to cheer the disgruntled fans up; if England win, they'll then play Tesco the following Wednesday, then Sainsbury's on Saturday.......

 

OK, I'll go now.

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I can't for the life of me understand how Messi won the player of the tournament trophy - if Rooney (or any other England player) had wandered around the pitch like Messi not even wanting the ball he would have been slaughtered by the pundits and press.

 

And has only got a left foot????

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Mascherano deserved it more than Messi IMHO.

Honourable mentions too for Vlaar and (despite the diving) Robben, but my favourite was probably Mats Hummels - hardly put a foot wrong in all the games I saw.

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Of course it wasn't a penalty - there's a tradition going back at least 32 years that German goalkeepers aren't subject to the laws of the game.

Yes, I did search Youtube for video of that earlier incident! To be fair, Neuer was going for the ball though (IMO) dangerously. Schumacher, on the other hand ...

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Mascherano deserved it more than Messi IMHO.

Honourable mentions too for Vlaar and (despite the diving) Robben, but my favourite was probably Mats Hummels - hardly put a foot wrong in all the games I saw.

 

I think James Rodriguez (Columbia) should have been Player of the Tournament - six goals and two assists. The award to Messi is more of a PR/Marketing exercise than a reflection of his play in the Tournament. He was a knackered shadow of the Messi that turns out for Barcelona.

Edited by cary hill
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Sorry if you've read/heard this one before, but it made me laugh.....

 

England manager Roy Hodgson has arranged a friendly between England and the Iceland team next Saturday to cheer the disgruntled fans up; if England win, they'll then play Tesco the following Wednesday, then Sainsbury's on Saturday.......

 

OK, I'll go now.

 

At least they'll get some points that way.

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I think James Rodriguez (Columbia) should have been Player of the Tournament - six goals and two assists. The award to Messi is more of a PR/Marketing exercise than a reflection of his play in the Tournament. He was a knackered shadow of the Messi that turns out for Barcelona.

The problem for Messi is that Iniesta, Xavi and Alonso can't play for Argentina.

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I can't for the life of me understand how Messi won the player of the tournament trophy...

 

I think - but someone may put me right here - Messi won purely because he received the highest number of Man of the Match awards (4) in the competition. I would argue there should be some empirical way of identifying the player of the tournament, and suspect this is it...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Does anyone else think that Lionel Messi looks a bit like Liam Neeson?

 

Apart from 35 years and 10 inches between them, it's uncanny!

 

Have they ever been seen in the same room? Names are almost anagrammatic.

 

To be fair, Britney Spears and "presbyterians" are also anagrams, but they're not regularly mistaken for one another...

 

Should we be copying their developnent system for young players or just the idea that football is a team game?

 

Start with the "team" thing, and take it from there, I reckon.

 

I feel bad for Messi because he will always be compared to Maradona... While Maradona was quite possibly the best ball handler that I will ever see ...

 

Nail. Head.

 

At least they'll get some points that way.

 

Nectar points, you mean?

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