A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

Champions League matches ended a little while ago:

In group E, Sevilla won 3-0 against Maribor with a hat-trick by Ben Yedder, while Spartak Moscow and Liverpool drew 1-1 (goals here, by Fernando and Coutinho.

Group F: Manchester City won 2-0 against Shakhtar Donetsk (goals here, plus a penalty by Aguero that was saved), while Napoli won 3-1 against Feyenoord.

Group G: Porto categorically won 3-0 at Monaco, with 2 goals by Aboubakar and one by Layun, in a match where Falcao had an unlucky collision with one of Porto's players that made him bled a little from the corner of his forehead. Besiktas won 2-0 against Red Bull Leipzig (goals here, including one by Talisca which was assisted with a classic Quaresma trivelacross - he turns 34 today).

And yes, Porto beat Monaco by the same amount of goals as the 2004 final against them◊.

Group H: Real Madrid won 3-1 at Dortmund's stadium (goals here, including two by Ronaldo, while Harry Kane won 3-0 at APOEL's stadium.

EDIT: Looks like I won't be able to find all the goals, since various streamable links are being taken down.

edited 26th Sep '17 2:27:16 PM by Quag15

Chelsea played very well but in the end have to settle for a draw despite outshooting and out-possessing the home side by quite a large margin. Morata’s latest headed goal brought the Blues back on level terms in the second half, soon after which Fabregas missed a wide open net.

Frustrating in a way, but an excellent performance overall.

Nevermind. Carefree.

More Champions matches today:

In group A, lots of goals. Manchester United won 4-1 at Moscow against CSKA (goals here). And Basel won against Benfica... by 5-0 (goals by Lang, Oberlin, penalty by Wolfswinkel, Oberlin again, and Riveros. Benfica were down to 10 men at a certain point, courtesy of André Almeida. This is what happens when a club sells their quality defensive players and don't properly replace them.

Group B: Two 3-0's. PSG won 3-0 against Bayern (!) and Celtic won 3-0 at Anderlecht's stadium.

Group C: Atletico lost at home against Chelsea 1-2 (goals here, including a last-minute goal by Batshuayi. Qarabag lost at homme against Roma by the same result (goals by Manolas, Dzeko and Pedro Henrique.

Group D: Juventus comfortably won 2-0 at home against Olympiakos (goals by Higuain and Mandzukic. Sporting lost 0-1 at home against Barcelona, due to an unlucky own goal by Coates. Which is a pity, considering Sporting had a solid game plan that managed to annul Messi's space while not allowing the other Barça players to have it as a form of compensation, and had a couple of chances that could have given them the draw.

edited 27th Sep '17 2:11:32 PM by Quag15

This can be yours to own on eBay: One of the original replicas of the Copa America Centenario Trophy (0 bids starting at $75,000 at the time of this posting).

Univision were the recipients of one of four replicas of the "golden urn" won by Chile last summer, and now they're hoping to use it to raise money for charity to support those affected by the Mexico City earthquake.

Chelsea's fans were the most likely to support Brexit among Premier League supporters. A majority of them mentioning immigration as the reason for the decision.

For the record, Conte (a non-English EU citizen himself) fielded eight (!) non-English EU players in his starting XI in Madrid on Tuesday (unless I'm mistaken: Courtois, Azpi, Kanté, Bakayoko, Hazard, Fabregas, Morata, Alonso).

On the other hand, Brighton & Hove Albion fans voted at 82% fpr Remain. I know who I'll be rooting for now (that, and Brighton was a lovely city to visit). Remain was favored at 77% in Liverpool (...although Everton fans mostly voted Leave), 66% in Arsenal, and 62% in United.

Tottenham are another team supported by Leavers, while City is split 50-50.

On another note, Deschamps somehow picked Sissoko and Payet over Martial and Fekir to play in Bulgaria. If we don't win it, I hope he gets sacked.

edited 28th Sep '17 6:03:25 AM by Julep

Ancelotti and Bayern Munich have parted ways. Yesterday's defeat was the last drop of water.

