The Football Thread

France 2 looks like they will win this one

Yeap, here are the updates:

Serbia - Slovenia 1-1
Norway - Portugal 1-0
Bosnia - France 0-2 (I haven't seen anything because I switched on Argentina-Spain)
Switzerland - England 1-3
Scotland - Liechtenstein 1-1 (LOL)
Czech Republic - Lithuania 0-1

Scotland 2 Lichenstein 1 last minute goal

akamaisondufromage wrote: Scotland 2 Lichenstein 1 last minute goal   ha ha! They played their get out of Jail free card!  phew!

Edited by seventhsojourn - September 08 2010 at 11:01

Was the 60s generation with Torres, Eusebio and the others another abnormality?  

seventhsojourn wrote: akamaisondufromage wrote: Scotland 2 Lichenstein 1 last minute goal   ha ha! They played their get out of Jail free card!  phew!   So, Scotland finally overcame the footballing might of Liechtenstein with a last minute goal... actually, the winning goal was scored in the 37th minute of injury time. The fans all had to walk home because they missed the late-night buses.   Liechtenstein are rated about one hundred places below Scotland in Fifa's rankings, along with the likes of Swaziland... nice to see we've found our level.   Even funnier than the game/result itself was the unconsciously funny commentary... just after Liechtenstein took a shock lead, the commentator remarked that the Scotland manager would need to clean up the mess on the field. Yeah, after he cleaned up the mess on the ground behind where he was standing!   Scotland's next two games... Czech Republic and Spain.

Almost another almighty calamity for the dark blue dwarves (Though the mighty Lithuania beat the Czech Republic )

Scotland's status as a footie nation seems to be a circular debate i.e. there ain't much disagreement that Messrs Smith, McLeish, Burley and Levein have all picked the best players available to them but such is their lack of technical ball skills etc, the coach usually 'slips the noose' on the premise that 'ye cannae polish a turd' etc

Although Levein did sterling work with similarly limited resources at Dundee Utd I don't feel he's best equipped for the task ahead:

He's too young for an international manager
He's won squat at club level
He turned a life ban for McGregor and Ferguson into the somewhat diminished charge of life ban until Burley is sacked.
He selected Kris Boyd and Lee McCulloch who both did a miraculous U turn on their willingness to represent their country (players cannot pick and choose which national coach they are prepared to play for - if they do ban them forever I say - we're sh*te with or without them )

However, we owe Levein a fair go and if he gets us to the finals of Euro 2012 he will have achieved something his strangely lamented predecessors failed to.

Has anyone followed the first round of matches from the Champions League and Europa League from last week? As I was on a trip I didn't have normal Internet access so I couldn't come in to comment, but I am still under the strong impression of the amazing football some teams have shown, especially the Spanish ones: Barcelona, Real and Valencia, but also Arsenal and AC Milan. I've had the bad luck to be shown Manchester U - Rangers, probably the most boring match of the round, but other have looked splendid (in the highlights, at least).
From the Europa League matches I must give mentions to Levski - Gent (wow), Karpaty Lvov - Borussia Dortmund (incredible development) and Dynamo Kyiv - Bate Borisov. There were a lot of surprising results, such as Aris Thessaloniki beating Atletico Madrid, Juventus drawing 3-3 with Lech Poznan, Dinamo Zagreb beating Villareal or Sevilla losing home to PSG. However I was not surprised by the good performances of the Russian teams: Zenit St. Petersburg beating Anderlecht in Belgium and CSKA Moscow beating Lausanne in Switzerland. I can easily see on of these two Russian teams in the final. 

Coming with a late answer to Chris's issue from the "The demise of the English game?" thread from a month or so ago,

Chris S wrote: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3106111/Carlo-Ancelotti-says-Chelsea-are-playing-like-PlayStation-footballers.html Seriously the premiership is fast becoming a joke. Top 10, Bottom 10. Everyweek we are seeing 6-0.7-0 rompings. The chasm between teams in the elite and the bottom 10 is rediculous. I think there are clubs that now just try and survive to get the annual premiership cash injection. I know it is a global game but it really is a tad boring now, seeing the same old hidings dished out.   On to badminton....

I would like to point out that by this time ALL the favourites from all the major European leagues have lost important points, which was especially surprising since most of them were lost with "small" teams. After the first round of matches from the Premier League I would have agreed with Chris' feeling, but not anymore.

In England, Manchester United have lost 6 points in just 6 rounds to Bolton (this has just ended), Everton and Fulham; Arsenal were humiliated on their own turf by the newly promoted West Bromich Albion, also losing points to Sunderland and Liverpool; even the mighty Chelsea have lost one match already (to Man C).

In Spain, Barcelona were put to shame on the Camp Nou last week by the newly promoted Hercules Alicante, while Mourinho's Real have already lost 4 points in 5 rounds by drawing with minor teams such as Levante and Mallorca (sorry el dingo, Mallorca is not what it used to be any more).

The most interesting case (a great lovely mess, actually) comes from Germany, where after 6 rounds Bayern are on the 8th place with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses, recent champoins Stuttgart are on the last place, and major teams like Schalke 04 and FC Koln are also on relegation positions. The current no.1 is FC Mainz :), and the first somewhat major team of the last years comes on the 7th place (Hamburger SV).

Even in Italy, the reigning Inter Milan have lost important points to Roma (loss) and Bologna (draw) - 4 important points out of 15 possible. While Juventus is on 16th and Fiorentina is on 19th, the podium is completed by Chievo and Brescia.

Champions League night tonight! 

Yep, Chamakh is the sort of physical striker that Arsenal have lacked for the last few years.
Whether he's enough for them to end their 5 year trophy drought I'm not yet convinced as they still lack an authoritative keeper and a midfield 'minder' to protect their vulnerable back four.
Arshavin is a sublimely talented player but can be a bit erm...moody. When he's in the right one he can be devasting, when not it's like his team are playing with 10 men
Jack Wilshire is just a superstar waiting to happen in my view.

I was very disappointed with Braga at the Emirates (they beat Celtic and Sevilla to earn their place in the group after all) Do you have hopes that Donetsk can advance from the section? - they have a lot of Brazilians plying their trade in Ukraine now I think?