World Football Thread XV - Life after the World Cup

Colon™ · July 23, 2006, 12:47

Terra Nullius · July 23, 2006, 12:54

You remind me of a boy I knew in school too. I punched him for not shutting the **** up.

Oh **** I'm scared.

Answer the question or learn to control your behaviour.

Hell, if you had half a brain you'd manage to do both.

Ming · July 23, 2006, 12:59

Terra Nullius and Colon™...

Chill or be chilled!

duke o' york · July 23, 2006, 14:21

So who are your teams going to buy before the new season, who do you really want (that they can reasonably afford without a shock arrival of a Russian oligarch), and who has been rumoured to join that you could really do without?

Ecthy · July 23, 2006, 14:55

After the world cup is before the world cup.

Ecthy · July 23, 2006, 14:55

Colon

for punching the sh!t out of losers then going off to sh@g the prom queen.

Terra Nullius · July 23, 2006, 15:31

What's your problem Etchy?

Ecthy · July 23, 2006, 15:36

Someone's looking for a fight

Winston · July 23, 2006, 15:40

Ecthy, why do you always insist on reigniting things hours after they've calmed down, be it by mod interference or not?

Ecthy · July 23, 2006, 15:40

Why do you beat your wife Legman?

Locutus · July 23, 2006, 16:14

Originally posted by duke o' york
So who are your teams going to buy before the new season, who do you really want (that they can reasonably afford without a shock arrival of a Russian oligarch), and who has been rumoured to join that you could really do without?

Our most important acquisitions so far are actually two new coaches: Rutten and Eijkelkamp, the former assistents of Hiddink at PSV. PSV dearly wanted to keep them on as co-head coaches, but we stole 'em from under their noses

They're both former Twente players so they loved to come back. Rutten was already our manager before leaving to PSV a few years ago and brought us the national cup for only the second time in our history, so expectations are high

Our only player acquisitions so far are Rob Wielaert, an experienced and very capable defender, and Cees Paauwe, a goalie who played for us before and was pretty crap then, but he'll only be our substitute goalkeeper so no major worries there (our first goalie is brilliant and has reliability as his middle name). But apart from our previous substitute goalkeeper we didn't lose any players either and our team did very well in the second half of last season, so no reason to complain, really. We have a lot of young players, we can only get better.

No real wishes or rumours for other new players, although we're currently trying out Luke Wilkshire, a central midfielder who played for Australia at the WC and is a free agent (his contract at Bristol City expired a few weeks ago). Nobody here really knows him yet, but he was recommended by Hiddink who thinks very highly of him so we'll see.

duke o' york · July 23, 2006, 16:19

Sander "Reliability" Boschker?

I don't rate Wilkshire at all by the way, and feel that Twente should be looking for better players than those from Bristol City.

Footie Mad · July 23, 2006, 16:31

How are the two swedes in Twente? Touma and Kennedy I mean, Majstorovic was great when playing for my club (Malmö FF) but he's at Basel now if I remember correctly
.

Locutus · July 23, 2006, 16:41

What the hell is wrong with Boschker?

He's a living legend over here, one of the greatest players in the history of our club. He could be playing for a big team right now but his club love kept him at Twente until he was too old to succeed elsewhere...

According to Hiddink Wilkshire is too good for League One, he should be playing higher than that but is too modest to actively pursue this. And he got a lot of playing time at the WC, which not many too players in the Dutch competition can say. If Hiddink -- one of the best managers in the world right now -- recommends him I'm be happy to see Twente giving him a shot. Whether or not he's actually any good we'll find out soon enough...

Locutus · July 23, 2006, 17:05

Originally posted by Footie Mad
How are the two swedes in Twente? Touma and Kennedy I mean, Majstorovic was great when playing for my club (Malmö FF) but he's at Basel now if I remember correctly
.

Didn't get to see Kalmar FF vs Twente on Saturday? Touma scored a hattrick in the second half, which allowed Twente to go through

He and Bakircioglu are two of the best players of our team, together with aforementioned Boschker and our top scorer N'Kufo. Especially Bakircioglu is quickly becoming the people's hero, though Touma is certainly not inferior as a player.

Majstorovic was a great defender, probably one of the best in the Dutch league, but he just didn't fit Twente's playing style. We were all extremely happy with him while he was here, he was one of the biggest stars of the the team together with Boschker and N'Kufo (Touma and Bakircioglu only broke through this season). But when Basel bought him (for a lot of money) suddenly and miraculously our team started playing much better

So in retrospect he's good riddance, but only in retrospect. While he was here everyone was too much in love with his individual skill to realise he was a burden to the team as a whole. He's still a great player, but his one weakness is that he's just no good in playing the ball forward and setting up attacks, which is a key aspect of Dutch football. We tried to delegate that responsibility to other players but it was no good. Purely in a defensive role he was one of the best players in the Dutch competition though, in the right team he should be able to shine. I was mildly surprised not to see him at the WC.

