General Soccer Thread

[thrill]

Maybe someday he'll be in a World Cup. Every federation sends refs, and CONCACAF (us) is notoriously weak with refs.

[MrSaigon]

Got back from the Timbers final home game. What a let down. They didn't play well, and the reffing was absolute horse [expletive]. Playoffs are out.

But what a fantastic season. Such a great experience being at those games. I hope we turn some of that turnstile cheddar into quality Timbers next season. Sprinkle them in with a good young core and I think we could be pretty dangerous next year.

Ole!

"We are already looking at three to four guys who will be big, big additions in this offseason," (fortunate son, but badass owner) Paulson said... "We think we are four players or so away from really improving and taking it to the next level, and two years away from really being on everybody's mind for a national championship."

"We need another strong defender and more goals from our front players – you can interpret that how you'd like," (GM) Wilkinson said. "We need our wide players to finish more. Our wide players, they are all fantastic players who will hopefully be with us for a long time, but ultimately, we need them scoring goals. And we need our front two hitting 10 goals every year... each."

Unlike most sports owners, Paulson has no day job/business, so this is very encouraging to hear.

[robbotis]

Dude Robbotis! Rumor is that Juventus (and AC Milan) are sniffing around Brek Shea.

Whoa, I haven't heard that.
That'd be awesome!
Please go to Juve. I don't want to hate you Shea, but I will if you go to Milan...
I could see him get some tick as a backup winger at Juve, and that would be awesome! He'd fit well, as basically a young, Krasic like player.

[thrill]

Dude Robbotis! Rumor is that Juventus (and AC Milan) are sniffing around Brek Shea.

Whoa, I haven't heard that.
That'd be awesome!
Please go to Juve. I don't want to hate you Shea, but I will if you go to Milan...
I could see him get some tick as a backup winger at Juve, and that would be awesome! He'd fit well, as basically a young, Krasic like player.

It makes sense with every transfer window coming out with a new rumor about Manchester United sniffing around Krasic. They want to hold on to him, but Shea is a decent long-term back up plan.

[robbotis]

Dude Robbotis! Rumor is that Juventus (and AC Milan) are sniffing around Brek Shea.

Whoa, I haven't heard that.
That'd be awesome!
Please go to Juve. I don't want to hate you Shea, but I will if you go to Milan...
I could see him get some tick as a backup winger at Juve, and that would be awesome! He'd fit well, as basically a young, Krasic like player.

It makes sense with every transfer window coming out with a new rumor about Manchester United sniffing around Krasic. They want to hold on to him, but Shea is a decent long-term back up plan.

You are right.
Both are tall, fast, creative players.
I'd love Juve to keep Krasic. But if they can sell him, sign Shea, and then use that cash for a CB(Alves or Juan) or ST(I'm looking at you, TEVEZ). I'd be OK w/ that. Juve's looking like a top team in Serie A as is, so I hope they don't tinker too much right now.

[MrSaigon]

So I was reading about Mario Balotelli, who recently set his house on fire and seems to be an ass. I had no idea the racism he faces was so nasty. When he suits up for Italy he has racist things shouted at him every time he touches the ball... from the Italian fans. I'd like to think that fans holding a banner that said 'No to a multi-ethnic national team' wouldn't be allowed to stick around and watch the game in any country. When he played at Internazionale, Juventes fans were so awfully racist that home fans were banned for a game. They shouted racist things (like 'Black Italians don't exist) about him even when they weren't playing his team.

Damn.

Hope things are a little better for him at Man City on that front, and also on his own maturity front.

Man Derby tomorrow. Should be great.

[lukethedrifter]

Nephew is 9-3-3 with 7 clean sheets as a freshman shutting out #1 UConn yesterday.

[MrSaigon]

Good Lord.
Man City 6-1 ManU at Old Trafford.
Worst home defeat in the Premier League era.
Balotelli's probably singing, 'We don't need no water let the mother [expletive] burn.'

Awesome, IMO.

[thrill]

Did you see Balotelli's shirt? Lol. He's soccer T.O.

[MrSaigon]

Yeah, he's an ass, but I was kind of bummed he didn't get a chance to finish his hat trick, and damn, it's hard to put that past happening the way that game finished.