The Football (Soccer) Topic

[Koni]

And so did Costa Rica: 2 wins/3 remis/0 losses. They haven't lost a single match in 5 games and reached place 8 with finally 9 points.

[Panda Tar]

Greaaaaaaaaaaaaat! Now, back to my mad libs.

[Panda Tar]

YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!! GERMANY IS THE WINNER!

AIEUHUAIHAIUEHAIEUH
ASHUAUHAUHAUHAUSHSUHAUHASU
HUAHUAHUAHUAHUAHUAHAUH
OPKAPKAOPAKOAKAPAKOPAKPAAOP
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
HUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUE
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH
HUHUHUHUHUHUHUH
HEHEHEEHEHEHEEHEH
HIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI

(the many Brazilian laugh)

[ywhtptgtfo]

But... I thought Germany just stole your hue!

[Kalah]

And what a great finish by Götze, the kind of goal you shoot without thinking. The guy is 22 and could be Germany's next Miroslav Klose, already having shot die Mannschaft to the gold in the WC and no doubt sementing his place in the squad for future tournaments.

[Panda Tar]

But... I thought Germany just stole your hue!

HUE HUE HUE, indeed.

[ywhtptgtfo]

And what a great finish by Götze, the kind of goal you shoot without thinking. The guy is 22 and could be Germany's next Miroslav Klose, already having shot die Mannschaft to the gold in the WC and no doubt sementing his place in the squad for future tournaments.

He's at the right place at the right time.

The reason why Germany won was teamwork rather than relying on individual super stars like Rooney, Ronaldo, Messi, and Neymar. It doesn't mean this kid isn't good but that he has a strong team to put him in such a position.

[Panda Tar]

Good God, now they brought back Dunga as Brazilian's football team coach.

I think it's time a foreigner take over this post, so as to try and get some new sauce into the salad. Not that I care that much after all that fiasco, hoho.

[Kalah]

The playoff draw for the EURO 2016 championship was just made, minutes ago, and we Norwegians are happy that we got the easiest possible opponent.

Sweden and Denmark face each other in what should be a great Scandinavian derby with packed spectator stands.

Play-off 12/13/14 and 15/16/17 November 2015
Ukraine v Slovenia
Sweden v Denmark
Bosnia and Herzegovina v Ireland
Norway v Hungary

[Panda Tar]

I've heard the Netherlands didn't make it! That was unexpected.

[Kalah]

Given their form in the last championship, yes, but given their recent form, it's not really that unexpected. They have been absolute rubbish for most of the qualification and I really think it's time for a generation shift in their national team. Something I'm sure will happen.

[Panda Tar]

I guess that's true for all teams? ^^

[Kalah]

Well, not at present. Norway had a generation shift a few years ago, with big players like John Arne Riise and John Carew retiring and young new talents taking their place. So not all teams are in a current state of shift.

[Panda Tar]

Yeah, Brazilian team is in a current state of shi*, sadly.

[Kalah]

Well, Brazil have an opportunity now to speed up their shift, getting rid of some of the established players and bringing in some new, fresher faces. Although I believe their problems actually lie deeper; since there is no resurgent nationalism in Brazilian football, more a traditional expectation ('we are good because we have a history of being good') and (on a local level) a wish to excel for selfish reasons and personal gain (i.e. the players only want to perform well in order to play for top teams be paid millions), I predict that Brazil will have a struggle actually reaching the next World Cup finals.

[Panda Tar]

Yes. They started badly already, losing the match against Chile.

[Kalah]

Lots of drama today: The penultimate round of the top division had some drama, of course; two teams fighting to avoid relegation and a couple of teams fighting for medals. With the top spot already secured for Rosenborg, though, most of the excitement was in the division below:

In that, this was the last round and all matches played simultaneously. The last five minutes, eight teams changed places more then three times; five teams fighting for promotion and three teams fighting against relegation. One goal at one stadium changed everything and suddenly two completely different teams would be relegated ... then, thirty seconds later, another goal would be scored somewhere else, reversing the situation again. Then, 6 minutes (!) in overtime, the last goal of the season changed the situation again, and suddenly two of the teams that were looking at promotion would not win it, and two teams that thought they were safe, were relegated.

Football. It's passion. It's drama.

[Kalah]

Playoff first leg is about to start. Norway - Hungary. Great atmosphere on the stadium, I'm watching on TV.

Let's get it on!

[Panda Tar]

Tonight there's this important game for Brazilian team. I'm not sure but if they lose, they are out of next WC. Which could be a good thing generally speaking.

[Kalah]

Well, that sucked. We were terrible in the final third and so didn't manage to score any goals. Even worse, our goalkeeper made a mistake (this has a tendency to happen to us in deciding matches) and so we lost 0-1. The commentators say it's not over, but I think it is. We're out.