It's really hard to remodel because part of conditionsl in WH getting it that it has to remain a functioning athletics stadium in the summer, but I suppose in theory it can be done. I'm not so confident they can control what goes on outside, though, just because of the geography of the surrounding area.

It's fucked basically.

I'm beyond the attracted/repelled stage and just think of her as a deity now.

what's the name of your goddess?

i must investigate

(if she's a drag queen, i might join the cult)

Colombia vs Chile right now. No Medel. No Alexis.

EDIT: Oh, and Brazil vs Argentina in a couple of hours. If you're into that sorta thing...

oh shit, mexico beat USA 2-1 yesterday. missed that. what a shit futbol weekend this seems!

any good games on the horizon?

It's internationals. As someone who had to watch the horror of England at the Euros my enthusiasm for internationals is at a nadir. Watching the England/Scotland game last night was akin to torture. How the players in the England squad can play so well for their respective teams (Sterling being one) but be so god AWFUL with England is beyond me.

England play Spain on Tuesday. Won't be surprised if it's a drubbing by Spain. I actually kind of want it to be.

HOWEVER, looking to next week Bayern play Dortmund. You gonna watch it symbols?

yeah. fifa weekend rarely has good games.

why doesn't the UK unify their football? they could be such a good squad. you'd get bale.


oh, i might wanna check that out, office permitting


HELL

YES

!!!

I feel the same. I never even bothered watching the game last night. I'll watch us in the big tournaments or if it's a really key qualifier but even then ... My enthusiasm for them is at rock bottom.

Southgate will probably get the job and I don't have a problem with that, but it's just more mediocrity.I might be a little more interested if they gave it to Hoddle again, but even then only a little bit. The players themselves just don't inspire me at all.


The idea comes up from time to time but I don't think there's any appetite for it among fans. And while Bale would obviously be a great addition, I don't think anyone else would be a significant difference maker. A stronger squad, obviously, but still a long way from great.

Southgate getting the job just makes the whole thing even worse. A totally uninspired choice of somebody who'll just toe the line for the FA.

Problem is that there's the million pound question of who to have instead?

I'd let Hoddle have another go but it won't happen. And the problem seems beyond any manager. Although nothing really explains what the problem actually is. The players are under no more pressure than those of lots of other countries, and while the Prem is sometimes blamed for its high intensity, it doesn't seem to affect its foreign players, when they play for their country. The whole, we're just not that good, thing, makes most sense but even with that, we're definitely better than our record in big tournaments suggests.

November 15, 20:30:
— Argentina vs Colombia
— Chile vs Uruguay

Can't tell ya if they're gonna be "good", but they're certainly very important on the road to Putinland 2018. Cavani may be shopping for a butt-plug as we speak...

EDIT: That's 20:30 local, I believe, so UTC/GMT -3.

sooooooo-eeeeettttt!

thanks man!

Schweinsteiger off to MLS?

https://www.theguardian.com/football...s-chicago-fire

Chile 3 - Uruguay 1. Cavani struck first, but Vargas (seconds before the end of the first half) and Alexis (twice) turned shit around. Oh, and Bravo blocked the fuck out of a penalty shot by Luis The Racist Cannibal Suárez...

man! that's an early retirement. he'll kick ass here though. maybe


i totally couldn't get access to that. thanks for the update!

superfun bayern vs. dortmund @ signal iduna

dortmund ahead 1-0 at halftime. for a while they played like the old klopp squad but now have slowed down a bit and things are more even.

bayern's starpower not quite gelling like ti should, though there are a bunch of injuries/unavailables. still...

hooo-leeeee-shiiiiiit dortmund beats bayern 1-0 rb leipzig goes to the top and i'm really liking the bundesliga this year

gotta catch a replay of yesterday's leipzig game soon. they're this year's leicester.

No big upsets in the Prem today, and no real stand-out performances by the sounds of things. West Ham managed to lose 3 points in extra time against a pretty shitty Spurs side, but that's just the way our season's going so far. I think we'll just about avoid relegation but that's about the most I can hope for at the moment. Apart from our board resisting any urge to sack Bilic, who's about the only good thing associated with the club right now.

sorry about your team man

but holy shit pep and klopp are fighting for first place-- again!

and pep has the megadollars-- again!

Liverpool and MC were both pretty average today. The international break won't have helped.

That aside, Liverpool have no European football to distract them and a phenomenal midfield, so if Klopp can keep them fit I think they have a very good chance of going all the way.

On their day MC are phenomenal but I can see them throwing points away in games they should win.

nice-- kloppo's revenge!

Conte says hi

Yep, them too.

ah, conte is smarter than kloppo

also dresses waaaay better

except for that "arthritis" bracelet. so maybe i'm wrong.

