Soccer (Closing)

not that I have great insights, but georgia seems to have one of their best national teams ever currently. as a German I know about the many "vilis" conquering our league a while ago, but I don't think they were as good as current georgia.

Iashvili, Kobiashvili, Tskitishvili, Arveladze and probably more I don't remember.

An Inter Miami fan who purchased season tickets for $6802 this season was quoted $30,600 for the same tickets next season. I fully understand the economics of why the price increased like it did; it's probably one of the most in demand tickets in the world right now because of Messi.

That said, it's everything wrong with modern football that fans who were there when the team was absolute garbage and supported from the beginning are immediately priced out in the pursuit of more money as soon as the team gets good. It's shit like this that ruins the atmosphere and culture in stadiums.

Never thought I'd say this, but even though I'm a neutral, I'm legit excited for the Spain-Scotland game. It has all the ingredients to be a banger. Scotland has been doing well this qualifiers already and has all the confidence, and McTominay just comes off scoring a brace at Manchester United. Plus, Norway is playing Cyprus at the same time, and Spain is six points behind Scotland, but only two points ahead of Norway. So if both Scotland and Norway win tonight, Spain will essentially be third in the group. Theoretically disqualified, and nine points behind Scotland.

My popcorn is ready.

I agree with you. It would be really surprising to me if we even draw with you.

It was multiple seats, and they're in a nice spot, but either way sports are extremely expensive in the US.

Armando Broja here we come!

Zaniolo upfront somewhere

Because if rules made sense and VAR worked greatly, football talk shows and pundits would lose 80% of their talking points.

Rodri, Gavi, and Merino are about to be shown levels by Meatball and McSauce. A midfield battle for the ages.

any thread about bellingham is so fucking embarrassing. imagine having a problem with people raving about a young midfielder scoring a shit ton of goals in a foreign league and a new team

people just love to hate on any reason, especially english players

England U21s are now 9-1 up against Serbia, shame there isn't a match thread for the game, they've been insane this game.

Tonali and Zaniolo

I fully did not notice that Zaniolo was on loan at Villa. When did that happen? Why did Gala offload him?

I was thinking about it, and this is the first crisis Ajax is in since Cruijff passed away. It’s a sad thought that he isn’t there anymore to step in.

The success we had in recent years was for a decent part the result of the last time Cruijff stepped in and restructured the club.

Cruyff's Barcelona might be luckiest team in history, 3 of their 4 La Liga titles are due to massive bottlejobs of rivals on a final day, twice Madrid lost to Tenerife and once Deportivo missed late penalty which would've made them Spanish champions. I guess their luck finally run out when they got battered by Milan 4:0 in UCL final, after which "dream team" won nothing.

The "lol fuck around and find out" comments that permeate every thread about the Gaza bombings are so incredibly callous. It's a tragedy when innocent Israelis are killed and it's a tragedy when innocent Palestinians are killed.

None of this should be cheered for and yet there's a vocal contingent of reddit who are treating this tragedy like a sporting event.

My stream is showing the 'Fox Soccer plus' coverage of the Albania-Czechia game, and I've never heard more of a golf commentator ever. Commenting here because no match threaddo.

Toffolo at LB, Sturridge uptop with Toney

I mean how was he meant to know that Barnes would be injured and Tonali might be betting?

Yeah I can’t think of a situation where your shoulder being ahead of the defender gives you an advantage (if your feet are in line).

Probably an unpopular opinion here, but I think that athletes should be able to bet on sports unless they are betting against their own team.

takes a revenge tackle and gets sent off, England loses 1-0 in extra time

That's just match fixing though. Doesn't matter if it's Toney calling up Pickford or some crime syndicate.

But what has milan to do here? He played in milan 3 years ago and he is invastigated for betting on west ham games?

Money is never enough. Messi can earn €1M weekly and still need a contract boost lest he leaves. Imagine people like Tonali.

I also imagine it isn't just about making money, they already have so much disposable income I think they probably are looking for a "fun" way to spend it.

He didn’t win 1 La Liga title, he won 4 in a row and a Europa Cup 1.

Don't get me wrong Cruyff did brilliant things for Barcelona, even if he only won 1 La Liga title, but it rubs me the wrong way when people say it is one of greatest teams of all time, when it wasn't even best during its era - Milan under Sacchi and Capello was.

This is a beautiful day for my anti-Zaniolo agenda. Following his ídolo Pogba right out of football

The AFCON draw is going live, Akon is dancing coupe decalé. Good stuff

I agree but there's a weird sizeable minority who really have it out for him.

Don't disagree, just it's weird that it is often talked about as one of greatest teams in history, when they weren't even best of their era(Sacchi and Capello's Milan).

England u21s playing some lovely football tonight.

You know the easiest way to stop players from betting and fixing? Ban betting. Gambling fucking ruins lives.

England and Real Madrid PR together if that happens, world isn't ready for this.

I understand the concern, but (unless I'm mistaken) boxers are allowed to bet on themselves and MMA fighters were until 2022 and I don't think either have have a greater uptick in match fixing than football.

Is it just a coincidence that Paqueta played for Milan, or is he also part of the expose that's going on in Italy right now.

To the people already crying about Bellinghams PR, just wait until he fires England to Euros glory next summer, he’ll be spoken about in the same way as most prophets

It is quite illegal, but I don’t think there’s any way to prove it for Newcastle so they’re not gonna face any consequences

Maybe not but I’d be against boxers or MMA fighters betting on themselves as well. Betting on yourself is also different than betting on a match you’re not involved in, but I think it’s easier to just have a blanket ban on betting instead of all kinds of exceptions.

It’s also not like you’re depriving a player of something meaningful if you don’t allow them to bet. I don’t see the upside of allowing it, only downsides.

Both the Hull City boys on the scoresheet for England tonight 😎

I loved watching Bellingham play in Dortmund, is very happy he's doing so great in Madrid already, but wtf is this crazy driding, how has he already got more hype than Vini got in that entire CL winning season? Even Haaland last season didn't get this much licking this early in season, and if he did that's because he scored another hattrick in consecutive game

And for god's sake what's these ex-player's obsession of comparing everyone with Messi and Ronaldo,

^(Pinging members of TRIVIA group...)

2 teams at the same time can be one of the best of all time. It’s not a direct comparison but look at Barca and Madrid during the 2010’s for example. They were a very influential team in football history, just like Sacchi’s Milan.

England U21s play some outstanding football. Give Lee Carsley the top job after the Euros.

Why are all comments removed in threads like the one about the Premier Leagues statement on Gaza and Israel? All the comments had high upvotes I’m assuming they weren’t hateful