World Football Thread XVII : Champions League Final and beyond..

[Agathon]

While on the topic of football.

Here is a video I found of one of the finest thrashings in the game's history. What makes it even better is that England are the ones being thrashed (and deservedly so, by possibly the greatest team to ever play the game).

Hungary 7 - England 1

At a guess I'd say this is England's worst ever defeat.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Agathon
I can't wait for the first US instances of Mexican vs. Whitey hooliganism.

Hmmm, fierce local rivalries would be better than ethnic ones. You need two good teams in one city for that.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Agathon
Hungary 7 - England 1

Ferenc Puskas

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Cort Haus

Hmmm, fierce local rivalries would be better than ethnic ones. You need two good teams in one city for that.

I don't see that happening in the US. They have more hope of Mancs vs. Scousers type hate.

One of the best things I ever saw at Newcastle was our supporters singing "You stole my video" to the Liverpool fans.

[Cort Haus]

They're known as the "bin-dippers" to many fans, and "stand up if you've got a job" is a popular taunt.

(Sorry, reds)

[Colon™]

Rivalries are also typically grounded in industrial era class-rivalry. The proletarian teams against the bourgeoisie teams. I'm not too sure about English teams but I'm sure there are examples amongst the rivalries between Liverpool and Everton, Manchester United and Manchester City, Bristol City against Bristol Rovers, the various London teams etc. An example in my own city is the furious rivalry between Beerschot Antwerp (proletarian) and Royal Antwerp (bourgeoisie). The demise of the industry and associated class-warfare hasn't appeared to diminish such team rivalries at all.

[Agathon]

Did anyone see that Australia got beaten by Iraq.

Funniest result of the week.

[DanS]

Originally posted by Colon™
I don't understand what you're saying.

I'm not sure how to make it clearer, but here goes... MLS has a post-season playoffs and championship match to determine the league champion. The top 8 teams out of 13 go to the playoffs. So you can see that the regular season means squat, unlike the EPL where the league winner is determined by the regular season league table. MLS teams have no need for depth to make it through a full season.

Meanwhile, there's a salary cap in MLS, which is just a little over $2 million per club. The USL, another professional soccer league in the States, works on a system of promotion and relegation like soccer in other countries and doesn't have a salary cap. The USL is a real mixed bag, and has lower quality teams, but each team usually pays a player or two much better than he could earn being a backup in the MLS.

The result of all of this is that MLS clubs have little depth and the starters for some clubs don't put out as much effort for worthless regular season games. Enter somebody who wants to start afresh and is talented. It would be easy enough for him to put up an excellent string of results.

It should be noted that even though the bad teams go to the playoffs, the LA Galaxy missed them last year and likely will miss them this year. They define suckitude.

[Barnabas]

River Boca rivalry also has some class and maybe even race issues, river fans tend to be wealthier (they have 2 nicknames, chickens and millionaires) than boca fans, and also whiter.

For example, Boca fans say they are la mitad + 1

half + 1, meaning the majority of the country (undoubtedly they are the biggest club)

And river fans yell to them, son la mitad + 1 de Bolivia y Paraguay, because Argentina has many Bolivian and Paraguayan immigrants, and 95% are boca fans, and are heavily involved in boca football hooliganism.

This is a new development of the last 2 decades, in the past it was not like this

[Barnabas]

Originally posted by Agathon

Football is about tribalism and ethnic hatred.

This is right, football fans when their team loses to their hated enemy, probably feel the same as people in the past hearing news of a battle lost against an enemy, and the same with victories.

The emotions of football are very similar to those of war, you can also see it in the acts of violence that happen due to football.

[Agathon]

Watching a few new MLS videos on Youtube, it seems that the quality of play has vastly improved. I've seen some real screaming goals, some of which are a lot better than the usual premiership scrambles.

Must be the hispanic influence.

[DanS]

The finishing has greatly improved this year. Not sure why, but I have my theories. For one, fairly good, middle-aged Brazilians and Argentines can be signed for $100k - $400k per annum.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
You've been Beckamed.

Indeed, but if it helps the MLS... so be it . I'll get another jersey when they decide to put a team in the Southeast US .

Though you can tell which LA Galaxy color is more popular. The white one (shown on the SI cover) ships in 2-3 days. The Navy blue one, ships in 2-4 WEEKS. I ended up ordering the navy blue one... it looks that much better to me (and also I dislike white jerseys.. get too dirty too easy).

[Agathon]

Well, Beckham had to run from Europe, since his title as the uber free kick man has been taken from him by that Japanese guy.

[Maquiladora]

Nakamura? Meh. He still can't bend it as much as golden balls.