Chelsea play in about an hour's time. They've been looking excellent this past few weeks.

oh i dont have access to nbc sports...

will have to wait for the CL i guess

So Klinsmann's finally sacked. Any word on his likely replacement?

and finally

THE GREAT BRUCE ARENA RETURNS

Yeah, probably the best choice in the middle of a qualifying campaign. God knows where Klinsmann goes now, though. There was some talk of him taking over the England but that's thankfully died down now. Possible move to the MLS? Although I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves football altogether, and becomes some kind of new age guru, or something. I fucking hate that bloke.

hahaha new age guru

yeah im disappointed by the constant rollercoaster, but i dont know much about his personal life

he's a trained german baker though. maybe he'll take over walmart's bakeries and revolutionize the way america eats bread ha haha. damn, i would sure like that actually...

but anyway at least he got us some great new players and i think he's made important contributions--arena should provide cohesion and sober management to the team on the pitch though.

I always got the impression that he felt he was a bit too good for the job. He may have been, although I don't think he was, but either way, it's never good to project that attitude.

oh i see.

what i read from him overall was that europe was too good for the usa and until the usa embraces european ways they're not gonna be any good.

and to an extent he was right--'merica has to embrace the global sport in order to compete globally beyond the concacaf puddle. he went and found new eligible players in europe and encouraged americans to play abroad. this is good-- not just for quality in the squad but also for young players to set their sights beyond the mls.

as for his tactical approach, i think it has ended in failure. not because he wanted to embrace possession, but because he halfassed it and would change tactics last minute and create confusion.

arena should be a lot more pragmatic-- he's actually a smart man even if he's not a world champion footballer (probably because of it ha ha ha). he should manage better.

and klinsmann is likely not as smart as he thinks he is-- always blamed other people or circumstances for his mistakes--an important part of intelligence is the ability to recognize one's limits.

but i think that his attempt to broaden our futbol horizons and to demand a higher work ethic were a good cultural shift. even if he did it poorly, and offended a lot of people with classic german arrogance, it was time for 'merica to look seriously beyond the MLS. that i think has been accomplished and it will pay off in coming years.

I'd say Arena's pragmatism is always a better option for international football. Obviously there's Bielsa and what he did but you can't treat someone like him as a model. Hence his cult status. Maybe Klinsmann saw himself as a Bielsa-like figure, I certainly think those who appointed him did, but 9 times out of 10 that just doesn't work.

oh i just edited my post to add nuance (or not: "classic german arrogance" lol). maybe detail not nuance.

i'd bring bielsa here to run the academies, not to manage the national team.

part of what he did in chile is because the south american style is already based on passing and skill. so he added running and physicality and pressing to it (possible only after the era of malnutrition, smoking and alcoholism ended).

but as long as american kids are taugh to kick & run they'll continue to be clumsy. clumsy doesn't win games. even a good counterattacking game requires high skill (e.g. griezmann's dribbling or pirlo's passes and of course defending)

pulisic's croatian father took him back to germany when he was... 7? or something? anyway. yes. schooling does it.

I agree about Bielsa being good for academies. I actually think Klinsmann might've been ok if he'd only dealt with that. But then the US's traditional reliance on colleges (rather than academies) for player development/recruitment poses its own unique problems - for football/soccer anyway. Although is that also the case for baseball? I know the NBA and NFL mainly recruits from universities, but what about MLB?

in recent years there have been some academies popping up including a national one. and i think more parents are starting to see futbol as a possible meal ticket for their kids rather than just a suburban game so here's to that.

baseball has minor leagues as well as the majors, so that's where they scout for talent (as well as college, internationally etc). the international scouting is not a small thing-- lots of dominicans in the MLB. well i really don't know much about baseball, only the dominican thing. but yeah.

baseball you can play till much older though.

the thing with futbol is that it's such an abnormal human skill (using the feet not the hands) that if you don't get it very early you never get it. can't take a 17 year old derailed basketball player into a midfielder.

arena was a lacrosse player though! ha ha.

damn, bayern losing a little russian .... jeezus almost a 4th goal. such awful defense gaps bayern.

amazing surprise but why did the games start so early today?

holy shit, rostov beats bayern 3-2

eye-popping. have to catch the rest of it

bayern had 71% possession but only 40% of goals ha ha ha

ancelotti has to shake things up because he's keeping the same weaknesses that pep installed.

boating awful today im looking at replays holy shit

neuer wasn't there. but jeezus ma.

i have to rewatch this. i mean watich it complete. WITLF

Rostov!

I don't know if it's the case in other leagues but I'm noticing some Prem teams are fielding very weakened sides this season in the CL, like they're really prioritising the league.

there was nothing weak about bayern except for the injuries (robben, martinez, neuer, i forget who else)

and when neuer is gone you notice the flaws in the defense much more-- some of those goals neuer could have saved

and badstuber was playing-- he is such a jinx

i gotta watch the whole thing though-- semi-busy day with tomorrow's US holiday. i didn't get the whole thing with today's change of schedule-- caught the last 15 minutes plus post-match highlights-- damn, bayern looked vulnerable