The Football Thread

[lovegod]

Why not a few Predictions for the coming Tournement ?

Prediction 1.
England, after a few scares, will win Group C to face the runner up
of group D....... which will be Australia ..............................!!!!!!!!
the game played on the 26th June
result
Eng 1 Aussie 2.... so shock horror, England go out in the last 16 !
26th may.... Lovegod

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Prediction 2
sat 12 June Eng 3 USA 2

made 27 may Lovegod


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Prediction 3

For what it's worth, which is absolutely nothing, these are my selections for the Quarter /Finals:
ENGLAND v France; ARGENTINA v Germany; BRAZIL v Netherlands; SPAIN v Italy

Semi /Finals:
BRAZIL v England; ..........................SPAIN v Argentina
Spain to win the final.

Thurs may 27 by TMEE 2000

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Post your prediction, Ill number it and add it
to the list along with date and name credit...

Time will tell just who s right !

[Tmee2020]

Originally Posted by lovegod

Why not a few Predictions for the coming Tournement ?

ESPN is running a bracket predictor, which could be fun.
I'll have a go at the 1st round. Not much point in going beyond this, because it will have no connection with reality.

* Group A
* France
* Mexico
* South Africa
* Uruguay
France, Uruguay.
This looks like a fairly good group for France and probably just as well given their dodgey form in qualifying.

* Group B
* Argentina
* Greece
* Nigeria
* South Korea
Argentina, Nigeria.
Toss of the coin between Nigeria and South Korea. Argentina are my third favorites to win the tournament.

* Group C
* Algeria
* England
* Slovenia
* United States
England, United States.
This looks like a good group for these two teams.

* Group D
* Australia
* Germany
* Ghana
* Serbia
Germany, Serbia.
I think this will a hard group to qualify from, maybe for everyone. Germany are vulnerable, but a great tournament team, and there is not much between the other three.

* Group E
* Cameroon
* Denmark
* Japan
* Netherlands
Netherlands, Cameroon.
Tough call to leave Denmark out of this, they qualified top of a very strong group.

* Group F
* Italy
* New Zealand
* Paraguay
* Slovakia
Italy, Paraguay.
Paraguay or Slovakia? No idea.

* Group G
* Brazil
* Ivory Coast
* North Korea
* Portugal
Brazil, Portugal.
I keep waiting for Portugal to run into some decent form. Maybe they are just not a very good team. This does look like a hot group though.

* Group H
* Chile
* Honduras
* Spain
* Switzerland
Spain, Chile.

P.S. That ESPN bracket predictor is very good, even if you don't want to play it gives you a lot of information on possible match-ups in the later rounds.
If you do play you have to pick the results the whole way through to the final, I assume before the start of the first game.
For what it's worth, which is absolutely nothing, these are my selections for the Q/Fs:
ENGLAND v France; ARGENTINA v Germany; BRAZIL v Netherlands; SPAIN v Italy
S/Fs:
BRAZIL v England; SPAIN v Argentina
Spain to win the final.

[Tmee2020]

I'm disappointed with Nike's uninspiring effort for the finals. Four years ago it was very good, apart from the gold socks. The away strip is probably even worse, a two-tone blue. What's wrong with a green shirt for the away games?
You notice they don't mess around with the Brazil kit, they wouldn't be game.
I like that plain white England strip, looks very retro.
Simple colours are the go for national teams, in my view. The last one is the Australian shirt from 1974, from Adidas. Too much to ask them to do something like this, apparently.

[trugoythewhitedove]

Like a lightening-quick young winger who gets promoted from the youth team, channel 5's one season of Calcio showed a lot of promise, though ultimately failed to break into the big time. However, their one star signing, the thirty goal a season Italian model Laura Esposto, was clearly destined for better things. And standing next to her in a cardy, Chappers looked even fatter. Anybody know who the A.C. Milan fan is playing for now ?

[Greenman]

As I am not around Saturdays I would like to take this opportunity to mention another footballing tragedy to befall Liverpool FC, this was before the second one at Hillsborough 4 years later. I refer to the people that lost their lives so tragically when a wall collapsed inside the Heysel stadium in Brussels, Belgium where Liverpool and Juventus were battling it out in the European Cup final. Happiness turned to tragedy when hundreds of fans put pressure on a weakened wall, resulting in the loss of 39 lives on both sides of the footballing fraternity. I remember watching this all unfold, Liverpool captain Phil Neal desperately trying to get the fans to move away from the Juventus ones, as they rioted on the stands, and then the referee stopping the game to try and get some order-it was only then that the full impact was shown on television with Barry Davies I think it was, commentating.

As a Liverpool supporter most of my life(in London) I cannot ever forget those horrific scenes-to be played out again 4 years later at home-and won't ever forget. To that end I ask you all(whether you support Liverpool FC or not) to say a prayer or observe a 2 min silence tomorrow evening at 7pm the day of the anniversary. As we Liverpool fans say Y.N,W.A.(You'll Never Walk Alone) and I pray that no other football team or supporter ever suffers like that again. Thank you.

[sammyshirt]

"Happiness turned to tragedy when hundreds of fans put pressure on a weakened wall, resulting in the loss of 39 lives on both sides of the footballing fraternity."

All 39 dead were Juventus fans (32 actually being Italian).

The stadium was in poor condition, but that side retaining wall was not built to withstand a huge crowd pushing against it in fear from a mob of p!ssed up Scousers hell bent on causing trouble with the Italians as they felt it was payback for Rome the year before. This wasn't an 'accident' it was crowd disorder by Liverpool fans which resulted in the deaths.

