Loic
|
Football - La Langue UniverselleSo we need a thread about football. So we need to talk about England's flying start under Steve McClaren. So we need to talk about how England just trampled over Andorra, arguably a minnow in the footballing world. So we rain thumps on the back of the new manager. So it's England 5 Andorra 0.
So I stop my annoying manner of writing.
Congratulations to the other home country Scotland for making the Faroe Islands seem like a bunch of schoolboys. Scotland 6 Faroe Islands 0.
France take on Georgia. Hmm...I wonder where the pendulum will swing.
|
KSa
|
Now Poland is playing its first game in the Euro 2008 qualification against Finland (51st minute, 0:0). It's also the first offical match of the new Dutch coach of Polish team - Leo Beenkakker. In his kick-off friendly match against Denmark we lost 0:2.
If you remember the play of Poland during the World Cup, little has changed unfortunately.
|
KSa
|
DAMN IT, 0:1... :x
54th minute...
|
KSa
|
The final score:
Poland 1 Finland 3
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
|
Loic
|
Tough luck, mate. My deepest sympathies. I do not know how the Polish defence was penetrated under any circumstances, but it seems to me that the Poles have a habit of conceding the first goal of the match, at least since the World Cup.
On a lighter note, France won Georgia 3-0. Always a good start!
What makes this victory even sweeter is the fact that Italy have a poor start to their campaign with a 1-1 draw with tiny Lithuania. Oh well, I suppose the Italians have just won the World Cup. They cannot have it all.
Italy and France are drawn together in the so-called 'Groupe de l'Enfer'. We'll have a mouthwatering replay of the Final when France meet Italy next Wednesday.
|
greg in noord-frankrijk
|
Ça va chauffer !!! :twisted:
Bienvenue loic : I missed you.
|
Sander
|
Luxemburg-The Netherlands (0-1), one of the worst matches yet... Normally we beat those amateurs with ease (7-0 is no exception) hmm I hope we can kick the crap out of belarus the next map. :twisted:
|
KSa
|
| Sander wrote: | | Luxemburg-The Netherlands (0-1), one of the worst matches yet... Normally we beat those amateurs with ease (7-0 is no exception) hmm I hope we can kick the crap out of belarus the next map. :twisted: |
Dutch team has the opinion of constantly arguing about everything.
Maybe they started to quarell again?
|
Elaine
|
Re: Football - La Langue Universelle | loic wrote: | | So we need a thread about football. |
The NFL kicks off another season this Thursday night with Super Bowl champs, the Pittsburgh Steelers playing against the Miami Dolphins. Do you think the Steelers got what it takes to take it all the way for a record 6th Super Bowl? If not, who are you putting your money on? Will LA ever get its own NFL franchise?
|
Loic
|
Lol. I wish I know so that I can maximise my chance of a payoff, Elaine. I would not mind if you enlighten me on this subject and advise me on where to invest my paltry pool of funds.
With regards to the Superbowl, the first (and maybe last) time it burst into my consciousness was over Nipple-Gate - how fast this memory is already receding.
France will meet Italy this evening. Of course, we'd have the 'world's best paid slave' (read: William Gallas) in our back four so I am going to plumb for Les Bleus triumphing over a depleted Azzurri squad.
Allez Les Bleus!
|
Loic
|
FRANCE 3 ITALY 1
Brilliant. Simply brilliant, Sidney Gouvou. Languishing on the benches for Lyon for almost the entire last season and he happily justified his international call-up with 2 goals. If only this were the World Cup final.
Four bookings were issued on that evening and all four went to the Italians. Simply brilliant.
|
KSa
|
POLAND 1 SERBIA 1
Maybe I'm not satisfied with the score but at least they played much, much better than last Saturday against Finland.
|
KSa
|
SAN MARINO 0 GERMANY 13 (sic!)
Unusual score, isn't it? Four goals by Lukas Podolski, two goals by Miroslav Klose - both players born in Poland.
|
André in Zuid-Afrika
|
| KSa wrote: | SAN MARINO 0 GERMANY 13 (sic!)
