The Soccer Thread

[shnsajax]

Donovan's US goals

 

Dempsey's US goals

 

More Dempsey goals

 

US-Mexico WC 2002

 

US-Spain

 

And because it will never get old

 

Bergkamp's wondergoal in the 98 cup with the Dutch announcer

 

Have that bookmarked on youtube, one of the best calls ever.

[wvcbxl]

It's official: Kljestan signed a four-year contract with Anderlecht.

[Clem Fandango]

Not sure if it's been posted, but go to google and type in "World Cup" and then scroll to the bottom where the "Goooooooooooooogle" usually is

[wolf stansson]

Glad to see I'm not the only one on the Mexico and Argentina bandwagon.

[Mark Priors Calves]

Southside Ryan-

 

What are your thoughts on the U.S.'s formation for England on Saturday?

[Exile on Waveland]

I think Group A is the by far the most difficult to predict, I could see them finishing in any order. And I'm so with USS that South Africa may be the beneficiary of some 2002 South Korea shambolic homecookin'. Still, can't pick them to advance, though I think they will get results (no worse than a tie in tomorrow's opener -- 0-0 maybe, but still).

 

Group A: Mexico-Uruguay-South Africa-France

Group B: Argentina-Nigeria-South Korea-Greece

Group C: England-USA-Slovenia-Algeria

Group D: Germany-Serbia-Ghana-Australia

Group E: Netherlands-Cameroon-Denmark-Japan

Group F: Italy-Paraguay-Slovakia-New Zealand

Group G: Brazil-Portugal-Cote d'Ivoire-North Korea

Group H: Spain-Chile-Switzerland-Honduras

 

Sweet 16: Nigeria over Mexico, England over Serbia, Netherlands over Paraguay, Brazil over Chile, Argentina over Uruguay, Germany over USA, Cameroon over Italy, Spain over Portugal

 

Quarters: England over Nigeria, Brazil over Netherlands (really wanted to pick the Dutch), Argentina over Germany, Spain over Cameroon

 

Semis: Brazil over England, Spain over Argentina

 

Finals: Spain over Brazil

(Argentina over England)

[wolf stansson]

Southside Ryan-

 

What are your thoughts on the U.S.'s formation for England on Saturday?

SSR thinks we should start Rondo next to Bradley in the center mid.

[USSoccer]

Glad to see I'm not the only one on the Mexico and Argentina bandwagon.

 

I actually think CONCACAF is going to show well in South Africa.

 

Also, I'm not a believer in any of these African sides.

[Exile on Waveland]

Glad to see I'm not the only one on the Mexico and Argentina bandwagon.

 

Also, I'm not a believer in any of these African sides.

 

Me neither, exactly. (Says the guy with two in the quarters.) If the sides were better, I might have been even more aggressive. However, I do wonder if the continental home advantage is overblown -- Africa is freakin' huge and everyone but the hosts are from far away. Nevertheless, I think Nigeria/Cameroon got decent draws. I am not terribly fond of this sclerotic Italy team, and have visions of 2002. And Nigeria I don't think is much worse, or better, than Greece/South Korea and no one in Group A is dominant.

[wolf stansson]

Watched Seattle-DC tonight. DC has gone from one of the worst MLS sides I've ever seen early on to being legitimately fun with the resigning of Emilio, the emergence of Najar, Pontius and Quaranta getting healthy and Onalfo figuring out his best team.

 

Seattle have some problems. Their defense sucks, they get bogged down in the final third trying to pass it into goal and while they do get some shots, they're rarely legit scoring chances.

[wvcbxl]

So, I guess you guys will all be rooting for the Bafana Bafana today? :wink:

[Banedon]

Today's shirt.woot....

 

http://sale.images.woot.com/_Buzz_Aldrin__Always_Sounded_Like_a_Sports_Namep0lDetail.png

 

The shirt "title" is "Buzz Aldrin always sounded like a sports name".

[Mark Priors Calves]

No discussion of the opening game, yet? I'll start. Mexico is head and shoulders better than RSA. The Mexicans haven't finished but that will changed in the second half.

 

Now that the World Cup has stated, it's time for the traditional American media to chime in with their anti-soccer mindless drabble:

 

For all the Fire Joe Morgan fans, here's "The Hat Guy" from MSNBC.

 

The coverage of the World Cup is liberal media's agenda to promote socialism in America

[wolf stansson]

Freddy Adu is out at Aris.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/adu-exit-greek-club-aris-likely

Have fun in MLS.

[USSoccer]

Freddy Adu is out at Aris.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/adu-exit-greek-club-aris-likely

Have fun in MLS.

 

Wow. That's kinda shocking. I didn't see that coming.

[wvcbxl]

Chelsea extends Anelka's contract for an extra year (through 2012).

 

Way to put up the middle finger to the French FA. 8-)

[wolf stansson]

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/about-last-night/2010/06/chicago-fire-player-marries-playboy-model-after-dating-seven-weeks.html

 

Krol never shows this much game on the pitch.

[wvcbxl]

Michael Ballack moves from Chelsea back to Bayer Leverkusen, where he played from 1999-2002

[wolf stansson]

http://theoriginalwinger.com/2010-06-25-liverpool-set-to-announce-roy-hodgson-as-manager-within-24-hours

Clint would be a natural replacement for Benayoun.

