The Football Thread

[old alal]

Originally Posted by pierrelm

....just in...
England play well shock.
I suspect the Old Trafford faithful will be less than chuffed.

This Old Trafford Faithful IS less than chuffed, especially as the new Manager says we lack pace!

As for England play well......well..IMHO it was just ok, but it was a good result.

[buttsie]

Originally Posted by mitchspur

England win 2-0 in Switzerland
Who said England were no hopers?? (hope nobody noticed it was me)
Now 'The England CAN win the Euro Championships' rubbish will start in the tabloids

The media has to go to extremes to wake-up the apathetic public

Its hardly surprising England beating Switzerland given their no longer managed by
Ottmar Hitzfield the guy who had them beating Spain 1-0 in the 1st game of WC 2010
and just getting edged out in extra time against Argentina in WC 2014.

We'll see how real this 0-2 result is in the return leg

[snowy25]

England beat a side ranked 11 places above them, that is all they could do. They didn't play exceptionally well, they still looked frail but against the toughest side in the group they got a result. With so many teams going to the finals and with the group they are in the result is a big boost for their chances of qualifying. Whether they will or not is another matter though. Although the other sides are lower ranked the result shows rankings don't always show who will win. I don't see England has qualified already after one game, as a lot of fans were saying on social media yesterday but its a good result that will certainly boost their chances.

[buttsie]

The fifa world rankings are a joke and always will be

Spain is now ranked 7 after winning 3 major tournaments 2008,2010,2012

So 3 defeats - 2 in the WC and France recently drop them down that quickly

Flawed formula and quite obviously winning a major tournament let alone 3 counts for not nearly enough


The curious thing about rankings is they count for nought for certain countries

Italy every 6 years or there about go close but in between they flop around and fail
but they obviously learn from those failures.

I'm sure theres a lesson there for those countries who nearly always qualify
but never seriously look like their a real challenger

[Jeff Vader]

Originally Posted by snowy25

That was my thought when I saw the final score. The media will have us as world beaters now and Rooney as Captain Marvel. That is until we lose a game and suddenly we will be a side in trouble, rudderless and nowhere near the top of the tree.

In other news I see a football player in Austria has been banned for 70 games for headbutting a ref. He was also sacked by his amateur side SK Rum for the offence. In his defence he claimed he actually slipped and will appeal the lengthy ban.

Apparently he not just nutted the ref, the referee required a trip to hospital and the game was thus abandoned. I have no sympathy for him.

[victor meldrew]

Lost for words, England beat a Swiss side that is a shadow of the team of the last four years and all of a sudden we are back on track. Being in a group of weak nations qualification should be a walk in the park, although I am sure there will be the odd blip along the way.

Portugal, without the one man band, lose at home to Albania. More hard work for Ronaldo lies ahead.

[snowy25]

Originally Posted by Jeff Vader

Apparently he not just nutted the ref, the referee required a trip to hospital and the game was thus abandoned. I have no sympathy for him.

Me neither to be honest. Obviously the claim he slipped held no water and like Suarez before him he was punished for his actions. Headbutting seems to be on the increase these days, sometimes faint taps but sometimes a more meaningful movement. Either way the action itself, not the aggression shown should be enough to warrant a long ban. I still think Pardew should have got a much longer ban but thats in the past.

[footstep]

2 friendly for us ,a win 1 0 Spain,much better than at world cup.Deschamps trusted his men,same team wednesday,Ribery confirmed his retreat ..Lloris saved the nation sunday and a superb save.

[footstep]

[Greenman]

In 'The Times' this morning Sepp Blatter says he wants a bit more respect from England and says we are "sore losers" - well considering we were royally shafted by members of FIFA who had said they would back us in the World Cup for 2018, with the backing of royalty & the government and endorsed by David Beckham etc and we only garnered ONE vote, do you blame us? He has a real nerve asking for respect-if that idiot didn't do things and put his foot in his mouth all the time and actually did something for the betterment of the sport he might get it. His organisation is rotten to the core, we all know it, and the sooner he goes the better-but then how would we know another crook wouldn't be put in his place!