Re: Brazil Magical Realism

I used to play on pitches that were covered in sand, the difference was it was outside Wandsworth Prison. I also played a game next to the outer wall of the Priory clinic once, i was thinking if i stuffed a match ball with crack and spooned a shot over the fence i could make a fortune.

Nothing magical about that, pure football capitalism

Thanks for reminding me of that, as an England fan, i love to beat Argentina but i bow to the Maradonna goal in 86 and to this one too. Shame theyre gonna collapse in an unorganised heap this summer.

Incidentally, Serbia look a decent team this year from their qualifying. I think theyre just Serbia now but the politics escapes me

enough bullshit...
this is it. this is the big one!!
cmon the spurs

a win would doo nicely and maybe possibly think about grabbing 3rd place off the arse!!!! maybe!!!

Yeah, it's just Serbia now, although I think their 2006 WC squad only had like one Montenegrin, so it's not much of a difference.

Qualifying rounds don't always tell much though... when Holland had to play them at the 2006 World Cup I somewhat feared them because their qualifying run had been very impressive, topping their group ahead of Spain and conceding only one goal during the entire run.

But then at the tournament itself they lost all their games...

Serbia were pretty poor against France (a poor team itself).
They could collapse easily at the back and were shadows in midfield.
Winger Krasic was the only one that could do well.

And in England, Spurs will play at least a couple of games for the Champions League!

Serbia is a powerful team. I wish Slovakia was as good, though our team can surprise as well in the World Cup - positive thing is that nobody expect anything from our team at all.

^^i've seen them play good, but i've also seen them piss poor.
like that 6-0 beating they got against argentina at the 2006 world cup... or at euro 2000 when they lost 6-1 to holland in the quarterfinals.

i can't think of any other team that conceded 6 goals in one game past the first group stage at a major tournament.
















... other than argentina bribing their way into the final at the 1978 world cup in that game against peru.

Speaking of, what do you say about the new dutch champion???

Yeah, good luck to FC Twente, and all that. There's a lot of rumours that West Ham have been trying to get Steve McLaren off them but I think McLaren would be insane to leave a club that's got Champions League football next year for one owned by a cunt and who're likely to be embroiled in another relegation battle next year.

The other rumour is that we're getting Martin Jol - which is a bit more realistic and (for me) a far better option than McLaren. Although whether Jol will be prepared to work under a cunt like Sullivan is another question.

I'm pleased.... although I'm not fully pleased until Feyenoord wins the dutch cup tonight, which admittedly seems highly unlikely.

is that true that West Ham have the most devoted and passionate fanbase among all London teams?

go on the spurs!!!! now time for the yid army to invade europe! c.o.y.s.!!!!!

Probably West Ham and Millwall.

According to the Dutch media Mclaren seems to be heading for Wolfsburg. Leading Twente to the Dutch title is a remarkable achievement. I guess you could compare it to Blackburn Rovers winning the Premier League in 1995.

It's very likely that Mclaren will leave Twente. There's nothing else for him to win and there's much more money abroad. It's also likely that there will be a mass exodus even before the Champions League draw has been made.

From the current team N'Kufo moves to Canada, Perez quits and the rich big foreign clubs will pick out the cherries of the rest of the cake.

Topscorer Ruiz can go to Sevilla
Douglas is linked with Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Juventus
Stoch is owned by Chelsea and probably moves to London or elsewhere
Janssen is linked with Borussia Dortmund
Tiote is in demand as well and will probably leave after the World Cup


So a small team does remarkably well and wins the Dutch league and then the following season they'll be the laughing stock of the Champions League. It's not unlike AZ last year, the only difference being that their main problem was not so much a mass exodus but their owner/sole sponsor going bankrupt.

I do hope you'll get Martin Jol.


















But please wait until the very start of the season before getting him so that it will screw up the entire season for Ajax.

and which are the ones when speaking of all England/Scotland/Wales? Liverpool FC?

I'd probably say Portsmouth, Newcastle, Cardiff, Celtic and Rangers, West Ham, Millwall and Stoke. I've heard that Anfield is fairly subdued these days.

Haha, yeah. He's the one I'm hoping for too - albeit for very different reasons.

As an aside, I remember a lot of West Ham scarves in the 80s/90s having one half with West Ham written on them and the other half with the name of a Dutch team. I can't remember which Dutch club it was though, and can't find anything about it online. Do you remember anything like that going on?

I know Spurs and Ajax had a bit of an alliance between fans, based on the whole 'yid' thing, so I doubt if it was them:

yeah anfield is supposed to be dead quiet in the premiership these days. Newcastle fans are the most deluded, rangers/celtic fans are the most volitile, portsmouth are a good shout i guess (after palace fans who have the best chants) (j-j-j julian speroni to the tune of c'mon and do the conga)

I think most stadiums are quieter now, because of seating and a shift in the type of people actually going to football.

Totally agree about Newcastle fans though.