The FOOTball thread

Congrats to BVB for the title, although I wouldn't have minded seeing Neverkusen take it but I guess that was asking too much. :)

Pretty interesting end of season still in Eredivisie, Ligue 1 and Serie A. In Eredivisie the top 3 teams Twente, Ajax and PSV are only separated by three points and in Ligue 1 Lille leads Marseille only by a point. In Serie A the fight for the last UCL spot has been pretty interesting between Lazio, Udinese, Roma and Juve who are only separated by four points. None of the four teams really showing performances worthy of a UCL spot but I'm hoping to see Udinese make an appearance next season. Milan also have a chance at securing the Scudetto this weekend, nice to see Inter finally lose out on the title. Pretty disastrous season for Sampdoria who are currently on the third relegation spot after finishing fourth last season. The players have been receiving death threats from their own fans, classy.
 
BBC Sport - Triesman claims four Fifa members sought 2018 bribes

BBC Sport said:
Former Football Association chairman Lord Triesman claims four Fifa members sought "bribes" in return for backing England's failed 2018 World Cup bid.

Triesman - who was initially chairman of England's bid - made the allegations about Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi.

He said their behaviour was "below what would be ethically acceptable".

However, Fifa vice-president Warner said the allegations made against him by Triesman were "a piece of nonsense".


more on above link

Triesman's specific claims are:

- Fifa vice-president Warner asked for around ?2.5m to build an education centre in Trinidad, with the cash to be channelled through him, and later wanted ?500,000 to buy Haiti's World Cup TV rights for the earthquake-hit nation, again to be channelled through him;

- Paraguay's Fifa member Leoz asked for a knighthood;

- Brazil's Fifa member Teixeira asked him [Triesman] to "come and tell me what you have got for me", with the implication being that he wanted something in return for his vote;

- Thailand's Fifa member Makudi wanted to be given the TV rights to a friendly between England and the Thai national team. (BBC)


* * *

This is the same guy who got removed from the England 2018 Bid after being secretly recorded saying that Spain could drop its 2018 bid if rival bidder Russia helped bribe referees at the 2010 World Cup. The story then ran the the english neswpaper the Mail on Sunday. BBC Sport - Original story May 2010

If he had evidence of unethical behaviour about these four people, he should have reported it to the FIFA Ethics Committee. He claims that in doing so would have damaged England's 2018 Bid.

That sounds like bollocks to me at best.

At worst, it can be argued that he himself may have acted in an unethical way by allowing these alleged "misdeeds" to go unreported for his possible benefit. (i.e. so that England could win the 2018 Bid.)

:rolleyes:
 
On another note, anyone following the "quotas scandal" in France?

I haven't seen what has precisely been said but I understand Blanc's point and the way I see it people just start pulling out the racist card immediately. It is a waste of the French youth system to train players with dual-nationately who will eventually represent their second nation. The racism accusations have been thrown around in the press a lot, but Blanc has been cleared of discrimination charges and he has people of different color and descent behind him (Zidane, Alou Diarra, Desailly etc).
 
Even if tonight was one of the lousiest (Messi excluded) and most boring performances of the season...

 
In 1871 the English FA Cup was started and in all that time Stoke City have never been in a Final.

Manchester City, now known as the "richest football club in the world", have won the FA Cup three times but not for a long time.

The Final is today at 15:00 local abot 30 minutes from now.

I have a feeling that Stoke City will win today because this is the FA Cup and wierd things often happen.

So that's them doomed then. :lol:
 
"The styles of the teams contesting tomorrow's final couldn't be more different. One is renowned for a form of thuggish bruising anti-football negativity that is as uncompromising as it is unattractive, while the other is Stoke City."

I so hope that Stoke takes this. It would just be glorious to have City so close to a trophy and then watch Stoke take it
 
Ah crap! :(

Man City did deserve to win, though. So congrats to them for that.

Not a great Final to watch and while Stoke aren't a great team, they usually play better than they did today.
 
Zlatan kick Cassano

Standard Zlatan, he has a habit of kicking his teammates :)


Jimi Hendrix said:
Wonder what'd E'too think of Biscuits alledgely throwing racial insults at Marcelo.

Allegedly indeed, having seen Telemadrid's latest antibarca-video it's hard to take them seriously. They even accused Guardiola of pointing targets for Barca ultras, using a press conference where Guardiola mentioned Perez & co. as proof. Rrrrright.

Eto'o was at Barca's hotel to congratulate them after the Levante game, what a champ:

Barcelona-12-05-11-Cena-de-los_54152909255_54115221154_600_396.jpg
 
Standard Zlatan, he has a habit of kicking his teammates :)




Allegedly indeed, having seen Telemadrid's latest antibarca-video it's hard to take them seriously. They even accused Guardiola of pointing targets for Barca ultras, using a press conference where Guardiola mentioned Perez & co. as proof. Rrrrright.

Eto'o was at Barca's hotel to congratulate them after the Levante game, what a champ:

Barcelona-12-05-11-Cena-de-los_54152909255_54115221154_600_396.jpg

Do you watch Telemadrid in Findland? LOL.

Guardiola has been spouting nationalistic BS for a pretty long time, so it's not surprise he's not well loved by certain people.
 
Could we end the mud-slinging and talk about football instead?
 
This is a very obscure question but we have a few Arsenal fans about so someone may be able to help.
I'm trying to find a goal scored by Arsenal in the Champions League I guess somewhere around 2003. From what I remember an Arsenal player did a sliding tackle on the opposition and used his momentum to stand back up with the ball at his feet and went on to score. Anybody recall this?
 
To Blackpool: Thanks! I'll want to see you guys back in the Premier League.
 
BBC Sport - Mohamed bin Hammam denies Fifa bribery allegations

The dude running against Sepp Blatter is a crook, maybe?

Sounds like a perfect CV/ Resume to me for the top job at FIFA.

/cynical

This is a very obscure question but we have a few Arsenal fans about so someone may be able to help.
I'm trying to find a goal scored by Arsenal in the Champions League I guess somewhere around 2003. From what I remember an Arsenal player did a sliding tackle on the opposition and used his momentum to stand back up with the ball at his feet and went on to score. Anybody recall this?

Nah sorry, don't recall that and it seems that none of the Gunners' fans here do either. :sad:

2003 squad had both Thierry Henry and "The Devine" Denis Bergkamp still playing, this sounds like one of those guys. My money is on Denis. :lol:
 
BBC Sport - Fifa suspends Bin Hammam and Warner after ethics hearing

Blatter is cleared, the now unopposed election will go ahead on 1st June and Blatter is an :angel: apparently.

BBC Sport reported yesterday, that the Swiss government were unhappy with FIFA's shenanigans even before all this latest horsecrap and there is a possibility that they may be politely asked to leave the country.

FIFA = SHAMBLES :rolleyes:
 
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