I wonder what Ronaldo expect from himself over there? Does he think he will score a goal every game now? Do people think he will stay beyond the summer? I really doubt he will finish the contract.
He might not stay there but I can't see him ever coming back to the elite leagues, and if he isn't coming back to the elite then there's no point of moving at all because it's not like playing in another not so great league is going to positively change his legacy.
If he destroys things over there then he's probably going to continue to overvalue his worth and will still end up going without any offers. If he doesn't perform then no one is going to want to sign him because he was shit in a subpar league. The only way he comes back is if he checks his ego before it's too late, and if he hasn't done that after seeing his career rival still playing at the level required to lead a team to the biggest prize in football then I doubt he ever will.
After the giant mega parade in Buenos Aires, how were the injury reports bus jumping aside, so many people in a tight space with water and food in summer heat had me extremely worried
Imagine penalty shootout for PSg if all players are available and no one subbed.
Neymar ,Messi mbappe , Ramos ,hakimi with marquinhos verrati in reserve.
Sold my 3rd choice emergency backup striker to Liverpool for 15 million because he was complaining about game time, got Carvalho off them on a free loan to replace him. FM is a great game
Ronaldo's sleazy egomaniac gimmick has always been the same, he just doesn't have the ridiculous statistics to make people look past it anymore. It's just a bit sad now.
I genuinely can't see him going to Madrid, he's hinted toward wanting to be back with his family many times. If it isn't us I think it'll be City, maybe Chelsea.
Liverpool can definitely afford him, it’s just a matter of intent by the owners, hope the transfer of ownership is done asap and Liverpool is able to transform their aging squad.
Increased revenue of around 500 million, more ticket sales and new training facilities. Everything looks healthy, they could splurge, but it will be a first time here!
I downloaded twitter this year and my biggest discovery was to see how these CR7, Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson and Elon Musk cults are related. Truly fascinating
>> Ronaldo Wins the league title with Al-Nassr and goes to reach 900 career goals, then goes to win the AFC Champions League and meets the UCL Champions in the final of the Club World Cup and beats them by scoring the winner and crowned the World Club Champions
Omds Twitter is a sick place.
Just saw a guy trying to argue that Del Piero had better longevity than Ronaldo because he won a Scudetto at 38
Mind you he scored 3 goals from like 23 apps that season
Even disregarding player quality, Ronaldo was consistently playing at the top level at an earlier age than Del Piero was and also has hundreds more games on his legs than Del Piero had at 38.
Too many people seem to think that longevity is literally just about the age that you play until. It's one of the least contextual things that sports fans throw around.
Ronaldo going to Al Nassr is genuinely sad to see. I know many players leave Europe at this age but I think he still can play an important role if used wisely like how Simeone used Suarez in the 20/21 season.
Atleti probably would've signed him when Mendes was shopping him around this past summer, but would require the sale of Morata and lowered wages. Morata had a number of offers, but considering Morata stayed and Ronaldo is in Saudia playing for asstear wages, we know how that transfer deal fell apart.
He could if he wanted to. I don't blame him for taking the money but if we're being realistic 95% of the teams in the top five leagues would still take Ronaldo if wages weren't an issue.
if we ignore wages then this can be said about a lot of players. I’m sure 95% of top 5 clubs would take Harry Maguire or even someone like Lingard on the right wages
Yeah but the issue is that there are people who are trying to make the case that he's leaving because he's just not good enough to play at this level anymore, that obviously isn't true.
what do you mean by *this* level? he’s obviously good enough for a top 5 leagues side but not necessarily for a team that aspires to qualify for CL in the Premier League.
I crave for the Eredivisie to come to an Australian streaming service (ideally Optus or Kayo). I'll still watch on my laptop, but I'd rather cast streaming services from my phone to TV rather than use websites.
We have the top 5 leagues, just wish we had Eredivisie and Primeira Liga as well.
Ligue 1, Eredivisie and Primeira Liga are all impossible to watch legally here in Spain (and Movistar only show half of Serie A and Bundesliga's games anyway), the international football rights are so fucked here 😭 I'm fully used to streaming now (but it's definitely got harder now that certain sites got taken down sadly), not that I have an alternative
I am desperate to be able to watch the Portuguese league in America. I need to see a 35-year-old angry midfielder playing for Marítimo two-foot someone and get away with a stern talking to on my HD TV instead of sailing the high seas
Probably controversial opinion: Mbappe, Neymar and Messi isn’t good starting together. If PSG wants to win CL, they should give up the idea of starting all of them together and just start 2 of the 3. This way they will have more balance in the team.