Unusual score, isn't it? Four goals by Lukas Podolski, two goals by Miroslav Klose - both players born in Poland. |
Eish! Poor little San Marino! :cry:
|
Loic
|
It's a bit late, I know, but here are selected results from the latest round of the qualification games:
FRANCE 0 SCOTLAND 1
The Scottish rode their luck in front of a hugely partisan home crowd at Hampden Park but I honestly feel that it is the case of a better team losing for the day.
ENGLAND 0 MACEDONIA 0
Dismal passing. Awful first touch. Gary Neville would rue the squandered golden opportunity before the goalpost. Wayne Rooney would wonder what is wrong. And Steve McClaren's short run of good results has come to an abrupt end.
WALES 1 SLOVAKIA 5
I have no bloody idea how it happened but it doesn't augur well for Bellamey's captaincy. Bring back Robbie Savage, I say!
N IRELAND 0 DENMARK 0
A decent result to take home. I have no comments as I didn't watch it either. But it is interesting to see how all the British home nations fared over the weekend, eh?
|
Loic
|
To get my mind off the depressing news that have been trickling in dribs and drabs from the Adelaide Oval, I am going to focus all my energy and attention on the Barca-Bremen clash that'd take place later this evening. I don't know if anyone here is going to watch the match, but the stakes are massively high for FC Barcelona - they have to win the showdown in order to progress to the Last Sixteen of the Champions League.
Can we rely on Ronaldinho to work the magic at the Nou Camp tonight? We'll let The King speak for himself on the pitch.
|
Loic
|
Old news, really, but David Beckham is set to jet off to a glittering sunset at LA Galaxy after his contract with Real Madrid expires this summer. So the former England captain has finally landed himself in Major League Soccer after having plied his trade in arguably two of the best football leagues in the world.
David Beckham averred that it is not a question of money. Rather, he is interested in promoting football development in America. Do any of you think that football stands a chance of muscling its way into the pantheon of american sports which the big four already monopolise? Is football already more popular than ice hockey in America?
In my opinion, any marketing move that can promote the sport in America can only be a good thing. David observed that America remains the last frontier where football is concerned.
He is wrong. The Indian subcontinent is truly virgin territory which is ripe for the picking. But maybe David might move to Bollywood in Bombay after he tires of Hollywood.
|
Loic
|
Thought I'd like to mention this:
MIGHTY MILAN HUMBLED MANCHESTER UNITED!!
Kaka was sublime. Cristiano Ronaldo blinked in the headlights and did not amount to much. Rooney's touch deserted him. Oh, how I am relishing this!
So the Scousers would take on the Rossoneris in a replay of the 2005 final. It'd be a mouthwatering clash at Athens.
Kaka celebrating after firing in the first goal of the night from a clever Clarence Seedorf header.
|
Loic
|
So I have plenty of reasons to be entertained over the weekend. I watched the All Blacks powered their way to the Philips Tri-Nations cup past Stirling Mortlock's Wallabies; I saw the much vaunted Indian batting line up failing to shine against a rather inexperienced English bowling attack with the great Sachin Tendulkar failing -once again- to get his name engraved on the Lord's honours board; I saw the high and mighty Socceroos getting tossed out in the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup!
AUSTRALIA 1 (3) - JAPAN 1 (4)
As one whose greatest ambition in life is to see Australia eat humble pie in cricket, and by extension, in any other sporting competition, I was obviously barracking for Japan. So I temporarily put aside the residual enmity from the last world war and became the most professional and partisan supporter Japan could ever have asked for. To prove my newfound loyalty, I was merrily swigging Asashi Super Dry instead of Fosters or Victorian Bitter. Mind you, I ordinarily could care less for Asashi, but it was an exception....
Overall, Australia had played poorly in this tournament. They were spectacularly awful against Oman (1-1), shambolic against Iraq where they managed to lose the match by 3-1 while partially redeeming themselves with a 3-0 thumping of Thailand. Against Japan, they never rose to the occasion and they never really asked probing questions of the Japanese back four.