Europa League matches today. We're gonna face Konyaspor at Konya, with us rotating GK's (Douglas stays at home, Miguel Silva gets a second opportunity after the relatively poor performance early in the season), and there are probably a couple of rotations in the starting XI in other positions (probably upfront).

Konyaspor had a bad start to the season, just like us, but they seem to be on the recovery road properly yet (they have 6 points in their league, while we have 10 in ours).

Some tasty matches today: Zenit vs Real Sociedad, Östersund vs Hertha Berlin, Red Bull Salzburg vs Marseille, Lyon vs Atalanta, AC Milan vs. Rijeka, Ludogorets Razgrad vs Hoffenheim, Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Villareal.

The third round of the Portuguese Cup round has been drawn. We're gonna play against Vasco [da] Gama (a third-tier/fourth-tier side, not to be confused with the Brazilian team, obviously).

edited 28th Sep '17 7:47:09 AM by Quag15

Arsenal are in Belarus for tonight's game against BATE. I'll miss most of the first half because it's at the same time I and my girlfriend have reserved the sauna in the building, and while it would take a lot for me to miss a league game, I'm willing to miss part of a Europa League game for sauna.

Wenger says he'll not start with a side that's largely made up of youngsters. Instead, it'll be quite a lot of experience, but since Arsenal also have 2 league games this week, many players will be rested. BATE are a good side, and since Arsenal will be playing a squad that's mostly backup players, I think it'll be 1-1.

Ospina
Chambers Mertesacker Holding
Maitland-Niles Elneny Wilshere Dasilva
Walcott Nelson
Giroud

That's more youngsters than I'd pick, but with Arsenal's injuries and fixture congestion, there are several positions where you don't have much of a choice. The injured players who would otherwise be in this game are Debuchy, Iwobi, Coquelin, Welbeck, and Cazorla.

EDIT: Wow. That was unexpected. Arsenal are 3-1 ahead at half-time, with two goals from Walcott and one from Holding.

BATE got a goal through a great cross and a very powerful header. Arsenal's defending was poor, though. From the moment I started watching the game, Arsenal's wing backs - neither of whom should really be in the first-team yet, and neither of whom are actually even defenders in the youth team - were constantly too high, as was the central midfield line. That's why, when BATE got the ball, they could often launch rapid counter-attacks and overpower Arsenal's lonely centre-backs.

Still, even with the goal and occasional threat from the counter, Arsenal look in control for the most part. Wilshere, in particular, is controlling the ball, dribbling, and passing very well. It's great to have him back.

I would have thought that BATE would play a very defensive game, but Arsenal's early goals meant that they had to start playing more aggressively. That suits Arsenal.

EDIT: Oh, and I predicted the line-up a bit wrong. I forgot that Chambers is injured, so Mustafi started the game. I also thought Dasilva would play on the left, but instead, Nelson is playing as a full-back, and Joe Willock gets his first-team debut in midfield.

FULL TIME: BATE 2 - 4 Arsenal. Giroud scored his 100th Arsenal goal after a pretty soft penalty call, as Mustafi's shirt was held during a set piece.

Credit to BATE: they kept coming at Arsenal every time they got the ball. It was a very even game, and could easily have been a draw or even a win for BATE, although I do suspect if the game had been closer, Arsenal's attackers and midfield would maybe have played a bit more aggressively.

The youngsters didn't impress. A win's a win, but too many times, the young players lost the ball or made the wrong decision, especially with defensive positioning. Oh, well. You need to play and make some mistakes to learn. At least Arsenal got 3 points from a tricky away fixture.

Arsenal are still obviously prioritising the league. I think that's the right decision, as the league offers a much better chance for qualification to European competitions than the Europa League, itself, does. (By which I mean that while winning it would get you into the Champions League, Arsenal are not among the favourites to win it; but Arsenal do have a slightly more realistic chance of getting 6th in the league, which would be enough to get in the Europa League.)

edited 28th Sep '17 11:53:44 AM by BestOf

Half ot the EL matches have already ended, and the other half will begin in 10 minutes.