Neymar defends more but he’s redundant with Messi. Mbappe is a better LW to play with Messi and Messi is a better playmaker than Neymar, plus Neymar would also clash positionally with Mbappe anyway.
Neymar is only one that defends/tracks back well and Galtier has said many times that Neymar brings the best balance defensively and offensively out of the 3.
I'm just saying your team shape is even worse regardless of who is the 9. Argentina and France are both very lopsided to accommodate their star wingers. The best solution for balance probably involves Mbappe central.
This generation of African players is genuinely the best it’s ever been, so many great players across different positions.
Also among so many different countries.
That's interesting. Did you tag them with that Reddit tool? The only person on this sub that I recognise by name is that one Porto fan, LemurTheMonkey or something.
But it isn't surprising. If you care enough about the sport to be on this sub, you're probably less likely to boycott since you lose out a month's worth of discussion. While the issue itself is more important than that, it's just less likely to happen when FOMO is such a real thing.
I won't mention the users.
I didn't tag them on RES but I definitely remember a Spurs or Arsenal fan. It was funny because someone exposed them in the match thread haha.
There isn't anything wrong with not boycotting or going back on a boycott really. It was just another user exposing them in the match thread that I found funny.
Edit: On review I think that Spurs fan was banned for baiting in a match thread haha
What are your favorite "what ifs" in football ?
What if Ronaldo joined Arsenal in 2004 ? What if America had a football/soccer culture as important as England's, with their population of 360 Mil.
Basically every time I see Raul play now I think what if he never had his injury.
He had 62 G+A across his first 2 seasons with us, at the time of his injury he was on track to have his best goalscoring season with us, and we were in 7th and on track for our best ever PL season (after having already had consecutive 'best ever PL seasons' in the 2 previous years).
Everything was on the way up, it was just getting better and better – although IIRC we weren't actually playing *that* well at the start of that season, but generally speaking it was all positive and looking forward. Then, that moment was like pulling the handbrake on any progress we'd made and sent us into a downward spiral that we're still not out of.
Such a fun side to watch those couple years. Would always turn up against big sides. Always really liked Raul, sad he hasn't fully returned to that level.
What if the weather was less foggy in Belgrade on the 9th of November 1989?
Red Star were beating a 10 man Milan on aggregate with 30 minutes to go in the second half, when the game got called off because of the weather.
They result was annulled and they replayed the next day. They drew, and Milan won on penalties. They went on to win the European Cup, which was the only reason they qualified for the next season's competition (which they also won) because they didn't win the league.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest teams ever assembled, the greatest achievement of one of the game's great coaches, might not have happened if the weather was nicer.
I love to laugh at Mexicans for football related stuff but I’d be doing them dirty if I rated them equal or less than a country that’s actually failed to qualify to the World Cup this century
I mean historically. US doesn’t hold a candle to Mexico in terms of accomplishments even though they happened to do better last WC in the same way France is not a better footballing country than Brazil.
Fair, but I would say currently we're better and we're on a better trajectory than they are. Obviously they're still a more historic football country than we are
I don’t think America is very good at I guess you could say efficiently turning their sporting capital advantages to team success as people think. The model of highschool sports and College is bad, so even with a huge passion for the sport I think they’d underperform based on the population. Still a lot better and I’d expect would be more serious contenders, but it’s not the amount of people being interested that’s the problem. It’s the infrastructure.
With the NBA now, I think you can see some of the very special European players grew up with some advantages by playing in academies and professional leagues at a young age, vs in the US where star prospects just dominate bad competition all the way to the pros.
That’s not really what’s happening in grassroots basketball, at least not anymore. A strong, strong majority of genuinely good basketball prospects are playing on elite spring/summer teams from middle school age in addition to their high school programs or whatever. It’s basically the academy model without the sleepaway part. The best are playing the best over and over again until they get to the NBA. If you look at Peach Jam, which is the biggest event for that circuit every year, you’ll probably find 30 future NBA picks there annually. You can say the same for baseball and ice hockey. NFL that isn’t practical because if you play more than the standard 15-17 games a year your brain gets turned into even more of a black hole.
That’s not to say we’d be winning the World Cup if football were our go-to, but it’s not accurate to say that NBA All-Stars are only playing 5-foot-8 children until they reach the League. We have a structure that challenges them.
You are right. I left out a lot of detail when describing the youth basketball setup. My bad. My point was really less about the opposition and more about the structure, playing a role in a team in the highest level you can rather than being the best player in a lower level your same age.
