The Soccer thread

[Macca 16,956]

3 hours ago, layzie said:

Macca if there's one day I wish like hell I was old enough to have fully experienced it's that final round in 1987, I reckon that would have been off tap.

In contrast though if there's one day I'm so very grateful I wasn't old enough to fully experience or remember well it's the 87 prelim at Waverley..

I was at all the games but my view of the prelim is a little different.  Disappointed of course but still proud that we had progressed so far, so quickly after at least 2 decades of mostly miserable times

In the prelim we had a gale force wind behind us for the first 3 quarters back when having a strong wind behind a team was a big advantage.  People used to talk about having a 5 goal advantage (in a quarter) ... the sport has changed so much

So we had every chance in the prelim.  If we'd won, the wind advantage would have been a big factor. And the wind died in the last quarter.  The wind switched at quarter time and then at half time ... at Waverley, you were out in the open so you could really feel the breeze.  It was uncanny, we thought the gods were with us

Anyway, we went out on to the ground after the final quarter and I'd pinpointed where Buckenara would have been if he didn't receive that infamous 15 metre penalty ... I reckon I might have kicked it!!  Buckenara surely would have

Better team won

Edited May 25, 2022 by Macca

[layzie 33,792]

On 5/25/2022 at 5:41 PM, Macca said:

I was at all the games but my view of the prelim is a little different.  Disappointed of course but still proud that we had progressed so far, so quickly after at least 2 decades of mostly miserable times

In the prelim we had a gale force wind behind us for the first 3 quarters back when having a strong wind behind a team was a big advantage.  People used to talk about having a 5 goal advantage (in a quarter) ... the sport has changed so much

So we had every chance in the prelim.  If we'd won, the wind advantage would have been a big factor. And the wind died in the last quarter.  The wind switched at quarter time and then at half time ... at Waverley, you were out in the open so you could really feel the breeze.  It was uncanny, we thought the gods were with us

Anyway, we went out on to the ground after the final quarter and I'd pinpointed where Buckenara would have been if he didn't receive that infamous 15 metre penalty ... I reckon I might have kicked it!!  Buckenara surely would have

Better team won

Very level headed view of it all Macca. Unfortunately even believing all of that myself I still think I would have spat the dummy hard! Growing up in the Hawthorn area and half my friends being Hawks fans it would have just been all too much for me!

I saw this game on tape so much I wore it out. Bucky was easily one of the best set shots around I reckon he probably would have kicked it too. Simon Eishold gets off way too easy for his part in this game! 

[Macca 16,956]

Just now, layzie said:

Very level headed view of it all Macca. Unfortunately even believing all of that myself I still think I would have spat the dummy hard! Growing up in the Hawthorn area and half my friends being Hawks fans it would have just been all too much for me!

I saw this game on tape so much I wore it out. Bucky was easily one of the best set shots around I reckon he probably would have kicked it too. Simon Eishold gets off way too easy for his part in this game! 

I spent a lot of my early years in Kew & Ruchmond so most I knew back then were Tiger fans

Everyone I knew back then were on the Demon bandwagon ... the tears flowed after that Prelim but I knew we'd get more chances as we had a very good team ... trouble was that there were a few teams in that era (Hawthorn included) that were a shade better

But Coach Northey had us up and running and it was a terrific 5 years where we won more games than we lost ... and after all those years of misery, it was great to be a contender at last

But our current team is a complete outfit so the expectations are to win big.  This year especially!

I was involved in a lot of success at local level so that probably explains why I can be a little matter of fact and philosophical about sport (when it's all out of my control)

Que sera sera ... and being a West Ham fan, expectations can never be too high.  All the same, all things considered, we had a very good year

As for the Champians League Final, there will be a lot of sentiment for Liverpool ... they play a style that is very watchable and Klopp is very well liked.  Really like listening to his musings!

 

[layzie 33,792]

9 hours ago, Macca said:

I spent a lot of my early years in Kew & Ruchmond so most I knew back then were Tiger fans

Everyone I knew back then were on the Demon bandwagon ... the tears flowed after that Prelim but I knew we'd get more chances as we had a very good team ... trouble was that there were a few teams in that era (Hawthorn included) that were a shade better

But Coach Northey had us up and running and it was a terrific 5 years where we won more games than we lost ... and after all those years of misery, it was great to be a contender at last

But our current team is a complete outfit so the expectations are to win big.  This year especially!

