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***The Official World Soccer Thread***

Discussion in 'Other Sports Forum' started by first&goal, Apr 12, 2008.

  1. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Its just the English media getting in a tiff because Arsenal have one of the best academys in Europe and yet there is "seemingly" no English Internationals coming from it. Its always been a knock on Wenger since being at Arsenal. But its not his fault that not too many English players have'nt been able to come through. If Wenger or his scouts find quality young players in the rest of the world, then why should'nt he bring them to the academy? Its up to the English players to beat them out.

    Also World Cup Qualifiers today. Looking forward to seeing the Italians get beat by Georgia :shifty:
     
  2. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Big game coming up on October 10th.
     
  3. giovafin

    giovafin Rossonero

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    :nono:

    :wink2:

    Kaladze almost a hat-trick!!
    He should play forward in Milan :lol:
     
  4. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Those Kaladze OG's were shocking!!!!!

    I would'nt mind if they were unavoidable, but they were so bad.

    Bulgaria however looked pretty good tonight. Might cause the Italians a few problems on Wednesday night.

    Well, I hope so :tongue2:
     
  5. dolfan94

    dolfan94 New Member

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    Awesome job by DirecTV today. Payed my $35, and the game didnt start for us until the 43rd minute of the 1st half.

    And Uruguay's lackluster performance............
     
  6. TiP54

    TiP54 Bad Reputation

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    Russia- Lichtenschtein :)
     
  7. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Bosna won today, 2-0 over Armenia and now are the favorites to land the second spot in the group, to quality for the WC.

    Completely agree. When Wenger first came to Arsenal, he had eight English players and only three internationals on the starting XI I believe. Vieira, Bergkamp and another one that I can't remember at the moment. Truth be told, I think all of those guys were George Graham signings other than Vieira, who came under Rioch but Arsene requested the board to sign Vieira a month prior to his introduction as Arsenal manager. Then he brought in Overmars, Petit, Boa Morte, and Anelka and that's when the press starting to criticize and question him. I think he responded to questions with something like "there are very quality players in England such as Sol Campbell and Cantona but you can't buy those guys because their clubs won't sell them. And when you want to buy young guys here, you have teams like Manchester United and Liverpool developing home grown talent so if you buy here, you don't get equal quality, so our ambitions lead us to purchasing players abroad because they are equal quality". I paraphrased there, as it was something along those lines, but I think that was in Wenger's '97 press conference.
     
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  8. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    English players are also vastly over-priced and over-rated. You take a player like Ashley Young who moved to Aston Villa for nearly 10m. You could get a player in Europe for less than half of the 10m that Villa paid for Ashley. So for a club like Arsenal, who do not have the same financial muscle as other clubs in the Premier League, they cant afford to be spending mad money on over-rated players. Thats what Newcastle have done for the past five-ten years and look where it got us. If Arsene Wenger was manager of Newcastle for the past five-ten seasons, I predict Newcastle would have won a league title, thats how good of a manager Wenger actually is.

    I'd actually love to know how much of a profit Wenger has made on players since he has been at the club. He always seems to get guys with good potential for next to noting and then sells them on at a massive profit. I would like to know what that profit margin is.
     
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  9. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Completely agree on all points of the English players. Arsenal's budget isn't great, as you note, but it isn't awful. This year, I believe Arsene had 60M to work with. He sold Toure and Adebayor for 40 and then had the 20M he came into the transfer window with. Its not money like United or Chelsea or City for that matter but its a decent amount of money to bring in at least one high profile name. Thing is, he won't do it because he has so much faith in his youth academy, which honestly I don't blame him for.

    In regards to the profit, I don't have the exact numbers - though I will probably do some research now that you bring it up - but I do know that a study done in 2007 said that Arsenal is the only team that's made a profit from their spending. They're the only team that's gotten more in return than what they paid.

    Btw, Arsenal has offered Wenger a contract extension that will make him the Gunners coach for life.
     
