Premiere League & World Soccer Thread

[WestTennesseeVol]

I’ve been watching some CONCACAF Nations League lately, and it’s fascinating to see some of the stadiums on these tiny island nations. Beautiful scenery with a subpar stadium surrounded by slums.

 

[ButchPlz]

VAMOS PERU CARAJO

 

[ButchPlz]

Peru just sloppy as all get out so far. No urgency. They're faster and more skilled than Australia but are getting royally outplayed.

 

[mad4vols]

Peru just sloppy as all get out so far. No urgency. They're faster and more skilled than Australia but are getting royally outplayed.

Looks like it will be decided by penalty kicks

 

[ButchPlz]

Ref taking control for some reason.

 

[The Dog]

PKs for Peru and the Socceroos

 

[ButchPlz]

About to puke.

This could be the single most disappointing sporting week of the last decade for me.

 

[ButchPlz]

GALLESE

 

[ButchPlz]

This Australian GK is pissing me off.

 

[ButchPlz]

Australia GK way off his line and got away with it.

 

[ButchPlz]

Aussie goalkeeper off his line twice on that shootout and the refs (and replay) let it go. Don't have a rule and give warnings if you aren't going to enforce the ****.

 

[ButchPlz]

Too many missed chances by the Peruvians. Don't close out, you risk losing.

 

[The Dog]

I was for Peru or a Gonzales goal, at least. But damnit, Socceroos is a great nickname and 4 straight World Cups is pretty impressive, considering 2 years in a row, they had to win, at least 3 do or die qualifiers

 

[WestTennesseeVol]

Costa Rica - New Zealand tomorrow at 2 EST.

I just scrolled through the OFC qualifying matches and holy cow, New Zealand basically plays no one that should even score a goal on them. I get that if they moved to AFC, they’d probably never qualify and this way, at least their biggest obstacle is a one off match against a CONCACAF team, but still, hard to argue that it’s “fair play.”

 

[mad4vols]

Who predicted that Hungary would be leading this group of teams after 4 matches?

 

[Nash_Vol97]

Who predicted that Hungary would be leading this group of teams after 4 matches?

View attachment 464143

Definitely didn’t see it coming, but not completely surprised that some top teams are having issues. A lot of top players complaining about having to play Nations League and only getting like a months rest or less before pre-season starts. A lot of players checked out mentally and a lot of younger players getting opportunities.

 

[bleedorange0037]

Lot of smoke around the possibility of Everton being sold in the coming days. Not really sure how I feel about it.

Our current owner has been a disaster, and we lost one of our primary financial backers when he was sanctioned by the UK government earlier this year over the war in Ukraine.

The most interested group seems to be a consortium of Americans, which is already a bad start as time and again American businessmen have proven not to really understand the English game and just generally be poor owners. Also there’s the small detail of one of the guys in the group being pretty tight with Steve Bannon.

Then there’s a group of Saudis, who I don’t know much about, but doubt reading into them will make me feel any better.

The bottom line is probably that nobody who has the money to buy a Premier League team at this point is likely to arrive with a spotless reputation, and Everton probably just need to move on from the current ownership.

 

[WestTennesseeVol]

Lot of smoke around the possibility of Everton being sold in the coming days. Not really sure how I feel about it.

Our current owner has been a disaster, and we lost one of our primary financial backers when he was sanctioned by the UK government earlier this year over the war in Ukraine.

The most interested group seems to be a consortium of Americans, which is already a bad start as time and again American businessmen have proven not to really understand the English game and just generally be poor owners. Also there’s the small detail of one of the guys in the group being pretty tight with Steve Bannon.

Then there’s a group of Saudis, who I don’t know much about, but doubt reading into them will make me feel any better.

The bottom line is probably that nobody who has the money to buy a Premier League team at this point is likely to arrive with a spotless reputation, and Everton probably just need to move on from the current ownership.

Wes Edens - Wikipedia

If it makes you feel better, this is one of Villa’s majority owners and by all indications, is doing a great job so far.

 

[mad4vols]

 

[Nash_Vol97]

Lot of smoke around the possibility of Everton being sold in the coming days. Not really sure how I feel about it.

Our current owner has been a disaster, and we lost one of our primary financial backers when he was sanctioned by the UK government earlier this year over the war in Ukraine.

The most interested group seems to be a consortium of Americans, which is already a bad start as time and again American businessmen have proven not to really understand the English game and just generally be poor owners. Also there’s the small detail of one of the guys in the group being pretty tight with Steve Bannon.

Then there’s a group of Saudis, who I don’t know much about, but doubt reading into them will make me feel any better.

The bottom line is probably that nobody who has the money to buy a Premier League team at this point is likely to arrive with a spotless reputation, and Everton probably just need to move on from the current ownership.

American owners definitely get a bad rep, and some of it is definitely earned, but there are some success stories too. Liverpool is owned by an American group and they have done a really good job.

I was weary of it too for Chelsea but I liked that Todd Boehly has proven with the Dodgers that he wants to win above all and it was written into the deal that he couldn’t take dividends out of the club for 10 years… aka, the Glaziers clause. I thought that was a good move. He’s also tried to surround himself with English personnel on the board which I think was smart to get that perspective. So I think this type of approach from an American owner can work out well for an English club.

I would probably hope that it’s not the Saudi’s if I was an Everton fan. Lots of money, but lots of bad press and issues as well. I was happy when Chelsea cut out the Saudi group in the first trim of the bidders list.

 

[bleedorange0037]

Fixtures for the coming season out this morning. Arsenal @ Palace on Friday evening of August 5 to open the season. Last weekend of games on November 12 before the WC break with the league to resume on Boxing Day.

 

[WestTennesseeVol]

Let’s go!

 

[Nash_Vol97]

Fixtures for the coming season out this morning. Arsenal @ Palace on Friday evening of August 5 to open the season. Last weekend of games on November 12 before the WC break with the league to resume on Boxing Day.

Everton vs Chelsea @ Everton to start the season. Will Everton be moved into their new stadium at this point?

 

[VolunteerHillbilly]

After a lot of initial exuberance, things got really quiet on Nashville being a strong contender to host in 2026. Then, today, pretty much all local news sources are tamping down expectations, which I assume comes straight from the convention and visitors bureau/commission. Lots of people suggesting that the possibility of having construction of a domed stadium ongoing on adjacent land has killed it for us. Just one more reason to let my disinterest in the Titans turn into dislike.

 

[NorCalVol67]

Looking through the list earlier, these are my guesses.

Dallas, Atlanta, NJ, Boston, LA, Miami, Philly, Santa Clara, Seattle, Baltimore