I was involved in a lot of success at local level so that probably explains why I can be a little matter of fact and philosophical about sport (when it's all out of my control)

Que sera sera ... and being a West Ham fan, expectations can never be too high.  All the same, all things considered, we had a very good year

As for the Champians League Final, there will be a lot of sentiment for Liverpool ... they play a style that is very watchable and Klopp is very well liked.  Really like listening to his musings!

 

How about that Macca! Probably neighbours. I went to Kew Primary School and half the kids there were Hawks fans so if you spoke ill of them you ended up with no friends!

That time would have been great watch the Dees under Northey, 23 years without finals is just unheard of 06 to 18 was bad enough!

I do have a soft spot for the Hammers, saw a lot of similarities with Melbourne. Hopefully they win something soon.

He's just been a revelation, his value to the club has been even more than the trophies. The way he's brought the fans together in the city of Liverpool and beyond is incredible, he really is the modern day Shankly. You need to be that as manager of this club, it's such a people driven club. And yes the football is very nice to watch!

[Macca 16,956]

11 hours ago, layzie said:

How about that Macca! Probably neighbours. I went to Kew Primary School and half the kids there were Hawks fans so if you spoke ill of them you ended up with no friends!

That time would have been great watch the Dees under Northey, 23 years without finals is just unheard of 06 to 18 was bad enough!

I do have a soft spot for the Hammers, saw a lot of similarities with Melbourne. Hopefully they win something soon.

He's just been a revelation, his value to the club has been even more than the trophies. The way he's brought the fans together in the city of Liverpool and beyond is incredible, he really is the modern day Shankly. You need to be that as manager of this club, it's such a people driven club. And yes the football is very nice to watch!

I noticed that 9GemHD are showing the Champions League Final live from 4.30am

Good news for those who haven't got cable or one of the myriad of streaming services needed these days

Should be more of it too ... if the FTA stations are serious they need to get hold of more big time sport.  All of the golf majors instead of just the Masters for starters!

Channel 10 are showing the A League Final live from 6.30pm tomorrow night (7.45pm kickoff) ... Melb City vs Western United

Straight after our game vs Freo

Edited May 27, 2022 by Macca

[layzie 33,792]

It burns, it still burns, 3 days later. I'll come back when it isn't burning as much. 

[roy11 3,846]

3 hours ago, layzie said:

It burns, it still burns, 3 days later. I'll come back when it isn't burning as much. 

You need more creativity and goals from midfield. Will be an interesting summer for LFC with Mane wanting to leave and Salah entering the last 12 months of his contract.

[layzie 33,792]

Still pretty down about that one but I would like to have a bit of a rant about my experience from Sunday morning:

The Imperial is the venue of choice for Liverpool fans but the only chance of getting in there on nights like this is by getting there at 11pm on Sat night with no option to leave and come back during the night. I could have done this but with 6-7 hrs to pass in a pub the options are to either have a few frothies and chat which is the equivalent of getting on it at 7am on Grand Final Day or go easy and play checkers or something. Beer Deluxe was my next choice as I went there in 2019 and it was great but they were not open so settled on The Crafty Squire.

Got in at about 3am with 2 hrs to kick off and found a good spot downstairs. With about 45 mins to kick off all Liverpool fans are told to go upstairs, essentially if you were wearing any kind of gear you needed to get the heck out of there and go upstairs and they were a bit authoritative and pushy about it. Little strange but ok fair enough. 

Went upstairs and somehow snagged a reasonable spot again which was good. The darl went to go and get an espresso martini and the guy at the bar gave a bunch of attitude. “I’m way too busy to make cocktails sorry” he replied while handing out cans and pulling the odd beer as the extent of his duties. Didn’t seem to be a problem downstairs but again, fair enough. 

