DISQUS

Huns love empire.

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Fulham has expressed interest?

Oh for the old days when players still worked in factories and were paid pence on the pound!

good lord, enough already.

I'm going with Aston Villa from now on. Martin O'Neil was a great manager for Celtic and he has done a fine job in B'ham.

Plus my 6v6 summer team has Aston Villa rip-off jerseys. As good a reason as any.

KatKid'sHoopdeHoops in the house!

1) Gaffer you sound more like Grandpa
2) Why don't we wait until C. Ronaldo, Messi, et al can be judged in history the same way that we now judge Picasso/Pele
3) Your article underlies the point that SpursFan makes: our culture has not been debased, it has been transformed and largely for the better in terms of the availability of information and the rapid increases in technology and human athletic achievement. One of the effects of this is the shortening of our attention spans, and thus, the need for ever shortening intervals of re-evaluation and melancholic or celebratory insta-nostalgia (see: I love the 80's, 90's and now even more ridiculously the 00's! We can't even make it through a whole decade now without creaming over ourselves about the recent past).

Gaffer, we love you but the grumpiness and sentimentality is not much appreciated.

Clichy Mexes Gallas Adibal

Viera

Ribery Malouda
Nasri

Benzema

Henry

could you write up a post a day highlighting the other sites? It would help me go there.

meh, Barry Glendenning of the Guardian picked Russia to go to the Finals and extolled the virtues of Gomez as the German scoring machine of the tourney.

There is a reason why people aimlessly bet on first goals and golden boots. They are difficult to predict. Take her to task for something tangible, back it up with a funny youtube of her making an ass of herself or concede that YOU, Gaffer, are making an ass of YOURself.

I think the pre/post match stuff has been mostly fluff (as with virtually every pre/post match report of any sport on TV ever unless you are so unbelievably biased due to an extreme interest in your team's game or win) but Foudy hasn't deserved to be pulled out for ridicule in my mind. She is much better than the crap ESPN has thrown out in the past and is better than Smyth. Sheesh.

Speaking of Messi, I watched the Argentina demolition exposition of Mexico and Messi was absolutely electric. If he can stay healthy, best player in the world. He was changing direction and pace better than me on my xbox.

wow. Italy is old and sucky. Who'd a thunk it?

Yes. Poor, starving Portugal. I think the fact that England has two other national sports has something to do with it.

Why are there so many top French or Italian footballers? Are these countries poor?

Why has an African nation never won a World Cup? Could anyone match their desire?

You are being a simpleton. This will no doubt hurt England, but their loss of footballing stature has more to do with the diffusion of interest in the game (and thus developing talent) and less to do with their GDP.

Saying that the US are "minnows" is fine when discussing the relative success of the national team and the domestic league.

But do yourself a favor and peruse www.worldstadiums.com and see how many stadia over 50,000 there are in the U.S. and how many there are in the U.K. or any European country for that matter.

The variety, location and size of venues (with the interest and population to support them) in the U.S. is unparalleled until China starts building stadiums, but even then the relative wealth and diversity of nationalities is laughable.

The U.S. will sell out or approach capacity for every game. Why? Because Italian Americans will be rooting for Italy. French Americans/ Canadians will be rooting for France. Swedish-Americans will be rooting for Sweden. Latinos for Spain/Mexico. Many of all ethnicities for Brasil etc. etc. Outside of Europe where the relative location allows for all of the big European countries to be well represented, the U.S. is by itself in this regard.

There are obviously many reasons to host it elsewhere, but the US has some things going for it. Further, the idea that the US should "rally behind" England's bid is strange. The US wants a bid, if it doesn't get it then it may or may not have a secondary preference.

Back to the original point:

Gaffer. Seriously?

"Don’t you think he would’ve liked to get his 100th cap at Wembley in a game against his Galaxy teammate?"

Michael- To be honest, I don't. I think he has shown an undeniable pattern of shying away from competition that he thinks he cannot best. The fact that anyone (Kartik) would shower praise on him for elevating the US without examining his penchant for becoming the invisible man at the first hint of resistance are missing the bigger picture about his impact on the team. No one should be arguing that Landon doesn't have an enormous impact on the team. We are just arguing that the importance of Landon is both troubling tactically (this is the best talent? Really?) and mentally for the team. When the team looks up to Landon as a team leader (and he hasn't shied away from the American press which coddles him, or the hilarious foil of the Mexican press which he plays as a fool) then we are left to examine the possible impact of such a leader. I would say, the evidence is strong that he is not an effective one.

More about the game though:

The service of Beasley and Adu needs to be seriously addressed. When you can't manage to put a ball in the box over a two man wall on set
pieces, you should be embarrassed at any level, on any stage.

That said, the pace of Beasley was probably the best thing going and is troubling considering that he is completely out of form. Eddie Johnson missed a gaping net which could've evened the score and is a further indictment of him and Fulham's strange fixation on US players (CHEAP!). Onyewu was much better than expected considering he hasn't sniffed a pitch in months, although he still managed to plod through a Brit for a free kick just outside the box. I don't blame the Gerrard goal on him as the pass from Barry was class. Edu was unbelievably poor and was abused on the ball and almost gave up a break that lead to a third goal in his short stint. Eddie Lewis, Hejduk were probably the best performers and they were subs. The keepers are both solid, with Guzan getting the nod in my mind, but with the Defense so lacking and the midfield and forwards so uninspiring (outside of superman Landon Donovan!!!) I think they will be tested mightily unless things get better.

Standard British women, except with much fitter bodies.

Dave-

No offense, but that picture has been the most interesting thing posted on this site in a while.

Euro 2008 can't start soon enough.

Shocking that when the stage was big, Landon was cowering under his bed.

Italy in Germany World Cup was all over it.

SHHHHHHHHOCKING!

the HD was brilliant. Smyth was annoying. Seedorf was nice. the game was fantastic (drama, drama, drama) and the pitch was AWFUL. If you watched in HD you saw how poor the pitch was and I can't believe that it didn't take more blame for Terry's miss.

Chelsea were an embarrassment with their lack of sportsmanship. Cole especially. Ronaldo disappeared after his goal as Essien stepped up. His penalty miss was awful. Terry slipped, but still inexcusable at such a crucial moment. The only true save came from Van de Sar after coming close twice and Terry's mistake doomed Chelsea.

United was lucky to escape the second half even, they made some great runs in extra time, Ronaldo's miss gifted Chelsea and then Terry's miss started things anew.

Terrific game for a neutral and amazing finish.

Well Done (except for the pitch).

with some buddies in HD over beers.

God bless summer.

Rangers and Chelsea are one in the same. Embarrassing stupid, racist and drunken support from both. It is absolutely abhorrent the way they have treated Avram Grant and typical of their small minds.

I'm pretty sure Super Bowl coverage is more sickening as it is two weeks long, with non-stop coverage interviews and mindless analyzing.

"We woudn’t mind being taken advantage of — trust me."

My, my Gaffer. Speak for yourself. You seem as tart as an 11th grader asked to prom by the captain of the football team.

That said, Fulham have captured my cold, black heart and I think I may well adopt them as my EPL team. I will still enjoy the freedom of a neutral, but they inspired me with that magnificent climb from the drop this year.