The Football Thread

[nkb]

just questions,
I forgot to mention this, but, as undiplomatic as Van Gaal was in the press conference, he was right about the reporter: it was an incredibly stupid question, as it was well known that Toni was hurt and not available, so it wasn't Van Gaal's "decision" to not play him.

[just questions]

Yes, very often he does have a strong case to call the reporter stupid, when he barks at the reporter. Only he does it so often that people do not pay attention to what the reporter has said, but to the fact he is throwing a big tantrum again.

[dogpet]

nkb wrote

Who the fuck had the brilliant idea to put a mental case like Maradona in charge of the national team?

Even though the World Cup would not be the same without Argentina (and especially without Messi), I hope they tank and miss the qualification, just to teach them a lesson.

Religious rubbish apart, it must be incredibly difficult for the best footballer who ever lived, when he knows if he were still playing he would have won that match almost single handed.

[nkb]

It is rare for a superstar athlete (in any sport) to be a good coach, and I don't know why. If a former player is a successful coach, they were usually average to above average during their playing days.
Maybe it's a case of not being able to relate to players that don't see the game at their own level.

Even Wayne Gretzky has learned this the hard way. The best player to ever play hockey hasn't done anything as a coach. I bet Michael Jordan would suck at coaching too.

Pele (you would have some disagreement on who is the best footballer ever) was smart enough never to try coaching (managing, for you Brits).

[dogpet]

nkb wrote

It is rare for a superstar athlete (in any sport) to be a good coach, and I don't know why. If a former player is a successful coach, they were usually average to above average during their playing days.
Maybe it's a case of not being able to relate to players that don't see the game at their own level.

Even Wayne Gretzky has learned this the hard way. The best player to ever play hockey hasn't done anything as a coach. I bet Michael Jordan would suck at coaching too.

Pele (you would have some disagreement on who is the best footballer ever) was smart enough never to try coaching (managing, for you Brits).

That's very true, most of the great managers were journeyman pro's.

It's also true that most great players are either mad, bad, or barely able to string a sentence together.

Pele was a great player, but he never played in a European league, so was largely untested, (also a limp dick).
Maradona single handedly took an unfancied Napoli to extreme glory, & short of GBH it was impossible to get the ball off him while in Spain. He could put any round object of kickable size on the end of a string, & has character as outragous as his talent.

Also the Engerlish hate him, what more do you want?

[nkb]

It's tough for me to compare, since I am not old enough to have watched Pele in his prime. I have to go by the old footage of Pele, and compare it to what I saw of Maradona when I was growing up.

They were both amazing and electrifying players, but they played in different eras, so that makes a comparison more difficult.
Pele was obviously a much classier superstar.

I disagree that Maradona singlehandedly took Napoli to glory. The owners spent a fair amount of money on players when they got him, so it's not like he was playing with a bunch of scrubs. However, he was instrumental in the team's dominance.

By the way, what does GBH mean?

[nkb]

I'd also like to add that Maradona only won one World Cup, even though he played with some pretty good players.

Granted, Brazil almost always fielded a team of all-stars, but Pele has three titles (although one was extremely cheesy).

[dogpet]

nkb wrote

It's tough for me to compare, since I am not old enough to have watched Pele in his prime. I have to go by the old footage of Pele, and compare it to what I saw of Maradona when I was growing up.

They were both amazing and electrifying players, but they played in different eras, so that makes a comparison more difficult.
Pele was obviously a much classier superstar.

I disagree that Maradona singlehandedly took Napoli to glory. The owners spent a fair amount of money on players when they got him, so it's not like he was playing with a bunch of scrubs. However, he was instrumental in the team's dominance.

By the way, what does GBH mean?

Grievous bodily harm.

Obviously single handed is a figure of speech in a team game, but I'll bet anyone who played with him would say he was peerlessly abled.

Any natural ball player is a joy to watch.

[nkb]

It didn't make sense in the context of your sentence, but the only thing I could come up with for GBH was Goal By Hand.
I thought you were trying to piss the Limeys off.

[dogpet]

Go on you beauty The Teddy Bears earned a magnificent draw against the mighty Stuttgart. Watched it on a German stream, I thought we deserved a win by the end.

£300k in the bank, mission accomplished. Sevilla will be quaking in their boots.

[ILOVEJESUS]

nkb wrote

It didn't make sense in the context of your sentence, but the only thing I could come up with for GBH was Goal By Hand.
I thought you were trying to piss the Limeys off.

We are not amused.

[dogpet]

I see Pele is dissing Maradona by employing false modesty to boost De Stefano. So fucking obvious ploy. Also hinting Maradona is possessed by satan because he only needed his left foot. Pele is down to third behind De stefano!

[nkb]

Pele is responding to Maradona's remarks about him, in which the pudgy bastard said he was better than Pele, because the Brazilian never played in Europe.

What's worse, false modesty, or praising yourself?

The classiest move would have been to just smile and dismiss Maradona's comments, but I'll take Pele's approach over Maradona's.

[dogpet]

But he didn't just smile, he bit. Pele might imagine he could have been the best had he played in Europe, others might think he could have fallen on his arse.

It's a bit like Teofilo Stevenson claiming he would have flattened Ali.

[nkb]

Does anyone actually doubt that Pele would have been a star in Europe? I don't.

He consistently outplayed the best players in the world of his time in the most important tournament in his sport.

What is your beef with Pele, anyway?