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candylandriots

candylandriots

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Fortuna Düsseldorf and Bochum to penalties now after a pretty ridiculous comeback from Bochum starting tonight down 3-0.
 
candylandriots

candylandriots

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Bochum finishes the comeback!

Happy for ex-Unioner Andre Luthe as I think this was his final game - and ends by saving his first team from demotion.
 
candylandriots

candylandriots

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Royal Reader said:
I of course realised you meant the last day of the regular season as soon as I logged off.
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Yeah that’s the one I was thinking of….from full-on pitch invasion to…”oh shit” in just a few minutes. Don’t think I’ll ever see that again.

ESPN+ cut to that while we were celebrating Union’s UCL berth.
 
Royal Reader

Royal Reader

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candylandriots said:
Yeah that’s the one I was thinking of….from full-on pitch invasion to…”oh shit” in just a few minutes. Don’t think I’ll ever see that again.

ESPN+ cut to that while we were celebrating Union’s UCL berth.
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Literally the only comparison I can think of is the Jimmy Glass game.
 
Jimy Hendrix

Jimy Hendrix

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"Professionally" might be doing some false work as a word for the German 6th division, but this rocks nonetheless.
 
InstaFace

InstaFace

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Conditioning, strength and reading space: Probably professional-level. I really wouldn't want to be the Sunday League schlub who had to mark him on D.

Touch (dribbling, passing), tactical awareness: Probably deservedly 6th-tier.

If he spent as much time playing football as playing basketball growing up, maybe he really did have a choice of what to specialize in. Making the NBA from Germany is probably about as hard a bar to clear (in terms of lack of infrastructure to support you / find you) as making the Bundesliga from the USA.
 
Jimy Hendrix

Jimy Hendrix

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the1andonly3003 said:
equivalent to Single A baseball no?
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The further you go down the pyramid, the tiers are no longer fully professionalized, you start getting semipro or even fully amateur teams.

Not sure about the German 6th division specifically, but I suspect it’s more a “we get the post-match beer money covered” level of payouts.

I still love to see it even if that is the case.
 
candylandriots

candylandriots

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Jimy Hendrix said:
The further you go down the pyramid, the tiers are no longer fully professionalized, you start getting semipro or even fully amateur teams.

Not sure about the German 6th division specifically, but I suspect it’s more a “we get the post-match beer money covered” level of payouts.

I still love to see it even if that is the case.
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One of my good friends here is the coach of a 10th division team (though it was the team Antonio Rüdiger started at!). I'm pretty sure that 6th division, having watched a fair bit of 4th and 5th division football here, is semi-pro, at best. Not that it isn't impressive. But yeah, I'd be surprised if there is a 6th division player making more than €10,000 per year (as a wild-ass guess).
 
the1andonly3003

the1andonly3003

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candylandriots said:
One of my good friends here is the coach of a 10th division team (though it was the team Antonio Rüdiger started at!). I'm pretty sure that 6th division, having watched a fair bit of 4th and 5th division football here, is semi-pro, at best. Not that it isn't impressive. But yeah, I'd be surprised if there is a 6th division player making more than €10,000 per year (as a wild-ass guess).
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MLS didn't want to take a flier on him eh
 
Kliq

Kliq

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candylandriots said:
One of my good friends here is the coach of a 10th division team (though it was the team Antonio Rüdiger started at!). I'm pretty sure that 6th division, having watched a fair bit of 4th and 5th division football here, is semi-pro, at best. Not that it isn't impressive. But yeah, I'd be surprised if there is a 6th division player making more than €10,000 per year (as a wild-ass guess).
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I believe Dennis Schroder is making millions per year!
 
Zososoxfan

Zososoxfan

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67YAZ said:
Welp, EPL clubs, save Wolves, have only themselves to blame next season.

View: https://twitter.com/footballontnt/status/1798696881104802275?s=46&t=GfuLFvTYcOxcFiCZjyIYZw
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I watched some random compilation of top 25 EPL goals last night. There were too many individual efforts, and not enough team goals highlighted. But the reason I mention this is because there was a lot of 'keeper getting caught out' goals (e.g., Billing vs. Burnley, Bruno Fernandes vs. Liverpool, etc.) and one thing that those goals offer (and really most of the goals on that list) is that there is no doubt those are good goals, and they just get celebrated by players and fans differently. I think it was on a Spurs podcast but the speaker said (paraphrasing) "VAR has diminished the greatest part of the game" and that's the truth. The standard for VAR review and reversal just needs to be raised significantly and I think that would resolve a lot of issues. We don't demand perfection, just some measures to correct CLEAR AND OBVIOUS mistakes.

