The Football.....

[Beebo]

As excuses go, you can't beat this -

“Brazil was better when their players were womanisers, drunkards and slightly out of shape. In other words, when they were behaving like Catholics,” argued one account on X, describing itself as the “Institute for Hispano Studies” a “think tank”. It claimed that “evangelical Protestant sterilisation has flattened their ball, ruined their samba and obliterated their swag.”

Would the Pope be pleased with the description of catholics?

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Would the Pope be pleased with the description of catholics?

He'd be well aware of it.

 

[Legs]

Would the Pope be pleased with the description of catholics?

That's just the nuns!

 

[Pblakeney]

Scotland actually managed to score a goal and win a match, and other than everyone thinking their fans were good fun, didn't look like they actually belonged in a World Cup.

Something that has seemingly been forgotten, Scotland topped their group so would have qualified for any format.

 

[T4tomo]

Something that has seemingly been forgotten, Scotland topped their group so would have qualified for any format.

I think that comment was born out of sour grapes because Scotland finished above Denmark in said qualifying group.


re expansion / representation:

UEFA only got 3 of the extra 16 places on offer, which I think was fair, the whole point of expansion was to get more representation from the "minor" federations.

I think the African teams are getting stronger, good last 32 representation, less so last 16 but were 5 mins from having 2 quarter finalists.

Brazil are not the team they have been in the past hence only (just) 1 SA team in the quarters albeit 6 SA & CA teams in the last 16.

Asia bombed it with no-one in last 16 vs 2 in 2022.

Net result vs 2022 is there in one extra European team in the quarters at the expense of a South American one (Brazil) vs with Morocco / Argentina being the 2 non euro present at both.

Only England and France made the quarters of both 2022 and 2026, possibly showing European football is more competitive / harder to dominate (just ask Italy!)

 

[Pblakeney]

I think that comment was born out of sour grapes because Scotland finished above Denmark in said qualifying group.

Ah! 💡

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

That's just the nuns!

First school where I was a teacher - the Head was Sister Elizabeth

based on her I can confidently say "not all Nuns"

even the local Bishop was scared of her
and had been heard to comment "in the old days I could have had her burnt at the stake as a witch"

she was scary - but I reckon that God has her down as a direct "Go Straight to Heaven" when she gets to the Pearly Gates

assuming at that stuff is correct that is

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Ah! 💡

Id actually just forgotten, as I didn't follow qualification. The comment was born out of 55 years of being English I think - that and a genuine anger at Scottish football coaching, due to how bad it was when I lived in Edinburgh nearly twenty years ago. 11 year olds shouldn't be playing 11 a side on a full size pitch with full size goals, especially when that pitch is basically three inches of mud. My lad had Bergkamp, Henry and Pires as role models, they were coaching as if Duncan Fergusson was the pinnacle of football. They absolutely didn't want to hear about how other countries were doing it, in case it tuned them gay or something. The coaching back then is why they've got the team they've got now*. My boys tell me Denmark underperformed massively in qualification, and while they haven't produced a Laudrup in a while they've still managed to bang out the odd Eriksen, Damsgaard, Andreas Christensen etc.

*I'm not saying all Scottish players are shite, just that they've got a type. The coaching back then selected for boys that were bigger and stronger earlier, and who could kick a ball hard. Forget the midfield, it's mud, just hoof it up to a big lad who's a bit quick and can run a lot and the poor goalie has no chance 'cos he can't even reach the crossbar with a running jump.

 

[AndyRM]

Id actually just forgotten, as I didn't follow qualification. The comment was born out of 55 years of being English I think - that and a genuine anger at Scottish football coaching, due to how bad it was when I lived in Edinburgh nearly twenty years ago. 11 year olds shouldn't be playing 11 a side on a full size pitch with full size goals, especially when that pitch is basically three inches of mud. My lad had Bergkamp, Henry and Pires as role models, they were coaching as if Duncan Fergusson was the pinnacle of football. They absolutely didn't want to hear about how other countries were doing it, in case it tuned them gay or something. The coaching back then is why they've got the team they've got now*. My boys tell me Denmark underperformed massively in qualification, and while they haven't produced a Laudrup in a while they've still managed to bang out the odd Eriksen, Damsgaard, Andreas Christensen etc.

*I'm not saying all Scottish players are shite, just that they've got a type. The coaching back then selected for boys that were bigger and stronger earlier, and who could kick a ball hard. Forget the midfield, it's mud, just hoof it up to a big lad who's a bit quick and can run a lot and the poor goalie has no chance 'cos he can't even reach the crossbar with a running jump.

Very little has changed, unfortunately.

The emphasis on getting it furrit is infuriating. It doesn't help that anyone who has the temerity to show a bit of skill gets kicked to bits. At the last Killie game I was able to get to, it only took 10 minutes for Findlay Curtis to get halfed.

Until the SFA stop focussing all their attention on the Old Firm for the sake of a pittance of a TV deal nothing will change.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

It's a great shame really, because it was Scotland who invented the passing game in the early years of professional football. Prior to that it was boot it forward and chase it.

When you consider how similarly sized Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic have all qualified from the group stages at the worlds and euros and performed with credit despite having domestic leagues no where near that in Scotland, You have to wonder why the SFA haven't realised that something is seriously wrong up there. And look at the number of world class Scottish players over the years, yet still a shitshow.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

It's a great shame really, because it was Scotland who invented the passing game in the early years of professional football. Prior to that it was boot it forward and chase it.

