The Football Thread

[Devius]

Chris Coleman has left his job with Wales to take over at Championship club Sunderland.

Coleman will succeed Simon Grayson, who was sacked after 18 games in charge.

Full details:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42033068

[tsunamiSD]

How Iceland (population: 330,000) qualified for the World Cup

To the outside world, strakarnir okkar (“our boys”) must seem like the most improbable qualifiers in World Cup history. The sparsely-inhabited volcanic territory is home to a quarter as many people as Trinidad and Tobago, which previously held the record for the puniest finalist. Of the 54 European countries to have entered this year’s qualifiers, only five are smaller: Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, the Faroe Islands, Andorra and San Marino. Together, they scored just 12 goals between them in their 50 games while conceding 176. Nor can Iceland boast a long history of footballing prowess. Six years ago they were ranked outside the top 100 sides by the World Football Elo Ratings, which uses the Elo formula and is a better predictor of match outcomes than the official rankings published by FIFA, football’s global governing body.

-In the late 1990s, the Iceland Football Association (KSI) began to recognize that hostile weather was holding back its 50 or so clubs. So in 2000 it opened the country’s first indoor football facility, complete with a full-sized pitch and a dome; today there are seven such outfits.
In 2003, not a single Icelander had a UEFA A- or B-level coaching qualification. Now around 800 do. All footballers from the age of four are taught by such instructors.
-All 25 members of the current squad play for a foreign club, with six in Britain and two in Germany.
-Iceland typically took 2.6 fewer shots than their opponents, which should also have earned them 1.1 points on average. Yet they have collected 1.5 points per game across their 47 fixtures in our sample, exceeding their projected total by a greater proportion than any other country. Their success in the current World Cup campaign has been even starker, converting just 41.6% possession into 2.2 points per match, and collecting a miraculous ticket to Russia.

[judy84]

I think a pertinent point here is that all 26 players in the Iceland squad play for foreign clubs.

Sometimes I have to smile at how these "small" nations determine their population. If you you consider the home nations, the population of Wales is say 3 million; but how many English players claim to have a Welsh ancestor so they can play for Wales. This would then increase the "population" many-fold. Same applies to Scotland and Ireland.

Whenever I go to any pub in England it always seems to be half full of people with English accents claiming to be Welsh, etc....there must be some sort of psychology behind this?

[victor meldrew]

Originally Posted by judy84

I think a pertinent point here is that all 26 players in the Iceland squad play for foreign clubs.

Sometimes I have to smile at how these "small" nations determine their population. If you you consider the home nations, the population of Wales is say 3 million; but how many English players claim to have a Welsh ancestor so they can play for Wales. This would then increase the "population" many-fold. Same applies to Scotland and Ireland.

Whenever I go to any pub in England it always seems to be half full of people with English accents claiming to be Welsh, etc....there must be some sort of psychology behind this?

I can only speak from a personal view point. My wife has two passports British and Irish (Her Mum's family) and one of my friends is Welsh (Dad) but his mother is English, so multi choice of nationality.
These two cannot be isolated incidents, so I would suspect many have a choice of multiple nations to chose from.
If you add in area's of England that have populations of other nationalities, even more so as most nations these days are multinational, this will probably lead too many players being able to pick a country of choice.

[tsunamiSD]

The Tritons have leapt yet another hurdle, defeating last year's Division champtions, Western Washington... Yes!!!

Union-Tribune account - Huge win advances UCSD women's soccer to NCAA quarterfinals

Given the circumstances of the season – with UCSD having to overcome numerous injuries to key players and starting six underclassmen on Friday – the victory is arguably one of the greatest in a program that has won seven national titles.
Western Washington entered the game at 18-1 for the season and had lost only once in 44 games over two years. The Vikings hadn’t been defeated on the road in 24 matches.
In his 31st year of coaching at UCSD, Brian McManus said, “This is right up there with the best of the years. No matter what happens, (the result) tonight is among the best since we’ve been here. Whatever happens now, we’re going to go on this ride and have fun.”

*****

UCSD account - West Region Champions! No. 3 UCSD Bests No. 7 Western Washington Behind Absolute Stunners by Barber, Reilly

For the first time since 2012 and seventh in all, the University of California San Diego women's soccer team is atop the NCAA Division II West Region. UC San Diego benefitted from two incredible individual efforts for goals and knocked off 2016 West Region and national champion Western Washington, 2-0, in front of a Friday night crowd of 558 at Triton Soccer Stadium.
With the victory in the third round of the NCAA Championship, third-ranked and top-seeded host UC San Diego improved to 17-2-2 overall. The Tritons stretched their unbeaten run to 16 (14-0-2) games, and remain a perfect 13-0 at home in 2017. They have won each of their last 19 home contests.
Meanwhile, UCSD exacted a measure of revenge for a 2-1 overtime loss to Western Washington in the West Region title game a season ago, that one in Golden, Colo. The Vikings end their campaign at 18-2, with the Tritons having snapped their 23-game win streak outside of Bellingham, Wash., dating back to the 2016 opener. A respected adversary, Western Washington had lost just once over its previous 44 contests, now 42-2-1 over the last two seasons, and was looking for a third successive regional crown.

[footstep]

An example for big clubs:
For premier league, this afternoon :

Arsenal : 2 goals Sanchez Mustafi
Chelsea : 4 Morata Hazard(2) Alonso
Liverpool : Salah Coutinho
Man Utd : Marial Pogba Lukaku Smalling

one english man.

I remember (I am 52) when uefa only allowed 2/3 strangers by club.
Then Money came.

[Sandi Anderson]

Is there still a homegrown set(5), or is this in the squad?.

[victor meldrew]

Originally Posted by LV Gas

Is there still a homegrown set(5), or is this in the squad?.

I believe the quota is 8 home grown, which means they have to come through an English academy, they also don't have to be English.

[Meini Again]

... and most Acadamies are less than 50% English in the higher years.

If I remember where I read that, i'll reference it

[Meini Again]

Can You Spot Piers Morgan ?

I can't do pics, so you'll have to follow the link.... the pic of Piers Morgan is halfway down, I think he's got his shirt off....

Zimbabwean anti-Mugabe demonstrators take 'Wenger Out' sign to protest march

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...-take-11545289