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  10. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    There are a boat load of names he's signed over the twelve years but from what I've read, apparently there were research done by SSN (I don't know what that is?) and Wenger's profited 83 million since his time as an Arsenal man. Many names have come and gone such as Petit, Adebayor, Henry, Pires, Overmars, Vieira, Upson, Toure, David Bentley, but the one that he's gotten the most for was Nicolas Anelka. He bought him for £500,000 and sold him for £23m, so £22.5 million profit.

    Since 2005, here's some numbers.

     
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  11. unifiedtheory

    unifiedtheory Sub Pending Luxury Box

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    I'm absolutely stunned that Portugal is basically toast.

    My Croat's will have to get through in the 8 team playoff.
     
  12. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Good job on getting those stats Alen, SSN btw is Sky Sports News, which is a 24 hour sports news channel available over here. 83m is an insane profit to earn on players in less than 15 years. It really is amazing when you think that not only being able to make the club a profit of 83m, he has been able to keep Arsenal in the top 4 best clubs in England over that time. Alot of credit also has to go to the coaching staff and scouts for been able to spot the talent and then harness it.
     
  13. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    At the moment here are the 8 teams in playoff positions.

    Group 1: Hungary
    Group 2: Greece/Latvia
    Group 3: Northern Ireland
    Group 4: Russia
    Group 5: Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Group 6: Croatia
    Group 7: France
    Group 8: Republic of Ireland
    Group 9: Scotland

    Scotland who are second in Group 9 would miss out because they only have 10pts at the moment, 3 points off Hungary and Greece/Latvia. If things were to stay as they are at the moment, I would hope that we would avoid France, Croatia, Bosnia-Herz and Russia.

    EDIT: Actually what happens is that because Scotlands group has one less team, what happens is that in every other group, you take away the points gained against the team that finishes bottom of the group. Which actually means that Hungary would currently miss out.
     
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  14. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Thanks. I wish I had SSN, lol.

    Agreed. That's an average of 6.9m of profit a year. I know that their coaching staff does an incredible amount of work, even when the season is over. Arsene has often visited San Siro to attend the Milan practices and learn from them. He's been doing it I think every year since he started coaching at Monaco. He also visits several different countries and leagues every summer. I know he's a pretty big fan of the Dutch league, which probably explains his love for them. They're what I like to call a grounded league, I don't see a lot of aerial goals from them (maybe I'm wrong and just miss them?), moreso a lot of penetration through dribbling and quick passes. Its probably why he's always said Bergkamp was probably his favorite player to coach. Bergkamp's dribbling skills and ability to penetrate were off the charts. It's also probably the reason why he, IMO, disliked Ian Wright so damn much.

    EDIT:

    Forbes ten richest franchises in the world.

    What I wonder is if Arsenal are going to get even more money in the next year or so? Usmanov is launching a complete take over bid. He's holding 25.5% of the franchise right now and I think its 30% to bid for the whole club. If he does buy Arsenal then he's also probably going to inject money. He tried to inject 60M this summer but was denied.
     
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  15. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    What really surprises me about that list is the fact the Houston Texans are at number 10 :eek:
     
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  16. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Big day of qualifiers tonight.

    Looking for a Bulgaria win tonight
     
  17. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Bosnia's tied at 1 with Turkey at half time. My stream gave out about the tenth minute and got it back at the 45th lol. What a free kick goal from Bosnia though. Wow.

    EDIT: Nice sig. :lol:
     
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  18. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Italy totally out-playing Bulgaria at the moment and fully deserve their 2-0 lead. A draw would be a better result for Ireland but cant see it happening at the moment.

    That would be a very good result for you guys, as Turkey are very good and it would pretty much grab second place also.
     
  19. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    We tied. 94 minutes of play, down 1-0 after five minutes and we end up tying with a goal in the 26th minute. What a great free kick for the goal though.
     
  20. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    Great win for England - laid to rest the previous managements dire record. Performance wasnt as great as is being touted by the press but hey a win over Croatia and qualification is a good night - now for a beer or two to celebrate!
     
  21. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Looks like we will be seeing you also in the playoffs. Italy's win leaves Bulgaria 5 points behind Ireland with 2 games to go.