One other thing that I think would help a ton, is making most unintentional handballs in the box indirect FKs. Way too many times soft penalties are given for those offenses. There needs to be some room to award a PK for unintentional handling (e.g., when stopping a shot with some likelihood of scoring, perhaps within the penalty box), but otherwise I think the game would be well served with fewer PKs awarded for unintentional handling.
 
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Kliq

Kliq

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Zososoxfan said:
I watched some random compilation of top 25 EPL goals last night. There were too many individual efforts, and not enough team goals highlighted. But the reason I mention this is because there was a lot of 'keeper getting caught out' goals (e.g., Billing vs. Burnley, Bruno Fernandes vs. Liverpool, etc.) and one thing that those goals offer (and really most of the goals on that list) is that there is no doubt those are good goals, and they just get celebrated by players and fans differently. I think it was on a Spurs podcast but the speaker said (paraphrasing) "VAR has diminished the greatest part of the game" and that's the truth. The standard for VAR review and reversal just needs to be raised significantly and I think that would resolve a lot of issues. We don't demand perfection, just some measures to correct CLEAR AND OBVIOUS mistakes.

One other thing that I think would help a ton, is making most unintentional handballs in the box indirect FKs. Way too many times soft penalties are given for those offenses. There needs to be some room to award a PK for unintentional handling (e.g., when stopping a shot with some likelihood of scoring, perhaps within the penalty box, but otherwise I think the game would be well served with fewer PKs awarded for unintentional handling.
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I totally agree that the game needs fewer penalties, especially for infractions that have really nothing to do with preventing a goal scoring opportunity. I'd even extend it to certain fouls in the box.
 
rguilmar

rguilmar

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Zososoxfan said:
I watched some random compilation of top 25 EPL goals last night. There were too many individual efforts, and not enough team goals highlighted. But the reason I mention this is because there was a lot of 'keeper getting caught out' goals (e.g., Billing vs. Burnley, Bruno Fernandes vs. Liverpool, etc.) and one thing that those goals offer (and really most of the goals on that list) is that there is no doubt those are good goals, and they just get celebrated by players and fans differently. I think it was on a Spurs podcast but the speaker said (paraphrasing) "VAR has diminished the greatest part of the game" and that's the truth. The standard for VAR review and reversal just needs to be raised significantly and I think that would resolve a lot of issues. We don't demand perfection, just some measures to correct CLEAR AND OBVIOUS mistakes.

One other thing that I think would help a ton, is making most unintentional handballs in the box indirect FKs. Way too many times soft penalties are given for those offenses. There needs to be some room to award a PK for unintentional handling (e.g., when stopping a shot with some likelihood of scoring, perhaps within the penalty box, but otherwise I think the game would be well served with fewer PKs awarded for unintentional handling.
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Sid Lowe has argued for a while now that an unintended consequence of VAR is the number of penalty reviews. I agree wrt unintentional handballs in the box. He also mentions that players go down more easily in the box now, at the slightest contact, knowing full well that the contact will look worse in super slow motion and a penalty likely given.

There no point now to lamenting about the lost awesomeness of the joy felt when a goal is scored. VAR is out of the bag. I’d be all for reviews having a time limit and being done at full speed. You don’t need slow motion to determine clear and obvious errors.
 
Zososoxfan

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rguilmar said:
Sid Lowe has argued for a while now that an unintended consequence of VAR is the number of penalty reviews. I agree wrt unintentional handballs in the box. He also mentions that players go down more easily in the box now, at the slightest contact, knowing full well that the contact will look worse in super slow motion and a penalty likely given.

There no point now to lamenting about the lost awesomeness of the joy felt when a goal is scored. VAR is out of the bag. I’d be all for reviews having a time limit and being done at full speed. You don’t need slow motion to determine clear and obvious errors.
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2 points re the bolded. First, having a 'booth review' with a cap of 30-45 seconds is badly needed. I get why the system was designed the way it was (watching Peacock's 'The Man in the Middle' was excellent), and there are still probably some instances where the ref on the field should get to take a look, but generally let the booth make the call for the sake of the game (N.B., not the sport necessarily).