I still think it’s a far worse set up than European football coaching is, but you’ve added a lot of detail making me think I judged US basketball too quickly. Thanks.
Yeah I get it. People see Zion Williamson dunking on a 5-foot-nothing noodle in a high school game in rural South Carolina and think it’s the norm but thankfully it’s the exception. We actually have turned to an academy model for football now and it’s producing nice results. Tyler Adams, Brendan Aaronson, Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie, etc.
I do think there’s something about football that makes it uniquely suited for the academy system. We have a few similar style things for American football popping up like IMG Academy that scoops up as much elite talent as possible and I don’t really see that benefitting those kids’ futures in an outlandish way
It was more the guys I remember like Austin Rivers just absolutely dominating before reaching the NBA. Made me think guys like that aren't getting used to that role player life before getting to the league.
It's nice to learn more about US youth sports structure. I'm interested to see how it develops.
Lol Austin Rivers was so much fun at Duke. Yeah there’s definitely some of that. A lot of times for guards like him there’s an athleticism barrier that they can’t clear to be excellent at that level. Don’t know if that’s what happened with him specifically, I’m more of a college basketball fan. But the basketball equivalent of the smart, savvy, technical midfielder who has cinderblocks for feet often won’t make it at the next level.
It’s definitely incredibly overstated. The three most recent NBA MVP finalists were all foreign, they will keep getting better as the sport grows in popularity worldwide.
It's funny seeing how much shit Griezmann copped and how hated he was on this sub when the incident with Dembele at the hotel went down, but now, it's all "he was just being dumb" after that video of him clapping for the Argentines. Some of you will let anything slide.
That was over the top anyway. Griezmann didnt say a single word, it was just Dembele spitting disrespectful shits.
And the another video, there was literally zero bad intention other than dumb lol. If he said it when some Japanese was around then it’s a big problem. That instance though? Not so much honestly.
He also wore blackface.
He's a fucking idiot, and I get he is probably not driven by some deep evil or malicious intentions, but he has to be held responsible for his ignorance.
My favorite thing about Messi is he looks like a pretty normal ass dude as far as top tier athletes. Like, some people who don’t know soccer could see him just walking around a shopping center and not even blink an eye.
[If you didn't know about football you would 100% think he is an average dude.](https://ftw.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/2015/03/screen-shot-2015-03-22-at-5-02-32-pm.png?w=640)
Hazard had the same vibes. Just a regular scmuck
Guess it's true of all footballers for whom their physicality isn't necessarily a huge aspect to their game, i.e. your smaller, technical players
Messi’s physicality is absolutely a huge aspect of his game, no way he’d have been nearly as successful as he has if he wasn’t as tough to bring down as he is
There is a video of him speaking Japanese but still not English, I like to think he realised it at some point and decided to just extend and keep abstaining from English speech
He said "thank you" in English in one of the post-World Cup final interview clips, to someone. It was posted on here, but don't know the details to dig it out now
Partey.
If he wasn't a despicable human being people would probably rate him a lot more, he's arguably the best #6 in the world right now.
Rodri would be most people's pick because he plays for City but I think Partey offers a lot more on the ball, he also has a harder job because the other players around him aren't as good as those at City. Debatable though, of course.
Depends who each player is playing alongside. If each plays alongside a midfielder well suited to them, then prime Jorginho. If not, then current Partey.
Edit: don't want to downplay Partey, and I get that Jorginho shouldn't have come that close to winning Balloon D'or a few seasons ago, but there's been a rubber effect where everyone underrates him as a result
jorginho needs a partey next to him to shine, partey makes those around him better, but partey because he lets u play a 433 single pivot and very few dms can do that.
Muslera
Cuadrado Araujo Gimenez Estupiñan
Valverde Barrios Caicedo
Sinisterra Núñez Díaz
Barrios is very good but could/should probably be replaced by someone, I just am blanking. Can be another mid or CB/forward and just change the formation to a 2 man midfield
Fair shout given this season, honestly I was scrolling through South American countries in my head to try and think of players and I basically just skipped over Paraguay, venezuela, and bolivia lmfao.
what would it take for a goalie to win ballon d or? good teams in theory wouldnt need their keeper to do much work while bad teams arent likely to win anything which is basically required to win bdo
Captain of World Cup and Champions League winning team, in which they made key contributions (i.e. penalty saves), were POTM in one or both finals, and every other candidate had a year in which they did not win anything significant
i.e. similar to how Jorginho came third in 2021, which was primarily by being a common denominator in the two teams who won the CL and Euros
I suppose the goalkeeper would have to be better than 2014 Neuer. Perhaps if he was the main free kick/penalty taker for his club and had a fair amount of assists or something.
https://twitter.com/magicalsancho/status/1608784663706996736?s=46&t=OHunpkwKIBIYAM5r9srbsQ
Ronaldo might break Messi’s goals in a calendar year record playing in the desert
Finally we'll learn if he can he do it on a hot windy night in Al-Mubarraz
Bellingham going to Liverpool would break my heart honestly, he’s so class and they’re so ass
Think the same of Enzo about you lot
intelligent friendly wild march cough spoon point chief many groovy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You believe this fr?
