Football

[Old Yard Dog]

What a pity we were only allowed to watch Hungary vs Wales in Welsh. I picked it up for the last 30 mins and it was a very exciting encounter.

 

[Karl]

Wow, the USA have sent a message out to their competition tonight. Just beaten Thailand 13-0 and they were just utterly ruthless

For those that missed it, here's the action..
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[Mag_seven]

What a pity we were only allowed to watch Hungary vs Wales in Welsh. I picked it up for the last 30 mins and it was a very exciting encounter.

Wales seem to be a shadow of the team that reached the Euro 2016 semi-final.

 

[The_Train]

Wales seem to be a shadow of the team that reached the Euro 2016 semi-final.

I think that 2016 side was heavily supported by a world class Gareth Bale. Unfortunately for Wales his time at Madrid has hardly been a success and his lack of game time is clearly affecting his form. Without Bale at his best, Wales are simply back to their norm

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The 2019-20 Premier League fixtures were announced at 0900 this morning. Last season's runaway top two team's matches are:-
9th August....Liverpool v Norwich City
10th August..West Ham United v Manchester City

 

[adrock1976]

The first three matches see Aston Villa away to Tottenham Hotspur, at home to Bournemouth on the 17th, and at home on the 24th for the most played top flight fixture with Everton.

9th November sees a West Midlands derby with the Wolves hosting Villa. For those born before 1974, it will be Staffordshire versus Warwickshire in this game.

 

[scotrail158713]

Why on earth does the Premier League insist on games on Boxing Day, every year? Take this year, Boxing Day is a Thursday with a full fixture of games, whilst there’s more games on the Saturday - just 2 days later. Any other time of the year the players aren’t allowed 2 games in 3 days, so why not play Boxing Day fixtures earlier in the year, as a midweek round of games?
Logistically for fans it would be much easier as well, as travelling on Boxing Day is always a challenge.
(Oh wait, football fans aren’t thought about in modern football )

 

[Darandio]

Why on earth does the Premier League insist on games on Boxing Day, every year? Take this year, Boxing Day is a Thursday with a full fixture of games, whilst there’s more games on the Saturday - just 2 days later. Any other time of the year the players aren’t allowed 2 games in 3 days, so why not play Boxing Day fixtures earlier in the year, as a midweek round of games?
Logistically for fans it would be much easier as well, as travelling on Boxing Day is always a challenge.
(Oh wait, football fans aren’t thought about in modern football )

Because it's a tradition that has been going since the 1950's, long before TV became influential. Many fans want to keep it that way too.

There used to be a greater emphasis on teams playing local rivals on Boxing Day, or playing a team as local as possible. This would have obviously helped travel in those days. They claim to still try and minimise travel to a degree, but it's very different these days with things such as policing having a greater influence. If they tried to do it now you would have at least five London derbies on the same day, the police wouldn't allow it.

 

[DarloRich]

What a pity we were only allowed to watch Hungary vs Wales in Welsh. I picked it up for the last 30 mins and it was a very exciting encounter.

it was on national radio as was the Scotland game.

Why on earth does the Premier League insist on games on Boxing Day, every year? Take this year, Boxing Day is a Thursday with a full fixture of games, whilst there’s more games on the Saturday - just 2 days later. Any other time of the year the players aren’t allowed 2 games in 3 days, so why not play Boxing Day fixtures earlier in the year, as a midweek round of games?

Good. Boxing day football is fantastic and very popular with people who go to the games.

I think that 2016 side was heavily supported by a world class Gareth Bale. Unfortunately for Wales his time at Madrid has hardly been a success and his lack of game time is clearly affecting his form. Without Bale at his best, Wales are simply back to their norm

Agree in part. They have also lost some key, experienced players, lost a bit of the team ethic and lost a manager for whom they all seemed to want to work.

 

[BlueFox]

There used to be a greater emphasis on teams playing local rivals on Boxing Day

That certainly happens still at non-league level.

But I'm not sure it happened that much at the top level.

For example, I've been looking at the Christmas fixtures from 1950. Teams played on Saturday 23rd, then on Christmas day, and again on Boxing Day (the reverse of the xmas day fixtures).

The xmas/boxing day games in the first division were:
Portsmouth v Chelsea
Charlton v Villa
Huddersfield v Wolves
Fulham v Bolton
Blackpool v Liverpool
Arsenal v Stoke
Middlesbrough v Newcastle
Everton v Burnley
West Brom v Sheff W
Sunderland v Man Utd
Derby v Tottenham

The following year there were a few derby games (Sunderland v Newcastle, Preston v Burnley), but none the year after that.