Group L: Two 3-1 wins, for Zenit over Real Sociedad (goals by Rigoni, Kokorin, Llorente and Kokorin again) and for Rosenborg over Vardar (goals by Bendtner (penalty), Konradsen, Hedenstad and a nice chip goal by Vardar's Juan Felipe).

Group K: Lazio won 2-0 against Zulte Waregem (goals by Caicedo and Immobile), while Nice are winning 3-0 against Vitesse - the match was briefly interrupted due to a power outage (goals by Alassane Pléa, Saint-Maximin (what a player) and Pléa again (also... what a player).

Group J: Two 1-0's. Swedish revelation Östersund have won again, this time against Hertha Berlin, with a penalty by Brwa Nouri (an Iraqi Kurdish player, which is nice), while Zorya Luhansk surprised Athletic Bilbao at the latter's stadium (goal by Kharatin.

Group H: Here are the goals from BATE's loss by 2-4 against Arsenal. Köln lost 0-1 against Crvena Zvezda (aka Red Star Belgrade), thanks to a goal by Boakye. Huge win for the Serbian side.

Group G: Viktoria Plzen won 3-1 against Hapoel Be'er Sheva (goals by Petrzela, Nwakaeme (1-1), Kopic and Bakos. Lugano scored first (goal by Bottani, but FCSB (aka Steaua Bucharest) scored twice (goals by Budescu and Junior Maranhão.

Group I: Red Bull Salzburg won 1-0 against Marseille (goal by Dabbur). As for us, well...

Konyaspor 2-1 Vitória SC

We were pretty much crap. They steamrolled us for at least 70 minutes, and, if the ref had done a better job and one of their shots didn't hit the bar, they would've won by a lot more. Their goals were scored by Musa Araz and Deni Milosevic. Our defender Pedro Henrique (who had scored the equalizer against RB Salzburg two weeks ago), got injured at the end of the first half. Our defense was a shambles.

Our consolation goal (which is a good one) was scored by Hurtado (quality assist by Héldon), and the team still tried to do a final push to get the equalizer, but it was a bit too late. Konyaspor deserved their win entirely.

We only have one point, and our next two EL matches will be against Marseille...

edited 28th Sep '17 12:17:42 PM by Quag15

The other matches today have ended.

Group F: Sheriff Tiraspol and Copenhagen had a goalless draw, while Lokomotiv Moscow won 3-0 against Fastav Zlín with a hat-trick by Manuel Fernandes... in 17 minutes.

Group E: Two draws. Everton 2-2 with Apollon (goals by Sardinero, Rooney, Vlasic and Yuste), Lyon 1-1 with Atalanta (goals by Traoré and "Baila como el Papu" Gomez).

Group D: AEK and Austria Wien drew 2-2 (goals by Livaja, Monschein, Tajouri and [[ Livaja again]], while AC Milan nearly ended up not winning (3-2) against Rijeka. André Silva and Musacchio scored first, but Acosty and Elez (penalty) equalized near stoppage time. However, Cutrone (with a lovely assist by Borini) scored at the last minute.

Group C: Two 2-1's. Ludogorets recovered from the early goal and ended up winning against Hoffenheim (goals by Kaderabek, Dyakov and Lukoki (great goal, this one)), while Braga (also) won at home, against Ístanbul Basaksehir. First Hassan scored, then veteran Emre Belozoglu equalized, and, near stoppage time, Fransergio scored the winning goal.

Group B: Skenderbeu and Young Boys drew 1-1 (goals by Sowe and Assale). Partizan choked hard, with them scoring two goals in the first half (Ozegovic and Tawamba, but Dynamo Kyiv scoring three in the second half (goals by Junior Moraes (penalty), Buyalsky and Junior Moraes again (not a penalty here).

Group A: Earlier in the day, Astana and Slavia Prague drew 1-1, while Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Villareal had a goalless draw.

Celtic beat Anderlecht 3-0 AWAY? They actually won an away match in the Champion's League? Surely this is the sign of the End Times come upon us?

