The Soccer thread

[Macca 17,041]

27 minutes ago, Grapeviney said:

@Macca

Good news - Talk Sport website is working, Macca, but I’ll be listening to the TV commentary tonight as Peter Drury is one of my favourite callers.

Edit: just saw your post, beat me to it  

Egads ... this game could turn into a rout!

Kane can do the spectacular and he can do the clinical. 

[Grapeviney 9,808]

16 minutes ago, Macca said:

Egads ... this game could turn into a rout!

Kane can do the spectacular and he can do the clinical. 

Yeh it tends to be either feast or famine with Spurs, although I thought Dele was probably fractionally off-side on the first one. 

[Macca 17,041]

1 hour ago, Grapeviney said:

Yeh it tends to be either feast or famine with Spurs, although I thought Dele was probably fractionally off-side on the first one. 

Got a bit tight in the end but the Hammers tardy start was costly (again) The better team won.

Too little too late and the pressure is going to come on Bilic now. 

But that's par for the course with regards to being a soccer manager (especially in England)  ... win, or you're out.

 

[Grapeviney 9,808]

28 minutes ago, Macca said:

Got a bit tight in the end but the Hammers tardy start was costly (again) The better team won.

Too little too late and the pressure is going to come on Bilic now. 

But that's par for the course with regards to being a soccer manager (especially in England)  ... win, or you're out.

 

Kouyate’s goal was great (both the ball in and the finish) but yep, too little too late, thought you could / should have played with more intensity and urgency when Aurelier was sent off. 

[Macca 17,041]

Every year I get more and more into the Champions league ... the best of the best.  If you've got foxtel most of the games end up being shown and the 1 hour highlights package is not to be missed. 

On again from tomorrow morning (beIN sports)

The pick of the match-ups this week are Dortmund vs Real Madrid,  PSG vs Bayern Munich & Atletico Madrid vs Chelsea

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

Just preparing for the big trip to Melaka next week.

Well it is not really that far ... about 500k but in the Malaysian context that is big ........

Car is serviced .. went for shave and haircut while that was being done. Boy when you get the old second scrape you don't need a shave for days.

Tickets still a conundrum. The Australian Supporters group are offering  a match day package for A$250. Hell one could live for a month on that. Present plan is to rock up to the stadium the day before and with my impeccable Bahasa Malay vocab (usually used only at the nasi kandar stall) make inquiries of anyone I might find.

In keeping with Malaysian tradition my most important decision will be where to stop for lunch. Bean sprouts and chicken in Ipoh perhaps or roti cenai at Kuala Kangsar. The roads are very good with big clean roadside stops replete with food halls about every 100kms. Local coffee is fantastic.

The local greeting by the way is often not hello .. but rather is sudah makan kah which loosely translates to "have you eaten yet".

Looking forward to trying the Portuguese styled Nonya food around Jonkers Walk in the evening.

Last week we had the tail end of the typhoon that hit Vietnam. Did it ever rain.

The west coast of Malaysia is actually very benign when it comes to weather events due to the massive island of Sumatra being a mere 100 or so kilometres across the Starits of Malacca. So fingers crossed for no rain.

Local coverage of this match in the media is about nil ... well from what I have found it is nil.

So until the next exciting instalment...  

[Dees'97 52]

A league begins this week, victory should make up for the Dees missing out.

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

Safely in melaka. 

A lot of rain between here and kl but melaka itself seems dry. 

Just went to the stadium looking for tickets. Like many things here not quite organised like we are used to. 

Anyway wandered in and had a good look at the pitch. Sand with flat weed type grass. My kids school has better goal posts.  Actually looked a little dangerous. 

Found a guy who said I could get a ticket tomorrow and that they are training at 6pm tonight.  It is only a few minutes from the hotel so I will go down and have a look. 

I wonder when these guys last played in front of what is likely to be a very small crowd. 

[Macca 17,041]

37 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Safely in melaka. 

A lot of rain between here and kl but melaka itself seems dry. 

Just went to the stadium looking for tickets. Like many things here not quite organised like we are used to. 

Anyway wandered in and had a good look at the pitch. Sand with flat weed type grass. My kids school has better goal posts.  Actually looked a little dangerous. 

Found a guy who said I could get a ticket tomorrow and that they are training at 6pm tonight.  It is only a few minutes from the hotel so I will go down and have a look. 

I wonder when these guys last played in front of what is likely to be a very small crowd. 

This is quite a fascinating journey that you've undertaken DJ. 

If we can get past Syria we're then up against either Panama,  Honduras or the USA (there's an outside chance it might be Costa Rica but they should qualify automatically)   That home & away fixture would be held in mid to late November(?)

But first things first ... we have to get past Syria and that won't be easy.  The pitch over there looks like it could be substandard but I remember reading once that the Socceroos had to play a qualifier in Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam war and the pitch had to be swept for land mines!

That would sharpen the senses a tad.  Put's a whole new complexion on dribbling the ball hey?

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

Here's a picture of the goal set up. 

