The Silver Fern

Uni looks sharp

I must say, at the time I thought his antics looked disproportionately over the top

@KiwiPie I think it was a shit move by Bournemouth but sort of agree with what @bayimports wrote. This Spaniard does seem a grade above O'Neil.

Was he given his contract extension before the new owners came in? I think so but can't be assed checking.

The Moore sacking is a disgrace (reserve right to do a complete volte face if Moore turns up as the new Real Manager in a couple of days). Club record winning run, picks the team up after a 4-0 loss in first leg of play-offs. What more! can he do.

Like you would love to see them go down.

@sparky said in FIFA World Cup 2022:

@KiwiPie said in FIFA World Cup 2022:

Eurosport Team of the Tournament - posted to spark debate. Alternative names are those found in the Sports Illustrated and Sky Sports UK XIs so Gvardiol, Amrabat, Mbappe & Messi are in all 4 XIs.

Martinez (Arg) - Livakovic (Arg)

Hakimi (Mor) - Juranovic (Cro)
Romero (Arg) - Saiss (Mor) - Maguire (Eng)
Gvardiol (Cro)
Shaw (Eng) - Mazraoui (Mor) - Acuna (Arg)

Modric (Cro) - Casemiro (Bra) - Ounahi (Mor)
Amrabat (Mor)
Griezmann (Fra) - Enzo Fernandez (Arg)

Saka (Eng) - Alvarez (Arg) - Giroud (Fra)
Mbappe (Fra)
Messi (Arg)

My team of the tournament.

Martinez (Arg),
Hakimi (Mor), Romero (Arg), Gvardiol (Cro), Theo Hernandez (Fr), Enzo Fernandez (Arg)
Messi (Arg) Gakpo ( Neth), Mbappe (Fr)

Imo:

Martinez (Arg),

Hakimi (Mor), Saiss (Mor), Gvardiol (Cro), Acuna (Arg)
Modric (Cro), Griezman (Fra), Enzo Fernandez (Arg)
Messi (Arg), Alvarez (Arg), Mbappe (Fr)

The European playoffs to qualify for the World Cup may be more exciting than the World Cup itself. One of Portugal or Italy won't make it but should get to play off head to head, Scotland may play Wales for a spot and the Russia/Poland/Sweden/Czech set is really touch to pick.

Semi-finals – Thursday 24 March 2022
Path A
Scotland vs Ukraine (20:45 CET)
Wales vs Austria (20:45 CET)

Path B
Russia vs Poland (18:00 CET)
Sweden vs Czech Republic (20:45 CET)

Path C
Italy vs North Macedonia (20:45 CET)
Portugal vs Turkey (20:45 CET)

Finals – Tuesday 29 March 2022

Path A
Wales / Austria vs Scotland / Ukraine (20:45 CET)

Path B
Russia / Poland vs Sweden / Czech Republic (20:45 CET)

Path C
Portugal / Turkey vs Italy / North Macedonia (20:45 CET)

North Macedonia has a population of 2 million - definitely punching above their weight.

Having won it in 2006, Italy's record is remarkably poor since.

2010: Bottom of group finishing below New Zealand
2014: 3rd in group finishing below Costa Rica
2018: Didn't qualify
2022: Didn't qualify

In the Euros during that period they have made the quarter-finals every time, winning once and runner-up once.

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@bayimports said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

no not Mane, we are not bayern

but Bournemouth have their first transfer signature - Ryan Fredericks

It seems more about how much you can pay players now rather than transfer fees given Fredericks (and Rothwell from Blackburn) have come in on frees. Forest have bought Awoniyi, a striker from Germany who I saw a bit on the Bundesliga highlights, built like a fridge.

Meanwhile Gareth Bale looks like he is going to MLS and not Cardiff.

Bale signed for LA

The eighties called and wants it's volunteer uniforms back 🤮

https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/4/z/4/x/h/v/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.1420x800.4z4wy4.png/1684286366254.jpg?format=pjpg&optimize=medium
image.jpeg

@donsteppa said in EPL 2020/2021:

Unbelievable Jeff!

At the very, very bottom of the EFL, after 96 years in and four years away, the team that once beat Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United 6 - 0 has returned to League 2.

And somewhere, Jeff Stelling is having a brilliant night after a nail biting game 😂

It sounded like a real thriller but I had lost interest when we went out to Torquay in the semis when I'm sure all their goals were either offside or handled. A few scandals in the league this season where certain clubs furloughed some of their players and then bought new ones to replace them! Clubs mentioned were Chesterfield, Stockport and Barrow so at least it seems like Hartlepool were clean.

Which of course reminds me of the day that Hartley and Poole scored for Hartlepool

Hartlepool 2-1 Notts County Hartlepool 2-1 Notts County

Peter Hartley and James Poole score as Hartlepool clinch their second home win of the season by beating Notts County.

The 2nd half was disappointing and you could see how important Reid is to organise the defence when he wasn't there. This is the start of a new era under Hay after 525 days of inactivity so it will take some time to adjust to possession-based football. Bell, Thomas and Marinovic were the pick of the All Whites. McCowatt scored a nice goal on debut but also twice lost possession in his own half leading to Irish goals.

We will need to see further improvement against Lithuania on Monday (NZT), a team ranked closer to NZ.

@mofitzy_ said in Sarpreet Singh - NZ's football wunderkind:

Would he be the most successful person of subcontinental descent in pro football?

Almost certainly not. Lots of people from Suriname are of ethnic subcontinent origin. Rudi Gullit looks quite Indian. Frank Rikjaard perhaps. Certainly someone from there will have made it big.

@Bovidae That stat needs an asterisk for getting to play 2 games against Spurs.

Yeah very gutsy. Excellent season so far.

@bayimports said in All Whites:

@canefan wow that would be cool, I think that would have significant interest too, probably big question is how many players released at this time of year?

You'd have to play it in the European off-season I guess. So much money in football these days, and a lower priority placed on international games. But the players might turn out.....