[wolf stansson]

A few days behind on this, but interesting:

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/altidores-club-hopes-could-ride-algeria-outing

The Yellow Submarines have waved goodbye to Joseba Llorente, which theoretically would leave Altidore third on the depth chart behind Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi. However, the club is also high on youngsters Jefferson Montero and Marco Rubén.

 

While Spanish outlet Nostre Sport has reported that Villarreal definitely want to bring Altidore back into their strike stable, there is also plenty of interest in his services across Europe.

 

"Right now, everything's a possibility," Altidore rep Lyle Yorks told MLSsoccer.com. "There's interest for transfers, and there's also the possibility of a loan."

 

The agent confirmed that Altidore has prospective suitors in England, the Netherlands and Spain. MLSsoccer.com has also learned that Ajax, Celtic and Espanyol are among the gaggle of clubs with scouts in South Africa to watch the US No. 17 shirt.

 

 

I'm not convinced Rossi will be there next year. It's pretty clear he needs to get to Italy if his decision to play as an Italian internationally isn't going to be a failure.

 

In other striker news:

 

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm16/dhohulin/cd4.jpg

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm16/dhohulin/cd3.jpg

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm16/dhohulin/cd2.jpg

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm16/dhohulin/cd.jpg

Edited June 25, 2010 by wolf stansson

[jersey cubs fan]

How do these transfers and loans work out? If a player is under contrat to a team/league, and a bigger team wants him, do they have to convince the player to come there and the team to loan him? Where does free agency come into play? Is there ever any true "you can sign with whatever team you want" free agency?

[shnsajax]

How do these transfers and loans work out? If a player is under contrat to a team/league, and a bigger team wants him, do they have to convince the player to come there and the team to loan him? Where does free agency come into play? Is there ever any true "you can sign with whatever team you want" free agency?

 

In a nutshell a team can agree to sell a player to another team. However the player has to come to terms with the new team as well. Basically there are no tampering laws in place. However the team he is with can put up such a high fee that the transfer will never take place.

 

Teams will also loan out players, usually young players to teams in other leagues or a lower division. This is designed to get the player playing time while controlling the rights to player.

[wolf stansson]

How do these transfers and loans work out? If a player is under contrat to a team/league, and a bigger team wants him, do they have to convince the player to come there and the team to loan him? Where does free agency come into play? Is there ever any true "you can sign with whatever team you want" free agency?

When your contract is up, you are a free agent.

 

When someone "buys" a player, they're basically paying a club for rights to the player's contract. Each purchase typically leads to a contract renegotiation for the player. Player trades are rare, so buying a player is the common way to acquire a player already under contract. A loan is basically when a team pays a club to let them borrow a player. Sometimes it's just a case of one club paying another an upfront fee and then paying the player's weekly salary while he's there, however compensation for these situations can get creative. For example, Beckham's offseason loan to Milan involved a few million dollars up front, Milan paying his salary while he was there and an agreement to play the Galaxy in two exhibition games during their preseason which the Galaxy get to draw gate, merchandising and broadcast revenue from. Loans are motivated from a lot of areas. Some examples close to home are Beckham, Donovan and Jozy Altidore. Beckham went on loan to Milan the last two years to prove to Fabio Capello he could still hack it in an elite level so he would still get called up to the national team. Everton wanted Landon this winter to cover for injuries and player's leaving for the African continental tournament, Landon wanted to go to see what he could do at an elite level and dispel some ghosts and doubts from previous failures and Jozy was loaned from Villarreal to Hull City because he wanted as much playing time as he could get leading up to the World Cup.

 

 

The reason Soccer's player movement is much more complicated, common and creative (alliteration, BOOM) is because unlike American sports where there is one top league for each sport which deals with around 30 teams each, there are literally hundreds of leagues with thousands of teams to draw a salary from if you're a player. If a club in Uzbekistan offers you a ton of money, you can go there or use it for negotiating leverage.

[wolf stansson]

So Landon had a pretty good time in England.

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/world-cup-2010/06/26/donovan.tabloid/index.html

RUSTENBURG, South Africa (SI.com) -- U.S. midfielder Landon Donovan scored a goal for the Americans in their 2-1 defeat to Ghana on Saturday that eliminated the U.S. from the World Cup.

But Donovan has more on his mind right now than the U.S. loss. SI.com has learned that a British tabloid is set to run a story in which a U.K. woman says she is pregnant with Donovan's child.

Donovan has been separated for nearly a year from his wife, actress Bianca Kajlich, though they are not yet legally divorced. They have no children.

"I was informed of the possibility during the World Cup, and if I need to take responsibility, then I will provide the appropriate support," Donovan told SI.com. "This is a private matter and I will refrain from further comment at this time."

f

[shnsajax]

So Landon had a pretty good time in England.

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/world-cup-2010/06/26/donovan.tabloid/index.html

RUSTENBURG, South Africa (SI.com) -- U.S. midfielder Landon Donovan scored a goal for the Americans in their 2-1 defeat to Ghana on Saturday that eliminated the U.S. from the World Cup.

But Donovan has more on his mind right now than the U.S. loss. SI.com has learned that a British tabloid is set to run a story in which a U.K. woman says she is pregnant with Donovan's child.

Donovan has been separated for nearly a year from his wife, actress Bianca Kajlich, though they are not yet legally divorced. They have no children.

"I was informed of the possibility during the World Cup, and if I need to take responsibility, then I will provide the appropriate support," Donovan told SI.com. "This is a private matter and I will refrain from further comment at this time."

f

 

If thats the case then he needs a full transfer to Everton to take care of this child.