Imran Siddiqui · July 23, 2006, 17:31

And the Van Nistelrooy chase is getting going:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...374273&cc=5901

Bayern Munich is saying Ruud wants to go there.

And Turkey has a match fixing scandel of its own!!

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...374263&cc=5901

European football could be facing a fresh match-fixing scandal after the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) opened an investigation into claims that Denizlispor offered to pay players to help them avoid relegation.

A report in Friday's Hurriyet newspaper claimed officials from Denizlispor offered to pay three Malatyaspor players to throw a crucial match against Gaziantepspor on the final day of the season.

Malatyaspor lost the game 1-0, suffering relegation as a result.

Cort Haus · July 23, 2006, 18:15

Originally posted by FP on the last thread
The foul on Davids when he was through on goal was really funny. It wouldn't have been quite so amusing if he'd got injured, but thankfully it worked out OK.

Grimandi just reinforced his already heroic status in the eyes of my lot with that foul. If a Tott had scored in the first ever game at the Grove, it would have gone on your official honours list (along with the Norwich Hospital Cup, 1951).

As I said earlier, fair play to Davids for playing the part of pantomime villain so well.

Inclusivist 'world' footnote for posters not familiar with parochial English rivalries:

Last Saturday Arsenal FC played their first game at their new ground, a testamonial to the retiring great Dutch master Dennis Bergkamp, one of the finest players to grace the planet who spent a brilliant decade at Arsenal. The guests were Ajax, Dennis's former team in Holland, with guest appearances from various Dutch international stars of the past, including Edgar Davids, who now plays for Arsenal's local rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Davids was through on goal and a great historical disaster loomed as the Spurs player was about to score in the first ever game at Arsenal's new stadium, until Giles Grimandi, a Frenchman loved in his day by the crowd for his passion and commitment to the cause, fouled Davids to prevent him scoring. Ronald de Boer kindly sent the penalty over the bar.

Cort Haus · July 23, 2006, 18:22

Locutus, I have to agree with Duke here, and express my concern for your team that Bristol City contains players that you might aspire to.

Unlike Duke though, I don't know a damn thing about Wilkshire. I will, though be looking out for Twente on 'Eurogoals'.

Imran Siddiqui · July 23, 2006, 18:25

What is "Eurogoals"?

reds4ever · July 23, 2006, 18:30

Originally posted by Ming
Terra Nullius and Colon™...

Chill or be chilled!

I'd hope the footie threads are self-moderating....leave it to us Ming!!

Imran Siddiqui · July 23, 2006, 18:36

Yeah, we'll call out the hooligans

.

Cort Haus · July 23, 2006, 18:37

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
What is "Eurogoals"?

It's a roundup of European Leagues shown on the Eurosport TV channel.

Cort Haus · July 23, 2006, 18:44

1. Holland v Argentina
2. Arsenal v Newcastle

reds4ever · July 23, 2006, 19:04

Def number 2, theres another one he's scored in the Premiership thats better than both of those though. He's scores in the left hand side goal (as the camera looks) with a deft flick.....I can't think of the game...

lightblue · July 23, 2006, 19:05

Nah no1, last minute in a WC knockout game beats anything you can do in a League game.

Locutus · July 23, 2006, 19:19

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Locutus, I have to agree with Duke here, and express my concern for your team that Bristol City contains players that you might aspire to.

Normally I'd agree and that's not where our players usually come from (as far as they aren't from our own football school or other Dutch teams they're usually from the top teams of Scandinavia, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland). But if Hiddink sees something in him and says he would be a good fit for Twente, no harm in giving him an internship for a few weeks and see how he does. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is now recognised as the biggest talent in the Dutch league and the hero of Ajax (comparable to Rooney in England), but only a little over a season ago he was still playing at AGOVV, which is probably comparable to Conference level in England. Stranger things have happened in football...

Unlike Duke though, I don't know a damn thing about Wilkshire. I will, though be looking out for Twente on 'Eurogoals'.

Not sure you'll see much of us, we're a small team, but that's cool

Cort Haus · July 23, 2006, 19:23

Originally posted by reds4ever
Def number 2, theres another one he's scored in the Premiership thats better than both of those though. He's scores in the left hand side goal (as the camera looks) with a deft flick.....I can't think of the game...

Is it one of these? The one at 3:55 is a deft flick to the top left corner. The one at 2:30 ain't bad, either.

Cort Haus · July 23, 2006, 19:32

Originally posted by Locutus
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is now recognised as the biggest talent in the Dutch league and the hero of Ajax

He's also grabbed a piece of history as the first ever goalscorer at Ashburton Grove.

reds4ever · July 23, 2006, 19:32

Cort, the 2:30 one was the one I was thinking of!! Class act!

Locutus · July 23, 2006, 19:37

Yeah, Argentina '98 is one of greatest goals ever scored in the history of the game. He scored most of his beauties for Arsenal, but nothing can beat that one.

The one is Cort Haus's vid at 2:30 is my personal favourite in the Premiership, I remember that one (though don't ask me against who it was). The Newcastle '02 one is a close second though.