    Want to avoid Bosnia - Herzegovina though because I think they are very dangerous.
     
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  22. ScottishFin

    ScottishFin Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    ********* , we played Holland off the park for 45 mins then lost a stupid goal with 5 mins to go :( Totally and utterly gutted at the result. Will be watching WC2010 on the TV now :( Supporting ABE (Anyone But England :D)
     
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  23. dolfan94

    dolfan94 New Member

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    Uruguay 3 Colombia 1

    So relieved after all the **** I talked
     
  24. TiP54

    TiP54 Bad Reputation

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    Russia prevails.
    So now, showdown with Germany.
    Alen, how's Arshavin's groin?
     
  25. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Arshavin hasn't been fit all season for Arsenal. I've watched every game and he's been limited but he's still played very well. I know he told Arsene Wenger that he can't play more than 20 minutes for him per match because of fitness and the injuries but he's been playing about sixty to seventy I believe. I think Arsene told him that he was too heavy at the moment.
     
  26. wpgfishfan

    wpgfishfan Member

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    All the Azzurri need is a tie versus Ireland and they are through

    I like the old days when the defending champ gets in automatically
     
  27. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    In fairness, you guys were hardly tested in that group. Even this Italian side, who are mediocre in comparison to other Italian sides in the past, still easily qualified.

    If anything, the qualifiers would have given you a chance to evaluate on where you need to improve before 2010.
     
  28. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    Feel bad for you guys, but think you lost it at the start of the campaign where you lost to Macedonia and drew with Norway. A better result in either one of those games and you would have a playoff spot.
     
  29. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    Nevermind...theres always Andy Murray in the US Open... oh...

    J/K - I actually wanted Scotland to advance and only feel that way about Wales!!
     
  30. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    Where are you reading that Alen? I thought he only aggrevated his groin in the last game against United?
     
  31. emeraldfin

    emeraldfin All I've got is insane

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    :lol:

    That was cold dude
     
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  32. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    I Kid .. I kid! lol
     
  33. TiP54

    TiP54 Bad Reputation

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    Dam
    I need him back for the october showdown with Germany
     
  34. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    It was said in the closing moments of the United game, if I remember correctly. It was late in the match and the ball went out on the sideline. Possession was Arsenal's and Arshavin started tapping his chest, signaling to Arsene that he needed to come off and Arsene just turned his head away because he knew he needed him. After that happened, the commentators of the game started to discuss Arshavin's fitness and they stated that Arsene said Arshavin told him he can only really play 20 minutes of full energy for him but Arsene has ignored that. Then they said that Arsene told the press that Arshavin was a bit heavy.
     
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  35. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    Thanks Alen, I was watching the game but didn't have commentry on so that would explain! Bit of a shame and now he's going to be out a further 3 weeks it will be interesting to see how the squad copes now the injuries are starting to pick up. On a brighter note at least Rosciky played 54 minutes the other day.
     
  36. ScottishFin

    ScottishFin Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Strange that there is huge rivalry between Scotland and England yet we both hate Wales :D

    We did balls it up away in Macedonia (probably the worst game I have ever been at , 43c with no water in the ground and herded about by the riot police all day) and Norway at home when we missed 2 open goals :(

    Ach well roll on Euro 2012 , quite fancy a trip to Poland :D
     
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  37. Paul 13

    Paul 13 Chaotic Neutral & Unstable Genius Staff Member

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    way late on this, huge win for England! Anyone know where I can catch a replay of the game either online or on TV?
     
  38. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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  39. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    You guys always seem to do well at the begining and then fade away, it's a shame really as I enjoy Scottish football.

    Yeah it's not like the English to have a rivalry is it!! :lol:
     
  40. baboo72

    baboo72 Bleeding aqua & orange

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    Of all the f*'n players to score against Arsenal! He shouldn't of been on the field following that "challenge" on Van Persie and then to top it off the celebration was inflammatory and hope he get's some kind of retrospective punishment.

    I don't think City will be in the top 5 come the end of the season they're just on a high and come christmas will start to fade away.

    Anyway biased rant over...nice to see Rosciky score after so long out.
     
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