A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

I like that scoring system. Not sure what I think about the offside line, though. I'll look into it later.

Meanwhile, Sevilla have come from behind to get 2-1 ahead in the Europa League final against Dnipro.

Fingers crossed the FIFA arrests lead to the World Cup being transferred. They've said it won't, but I'm not convinced this is over yet. Hope its in England - I'd be all over tickets for that.

2-2 at half time. Dnipro are being quite brave.

EDIT: And 2-3. Sevilla are the first second team to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League Bacca-to-Bacca.

edited 27th May '15 1:52:53 PM by Quag15

Thoroughly deserved. Dnipro were entertaining when they were behind but as soon as they caught up they looked like they were more intent on fouling Sevilla players than they were on actually getting or keeping the ball, let alone scoring. After Sevilla went ahead again Dnipro were already out of steam and had to struggle just to keep from going further behind.

The injury towards the end was not nice, though. I hope Matheus is OK.

I'm hoping this raises enough hell to end Blatter's reign.

Well done to Sevilla. Once they equalized, there really wasn't any doubt that the Spaniards would pull it off. It should be interesting to see five Spanish teams in the Champions League next year, especially since people tend to focus on the big three (Real, Barca, and Atletico) when they think of La Liga. Question now is if Barca will follow suit next week with a win against Juve...

Looks like EL PRESIDENTE's re-election is going to go ahead as planned after everyone except the UEFA representative fell into lockstep behind him.

Of course she also went to him and flat-out told him to step down, and he refused.

Too bad.

I guess on the plus side he can't claim that the opposition to his rule is concentrated entirely with "the racist British press" right now.

This is the monster the U.S. DOJ are aiming down FIFA's throat. It's American law's nuclear option, and the reason all the New York crime family heads are serving out life sentences. Blatter and company are fucking doomed unless the Swiss police get to them first.

For an impression of the scale of FIFA's corruption, consider the informant who secretly pled guilty in 2013. He rented out an entire floor of Trump Tower, including a $6,000-per-month apartment for his two cats.

They're really gonna go after them with RICO?

edited 28th May '15 10:20:18 AM by Rosvo1

They are going after them with RICO. Check it.

Hahahahah...get it right up them! Hell mend those bastards.

Speaking of bastards, Rangers play Motherwell in the first leg of the Scottish Championship playoff final tonight.

edited 28th May '15 10:59:34 AM by Achaemenid

EL PRESIDENTE states that he cannot be held responsible for the corruption scandal.

edited 28th May '15 11:09:41 AM by Deadbeatloser22

And according to german newspapers Putin says this is an attack on russia. Ego much, Vladimir?

Well given that Russia stands to potentially lose one of its international penis-waving events, I'd say it is.

Actually, if Russia's behaviour towards FIFA was anything like its behaviour towards UEFA, Vlad might have a point there.

An attack on Russia for participating in vast, obscene corruption is still an attack on Russia, right?

FIFA and Putin screwed? Oh, that would be glorious.

I'm not sure if there would be much of anything closely connecting Putin to Russia's World Cup bid. He just wouldn't want the country's standing as a future World Cup Host to be contested.

The fact that the United States Justice Department is behind this investigation just makes it easier for Putin to feed the Kremlin Propaganda Machine and take a swipe at Russia's "interventionist" American antagonists.

edited 28th May '15 1:56:28 PM by SeanMurrayI

Swiss nationals in FIFA including Blatter himself have been barred from leaving the country, and the FBI has evidence of corruption going back twenty-four years.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's coming home.

Holy. Shit.

This goes without saying but it'd be fantastic to have these people face trial. I don't really care whether it's in Switzerland or the US or anywhere else. Whatever sentences they get they'll presumably not be able to continue in high positions in their confederations; nor will they presumably ever again be fired by any football organisation. (Well, I hope they won't be - but of course there's the chance they'll be reading job offers from Russia or Qatar quite soon.)

RICO is designed to give mob bosses with their own law firms life sentences. If the Americans get Blatter, Russia and Qatar may have to wait a little while to present him a job offer... and possibly start researching necromancy.

In related news, some details on how FIFA bribery works.

So I thought I'd write something about the FA Cup Final.

After so many barren years it did Arsenal a world of good to win a trophy at the end of last season. It got them over a mental barrier that had been plaguing them for a long time. The momentum of that was lost very early this season, however; and it took a massive surge of form in the second half of the season to secure Champions League football for next season and make it to the FA Cup Final again.

Some pundits and rival managers said last season that Arsenal had an easy path to the Final, what with having only home games until the Semi-Final at Wembley (which itself is more of a home for London clubs than those traveling from somewhere else). When you consider that Arsenal's opponents included Everton, Liverpool, Tottenham, and the previous season's champions Wigan (who had beaten Manchester City again) I don't think it's actually fair to say that it was easy.

This season Arsenal have had to travel more, but the opponents have generally been easier. The toughest ones were Manchester United (away) and last season's finalists, Hull City (home).

