Discussion Football (Soccer) Thread

[Munga]

Man, SEN have gone to sh*t. Talking all cricket and horse racing, in-between ads. Wouldn't even know there's a World Cup on. You'd think they would be talking it up considering they broadcast it! But all the hosts know nothing about the sport. "Sports" Entertainment Network, ha.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Australia will beat France.

The frogs are overdue a shoddy tournament

 

[George]

England off to a terrific start, up 3-0 at half time v Iran.

Liverpool player in-waiting Jude Bellingham with a beautiful header too

 

[George]

Mixed feelings at the end of that, England win 6-2. Should've really worked harder to keep a clean sheet, and although we're in a weak group I think GD is still important.

 

[bergholt]

England off to a terrific start, up 3-0 at half time v Iran.

Liverpool player in-waiting Jude Bellingham with a beautiful header too

Bellingham is very good. I like Rice too.

 

[George]

1-0 UP ON FRANCE

First open play goal for us in World Cups since 2014

 

[George]

Aaaaannd it's 1-1 haha

 

[Verdun]

1-0 UP ON FRANCE

First open play goal for us in World Cups since 2014

Thought you are English George? Previous references to' we are' when discussing England.

Back on England now I reckon

 

[lewdogs]

France's team is nuts. Can't believe they have Saliba on the bench probably the best young defender in the world and he's not starting.

 

[George]

Thought you are English George? Previous references to' we are' when discussing England.

Back on England now I reckon

I support England Greece and Australia at every major tournament.

 

[Verdun]

I support England Greece and Australia at every major tournament.

Fair enough George - just niggling!

 

[George]

France's team is nuts. Can't believe they have Saliba on the bench probably the best young defender in the world and he's not starting.

I'm surprised they are only 2-1 up. Team of that quality should be looking to make a statement. They've missed a few sitters.

If we can pull a draw out of our arse here it would be some effort

 

[tomjoad]

We aren't going to beat the French. Even if we did...we wouldn't be allowed. It's FIFA after all. We just need to keep the score sheet honourable. We'll hopefully put up a half decent fight against the other teams. I won't completely write us off against the Dane's and Tunisians, but we're going to need a bit of luck.
I'd love to watch some of these smug Euro bastards eat a big f*CK off serving of humble pie if we managed to get out of the group
Wonder how Austinn is doing over there in Nantes?

 

[tomjoad]

I support England Greece and Australia at every major tournament.

You must feel awful during the Ashes?

 

[George]

You must feel awful during the Ashes?

I don't support wet wipe sports thankfully

 

[gringo2011]

Well the wheels are starting to fall off now.

 

[bergholt]

Two conclusions:

• We’re not as good as France
• Kewell is a terrible commentator

 

[CaptainRisky]

Two conclusions:

• We’re not as good as France
• Kewell is a terrible commentator

 

[CaptainRisky]

On a positive note we got more yellow cards than goals LOL

 

[CaptainRisky]

AUSTRALIA

 

[Joffaboy]

Australia, the St.Kilda of world football.

 

[lewdogs]

Honestly that wasn't too bad a result. We created chances and France are ridiculous. Still think they'll win the tournament even missing the best player in the world.

The 0-0 in the other game was a good result. If we beat Tunisia we are looking good to progress.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Australia will beat France.

The frogs are overdue a shoddy tournament

Might have been a bit too optimistic tbh

 

[Munga]

Arnold didn't give us much chance to succeed from selection. Playing out from the back against a team like France and choosing a goalkeeper for that skill instead of a shot stopper like Langerak, disaster.

 

[TheOsprey]

I thought Australia did pretty well to create some chances against one of the best teams in the world.

I don't think any of the squad plays in the top flight of any of Europe's top leagues. 1/3 of the squad plays in the A-League and 1/4 of the squad plays in the Scottish Premier League so week in week out the majority are playing against average teams.

Bigger issue is what is happening with Australia's grass roots football? Going from a world cup squad with Schwarzer, Cahill, Neill, Viduka, Kewell, Thompson, Bresciano and to a lesser extent Aloisi, Moore etc...just 16 years ago.

Or was that golden era a bit lucky / a one off?

I think Australia always does well to punch above its weight given that Soccer would rank behind AFL/NRL depending on state and Cricket in terms of public interest. Participation seems good at youth level but not as prosperous a career sporting path over here unless you make it into Europe.