And more importantly, I disagree with the sentiment about undoing the damage of VAR. It will take a bit of time, but if VAR reviews occur significantly less often I think we will rediscover that joy and dopamine hit.
 
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67YAZ

67YAZ

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It’s disappointing that the vote was so overwhelming. I don’t know what this means for efforts to make smart revisions to the policy. Maybe this up or down vote is disconnected from the effort to reform VAR, but it would seem a lot more likely if the vote was something like 12-8.
 
swiftaw

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My big complaint is that if something is “clear and obvious” is should take no more than 5 seconds watching the video at normal speed to detect. If you have to do super slo-mo or pause the video then it’s not clear and obvious.
 
the1andonly3003

the1andonly3003

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67YAZ

67YAZ

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Kliq said:
I'd be fascinated to listen to that conversation. It really does look like Pep is trying to show Mazzula some strategy he has.
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I dug up this Athletic piece from Feb about Joe growing up playing soccer and studying City for inspiration this season. Interesting stuff.
 
the1andonly3003

the1andonly3003

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Kliq said:
I'd be fascinated to listen to that conversation. It really does look like Pep is trying to show Mazzula some strategy he has.
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As if he pulled Kyle Walker, Silva or Grealish aside after they scored a goal and Pep wants to fix something. We need a video.

This reminds me of the story from the early 2010s via MiB of when Pep was in West Chester, PA reffing a U10 match, and he started coaching the kids during the match
 
InstaFace

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Zososoxfan said:
And more importantly, I disagree with the sentiment about undoing the damage of VAR. It will take a bit of time, but if VAR reviews occur significantly less often I think we will rediscover that joy and dopamine hit.
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A change in the offside rule to the Wenger variation (attacker's whole body has to be past the defender's whole body to be in offside position) would also restore a bunch of "joy at unambiguously good goals". Because many of the marginal, "back of the shoe might or might not be level with the other guy" line-drawing fiascos that take 5 minutes and take away a goal where the attacker, in truth, really enjoyed no advantage from starting the play behind the defense, will suddenly not become violations (or reviews). Only plays where the guy really was not just slightly ahead of the defender but a full step past him will get ruled out.

FIFA has urged IFAB to adopt that rule change as soon as possible, I think I saw.
 
speedracer

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the stands for this Portugal-Croatia friendly are about half full. Shame because it’s an entertaining match and beautiful venue
 
Morgan's Magic Snowplow

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Wolves and Palace are the latest clubs to sign major sponsorship deals with shady Asian betting companies that don't really exist and are likely linked to some form of organized crime. City was the trail blazer for this. The whole thing is ridiculous and these are the logos that can on shirts and pitch side billboards. I've read similar investigations into City's "Asian gambling partner" but this thread is a doozy on Palace's new sponsor.

https://x.com/uglygame/status/1800900262498091518
 
SoxFanInCali

SoxFanInCali

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I thought the Premier League banned gambling companies from being shirt sponsors?

Ah, apparently it doesn't go into effect until after the 25/26 season. I think that was because that's how long someone's active deal lasted. Surprised they didn't ban new deals from being signed.
 
OCST

OCST

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SoxFanInCali said:
I thought the Premier League banned gambling companies from being shirt sponsors?

Ah, apparently it doesn't go into effect until after the 25/26 season. I think that was because that's how long someone's active deal lasted. Surprised they didn't ban new deals from being signed.
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God, I can't wait. I think the real cutoff between the haves and have-nots in the PL is "is the club big enough to have a non-gambling sponsor." It seems shameful to have some crappy bet site as the sponsor.
 
the1andonly3003

the1andonly3003

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Cleaning up real old e-mails, and found one for ticket sales for Liverpool-Roma from 2012. Their pitch?
A rematch of the 1984 European Cup final, this is one of several premiere events being held during the ballpark's 100th anniversary celebration.
Tickets start at just $20 and go on sale to the general public today.
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rguilmar

rguilmar

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Nick Kaufman

Nick Kaufman

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A Lost Time
Suarez' "who me?" reaction at the red card should have garnered at least an academy award nomination.
 
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