When you consider how similarly sized Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic have all qualified from the group stages at the worlds and euros and performed with credit despite having domestic leagues no where near that in Scotland, You have to wonder why the SFA haven't realised that something is seriously wrong up there. And look at the number of world class Scottish players over the years, yet still a shitshow.

The world class players of yesteryear were almost certainly created on the streets of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen etc. - just like the England '66 world cup winning team. You get a similar thing with players that came through from playing cage football in various places. To be really good you need to be technical, physical and have a few tricks up your sleeve. But kids today can't play in the street and there aren't enough cages etc. available, so it's in the playground for half an hour at school and then local club training. That makes it absolutely critical to have top class coaching and a footballing development philosophy that emphasises technique over strength/speed.

I can't remember where it was, but someone did a study that showed that professional footballers skewed very much towards people that were the eldest in their cohorts growing up - it was dramatic. In the UK, a September kid is far more likely to be successful than a May kid. This is despite the fact they'll end up the same size as adults. Any decent coaching system should work to try and remove this bias - by focussing on the technical aspects and giving kids space to develop, rather than cynically selecting on performance alone each intake. That also means not focussing on winning matches in youth football, but on developing players. A lot of budding Guardiolas and Fergussons don't like it, they treat every game like the Champions League final.

Sorry, on a rant again, it still smarts all this time later. A succession of coaches failed to noticed my lad could take a high ball down with the outside of his boot and turn on it with a defender up his arse, or that he looked to bring his teammates into the game, but did notice he didn't shoot powerfully and could get kicked off the ball. The one time the coaches did notice him was when he was pissed off with the ref, the opposition, his teammates and his coach and got the red mist. He just ran through an entire team to score. Coach thought he'd turned into Maradona. None of them worked out how to get the best out of him, and most overlooked him for more physical and aggressive players. I'm not saying he was the reincarnation of Michael Laudrup, but because he didn't put himself about he just wasn't on the radar. The qualities he had just weren't prized.

 

[AndyRM]

The world class players of yesteryear were almost certainly created on the streets of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen etc. - just like the England '66 world cup winning team. You get a similar thing with players that came through from playing cage football in various places. To be really good you need to be technical, physical and have a few tricks up your sleeve. But kids today can't play in the street and there aren't enough cages etc. available, so it's in the playground for half an hour at school and then local club training. That makes it absolutely critical to have top class coaching and a footballing development philosophy that emphasises technique over strength/speed.

I can't remember where it was, but someone did a study that showed that professional footballers skewed very much towards people that were the eldest in their cohorts growing up - it was dramatic. In the UK, a September kid is far more likely to be successful than a May kid. This is despite the fact they'll end up the same size as adults. Any decent coaching system should work to try and remove this bias - by focussing on the technical aspects and giving kids space to develop, rather than cynically selecting on performance alone each intake. That also means not focussing on winning matches in youth football, but on developing players. A lot of budding Guardiolas and Fergussons don't like it, they treat every game like the Champions League final.

Sorry, on a rant again, it still smarts all this time later. A succession of coaches failed to noticed my lad could take a high ball down with the outside of his boot and turn on it with a defender up his arse, or that he looked to bring his teammates into the game, but did notice he didn't shoot powerfully and could get kicked off the ball. The one time the coaches did notice him was when he was pissed off with the ref, the opposition, his teammates and his coach and got the red mist. He just ran through an entire team to score. Coach thought he'd turned into Maradona. None of them worked out how to get the best out of him, and most overlooked him for more physical and aggressive players. I'm not saying he was the reincarnation of Michael Laudrup, but because he didn't put himself about he just wasn't on the radar. The qualities he had just weren't prized.

His brother wasn't too shabby either, which is quite unusual.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

His brother wasn't too shabby either, which is quite unusual.

Michael says that Brian was the truly gifted one, but that he was too lazy 😱
Given that Michael was one of the most beautiful players I've ever seen with a ball that's going some.

And if you wonder where he got it from, their dad Finn wasn't bad at all either - this is old footage and a fair amount is V Iceland I think - but stylistically, it's the Laudrup DNA, you could be watching Michael




Michael's two boys both played as well. Mads was OK, played professionally in Denmark - including FCK, then champions, but mainly for smaller clubs and retired in his mid twenties. Andreas was the star, came through the Real Madrid youth system but came back to Copenhagen when his dad moved from Getafe to Moscow. Won a couple of cups and the league with FC Nordsjælland - at time a pretty small club so quite an achievement. He retired age 24 due to rheumatoid arthritis - the docs told him he wouldn't be able to have a kick about with his kids in the garden when he was in his thirties if he carried on.

Brian had a lad playing as well, but all lower league stuff.

We're waiting for Andreas to give us a couple of stars now I think, but he's only 35, so there's time yet!

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

The coaching back then selected for boys that were bigger and stronger earlier, and who could kick a ball hard. Forget the midfield, it's mud, just hoof it up to a big lad who's a bit quick and can run a lot and the poor goalie has no chance 'cos he can't even reach the crossbar with a running jump.

I think you could argue that was also the English approach up until the last decade or two. We were incredibly slow to catch on to what the likes of France/Spain/Germany were doing.

 

[AndyRM]

I think you could argue that was also the English approach up until the last decade or two. We were incredibly slow to catch on to what the likes of France/Spain/Germany were doing.

Wenger deserves a lot of credit for that I think.