But what got me was the next thing. For whatever reason they decided to absolutely blare the audio volume of the pre match and the game, this was serious loudness. I go to quite a few music gigs and this was literally giving me a headache, to the point where I didn’t even care about what was happening in the game. I’m someone who tries to protect my hearing whenever necessary and I would have given anything to have my ear plugs at that time. A lot of us asked if they could turn it down a notch, they said they didn’t know how. By half time we decided we just couldn’t take it anymore and headed off to watch the second half at Fed Square, it was freezing cold but anything was better than that debacle.

Needless to say I won’t be going back there to watch football. I know hospitality has done it real tough but if the question every week is how to get people back out in the city you really don’t have to do a lot, the bare minimum will do. 

Rant is over!
 

[roy11 3,846]

Tough days @layzie, i spoke to a LFC fan of mine about going to watch it at the Impy and he joked that he'd need to get there 2 days earlier to get a good spot. 

Enjoy an occasional game at the Charles Dickens but watch most games on the couch these days.

Haven't watched a game at Fed Square since the Croatia game at the 2006 World Cup, was a long evening on the sauce and I was wrongfully punched in the head earlier in the night but didn't care as we advanced to the next round.

[Macca 16,956]

Socceroos get past the UAE

This team of largely unknowns might just make it to the world cup

One last hurdle and it's a tough one ... away to Peru at 4 00am next Tuesday

[At Least I Saw a Flag 5,227]

7 hours ago, Macca said:

Socceroos get past the UAE

This team of largely unknowns might just make it to the world cup

One last hurdle and it's a tough one ... away to Peru at 4 00am next Tuesday

I can't believe anyone wouldn't call the winner an own goal. The volley was hit straight at the keeper, but the massive deflection off the defender gave him (keeper) no chance. Without that deflection it would have been a straightforward save.

Glad the Socceroos won though. Peru ... hmm, Socceroos not that good really.

 

[Macca 16,956]

3 hours ago, Winners at last said:

I can't believe anyone wouldn't call the winner an own goal. The volley was hit straight at the keeper, but the massive deflection off the defender gave him (keeper) no chance. Without that deflection it would have been a straightforward save.

Glad the Socceroos won though. Peru ... hmm, Socceroos not that good really.

He struck it very very hard - not sure the keeper would have caught it cleanly so the possible/probable fumble could have been pounced upon ... on the scale of own goals it's low

And we know know the Socceroos aren't that good but our lack of high end talent makes getting this far to be all the more meritorious

As a realist, I reckon we've done exceptionally well for a bunch of no-names.  Bit like the '74 Socceroos

As Graham Arnold noted, we are drawing on good old fashioned Aussie spirit

Peru will be tough and will go in as favourites but it will be played in front of an empty stadium (due to their crowd trouble)

Australia to win in a penalty shoot-out!!

Edited June 8, 2022 by Macca

[roy11 3,846]

If there was a "IS GRAHAM ARNOLD THE RIGHT MAN?" thread it would be full of 122142141241 pages of people saying no.

 

[At Least I Saw a Flag 5,227]

On 6/9/2022 at 3:15 PM, roy11 said:

If there was a "IS GRAHAM ARNOLD THE RIGHT MAN?" thread it would be full of 122142141241 pages of people saying no.

 

Socceroos win penalty shootout v Peru and through to World Cup Finals.

Socceroos need to find a way (or ways) to actually score goals in open play.

[At Least I Saw a Flag 5,227]

Just now, Winners at last said:

Socceroos win penalty shootout v Peru and through to World Cup Finals. Well done!

Socceroos need to find a way (or ways) to actually score goals in open play.

 

[Macca 16,956]

Fantastic result to make the World Cup finals once again.   This team of largely unknowns have excelled expectations

So we are in a group consisting of France, Denmark, Tunisia and ourselves ... might be able to eke out a win and maybe a draw and that in itself would be a major achievement.  Advancing past the group stage is a tall order but you never know

Against all odds we've qualified so any wins or draws from here on in is a complete bonus in my view

[roy11 3,846]

Making our 5th world cup in a row is a fantastic effort, always good to get an invite to the party. 

