Soccer Thread

[The Benmeister]

Don't forget AZ!

[Buuz]

Don't forget AZ!

I didn't forget AZ. But they aren't doing well either. They're 11th right now, after a bad series of matches and after being defeated by FC Twente with 3-0 recently. Not surprising when Maher and Altidore both get a red card during that match. But it sure was surprising how their coach, Gertjan Verbeek, responded after the match. Normally he'd explode in front of the camera..

[7 tyranitars]

^Willem II? Sparta Rotterdam? NEC Nijmegen? (I'm trying to think of Dutch teams where practically nobodies heard of them.)
Also Nicole, if you don't know if you want to support Barcelona, do what I did, support a little team, like for you, say Alcorcon or Rayo Vallecano or a team like that.

Nope Sc cambuur :P.

And he Dutch clubs that are most known are probably Ajax PSV Feyenoord and AZ and Fc Twente.

[~Nicole~]

That thing about RM was a joke by the way, I'm a Barca fan and I'll always be a Barcelona fan. If you ever see me sympathizing with Madrid or wearing a Madrid jersey, the world will end! BARCA! BARCA! BAAARRRCAAAA! My heart will always be red and blue!

[Armando Payne]

^Yeah sure and I'm your uncle. (If that is a joke then I don't get it, wasting people's time isn't a joke, if it was I'd be the greatest Comedian the world's ever seen, trust me on that.)

[~Nicole~]

It was, I just wanted attention because something happened at school and I was really sad so all weekend I was sulking. Sorry for ''wasting your time''! Visca Barca!

[Armando Payne]

^well that's mature. In a completely unrelated note, I feel sorry for Artmedia Petrzalka. 7 years ago, they were part of the Champions League and the first Slovakian side to gain points in the group stage, now they're in the third division of Slovakia. I just feel sorry for their fall from grace.

[~Nicole~]

I'm 12, I'm supposed to be mature? Lol. I've never heard of Artmedia Petrzalka. Who are them? I've heard about Villarreal though. 2 seasons ago they finished 4th in the Liga and now they're in the Liga Adelante

[The Benmeister]

^well that's mature. In a completely unrelated note, I feel sorry for Artmedia Petrzalka. 7 years ago, they were part of the Champions League and the first Slovakian side to gain points in the group stage, now they're in the third division of Slovakia. I just feel sorry for their fall from grace.

Unirea Urziceni were in the Champions League group stage only three years ago, now they don't even exist.

[J-Myc]

That's a shame for them, I guess the money from the Champions League wasn't invested wisely

[Ninjames]

That's a shame for them, I guess the money from the Champions League wasn't invested wisely

I hate when football clubs just disappear. I think it's really sad especially in the case of Unirea Urziceni. What do the fans do when that happens? Some of them will have spent their entire life supporting the club and then bam! the club is dissolved. Do they go on to support another team or do they stay loyal to the team they once loved?

[J-Myc]

Depends really as some clubs just dissolve and become another entity a bit like how Wimbledon became MK Dons and AFC Wimbledon or a more recent example of how Rangers have become this new club which isn't really Rangers. If another club is created to fill in the void then some supporters might support the new club otherwise it depends on how they themselves feel about supporting another club.

[Ninjames]

Depends really as some clubs just dissolve and become another entity a bit like how Wimbledon became MK Dons and AFC Wimbledon or a more recent example of how Rangers have become this new club which isn't really Rangers. If another club is created to fill in the void then some supporters might support the new club otherwise it depends on how they themselves feel about supporting another club.

Ah yeah, I'd forgotten about the Wimbledon case. I think that, if my team were to disappear for whatever reason then the only way I'd feel better about supporting another team is if that other team popped up to replace them (just like with Wimbledon). If another team didn't replace them and I decided to support, say, Aston Villa instead (I don't even particularly like Villa that much so this wouldn't occur but the point is still valid) I'd always feel a degree of guilt.

[KickAsh]

I think if my favorite club disappeared I'd be angry more than anything. I guess I would support another team but I wouldn't be happy about it.

[~Nicole~]

If Barca disappeared I'd probably lose my interest in football alltogether. I didn't choose to be a Barca fan, it's more like Barca chose me to be a fan of the club ( as funny as that sounds ) and when I was 4 ( it probably has something to do with everyone in the city supporting Barcelona ) I started supporting Barca. If Barca disappeared it'll be like part of me died.

[Buuz]

If Barca disappeared I'd probably lose my interest in football alltogether. I didn't choose to be a Barca fan, it's more like Barca chose me to be a fan of the club ( as funny as that sounds ) and when I was 4 ( it probably has something to do with everyone in the city supporting Barcelona ) I started supporting Barca. If Barca disappeared it'll be like part of me died.

If Barca disappeared, it would be the end of the freakin' world. Luckily there would still be PSV Eindhoven (sorry, couldn't resist hehe).

[Armando Payne]

^And Walsall. They beat Arsenal in 1933, when one of the Arsenal boots cost more then the whole Walsall team, and in the 80s they were like the only team to withstand Liverpool and gain a draw against them. Still, poor Unirea, I mean I hate it when essentially a one hit wonder in footballing terms dissolves pretty soon afterwards. Like when Gretna dissolved I felt kinda sad but not that much because I didn't support them per se. (My new favourite Scottish team is Annan Athletic because they replaced Gretna.)

[The Benmeister]

Hopefully we can squeak out a win against Poland later. I'm predicting a narrow 1-0, hopefully Ukraine and Montenegro takes points off each other too. Turns out Ukraine's manager left for Dynamo Kiev which I was unaware of before their draw with Moldova.

Speaking of Moldova they take on San Marino. Plenty of people have claimed after England's win over San Marino about the disparity of teams in qualifying and the need for a previous round for qualification for the lesser teams. I think this would work, if you took the sixteen lowest ranked European nations and had four groups of four, with the top two going into regular rounds of qualifying. Then you'd have nine groups of five. This would at least prevent results like Liechtenstein 1-8 Bosnia-Herzegovina, and also give teams like Liechtenstein and Luxembourg actual chances of winnign competitive games.

[Armando Payne]

^Luxembourg beat Switzerland 2-1 in Euro 2008 qualifying, the only lesser lights which don't do a damn thing are San Marino and Andorra. (Have either of those 2 teams ever won a competitive match?)

[The Benmeister]

^ *Nitpick, t'was World Cup 2010 qualifying. Andorra I think beat Macedonia once but that's it. San Marino have only won one match ever and that was a friendly against Liechtenstein.

It's just the odds of a minnow upset is far less than the regular thrashings such as San Marino 0-13 Germany. You'd still have some of them qualifying anyway. Only problem would be lack of international playing time I guess. And I doubt anything is going to be done anytime soon anyway. Most other confederations have far more interesting qualifying stages though, especially South America. (The only exception is Oceania which is likely to forever have New Zealand dominate every single time)

Also I hear Gibraltar applied for UEFA membership, and Spain are threatening to boycott all their international and continental football if they are accepted. What bullies!