Soccer Thread

[Cigaro]

I seriously doubt it has anything to do with money at all. I think it may actually have more do with Iniesta winning the award; he may feel at Real for whatever reason he is not given the chance to win those types of awards. Perhaps he wants to be THE guy, while at Madrid he just doesn't feel like that.

[Rob S]

Originally Posted by Jughead10

Saturday as in two days ago? One day after the transfer window closed.

Yeah, that was the report.

[Rob S]

I think he is just pouting due to being frozen out by some of his teammates and not being paid what he feels he deserves. Whatever, he's a *****.

[SuperPacker]

Originally Posted by Cigaro

I seriously doubt it has anything to do with money at all. I think it may actually have more do with Iniesta winning the award; he may feel at Real for whatever reason he is not given the chance to win those types of awards. Perhaps he wants to be THE guy, while at Madrid he just doesn't feel like that.

He's said that it's not about the award and that Iniesta deserved it.

[Cigaro]

Originally Posted by SuperPacker

He's said that it's not about the award and that Iniesta deserved it.

What someone like him says in public does not always equate to what they actually think. That being said, I guess I should clarify what I meant. He may indeed be sincere in thinking Iniesta deserved it, but he may also think that if he were in a different situation than Real he would be in a position to beat out Iniesta. But it have to do with more locker room type issues, that in Real Madrid's squad of superstars he thinks he is not valued enough.

[thefalconer]

zenit's gonna snatch him up.

[Rob S]

Interesting that Chelsea let Meireles go.....they are a little thin in midfield now.

[Jughead10]

Originally Posted by Rob S

Interesting that Chelsea let Meireles go.....they are a little thin in midfield now.

Yeah I am surprised both Essien and Meireles left. I figured it would one or the other unless one was used to to get a world class striker.

[Giantsfan1080]

I don't think it's going to hurt them. They still have good depth at mid.

[Cigaro]

I personally don't think Meireles is any good at all and Essien is always hurt. Those moves hurt the quantity, but not the quality.

[Rosebud]

Witsel joining Hulk in St. Petersburg. Zenit actually could go pretty far in CL. Russia's on a "normal" european schedule so their teams are no longer in the middle of their offseason during the biggest matches in europe, they have a great homefield advantage, and a really strong squad that'll boss the middle of the pitch, toss a brutal defense behind that and I'm thinking QFs is a reasonable target for this year.

[SuperPacker]

[Cigaro]

Originally Posted by SuperPacker

Reasons Ronaldo is sad;

-Marcelo accidentally called him "Leo."
-Xabi Alonso said that "anyone who doesn't watch 'Breaking Bad' is an idiot" and Cristiano does not watch "Breaking Bad."
-Seeing Iker Casillas cry so many times has made him depressed.
-He's worried that if Kaka leaves, they won't be able to hang out on Real Madrid Resort Island together.
-He just found out that Kaka doesn't really exist and he is the only one who can see him.
-Luka Modric's physical appearance is upsetting to him.
-He got really freaked out by Michael Essien calling Jose Mourinho "daddy."
-Karim Benzema asked if his girlfriend, Irina Shayk, will leave him for Andres Iniesta now.
-Jose Callejon said that Jose Callejon has the best hair on the team and didn't realize Cristiano was standing right behind him the whole time.
-Ricardo Carvalho being tossed aside like a dead gold fish that is still very much alive.
-The rest of the team keeps asking him why he's nice to Fabio Coentrao and they all roll their eyes when he says they're friends.
-Sergio Ramos said something Sergio Ramosy.
-Sergio Ramos offered to kick his favorite ball to him from across the training pitch, but ended up kicking it into the ocean instead.
-Sergio Ramos ate the sandwich his mom packed him for lunch 16 days in a row.
-Sergio Ramos accidentally erased all the songs on his iPod.
-Sergio Ramos accidentally adopted his son and renamed him "Herman Jr."
-Sergio Ramos.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer...4022--sow.html

[Cigaro]

This is utterly ridiculous;



Porto know how to play their role very, very well.

[Rosebud]

That chart doesn't account for all of the money going to third parties. Porto got just a fraction of that.

[Cigaro]

Originally Posted by Rosebud

That chart doesn't account for all of the money going to third parties. Porto got just a fraction of that.

As far as I am aware, third parties usually only own a minority percentage of a player's rights, so Porto would still be bringing in a majority of the figures listed. Regardless, that is a masterful working of the transfer market by Porto.

[Caddy]

I think a lot of it has to do with it being one of only 2 maybe 3 clubs in Portugal that is worth a damn. Any talented youngster is going to head straight for Porto as a junior and I think a lot of that might be more to do with circumstance than actual skill and ability.

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by Cigaro

As far as I am aware, third parties usually only own a minority percentage of a player's rights, so Porto would still be bringing in a majority of the figures listed. Regardless, that is a masterful working of the transfer market by Porto.

Not always, many times players rights are majority owned by an agency, this happens a lot with Brazil players moving to Portugal. That leads to a low "buying" fee for the portuguese clubs, but when a big club buys their rights they buy the third party's shares to and so have to pay a much higher fee than the portuguese clubs bringing them in. I'll see if I can find the article I was reading about this.

[thefalconer]

Originally Posted by Rosebud

I'll see if I can find the article I was reading about this.

http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2010...-strategy.html

Much of this is down to Porto’s world-class scouting network, which is especially formidable in South America. They need to search far and wide for promising prospects, as they cannot afford to pay top dollar for foreign players, though they address this financial weakness in an innovative way by sharing the player’s rights with an agency, which means that they do not have to fund a transfer in one fell swoop.

For example, in April 2005, Porto bought 50% of the sporting rights of Lisandro Lopez (from Racing Club) and Lucho Gonzalez (from River Plate) with the remaining 50% only acquired in season 2007/08. Clearly, this type of deal is a double-edged sword, as it means that any future profits are shared proportionally with the agency, but it does reduce Porto’s initial outlay and de-risks their activities in the transfer market.

[jrdrylie]

Did anyone watch the US game last night. I saw they lost to Jamaica and I wanted to know how bad they looked.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by jrdrylie

Did anyone watch the US game last night. I saw they lost to Jamaica and I wanted to know how bad they looked.

Lots of stupid penalties. We gave up TWO free kicks on ******* idiotic tackles. Donovan didn't play, either.

[Rob S]

They bossed us in MF without Bradley. It was bad.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by Rob S

They bossed us in MF without Bradley. It was bad.

as much **** as he gets at times, he's a really effective MF for us.

[Rob S]

Bradley is awesome. Easily our 4th best player imo.

[dabears10]

Originally Posted by Rob S

Bradley is awesome. Easily our 4th best player imo.

I think he is the most important player. I was real hard on him early in his career and hated his decision making passing the ball. He has become superb at that and really made me do a 180 on him.