The Belgians are looking to move into second place as the Italians have won the group. Will they make it?
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)
It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.
Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.
The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.
Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.
Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.
The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.
This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.
The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.
I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.
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Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.
Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.
Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.
A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.
Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.
Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.
The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.
You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.
Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.
The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.
That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.
Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.
Runt
So far, Belgium looks like the Great White Hype. Dynamite on paper, but they just haven’t playedwell together. Watching de Bruyne put one perfect serve after another into the box without any of his teammates getting anything out of it is downright depressing. The Irish would score from opportunities like that.
ThresherK
The very accented commentator mentioned how Belgium and also Man U are called the Red Devils. Odd how the nicknames aren’t a thing in other countries as they are in the USA.
@Runt: Isn’t Belgium continually the team that’s going to “put it all together two years from now”>
Runt
@ThresherK: They’re the Friedman Unit of international football.
ThresherK
@Runt: *We interrupt this post for a Belgium goal*.
ThresherK
@Runt: I was going to say, switching sports, I don’t know much about Belgium’s development, coaching and recruiting.
So I’ll mention Andy Reid, hired to coach the Philadelphia Eagles, who not only did a bad job of winning games and being competitive, but has traded and drafted poorly, while getting rid of good players while overpaying for talent who very few teams were competing for at said prices. And this has had an effect on morale. (It’s almost the bizarro world version of any success enjoyed by Moneyball type managers, and in a sport with a salary cap.)
That’s more of a Friedman Unit in coaching to me: Going in and doing something unneeded and unpromising out of sheer ego and then having it go to ruin, and the only thing to pretend is that it will turn around given enough time.
Runt
@ThresherK: Glad to see they take my criticism on board.
Amir Khalid
Belgium 2-0 Republic of Ireland. I think that’s the to two places in group E decided.
ETA: Belgium 3-0 Republic of Ireland. This match is over.
Wyrm1
The first goal was ridiculous. If you want to ignore the foul in the box, fine. But rather than allowing the Belgians a counter based on kicking a guy in the shoulder, stop play for the potential head injury.
Runt
The individual qualities of the Belgian plagers have never been in doubt, and it turns out that is enough to trounce Ireland. But I’m still not convinced by their teamwork. You see a lot of frustration when players fail to predict what the man with the ball wants them to do. But at least they show they can be deadly on the counterattack.
SRW1
@Runt:
The individual quality and therefore the potential is there, but the whole thing does not gel sufficiently. I think the bottleneck is the Belgian coach.
MobiusKlein
I’m heading off to Iceland, and they’re in the euro cup now.
Any tips on how to sound smart about their team?
humboldtblue
@MobiusKlein:
Here’s a nice primer you can study on the flight over.
humboldtblue
@ThresherK: But we only do that with our international teams, all other athletic teams from pee-wee through the pros have nicknames.
@ThresherK:
Also, I’m not sure what point you were trying to make with Andy Reid as head coach of the Iggles, but he was the most successful coach in franchise history and led the birds to four consecutive NFC championship games and one Super Bowl and went to the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons with five division titles mixed in including four straight in the early aughts..