ES Soccer Thread

[ixcuincle]

http://twitter.com/JoshElliottABC/st...29269988708356

For the soccer nerd in us all. (Well, OK...for the soccer nerd in me.) A great teaching tool.... sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/draft/u…

[Elessar78]

For keepers the market is really tight. If you have a Buffon, Casillas, Kahn, or Cech you're not letting them get away. It's just a matter of who is available for a price. Tim Howard didn't work out at United, but can you say he's not one of the top keepers in the world? Maybe not then, but United isn't a place where you go to learn your trade especially at keeper.

---------- Post added January-26th-2012 at 03:37 PM ----------

http://twitter.com/JoshElliottABC/st...29269988708356

Are you f'n kidding me?? Zidane at #10! The guy is arguably one of the best ever. For me, I'd put him ahead of Messi, Maradona, and Pele simply because he's a "modern" player. Watch those old world cups, look at the speed of play. It's at a walking pace. Pele was a joy to watch, and yes, I've actually watched as much footage as there is of the guy beyond highlight clips, but I don't know if he'd translate into the modern game. I'm not convinced if Messi ended up anywhere but Barca that he would be as great as he is today. Maradona is a singular talent, he made his teams great. Meaning, I don't think they would've been anything without him.

But if you want to look at it by Generation Pele, Maradona, Zidane, Messi.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

For keepers the market is really tight. If you have a Buffon, Casillas, Kahn, or Cech you're not letting them get away. It's just a matter of who is available for a price. Tim Howard didn't work out at United, but can you say he's not one of the top keepers in the world? Maybe not then, but United isn't a place where you go to learn your trade especially at keeper.

Very true.

There's VERY few World Class keepers out there. Since Khan and Schmeichel hung it up, there's been a real dirth of top quality goalkeepers the World over.

Buffon's coming to the end, and injury's have really set in the last few years. Cech's still a top keeper, but he's not been the same since his injury. Spain in Casillas and Reina, with De Gea coming through are in the best position. And Hart at City has elevated himself into the top echelon bracket the past two years. He's up there with Reina and Cech in England.

After that, it's much of a muchness. And with the best will in the World, Tom Howard is not one of the top 'keepers Worldwide.

Hail.

[Elessar78]

http://twitter.com/JoshElliottABC/st...29269988708356

Are you f'n kidding me?? Zidane at #10! The guy is arguably one of the best ever. For me, I'd put him ahead of Messi, Maradona, and Pele simply because he's a "modern" player. Watch those old world cups, look at the speed of play. It's at a walking pace. Pele was a joy to watch, and yes, I've actually watched as much footage as there is of the guy beyond highlight clips, but I don't know if he'd translate into the modern game. I'm not convinced if Messi ended up anywhere but Barca that he would be as great as he is today. Maradona is a singular talent, he made his teams great. Meaning, I don't think they would've been anything without him.

But if you want to look at it by Generation Pele, Maradona, Zidane, Messi.

---------- Post added January-26th-2012 at 03:52 PM ----------

Very true.

There's VERY few World Class keepers out there. Since Khan and Schmeichel hung it up, there's been a real dirth of top quality goalkeepers the World over.

Buffon's coming to the end, and injury's have really set in the last few years. Cech's still a top keeper, but he's not been the same since his injury. Spain in Casillas and Reina, with De Gea coming through are in the best position. And Hart at City has elevated himself into the top echelon bracket the past two years. He's up there with Reina and Cech in England.

After that, it's much of a muchness. And with the best will in the World, Tom Howard is not one of the top 'keepers Worldwide.

Hail.

Well that's my point. Is he in the top tier? No. But I don't know if I'd put him in the third tier.

I don't even know how many I'd put in the top tier. Casillas, Buffon, Cech (but the last two are fading).

Then there are a lot of dodgy candidates. Reina, Neuer, Valdes? I'm not sure these guys are CLEARLY better than Howard. Szczeny is making a case to be in this group now.

[jobaga]

Touche. All I can say to that for the math and prestige challenged is 18+5 is greater than 19+3.



Sadly, to add to the horrid hatred that always surrounds the biggest fixture in England and one of the biggest in the World, I shudder to think what Evra will get slung his way this weekend. (The last few week's 'We're not Racist, We only hate Mancs!' could well be mild in comparison.). The game at Old Trafford in two weeks will be even worse when Suarez makes his comeback. The next two games are gona' be particularly ugly, even for this fixture which is far more about two City's just 35 miles apart in distance but WORLDS apart in almost everything; from the way we speak, dress, our musical tastes et all; than it is about the football. The football is secondary to that on the day.

It's not big. It's not clever. But it is what it is.

