**OFFICIAL Association Football 2011/2012 Season thread**

[MickeyG]

Fucking dippers have made Wembley. You can't rely on City to do anything right. Watch them now go on a tear in the league and be champions by Easter.

[MickeyG]

Dippers for us in the cup this weekend. I hate playing them, the game raising cunts. Their fans are nasty and spiteful. Victory would be nice, but short lived as there's always the next game coming round the corner. No more injuries, please.

[Hellsinkey]

Yeah, too many injuries. Let's see if Evra plays.

I have a tradition of watching these games in a pub with my friend who's a Liverpool fan. It's actually common here, just friendly piss taking, no fights ever. Because of Hyypiä and Litmanen the majority here are Liverpool fans though, so it gets on nerves sometimes.

It would be fun to see the games on the spot for once. One of the guys at work goes to Britain to see the games once in a while. He's a MK Dons fan.

[MickeyG]

I've seen United/Liverpool at Old Trafford, but never at Anfield. I've been to Goodison twice to see United and Everton. The first time was nasty, as I was in the United section and was surprised that Everton fans waited outside to hurl abuse as United fans came out. No one got attacked or anything, the police were there, but they were mouthing off pretty good. The second time, I was with an Evertonian and sat with them. Nothing happened, accept Everton getting owned.

[Rageman]

Donovan and the Toffees knock out Dempsey and the cottagers. LD played pretty good, assisting on both goals with nice crosses. Dempsey had his moments but they were few and far between.

Hard to believe it's been almost 10 years since Donovan made his International debut.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ies/020701

Probably an easier read for Americans than the English but here's Englishman Michael Davies World Cup 2002 blog. A great read and often hilarious. Final 2002 WC blog post linked . . . Scroll down a couple of pages to get access to day one on the right.

[MickeyG]

For the most part, the Americans that have played in the PL have done a decent job and fitted in well. Howard, Friedel and Keller were/are good keepers. Dempsey, Donovan, McBride, Holden, Reyna, Bocanegra to name a few. There are many in the lower leagues.

[Hellsinkey]

Ironically it's Evra's mistake that decides the game. And DeGea...

[MickeyG]

So much possession, but no chances created. That was a game United should have won, Liverpool were poor and were dominated in midfield. Against Uniteds midfield which is well known to be poor. Welbeck had no service.

[Hellsinkey]

I have a feeling this might be a season of no trophies. Whatever wakes Fergie about getting midfielders.

[MickeyG]

Yeah, he should have bought for the midfield in the summer. He did try for Nasri, but we didn't offer enough. I think he's hands are tied to a certain degree, although he won't admit it. If the Glazers won't sell up, then we need this IPO to go through, and hope that they use it on the debt. Then we have to hope they give Fergie a decent amount to spend when he needs it.

[Hellsinkey]

Important Gibson goal for ManU. At Everton. Damn, I missed yesterday's games.

[MickeyG]

Massive game on Sunday now against Chelsea. They've been poor, this is as good a chance as any to win at the Bridge.

[Hellsinkey]

Poor game, but one point is better than nothing. Most of the goals were defenders' mistakes. DeGea made couple of great saves, but he's shite on setpieces and makes own defenders nervous.

[Rageman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ZMvk4XyZM

Years and years ago I heard that song over at a friends house(His brother was the main punker in Alaska) . . . had no idea what a firm was and of course I never knew that they were supporters of my future team, West Ham. Can't believe these guys are still around. C'mon You Irons!!!

[Rageman]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/gall ... 27&index=0
Pretty funny Dempsey gallery . . . this one is my favorite.

[MickeyG]

Aye, they were called the intercity firm wern't they, the West Ham hooligans?

[Hellsinkey]

Good stuff there. Not always well done, but funny ideas.

[Rageman]

Aye, they were called the intercity firm wern't they, the West Ham hooligans?

Yup. the I.C.F. were some seriously hard motherfuckers. I believe they were the first hooligan camp that was organized with plans of attack.

Bundesliga related but still funny

[Hellsinkey]

Capello leaves, Psycho is now in charge of the England squad, at least for a moment. I doubt Spurs will let Reknapp go.

[pieceofme]

Capello leaves, Psycho is now in charge of the England squad, at least for a moment. I doubt Spurs will let Reknapp go.

Big loss losing Capello. If Pearce gets the job full time I don't think I will stop laughing. Awful manager.

Redknapp is the best English candidate, but the reality is there are far better managers around who aren't English. This obsession with having an English manager is hilarious. It wouldn't be so bad if there were some good English managers around!

Redknapp has one trophy in his whole career. And yeah he's doing well at Spurs but he has some damn good players there, most who aren't English.

[MickeyG]

Fuck, I just can't find myself caring about the England job. Shows how far international football has fallen.

[Hellsinkey]

Giggs signs yet another deal. Scholes will probably be next. Way to avoid the problems Fergie.

[pieceofme]

Fuck, I just can't find myself caring about the England job. Shows how far international football has fallen.

In all fairness I'm not too bothered. Just find it hilarious.

Will be supporting Poland and the Netherlands in the Euros.

