Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

The willow is too close to the house.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

So many bastards, so little time.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

You are here: Home / Sports / Some Football Notes Before the Euro 2016 Quarter-Finals

Some Football Notes Before the Euro 2016 Quarter-Finals

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So, one competition is over (Cope America) and another (Euro 2016) is starting the quarter-finals . Here are a few thoughts.

1.) Leo Messi is getting heat because he wants to quit the international game. I really believe that the anger is misdirected. To begin with, Messi has one title that no Brazilian footballer has: an Olympic gold medal. Bear in mind that Argentina’s trophy drought for titles in competitions without age restrictions goes back to 1993, when Messi was six. Also, there appears to be more to it than that.

2.) Brazil, while Tite has a good record, why not, FFS, consider someone outside of Brazil? I had this discussion with my brother-in-law, who said, “No, we made football great.” I pointed out to him that they keep recycling the same coaches in and out. I also pointed out to him some of the requirements that UEFA has of its coaches to get a license and that CONMEBOL is just starting to implement requirements. He was astonished. Swallow your pride, Brazil. it’s taken a pretty big beating recently anyway.

3.) Speaking of Brazil, how did the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) let Eder slip through their fingers to Italy? He’s been a revelation for the Azurri.

4.) Speaking of the Azurri, Antonio Conte’s tactical wizardry is impressive. I write this and Arsenal fan, but it appears that Chelsea made a good choice.

5.) From 2008 to 2012, what made Spain’s midfield dominant was iniesta AND Xavi, not Iniesta AND Fabregas.

6.) Jürgen Klinsmann is getting heat for Argentina’s whipping of the USA in the Copa America, but did anyone seriously believe that the USA would win? In any case, I believe that Klinsmann deserves credit for this. They will never be great if they don’t have the best teams challenge them.

On a housekeeping note, I will be working during the start of the three games today, tomorrow and Saturday. I will schedule open thread posts, but sometimes they don’t post. I’ll correct it as soon as I can if it happens.

Reader Interactions

19Comments

  1. 1.

    cosima

    Go Iceland & Wales! I am 5 weeks behind on watching season 2 of Outlander, but fully caught up on UEFA, somehow managing to watch even games that I have had zero interest in (thanks to footie-mad husband & daughters).

  2. 2.

    Wyrm1

    My issue with Klinsmann isn’t that the US lost to Argentina or looked bad doing so, that happens to lots of teams at our skill level.

    This issue is that Klinsmann put out a lineup that had zero chance of counterattacking (aside from Zardes) and was playing for a 0-0 draw, which was pretty much never going happen. This is a continuation of his obsession of playing players out of position in meaningful games. The match at Guatamala for WC qualifying saw at least 4 players being played out of position. Tinkering in friendlies is fine, but not in meaningful games.

    I will give him credit for choosing a starting 11 at the Copa and sticking to it as long as he could, but this is the exception for him, not the rule.

    Edit: Go Poland!!!

  5. 5.

    Ronnie Pudding

    To begin with, Messi has one title that no Brazilian footballer has: an Olympic gold medal.

    So he won a U23 tournament. Olympic soccer (on the men’s side at least) isn’t really that big a deal.

  6. 6.

    Facebones

    Certainly did not expect the USA to beat Argentina (That free kick by Messi – how can you defend that?), but I definitely expected them to play better than a bunch of D3 college scrubs. They looked lost and defeated from the opening kick.

  8. 8.

    Randinho

    @Wyrm1: I agree with you regarding Wondolowski. I do not get Klinsmann’s love for him. I would have started Pulisic.

    That being said, Wood and especially Jermaine Jones shuld have kept cooler heads against Ecuador. Their absence was felt acutely.

  10. 10.

    Wyrm1

    @Randinho:

    Oh, absolutely. 3 temper tantrum red cards (well second yellow in Yedlin’s case) does not speak well of the coaching or the players.

    We would have had some sort of better chance of being competitive with Wood and Jones (and honestly, Bedoya as well) and as I said, I didn’t expect to win, but at least give me Pulisic and Nagbe over Wondo and Zuzi.

  11. 11.

    Tripod

    They will never be great if they don’t have the best teams challenge them.

    Mindless sports fan bosh. 1995 Copa America – USA 3 Argentina 0

    He’s been great recruiting Germans with US passports. He’s not a good coach. Below replacement level. His defenders have to fall back on his Technical Director role (and the rah rah bullshit) because his failings in tournament squad selection and in game tactics are the issue. There is a reason he waited around a long time for a head coaching chance, and both the Mannschaft and Bayern gave him a quick exit.

    No big club or national side are going to hire him after his tenure. This is Sunil Gulati (and a segment of the US fan base) wanting to believe in soccer unicorns.

    Not ONE shot folks. The entire game.

  12. 12.

    Thoroughly Pizzled

    Iceland’s success is making the Netherlands’ embarrassing failure to qualify sting a bit less.

  13. 13.

    DLew On Roids

    @Tripod:
    If he left the USA job today, it’s a toss-up for who gets an EPL job first: Klinsmann or Bob Bradley. Considering the undercarriage washing Klinsmann got when he arrived here, it says a ton about how each man’s stock has moved in the last five years.

  15. 15.

    Ronnie Pudding

    @Randinho: How so? The last five gold medal winners: Mexico, Argentina (twice), Cameroon and Nigeria. It surely doesn’t predict bigger championships.

  16. 16.

    philadelphialawyer

    @Ronnie Pudding: Yeah, not seeing how that matters, AT ALL.

    I do agree that Messi will be back. This kind of GBCW drama is not unusual in sports. Messi wants to win at least one, big title for Argentina, and what he said in the crushing failure/heat of the moment is hardly dispositive. Also, by quitting, he kinda gets to dodge the criticism of the here and now. The “story” is all about will he come back…”please come back, Leo,” rather than “Messi can’t win the big one…blew the PK…etc….”

    Klinsmann? Who cares? He has been OK, in my opinion, not great and not terrible. Losing to Argentina was certainly no disgrace, though, and I thought the USA actually made a good showing in the Copa, but they have done rather badly in some other tournaments.

    Azurri and Iceland are killing it.

  18. 18.

    Randinho

    @Tripod: 1995 is ancient history. That has as much currency as Brazilians still talking about Romario, Rivaldo and Ronaldo. The teams still need to be challenged and you won’t get better pummeling Barbados. Canada or Antigua.

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