With no disrespect to the boys in Glasgow, Buenos Aires, Rome, Madrid/ Barcelona et all, there's NO bigger soccer hatred on the planet than L'pool/ Utd. It's poisonous. It brings out the very worst in normally rational people. But that said, rightly or wrongly, I LOVE IT!

12:45 Saturday lunch time can't come soon enough!

Hail.

I am not from Liverpool and have never been to Liverpool, but I don't see how the British media were accusing Liverpool and the Club of being racist. The Evra incident is a joke! In simple terms: Evra started the back and forth by referencing Suarez's mother's private parts. Then claimed Saurez called him somethining that starts with n. Then he said he called him that over 10 times. Evra never complained during the match because he was so upset (meanwhile he is on youtube using said n word). All the time saying Suarez is not a racist. Then Suarez said he used a friendly term commonly used in his part of the world (but does refer to the color of Evra's skin). Evra then said that is what Suarez called him. He claims that Suarez told him he kicked him because he was black. Then Evra said he was not called anything 10 times, that is merely a French expression. Lastly, Evra called Suarez a dirty South American in front of the ref....Evra deserves everything coming his way and Suarez's club and team mates and community has every right to defend him IMHO

[Sticksboi05]

Are you f'n kidding me?? Zidane at #10! The guy is arguably one of the best ever. For me, I'd put him ahead of Messi, Maradona, and Pele simply because he's a "modern" player. Watch those old world cups, look at the speed of play. It's at a walking pace. Pele was a joy to watch, and yes, I've actually watched as much footage as there is of the guy beyond highlight clips, but I don't know if he'd translate into the modern game. I'm not convinced if Messi ended up anywhere but Barca that he would be as great as he is today. Maradona is a singular talent, he made his teams great. Meaning, I don't think they would've been anything without him.

But if you want to look at it by Generation Pele, Maradona, Zidane, Messi.

---------- Post added January-26th-2012 at 03:52 PM ----------



Well that's my point. Is he in the top tier? No. But I don't know if I'd put him in the third tier.

I don't even know how many I'd put in the top tier. Casillas, Buffon, Cech (but the last two are fading).

Then there are a lot of dodgy candidates. Reina, Neuer, Valdes? I'm not sure these guys are CLEARLY better than Howard. Szczeny is making a case to be in this group now.

If Maradona had today's training/coaching/cleets etc. he'd still dominate. Comparing eras is almost pointless. Maradona single-handedly won a World Cup. That lone puts him over Messi for now. Zidane was great in 98 but that French team was loaded. Absolutely loaded. Id's say he;s the second best player of the last decade minus Ronaldo.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

I am not from Liverpool and have never been to Liverpool, but I don't see how the British media were accusing Liverpool and the Club of being racist. The Evra incident is a joke! In simple terms: Evra started the back and forth by referencing Suarez's mother's private parts. Then claimed Saurez called him somethining that starts with n. Then he said he called him that over 10 times. Evra never complained during the match because he was so upset (meanwhile he is on youtube using said n word). All the time saying Suarez is not a racist. Then Suarez said he used a friendly term commonly used in his part of the world (but does refer to the color of Evra's skin). Evra then said that is what Suarez called him. He claims that Suarez told him he kicked him because he was black. Then Evra said he was not called anything 10 times, that is merely a French expression. Lastly, Evra called Suarez a dirty South American in front of the ref....Evra deserves everything coming his way and Suarez's club and team mates and community has every right to defend him IMHO

Where Suarez made his big mistake (and the club in not shutting him down totally from the get go until they had their story straight on what they where going to say); was in admitting he called Evra a 'Negrita', which as you say has been conveniently misinterpreted by the FA. Had he not, then all they had was Suarez's word against Evra, who's a proven liar having previously cried wolf over racism which has always come to nothing. Any decent QC worth his salt would of breezed through the hearing. Having admitted he said that, the club were kinda' hand tied as to not being able to challenge it. I still think we took totally the wrong course of action in accepting the scandalous length of the ban, but that's now past. It wasn't lost on anyone either the irony of the report into the incident detailing what Evra is alleged to of said, yet no repercussion's coming down on him. How his comments can't be interpreted as racist and bigoted heck only knows.

And to compound the sham of the whole affair, the FA will find some spurious excuse to do absolutely jack to John Terry on some ridiculous grounds that he can't be punished twice after he get's convicted in court. It's a European Championship year. He's the England captain. Luis Suarez is just some dirty, ignorant South American. You do the math.

As for the disgraceful media witch hunt, well, to understand that you'd have to understand the way the Country, and in particular the Establishment and the Southern based National media has always looked down upon the City of Liverpool and it's people. For them to as good as claim there's institutionalised racism within one of the most respected football clubs in the World was beyond reprehensible. But that's a whole other story and I've rambled on enough on this.

