General Football Thread

[Fulham Broadway 17,312]

16 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Cristiano Ronaldo shows his class by giving away his award to Robert Lewandowski after winning it

https://punditarena.com/football/jeff-simon/cristiano-ronaldo-robert-lewandowski-bayern-munich-juventus/

Cristiano Ronaldo was involved in an incredible gesture

Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo had reportedly won the Globe Soccer ‘Player of the Year’ award but refused to accept it. He chose to give it to Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski instead who he felt was more deserving of the award.

The Juventus superstar was set to clinch the award in Dubai on Sunday after a fan vote deemed him the best performer of 2020.

But Italian publication Tuttosport claimed that the ex-Real Madrid man and his agent Jorge Mendes opted to turn down the award.

They believed that it was “unfair” and that the only reason Ronaldo won was due to his popularity and that Lewandowski was the deserved victor.

Lewandowski has scored 55 goals in 2020 propelling Bayern to a treble of league, Champions League and German Cup. The Pole had finished as top scorer in every competition he participated in last season.

Fair play to the bull necked Madeiran. Lewandowski is the complete dogs bollocks. Funny how eats his pudding before main course - some kind of training he does.

[Vesper 30,172]

CIES Football Observatoryn°319 - 06/01/2021

Values

https://football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2020/wp319/en/

Biannual transfer value list: Rashford takes first place

Issue number 319 of the Weekly Post presents the traditional biannual list of the big-5 league players with the greatest transfer values according to the exclusive CIES Football Observatory algorithm. The top estimated value was calculated for the 23-year-old Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford: €165 M. With only 18 months of contract remaining, the former leader Kylian Mbappé falls back to fifth place.

The 20-year-old Norwegian prolific striker Erling Haaland ranks second with an estimated transfer value of €152M. The 22-year-old English full international Trent Alexander-Arnold completes the podium. The Liverpool’s full back is the most expensive defender ahead of Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies (€139M) and Manchester City’s Rúben Dias (€127M). The top estimated values for midfielders and goalkeepers were recorded for Bruno Fernandes (€151 M) and Ederson Moraes (€80M).

With only six months of contract remaining, Lionel Messi just makes the top 100 list: 97th with an estimated value of €54M. Despite his excellent performances, 35-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo (€47M) is only 131st. This is mainly due to his age and the relatively short duration of his contract with Juventus (until June 2022). The transfer value intervals for all big-5 league players are available for free on the CIES Football Observatory website.

[NikkiCFC 8,319]

 

[Vesper 30,172]

4 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

 

wtf!

but tbh

a couple of those corners, crosses, and free kicks were decent

bit holy fuck is he fat and slow and lazy

[Vesper 30,172]

A viral lie about the USWNT was amplified by right-wing media. It wasn’t the first time

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jul/08/a-viral-lie-about-the-uswnt-was-amplified-by-right-wing-media-it-wasnt-the-first-time

The last send-off match before the US women’s national team begin their Olympic campaign was pretty standard fare for the best team in the world. The USWNT beat Mexico by 4-0 and, as is usually the case, they looked good doing it, setting themselves up as the favourites to win gold in Tokyo.

It was the day after Independence Day, and a World War II veteran named Pete DuPré played the Star-Spangled Banner on a harmonica before the game. This was also usual – the USWNT have often taken opportunities to honour those who fought for their country, like when the team took time away from 2019 World Cup preparations in France to visit the site of the Normandy invasion and speak with US veterans who fought there.

 

But the next day, when everyone presumably should’ve been talking about how strong the USWNT looked against Mexico, I received a reply to one of my tweets about the team: “Our families will never support women’s soccer until there is an apology to the 98-year-old veteran and the US military! No class to turn your back on the flag and an American hero! Shameful!”

Huh?

That was when I was abruptly pulled into an alternate universe – a bizarro world with its own narratives and set of facts around the USWNT, designed by right-wing propagandists and built on outrage.

The claim? That the unpatriotic USWNT turned their backs on DuPré during the anthem in a show of disrespect. The reality? The players – all standing, many with their hands over their hearts – had turned to face the flag directly in a show of respect as the flag is placed at the end of Rentschler Field.

Even faced with it, many propagandists refused to acknowledge reality. Sean Spicer, who is most famous for repeatedly lying on behalf of Donald Trump as White House press secretary, left up his original tweet spreading the lie without a follow-up. Another former member of the Trump administration doubled down, changing the lie every time he got fact-checked. Fox News ran a segment on it, and declared it will still be a story as protests occur at the Olympics, despite acknowledging the truth, which the right-wing network framed as a he-said, she-said.

How did the USWNT end up in this strange place?

