S93
Legend
Silver Level
Whats more interesting is that 11 out of the 14 players that played for Barca came from there youth academy where as Real had what, just Casillas?
I always enjoy seeing Real fail, few clubs I hate as much as them.
Spent 300M to build up a new squad after the 6-2 game, almost win the league with Pellegrini , sack Pellegrini and bring in the special one only to be thrased 5-0.
I always enjoy seeing Real fail, few clubs I hate as much as them.
Spent 300M to build up a new squad after the 6-2 game, almost win the league with Pellegrini , sack Pellegrini and bring in the special one only to be thrased 5-0.
Dorkus Malorkus
HELLO INTERNET
Silver Level
Oh God I'm going to Blues-Villa tonight and am probably going to freeze my balls off it's so bloody cold here.
With Man U gone (lol at last night) and the other teams in it being a bit crap, Arsenal's reserves aside, we might actually have a shot at winning this, which would be nice (even if it is a joke competition).
Yeah, and they finished with a ridiculous number of points last year too, the only problem was Barca finished with a slightly more ridiculous number of points. Real's total last year would have been enough to win the league any other year, so it's not like they were going backwards under Pellegrini. I guess I don't blame them for getting Mourinho given his track record though.
With Man U gone (lol at last night) and the other teams in it being a bit crap, Arsenal's reserves aside, we might actually have a shot at winning this, which would be nice (even if it is a joke competition).
Yeah, and they finished with a ridiculous number of points last year too, the only problem was Barca finished with a slightly more ridiculous number of points. Real's total last year would have been enough to win the league any other year, so it's not like they were going backwards under Pellegrini. I guess I don't blame them for getting Mourinho given his track record though.
T
ThunderPT
Rock Star
Silver Level
That's it, FC Porto is the only undefeated team in Europe this season!
arty:Yup, it was actually a record for Real Madrid, both in points and in goals. But the Champions League was the biggest failure and that's where Mourinho is supposed to make a difference. Actually, that's why he was hired by Inter too, before him they were already winning the Serie A every year, it was in the Champions League they were failing.
Gesshoo
RIP Buck.
Silver Level
Only a joke competition when you are out of it - in the semis it is no longer funny!
Good win tonight Chris - good luck in the semis.
Dorkus Malorkus
HELLO INTERNET
Silver Level
Well that was fun!
Probably a thousand of our more mentally challenged fans decided to invade the pitch and run over to the Villa fans to taunt them at the final whistle. Predictably they didn't like this very much and started throwing everything from bottles to flares and seats at them. Happy days!
There was a bit of trouble outside the ground too but we just fled pretty quickly after the final whistle and probably avoided the worst of it.
Still, I don't really care because we've got a pretty decent shot of losing to Arsenal in the final now!
Probably a thousand of our more mentally challenged fans decided to invade the pitch and run over to the Villa fans to taunt them at the final whistle. Predictably they didn't like this very much and started throwing everything from bottles to flares and seats at them. Happy days!
There was a bit of trouble outside the ground too but we just fled pretty quickly after the final whistle and probably avoided the worst of it.
Still, I don't really care because we've got a pretty decent shot of losing to Arsenal in the final now!
T
ThunderPT
Rock Star
Silver Level
FIFA is about to decide who'll host the 2018 and 2022 world cups.
2018 bids:
Belgium & netherlands
England
Russia
portugal & Spain
2022 bids:
Australia
Japan
Qatar
South Korea
USA
I'm not really informed about the 2022 bids but for us europeans Qatar would be the best one, the others would give us games either in the morning or late in the night. I don't believe Japan or South Korea stand a chance since they hosted the WC in 2002. USA did it in 1994 and the WC never went to Oceania so I think if Australia's bid is strong, they'll take it.
As for the European bids, the belgian/dutch bid has no chances, between the others it's close. I'm surprised to see Portugal and Spain seem to be in the lead, as FIFA doesn't like two-nations bids and this one isn't even going to be 50%-50%. Still, they match the hotel requirements better than England, they don't have Russia's disadvantage of the long distances and they're estimated to sell the most tickets.
2018 bids:
Belgium & netherlands
England
Russia
portugal & Spain
2022 bids:
Australia
Japan
Qatar
South Korea
USA
I'm not really informed about the 2022 bids but for us europeans Qatar would be the best one, the others would give us games either in the morning or late in the night. I don't believe Japan or South Korea stand a chance since they hosted the WC in 2002. USA did it in 1994 and the WC never went to Oceania so I think if Australia's bid is strong, they'll take it.
