The Official Soccer/Football/Futbol/Calcio thread

[Jdbwolverines]

Who can forget Jorge Campos's classic shirts?

epic Joey, epic... digging through my old gear I found a good one, pictures to come.

[aldukes]

full disclosure:

I wear blue cleats:

ahhhhhhh se nallllllllllll

ahhhhh se naaaaaaaaal

CNNSI reporting Torres out for the rest of the year with a hamstring injury. That's huge. I know the Poolies think I am going to make some sort of remark like "thanks for playing", but we all know we are days away from Rooney breaking a toe.

no no, rooney would have to score like 4-5 goals in 3 games to be close to breaking bones. Torres is just taking a longer break to give the recurring injury some time. Probably pretty smart. Benitez has a point that, he never gets injured except after or during the international break... but whatever... Keane needs to re-learn to finish, I'm certain he'll have 15 goals by the end of the PL season. I see Keane staying with Liverpool for maybe 2-3 years then retiring..

Originally Posted by theycallmedan'lboone

no no, rooney would have to score like 4-5 goals in 3 games to be close to breaking bones. Torres is just taking a longer break to give the recurring injury some time. Probably pretty smart. Benitez has a point that, he never gets injured except after or during the international break... but whatever... Keane needs to re-learn to finish, I'm certain he'll have 15 goals by the end of the PL season. I see Keane staying with Liverpool for maybe 2-3 years then retiring..

Club v. Country is an interesting debate. I think it should be up to the players. This garbage with 'fake' injuries, and Countries calling players in to verify said injuries is very stupid. Put it on the players and players alone to make the call if they are going to be called up.

The players know the fixture list. The players know where their standing is in the league. The players know what the 'club' is shooting for in terms of league/cup goals. The players also know what the country is shooting for in terms of WC qualification/Euro qualification. You are a big club player who the next week needs 3 points and it's a friendly.. Tell them you are staying home. Same difference you are 'out of the league' and it's WC qualification, your in.

Sure the country gets mad because the 'club' can dominate the players in terms of salary and make decisions for the players, but heres a little tip to the FA, they do. You can't stop that.. You need the players to be in top form to call them up, and I don't know many players who will do it for free.

I also think its amusing that the Club v. Country issues always come up the week of the games.. Its not like these international fixtures are planned 2 days before. We all have calendars. Player tells country 1 month out..I'm out for X.. Great, guess what, call up someone else.

Being asked to play "anything" for your country has to be one of the best feelings in the entire world. Let the players make the decisions..