Reminds me of this scene from Ghostbusters:

"Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Egon Spengler: 40 years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes! Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave! Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!"

Arsenal host Brighton and Hove Albion tomorrow. Brighton were promoted after last season, and those games tend to be tricky because the recently promoted side will be very intent of keeping clean sheets for an away point against a bigger team. Brighton, apparently, have a more attacking style, though, so I think it might be end-to-end stuff tomorrow.

Brighton are missing a number of key players through injuries and suspension. That gives me hope that Arsenal might actually win this one. Thus, I'll be extra optimistic and predict 2-1 for Arsenal.

Arsenal are also dealing with injuries. Özil has had a recurrence on his injury that kept him out of a couple of games (although he did come on from the bench against West Brom). Consequently, he'll not play tomorrow, and he's also been left out of Germany's squad for the international games. Welbeck is still out, and might return after the break. Cazorla is out, and it seems January might be a bit too soon, still. He's had about 8 operations since he got injured. Koscielny, as always, will need a check to see if he can play - but I expect he can, and will. Coquelin is injured. Iwobi is returning from injury, and probably will be on the bench. Kolasinac apparently had a minor injury, but he's through it already. (He wasn't included in the squad against BATE, even on the bench, so he's had a bit of a rest.) Wilshere has played two full games already this season, and is returning to full match fitness.

Cech
Koscielny Mustafi Monreal
Bellerin Xhaka Ramsey Kolasinac
Wilshere Alexis
Lacazette

I think that's the most likely line-up for the game. Mustafi has already played two games this week, though, so possibly Holding or Mertesacker might play instead. Wilshere might need a bit of a rest, in which case Walcott would be a decent alternative. It would make for a very attacking team, though.

The bench would be: Ospina; Holding Mertesacker; Walcott Iwobi Elneny; Giroud.

Deschamps has spoken about Giroud's lack of playing time and how that might mean he'll not be starting games at the World Cup. I worry that this will make Giroud unhappy. Wenger said during the summer that he did offer Giroud the chance to transfer away, but Giroud chose to stay. Giroud has already said he thinks he made the right call, and that he wants to think of the club and how he can help the club instead of focusing on improving his own stats. He turns 31 today, so this season almost certainly marks his last chance to qualify for a World Cup.

The situation with Giroud is not ideal. He's not good enough to start every game for Arsenal, at least if the club actually does have ambition for a top-6 finish, but he might be too good to be benched most games. At least he's a really good impact substitute. I think Wenger might start giving him more starts in the league, though, at least when fixture congestion starts to take its toll on Lacazette. Until now, Arsenal have been able to rest the key players through most of the Europa and cup games, but as the opponents get tougher, so must Arsenal, and eventually that means playing second-string players like Elneny, Giroud, Walcott, Wilshere, and Holding in consecutive league games from the start.

For the first time this season I had time & an internet connection to watch an entire league game, and at least I got a show - even though it wasn't much of a thriller.

Paris beat Bordeaux 6-2. Mbappé, Neymar (twice) and Cavani all scored, alongside Meunier and Draxler. When they are playing like that, they look really terrifying, a whole different class from anyone else in France (and most teams outside of France too).

Best goals were from Neymar and Draxler - when I said it was a show, I wasn't kidding. Also Neymar scored a PK and there was no drama.

Tonight I don't know if I'll have the courage to watch Nantes-Metz. Ranieri has been excellent because Nantes has no reason to be 6th considering their squad, but they are not exactly exciting to watch so far. It's this or a Top 14 rugby game I guess.

edited 30th Sep '17 10:30:22 AM by Julep

Arsenal's line-up against Brighton:

Cech
Holding Mustafi Monreal
Bellerin Xhaka Ramsey Kolasinac
Iwobi Alexis
Lacazette

Ospina; Mertesacker; Wilshere, Elneny, Maitland-Niles, Walcott; Giroud

Özil is still injured. Wilshere is benched, presumably to avoid wearing him out. Koscielny apparently didn't pass his check this time. A rest will help him. I'm a bit surprised that Iwobi, who is returning from injury, gets to start instead of Walcott. It must be because he's more of a midfielder than a forward, and Wenger is looking for balance. Alternatively, he might want to give Iwobi all the first-team minutes he can get to aid his development. He's already a rotation option in the first-team, and has improved quite a lot over the past couple of seasons. Still, after Walcott scored two in Europe, I would've expected him to be ahead of Iwobi for this game.

