Off Topic International Match Thread

They also conceded to Miranda.

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The next Barcelona Brazilian is called Arthur, apparently.
Up there with Fred, Bill and Nathan in the exotic stakes.

 

Let me know when they field Tom, Dick and Harry.

 

Give it about 20 years and they'll probably have Harrinho, Harrinao and Harraldo playing for them!

 

Feck me this ref is ****!!! Walker fouled, he waves play on as England break - then calls a foul AGAINST Walker!!

 

How’s that not a penalty, ffs?

****ing ‘homer’ ref!...

 

Christ...for a minute I thought I wandered on to the Scouser v Spurs thread on the pool board

 

Meanwhile, in Nicosia...

 

Georgiou played 79 minutes as Cyprus drew 0-0 with Montenegro.
They appear to have been the better team too, limiting their opponents to one shot which was off target.
He's now played two senior games, both of which were in Cyprus.

 

International friendlies have become an absolute bore! Why don't the tv companies put on games from lower divisions?

 

I think Luton are on later.
You're quite right. Two weeks of the season wasted for the PL clubs - 3 weeks for some who were out of the F.A. Cup.
The season's reaching a climax yet we have a break for two weeks of boring international friendlies with club sides holding their breath hoping players don't pick up injuries.
Ridiculous.

 

One noteworthy stat is that CR7 scored twice in injury time v Egypt to go 3rd in the all time goalscorers list on 81goals.

 

It always seems as though CR7 is never marked when he scores.But he obviously has something that most others do not have....the aptitude to find spaces.....

 

He also created a damn good chance with this run

Nice to know Salah can watch his captain for next season captain up close so he knows what to expect after he moves...

 

So against a weak/rebuilding Netherlands, we saw
the true potency of an Ingerland playing an unfit
(by Spurs standards) DOF, and no Dier/Alli/Kane.

Are you not as excited as I am for the potential of such
lineups this summer ??

 

I've already put a tenner on us not getting out of the group.

 

Is there a 'how many recent ex / current Poool
players on the team sheets' side bet as part
of that wager ??

 

Even if Southgate does something sensible like try to pattern England after Tottenham, the thing the team lacks is anything resembling Eriksen in particular and passers in general. The one AM England has who is a dangerous and/or creative passer is Dele--who's also the only dangerous and/or creative CM passer. The two players I think are closest to fitting that description, Winks and Lallana, are both unfit and won't go to Russia. Henderson in midfield is a way of guaranteeing England will be lucky to get out of their group.

There's plenty of quality in the forwards and fullbacks, but it's a team that doesn't look particularly good at either scoring or defending.

 

I see a lot of pundits are predicting this summer will be the worst World Cup ever.

Still bitter that England once again failed to win a World Cup with their brilliant bid of "We invented football, so gimme, gimme, gimme" - which was so successful when bidding for the 2006 tournament.

On a (slightly) more serious note, it would take another Tunguska incident to take place during the final for this summer's World Cup to be anywhere near as bad as the 1994 or 2010 trainwrecks.

 

Group stages apart from D/F (my viewing
recommendation) look utterly processional,
though shock upsets are always in waiting
(but will you be lucky to pick those games
to watch in full) .

Russian supporter thuggery will be an
interesting sideshow.

 

While there's been talk of potential hooligan problems from the outset, I always thought there was going to be one good reason why it won't be: the Russian police have strict instructions from Putin to keep a lid on things, which on its own could be enough to make the average bonehead realise that it's better to restrict their hooliganism to posting racist/anti-semitic posts on Twitter for the duration of the tournament.