The General Football Thread

I still can’t get over how they picked all three and then played them in a completely different formation even when all three were on

They had Jay with his left boot on the left touchline and Adam with his right boot on the right and Rickie isolated in the middle. Against Chile I think. Made all three look terrible. Crazy

 

Big FF is a Saint, and so I want him to do well and am pleased for him that he has been called up, however...the fact that he has been called up for England again is more a reflection on our poor options at GK rather than because FF is playing so well he deserves an international call up on the merits of his play. Whereas KWP deserved to be in the squad even before others dropped out. He is just quality and it's a big feather in his bow for potential future international tournaments that he can play both RB and LB.

 

It's almost a case of patronising a smaller club by offering 'a chance to prove their players are good enough' then playing them in unfamiliar roles to prove otherwise. I hope that's not the case this time round and once the internationals are over, we still have three committed Saints players.

 

A brilliant Harry Maguire compilation.

 

Wow Bale.

 

Bale is Wales' JWP

 

Am watching Che vs Beddy

 

I’m watching the Bale v Ralph game. It’s a good game.
Two great goals for Bale and two woeful missed opportunities by Dan James to finish the game off.

 

North Macedonia

 

I can't understand qualifying these days. Are Italy now out?

 

Bloody hell!

 

Yep. Two world cups in a row now I believe.


Bastards. I'd have love to have won last July and lost to North Macedonia.

 

Isak has octopus legs. Hope Sweden get through, love watching him play.

 

Incredible scenes.




International football > domestic football

 

Lovely goal from Sweden

 

Well done Macedonia!! So last year's Euro triumph just papered over the cracks for Italy at international level. I feel their leading clubs are responsible for this. When you look at the forward line of Inter and AC Milan, there's not an Italian in sight. And both those teams seem awash with players of average ability in the main. Furthermore, when Juve are weak, so are Italy. So Mancini will no doubt be available!!

 

I assume that Panama's draw with Honduras means that you have now definitely qualified (despite losing your unbeaten run )

Congrats and see you in England's group in Qatar (you know it is going to happen )

 

Guaranteed of a playoff spot. Not mathematically there yet. But it looks like only 1 point away

 

Ah, I thought top 4 qualified automatically

(sorry @Schad champagne still on ice for now.....)

 

So, Canada finally suffered their first loss. Went down a man thanks to a really stupid second yellow in the first half, then conceded right before the half. And then, in the second half, they...completely dominated, with ten men, in Costa Rica, against a team for which it was a must-win. Hit the post. Hit the crossbar. Missed the target another 13 times. Had 67% possession on the match, and won the xG battle by a decent margin. Did everything but score.

It's a loss that doesn't really feel like one, though that's cetainly helped by the bit where it basically didn't matter; it delays for-realsies qualification until a home match on Sunday, but Canada's still six points and +11 goal differential up on fourth with two matches remaining, which is an advantage that even a Canadian team of 15 years ago couldn't blow.

Oh well. It'll be more fun to clinch it in Toronto, and another interesting contrast with years gone by. Toronto has a very large population of first- and second-generation immigrants from the Caribbean, and consequently home crowds against Jamaica have often featured a lot of black, green and yellow (because cheering for your parents' nation made a whole lot more sense than your own when only one had a chance to actually do anything). Guessing most of those folks will be wearing red this time though.