Look closely at the back posts. 

 

Sorry... Just cannot seem to get the picture to upload 

Edited October 4, 2017 by Diamond_Jim

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

1 hour ago, Macca said:

This is quite a fascinating journey that you've undertaken DJ. 

If we can get past Syria we're then up against either Panama,  Honduras or the USA (there's an outside chance it might be Costa Rica but they should qualify automatically)   That home & away fixture would be held in mid to late November(?)

But first things first ... we have to get past Syria and that won't be easy.  The pitch over there looks like it could be substandard but I remember reading once that the Socceroos had to play a qualifier in Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam war and the pitch had to be swept for land mines!

That would sharpen the senses a tad.  Put's a whole new complexion on dribbling the ball hey?

Apparently Syria have been getting some of their stars back and they are now a relatively strong team. 

The socceroos must have just about had a record number of shots on goal in that last game against Thailand. 

It was that draw in Bangkok that caused them all this trouble. 

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

No rain overnight and the usual warm day here in malacca. 

Kick off is quite late... 8.30pm local time. I assume this is for broadcast reasons back to Syria. 

I'll post again from the ground if possible. 

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

At the stadium now. 

Small crowd.. 2k...maybe. 

1.8k Syrians. 

No sign of rain and quite warm with high humidity. 

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

Crowd has grown to perhaps 3.5k. 

Lots of Australians came in at the last minute.  Suspect they were having a beer outside. 

Both sides with chances.  Australia took one but Syria is certainly in the match. 

If anything they look taller and stronger than the Australians. 

Here's hoping for an early australian goal in the second half. 

 

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

Penalty goal to Syria. 

Aussies playing themselves out of it in the last 15 minutes 

2 minutes to go 

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

Well. 

In the end perhaps lucky to get away with a one all draw. 

Back to the hotel  now. 

Syrian fans rightly proud of their team 

[Wadda We Sing 10,685]

Stuck in at Uni tonight.....anyone got a link to the match?

 

[Macca 17,041]

2 hours ago, Wadda We Sing said:

Stuck in at Uni tonight.....anyone got a link to the match?

 

Got through by the skin of our teeth ... 2 - 1.  Syria hit the woodwork in the last minute from a set piece.

Cahill scored twice ... both times with headers.  The ageless warrior

Now for Panama,  Honduras or the USA. 

Edited October 10, 2017 by Macca

[Wadda We Sing 10,685]

1 hour ago, Macca said:

Got through by the skin of our teeth ... 2 - 1.  Syria hit the woodwork in the last minute from a set piece.

Cahill scored twice ... both times with headers.  The ageless warrior

Now for Panama,  Honduras or the USA. 

Thanks Macca!...i made a run for it to the local PubTab after half time......worse than the Dees this side....Syria down to 10 men in extra time and they still couldnt put them away.....they were actually 17/1 when that last Syrian free was taken......that was so in the back of the net.....just hit the post! Total nailbitter....where would we be without Cahill.

Yeah Honduras will be real fun....goodluck with that socceroos....bring Guus back!!!

[Macca 17,041]

13 hours ago, Wadda We Sing said:

Thanks Macca!...i made a run for it to the local PubTab after half time......worse than the Dees this side....Syria down to 10 men in extra time and they still couldnt put them away.....they were actually 17/1 when that last Syrian free was taken......that was so in the back of the net.....just hit the post! Total nailbitter....where would we be without Cahill.

Yeah Honduras will be real fun....goodluck with that socceroos....bring Guus back!!!

Next up is the USA by the looks of it ... that's a challenge

Edit ... turns out we play Honduras next

Edited October 11, 2017 by Macca

[Wadda We Sing 10,685]

1 minute ago, Macca said:

Next up is the USA by the looks of it ... that's a challenge

Looks like it.....probably the best of the 3 options.....none of them were easy i guess. The South American countries are so fanatical...

[Wadda We Sing 10,685]

No Its Honduras!!! Oh dear.

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

2 minutes ago, Wadda We Sing said:

No Its Honduras!!! Oh dear.

Another high humidity game (relative humidity for November.. 77%) ... temperature just a little lower than Melaka at average high of 26 degrees.

Will be a very tough first leg.

Any word on where the Australian leg will be played.

Got back to Melbourne just in time to watch the extra time .... painful stuff..... seems to be no flow to their game. Desperately need another class striker.

[Macca 17,041]

22 minutes ago, Wadda We Sing said:

No Its Honduras!!! Oh dear.

Never trust a soccer score app

Honduras it is then!

The USA will be kicking themselves for missing out.  A couple of 'unusual' finishes to those Concacaf games ... hmmmm

Edited October 11, 2017 by Macca

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

The return leg is in Sydney .. why I don't know

More importantly there are reports that Ange will resign in November .. win or lose

https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/socceroos/stunned-reaction-to-socceroos-coachs-plan-to-quit/news-story/6840e7416865f28294488a53e364a13e

Just saw that Chile failed to qualify ... wow

Edited October 11, 2017 by Diamond_Jim