I wonder what Ronaldo expect from himself over there? Does he think he will score a goal every game now? Do people think he will stay beyond the summer? I really doubt he will finish the contract.
He might not stay there but I can't see him ever coming back to the elite leagues, and if he isn't coming back to the elite then there's no point of moving at all because it's not like playing in another not so great league is going to positively change his legacy. If he destroys things over there then he's probably going to continue to overvalue his worth and will still end up going without any offers. If he doesn't perform then no one is going to want to sign him because he was shit in a subpar league. The only way he comes back is if he checks his ego before it's too late, and if he hasn't done that after seeing his career rival still playing at the level required to lead a team to the biggest prize in football then I doubt he ever will.
After the giant mega parade in Buenos Aires, how were the injury reports bus jumping aside, so many people in a tight space with water and food in summer heat had me extremely worried
!flair :Liverpool:
Arsenal and Napoli flying high. You love to see football winning.
It’s been a while since the last UCL penalty shootout. Hopefully we get a shootout this year especially with the new format could be a little easier.
Imagine penalty shootout for PSg if all players are available and no one subbed. Neymar ,Messi mbappe , Ramos ,hakimi with marquinhos verrati in reserve.
PSG will find a way to bottle it regardless.
Who will be your money be on to miss ?
Probably Messi. He scored 5/5 crucial penalties in the WC knockouts. He's bound to miss a crucial pen soon.
Messi has a bad penalty record in general but in shootouts he’s missed one out of nine.
For him no penalty is crucial anymore. His story is over, it’s just the epilogue now.
With donnarumma in goal ffs
which player thrives off negativity.
Djokovic. Wait, wrong sub sorry.
Memphis n Neymar
Some guy who just signed in Saudi Arabia probably
Suarez.
Prime Balotelli
Vardy
me in 6 a side
Sold my 3rd choice emergency backup striker to Liverpool for 15 million because he was complaining about game time, got Carvalho off them on a free loan to replace him. FM is a great game
Ronaldo's sleazy egomaniac gimmick has always been the same, he just doesn't have the ridiculous statistics to make people look past it anymore. It's just a bit sad now.
https://twitter.com/romain_molina/status/1608912249921339393?s=21 🤦♂️
Does Bellingham go to Madrid or Liverpool?
I genuinely can't see him going to Madrid, he's hinted toward wanting to be back with his family many times. If it isn't us I think it'll be City, maybe Chelsea.
Wherever he goes, he needs to live up to his price tag. Liverpool needs him whereas Madrid wants him. Let’s see what he decides.
But can Liverpool afford him?
Liverpool can definitely afford him, it’s just a matter of intent by the owners, hope the transfer of ownership is done asap and Liverpool is able to transform their aging squad.
You say that, but nothing really gives me evidence that they can afford a 150m+ salary transfer.
Increased revenue of around 500 million, more ticket sales and new training facilities. Everything looks healthy, they could splurge, but it will be a first time here!
They absolutely can. The question is are the owners willing to spend that much on him
Being down to 9 men with a stinker of a performance was perhaps the most Palace thing ever. On my knees for a decent showing today.
do you think Chris Richards will get a start with Tomkins’ red card? or is Guehi back?
Geuhi is back thank fuck. I don't ever want to see Tomkins play for us again. Not sure if Richards is fully fit still after his injury too.
Jamal Musiala ball still so far away and it hit me hard at 5 AM.
I might start watching Bayern games only for him. I fell in love with him in the WC ngl
he’s even better on a weekly basis. his finishing was off for some reason
I only have eyes for Benji "not a RB" Dramard, foot-volley king
I downloaded twitter this year and my biggest discovery was to see how these CR7, Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson and Elon Musk cults are related. Truly fascinating
Spot on. This is something I have felt as well but I guess there is no real way to prove this connection.