[Hellsinkey]

Netherlands and England for me. It's also nice if Sweden and Denmark do well. Looking at the groups, again Euro is tougher competition than World Cup.

[Rageman]

Ahhhhh Eurosnobs. God bless them and their denial. I don't know how many different leagues you guys watch(seems mostly the EPL) but I watch about a dozen almost every week. Europe is stagnating/plateaued and the rest of the world is catching up. True Story.

South Africa 2010
European teams that advanced out of the group stage . . . 6
European teams that didn't advance out of the group stage . . . 7

Switzerland beat Spain then lost to Chile and drew Honduras.
France had a draw with Uruguay, lost to Mexico and South Africa.
Greece lost to South Korea, Argentina and beat Nigeria.
Slovenia beat Algeria, drew with the USA and lost to England.
Serbia beat Germany and lost to Ghana and Australia(LOVE watching the A-League).
Italy drew Paraguay and New Zealand and lost to Slovakia.
Denmark lost to Holland, defeated Cameroon then needed a win against Japan to advance . . . and lost 3-1.

Congratulations to Europe for finally winning a WC outside of the continent, but with more and more money spoiling the big leagues of Europe, too many players act like international football is below their pay grade and care more about their star status than the shirt they should be proud to wear. Cue the "Send the U-23s to the World Cup instead" articles in about a year and a half.

And New Zealand, as low as they are in the global scale, was the only undefeated team last World Cup. Like it or not, they were fun to watch. Ryan Nelson was a beast and Simon Elliot was the best playmaker on the field every match he played in SA '10.

[Hellsinkey]

I'm not talking about individual games or saying there aren't good teams outside Europe. Of course there are. It's good it has been more even in recent years.

There's only three more team places in Euro than for Europe in World Cup, so almost always some good teams get left out. For example there are seven different European countries in next Euro that weren't in last world cup.

The teams are already more important in football than any national team. If Barcelona played in World Cup, they would probably win.

[Rageman]

The team I'm most excited to see is the Irish . . . became a fan of them in Japorea 2002. The connection they have with their fans is absolutely amazing. Can't wait to hear them rally on their boys once again

From Micheal Davies WC 2002 diary

Tokyo Station, 10:15 a.m.

You have to love the Irish, and I sometimes wear green plaid pants so I love them more. Thousands of them are here. I'm reminded of the Harry Potter books, the scenes at King's Cross station when the wizarding families bring their alien children amongst the confused muggles to send them back on the train to Hogwarts (now there's a reference a real sportswriter wouldn't make). The Japanese do not know what to make of all this. They are not the dreaded hooligans; there is absolutely nothing threatening about them. Half their faces painted green, jester hats and green sombreros, kilts and Irish soccer shirts, a sea of green, orange and white pasty skin, dancing and singing and laughing their way toward the trains. Dozens of children and grandparents are amongst the exquisitely ugly throng; the oddest shapes and sizes, sunburn, lesions, mild deformities and violent facial ticks.

But they can sing.

Come on, you boys in green,
Don't need that cunt, Roy Keane
Come on, you boys,
Come on, you boys in green.

And they do. Again and again and again and again and ...

The Asahi 97 Shinkansen to Niigata, 10:45 a.m.
The Shinkansen bullet train I board at Tokyo makes Amtrak's Acela look like the 6 subway line to the Bronx. It is smooth and silver on the outside, pristine and luxurious inside, beautifully lit and ergonomically designed. The ride is ridiculously smooth. There are no unscheduled stops, we reach every station on the two-hour, 20-minute ride to Niigata precisely, to the minute, on time, and there is complimentary green tea service.

This seems appropriate, but thoroughly confuses the hordes of merry (a k a drunk) Irish fans on almost every other seat on the 15-car train. They want bacon, runny eggs and more beer, at least that's what the ones behind me ask for, thoroughly confusing the shy, perhaps terrified, staccato-bowing, retreating attendant who's passing out the hot towels (which the drunken Irishman in front of me, one of several dressed as Leprechauns, tries to eat).

They sing for the next two hours, football songs, pop songs, songs I can't write about here. Five minutes from Niigata, with its "Big Swan" stadium, majestic, in the distance, the singing stops and they stare, perhaps as their forefathers upon the silence of a verdant pre-battlefield.

... and the old triangle,
goes jingle, jangle,
along the banks of the Royal Canal

It is one voice ... and a fine one too. A poignant reminder of how far away they are from home. How much they love their country. And how they've all had far too much to drink.

The rest of that days blog is here
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ies/020602

[MickeyG]

Wasn't it 2002 where Roy Keane fell out with Mick McCarthy? Always a legend, our Roy.

[pieceofme]

I'm not talking about individual games or saying there aren't good teams outside Europe. Of course there are. It's good it has been more even in recent years.

There's only three more team places in Euro than for Europe in World Cup, so almost always some good teams get left out. For example there are seven different European countries in next Euro that weren't in last world cup.

The teams are already more important in football than any national team. If Barcelona played in World Cup, they would probably win.

Well said.

[Hellsinkey]

Nice winding up from Evra after the game. Suarez is a cunt.