The Football Thread

[astfgyl]

Predicted giroud to score the winner not 2 mins before he did. Would've liked to see it go to pens all the same

Edit: also chasing a winner and bringing on mount is terrible management. A player who doesn't score or assist and is having a shit season with his club

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

potential carnage throughout France the day of the semi-final, whatever the result!

[Caomhaoin]

The Moroccans weren't shy when they knocked Spain out either.

[warhead]

The Danes kicked Francescoli up and down the pitch in '86. And that Elkjaer? All elbows and big boots, a beast of a striker.

But you are right, Laudrup, Enzo F, Socrates, Platini, Maradona, Barnes etc. Golden generation there.

A lot of people speculate about how well Yugoslavian national teams would have been if what happened didn't happen. Were they that good in 90? They beat Spain but they also got hammered by Germany. Stojkovic and the best player to ever smoke cigs Prosinecki etc. A Croatian (or was he half Croatian)who won the European cup playing for Crvena Zvezda Beograd. I think our grandkids grandkids will be old men and aliens will have landed before that ever happens again

I was asking myself and a lot of my friends the same question......what could have been if Yugoslavia stayed together as a country, with sooo much talent going around. And we came to the conclusion nothing would have happened, as Serbian players were always favored, and as we know, they never did anything when it comes to football. German and Italian teams for example are regularly getting their own asses handed on a plate to them by Croatian team.
What Crvena Zvezda did in the Euro cup is hard to repeat. I was always a Partizan fan in those times, so....... 

[Caomhaoin]

The partizan stadium is like 100 meters from the Red Star one, yet the fans hate each other. Most of the Serbs I know are CZ fans, except one guy who supports RAD (supposed to be the big scary firm). If you go into the kafana attached to the stadium, the staff happily tell you that Arkan was shot dead there! His silly wife Ceca's house is just across the street.

I guess Hajduk and Dinamo hate each other too, but at least that makes sense, two distinct cities. Someone told me that Tudjman tried to change the name of Dinamo to Croatia Zagreb but failed. Dunno, sounds like bullshit.

Edit - It's true!

[livingabortion]

England's Out - Beautiful.
Knocked Out By France - Even Better 

[warhead]

The partizan stadium is like 100 meters from the Red Star one, yet the fans hate each other. Most of the Serbs I know are CZ fans, except one guy who supports RAD (supposed to be the big scary firm). If you go into the kafana attached to the stadium, the staff happily tell you that Arkan was shot dead there! His silly wife Ceca's house is just across the street.

I guess Hajduk and Dinamo hate each other too, but at least that makes sense, two distinct cities. Someone told me that Tudjman tried to change the name of Dinamo to Croatia Zagreb but failed. Dunno, sounds like bullshit.

Edit - It's true!

Yes, Rad fans have a reputation of being the most dangerous firm in Serbia. I was in Belgrade on the night some Croatian generals were pronounced innocent in Den Haag. A group of Rad fans went into the club I was at, have to say I didn't feel indifferent to it 
Yes, Dinamo was called Croatia for a while. But they were called Gradjanski before they changed the name to Dinamo by the commie politicians after the end of WW2. So, when Croatia gained independence in the early '90's, the president Tudjman changed the name back to Gradjanski, and then to Croatia after couple of years. But the fans were used to the name Dinamo and were always pushing for the name to go back to that, which finally happened after Tudjman dropped dead.
You couldn't make this up 

Edit: CZ fans were more nationalistically orientated, while people rooting for Partizan were more pro-Yu orientated. But guess that changed during the decades.

[Blizzard Beast]

Woudnt be surprised if we see a France v Croatia final again.

[Emphyrio]

Croatia looked very tired but Messi was class. Deserved result in the end. Fair play to Croatia for getting so far yet again. Presumably a France-Argentina final.

[Pagan Saviour]

Delighted for some of the teams like Croatia and Morocco getting so far but especially regarding Croatia it does once pose the question about our own national team. Plenty of countries with similar population getting to the business ends of tournaments. Think it's going to be a grim qualifying campaign come March

[Caomhaoin]

We are a bit diluted by rugby and GAA, but Croatia also have a strong basketball team so the argument bends under scrutiny.

[Ollkiller]

We are a bit diluted by rugby and GAA, but Croatia also have a strong basketball team so the argument bends under scrutiny.

It's the GAA. We would have a far better team if the Gaa didn't exist. Now in the next 20 years we should produce better soccer players as the underage coaching they get nowadays is light years ahead of what was there in the 80s and 90s.

[Bürggermeister]

It's every cunt supporting and funding British teams. There's fuck all money going to the FAI and Irish clubs to develop young players. We fund the fucking English team. Realistically, everyone with any professional potential has to emigrate to an academy abroad while local lads parade around Ireland in poxy Man U and Liverpool shirts. There's very limited scope for anyone to develop as a professional footballer and stay in Ireland.

[Trev]

It's every cunt supporting and funding British teams. There's fuck all money going to the FAI and Irish clubs to develop young players. We fund the fucking English team. Realistically, everyone with any professional potential has to emigrate to an academy abroad while local lads parade around Ireland in poxy Man U and Liverpool shirts. There's very limited scope for anyone to develop as a professional footballer and stay in Ireland.

It's how the funds get allocated too, the head of the FAI's salary is twice what the LoI winners get, that's absolute bollocks. Until clubs start getting proper funding in its just going to get harder and harder for player development

[Ollkiller]

Yes the funding is bollocks in ireland for the soccer. My point was that the coaching for underage is light years ahead of what it was back when I was playing. Most clubs have people with Fifa badges now. So, as you say, players will still have to go abroad. Just they will be way better coached in the years they spend here, giving them a better chance of making it over there.