The Soccer thread

[Jaded No More 68,966]

 

A good effort but disappointing to lose it with poor defending. 

Still what an effort and Kerr is a star!

[Macca 17,009]

Credit to England ... they've been the superior team tonight.  They played with more experience and defended very well

Matilda's had a great tournament though.  Exceeded expectations and to reach the S/F's is a high achievement

It's been a great ride but we just ran into a better team on the night

[layzie 33,865]

Shame to bow out that way but mighty proud of our girls.

[Macca 17,009]

2 minutes ago, layzie said:

Shame to bow out that way but mighty proud of our girls.

We got outplayed by a superior outfit who looked a class above

There's no shame in losing to a better team

To be honest, England could have been 3 up at half time

 

[Macca 17,009]

20 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

A good effort but disappointing to lose it with poor defending. 

Still what an effort and Kerr is a star!

England could have scored 5 or 6 and they are the European Champions

Sometimes you just have to take your hat off to the winner

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Macca

[dazzledavey36 55,004]

Extremely proud.

Sometimes you need to experience the heartache to then go on and experience the absolute highs.

We'll get there.

[layzie 33,865]

20 minutes ago, Macca said:

We got outplayed by a superior outfit who looked a class above

There's no shame in losing to a better team

To be honest, England could have been 3 up at half time

 

That England side was quality. They were very good goals although the 2nd goal which really frustrated me defending wise.

[Macca 17,009]

Just now, layzie said:

That England side was quality. They were very good goals although the 2nd goal which really frustrated me defending wise.

Yeah, fair enough

We did very well but England were far too professional.  Their tackles were aimed to hurt and intimidate.  All within the rules too

In soccer, we really are a minnow nation that fights way above it's weight

Augers well for the future though and we will probably see a lot more females take up the sport.  In turn, the W League gets stronger and more of our players will end up at the big European clubs

Anyway, there's the Bronze medal to play for and if you'd offered me 3rd place at the start of the tournament I'd have taken it in a nanosecond

And we can't be seeing 3rd place as 2nd best ... Bronze is a real achievement for a team coming from where we are

[Macca 17,009]

So the final is on Sunday at 8pm

England vs Spain (an even money bet according to the bookies)

I favour England after their performance tonight

3rd place playoff 6pm Saturday

Australia vs Sweden

Sweden will be hard to beat as they are ranked #3* in the world and have featured in a number of SF's at world cup level

England are ranked #4 whilst Spain are #6 (Australia #10 although we might be #7 or #8 after this tournament is finished)

Edited August 16, 2023 by Macca

[roy11 3,858]

On 8/8/2023 at 1:05 PM, roy11 said:

predicting a Spain vs England final

Was sort of inevitable after Germany and USA were knocked out.

No shame losing to England and to think they were missing 3 of the starting 11 from the euros final win due to ACL injuries. 

[Macca 17,009]

Games to look out for this weekend

Sat 6.00pm Australia vs Sweden (3rd place playoff)

Sat Midnight Liverpool vs Bournemouth

Sun 2 30am  Tottenham vs Man Utd

Sun 5.00am  Man City vs Newcastle

Sun 3.20pm Demons vs Hawks

Sun 8.00pm Spain vs England (Final)

Mon 1.30am West Ham vs Chelsea

Tues 5.00am Crystal Palace vs Arsenal

Edited August 17, 2023 by Macca

[roy11 3,858]

Chuck these 3 in as well Macca

Sat
5am - Leeds vs West Brom 
11:30pm - Bayern Leverkusen vs RB Leipzig 

Monday
5:30am - Real Betis vs Atletico Madrid

 

 

 

[rpfc 28,543]

If you would have told me 10 years ago that an Aussie manager in 2023 will have beaten Man Utd in a game for points and we would come 4th in either WC I would have been pretty rude.

Edited August 19, 2023 by rpfc

[Macca 17,009]

Spurs have started very well under Ange.  For those who follow other teams, are they everyone's 2nd team?

Hammers started well too with a big win over Chelsea

De Bruyne out for a few months for City but they've won their first 2 (as have Brighton) Liverpool & Arsenal are thereabouts and the Gunners are at Palace later this morning

 

[Macca 17,009]

Notable Premier League Match-Ups for the Weekend

Sat 5.00am  Chelsea vs Luton

Sat 9.30pm  Bournemouth vs Spurs

Sat Midnight  Man Utd vs Nottingham Forest

Sat Midnight  Arsenal vs Fulham

Sat 2.30am  Brighton vs West Ham

Sun 11.00pm  Sheffield Utd vs Man City

Mon 1.30am  Newcastle vs Liverpool

 

[layzie 33,865]

I watch 75 mins of Newcastle v Liverpool this morning, trailing 1-0 down to 10 men for most of the game. I decide to cut it there because I've got a heap to do, we were battling hard but it wasn't going our way.

I then catch the other Reds fan in our office who yells out to me "Good result this morning". I ask what happened and he tells me to my absolute shock. 

It's a funny old game..

[Macca 17,009]

Big North London derby at 11pm tonight ... for those who can't watch it live, SEN are covering the game

Liverpool vs West Ham could be interesting (11pm as well) whilst in Europe there are some excellent match-ups

PSG vs Marseille (4.45am), Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid (5am) & Torino vs Roma (4.45am)

[Dr. Gonzo 24,235]

I've been following the Spurs for a few years now, since Mourinho took over. Never got into the EPL until covid and watched the doco series on Amazon Prime which is the reason I chose Tottenham. Plus the other MFC supporter in my office is also a Spurs fan so that helps.

