EURO 2016 qualifiers

Rooney seriously needs to buck up. It's not just his general play anymore; the guy can't stick the ball in the net, even when presented a tap in from six yards out. The only thing justifying his spot in the startling line-up is Sturridge being injured.

RealGunner wrote:Wilshere having an outstanding game. Rooney needs to retire

must be fun watching the game on glue mate

Natalie Portman wrote:but we don't live in a world of idealism.

Thanks for info.

Natalie Portman wrote:Not sure why people get worked up over it. people don't just forget. but yea, go play the advocate of world peace and togetherness

Respect the national anthem of another country is a symbol of world peace or togetherness? It should be normality. I don't write that all have to make a blowjob each other or combining into one nation, but expressing frustration by booing the anthem is really pathetic.

Natalie Portman wrote:Every single one of us deep down is a bit racist one way or another, and like some group of people more than other. and IT SHOWS UP in large crowds.....

So what? We're humans, not animals, we can control each other during important ceremonies.

Natalie Portman wrote:This is football. This is war. if you want everything to be respected and be nice and rosy, bowling seems the perfect sport !!

Football is a war in your opinion? I think you could confused sports. Where's football in this hierarchy and where's rugby or ice hockey?

Natalie Portman wrote:When Germans still make fun of Poles in their country

Poles make fun of Germans and I don't see in this nothing wrong.

Of course such games have their own special atmosphere and always is involved policy/history in this, but intelligent man knows how to behave in similar situations.

WAR MUST BE ON FIELD, NOT WHILE PLAYING ANTHEMS

I don't know if it's me... but Rooney has looked decent to me this season. Not at his top, but much better than last couple of seasons. He's not as dynamic but gets the job done.

Natalie Portman wrote:

RealGunner wrote:Wilshere having an outstanding game. Rooney needs to retire

must be fun watching the game on glue mate

named MOTM

Lasse Vibe should have finished off the game yesterday
Bendtner played the game with a broken nose without a mask, champion ffs

Cesc and Casillas dropped from the Spain lineup. Paco starting (alongside Costa). Progress being made.

Rooney had 8 shots against Estonia, got 2 of them target and scored from a free-kick. He had even more shots against San Marino and could only score from a penalty. Ironic that the player not far off becoming our record goalscorer has become incredibly wasteful in front of goal.

Wilshere created 5 scoring chances today, according to Opta. Most of them from playing a lofted pass over the top from deep.

Chances like this have been typical of the last couple of games:

https://vine.co/v/OA0LrnX3tVJ

ffs https://vine.co/v/OA0LrnX3tVJ

Natalie Portman wrote:

Robespierre wrote:This thing about booing anthems is being a sad custom everywhere, and this also for not politician reasons. The whole San Siro booed French anthem in 2007 basically for football rivalry  the Polish booes even look like normal  if compared to this . ( tbf Germany changed so much after WW II with Brandt, the recognition of the Oder - Neisse line and a conscience worthy of respect but it 's not enough to stop the rancor for some ppl )
Anyway I noticed our anthem it is always booed when we play in Balkan countries , we are not loved there I suppose...

Robes, you should have seen Romania-Hungary game. Not only boos, but throwing stuff at players, flares and bombs being thrown in every other second. The first 10 mins was some of the best atmospheres I've ever seen in a football match.

I love Eastern Europe. Those guys "GET" football.

I agree about it. For example I hope always Hungary gets qualified in some tournament . Since I follow football, it is never happened, they were sometimes close to do it ..
They deserve it for passion (and besides I've a passion for Budapest ) and football history

It's really impossible not get qualified for a big NT with new expanded  Euro  Cup designed by Platini
It is not so good for the show probably... before   a big team could get the 2nd place who meant play off and it represented an   electrifying risk  . Basically I followed the qualifications just seeing who got tne 2nd place, and  you saw  often NTs as France ( expecially the Blues have usually problems with qualifications groups ) playing the play off who were always interesting matches.

At least there are more chance for NTs as Wales to get qualifications... just this...

I think big NTs will take   lightly some matches because they know the qualification is enough sure, I didn't watch Poland-Germany yesterday so I don't know if it was the case of Germans but anyway I don't think it was this after having read comments about the match

Well, Germany didn't take the match lightly - we just didn't take our numerous chances, while the Polish team were clinical.





The Slovenia - Switzerland stats looked eerily similar, by the way:

rwo power wrote:Well, Germany didn't take the match lightly - we just didn't take our numerous chances, while the Polish team were clinical.

:

yes the stats say all

I remember when Mario Frick was Ternana and Siena CF .