HALF TIME: Arsenal 1 - 0 Brighton.

Both sides have had some good scoring opportunities, but Brighton's shots have been a bit off target and Arsenal's have hit the post or the 'keeper. Incidentally, their 'keeper has bloody excellent reflexes, at least today. I don't know if he's usually any good.

The goal was scored by Monreal. It was a corner that resulted in a series of shots that were saved or blocked, only to ricochet to one Arsenal player after another: Mustafi, Bellerin, Monreal. Eventually, it was bound to go in. This, apparently, is the first league goal for Monreal in several years, which came as a bit of a surprise to me because I do remember him scoring every now and again, even quite recently. It seems he only scores in the cup ad European competitions. Not that it really matters.

FULL TIME: Arsenal 2 - 0 Brighton and Hove Albion.

I don't get this, to be honest. The last 20 minutes, it was all Brighton. They made attacking changes and took a more attacking approach to the game - after going 2 behind, mind - and Arsenal were barely hanging on. Maybe Brighton would've conceded more if they had played like that from the start, I don't know, but it looked quite weird how much they improved after they started really trying to attack and switched their second-string forward to the ones who are normally starting games. Maybe the stars were rested because Brighton didn't expect anything from this game, but I think that's quite a negative approach to take to a Premier League game when you're not even playing in Europe or anything.

Arsenal's second goal was scored by Iwobi, after a magnificent backheel assist by Alexis. There were a couple of moments of classic Wengerball in this one, and that assist will be remembered as one of the best moments involving Alexis during his time at Arsenal.

Anyway, comfortable win for Arsenal. I'm pretty sure that if Arsenal had conceded, or failed to score as early as they did, Arsenal would've spent even more time in the attacking third. As it was, quite often the attacks ended at the first sign of aggressive pressing and the threat of a counter, with the player on the ball passing it back to the defenders so that the attacking movement could restart. Arsenal don't have to play that cautiously, and seldom do; but Brighton did look dangerous at times, and they were playing with their entire squad well inside their own half (with the defensive and midfield lines often almost on top of each other, right on the edge of the penalty box, and the forwards maybe two or three steps ahead). I think you could call this a smart performance by Arsenal, in that very few risks were taken after the game was going in their favour, but I would've preferred more goals.

Lacazette has now finally played a Premier League home game without scoring. IIRC, his scoring record at home from his first game broke a 100-year-old record for Arsenal players.

There are other interesting (or I think they are) stats from recent games, as well.

• Giroud got to 100 Arsenal goals in 1 fewer games than Van Persie. That's not to suggest that Giroud is better, though: Van Persie began as a winger and was frequently injured, and consequently didn't play 90 minutes very often. Of course, Giroud has also been a bench/rotation player for a couple of seasons now, but still, he didn't have to become a professional player at Arsenal: he was already a French champion before he arrived.

• Wenger has now been at Arsenal for 21 years to the day. He led the club through a massive rise on prestige and success, but he's also seen the decline of most of the things he built with the club. Arsenal are not considered one of the big clubs in England anymore - upper mid-table is the current status of Arsenal, and that's where the club seems to want to settle.

• If you count the Premier League points total over the last 100 games for all clubs, surprisingly, Arsenal comes out on top. That just goes to show that Arsenal have some quality and consistency, but the quality is not as high as that of the league's top clubs. It's just that the clubs that do better in one season are also more likely to fluctuate and fall in another.