I don't know why they benched Son the other night, he was the only one looking dangerous and scored two goals, both relatively quickly after Arsenal scored. Romero had a filthy day, hope they can get the win this weekend over Liverpool.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Dr. Gonzo

[Macca 17,009]

Arsenal vs Tottenham extended highlights

Liverpool vs West Ham extended highlights

Atletico vs Real Madrid

Barcelona vs Celta Vigo

 

[Macca 17,009]

Matches to look out for this weekend

Sat 4.30am Hoffenheim vs Borussia Dortmund

Sat 5.00am Barcelona vs Sevilla

Sat 9.30pm Aston Villa vs Brighton

Sun 3.00am AC Milan vs Lazio

Sun 3.30am RB Leipzig vs Bayern Munich

Sun 3.30am Tottenham vs Liverpool (set your alarm!)

Sun 6.00am Monaco vs Marseille

Sun Midnight Nottingham vs Brentford

Tues 6am Fulham vs Chelsea

[layzie 33,865]

High drama. Some huge results overnight.

To the elephant in the room. Well played Spurs and well done to Ange I'm so happy to see him having this success. They did what they had to do with the advantage they were presented and I really do believe they are a better team without Kane. Madison has been an excellent fit.

But we have to look at this game as it happened and it was not a good day for the EPL. With the world watching we've had what should have been an amazing game ruined with over officiating.

Curtis Jones challenge has had 50-50 opinions. Personally I thought he had his foot on the ball and accidentally made the contact, not a good challenge but I would have thought yellow card. But it's about how this decision was made: yellow was given, ref went over to the monitor and the worst thing for the EPL was that we could see what the ref saw: a freeze frame shot and then slow motion. No real time at all, of course he was going to give it red.

You then have Diaz score and the linesman flag instantly. VAR checks this quicker than the Petracca goal against Carlton with no lines drawn for offside and clears the offside call. They didn't even need the line to see it was onside.

Jota gets a second yellow for a stupid challenge, I thought his first yellow was harsh but he still shouldn't have done this. 

Then the own goal at the death.

I've gotta say there were some stupid yellows given to Tottenham as well. The Udogie one was laughable.

Like I said, well done to Spurs and they did deserve the win. As a spectacle though it's so frustrating being served this up and it's getting a bit much.

[Macca 17,009]

4 hours ago, layzie said:

High drama. Some huge results overnight.

To the elephant in the room. Well played Spurs and well done to Ange I'm so happy to see him having this success. They did what they had to do with the advantage they were presented and I really do believe they are a better team without Kane. Madison has been an excellent fit.

But we have to look at this game as it happened and it was not a good day for the EPL. With the world watching we've had what should have been an amazing game ruined with over officiating.

Curtis Jones challenge has had 50-50 opinions. Personally I thought he had his foot on the ball and accidentally made the contact, not a good challenge but I would have thought yellow card. But it's about how this decision was made: yellow was given, ref went over to the monitor and the worst thing for the EPL was that we could see what the ref saw: a freeze frame shot and then slow motion. No real time at all, of course he was going to give it red.

You then have Diaz score and the linesman flag instantly. VAR checks this quicker than the Petracca goal against Carlton with no lines drawn for offside and clears the offside call. They didn't even need the line to see it was onside.

Jota gets a second yellow for a stupid challenge, I thought his first yellow was harsh but he still shouldn't have done this. 

Then the own goal at the death.

I've gotta say there were some stupid yellows given to Tottenham as well. The Udogie one was laughable.

Like I said, well done to Spurs and they did deserve the win. As a spectacle though it's so frustrating being served this up and it's getting a bit much.

Jones' foot passes over the ball and made aggressive contact to the leg of his opponent ... red card appropriate. At best it was poorly disguised.  That sort of tackle can cause a lot of damage especially with studs up

The Dias goal should have been allowed and not getting the graphics was a bit suspect (as it turns out, VAR didn't even intervene)

Jota was extremely unlucky with the first yellow ... incidental contact to my eyes but when you're on a yellow card, you can't afford to tempt fate with a clumsy tackle

But the Dias non goal was an absolute howler (the PGMOL have acknowledged that the goal should have stood ... initiating a full review - all too late)

Klopp was exasperated about the non goal but didn't have much to say about the 2 players being sent off

The own goal at the end was the cherry on top!  A riotous affair!

[Macca 17,009]

Wolves winning gives the City rivals some real hope.  Maybe the Sky Blues are starting to miss De Bruyne (occasionally) with his immense influence (as well as his brilliant partnership with Haaland)

Those 2 are the best one-two punch in world soccer

Man City are up against Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton & Man Utd in the next month so they'll be tested (or not!)

[BDA 22,759]

9 hours ago, Macca said:

Man City are up against Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton & Man Utd in the next month so they'll be tested (or not!)

Utd are in terrible shape. they'll beat them easily 3-0 my prediction. Rotten dressing room

[Macca 17,009]

2 hours ago, BDA said:

Utd are in terrible shape. they'll beat them easily 3-0 my prediction. Rotten dressing room

Our resident Man Utd fan @roy11 might be able to enlighten us on their troubles

It seems to me that they get a heap of possesssion but have issues in the front 3rd