Now he is old 40 years and so he plays as BC with Liechtenstein

DAT chant La Vie C'est Fantastique quando segna Mario Frick

Robespierre wrote:

Natalie Portman wrote:

Robespierre wrote:This thing about booing anthems is being a sad custom everywhere, and this also for not politician reasons. The whole San Siro booed French anthem in 2007 basically for football rivalry  the Polish booes even look like normal  if compared to this . ( tbf Germany changed so much after WW II with Brandt, the recognition of the Oder - Neisse line and a conscience worthy of respect but it 's not enough to stop the rancor for some ppl )
Anyway I noticed our anthem it is always booed when we play in Balkan countries , we are not loved there I suppose...

Robes, you should have seen Romania-Hungary game. Not only boos, but throwing stuff at players, flares and bombs being thrown in every other second. The first 10 mins was some of the best atmospheres I've ever seen in a football match.

I love Eastern Europe. Those guys "GET" football.

I agree about it. For example I hope always Hungary gets qualified in some tournament . Since I follow football, it is never happened, they were sometimes close to do it ..
They deserve it for passion (and besides I've a passion for Budapest ) and football history

and we were robbed by a clear on-side goal which was ruled off. should have been 2-1

@Robespierre - we haven't qualified for a major international tournament since '86 the year I was born.. We were so close to making Brazil WC but after we didn't qualify due to some pathetic late performances, especially getting embarrassed by Romania( )...I hid from this forum for a while.

I also always cheer for other Eastern Euro teams when they're not playing against us. especially Polska and Slovak. It was nice to see Slovakia beat Spain and then Belarus today. Hamsik was class..pure passion

I've always had great respect for what Hungary gave to football.
And I  say this because I don't identify Hungary only with Ference Puskas.
I am Interista and   one of greatest Inter CFs ever was Istvan Nyers ,a Hungarian , and same thing for managers, Arpad Weisz ( died in Auschwitz ).
So for me the admiration and  gratitude to Hungary is great and I wish the best for this NT and for the most beautiful capital city of East Europe , Budapest.

Hungary wasn't same thing after 1954 but basically his real football decline  coincided with the fall of communism ... yes, it's strange to say it considering the different economic implications ...but during socialism, for ideological reasons, the sport was heavily subsidized by state ( this system was broken after 1989 ) ... and infact Hungary always got qualified in World Cup at that time , a Hungarian player won even the Balon D' Or (Albert ) or a  Hungarian team played the Uefa Cup final against Real Madrid in  1985. The Ferencváros got   some good results too . So it was not surely totally dead as football movement...

After 1989 it died and yes Hungary doesn't get qualifed since 1986

I trust always in a rebirth, it is impossible coming back to 50's of course but the target must be 70'-80's years as in Socialism years so as to reach a  dimension comparable to Czech Republic now ,for example.  A  tough NT  , often qualified etc

Now ... the group stage is really hard tbh .I think you were also unlucky with draw
The target must be the 3rd place to reach the play off imo.
This new formula with expanded Euro can help you

Wow, I am impressed with your knowledge of Hungarian football and its history. yes the '50s were a very long time ago and after the Soviet takeover which left us in shambles, it would be nearly impossible to achieve that same level of success.

It sucks for the supporters and the current NT gets a ton of criticism from everyone in Hungary (and some of it justified) because they go through some periods where they do very well, but then end up collapsing and disappointing everyone (WC '14 qualifiers as a recent example. the Netherlands would always win the group, but we were on top of the other teams and it looked promising until the last few games)

Hungary is in a bad state right now and have fallen under our most of our neighbors economically and socially unfortunately the current leadership (Viktor Orbán and Fidesz) are ultra-conservative and want no part in the EU. Him using funds for new stadiums is nice and all but there are bigger issues the country is facing. Unemployment is extremely high and if you want any sort of success, you pretty much have to leave and look for work elsewhere. There's a lot more to it but I don't want to dwell into too much politics.

Although we consider Poland our brothers and have always had a great relationship with them, its not a coincidence that the majority of Magyars admire Italy and Italians, their football, and the country in general.. Though most Hungarians who stay in Europe but leave Hungary to find work are probably likely to end up in Germany, I have a few friends who live in Italy now and love it.

Anyways i kind of went off-topic. We shouldn't have lost the game vs Northern Ireland at home, and the Romania game unlucky like you said, but thats football and now its kind of an uphill battle but i really hope we can qualify for the tournament as the nation needs a huge morale boost. I agree with you that Budapest is incredible and for me it's a magical city. we have the Faroe Islands next which we should win, and then Finland at home which will be a tough game but we beat them last time we met and I think we can beat them again. Both games are must win games. Pál Dárdai as coach has been a positive so far. He was a good player and I think the players respect him more than the previous coach. cheers my friend

genuinely convinced Robes is my Italian multi-account..it's scary how similar our opinions and thoughts are in majority of subjects


Anyone watching Kazakhstan-Czech ? It's thanksgiving here..nothing better to do at noon

Most eastern European footbal died after the end of communism.  Remember that the USSR reach the Euro final in 1988, Czechs won it in 1976 by beating the Germans, USSR was in the finals in 1972 and 64 too and won the first one in 1960.  Yugoslavia was the finalist in 1960 and 68.