Aston Villa didn't have a great season but I think they'll put up a fight and quite possibly score first; Arsenal often have problems dealing with Aston Villa's counter-attacks and if Arsenal start the game by driving for a quick goal they might very well be set back by a rapid counter-attack from Villa. The presence of Coquelin is the primary difference between this Arsenal side and the one last season, though, and with him Arsenal are now better equipped to deal with counter-attacks than they have been for years.

It is worth noting that in the previous encounters between the two sides this season Arsenal are ahead 8-0, having won 3-0 away and 5-0 at home. I'll be very surprised if the Cup Final yields similar figures.

Here's the line-up I think Wenger will probably pick:

Szczesny
Debuchy-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Monreal
Coquelin-Cazorla
Ramsey-Özil-Alexis
Giroud

Substitutes:

Ospina, Bellerin, Gabriel, Gibbs, Flamini, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott.

Szczesny will probably start because that's the role of the second-choice 'keeper at Arsenal. Last season everybody knew Fabianski was going to leave but Wenger still persisted with him to the end of the Cup run even through Szczesny was in form. This time Szczesny is struggling to get playing time while Ospina has been very impressive. Wenger wants to give the second 'keeper games, and the Cup is where he does it and everybody accepts it even if it's a Final. Szczesny is very passionate about making his mark in Arsenal's history so he will perceive this as one of the most important games of his career. Hopefully he'll be calm but not overconfident.

Wenger hasn't rotated much recently but now that Debuchy is fit he'll probably return to his preferred right-back option. Bellerin deserves to play, obviously, but so does Debuchy. The latter is more defensive and that's the direction I see Wenger going with his team selection. Gibbs has played recently but just as with the right-back I see Wenger picking the more defensive option and on the left that's Monreal. The centre-backs pick themselves. Since there's only room for one centre-back on the bench it'll be Gabriel; he's ahead of Chambers.

Wenger might be tempted to have Ramsey starting next to Coquelin in the middle but Coquelin and Cazorla have played a lot of games as the anchor of Arsenal's midfield and I don't see Wenger changing a winning formula. Wilshere and Ramsey are the most obvious options here, and the former will probably get to come on somewhere around the 60-minute mark if Arsenal are not more than 2 goals ahead. Coquelin will be taken off for him.

Nothing to say about Özil that hasn't been said before. He's the primary creative outlet of a side that would be the most creative of the league even without him. He has the potential to decide the game if those around him don't falter under pressure.

Alexis is essential. He deserves to play in the Final and to win a trophy in his debut season because he's been brilliant. He's the player I consider least likely to be substituted during the game; but if he is taken off Cazorla or Özil will probably be switched to his position, with Wilshere or Ramsey introduced to the middle of the midfield.

I predict that Wenger will pick Ramsey on the right for balance. The squad is arguably already quite defense-oriented with both full-backs of the more conservative variety, but even then I see Wenger playing it safe. Ramsey isn't at his best of the right but he's still a very good option there. Of course it would make sense to start Walcott and have Ramsey benched but Wenger might see that as too much of a risk. The reward for picking Walcott would probably be very high, though; he scored a hat trick in his previous game (as a centre-forward) and with contract negotiations under way he'll want to impress. If Ramsey is shifted to a central midfield position at any point Walcott will be the obvious replacement; but he'll also be the primary alternative to Giroud, should he be substituted for some reason.

Speaking of Giroud, that's another obvious pick. Before this month he had the best minutes-per-goal ratio of Premier League forwards with over 10 goals or something like that. Currently I think he's second on that statistic after Kane. I saw an article where the author claimed that if Giroud had been fit to play all 38 games with the same average statistics as he had this season - including the slow games recovering from his injury and dealing with fatigue - he would've bagged about 25 goals. He can be a good poacher but his primary role is link-up play and that's where he shines.

I have Flamini on the bench because Arteta has only barely recovered from his injury. Diaby is obviously not in even though he's available. I'd like to believe there's room for Rosicky (maybe for his final game at Arsenal) but alas, there are only 3 spots for midfielders and even with Walcott as an alternative striker I just don't see any of those seats going to Rosicky. Oxlade-Chamberlain will be needed as an option for any of the attacking midfield positions. Wilshere has had a couple of good games and can't be dropped from the bench (in fact many would argue for his inclusion ahead of Cazorla in the starting line-up). Flamini is the only defensive midfield alternative to Coquelin. That leaves no room for another attacking midfield option.

I would prefer to have Walcott starting on the right and Ramsey in the middle, with Cazorla on the bench. That is risky but if Arsenal are geared for attack from the get-go they'll probably control the ball for most of the game and with two defensive-minded full-backs and Coquelin Villa's counter-attacks should be easy enough to contain. As I said, though, I think Wenger will probably play it safe.

Predicted result: 3-1 for Arsenal, with Aston Villa scoring early and Arsenal bagging two goals very late after equalising early in the second half.

The UK's Serious Fraud Office has announced that it, too, has been investigating FIFA for months, and will be happy to lend the Americans and Swiss a hand.

edited 29th May '15 6:17:55 AM by Iaculus