I think the following factors worked in Japan's favour:
1) The level of humidity worked to the advantage of Japan. The Japanese were more adept at dealing with these kind of conditions than the Aussies.
2) Japan has more experience under the belt: they are after all the defending champion of the Asian Cup.
I think Australia need to take a long and hard look at themselves in the mirror and quickly come to the realisation that playing in Asia would not be a piece of cake like Oceania was.
Nippon Ganbare!
Aussie captain Mark Viduka failed to put the ball at the back of the net and was substituted in the 60th odd minute.
Goalkeeper Yoshikatsu denying Harry Kewell and John Aloisi to win the lottery that is the penalty shootouts.
|
Elaine
|
Por Antonio Puerta, que en paz descanse. 
Antonio Puerta Pérez
1984 - 2007
Descanse en paz y mucho ánimo a su familia y al Sevilla.
|
Elaine
|
Eish! $6.5 million (US) a year and Beckham's already done for the season! Well, that's money well spent, no?
Soccer star probably won't play for the Galaxy again this season after suffering a knee injury.
Los Angeles Times
August 31, 2007
The curtain has come down early on the first act of the David Beckham show.
The English superstar, brought to Major League Soccer in July to inject new life into the league and soccer in the U.S., is done for the season. Beckham suffered a sprained right knee and will be sidelined for "approximately six weeks," the Los Angeles Galaxy said Thursday night.
It means that Beckham's first MLS season is essentially over, after playing only 310 minutes in six games at a guaranteed salary of $6.5 million a year.
|
Loic
|
From a financial point of view, the ROI (Rate of Investment) is not looking too good, isn't it? How many goals has he scored or helped create for the LA Galaxy?
This is just plain bad luck. England's players do have the uncanny ability of getting themselves injured at the slightest touch. This doesn't just apply in football, but also in cricket where the Ashes-winning side in 2005 have all got themselves injured to varying degrees in one way or another.
|
Walker
|
I watched the very last episode of Parkinson last night and David Beckham was on the show. I had never heard Beckham's voice before. I'm not sure what I had expected it to sound like, but it came as a bit of a surprise to me. It sounded a bit like he was holding his nose when he was talking, and his voice wasn't very deep. I guess with his being such an athlete and star and everything, I was expecting something more impressive. His had a pretty funny London dialect, though. I think the best thing was when he said "we was..." and "they was...". I'd thought he would be arrogant, but he seemed like a nice enough guy.
|
Uriel
|
You know, when I saw your name on this post, Walker, I couldn't help but wonder, what sports DO you all play in Scandinavia? Include your neighbors, now -- don't be stingy!
|
Walker
|
| Uriel wrote: | | You know, when I saw your name on this post, Walker, I couldn't help but wonder, what sports DO you all play in Scandinavia? Include your neighbors, now -- don't be stingy! |
Seeing my name here must've been a bit shocking. I'm one of those people who can't find the backside on a ball.
Anyway, soccer is the dominating sport up here. Most kids (boys) play it at some point (I'm one of the few who never did). It's also the most watched sport.
Floorball is popular. It's probably the most common sport for male coworkers to practice after work. You'll see them on their way to or from practice with their floorball clubs.
Ice hockey is big when it comes to watching. It's quite the spectacle sometimes. Whenever your local hockey team is playing, you'll see its flag on your local buses.
My local hockey team was playing the other day, and the cops had to apprehend, or at least remove, ten so-called "supporters". 
Track & Field is another (group of) sport(s) that a lot of people like to watch. Everybody knows who our athletes are; Patrik Sjöberg, Carolina Klüft, Kajsa Bergqvist, Susanna Kallur, Stefan Holm etc. I guess since they're not that many, compared to say, a soccer team, they all become well-known and liked.
Winter sports is also something that people like to watch. Lots of people go skiing for recreation but it's not that common a sport, when it comes to actually competing. I should mention Ingemar Stenmark; he's a former skier and a national icon. He's your typical northener; when interviewed all he'd say was *jo... jo...