After this result, Arsenal are 5th in the league, tied on points with Chelsea but behind (by 3) on goal difference. That said, Liverpool have a game in hand, and will almost certainly win, pushing Arsenal back down to 6th. The fact that Arsenal are in the top-6 picture now just goes to show how early in the season we still are, with individual results still affecting the table quite considerably. By Christmas Arsenal should be well below 6th, closer to where they'll end up at the end of the season. (Watford are also in the top-6 right now, for comparison.)

Hopefully, Arsenal's players will come through the international break without injuries. Özil, Koscielny, Wilshere, Iwobi, Debuchy, and Chambers will use the break to recover and hopefully be back in first-team rotation when the league resumes. Welbeck should be coming back around that time, as well. Cazorla and Coquelin will probably still be out, unfortunately.

edited 1st Oct '17 6:11:15 AM by BestOf

Koscielny is already forfeit for Bulgaria, so no risk of him getting injured during the trip.

Meanwhile, in Bundesligue 1, after the 5-1 at half-time between Paris & Bordeaux yesterday, you can enjoy a Nice 2-3 Marseille at the 45' scoremark. There also was a 3-3 between Angers and Lyon this afternoon.

I watched a bit of Nantes-Metz yesterday (1-0, after some late drama including an imaginary PK at the last second for Metz, which was scored, but the ref asked to try again, and the guy missed the 2nd time around), and the difference between offensive-minded "rich" teams and defensive-minded "poor" teams is impressive.

As in, Nantes is currently third after 8 games played (will become fourth if Marseille wins tonight)...with 6 scored goals. Ranieri is running a well-oiled machine, which is quite impressive considering the quality of the squad, but it really lacks flair and talent on the offensive. And that's true for most of second-half budgets in the league.

But it's nice to see more and more teams growing and, at the same time, becoming more entertaining to watch. Maybe Nantes will be able to be back to its nineties' self in a few years time.

Edit : 2-4 for Marseille now.

edited 1st Oct '17 1:21:44 PM by Julep

Belenenses 1-0 Vitória SC

(sigh)...

At least the international break (and their final matches for most confederations) will begin soon. Meanwhile, in light of recent events in Catalunya, Barcelona will shut down their activities tomorrow. More surprisingly, Espanyol will do the same.

edited 2nd Oct '17 8:03:33 AM by Quag15

Two important members of the administrative body of FCB resigned after they disagreed with their match being players without a public for security reasons.

Real Madrid won 2-0 against Espanyol thanks to a superb footplay by Isco. Cristiano is still unable to score in La Liga, but he contributed in the two goals, so it's better then nothing.

Lastly, Bayern's deplorable tie against Hertha and the karmic injury of Ribery shows that sacking Ancelotti is becoming a worse cure than the illness.

More laughs at Crystal Palace expense.

Rickie Lambert, now 35-years-old, without a club after being let go by Cardiff City at the end of last season, and facing the prospect of signing for Palace on an emergency short-term contract, decides he'd rather retire altogether with immediate effect.

And here's your Crystal Palace Goal of the Month Poll for September (Vote for your favorite!)

Meawhile, in Spain, there's a strong, unhealthy debate on whether Pique should continue playing for the Spanish national team. Pique himself said he's looking forward to do so, but if he still recived rejection from the audience, he will leave it.

In South America, there's going to be a life-or-death bout for the qualification between Chile and Ecuador.

Obvious "I like Sako's goal better than Sako's goal" jokes aside, I could see Palace beating Derby's infamous record, if they don't improve until Christmas.

And Argentina - Peru, and Colombia - Paraguay... well, the last two matchdays are gonna be intense for at least 5 or 6 teams (Uruguay have it relatively easy, tho).

In the first leg of the Asian play-off to determine who will play with the 4th placed CONCACAF team, Syria drew 1-1 with Australia (goals here). The penalty call that led to Syria's equalizer is... very questionable.

edited 5th Oct '17 7:36:38 AM by Quag15

In some ways, Palace are already beginning to trail behind 11-point Derby. At this point in time in 2007, Derby already had four points and four league goals.

