***Official 2021-22 Soccer Thread***

Ronaldo to play for Saudi

^

I still remember when he made fun of Xavi for playing in Qatar and said he wants to end his career with dignity.

lol

Life comes at you fast - stay humble.

The Reyna family is a mess:

"The parents of a US men's soccer star are at the center of a bizarre scandal that's threatened to tarnish his coach's reputation, a new report says"

"US Soccer launched an investigation into head coach Gregg Berhalter in December after learning of a domestic violence incident involving himself and his now-wife that took place when they were 18 years old.

As news of the investigation became public on Tuesday, Berhalter took to Twitter to condemn the "apparent effort [by an individual] to leverage something very personal from long ago to bring about the end of my relationship with US Soccer." Still, he offered details about the altercation with his then-girlfriend, admitting that "it became physical and I kicked her in the legs."

A day later, an aggrieved USMNT star's parents have reportedly admitted to disclosing the incident to US Soccer, which sparked the investigation in the first place, ESPN reported."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/parents-us-mens-soccer-star-231033484.html

Messi at 19 was better than any player in the World today.

I hope Messi plays 2026 WC. Would love to see him play live again. Saw him play in Barcelona a few years ago and it was amazing.

Also - Argentina 2022 WC squad had a few early-mid 20 years old and there are a couple of ridiculously talented 18-19 year old Argentine players already at Real Madrid (Nico Paz & Pol Fortuny), ManU (Garnacho) and Lazio (Luka Romero) - who all could potentially be in 2026 WC squad. They could potentially have a real shot at 2024 Copa and 2026 WC if Messi is also playing 45 minutes a game at a high level.

Wrexham with the huge upset today in the FA cup

Originally posted by Janitor:
Wrexham with the huge upset today in the FA cup

Yessir. Wish I understood how that works. Does it have any bearing on their getting promoted? Is it in addition to the regular season games?

Originally posted by Janitor:
The Reyna family is a mess:

"The parents of a US men's soccer star are at the center of a bizarre scandal that's threatened to tarnish his coach's reputation, a new report says"

"US Soccer launched an investigation into head coach Gregg Berhalter in December after learning of a domestic violence incident involving himself and his now-wife that took place when they were 18 years old.

As news of the investigation became public on Tuesday, Berhalter took to Twitter to condemn the "apparent effort [by an individual] to leverage something very personal from long ago to bring about the end of my relationship with US Soccer." Still, he offered details about the altercation with his then-girlfriend, admitting that "it became physical and I kicked her in the legs."

A day later, an aggrieved USMNT star's parents have reportedly admitted to disclosing the incident to US Soccer, which sparked the investigation in the first place, ESPN reported."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/parents-us-mens-soccer-star-231033484.html

Ya pretty crazy.

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:

Originally posted by Janitor:
Wrexham with the huge upset today in the FA cup

Yessir. Wish I understood how that works. Does it have any bearing on their getting promoted? Is it in addition to the regular season games?

It's basically an in season tournament involving teams from even the bottom divisions. Doesn't affect promotions.

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:
Yessir. Wish I understood how that works. Does it have any bearing on their getting promoted? Is it in addition to the regular season games?

The FA Cup is the oldest knockout tournament in the world, first held in 1871/72. It involves teams from throughout the pyramid, from the Premier League down to essentially amateur teams, each level comes in at a different stage, the top teams enter in the 3rd round, some teams need to win maybe 5 games to reach that stage. The tournament is simply drawn at random, any team can play any other, home or away and is entirely separate to any league competition. This leads to potential 'giant killing', a big club being drawn away at a much smaller club, that is the true beauty of the FA Cup, on the day any team can beat any other. Sadly, the increasing power of the Premier League and European qualifying has detracted from the tournament in recent years, the very biggest clubs often rest players, occasionally resulting in an upset. The closest analogy to US audiences could be a single game baseball knockout tournament involving MLB down through the pyramid, any team could play any other, drawn at random, one game, 9 innings, winner progresses, so some tiny club in the back of beyond could host the Yankees or Giants. Best team should win, but you never know!

Awesome. Thanks! So the upset yesterday was huuuuggeee.

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:
Awesome. Thanks! So the upset yesterday was huuuuggeee.

Yep, quite an upset, ironically Coventry won the FA Cup in 1987, beating Tottenham in the Final, itself a big upset in a memorable final. Strangely, just 2 years later Coventry lost to Sutton in the 3rd round on one of the very few occasions that a top flight team has lost to a non-league team, one of the true giant killings. I also remember lowly Wrexham beating Arsenal in the early 90s, the Gunners were the reigning English League Champions, a massive upset.

Originally posted by redrose49er:

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:
Awesome. Thanks! So the upset yesterday was huuuuggeee.

Yep, quite an upset, ironically Coventry won the FA Cup in 1987, beating Tottenham in the Final, itself a big upset in a memorable final. Strangely, just 2 years later Coventry lost to Sutton in the 3rd round on one of the very few occasions that a top flight team has lost to a non-league team, one of the true giant killings. I also remember lowly Wrexham beating Arsenal in the early 90s, the Gunners were the reigning English League Champions, a massive upset.

Guessing you are in the British Isles, Redrose. Who is your team?

I follow Wrexham after watching the show. Also, the Welsh are cool.

Originally posted by GoreGoreGore:

Originally posted by Janitor:
The Reyna family is a mess:

"The parents of a US men's soccer star are at the center of a bizarre scandal that's threatened to tarnish his coach's reputation, a new report says"

"US Soccer launched an investigation into head coach Gregg Berhalter in December after learning of a domestic violence incident involving himself and his now-wife that took place when they were 18 years old.

As news of the investigation became public on Tuesday, Berhalter took to Twitter to condemn the "apparent effort [by an individual] to leverage something very personal from long ago to bring about the end of my relationship with US Soccer." Still, he offered details about the altercation with his then-girlfriend, admitting that "it became physical and I kicked her in the legs."

A day later, an aggrieved USMNT star's parents have reportedly admitted to disclosing the incident to US Soccer, which sparked the investigation in the first place, ESPN reported."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/parents-us-mens-soccer-star-231033484.html

Ya pretty crazy.

Reyna's parents mad that Team USA didnt let him play because of his laziness.

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:
Guessing you are in the British Isles, Redrose. Who is your team?

I follow Wrexham after watching the show. Also, the Welsh are cool.

Yep, good old Blighty. Born and bred in Blackburn, Lancashire so a Blackburn Rovers supporter. If you watch Netflix's "The English Game", most of that is based on the early days of the FA Cup and the rise of the working class teams from the north, Blackburn being probably the main protagonists.

Originally posted by redrose49er:

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:
Guessing you are in the British Isles, Redrose. Who is your team?

I follow Wrexham after watching the show. Also, the Welsh are cool.

Yep, good old Blighty. Born and bred in Blackburn, Lancashire so a Blackburn Rovers supporter. If you watch Netflix's "The English Game", most of that is based on the early days of the FA Cup and the rise of the working class teams from the north, Blackburn being probably the main protagonists.

nice! Cheers!