FWIW, it's nice to see an American can see through the B/S and tell it more or less as it is.

Oh, one further note of irony. Suarez's 8 match ban runs out and see's him returning in a fortnight's time at ..... Manchester United. That should be quite the game .....

Hail.

[RichmondRedskin88]

Holy crap I finally made a post without a error lol. Anyway GO MAN UTD!!

Also we are not the Yankees. You have to have money to succeed in leagues like the EPL and Liga. In MLS every team is under the MLS as in they are owned by the MLS. This is different from the rest of the world. This is why money isn't a factor in the MLS.

[jobaga]

Where Suarez made his big mistake (and the club in not shutting him down totally from the get go until they had their story straight on what they where going to say); was in admitting he called Evra a 'Negrita', which as you say has been conveniently misinterpreted by the FA. Had he not, then all they had was Suarez's word against Evra, who's a proven liar having previously cried wolf over racism which has always come to nothing. Any decent QC worth his salt would of breezed through the hearing. Having admitted he said that, the club were kinda' hand tied as to not being able to challenge it. I still think we took totally the wrong course of action in accepting the scandalous length of the ban, but that's now past. It wasn't lost on anyone either the irony of the report into the incident detailing what Evra is alleged to of said, yet no repercussion's coming down on him. How his comments can't be interpreted as racist and bigoted heck only knows.

And to compound the sham of the whole affair, the FA will find some spurious excuse to do absolutely jack to John Terry on some ridiculous grounds that he can't be punished twice after he get's convicted in court. It's a European Championship year. He's the England captain. Luis Suarez is just some dirty, ignorant South American. You do the math.

As for the disgraceful media witch hunt, well, to understand that you'd have to understand the way the Country, and in particular the Establishment and the Southern based National media has always looked down upon the City of Liverpool and it's people. For them to as good as claim there's institutionalised racism within one of the most respected football clubs in the World was beyond reprehensible. But that's a whole other story and I've rambled on enough on this.

FWIW, it's nice to see an American can see through the B/S and tell it more or less as it is.

Oh, one further note of irony. Suarez's 8 match ban runs out and see's him returning in a fortnight's time at ..... Manchester United. That should be quite the game .....

Hail.

I agreed. Can't really take credit for being open-minded. After all, I am a Liverpool fan (as much as an American can be). I have my biases as well. But, that doesn't mean I am wrong. I want to see Gerrard win the title and get back into the Champions League. He is the reason I became a Liverpool supporter (well him and Anfield) I love the way Suarez plays (except for the diving), I hope he stays for years and they get him some help...

And the Terry situation is a joke. I am not English, but I would be embarrassed to have that scumbag as my captain. He may be a great player, but in life he sucks.

[renaissance]

In MLS every team is under the MLS as in they are owned by the MLS. This is different from the rest of the world. This is why money isn't a factor in the MLS.

Money is a factor when it comes to DPs. The Galaxy currently have 3/5 of the top-paid DPs in the league. So they are paying those guys' salaries, minus something like $300,000 paid by the league for the first two, and plus a $250,000 tax to claim a third DP.

2007 David Beckham, Los Angeles Galaxy, $6,500,000
2010 Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy, $2,300,000
2011 Robbie Keane, Los Angeles Galaxy, $3,417,24

Every MLS team cannot/will not afford this. And while the league has had a good amount of parity (based on distribution of MLS cup titles the last several years), I can't believe that is going to last as teams start generating more revenue through their own stadiums, etc, thus paying more for better DPs and coaches. (I have no idea what the range is, but I'm guessing coaches' salaries vary a lot, too.)

[boysetsfire]

Having a DP doesn't necessarily guarantee you titles though. LA this past year was the first team to win the Cup while having a DP on their roster.

[renaissance]

Having a DP doesn't necessarily guarantee you titles though. LA this past year was the first team to win the Cup while having a DP on their roster.

And the Yankees don't always win the WS, but they are always competitive. I didn't say the extra money guarantees anything, though. Just said that it does play a factor in MLS, and I believe it will play an increasingly important factor with more teams in the league, and with more talented players wanting to play here.

[boysetsfire]

And the Yankees don't always win the WS, but they are always competitive. I didn't say the extra money guarantees anything, though. Just said that it does play a factor in MLS, and I believe it will play an increasingly important factor with more teams in the league, and with more talented players wanting to play here.

LOL. Someone needs to eat dinner.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

So, excusing my European ignorance, if the MLS pays a % of a DP's player's wage, doe's the league foot the rest of a clubs wage bill?

Hail.

[DCranon21]

Liverpool knocks out the Red Devils in the cup. 2-1. Wonder if Evra will be able to sleep tonight.