Football

[150249]

Some of the refereeing has been atrocious in this tournament. Just seen a blatant penalty for Denmark turned down. Ref awarded a goal kick to Tunisia despite the ball not going out of play.

I agree with this one

 

[brad465]

Glazers looking to sell up:

Man Utd owners the Glazers consider selling club

Manchester United's American owners the Glazer family say they are considering selling the club as they "explore strategic alternatives".

www.bbc.co.uk

Manchester United's owners the Glazer family say they are considering selling the club as they "explore strategic alternatives".

The Americans bought the Old Trafford outfit for £790m ($1.34bn) in 2005.
It comes after years of protest from fans against their ownership.

A statement said the board will "consider all strategic alternatives, including new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions involving the company."

In 2012, the Glazers sold 10% of their holding via a stock listing and have sold further shares in the following years.

"As we seek to continue building on the club's history of success, the board has authorised a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives," said executive co-chairmen and directors Avram Glazer and Joel Glazer.

"We will evaluate all options to ensure that we best serve our fans and that Manchester United maximizes the significant growth opportunities available to the club today and in the future.

"Throughout this process we will remain fully focused on serving the best interests of our fans, shareholders, and various stakeholders."

United, who are fifth in the Premier League, have not won the title since 2013 and have not won a trophy since claiming the Europa League and EFL Cup in 2017.

There have been multiple protests against the Glazers' ownership in recent years, including one in May 2021 which caused United's home league match against Liverpool to be postponed.

Thousands of supporters marched to Old Trafford in protest before the same fixture this season, in August.

United were part of the failed European Super League project which rapidly collapsed in April 2021. Manchester United co-chairman Joel Glazer later apologised for the unrest caused.

He has since attended Fans' Forums in the wake of the supporter unrest and pledged to make shares available to fans.

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who left Manchester United with immediate effect on Tuesday, criticised the club ownership in a controversial interview last week saying the Glazer family, "don't care about the club" on the sporting side.

The move to sell United comes amid Liverpool chairman Tom Werner saying Fenway Sports Group were "exploring a sale" of the Anfield club.

A Bloomberg report in August 2022 said that the Glazer family were willing to sell a minority stake in the club.

British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe said he would be interested in buying the club before he stated in October that the Glazer family had told him they did not want to sell.

In May, a consortium led by American investor Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital bought Chelsea for £4.25bn.

 

[Peterthegreat]

One of the all time shock results.
Great to see penalties being awarded for holding in the box, hopefully this will be replicated in the domestic scene, and in matches without VAR, referees will be more alert to it although of course they do only have one set of eyes (plus potentially assistance from a linesman) although int their defence both have to be on the lookout for multiple simultaneous offences. All too often if a decision is given it is given against the attacker.

That said, there is still a lack of consistency as noted:

Absolutely. Holding and shirt puling are rarely penalised. This is a shame because it is blatent cheating.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

There is still football being played in England and on the non-league side especially, Hyde United in the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League are a good example of non-league teams not having the same numbers of players in their squads as the league teams and injuries can cut down on the available playing strength. Hyde have had a really good start to this season and were top of the league with games in hand, as they reached the 4th and final qualifying round of the FA Cup before losing 1-2 away at a strong Buxton side from a higher league as well as matches in the FA Trophy, the Cheshire Senior Cup and the Manchester Senior Cup and have regularly played weekend and mid-week matches for weeks.

Matters have finally caught up with Hyde and they have now lost two consecutive home matches, 0-1 to Matlock Town and 1-2 this Tuesday to Lancaster City.

 

[DarloRich]

very strange atmosphere at these world cup games - almost like the locals don't know what they are looking at.

 

[Falcon1200]

very strange atmosphere at these world cup games - almost like the locals don't know what they are looking at.

Indeed, there seemed to be someone screaming during the first half of tonight's Spain game, so much so that I turned off (also partly due to the commentators' ceaseless sycophantic praise of the Spanish players however).

 

[150249]

Indeed, there seemed to be someone screaming during the first half of tonight's Spain game, so much so that I turned off (also partly due to the commentators' ceaseless sycophantic praise of the Spanish players however).

Was a great performance by Spain to be fair

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Was a great performance by Spain to be fair

It was surprising to see Costa Rica put in such a weak performance, given their past World Cup exploits.

 

[htafc]

I read that only 2 (or maybe 3) of their starting XI play their domestic football in Europe.

 

[Red Onion]

Absolutely gutted for Canada but you cannot give a team like Belgium a single chance, no matter how well you play.

 

[150249]

Absolutely gutted for Canada but you cannot give a team like Belgium a single chance, no matter how well you play.

By far the better team but you have to take your chances.

 

[Cowley]

By far the better team but you have to take your chances.

It looked like they put a hell of a lot of work in and it was just the finishing that really let them down in the end. They probably won’t progress now but at least they gave it a damn good go and can walk away with a bit of pride today.