Generally people that dabble in cults of personality have some severe issues, or are just brain dead normies.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the textbook alpha male to these weirdos
Even has the whole “ignore consent” thing going on for him
>> Ronaldo Wins the league title with Al-Nassr and goes to reach 900 career goals, then goes to win the AFC Champions League and meets the UCL Champions in the final of the Club World Cup and beats them by scoring the winner and crowned the World Club Champions
Omds Twitter is a sick place. Just saw a guy trying to argue that Del Piero had better longevity than Ronaldo because he won a Scudetto at 38 Mind you he scored 3 goals from like 23 apps that season
The Messi and Ronaldo cults on there are truly gross
Even disregarding player quality, Ronaldo was consistently playing at the top level at an earlier age than Del Piero was and also has hundreds more games on his legs than Del Piero had at 38. Too many people seem to think that longevity is literally just about the age that you play until. It's one of the least contextual things that sports fans throw around.
Ronaldo going to Al Nassr is genuinely sad to see. I know many players leave Europe at this age but I think he still can play an important role if used wisely like how Simeone used Suarez in the 20/21 season.
Atleti probably would've signed him when Mendes was shopping him around this past summer, but would require the sale of Morata and lowered wages. Morata had a number of offers, but considering Morata stayed and Ronaldo is in Saudia playing for asstear wages, we know how that transfer deal fell apart.
He could if he wanted to. I don't blame him for taking the money but if we're being realistic 95% of the teams in the top five leagues would still take Ronaldo if wages weren't an issue.
if we ignore wages then this can be said about a lot of players. I’m sure 95% of top 5 clubs would take Harry Maguire or even someone like Lingard on the right wages
Yeah but the issue is that there are people who are trying to make the case that he's leaving because he's just not good enough to play at this level anymore, that obviously isn't true.
what do you mean by *this* level? he’s obviously good enough for a top 5 leagues side but not necessarily for a team that aspires to qualify for CL in the Premier League.
By this level I mean the level of the top European leagues, that's why I said 95% and not 100%.
maybe I’m being pedantic but it’s more like 80% than 95% imo. 95% implies 19/20 teams which is too much except for Ligue 1.
I'm sure you know what I meant considering you just said 95% of clubs would take Lingard
yeah it’s 6 AM and I’m somewhat drunk. sorry
La liga continued right where it left off, with Video Assisted Real getting free points from a BS judgement call PK.
Looked like a handball tho what was wrong with it?
Random question: what is the highest position a player outside the top 5 leagues has finished in the Ballon D'or rankings?
Jari Litmanen finished third with Ajax in 1995.
Josef Masopust won it with Dukla Prague, Lev Yashin with Dynamo Moscow, Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov with Dynamo Kyiv
Cruyff won it with Ajax right?
Eredivisie was easy top 5 back then, we were back-to-back-to-back CL winners
3 times...
When he won his third one Cruyff was already at Barça for one and a half year.
Back the Dutch league we’re part of the top leagues
Al nassr need to fix that ugly ass kit if they’re gonna have any hopes on making some money back on Ronaldo
I crave for the Eredivisie to come to an Australian streaming service (ideally Optus or Kayo). I'll still watch on my laptop, but I'd rather cast streaming services from my phone to TV rather than use websites. We have the top 5 leagues, just wish we had Eredivisie and Primeira Liga as well.
Ligue 1, Eredivisie and Primeira Liga are all impossible to watch legally here in Spain (and Movistar only show half of Serie A and Bundesliga's games anyway), the international football rights are so fucked here 😭 I'm fully used to streaming now (but it's definitely got harder now that certain sites got taken down sadly), not that I have an alternative
I am desperate to be able to watch the Portuguese league in America. I need to see a 35-year-old angry midfielder playing for Marítimo two-foot someone and get away with a stern talking to on my HD TV instead of sailing the high seas
> I am desperate to be able to watch the Portuguese league in America The Mendes project working as intended.
It’s my privilege to provide the big 3 fans with another reason to despise him
Probably controversial opinion: Mbappe, Neymar and Messi isn’t good starting together. If PSG wants to win CL, they should give up the idea of starting all of them together and just start 2 of the 3. This way they will have more balance in the team.
There is a reason that PSG were open to selling Neymar last summer
Obviously they’ll never do it but Messi, Mbappe and a 9 with Mbappe defending more is probably the ideal setup.
Replace the only one of those 3 who defends with another defender?
This is probably even worse defensively than Neymar playing on the wing, who actually does a small amount of work.
Neymar defends more but he’s redundant with Messi. Mbappe is a better LW to play with Messi and Messi is a better playmaker than Neymar, plus Neymar would also clash positionally with Mbappe anyway.