The USWNT have a history of outspokenness on everything from challenging gender norms on the soccer field to fighting for better treatment off of it. They’ve ruffled feathers before. But only in 2019 after Trump tweeted at Megan Rapinoe did the disinformation-fueled bizarro world fully take shape around the USWNT. Apparently hurt by her suggestion that she wouldn’t visit the White House if the US won the World Cup, Trump scolded Rapinoe to “never disrespect our country, the White House, or our flag.”

Quickly, the right-wing echo chamber followed his lead. People who had never heard of the USWNT were suddenly trying to undermine the team. People who couldn’t correctly pronounce Rapinoe’s name dredged up stories of her past protests during the national anthem, falsely claiming it was to disrespect the military and the flag.

Rapinoe had already stated that she kneeled to highlight racial inequities in America, writing: “…It is because of my utmost respect for the flag and the promise it represents that I have chosen to demonstrate in this way. When I take a knee, I am facing the flag with my full body, staring straight into the heart of our country’s ultimate symbol of freedom – because I believe it is my responsibility, just as it is yours, to ensure that freedom is afforded to everyone in this country.”

To anyone outside of the bizarro world, there’s an absurd irony to lies designed to paint the USWNT as lacking American values. There are few athletes who can say they have won as many trophies on behalf of the United States as the members of the USWNT. These women – who are not a monolith, have views across the political spectrum and in some ways mirror the diversity of America itself – have single-handedly done more to demonstrate America’s greatness than any of the right-wing trolls who try to discredit them.

Perhaps that’s why such noise and nonsense has never bothered the USWNT much.

During the World Cup in France when the players were asked about distractions, from Trump or anyone else, the players mostly shrugged it off. They talked about their ability to compartmentalize and their self-made “bubble” where they ignored outside chatter – and they simply continued to do their jobs.

That’s no truer than in the case of Rapinoe. Trump made her the target of his loyal fan base, but she was unflappable – two days later she scored twice to lift the USWNT over France in the World Cup quarter–final. She would score again in the final, which the USWNT won in a story of American greatness.

And that’s when I first stumbled into the USWNT bizarro world of right-wing disinformation.

When Fox News Radio asked to speak with me the day after the final, I didn’t think much of it – I had recently published a book about the history of the USWNT and, in promoting it, I had done dozens of radio and podcast interviews with various outlets before and during the World Cup, all of which were fun. The Fox News producer told me they wanted to talk about the game. Turns out, he lied.

The host mostly wanted to talk about how unpatriotic Megan Rapinoe was and how her teammates must be sick of her, neither of which was true and I easily debunked. The host also zeroed in on a moment where USWNT players accidentally dropped the flag while celebrating as proof of their disrespect for America – an overblown moment I had to look up after the interview because no one outside of bizarro world was talking about it.

The host then pulled out a popular lie about the USWNT and women’s soccer: the men’s World Cup earns more money than the Women’s World Cup, thus the women don’t deserve more prize money. I explained that such information isn’t just wrong, it doesn’t exist: Fifa bundles revenue for all its World Cup events and doesn’t know the individual revenue generated by any of them. (Commonly cited numbers are the result of a Forbes editor misreading a chart and publishing misinformation.) The host did not care, and I could tell she was annoyed by me debunking her talking points.

As soon as the World Cup ended, a new disinformation campaign emerged. The Christian Broadcasting Network interviewed Jaelene Hinkle, a USWNT prospect who refused a call-up in 2017 because she didn’t support the team’s initiative to raise money for an anti-homophobia sports organization.

“Apparently, the US women’s Football team is not a very welcoming place for Christians,” the viral tweet claimed, setting off outrage among conservatives.

In bizarro world, the USWNT is hostile to Christianity. In the real world, many of the players on the USWNT are Christians, and they huddle together and pray before games.

Before the 2019 World Cup, for instance, Julie Ertz spoke about Bible study with her teammates, telling a Christian sports magazine: “These Bible studies really help me grow and keep me accountable. It brings me closer to my teammates – we continue to grow as players and persons.”

USWNT manager Jill Ellis later explained that Hinkle ultimately didn’t keep earning call-ups because, as a one-dimensional fullback in the NWSL, she was behind the USWNT’s other defenders. “If you look across the back line, all of those players can play at least two positions,” Ellis said.

It’s fitting, perhaps, that as the USWNT embark on another big tournament, this time the Olympics in Japan, the team is facing disinformation again. The more this tough, strong-willed group of women wins, the more some so-called patriots root against the United States.

Just don’t expect it to affect the USWNT much – after all, they exist in the real world, where they are the best team on the planet, and there’s no outside pressure greater than what the players put on themselves. As Ellis once said: “People tend not to realize the US team lives in pressure. There is always a target on your back. The players are built for this.”

