Association Football 2023/2024 Discussion Thread

[Donerail]

Messi to the MLS is probably not gonna happen but would be very funny, especially because he'd be playing in a country that Ronaldo is legally unable to enter

[Donerail]

Messi to the MLS is probably not gonna happen but would be very funny, especially because he'd be playing in a country that Ronaldo is legally unable to enter

Hold up.....please explain to me why Cristiano Ronaldo is not allowed to enter the United States, when I think he has apartments in NYC, what is happening?

He allegedly raped a woman and then paid her a massive sum of money to sign an NDA. It's an ongoing story; it's why Juventus didn't play any exhibition matches in the US a couple years ago, for instance.

[Donerail]

Why doesn't Harry Kane come to play in the US, he should play for the LA Galaxy, it would give American soccer a boost.

Because his current contract pays him nearly as much as the LA Galaxy's entire annual payroll, and he wants to leave Tottenham to make even more money.

[Donerail]

Utter carnage in Nice-Marseille. The worst fan violence I’ve seen in a while, not to mention some of the players going at it and Jorge Sampaoli going totally berserk. There have surely got to be hefty sanctions for both teams, but Nice in particular.

Given this appears to be Nice fans, forced relegation for Nice has to be the minimum here. Forced relegation multiple divisions should be considered.

No one on the planet will ever embrace the draconian punishments you have suggested for all variety of sporting misbehavior.

[Donerail]

Group E
Lazio [ITA]
Marseille [FRA]
Galatasaray [TUR]
Lokomotiv Moscow [RUS]

Now that's a group of death.

[Donerail]

Group E
Lazio [ITA]
Marseille [FRA]
Galatasaray [TUR]
Lokomotiv Moscow [RUS]

Now that's a group of death.

Group B (Monaco, PSV, Real Sociedad, Graz) is arguably tougher, although Graz are weaker than Lokomotiv. PSV thrashed Galatasaray on aggregate in UCL qualifying.

Not that kind of death

[Donerail]

Not that kind of death

I don't get it

I think Donerail is referring to the, uh, reputation of the fans of those clubs.

Oh yes, with Marseille being the worst

I'd pull for a yellow dog if it was playing against Marseille

Gala and the Russians aren't slouches but that Marseille-Lazio match is gonna be absolute war

[Donerail]

U.S National Team really having trouble beating their fellow CONCACAF teams at the moment. Following the draw against El Salvador, the U.S can't beat Canada either, dropping points with a 1-1 draw.

This is a planned commercial tie-in with Apple TV's hit series Ted Lasso. Nothing to be concerned about.

[Donerail]

LOL American media are saying USA is similar in quality as England. Some have specifically singled out Harry Maguire as a weak link.

While yes, Maguire sucks and is a weak link, but this is f**king fantasy based off a very lucky result for the US in 2010.

Unless Scotland manages to beat both Wales and Ukraine, the U.S should finish in a comfortable second in Group B (lose to England, defeat both Iran and the June Playoff winner). That would be enough to advance to the knockout round.

What happened the last time the USMNT faced Iran in the World Cup?

[Donerail]

Unless Scotland manages to beat both Wales and Ukraine, the U.S should finish in a comfortable second in Group B (lose to England, defeat both Iran and the June Playoff winner). That would be enough to advance to the knockout round.

What happened the last time the USMNT faced Iran in the World Cup?

That was in 1998, and the U.S lost 2-1, however, we've come a long way as a football nation since.

So has Iran. They're not a bad team — performed well against Spain and Portugal in 2018, basically level with the USMNT in the Elo rankings. Not a guaranteed win by any means.

[Donerail]

Cagliari, which is hovering just above relegation in Serie B just made an amazing hire to replace the recently sacked Fabio Liverani, bringing in Claudio Ranieri.

Ranieri's got an English Premier League title (Leicester City's miracle run in 2015-16), and assuming he can bring Cagliari into the promotion playoffs (in addition to only being three points above relegation, they are only four points back of Ternana, the bottom team in the Serie B promotion playoff), he might be able to bring them promotion, and maybe recreate his Leicester City miracle with Cagliari.

One would think the more relevant parallel here is the time he took Cagliari from Serie C to Serie A. Perhaps he can recreate his Cagliari miracle with Cagliari?