Lampard to Man City will be a peculiar move if it comes off. Due to the depth of their squad, I'm not sure what he'll bring to it even as a bit player.
The all-in-one consolidatory football thread Page 596
Quote: Ben @ 2nd August 2014, 7:26 PM BSTLampard to Man City will be a peculiar move if it comes off. Due to the depth of their squad, I'm not sure what he'll bring to it even as a bit player.
He said after playing for Chelsea for so long....
Anyway what he'll obviously bring to their squad is being English. They are desperate.
That is one HUGE crowd for the Man Utd v Real Madrid friendly.
I keep hearing in the media that the game is growing there, but do you think it will ever become a massive part of US life? I can't see it usurping baseball, american football or basketball, but there's definitely enough interest at present to advance it.
Quote: Stylee TingTing @ 4th August 2014, 12:53 PM BSTSo now that the dust has settled post-World Cup, here are a few personal observations about certain things that seem to have gone under the radar:
1) FIFA banned Nigeria from world football during the competition (after they were knocked out), but refuse to elaborate why;
2) Der Spiegel (German newspaper) printed a transcript of an alleged recorded conversation between one of their reporters and a convicted match-fixer from Singapore, who said (24 hours before the event) that the result of the Croatia-Cameroon game would be 4-0 and that there would be one sending-off. The match finished 4-0 with one Cameroon player sent off. The match-fixer denied the conversation - Der Spiegel sticks by its story. FIFA made a statement but no action has been taken;
3) The Brazil-Germany game was highly suspicious to me. There was something odd about the Brazilians' body language from the kick-off: they never seemed to try at all, no energy, no tackles, no fouling even. It looked like a training game in which one side was not the least bit interested. After the first goal, I said to myself: "They're throwing this.." and the subsequent play corroborated my early thought. IMO, the Brazilians threw the game;
4) Alarm bells were ringing about corruption in the world game in 1982, with the farcical contrived match result between West Germany and Austria. FIFA made several platitudinous statements but took no action;
5) Alarm bells exploded with the 1989 live TV draw for the 1990 final groupings. Days earlier, some UK newspapers had printed a story in which it was alleged that the 6 groups had already been decided by FIFA (the alleged groupings were printed) and that the draw would be fixed. When the draw started, Sophia Loren (film star) was the celebrity picker. She picked out the 1st ball, which was as had been predicted by the UK newspapers. The 2nd ball was picked, which was not as had been predicted. A murmur went up from a section of the onlookers present, Sophia Loren suddenly looked worried and turned sideways to look somewhere off camera - and then, incredibly, the FIFA officials present stopped the draw, declared it void and said that it would be restarted. The assembled press started shouting and booing (mostly the UK and Dutch), cries of "cheat" went up from all over and Sophia Loren started to cry. Several minutes of verbal disorder and shouting followed until the draw was restarted.. and the final groupings came out exactly as had been predicted in the earlier press stories. FIFA later made a statement, citing technical difficulties as the reason for the draw restart. They were slated in some sections of the Press (mostly UK tabloid and Dutch) but nothing came of the criticism. To watch it live, as I did, was horrendous and shameful.
I do love a good conspiracy theory Stylee, and you aren't going to be the first or last to question things, but the Brazil - Germany game was just a case of a poor team getting overrun by the first team they'd met who were able to exploit their weaknesses. FIFA hardly wanted the hosts to get smashed!
As for Nigeria, the reasons were widely reported at the time, essentially because the government was interfering in the affairs of the football federation which is against FIFA rules. FIFA even report it themselves. No cover-up here. http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/news/newsid=2402265/
And pretty major action was taken after the West Germany v Austria fiasco. They changed the format of the tournament so that the final group games were played simultaneously, reducing the risk of planned or unplanned collusion
I tend not to click on links on here unless I can see where they're from.
The Nigeria issue doesn't relate to particular games but the government ousting the football federation. A bit like David Cameron picking the England team, though he'd include more women now.
They couldn't do anything about West Germany and Austria because there was no actual fix. I don't think any money changed hands. They just knew that they didn't have to win to qualify so didn't risk losing.
The nigeria thing as Badge says was publicised. Their Government kicked out their FA which is contra to FIFA. Accepting bribes to have the tournament in their country is quite OK though.
Quote: Stylee TingTing @ 4th August 2014, 4:58 PM BSTI don't know which browser you're using, but on mine (Firefox), I just hover the cursor over the link and the address is revealed in the bottom left corner. In this case, it's the BBC.
I'm usually on my phone so can't hover.
Quote: Badge @ 4th August 2014, 8:50 PM BSTI'm usually on my phone so can't hover.
Is it a landline?
Why are you saying that Brazil threw the game, Stylee? As part of a match fixing/gambling enterprise? I don't have the odds to hand, but 7-0 would surely have been astronomical. Any big bets on this would have raised suspicions further.
I just think that to lose 7-1 (God knows why I said 7-0 earlier) would be a bit obvious in front of such a huge, global audience.
Corruption is rife in all industries and all organisations - even if it is just at a low level - so it wouldn't surprise me to find out that FIFA is corrupt. Money, unfortunately, can be very persuasive.
I think Germany-Brazil result was more of a perfect storm from Brazil.
1) A poor squad
2) Injury to their captain and best defender
3) Loss of their main striker
4) German organisation
5) Luck-Germany could have shut their eyes and scored. It happens for teams sometimes.
You could add the effects of intense pressure on the hosts. They were running around like headless chickens, all passion and no control. The anthem and crowd ultimately worked them up in to a frenzy and they didn't know what to do on falling behind.
Salisbury City - who were in the Coference South - have been kicked out of the league and wound up because of a dodgy previous owner.
http://salisburycity-fc.co.uk/
The FA, who had taken the unprecedented step of hearing and appeal from two sets of owners because privately they claimed they feared being sued by a fraudulent Moroccan owner whose only contribution to the club was to walk off with £4,000 of fans money, have now cut off all communication with the club and their legal advisers.
This sort of thing really pisses me off. I would be livid if it happened to my team.
Let's us not forget that while Salisbury were the unfortunate victims of a complete fraudster if the Conference and FA's pathetic and farcical fit and proper persons test hadn't been in operation he wouldn't have been able to take control of the club in the first place.
What idiots allow an individual to make up a name and only ask him to provide an email address as confirmation he is fit to own a football club? You guessed it the bungling fools at the Conference and FA.
Totally unbelievable.
Quote: Chappers @ 7th August 2014, 8:28 PM BSTVery interesting....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28693855
...but a bit stupid!
I think something similar happened between Leeds and Stuttgart back in 1992 in the European Cup (or was it Champions League by then?). Leeds went out after a heroic fightback in the second leg, but one of Stuttgart's subs came on and wasn't eligible to play. So they had a rematch and Leeds won.