Football (real)

[betiko]

Zidane was pure class.

I didn't get to see Platini (I'm not as old as betiko), I really didn't get to see Maradona either.

I haven't seen another player like Zidane. Maybe in the end Messi or Cristiano will end up with more titles (most likely no WCs though) and you can say Messi might be more decisive, but Zidane was pure class. Making Football look like ballet somehow.

I'm a fan of the heroics, and Zidane taking France to the final after returning to the national team, being his last tournament, that was a moment that had me about to come so hard I was going to make a hole in the roof. That header, was a good header, Bufon was simply incredible that night.



And then the other header. Heartbreaker.

I didn t really get to see platini but mainly because I wasn t too much into football when I was a kid. I did get to see maradona a bit... Van baasten... Those guys were incredible!
The thing with Platini is that he was a trail blazer... France had always been pretty shitty and had never won anything. During his years, there was the 82 wc in spain, where we were beating west germany 3-1 in semi finals, and after some horrible actions that injured some key players without germans getting sent off, they ended up equalizing 3-3 and beating us on penaltys. In the 84 eurocup france won, and in the 86 wc france eliminated brazil in quarter finals, then in semi finals got to play again west germany and lost again!
So platini= 2 wc semi finals and 1 eurocup title
Zidane= 1 wc final, 1 wc title and 1 eurocup title
On the paper, Zidane wins... But as I said, Platini s generation were trail blazers.
What is strange, is that between these 2 generations we had the Cantona generation, and for some reason, in spite of having good players they were total shit.

Anyway, i think that what the zidane generation did has been totally eclipsed by the xavi-iniesta generation in Spain. 2008 eurocup, 2010 wc and 2012 eurocup. That team was just unstopable and won 3 major titles straight... No one had ever done that before. I m happy their run ended this year though. Germany had been the long time second in spite of having a great generation of players, they deserved to be rewarded.

[betiko]

I wasn't too saddened by the second header. It's a shame he didn't get his second WC.

To me, he raised the entire team, he made people look good. It was hard to spend too much defence on him, because he'd exploit the weakness for his team.

And if there was a need to get the job done, it would be hard to find a better player. His will to win seemed much more rooted then C Ronaldo's. Much more like a Brazilian player, at least as much about greater glory as individual.

For me, zidane s best game was vs brazil in the 2006 wc quarter finals. I don t know if you got to see that game or highlights.... But it was superclass action after superclass action in the midfield, driving the brazilians nuts... I wonder if he even lost a ball during that game... But for me that was the peak of his art. No goals, no assists, just ball mastery and pass precision.

[_sabotage_]

No doubt Henry was good. He reminded me of Eto'o but not as good. But Eto'o had more chance to be a specialist than Henry.

French league style football is one of the best. It's like bundesliga without the German. It's both offensive and defensive, without the diving/crying/crossing of Spain/Italy/Portugal. It's almost as good as the premier league, but when I watched the premier league, Arsenal was French, Liverpool was Spanish, Chelsea was Portuguese/Italian and Man U was British.

I started watching Portuguese (I was in Macau at the time), in about 2000. So when Mourinho went to Chelsea and brought a very strong but little known Portuguese defence with him, I went from an Arsenal supporter, to a Chelsea supporter. I haven't been watching much since 2008 or so, except when drinking with Brits, which is no way to watch football.

I'm sure they were better players than Zidane, according to some. I don't know Platini, but Zidane was strong to extremely strong in each aspect of his play. His ball control was almost as strong as Figo, but he could move the ball and use his team better, he was almost as good at set pieces as Beckham, but much stronger under stress, he didn't have the explosive break away power but made use of players who did.

The best moments of Zidane are moments. The ball comes perhaps awkwardly to him and is gone in a premeditated flash upfield or in net. And you never got a sense that he would ever put himself before the team. Passing the ball to Zidane was like get a supercharged second of teamwork.

[_sabotage_]

Favorite Zidane game was France vs England, Euro 2004.

You got to feel sorry for England, having Beckham take a penalty for and Zidane against, you never have to worry about Zidane tripping over a blade of grass. Beckham had a nice free kick assist, Zidane had a goalie standing in awe of his. But anything to keep the Brits raging over football makes me happy.

[betiko]

Favorite Zidane game was France vs England, Euro 2004.

You got to feel sorry for England, having Beckham take a penalty for and Zidane against, you never have to worry about Zidane tripping over a blade of grass. Beckham had a nice free kick assist, Zidane had a goalie standing in awe of his. But anything to keep the Brits raging over football makes me happy.

Bah, you re comparing platinum with bronze here... I m sure you haven t seen france brazil 06

Watch this

[betiko]

Still want to make it clear that this thread wins, yey!

[betiko]

Lol watching the fifa ballon d or awards...

Fucking joke! Thiago silva and david luiz in defense? Do they happen to know where they played in 2014 and how horrible they ve been??
Andres Iniesta in the midfield, seriously?? Is this just about names or 2014 performance???? Kroos and di maria are ok i guess, and in attack messi/ronaldo/robben is well deserved

Messi isn t getting the ballon d or for sure this year, and i give a 90/10 chances for ronaldo to get his third ballon d or.

[betiko]

So cristiano gets his third, no surprise here. He really did a shit world cup, but his 2014 year with the real madrid was outstand, particularly this ongoing season started in september.
No scandal as last year, where he didn t win crap and he ended up with worse stats than messi.

[sempaispellcheck]

So cristiano gets his third, no surprise here.

Boo.
Not saying he didn't deserve it - I just don't like him because he plays for Madrid.

sempai

[nietzsche]

Fucking joke! Thiago silva and david luiz in defense?

[betiko]

Fucking joke! Thiago silva and david luiz in defense?

paris is 4th in the league and being a disaster. I don't know if the coach Blanc will still be there next month for chelsea. Basically, last week end they were playing Bastia, ranked in the bottom of the league, they were winning 2-0 after 25 minutes.... and they managed to lose 4-2. Thiago silva and david luiz in central defense, being horrible again.

[betiko]

So cristiano gets his third, no surprise here.

Boo.
Not saying he didn't deserve it - I just don't like him because he plays for Madrid.

sempai

well I don't like him because he's cristiano ronaldo the arrogant prick, I don't like the real madrid either, but the fact that a player plays for a club i like or i dislike has no influence on my liking or disliking of said player. Ronaldo has been less of a prick this year even if he still is one, but I have to admit that he's an incredible hard worker and that he deserves the prize.
For example I have sympathy for varane, isco, james and I don't care if they play for the RM.

[nagerous]

David Luiz in team of the year? Did anyone actually watch any football the past year?

He spent most of Jan-Jul on Chelsea's subs bench, then got drubbed 7-1 in the World Cup in one of the worst defender performances I have ever witnessed, no idea about his PSG performances but I am guessing they have been averageish.

[nietzsche]

So cristiano gets his third, no surprise here.

Boo.
Not saying he didn't deserve it - I just don't like him because he plays for Madrid.

sempai

well I don't like him because he's cristiano ronaldo the arrogant prick, I don't like the real madrid either, but the fact that a player plays for a club i like or i dislike has no influence on my liking or disliking of said player. Ronaldo has been less of a prick this year even if he still is one, but I have to admit that he's an incredible hard worker and that he deserves the prize.
For example I have sympathy for varane, isco, james and I don't care if they play for the RM.

You know who's been very impressive lately? Pepe. He's always beeen good but the past few months he's been incredible, and he doesn't commit fouls anymore. He's a big part of Ramos' success because thanks to him Ramos can go to the attack.

Kroos too, but he's starting to show signs of fatigue. Not to mention that Modric is the underrated crack of Real Madrid.

[nietzsche]

David Luiz in team of the year? Did anyone actually watch any football the past year?

He spent most of Jan-Jul on Chelsea's subs bench, then got drubbed 7-1 in the World Cup in one of the worst defender performances I have ever witnessed, no idea about his PSG performances but I am guessing they have been averageish.

2013 was good for Thiago Silva and David Luiz, but 2014 was a disaster for them.

Who voted them who knows. Maybe Blatter.

That match was especially a disaster, at least you could say that Thigo Silva wasn't at 100% physically but David Luiz has no excuse. But hey, what can you expect when they gave the best player of the WC to Messi over 8 Germans, Robben, James or Mascherano.

[betiko]

David Luiz in team of the year? Did anyone actually watch any football the past year?

He spent most of Jan-Jul on Chelsea's subs bench, then got drubbed 7-1 in the World Cup in one of the worst defender performances I have ever witnessed, no idea about his PSG performances but I am guessing they have been averageish.

2013 was good for Thiago Silva and David Luiz, but 2014 was a disaster for them.

Who voted them who knows. Maybe Blatter.

That match was especially a disaster, at least you could say that Thigo Silva wasn't at 100% physically but David Luiz has no excuse. But hey, what can you expect when they gave the best player of the WC to Messi over 8 Germans, Robben, James or Mascherano.

lol, thiago silva wasn't playing that game nietzsche. But as I was saying nagerous.... thiago silva and david luiz have both been terrible this year with PSG. Even in the second half of the 2013-14 (aka first half of 2014) Thiago Silva has been the shadow of himself. It's like he's lost all confidence. Again, putting Marquinhos on the bench for PSG is a total joke. Not only he's playing for brazil in place of thiago silva in the national team, but all his games with PSG this season have been great. He's only 20 and definitely the future. After so many games, thiago silva has had all the patience a coach could give him. Now it's time to bench and to suck it up. When he arrived, he basically threw Sakho (now playing for liverpool) out of the defense so that Alex could play (the ex chelsea defender now ac milan). Alex did quite good I have to say, and was a very disciplined center back making very few mistakes. Then thiago silva has been whining to be playing with his buddy david luiz. This is a defense that has cost nearly 100 million euros, and they utterly SUCK. The money spent on David Luiz is money that could've been spent on Di Maria. Alex could've stayed, and having thiago silva+alex or marquinhos was good enough.

[sempaispellcheck]

So cristiano gets his third, no surprise here.

Boo.
Not saying he didn't deserve it - I just don't like him because he plays for Madrid.

sempai

well I don't like him because he's cristiano ronaldo the arrogant prick, I don't like the real madrid either, but the fact that a player plays for a club i like or i dislike has no influence on my liking or disliking of said player.

It's a pretty big deal for me. Not sure what it says about me, but I'm loyal to the teams I support.
It was heartbreaking for me to hear about Kroos' transfer - I like Bayern, but hate Real Madrid (because I'm a Barça fan).

I think we now have evidence to back up the claim that FIFA's judging process is shit - in the form of Thiago Silva and David Luiz being selected for Team of the Year. I like Iniesta (of course I do) but he is getting a bit long in the tooth, as they say. Not going to argue with Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or, though - I do think he deserved it, if I'm being completely honest.

In more important news, NYCFC is expected to announce the signing of Mix Diskerud today. Good young midfielder - was very impressive for the US at the WC, but more so in the friendlies after.

sempai

[betiko]

So cristiano gets his third, no surprise here.

Boo.
Not saying he didn't deserve it - I just don't like him because he plays for Madrid.

sempai

well I don't like him because he's cristiano ronaldo the arrogant prick, I don't like the real madrid either, but the fact that a player plays for a club i like or i dislike has no influence on my liking or disliking of said player.

It's a pretty big deal for me. Not sure what it says about me, but I'm loyal to the teams I support.
It was heartbreaking for me to hear about Kroos' transfer - I like Bayern, but hate Real Madrid (because I'm a Barça fan).

I think we now have evidence to back up the claim that FIFA's judging process is shit - in the form of Thiago Silva and David Luiz being selected for Team of the Year. I like Iniesta (of course I do) but he is getting a bit long in the tooth, as they say. Not going to argue with Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or, though - I do think he deserved it, if I'm being completely honest.

In more important news, NYCFC is expected to announce the signing of Mix Diskerud today. Good young midfielder - was very impressive for the US at the WC, but more so in the friendlies after.

sempai

well if a player is an asshole in a team you support are you gonna like him just because he plays for the team you like? That's kind of what I didn't understand about you regarding Lampard. We all know that players are going to move around clubs during their career. You can't blame kroos fros signing for real Madrid. You could blame Laudrup, Figo or even Ronaldo (the brazilian) to sign for the RM after many years playing for barcelona. That's ugly. But if a player you like moves to a none rival club... what's in it to blame? If you liked the player, well you can probably like him a little less... but disliking him sounds extreme. Of course you'll want him to lose, but if he is benched and is miserable, or if he gets injured aren't you gonna feel sorry for him? Or if you see him do some great stuff, isn't there a little voice inside of you that will throw a "wow!"?

[iAmCaffeine]

People disliking a club just because they're "rivals" is stupid. Make decisions for yourself instead of being a sheep.

[sempaispellcheck]

So cristiano gets his third, no surprise here.

Boo.
Not saying he didn't deserve it - I just don't like him because he plays for Madrid.

sempai

well I don't like him because he's cristiano ronaldo the arrogant prick, I don't like the real madrid either, but the fact that a player plays for a club i like or i dislike has no influence on my liking or disliking of said player.

It's a pretty big deal for me. Not sure what it says about me, but I'm loyal to the teams I support.
It was heartbreaking for me to hear about Kroos' transfer - I like Bayern, but hate Real Madrid (because I'm a Barça fan).

I think we now have evidence to back up the claim that FIFA's judging process is shit - in the form of Thiago Silva and David Luiz being selected for Team of the Year. I like Iniesta (of course I do) but he is getting a bit long in the tooth, as they say. Not going to argue with Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or, though - I do think he deserved it, if I'm being completely honest.

In more important news, NYCFC is expected to announce the signing of Mix Diskerud today. Good young midfielder - was very impressive for the US at the WC, but more so in the friendlies after.

sempai

well if a player is an asshole in a team you support are you gonna like him just because he plays for the team you like?

In rare cases, yes (example: the rest of the NHL thought this was immature and stupid, but as a Ranger fan, I found it hilarious) but most of the time I'll want the team to get rid of him.

You can't blame kroos fros signing for real Madrid. You could blame Laudrup, Figo or even Ronaldo (the brazilian) to sign for the RM after many years playing for barcelona. That's ugly. But if a player you like moves to a none rival club... what's in it to blame? If you liked the player, well you can probably like him a little less... but disliking him sounds extreme. Of course you'll want him to lose, but if he is benched and is miserable, or if he gets injured aren't you gonna feel sorry for him? Or if you see him do some great stuff, isn't there a little voice inside of you that will throw a "wow!"?

Of course it's going to happen, and it's not necessarily going to make me hate the player (I never said I blamed Kroos or disliked him for signing for Madrid - I just don't like that he did).
Sometimes, though, players are assholes about it - insinuating that the team they moved from isn't good enough for them or somesuch. That's grounds for hatred.

sempai

[betiko]

People disliking a club just because they're "rivals" is stupid. Make decisions for yourself instead of being a sheep.

I really have to agree with this. I'm a Marseille fan because it's my home town. I've lived most of my life in Paris, and in spite of the huge rivalry between PSG and OM I've never hated Paris. I've always supported Paris when they play european competitions, and if Marseille isn't going to win the domestic league I really don't mind if Paris wins. I ve always made fun of my parisian friends when paris loses, even though i'm not an "anti" at all. They're pretty much all anti marseille, but that's because it's the biggest club in france and the club from the capital is not!

My other club is the real betis; and in that case I really hate sevilla fc. i just have no reason to like them. Malaga is kind of a rival too because the cities of Seville and Malaga hate each other, being the two biggest of Andalucia. I lived 4 years in Malaga, and of course I don't hate their team! (Malaga's team was in 4th division when I started living there so I had no interest in their club) but the rivalry is more between sevilla fc and malaga cf; betis and malaga don't like each other but there is less rivalry than betzeen the first two mentioned.

[betiko]

So cristiano gets his third, no surprise here.

Boo.
Not saying he didn't deserve it - I just don't like him because he plays for Madrid.

sempai

well I don't like him because he's cristiano ronaldo the arrogant prick, I don't like the real madrid either, but the fact that a player plays for a club i like or i dislike has no influence on my liking or disliking of said player.

It's a pretty big deal for me. Not sure what it says about me, but I'm loyal to the teams I support.
It was heartbreaking for me to hear about Kroos' transfer - I like Bayern, but hate Real Madrid (because I'm a Barça fan).

I think we now have evidence to back up the claim that FIFA's judging process is shit - in the form of Thiago Silva and David Luiz being selected for Team of the Year. I like Iniesta (of course I do) but he is getting a bit long in the tooth, as they say. Not going to argue with Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or, though - I do think he deserved it, if I'm being completely honest.

In more important news, NYCFC is expected to announce the signing of Mix Diskerud today. Good young midfielder - was very impressive for the US at the WC, but more so in the friendlies after.

sempai

well if a player is an asshole in a team you support are you gonna like him just because he plays for the team you like?

In rare cases, yes, but most of the time I'll want the team to get rid of him.

You can't blame kroos fros signing for real Madrid. You could blame Laudrup, Figo or even Ronaldo (the brazilian) to sign for the RM after many years playing for barcelona. That's ugly. But if a player you like moves to a none rival club... what's in it to blame? If you liked the player, well you can probably like him a little less... but disliking him sounds extreme. Of course you'll want him to lose, but if he is benched and is miserable, or if he gets injured aren't you gonna feel sorry for him? Or if you see him do some great stuff, isn't there a little voice inside of you that will throw a "wow!"?

Of course it's going to happen, and it's not necessarily going to make me hate the player (I never said I blamed Kroos or disliked him for signing for Madrid - I just don't like that he did).
Sometimes, though, players are assholes about it - insinuating that the team they moved from isn't good enough for them or somesuch. That's grounds for hatred.

sempai

true. or just leave their club as total assholes.

[nietzsche]

David Luiz in team of the year? Did anyone actually watch any football the past year?

He spent most of Jan-Jul on Chelsea's subs bench, then got drubbed 7-1 in the World Cup in one of the worst defender performances I have ever witnessed, no idea about his PSG performances but I am guessing they have been averageish.

2013 was good for Thiago Silva and David Luiz, but 2014 was a disaster for them.

Who voted them who knows. Maybe Blatter.

That match was especially a disaster, at least you could say that Thigo Silva wasn't at 100% physically but David Luiz has no excuse. But hey, what can you expect when they gave the best player of the WC to Messi over 8 Germans, Robben, James or Mascherano.

lol, thiago silva wasn't playing that game nietzsche.

Makes sense, I was trying to remember him actions in that game and couldn't. I had in mind that he had been sent off against Germany.

[sempaispellcheck]

People disliking a club just because they're "rivals" is stupid. Make decisions for yourself instead of being a sheep.

I'm a hockey fan. NHL rivalries usually involve questionable calls, hard-fought games, and often even blood.
We have reasons to hate each other.

sempai

[nietzsche]

People disliking a club just because they're "rivals" is stupid. Make decisions for yourself instead of being a sheep.

What? no, it's part of the whole thing.

Although I grew up liking Club America and their nemesis, Chivas, just wasn't too good these years. So I didn't care really. But then I went to college to Guadalajara, the home city for Chivas, and I learned how annoying its fans are. So I hate them, Chivas and the fans. They say that when Chivas play, the stadium parking lot is full of bicycles.