*he'd usually say it the really northen way too, that is, instead of breathing out when you say it, you breathe in. And you don't use your voice either. I sometimes do it myself. It's something I picked up in Uppsala.
Handball is pretty popular to play.
As for our neighbors I should think it's pretty much the same as here.
|
Deborah
|
| Walker wrote: | | Seeing my name here must've been a bit shocking. I'm one of those people who can't find the backside on a ball. |
I had a teacher once who got in an argument with the class because she insisted that a ball actually does have a back and a front, as well as a right and left side.
|
Walker
|
| Deborah wrote: | | Walker wrote: | | Seeing my name here must've been a bit shocking. I'm one of those people who can't find the backside on a ball. |
I had a teacher once who got in an argument with the class because she insisted that a ball actually does have a back and a front, as well as a right and left side. |
Weird teacher!
|
Deborah
|
She was very good in her subject, Spanish; she just didn't understand this particular concept.
|
Uriel
|
What is floorball?
|
Loic
|
Basically hockey with a plastic club and a plastic ball played indoors instead of outside under the glorious sun on an artificial pitch.
|
Uriel
|
Artificial turf?  REAL hockey is played on ice. The bastardization you speak of is field hockey, which must make floorball into what I know as floor hockey.
|
André in Zuid-Afrika
|
| Uriel wrote: | | Artificial turf? REAL hockey is played on ice. |
Now where are we in South Africa supposed to get enough ice to play hockey on ? Jeez, we have a problem getting enough ice for our drinks after the game...  Real hockey is played on grass.... :mt018 
|
André in Zuid-Afrika
|
| Uriel wrote: | | which must make floorball into what I know as floor hockey. |
I would assume this is what we call indoor hockey.
|
Rio
|
| Walker wrote: | | I watched the very last episode of Parkinson last night and David Beckham was on the show. I had never heard Beckham's voice before. I'm not sure what I had expected it to sound like, but it came as a bit of a surprise to me. It sounded a bit like he was holding his nose when he was talking, and his voice wasn't very deep. I guess with his being such an athlete and star and everything, I was expecting something more impressive. His had a pretty funny London dialect, though. I think the best thing was when he said "we was..." and "they was...". I'd thought he would be arrogant, but he seemed like a nice enough guy. |
I think he has the worst voice I've ever heard from a man and not to mention the worst autobiography too (the worst book I've ever read). He seems nice enough but really, he shouldn't exercise those vocal chords.
|
Loic
|
Rio, how popular is football in South Australia, really? Is the dominant code Aussie Rules or union?
|
Rio
|
Yes SA is definitely an AFL state. They tried to establish a rugby team in the national league. It only operated for 4 years and collapsed due to lack of support. SA is very one-eyed in regard to their Aussie Rules. The Crows-Power rivalrly is fierce to the point that the other team would rather have an interstate team win over their rival in a game.
|
Loic
|
I see. I take it that you're a rather big AFL fan then. I remembered playing Aussie Rules once before; I didn't really appreciate it. Too much contact.
Now, rugby union is a shade better. In my opinion, it is one of the better football codes around save for soccer which is obviously the best. When I was in school, we played quite a bit of rugby for PE and I remembered being always picked to be the winger. I like to think that it was because I was lithe, thin and exceptionally fast. The truth, however, would more likely be more prosaic: after all, at amateur level wingers are simply the people left over when everyone else has been given a more glamorous position.
But being a winger still beats being the full-back, I suppose. It can be rather intimidating trying to tackle seven players running towards him. When the game goes well, he is a tragic pathetic soul who is forgotten by everyone else. When it goes badly, the blame gets heaped on him.
This is why I never put myself in a position where I was close enough to miss a vital tackle. Everyone remembers the poor sod who let the other winger side-step him. Nobody rememebrs the other 14 bods trundling along miles behind the play. Also, I never tried to run with the ball. If I got the ball, I'd try to pass it as quickly as possible to a hapless team-mate. After all, running with the ball is exhausting and potentially dangerous to my health.
Now, I know why I never took to rugby like a duck to water.
|
|
|