[Vesper 30,172]

Football Twitter goes wild as Atletico Mineiro release beautiful fan-designed kit

https://www.90min.com/posts/football-twitter-reacts-atletico-mineiro-fan-designed-kit

[NikkiCFC 8,319]

Fans and people in general are always against changes. Changing to 30mins a half with stopping time every time when corner, foul, set piece, out, sub is the best thing that could happen to football.

No more wasting time. Today on average football game is effective play 55 mins out of 90. And after that ref give 3 or 4 or 5 mins added time? Wtf?

I definitely agree with first two. 

 

[Vesper 30,172]

Incurring the manager's wrath! Furious Diego Simeone storms onto pitch during pre-season friendly vs Feyenoord to blast Yannick Carrasco after Atletico Madrid star's petulant kick-out sparked melee

• Atletico Madrid flew to Holland for a friendly against Feyenoord on Sunday 
• The LaLiga champions lost 2-1 having gone down to 10-men late in the first-half
• Yannick Carrasco started a brawl by kicking out at full-back Tyrell Malacia 
• He then taunted the player, Orkun Kokcu came away with blood on his head
• Diego Simeone stormed over to Carrasco to send him down the tunnel  

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9874607/Diego-Simone-storms-pitch-friendly-lambast-Yannick-Carrasco-sparked-melee.html

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Vesper 30,172]

9 minutes ago, Blues Forever said:

 

PSG and Citeh just came in their pants

when you have trillions backing you, a 'luxury tax' is chump change

I fully expect the Saudis to REALLY try and buy teams now, plus perhaps Bezos or Musk or Bernard Arnault (who just passed Bezos as the world's richest man)

Edited August 12, 2021 by Vesper

[LAM09 7,051]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

PSG and Citeh just came in their pants

when you have trillions backing you, a 'luxury tax' is chump change

I fully expect the Saudis to REALLY try and buy teams now, plus perhaps Bezos or Musk or Bernard Arnault (who just passed Bezos as the world's richest man)

The latter did want to buy Milan, so it's only a matter of time.

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Warning_Hazard 156]

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed the Spanish club is 1.35bn euros (£1.15bn) in debt, describing the situation as "very worrying".

The club's wage bill currently accounts for 103% of total income.

 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/58235195

 

CRAZY! FFP? LULLL

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

Will they go bust?

[Vesper 30,172]

How GOOD was Juan Roman Riquelme? ● Tactical Analysis

 

[Vesper 30,172]

Just how GOOD was Michel Platini Actually?

 

[Vesper 30,172]

https://football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2021/wp344/en/

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

Summary:

the Flint consulting agency have first-class contacts with parliamentarians and authorities. Their specialty is discreetly »paving the way« for difficult projects.

This summer, the company with offices in Brussels and London applied for a particularly delicate contract: They are supposed to unhinge international professional football. The football clubs Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin want to found a European Super League. Yes still.

Pérez and his people really want to push through the Super League. And the Flint agency wants to help them with that. They have designed a strategy how the league could still be successful against all odds.

Spiegel had access to the agency's first draft. The paper has ten pages and is entitled "Preparing the way for the Super League: the strategy for reconstruction, reset - and victory".

Flint promises to launch a campaign that will be "bulletproof" against attacks of all Super League opponents

The legal experts from Flint see chances of a victory in front of the European Court of Justice, which would then legitimize the Super League by the highest court. But just winning in court, without conquering the "hearts and minds" of fans and opinion leaders, will not be enough, according to Flint

The company plans to reverse the negative image of the Super League. With »discreet events« and »briefings for selected politicians, EU bureaucrats and journalists«. The aim is to take away the worries of decision-makers.

Flint lists important persons who should be influenced: the people of Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, EU parliamentarians with a connection to football like Tomasz Frankowski, media people like EU correspondents of the Financial Times and the FAZ

Flint experts point out in their paper that it makes no sense to try again with a league that opposes this principle of European football (pro/rel, open to all). Fans and politics would run into storm again.

the flagship product should be the Super League, there could also be a Super League 2 as a compromise. Promotion and relegation should be possible between these leagues.

the agency confirmed to SPIEGEL that it had received the Super League mandate from the clubs

[Blues Forever 1,232]

Summary :

There are two scenarios that the clubs are considering. - The first would see three clubs relegated from SuperLeague1 to SuperLeague2, with two teams promoted from SuperLeague 2 and one wild card.

The second option is something more similar to the current Champions League, but only for the Super League2, to which clubs would qualify thanks to their results in the national leagues. So, the Super League2 would change every year with 17 new clubs and three clubs relegated from the SuperLeague 1.