Some Liverpool fans were sentenced for manslaughter for the rioting and all English teams suffered a five year European ban as a result - a ban Liverpool fans love to mock Everton with as they were denied entry to the European Cup in 1986 (the Kop has a banner about this - how amusing).

Liverpool fans seem to bracket Heysel and Hillsbrough as if the suffering of Hillsbrough meant the Heysel details could be compromised. "Yes Heysel etc, but we lost 96 at Hillsbrough and that was not the fans fault..."

Heysel is a dirty stain on Liverpool FC which they've often tried to shift by saying 'it could've happened to any club from England' and bemoaning the state of the ground in Belgium. The Liverpool way, blame everything but the good old witty Scousers - they were only running and larking about, they meant no harm...
If Liverpool fans want the truth for Hillsbrough, then they really must start accepting it for Heysel.

Heysel was not a "footballing tragedy to befall Liverpool FC", it was a Liverpool FC act of criminal disorder to befall Juventus FC.

R.I.P. the Juve 39

[snowy25]

RIP the 39 fans who lost their lives that terrible night, 25 years ago.

[Greenman]

One thing you have to know SS is that a) I watched the whole match from my room and only saw what I saw, not alot was shown and neither did I read the papers so if there are any inaccuracies it is only down to what I witnessed personally-I noticed you didn't mention that one thug from Juventus has a gun and seemed to get away scott free-perhaps a starting pistol (which was clearly shown on tv) so while I agree it was more of a riot started by a small minority of 'fans' from both sides it was only part of a growing cancer of violence to hit all football at that time-remember the England games used to be infiltrated by the National Front-giving their salutes whilst wearing an England shirt. Liverpool still remembers that night, but they also strengthened their ties with Juventus so some good came out it. I agreed that the clubs should be banned from Europe and its odd that now we have a better reputation abroad than say the Germans or Dutch who have more violent fans than we do. And incidentally if Liverpool fans have such a banner mocking that or anything for that matter I immediately distance myself from such idiots and personally I'd ban anyone like that for LIFE!

However I am grateful for the additional information you provided in your piece Sammyshirt and puts into context that which I acknowledge I got wrong.

[sammyshirt]

The NF thing has pretty much been dismissed. A comment came from Liverpool chairman at the time John Smith. His immediate response was to declare: "I have evidence that a mindless handful of National Front members were behind this appalling tragedy." This was never proven and it was 14 Liverpool people that ended up being charged with manslaughter.

The real truth is football had lost it's way and become a breeding ground for youths and thugs to do what they liked. It was seen as a lark and an anti-establishment act at a period when the country was going to the wall. More simply it was groups of lads travelling about having beers and 'meeting' like minded people from other clubs to have it toe to toe.

Yes there was a fan with a gun (it was a starting pistol) and there will always be the odd 'nutter' - that era reveled in these types of stories - " and then so and so pulled out a dagger he'd got off his grandad..." type stories - but to be honest this was again more bravado than anything. A teenager stood outside your local convenience store with a blade would be more of a danger to you than most of those nutters! Doesn't make it right, but for all the hooliganism, deaths were very very rare, and often more due to a wall collapsing than someone being knifed or beaten to death.

I support a club which had a very active element in this (6.57 Crew) and whilst the books that are written on this subject are often dull ("you had to be there") accounts, I've found books which show photos of that period explain more of the 'fun' aspect that was had at that time. Most of the away travelling really was a good laugh for the lads and a good day out. The fighting bit was bravado and probably made up 2% of the whole day's events, but took up 80% of the bragging.

Heysel proved to be a defining point in that whole scene, transporting the whole notion of going 'toe to toe' with your opponents groups into the European arena.

So much of the 'hooliganism' was little more than the sort of thing you'd see 10 year olds doing in a playground - running around, the odd scuffle, mates backing you up etc.

The Liverpool fans who ran the Juve fans that day obviously didn't set out to kill people and were 'running' like they had done at many other grounds in the previous years - only this time it had terrible consequences. There was however the Rome factor, where Liverpool fans had been on the end of rough treatment the year before, so Heysel was always seen as a chance to revenge the Italians. It's also claimed the Juve fans 'run' were more 'scarfers' (fans there for the football not rucking) and thus the not knowing what to do caused panic which didn't help.

Hillsborough was going to happen one day - we had all been on packed terraces where a surge left you 15 feet from where you were standing, or crushed in etc. It was just a matter of time that a set of circumstances would mean something went wrong. Hillsborough was that time.

That's where Heysel and Hillsborough are similar - but after that the cause of deaths are very different. Hillsborough was a result of the boardrooms, it's authorities, lack of investment etc. Heysel was a shabby venue, but the disaster was a result of the fans on the terraces more than anything. That's where the real 'shame' of Heysel lies - the deaths were the result of the paying public - the fans on the terraces. No pointing the finger at the authorites for letting us down as is the case with Hillsborough... that's why Heysel was the darkest day for football fans.

So now we have safe grounds and organised ground control - though you have to say the sanitised product we have now, might not kill people, but it is also a stale dinner party, to the hell raising party that could be had pre Taylor. Progress comes in many forms, and not always for the better.


As a footnote, I see a memorial has been revealed by LFC at Anfield for the 39 Juve fans - bit of a shame it took 25 years to do, but at least it recognises them now. It does seem links between LFC and JFC are as stong as ever and that's as fitting a tribute to the dead as anything.

[snowy25]

According to some reports Liverpool have a measly £5million to spend on transfers this summer, meaning they will likely have to sell one of their big name stars to fund a spending spree on better quality squad players. If it's true, then I think Liverpool are going to struggle. That amount of money, whilst a huge sum to mere everyday mortals, is nothing in the football game these days and is about enough to buy a championship or a league 1 player.