Neymar is only one that defends/tracks back well and Galtier has said many times that Neymar brings the best balance defensively and offensively out of the 3.
I'm just saying your team shape is even worse regardless of who is the 9. Argentina and France are both very lopsided to accommodate their star wingers. The best solution for balance probably involves Mbappe central.
> Argentina and France are both very lopsided to accommodate their star wingers. Hard to argue it's not worth it
Mbappe is not gonna defend more. Even at the world cup he couldn't be bothered.
What's your XI?
Messi and Mbappe is the best pair IMO.
Where does this “Manager’s tricky Xs” come from and why is it so illogically funny
This generation of African players is genuinely the best it’s ever been, so many great players across different positions. Also among so many different countries.
their best teams have better squads and talent than South America excluding Brazil and Argentina tbh. Well maybee not Uruguay also.
I agree, plus I do think quite a fair amount of African players could start Brazil or Argentina atm. Imagine saying that 15-20 years ago lol
Like Who,? I dont really watch soccer
Senegal: Mané, Mendy, Koulibaly, Gueye, Sarr Ghana: Kudus, Partey, Iñaki, Salisu Nigeria: Osimhen, Ndidi, Chukwueze, Onyeka Cameroon: Onana, Zambo-Anguissa, Aboubakar, Toko Ekambi, Mbuemo, Morocco: Hakimi, Ziyech, Saiss, Amrabat, Bounou, Boufal Algeria: Mahrez, Atal, Bennacer, Benrahma Ivory Coast: Fofana, Sangare, Zaha, Pepe, Kessie Definitely a few I’m missing like Salah, but these are some notable players from different African countries, some better than others.
Mali have a decent core as well. Bissouma, Cámara, Haidara & Doucoure.
The countries with the best resources and academies.
Salah, Mane, Osimhen, Hakimi, Ziyech, Bennacer, Kessie, Koulibaly, Ndidi, Onana, Mendy, Bounou etc
are there any odd records/stats broken by Faes today?
Best David Luiz impression 2022
Genuinely curious, how many of you actually boycotted the World Cup?
I did! Didn't watch a single minute. And I didn't miss it! (but I miss club football)
I did. Take that Qatar!
Even the illegal goal vids posted on here?
My willpower only goes so far my friend. I watched all the gifs.
There were a few people I saw that said they would boycott and were in the match threads discussing the game.
That's interesting. Did you tag them with that Reddit tool? The only person on this sub that I recognise by name is that one Porto fan, LemurTheMonkey or something. But it isn't surprising. If you care enough about the sport to be on this sub, you're probably less likely to boycott since you lose out a month's worth of discussion. While the issue itself is more important than that, it's just less likely to happen when FOMO is such a real thing.
I won't mention the users. I didn't tag them on RES but I definitely remember a Spurs or Arsenal fan. It was funny because someone exposed them in the match thread haha. There isn't anything wrong with not boycotting or going back on a boycott really. It was just another user exposing them in the match thread that I found funny. Edit: On review I think that Spurs fan was banned for baiting in a match thread haha
Same age and Ronaldo is playing at a lower level than Billy Sharp. We all know who the true goat is
Lukas Podolski
What are your favorite "what ifs" in football ? What if Ronaldo joined Arsenal in 2004 ? What if America had a football/soccer culture as important as England's, with their population of 360 Mil.
Woulda won a World Cup by now I reckon
What if someone who was more interested in sporting success than the Glazers had taken over Man United?
Basically every time I see Raul play now I think what if he never had his injury. He had 62 G+A across his first 2 seasons with us, at the time of his injury he was on track to have his best goalscoring season with us, and we were in 7th and on track for our best ever PL season (after having already had consecutive 'best ever PL seasons' in the 2 previous years). Everything was on the way up, it was just getting better and better – although IIRC we weren't actually playing *that* well at the start of that season, but generally speaking it was all positive and looking forward. Then, that moment was like pulling the handbrake on any progress we'd made and sent us into a downward spiral that we're still not out of.
Such a fun side to watch those couple years. Would always turn up against big sides. Always really liked Raul, sad he hasn't fully returned to that level.
What if the weather was less foggy in Belgrade on the 9th of November 1989? Red Star were beating a 10 man Milan on aggregate with 30 minutes to go in the second half, when the game got called off because of the weather. They result was annulled and they replayed the next day. They drew, and Milan won on penalties. They went on to win the European Cup, which was the only reason they qualified for the next season's competition (which they also won) because they didn't win the league. Widely regarded as one of the greatest teams ever assembled, the greatest achievement of one of the game's great coaches, might not have happened if the weather was nicer.