So before the end of the communist block.....There were 8 Euros.  These countries had 2 winners and 5 finalists.  Since the breakup....  6 Euros and only the Czechs reached the final in 1996.

It makes sense.  Each of USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia have each broken into 3 countries or more.

As mentioned, Hungary was always good too especially in the 50s.

^ Sportcz my man...with Putin planning to make Russia and the east dominant and powerful again, the good days will be coming back to Eastern Europe ....Czech/Slovakia/Poland GOATing so far !!

1-0 Iceland.

Sepi

sportsczy wrote:Most eastern European footbal died after the end of communism.  Remember that the USSR reach the Euro final in 1988, Czechs won it in 1976 by beating the Germans, USSR was in the finals in 1972 and 64 too and won the first one in 1960.  Yugoslavia was the finalist in 1960 and 68.

So before the end of the communist block.....There were 8 Euros.  These countries had 2 winners and 5 finalists.  Since the breakup....  6 Euros and only the Czechs reached the final in 1996.

It makes sense.  Each of USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia have each broken into 3 countries or more.

As mentioned, Hungary was always good too especially in the 50s.

yes it's true, but at least Czech Republic got Euro 96 final, great Euro 2004, Croazia was GOAT in France 98 etc

Hungary totally died after 1989 , not even qualified in some tournaments  

it is enough to rate their International players ... in these year the most popular players were Dzsudzsak ( I don't know even where he plays now) , Gera , Kiraly ( more famous for his shorts than saves tbf )  , Gera ( Fulham) ..
I don't know new Hungarian generation , I hope something of different for them , I noticed many NT are having a good generational change , as for example it is having Austria now imo

Be/\/ceCALI wrote: Wow, I am impressed with your knowledge of Hungarian football and its history. yes the '50s were a very long time ago and after the Soviet takeover which left us in shambles, it would be nearly impossible to achieve that same level of success.

It sucks for the supporters and the current NT gets a ton of criticism from everyone in Hungary (and some of it justified) because they go through some periods where they do very well, but then end up collapsing and disappointing everyone (WC '14 qualifiers as a recent example. the Netherlands would always win the group, but we were on top of the other teams and it looked promising until the last few games)

Hungary is in a bad state right now and have fallen under our most of our neighbors economically and socially unfortunately the current leadership (Viktor Orbán and Fidesz) are ultra-conservative and want no part in the EU. Him using funds for new stadiums is nice and all but there are bigger issues the country is facing. Unemployment is extremely high and if you want any sort of success, you pretty much have to leave and look for work elsewhere. There's a lot more to it but I don't want to dwell into too much politics.

Although we consider Poland our brothers and have always had a great relationship with them, its not a coincidence that the majority of Magyars admire Italy and Italians, their football, and the country in general.. Though most Hungarians who stay in Europe but leave Hungary to find work are probably likely to end up in Germany, I have a few friends who live in Italy now and love it.

Anyways i kind of went off-topic. We shouldn't have lost the game vs Northern Ireland at home, and the Romania game unlucky like you said, but thats football and now its kind of an uphill battle but i really hope we can qualify for the tournament as the nation needs a huge morale boost. I agree with you that Budapest is incredible and for me it's a magical city. we have the Faroe Islands next which we should win, and then Finland at home which will be a tough game but we beat them last time we met and I think we can beat them again. Both games are must win games. Pál Dárdai as coach has been a positive so far. He was a good player and I think the players respect him more than the previous coach. cheers my friend

Good luck mate

About matches today

- Pellè goal

- Kovacic injured in Croatia - Azerbaijan These NTs gave us Osvaldo back injured, Kovacic injured and Medel with two teeth in less :  

-  I 've bet money on Iceland victory .. I took this chance because it was highlt quoted and so far it is all okay, they are winning on penalty got by Pescara legend Bjarnason

I run the risk because Iceland is a good NT and well organized ( I am confident about the fact they will get finally a qualification , the  to new expanded system of qualification should help it )  ) while contrarily not convinced about this Netherlands led by Hiddink.

Netherlands suffered even against Kazakistan , lost against Czech Republic and I don't rate much this Netherlands. .. I think the 3rd place was a miracle and Van Gaal was intelligent to  to maximize the team playing with 5 defenders, 1/2 DM and relying on Robben in attack.
Nothing to see with the Dutch mentality of football, but on the other hand this Netherlands has nothing to do with past Netherlands. .. you must adapt...
Contrarly Hiddink is convinced to win with offensive lineup  , a declining Sneijder in midfield even Prandelli complained with him because he doesn't run

2-0 Iceland !
Money

Nasty finish from Dzeko.

De bruyne looking like De Bench again.