 

[scotrail158713]

Because it's a tradition that has been going since the 1950's, long before TV became influential. Many fans want to keep it that way too.

There used to be a greater emphasis on teams playing local rivals on Boxing Day, or playing a team as local as possible. This would have obviously helped travel in those days. They claim to still try and minimise travel to a degree, but it's very different these days with things such as policing having a greater influence. If they tried to do it now you would have at least five London derbies on the same day, the police wouldn't allow it.

Thanks for that explanation. Living in Scotland and not living when it was introduced () means it’s always been the norm for me and made me think the TV companies had something to do with it.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Euro Under 21 Championship - Group C

England U21 2 ... Romania U21 4

The end of yet another "redtop sports" xenophobic dream, as England are knocked-out of this championship.

 

[Darandio]

This England game is shocking, Cameroon don't seem to know the rules.

England score the first goal from a free kick following a pass back, Cameroon didn't seem understand why it was given.

The second England goal went to VAR but it was perfectly legitimate and correctly given. Cameroon refused to play for several minutes and in the tunnel at half time have accused FIFA of racism.

Then Cameroon score shortly after half time and it's referred to VAR, it was marginally offside and disallowed, another correct decision. Cameroon hold the game up again and some of their players are hysterical.

 

[AlterEgo]

VAR has been a scourge at the women’s World Cup, as has the standard of refereeing.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I thought that Phil Neville's post-match interview was very well stated.

 

[EM2]

VAR has been a scourge at the women’s World Cup, as has the standard of refereeing.

I haven't watched all the games, but of those I've seen I haven't seen the VAR officials make a decision that's contrary to the Laws of the Game, with the possible exception of the late penalty today.
However, there has certainly been some poor on-field refereeing, not least in today's game. The early elbow on Nikita Parris and the late challenge on Steph Houghton should both have been red cards.

 

[AlterEgo]

I haven't watched all the games, but of those I've seen I haven't seen the VAR officials make a decision that's contrary to the Laws of the Game, with the possible exception of the late penalty today.
However, there has certainly been some poor on-field refereeing, not least in today's game. The early elbow on Nikita Parris and the late challenge on Steph Houghton should both have been red cards.

The VAR decision process has been markedly slower than the men’s game. Not sure how long it’s been around in the women’s game but it reminds me of the farce when they introduced it here in England.

 

[DarloRich]

Late to this but great to see the Scottish Womens football team failing to qualify for the second round of a major international tournament. Great to see traditions continue.

What was going on with Cameroon? They seemed to have some kind of system failure! It was incredible.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

What was going on with Cameroon? They seemed to have some kind of system failure! It was incredible.

That team has the makings of a good women's rugby league squad...

 

[Minilad]

The problem with a lot of the womens World Cup games is that the football is interrupting the flow of the VAR

 

[DarloRich]

The problem with a lot of the womens World Cup games is that the football is interrupting the flow of the VAR

we should just do away with the actual football and set up a massive football manager tournament!

 

[Minilad]

we should just do away with the actual football and set up a massive football manager tournament!

One day games will not need to be played. They will just use a computer simulation to determine the winner

 

[DarloRich]

One day games will not need to be played. They will just use a computer simulation to determine the winner

Football Manager already exists

 

[scotrail158713]

Late to this but great to see the Scottish Womens football team failing to qualify for the second round of a major international tournament. Great to see traditions continue.

Couldn’t help a wee dig at Scotland could you?
I will say that we couldn’t hold onto a
3-0 lead with 15 minutes to go though, so we didn’t deserve to stay in the World Cup - regardless of the refereeing controversies.

 

[DarloRich]

Couldn’t help a wee dig at Scotland could you?

nope all good natured joshing.

 

[DarloRich]

The BBC report Rafa Benitez will leave Newcastle when his contract expires at the end of June. Mike Ashley really has turned this club into a joke. It used to be fun laughing at deluded Geordies but now i almost feel sorry for them .

 

[Darandio]

The BBC report Rafa Benitez will leave Newcastle when his contract expires at the end of June. Mike Ashley really has turned this club into a joke. It used to be fun laughing at deluded Geordies but now i almost feel sorry for them .

Welcome back to the Premier League Avram Grant.

 

[DarloRich]

Welcome back to the Premier League Avram Grant.

Street word in Newcastle is that gary monk is lined up.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Street word in Newcastle is that gary monk is lined up.

I bet Lee Clark has already emailed his CV to SportsDirect head office despite only recently joining Blyth Spartans...

 

[Mag_seven]

Mike Ashley really has turned this club into a joke.

The "toon army" have wanted rid of him seemingly for years now!