As for the European bids, the belgian/dutch bid has no chances, between the others it's close. I'm surprised to see Portugal and Spain seem to be in the lead, as FIFA doesn't like two-nations bids and this one isn't even going to be 50%-50%. Still, they match the hotel requirements better than England, they don't have Russia's disadvantage of the long distances and they're estimated to sell the most tickets.
T
ThunderPT
Rock Star
Silver Level
First round of votes:
Russia 9
Portugal/Spain 7
Belgium/Netherlands 4
England 2 -> eliminated
Second round of votes:
Russia 13
Portugal/Spain 7
Belgium/Netherlands 2 <--- ??? Two guys suddenly changed their minds? :s
Similar thing happened with the 2022 voting.
Russia 9
Portugal/Spain 7
Belgium/Netherlands 4
England 2 -> eliminated
Second round of votes:
Russia 13
Portugal/Spain 7
Belgium/Netherlands 2 <--- ??? Two guys suddenly changed their minds? :s
Similar thing happened with the 2022 voting.
Dorkus Malorkus
HELLO INTERNET
Silver Level
Seems like two pro-Russia dudes voted Holland/Belgium with the intent of knocking England out in the first round, perhaps because they thought they would pick up a lot of votes in later rounds or perhaps just for the lolz.
I'm not even that annoyed at us losing so spectacularly - I was for a few minutes but then my annoyance was replaced with bewilderment when Qatar won 2022.
Then I remembered that FIFA is FIFA and that Russia and Qatar were backed by the richest people (Abramovich, Abu Sultan Al-Oil Baron or whoever he is).
O
onemorechance
live free or die
Silver Level
I'm sure it's a coincidence
T
ThunderPT
Rock Star
Silver Level
They'll have 12 stadiums in that minuscule country, 6 of them in Doha! lol
S93
Legend
Silver Level
How Russia won it is beyond me.
Spain/Portugal, Belgium/Netherlands and England all had better bids imo.
But FIFA doesnt want it to be held in 2 countries and Blatter clearly has a biased against England so Russia got it.
As for Qatar, I actually think they had the best bid.
South Korea and Japan where never getting it because they recently held it.
Australia have the huge time difference with Europe(FIFA´s biggest market) going against it.
They US had a decent bid.
But Qatar has:
-The strongest financial bid.
-The stadiums will be build modular and dismantled and given to poorer countries after the WC.
-Air conditioned stadiums and fan zones.
-WC has never been in the middle east
-Each stadium just a hour away from downtown Doha.
-Central Location
Spain/Portugal, Belgium/Netherlands and England all had better bids imo.
But FIFA doesnt want it to be held in 2 countries and Blatter clearly has a biased against England so Russia got it.
As for Qatar, I actually think they had the best bid.
South Korea and Japan where never getting it because they recently held it.
Australia have the huge time difference with Europe(FIFA´s biggest market) going against it.
They US had a decent bid.
But Qatar has:
-The strongest financial bid.
-The stadiums will be build modular and dismantled and given to poorer countries after the WC.
-Air conditioned stadiums and fan zones.
-WC has never been in the middle east
-Each stadium just a hour away from downtown Doha.
-Central Location
midgetfactory
Visionary
Silver Level
Mls teams are absolutely no match for european teams... them pre season frienlies are pointless for making comparisons. the US team is not in the top 15 teams in the world even though the rankings say so, they are in one of the weakest confederations, only mexico can give them a good game in north america, so they play most of their games against weaker nations, i.e they build up ranking points. if they played in europe there would be 20 nations better than them...
midgetfactory
Visionary
Silver Level
i watched sky news all morning (im ireland but we get the uk version) they had england 1/2 to win russia 6/1 i was so happy they didnt get it, they are so cocky and stuck up they wer sure they wer gona win. they didnt even deserve it imo, they already have hosted it, they have olympics nxt year, commonwealth games(pure manure) cricket and rugby world cups. they didnt deserve it end of story, too greedy...
SUCK IT ENGLAND
S93
Legend
Silver Level
little brown envelopes...
O
onemorechance
live free or die
Silver Level
There's a difference between being cocky, and being confident based on the fact that we had the most technically sound bid, the most profitable bid, the fact that support from at least six nations was promised and Blatter called our presentation 'remarkable'. The fact we finished last has nothing to do with the strength of our bid. You know that right? Of the technical bids for 2018, Russia had the worst, of 2022, Qatar had the worst.