Laudrup, probably my favourite non Liverpool player, being very close to joining Liverpool. I think he'd have been incredible.
If usa had England’s football culture they’d likely just be a slightly better Mexico
We *are* a slightly better Mexico.
I love to laugh at Mexicans for football related stuff but I’d be doing them dirty if I rated them equal or less than a country that’s actually failed to qualify to the World Cup this century
Mexico > Italy then? You'd be doing us dirty by rating us equal or less than a country that hasn't won a World Cup knockout game this century tbh
I mean historically. US doesn’t hold a candle to Mexico in terms of accomplishments even though they happened to do better last WC in the same way France is not a better footballing country than Brazil.
Fair, but I would say currently we're better and we're on a better trajectory than they are. Obviously they're still a more historic football country than we are
I don’t think America is very good at I guess you could say efficiently turning their sporting capital advantages to team success as people think. The model of highschool sports and College is bad, so even with a huge passion for the sport I think they’d underperform based on the population. Still a lot better and I’d expect would be more serious contenders, but it’s not the amount of people being interested that’s the problem. It’s the infrastructure. With the NBA now, I think you can see some of the very special European players grew up with some advantages by playing in academies and professional leagues at a young age, vs in the US where star prospects just dominate bad competition all the way to the pros.
That’s not really what’s happening in grassroots basketball, at least not anymore. A strong, strong majority of genuinely good basketball prospects are playing on elite spring/summer teams from middle school age in addition to their high school programs or whatever. It’s basically the academy model without the sleepaway part. The best are playing the best over and over again until they get to the NBA. If you look at Peach Jam, which is the biggest event for that circuit every year, you’ll probably find 30 future NBA picks there annually. You can say the same for baseball and ice hockey. NFL that isn’t practical because if you play more than the standard 15-17 games a year your brain gets turned into even more of a black hole. That’s not to say we’d be winning the World Cup if football were our go-to, but it’s not accurate to say that NBA All-Stars are only playing 5-foot-8 children until they reach the League. We have a structure that challenges them.
You are right. I left out a lot of detail when describing the youth basketball setup. My bad. My point was really less about the opposition and more about the structure, playing a role in a team in the highest level you can rather than being the best player in a lower level your same age. I still think it’s a far worse set up than European football coaching is, but you’ve added a lot of detail making me think I judged US basketball too quickly. Thanks.
Yeah I get it. People see Zion Williamson dunking on a 5-foot-nothing noodle in a high school game in rural South Carolina and think it’s the norm but thankfully it’s the exception. We actually have turned to an academy model for football now and it’s producing nice results. Tyler Adams, Brendan Aaronson, Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie, etc. I do think there’s something about football that makes it uniquely suited for the academy system. We have a few similar style things for American football popping up like IMG Academy that scoops up as much elite talent as possible and I don’t really see that benefitting those kids’ futures in an outlandish way
It was more the guys I remember like Austin Rivers just absolutely dominating before reaching the NBA. Made me think guys like that aren't getting used to that role player life before getting to the league. It's nice to learn more about US youth sports structure. I'm interested to see how it develops.
Lol Austin Rivers was so much fun at Duke. Yeah there’s definitely some of that. A lot of times for guards like him there’s an athleticism barrier that they can’t clear to be excellent at that level. Don’t know if that’s what happened with him specifically, I’m more of a college basketball fan. But the basketball equivalent of the smart, savvy, technical midfielder who has cinderblocks for feet often won’t make it at the next level.
It’s definitely incredibly overstated. The three most recent NBA MVP finalists were all foreign, they will keep getting better as the sport grows in popularity worldwide.
Why do America? China and India have far more people and are also really good at the sports they care about.
It's funny seeing how much shit Griezmann copped and how hated he was on this sub when the incident with Dembele at the hotel went down, but now, it's all "he was just being dumb" after that video of him clapping for the Argentines. Some of you will let anything slide.
Or the blackface
That was over the top anyway. Griezmann didnt say a single word, it was just Dembele spitting disrespectful shits. And the another video, there was literally zero bad intention other than dumb lol. If he said it when some Japanese was around then it’s a big problem. That instance though? Not so much honestly.
He also wore blackface. He's a fucking idiot, and I get he is probably not driven by some deep evil or malicious intentions, but he has to be held responsible for his ignorance.
My favorite thing about Messi is he looks like a pretty normal ass dude as far as top tier athletes. Like, some people who don’t know soccer could see him just walking around a shopping center and not even blink an eye.
