Soccer • Football • Voetbal • Fútbol • Calcio • Futebol - 2012-2013 Thread (Including EURO2012)

[Texasmade]



Robben is going to have to build himself a bigger garage to store all of his Runner-Up hardware.

Lol. How many more finals can he choke in?

 

[lasbar]



Lol. How many more finals can he choke in?

That is the difference between very good and great players.

 

[KitAkira]

FIFA rankings are always so entertaining, Croatia ranked 8th in the world? They'll be lucky to get past Group, and I'd say Greece won't either

 

[idfnl]



I'd love to see Portugal come through with an upset over Spain or Germany.

Unlikely.

Their best hope is for a lot of draws in the other games and a win against Denmark and a draw against Holland. If they grab a draw, 4 points may be enough for the knockout rounds. I dont expect them to get more than that.

And they didnt do well against Denmark in the qualifiers.

The final has Germany Spain written all over it.

 

[idfnl]



Does Inter Milan go out of its way to employ non-Italians?

They seem to. Definitely not a nationalist club like Lazio. They tend to reach out to many Argentinian players but there is a wide array of nationalities on that side. Just recently it was Sweden, Brazil, Holland, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Croatia. But there are like 7 Argentines on that team.

 

[hhenryhhh]

Argentinians are pretty much Spanish speaking Italians anyway, amirite guys?

 

[idfnl]



Argentinians are pretty much Spanish speaking Italians anyway, amirite guys?

Yes, while it was a haven for many fleeing from WW2 prosecution, the Italian connection is much older:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Argentine

Messi and Maradona are really Italians

Just like most white Brazilian players like Kaka are really Portuguese.

 

[romafan]



They seem to. Definitely not a nationalist club like Lazio. They tend to reach out to many Argentinian players but there is a wide array of nationalities on that side. Just recently it was Sweden, Brazil, Holland, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Croatia. But there are like 7 Argentines on that team.

Don't forget Serbia, Romania, Macedonia & Japan! And then there's Africa....

 

[El Argentino]



Yes, while it was a haven for many fleeing from WW2 prosecution, the Italian connection is much older:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Argentine
Messi and Maradona are really Italians
Just like most white Brazilian players like Kaka are really Portuguese.

Article in link making me hungry.... Between WWI and WW2, there was a big controversy with Italy instituting the oriundi policy saying that any Argentine citizen could gain immediate dual citizenship by jumping back across the pond. Because of the economic difficulties of the time in SA from errant progressive policy, Italy called back a lot of Argentines to the "fatherland" and, if I may say so, won their early WCs in the 30s directly because of the import of naturalized Argentine players.

And while I do agree w/ the sentiment on Messi and Maradona being "italian" that sort of thinking would effectively eliminate the idea of immigration from a culture - and the reason nations destabilize today. When people coming into a nation are too keen on maintaining themselves as a separate minority, rather than assuming the nation's identity, you get all this factionalism resulting in (at least) cries of racism from within the country, such as here in the EEUU, and at worse, ethnic cleansing like in the Balkans throughout the 90s. While I take pride in Argentina, I consider myself fully "American" because of my (and my family's) choice to live here. No doubt it's the same w/ Messi, Kaká and the like, especially when their families have lived in their respective nations for generations beforehand.

Pep "suddenly" up to jump to another team. Surprise, surprise Couldn't even wait until after the final today.

 

[El Argentino]

Also, Blatter apparently keen on changing the game's rules so as to eliminate the penalty shootout - saying it's unfair. waa-waa.

 

[DLester]



Also, Blatter apparently keen on changing the game's rules so as to eliminate the penalty shootout - saying it's unfair. waa-waa.

I can't recall anything he said that I agree with.

 

[idfnl]



I can't recall anything he said that I agree with.

He's the worst thing in Football. Worse that Suarez, Barton, Busquetes combined x 100.

 

[El Argentino]



He's the worst thing in Football. Worse that Suarez, Barton, Busquetes combined x 100.

 

[Sir Humphrey Appleby]

Can't stand Blatter but he's right in this case. ET has always been boring since they got rid of golden goal. Let them play until they drop and have a sub every 10 minutes no matter how many they have used.

 

[comeonyouspurs]

Haven't been here in awhile. Nice to see a new thread has been started. Quite butt hurt that Spurs got knocked from CL but it is what it is. Can't wait for Euros even though Portugal will probably collapse rapidly but what's new with the clubs I support.

At least I have this: