For the love of god, no.
Euro 2012
- Thread starter John McGovern
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So Rafa says stats is not everything? No wonder he was ruled out of the managers job early on!!
Hahahaha.
Fuck me that's so bad it's untrue.
What a fucking inbred chav that cunt is, just in case anyone forgets he reminds us at least one a month by doing something so stupid & crass that Iceland wouldn't even have him on their adverts.
Fuck me that's so bad it's untrue.
What a fucking inbred chav that cunt is, just in case anyone forgets he reminds us at least one a month by doing something so stupid & crass that Iceland wouldn't even have him on their adverts.
UEFA has fined the Croatia soccer association $31,500 for its fans' behavior at a European Championship match against Ireland.
UEFA has fined the German soccer association $12,550 because fans threw paper missiles at Portugal players during a European Championship match.
UEFA also fined the Portuguese federation $6,275 because the team was late for the second half.
Does anyone have any idea how UEFA calculates these numbers?
UEFA has fined the German soccer association $12,550 because fans threw paper missiles at Portugal players during a European Championship match.
UEFA also fined the Portuguese federation $6,275 because the team was late for the second half.
Does anyone have any idea how UEFA calculates these numbers?
Ouija Board
Bribes times size of the offenders hands?
WARSAW, Poland -- Police divers searched a river in northern Poland on Tuesday for a missing Irish soccer fan who disappeared while visiting the country to follow the European Championship.
James Nolan, 21, of Blessington, County Wicklow, was last seen early Sunday in the city of Bydgoszcz after watching games in fan zones and visiting local bars with a group of Irish friends, police said.
His companions notified authorities when they realized Nolan didn't return to their hotel and wasn't answering calls.
In Ireland, Nolan's parents were distraught, with his father expecting a call from his son Sunday on Father's Day after speaking to him the previous day.
"If there's anything anybody can do, we'd really appreciate it," Jimmy Nolan said during an interview Monday night on Irish state television RTE.
Fighting back tears, the father said "I know he's probably OK, but I mean, if anybody anywhere knows anything, please just let us know. Text us or ring us, or ring" the Irish police. He and his wife Essie appealed for Irish soccer fans still in Poland to help search for their son.
Divers and police robots were checking the waters of the Brda River, while officers also searched for Nolan in other parts of the city. Irish Ambassador Eugene Hutchinson was traveling to Bydgoszcz on Tuesday.
Police and local media have posted his photo on their websites, and officers were checking hospitals, basements, attics and abandoned buildings. Police were also reviewing security camera footage from restaurants and bars in central Bydgoszcz. Taxi and bus drivers were displaying "missing" leaflets with Nolan's photo on their windshields.
The search was also expended to the city of Torun, about 25 miles away. Nolan, who has dark blonde hair and blue eyes, was last seen wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt with an image of Chuck Norris. He is 5-foot-2.
A Twitter campaign aimed at finding Nolan, who studies environment engineering at Tallaght Institute of Technology in Dublin, was launched in Ireland with the hashtags FindJames and JamesNolan.
Nolan and a group of around 10 Irish friends arrived in Bydgoszcz on Saturday, making a stop en route from Gdansk to Poznan, where Ireland was playing matches against Croatia and Spain, said Krzysztof Schramm, deputy honorary consul of Ireland in Poznan. While in a bar, they possibly became involved in a dispute with a group of Poles, Schramm said.
Police didn't confirm this and said that Nolan's friends were still being questioned and that there was no mention of trouble with Poles in their initial statement.
James Nolan, 21, of Blessington, County Wicklow, was last seen early Sunday in the city of Bydgoszcz after watching games in fan zones and visiting local bars with a group of Irish friends, police said.
His companions notified authorities when they realized Nolan didn't return to their hotel and wasn't answering calls.
In Ireland, Nolan's parents were distraught, with his father expecting a call from his son Sunday on Father's Day after speaking to him the previous day.
"If there's anything anybody can do, we'd really appreciate it," Jimmy Nolan said during an interview Monday night on Irish state television RTE.
Fighting back tears, the father said "I know he's probably OK, but I mean, if anybody anywhere knows anything, please just let us know. Text us or ring us, or ring" the Irish police. He and his wife Essie appealed for Irish soccer fans still in Poland to help search for their son.
Divers and police robots were checking the waters of the Brda River, while officers also searched for Nolan in other parts of the city. Irish Ambassador Eugene Hutchinson was traveling to Bydgoszcz on Tuesday.
Police and local media have posted his photo on their websites, and officers were checking hospitals, basements, attics and abandoned buildings. Police were also reviewing security camera footage from restaurants and bars in central Bydgoszcz. Taxi and bus drivers were displaying "missing" leaflets with Nolan's photo on their windshields.
The search was also expended to the city of Torun, about 25 miles away. Nolan, who has dark blonde hair and blue eyes, was last seen wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt with an image of Chuck Norris. He is 5-foot-2.
A Twitter campaign aimed at finding Nolan, who studies environment engineering at Tallaght Institute of Technology in Dublin, was launched in Ireland with the hashtags FindJames and JamesNolan.
Nolan and a group of around 10 Irish friends arrived in Bydgoszcz on Saturday, making a stop en route from Gdansk to Poznan, where Ireland was playing matches against Croatia and Spain, said Krzysztof Schramm, deputy honorary consul of Ireland in Poznan. While in a bar, they possibly became involved in a dispute with a group of Poles, Schramm said.
Police didn't confirm this and said that Nolan's friends were still being questioned and that there was no mention of trouble with Poles in their initial statement.
Matt Lawton @Matt_Lawton_DM
Just witnessed the most astonishing fight. Half a dozen German fans having a go at a Ukranian guy with his little girl on his shoulders.
Matt Lawton @Matt_Lawton_DM
I actually stopped but he didn't need my help. Puts daughter down. Four punches. Four down. Game over. Bloody hell.
Matt Lawton @Matt_Lawton_DM
They're now in hotel bar nursing bruises and missing teeth. And trying to laugh it off while singing football songs.
Legend.
The Ukrainian Bryan Mills.
Just witnessed the most astonishing fight. Half a dozen German fans having a go at a Ukranian guy with his little girl on his shoulders.
Matt Lawton
I actually stopped but he didn't need my help. Puts daughter down. Four punches. Four down. Game over. Bloody hell.
Matt Lawton
They're now in hotel bar nursing bruises and missing teeth. And trying to laugh it off while singing football songs.
Legend.
The Ukrainian Bryan Mills.
Roy Keane's team of Euro 2012 (4-3-1-2): Casillas (Spain); Pereira (Portugal), Pepe (Portugal), Ramos (Spain), Lahm (Germany); Alonso (Spain), Pirlo (Italy), Iniesta (Spain); Ronaldo (Portugal); Balotelli (Italy), Ibrahimovic (Sweden). Coach: Cesare Prandelli (Italy).
Hummels' fuck-up against Italy certainly did help him.
Can't really argue with a lot of that. Balotelli was poor in the group stages but came up with the goods in the knock-out rounds. There haven't been any strikers that i can think of who've shone throughout the tournament. Three goals must be the lowest amount of any top scorer in the history of the European Championships or the World Cup. Then as Modo mentioned, possibly Hummels or Pique in for Pepe but Pepe had a fine tournament also. Debuchy started well for France at right-back then faded away, Gebre Selassie could of been the right-back aswell. But on the whole, little arguments from me.
Nope, if Hummels had stood his ground cassano would never have turned him. He dived in, schoolboy stuff. He still did more than enough to be in that or anyones team for me.
Of the 44 players that started the two Uefa 2012 Semi Finals this week, you may be surprised to learn that just four currently ply their trade in the English Premier League.
On the other side of the coin however, 15 of the players that began the game for Spain, Germany and Portugal are currently playing at clubs in La Liga and despite none of the Italian side featuring in the Spanish league, they still had almost four times as many as their English counterpart.
Supporters of the English game may point to Chelsea’s successful march to Uefa Champions League glory as proof that the Premier League is still the strongest in the world, however these statistics just may tell a different story.
Add to the equation the poor showing of the other English participants involved in Uefa’s two club competitions last season – including then Champions Manchester United being thoroughly outplayed by mid-table Athletic Club, and it surely suggests Spain’s La Liga is the dominant domestic league in the sport.
Ultimately it’s irrelevant of course, and both competitions offer some fantastic football to fans around the world. However, with the Spanish national team on the verge of an unprecedented third consecutive tournament triumph, it is undoubtedly Spanish players that currently hold sway.
The impact of Spanish players or players who have featured in the Spanish league has also been substantial on the English game in recent years, with a number of players now featuring for some of the Premier League’s top clubs.
Former Valencia midfield star David Silva was voted Player of the Season at Manchester City last month as Roberto Mancini’s side clinched their first league title in 44 years and the diminutive schemer was also named in the Premier League Team of the Season after a fantastic campaign.
This is no surprise really, as Silva is a special player and has become a firm fan favourite at Eastlands since he arrived in Manchester in June 2010.
City fans are obviously grateful to their Spanish import but it seems the Premier League as a whole has much to thank La Liga for.
Alongside side Silva, they have Argentine hitman Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero who, although not Spanish, developed into the world-class talent he is today during a five years stint at Atletico Madrid.
Juan Mata has been in imperious form since arriving at Chelsea last summer and Fernando Torres has finally shown glimpses of the devastating ability exhibited during his time at Liverpool.
It is indicative or the current talent in Spanish football and is something which is obviously backed up by the dominance of the national team from youth level up to Del Bosque’s senior side.
Given the overwhelming superiority of the Spanish game then, it would be fair to assume that La Liga would cope pretty much fine without any contribution from this fair isle. And that would probably be correct.
This however, is forgetting the massive impact British football and its players have had on the development of the sport in Spain. Paradoxically, without the English league system, the Spanish game could be a footballing backwater.
It’s all a matter of history. A history dating back over one hundred years.
There has always been debate in Spain on the subject of it’s oldest professional club, and when it was formed, and the answer probably depends on where in the country you are from.
The majority of people accept that the formation of Recreativo de Huelva on 23 December 1889 gives them the proud title, however football fans in the Basque country may tell you differently.
They hold firm that Athletic Club de Bilbao are the oldest as they got together one year earlier, although they only made it official in 1901 after merging with another local side.
Despite this disagreement however, one thing that is certain is who brought the game of football to Spanish shores in the lead up to the explosion of newly formed clubs around the country at the turn of the 20th century.
As Spain began the huge task of building it’s own railroad network from it’s southern shores, across the plains of Castilla and up to the industrial regions in the north, there was a massive influx of British workers who arrived from the industrial towns of northern England and Scotland.
These workers brought with them their favourite pastime of foot-ball (as it was then known), and the game soon caught the interest of the curious locals.
Football in Britain had been organised for a number of years, the English Football League had it’s first season in 1888, and former players and fans of their teams were at the forefront of establishing the first Spanish clubs (let’s not get back into that one…).
These clubs emerged in the ports and railroad towns around the country and the British involvement is easy to see in the Anglicized names the new teams chose; Recreation Club Huelva, Athletic Club de Bilbao, Foot-ball Club Barcelona, Sevilla Football Club – the list goes on.
Many clubs also chose the colours of their founders’ favourite teams from home – Athletic Club’s red and white shirts with black shorts is an homage to either Southampton or the more probable, Sunderland, and Barcelona’s famous blaugrana has rumoured links with unassuming London-club Crystal Palace (although more likely to be from their first president’s boy-hood team, FC Basle).
As the popularity of football spread, so did the appeal of travelling to Spain to play for it’s new teams. By the time the inaugural La Liga kicked off in 1929, there had been a huge flood of British footballing talent (and probably not-much-talent) playing for clubs around the country.
FC Barcelona have the honour of winning the first La Liga title and, although coached by the Catalan Romà Forns, had a strong British influential.
In fact Barça had mainly been coached by Britons since it’s formation in 1899. The names of Jack Greenwell, Ralph Kirby and James Bellamy all feature heavily during the 1920’s and 30’s.
Another leading manager in Spain during this period was also a man who, although Irish, had learnt his trade in the English league. Patrick O’Connell, who managed six clubs in Spain, including Barça, played for the English sides; Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City and Manchester United.
The most famous British manager of La Liga’s formative years however, was ‘the man in the bowler hat’ Fred Pentland. Wolverhampton-born Pentland spent almost 20 years in Spain but is most revered in the city of Bilbao where he had his greatest success.
Athletic Cub won back-to-back league tiles in 1930 and 1931 with ‘el mister’ at the helm and he is honoured with a bronze statue in the Basque city.
The British influence steadily declined after the end of the Civil War and other countries grew in stature – South America soon became a prime supplier of talent for the league, and many other European countries began exporting their own style of football.
We witnessed the ‘magnificent’ Magyar influence in the 1950s and then the Dutch brought ‘Total Voetbal’ in the late sixties and seventies. Spain also began producing stars of their own and soon became a dominant power in their own right.
There have been some notable British individuals in the La Liga over the last 30 years; John Toshack, Sir Bobby Robson and Terry Venables all had some managerial success, while Steve Archibald, Laurie Cunnigham, Gary Linekar, Steve McManaman and David Beckham have probably been the pick of the player success stories but in truth, the Spanish game doesn’t need the British influence anymore.
It has the best league in the world and produces many of the best footballers in the world, why would Spain need any help from us?
Well those who know their history may just be able to point to the fact that, without British football, Spain’s current dominance would only be an idyllic pipe dream.
On the other side of the coin however, 15 of the players that began the game for Spain, Germany and Portugal are currently playing at clubs in La Liga and despite none of the Italian side featuring in the Spanish league, they still had almost four times as many as their English counterpart.
Supporters of the English game may point to Chelsea’s successful march to Uefa Champions League glory as proof that the Premier League is still the strongest in the world, however these statistics just may tell a different story.
Add to the equation the poor showing of the other English participants involved in Uefa’s two club competitions last season – including then Champions Manchester United being thoroughly outplayed by mid-table Athletic Club, and it surely suggests Spain’s La Liga is the dominant domestic league in the sport.
Ultimately it’s irrelevant of course, and both competitions offer some fantastic football to fans around the world. However, with the Spanish national team on the verge of an unprecedented third consecutive tournament triumph, it is undoubtedly Spanish players that currently hold sway.
The impact of Spanish players or players who have featured in the Spanish league has also been substantial on the English game in recent years, with a number of players now featuring for some of the Premier League’s top clubs.
Former Valencia midfield star David Silva was voted Player of the Season at Manchester City last month as Roberto Mancini’s side clinched their first league title in 44 years and the diminutive schemer was also named in the Premier League Team of the Season after a fantastic campaign.
This is no surprise really, as Silva is a special player and has become a firm fan favourite at Eastlands since he arrived in Manchester in June 2010.
City fans are obviously grateful to their Spanish import but it seems the Premier League as a whole has much to thank La Liga for.
Alongside side Silva, they have Argentine hitman Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero who, although not Spanish, developed into the world-class talent he is today during a five years stint at Atletico Madrid.
Juan Mata has been in imperious form since arriving at Chelsea last summer and Fernando Torres has finally shown glimpses of the devastating ability exhibited during his time at Liverpool.
It is indicative or the current talent in Spanish football and is something which is obviously backed up by the dominance of the national team from youth level up to Del Bosque’s senior side.
Given the overwhelming superiority of the Spanish game then, it would be fair to assume that La Liga would cope pretty much fine without any contribution from this fair isle. And that would probably be correct.
This however, is forgetting the massive impact British football and its players have had on the development of the sport in Spain. Paradoxically, without the English league system, the Spanish game could be a footballing backwater.
It’s all a matter of history. A history dating back over one hundred years.
There has always been debate in Spain on the subject of it’s oldest professional club, and when it was formed, and the answer probably depends on where in the country you are from.
The majority of people accept that the formation of Recreativo de Huelva on 23 December 1889 gives them the proud title, however football fans in the Basque country may tell you differently.
They hold firm that Athletic Club de Bilbao are the oldest as they got together one year earlier, although they only made it official in 1901 after merging with another local side.
Despite this disagreement however, one thing that is certain is who brought the game of football to Spanish shores in the lead up to the explosion of newly formed clubs around the country at the turn of the 20th century.
As Spain began the huge task of building it’s own railroad network from it’s southern shores, across the plains of Castilla and up to the industrial regions in the north, there was a massive influx of British workers who arrived from the industrial towns of northern England and Scotland.
These workers brought with them their favourite pastime of foot-ball (as it was then known), and the game soon caught the interest of the curious locals.
Football in Britain had been organised for a number of years, the English Football League had it’s first season in 1888, and former players and fans of their teams were at the forefront of establishing the first Spanish clubs (let’s not get back into that one…).
These clubs emerged in the ports and railroad towns around the country and the British involvement is easy to see in the Anglicized names the new teams chose; Recreation Club Huelva, Athletic Club de Bilbao, Foot-ball Club Barcelona, Sevilla Football Club – the list goes on.
Many clubs also chose the colours of their founders’ favourite teams from home – Athletic Club’s red and white shirts with black shorts is an homage to either Southampton or the more probable, Sunderland, and Barcelona’s famous blaugrana has rumoured links with unassuming London-club Crystal Palace (although more likely to be from their first president’s boy-hood team, FC Basle).
As the popularity of football spread, so did the appeal of travelling to Spain to play for it’s new teams. By the time the inaugural La Liga kicked off in 1929, there had been a huge flood of British footballing talent (and probably not-much-talent) playing for clubs around the country.
FC Barcelona have the honour of winning the first La Liga title and, although coached by the Catalan Romà Forns, had a strong British influential.
In fact Barça had mainly been coached by Britons since it’s formation in 1899. The names of Jack Greenwell, Ralph Kirby and James Bellamy all feature heavily during the 1920’s and 30’s.
Another leading manager in Spain during this period was also a man who, although Irish, had learnt his trade in the English league. Patrick O’Connell, who managed six clubs in Spain, including Barça, played for the English sides; Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City and Manchester United.
The most famous British manager of La Liga’s formative years however, was ‘the man in the bowler hat’ Fred Pentland. Wolverhampton-born Pentland spent almost 20 years in Spain but is most revered in the city of Bilbao where he had his greatest success.
Athletic Cub won back-to-back league tiles in 1930 and 1931 with ‘el mister’ at the helm and he is honoured with a bronze statue in the Basque city.
The British influence steadily declined after the end of the Civil War and other countries grew in stature – South America soon became a prime supplier of talent for the league, and many other European countries began exporting their own style of football.
We witnessed the ‘magnificent’ Magyar influence in the 1950s and then the Dutch brought ‘Total Voetbal’ in the late sixties and seventies. Spain also began producing stars of their own and soon became a dominant power in their own right.
There have been some notable British individuals in the La Liga over the last 30 years; John Toshack, Sir Bobby Robson and Terry Venables all had some managerial success, while Steve Archibald, Laurie Cunnigham, Gary Linekar, Steve McManaman and David Beckham have probably been the pick of the player success stories but in truth, the Spanish game doesn’t need the British influence anymore.
It has the best league in the world and produces many of the best footballers in the world, why would Spain need any help from us?
Well those who know their history may just be able to point to the fact that, without British football, Spain’s current dominance would only be an idyllic pipe dream.
He was my pick as well. He was Spain's leader throughout the tournament although the team all came together for the final.
T
the_khl
Guest
Was kind of going down to the wire for me. The winner in the Final would decide whether it was Iniesta or Pirlo.
Full 23:
Euro 2012 team of the tournament: Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Ita), Iker Casillas (Spa), Manuel Neuer (Ger)
Defenders: Gerard Pique (Spa), Fabio Coentrao (Por), Philipp Lahm (Ger), Pepe (Por), Sergio Ramos (Spa), Jordi Alba (Spa)
Midfielders: Daniele De Rossi (Ita), Steven Gerrard (Eng), Xavi (Spa), Andres Iniesta (Spa), Sami Khedira (Ger), Sergio Busquets (Spa), Mesut Ozil (Ger), Andrea Pirlo (Ita), Xabi Alonso (Spa)
Forwards: Mario Balotelli (Ita), Cesc Fabregas (Spa), Cristiano Ronaldo (Por), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Swe), David Silva (Spa)
So no ladyboy despite getting the golden boot.
Euro 2012 team of the tournament: Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Ita), Iker Casillas (Spa), Manuel Neuer (Ger)
Defenders: Gerard Pique (Spa), Fabio Coentrao (Por), Philipp Lahm (Ger), Pepe (Por), Sergio Ramos (Spa), Jordi Alba (Spa)
Midfielders: Daniele De Rossi (Ita), Steven Gerrard (Eng), Xavi (Spa), Andres Iniesta (Spa), Sami Khedira (Ger), Sergio Busquets (Spa), Mesut Ozil (Ger), Andrea Pirlo (Ita), Xabi Alonso (Spa)
Forwards: Mario Balotelli (Ita), Cesc Fabregas (Spa), Cristiano Ronaldo (Por), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Swe), David Silva (Spa)
So no ladyboy despite getting the golden boot.
To be fair sometimes all it takes is one great game to get the golden boot. Oleg Salenko got it in 94 for netting 6 goals, 5 of those were in the one match!
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