But it does hide some issues relating to results and warranted criticism of the coaching decisions and overall developmental issues in Australia, but that's a debate for another day. We can enjoy today's result for a bit first, even though my productivity at work will be low aha

 

[Macca 16,956]

Apparently we play France first up so let's hope the French come out a bit tardy ... some of the bigger nations can start slowly in these big tournaments so it's good we're playing the French first up

But it's a tall order to hope to win against France and even a draw would be a mighty effort.  But you never know with soccer

Still, as big underdogs we've already achieved in my opinion.  In the whole scheme of things, compared to most other nations, soccer is a small sport in this country.  And our population isn't big either

Rugby league, Aussie Rules & to a lesser extent, cricket, gain most of the talented sportspeople

[Mr Steve 3,820]

It took a Max Gawn lookalike to do. 

[Macca 16,956]

This team reminds me of the '74 Socceroos ... and back in the day only 16 teams qualified for the World Cup.  England not qualifying back then was another big story (did Poland deny them their spot?)

We surprised a lot of people back then much like this current team has as well

Unknowns became names that we won't forget ... remember watching 2 games live (against East & West Germany)

Rooney, Warren, Abonyi, Alston, Schaefer,  Reilly, Wilson, Mackay, Buljevic & Richards are names that I can remember ... great days!

Edited June 14, 2022 by Macca

[layzie 33,792]

 

On 6/14/2022 at 9:30 AM, Macca said:

Fantastic result to make the World Cup finals once again.   This team of largely unknowns have excelled expectations

So we are in a group consisting of France, Denmark, Tunisia and ourselves ... might be able to eke out a win and maybe a draw and that in itself would be a major achievement.  Advancing past the group stage is a tall order but you never know

Against all odds we've qualified so any wins or draws from here on in is a complete bonus in my view

Great result! Qualifying for a World Cup is always a plus and doing so when there is a clear talent gap right now is even better. I'm not the biggest fan of Arnie but you have to admit his teams are always ambitious and willing to die for the cause.

If we're offered 4 points in that group right now I don't think any of us would turn it down, let the chips fall where they may! 

[layzie 33,792]

On 6/9/2022 at 3:15 PM, roy11 said:

If there was a "IS GRAHAM ARNOLD THE RIGHT MAN?" thread it would be full of 122142141241 pages of people saying no.

 

That thread is definitely something I'd start. Missed opportunity 😛

[layzie 33,792]

Very late on this but I've just learned about Optus Sport's price increase. Going from $15 to $25 for non-subscribers and people on Optus plans who had it included for free now paying $7 a month.

Always expected an increase at some point but a 66% increase on a platform that lost the Champions League rights recently is intense. The subscription budget is getting pushed to the limits!

[roy11 3,846]

9 hours ago, layzie said:

Very late on this but I've just learned about Optus Sport's price increase. Going from $15 to $25 for non-subscribers and people on Optus plans who had it included for free now paying $7 a month.

Always expected an increase at some point but a 66% increase on a platform that lost the Champions League rights recently is intense. The subscription budget is getting pushed to the limits!

I'm a Optus mobile guy so will pay the $7 a month, annoying but it's a good product and free for a while. At the end of the day I like all the options which you don't get on Kayo/Paramount etc. But fully understand that increasing your price after losing content and during a "cost of living crisis' is a bold move aha.

I've decided to drop ESPN. Still annoyed that they grabbed the Hockey,  the official NHL streaming service was mad but then was made not available to Aus, found the ESPN app far too buggy and not as good quality. 

[layzie 33,792]

43 minutes ago, roy11 said:

I'm a Optus mobile guy so will pay the $7 a month, annoying but it's a good product and free for a while. At the end of the day I like all the options which you don't get on Kayo/Paramount etc. But fully understand that increasing your price after losing content and during a "cost of living crisis' is a bold move aha.

I've decided to drop ESPN. Still annoyed that they grabbed the Hockey,  the official NHL streaming service was mad but then was made not available to Aus, found the ESPN app far too buggy and not as good quality. 

That's pretty much my take on it too. It's annoying but will likely cop the $7. I actually just started a new phone plan with Optus so a little miffed at the timing but it's for all the improvement there's been.

I demand this though Roy. No more mandatory 60 second ads! They have them even in 9 min highlight packs now. Surely a 5 second skip option at very least!