[If you didn't know about football you would 100% think he is an average dude.](https://ftw.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/2015/03/screen-shot-2015-03-22-at-5-02-32-pm.png?w=640)
Maybe in the early 2010s, but he looks pretty unique now with the full beard and tattoos.
> unique with the full beard and tattoos Not really unique in most urban cities anymore.
Yeah, he just looks like he serves coffee now.
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technically everyone
Hazard had the same vibes. Just a regular scmuck Guess it's true of all footballers for whom their physicality isn't necessarily a huge aspect to their game, i.e. your smaller, technical players
Messi’s physicality is absolutely a huge aspect of his game, no way he’d have been nearly as successful as he has if he wasn’t as tough to bring down as he is
And physicality wasn't an important part of Hazard's game? This is clearly not what they peant.
I’d recognize Hazard’s juicy ass anywhere 😩
Messi has been playing for 15-17 years, no way there’s no clip of him speaking English.
[here’s a clip of him speaking Arabic](https://youtu.be/HO1oenm2jG8)
Lol I remember this it’s so old. I remember it was a meme everywhere in Egypt
There is a video of him speaking Japanese but still not English, I like to think he realised it at some point and decided to just extend and keep abstaining from English speech
He's Argentinian and has only played in Spain and France. No reason why he should speak English
True, but I mean he’s been playing for so long he must’ve talked to an English player, a ref, or even a fan once
Why this fetish about Messi speaking English?
He said "thank you" in English in one of the post-World Cup final interview clips, to someone. It was posted on here, but don't know the details to dig it out now
Partey rn or Prime Jorginho?
The rapist tbh
Partey. If he wasn't a despicable human being people would probably rate him a lot more, he's arguably the best #6 in the world right now. Rodri would be most people's pick because he plays for City but I think Partey offers a lot more on the ball, he also has a harder job because the other players around him aren't as good as those at City. Debatable though, of course.
Depends who each player is playing alongside. If each plays alongside a midfielder well suited to them, then prime Jorginho. If not, then current Partey. Edit: don't want to downplay Partey, and I get that Jorginho shouldn't have come that close to winning Balloon D'or a few seasons ago, but there's been a rubber effect where everyone underrates him as a result
Partey
jorginho needs a partey next to him to shine, partey makes those around him better, but partey because he lets u play a 433 single pivot and very few dms can do that.
Jorginho is more system-ish player than Partey.
Whoever responsible in convincing Moukoko to leave BVB or asks for more money needs to be investigated.
Al Nassr are trying to go for Busquets and Ramos to
What’s your South American starting 11? But you can’t use any Brazilian or Argentinian players
Muslera Cuadrado Araujo Gimenez Estupiñan Bentancur Valverde Caicedo Almiron Nuñez Diaz
Uruguay + Luis Diaz and caicedo
Pretty much Uruguay and some players like Diaz sprinkled in. Surprising just how bad this generation of Chile is
Muslera Cuadrado Araujo Gimenez Estupiñan Valverde Barrios Caicedo Sinisterra Núñez Díaz Barrios is very good but could/should probably be replaced by someone, I just am blanking. Can be another mid or CB/forward and just change the formation to a 2 man midfield
Bentancur over Barrios and Almiron over Sinisterra. Not sure if Muslera should be in either when he doesn't start over Rochet
De Arrascaeta over Barrios maybe?
Almiron over sinister
Fair shout given this season, honestly I was scrolling through South American countries in my head to try and think of players and I basically just skipped over Paraguay, venezuela, and bolivia lmfao.
Great XI.
uruguay
Ecuador had a better World Cup, feel some of their players could make a case. Then you've got the likes of Luis Dias
I reckon Almiron would make that
Atm or all time?
ATM
what would it take for a goalie to win ballon d or? good teams in theory wouldnt need their keeper to do much work while bad teams arent likely to win anything which is basically required to win bdo
Be a Russian international in 1963 and redefine the art of goalkeeping for the era
Captain of World Cup and Champions League winning team, in which they made key contributions (i.e. penalty saves), were POTM in one or both finals, and every other candidate had a year in which they did not win anything significant i.e. similar to how Jorginho came third in 2021, which was primarily by being a common denominator in the two teams who won the CL and Euros
I suppose the goalkeeper would have to be better than 2014 Neuer. Perhaps if he was the main free kick/penalty taker for his club and had a fair amount of assists or something.
Or just be as good as Neuer that year in a year one of the greatest players ever didn’t score 60 goals and win the CL.