 

[DarloRich]

Absolutely gutted for Canada but you cannot give a team like Belgium a single chance, no matter how well you play.

any pace in behind the back line and they look in trouble. I don't think they are the team they were.

By far the better team but you have to take your chances.

Missing a pen at 0-0 is always going to hurt

It looked like they put a hell of a lot of work in and it was just the finishing that really let them down in the end. They probably won’t progress now but at least they gave it a damn good go and can walk away with a bit of pride today.

They just lacked a final ball and/or a bit of composure. Manger from the north east ( via New Zealand and now Canada) so clearly a decent chap.

 

[Cowley]

any pace in behind the back line and they look in trouble. I don't think they are the team they were.

Missing a pen at 0-0 is always going to hurt

They just lacked a final ball and/or a bit of composure. Manger from the north east ( via New Zealand and now Canada) so clearly a decent chap.

 

[youngiecj]

Couple of matches I forgot about
Tamworth 1 Boston 1 Lost on penalties. Concentrate on the league etc.
AFC Fylde 4 Boston 1 End of the mini league run revival, apart from the playoffs (Still haven't released the highlights) we always lose there.

Bradford Park Avenue on Saturday.

 

[DarloRich]

AFC Fylde 4 Boston 1 End of the mini league run revival, apart from the playoffs (Still haven't released the highlights) we always lose there.

Fylde beat us after we ran out of steam in the second half - the benefits of being a coined up full time club.

 

[Falcon1200]

Was a great performance by Spain to be fair

True, and the match with Germany will be interesting!

 

[Norm_D_Ploom]

I haven't seen all the games but the general consensus seems to be that England France and Spain are the 3 teams that have impressed so far, Brazil still to come notwithstanding.

I was surprised that Germany and Argentina lost I wasn't shocked to see Belgium so poor last night, as was said up the board a team that has grown old together.

Still early days and every chance that something else could happen, but
the potential QF with England and France already looks a blockbuster prospect !!

 

[DarloRich]

Wales 0 v Iran 2

Bale none existent. Clear red for the keeper. Wales very poor. Now, can England get 3 points tonight...........................

( we wont obvs because England )

 

[GS250]

Oh Dear....Wales. Shocking performance. Saying that, Iran aren't as bad as many think. 20th in the World rankings?

Does that make England's 6-2 win even better though?

 

[DarloRich]

Does that make England's 6-2 win even better though?

Iran much better in this game. They were shocking v England.

 

[GS250]

Wales 0 v Iran 2

Bale none existent. Clear red for the keeper. Wales very poor. Now, can England get 3 points tonight...........................

( we wont obvs because England )

Bale...has generally not done it at the highest level.

 

[swt_passenger]

Wales 0 v Iran 2

Bale none existent. Clear red for the keeper. Wales very poor. Now, can England get 3 points tonight...........................

( we wont obvs because England )

Could have been 4 if those goal posts hadn’t intervened…

 

[New York Giant]

Oh Dear....Wales. Shocking performance. Saying that, Iran aren't as bad as many think. 20th in the World rankings?

Does that make England's 6-2 win even better though?

Fair question. I can't help but think that Eng v Wal will resemble a Premier League game, with England being dragged down to Wales' level due to mass changes in personnel and a fired up Welsh team with nothing to lose.

 

[DarloRich]

oh no - it just popped in there: 29 June 1950, Belo Horizonte.

 

[43096]

Clear red for the keeper.

One of the reddest red cards you’ll ever see. Quite why it needed VAR to get the correct decision, I don’t know: there was more than a hint of Harald Schumacher’s assault on Patrick Battiston 40 years ago about it.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Fair question. I can't help but think that Eng v Wal will resemble a Premier League game, with England being dragged down to Wales' level due to mass changes in personnel and a fired up Welsh team with nothing to lose.

If England win tonight, they're guaranteed first place unless Iran blow the US away (assume goal difference/goals scored counts before the head-to-head record). I could certainly see Southgate giving Page a helping hand by picking a second-string XI for the final game... it'll be Austria v. West Germany all over again!

 

[DarloRich]

One of the reddest red cards you’ll ever see. Quite why it needed VAR to get the correct decision,

Agreed - i couldn't believe it needed any thought. NO attempt to play the ball, very late, very high. Not quite as Kung Fu as Harald Schumacher mind!

 

[GS250]

Agreed - i couldn't believe it needed any thought. NO attempt to play the ball, very late, very high. Not quite as Kung Fu as Harald Schumacher mind!

Now that really was the foul of the century. Forget anything else by Vinny Jones, Chopper Harris etc.

 

[43096]

Now that really was the foul of the century. Forget anything else by Vinny Jones, Chopper Harris etc.

The best foul of the last century has to be Benjamin Massing’s foul on Claudio Caniggia in the 1990 World Cup.