Palace have also already matched 2009-10 Portsmouth's record of seven straight losses in their first seven league matches. At least Pompey had their reasons (a rotating cast of owners, a gutted first-team squad, a giant shrug emoji where all their money should have been, and so on). That Palace have equaled their ignominy without that degree of incredible turmoil is already really quite an achievement.

With Palace's next match against Chelsea, I think the odds are very likely that Palace will be setting a new record for consecutive league losses (even 2007-08 Derby never lost more than seven straight), although I might half-expect Chelsea to concede a soft goal.

True. I wasn't aware of the money stuff in Portsmouth's season, tho.

The European qualifiers today have already begun.

Poland has annihilated Armenia. A scared defense, a blunder by the GK and a hat-trick by Lewandowski (amongst other things) have put Poland in a comfortable position. Lewandowski's second goal is a close range free-kick inside the area, due to a backpass by the Armenian defender to the GK. With these goals, Lewa is now the top goalscorer of all-time in the Polish national team (51, if I'm not mistaken). If Montenegro and Denmark draw today, Poland will secure qualification.

In another group, already eliminated Azerbaijan and (also already eliminated) Czech Republic faced off, with the latter winning 2-1 (goals here).

edited 5th Oct '17 11:11:26 AM by Quag15

I'd honestly be surprised that you wouldn't have been aware of Portsmouth's dire financial situation back then. It's practically the very first thing that should come to mind about that season, what with all the hoopla of the club going into administration to try and save itself from liquidation (and having to incur an automatic 9-point penalty for doing so, which is what practically guaranteed the club would be relegated a month before it was mathematically confirmed).

Funny thing, that. In national league, Legia Warsaw's last match with Lech Poznan sucked so badly that the local yobs assaulted the players after the game. Not that it was the first such incident, one of Legia's players was slapped by a yob a few years back.

Sometimes I wonder how the fuck are we walking on two legs in this country.

I see. No wonder they're in League... is it League One or Two?

Yeah, I've read about that. I suspect it's a consequence of local criminal ties amongst some of the yobs, political corruption and the relatively low quality of the Ekstralasa (but I'm sure you know about that better than I).

The other two matches of Group C: Germany secured qualification with a 3-1 win in Northern Ireland (goals by Sebastian Rudy, Sandro Wagner and Kimmich). Northern Ireland had already secured the play-off spot (their consolation goal was scored near the end by Magennis).

Norway destroyed San Marino 8-0 at the latter's stadium (goals by Simonicini (own goal), Joshua King (penalty), King again (not a penalty), Elyounoussi (great free-kick), Elyonoussi again (free-kick), Ole Selnæs, hat-trick by Elyounoussi and one near the 90' by Martin Linnes.

Group E: Montenegro lost at home 0-1 against Denmark (goal by Eriksen) and have pretty much jeopardized their chances, since Poland need a point to secure qualification on the last day and Montenegro will face them in Poland. Denmark has one foot in the play-off, unless they somehow lose against Romania and Montenegro win. Romania won 3-1 against Kazakshtan, with a brace by Budescu and a goal by Keseru - Kazakhstan's consolation goal was scored by Turysbek.

Group F: England won against Slovenia with a goal by Harry Kane near the end. Scotland won 1-0 against Slovakia... with an own goal by Skrtel, near the 90'. With these results, England are qualified, while Scotland currently sit in the play-off spot. Scotland has 17 points, Slovakia has 15, and Slovennia has 14. Scotland will face Slovenia in the last matchday, while Slovakia will face Malta and will hope for Scotland to either lose or draw.

Malta won their first point in these qualifiers, against Lithuania (nice goals here).

The CONMEBOL qualifiers have begun a little while ago, but Bolivia and Brazil have nothing else to play for. The juicy matches will begin later.

edited 5th Oct '17 1:57:16 PM by Quag15

Venezuela 0 - 0 Uruguay

Heh, Venezuela continues playing the Taking You with Me card succesfully.

As of gthis writing, Argentina and Peru are tied 0-0. If justice exists, Peru should win this match.