Sporting4ever

How is it that creating 2 different sets of rules is considered a level playing field? What the new regulation intends is, the teams that keep operating as before have the same regulations has before, but teams that limit their budget to £40 million will have diferent rules, technological advantages over the others. Is this a level playing field? And by the way, even though only Ferrari has made this bold statement, they're not alone. Toyota, BMW-Sauber and Red Bull are also against this new regulation, not to mention that EVERYONE is against the new rule of only awarding points to the race winners.

Talk about lost in translation... I don't know if it's on purpose, though it certainly appears that way, but this report manipulates the translation of what he said into what they want him to say. His words were what players normally say, regarding these situations. When asked about if he was gonna stay for next season, his reply was that nobody can garantee something like that, and that at the end of the season, that's the time when you study and decide those things. Pretty straightforward answer, in my oppinion. He doesn't say that he'll leave, but of course he can't garantee that he'll stay. The way reporters keep milking for these things, it's sickening. He renewed his contract for one more year, 2014 now, his release clause dropped, but he wavered a couple of clauses on it, meaning Sporting get pretty much the same, and since he was the highest payed player in the squad, I don't imagine that went down, so it's not like he's beeing underpayed. So if he leaves, he leaves, and if he stays, he'll keep doing what he does, his job. Can't ask for more, really, we're just as fed up as you guys with the press always pushing these stories, trying to fan the flames where no flames exist. And this thing about manipulating the translations is low. Instead of giving a clear report on what was discussed, it says what they want it to say.

Doubtful. I think the problem for him staying is exactly his price. I'm sure they've done all they can to try to lower it.

In all fairness, they do have a point in that concern. Platini has said on many occasions that he doesn't like the brits, so I can see their point on that. In my oppinion, the ref was a very poor choice for a CL semi-final, if that's his regular form. If it isn't, he clearly had a very bad day. That beeing said, it doesn't change the fact that changes are needed in european football. And I don't say that because it's the premier league at the top, I say that regardless of countries and the level of their championships. Even the english clubs and the FA are aware of it, and agree that measures are needed, so does pretty much anyone involved in football, no matter the country. It's only the EU that disregard this fact, and ignore the impact their laws have had and will continue to have in the sport. Anyways, there's already an appropriate topic for this discussion

Yes, there's a pull on the 2nd, but it's fast, and drogba doesn't even slow down, as for the challenge, drogba is already going down, when he notices the keeper moving up to pick it up. Chelsea were robbed in the 2nd leg, barça were robbed in the 1st, the one thing that doesn't change is that chelsea only scored once in 180 minutes against a side known for it's poor defending. Nevertheless, I agree that united will most likely win it, they're a much more experienced and balanced side than chelsea, and one thing's for certain, they're not gonna defend for the entire game, and they're not gonna give away ball possession like chelsea did.

1. I agree with this one, I hadn't noticed before how close to the line he is, but it's still clear that it's a penalty. 2. Sorry, I don't buy it. Drogba isn't tripped, he dives when he sees that the keeper is gonna beat him to the ball. 3. This one is a joke. A clean tackle from Touré, and Drogba not only dives espectacularly, he should have been given a yellow for his theatrics. If he wanted a foul scored, which he could have gotten, there's holding before he runs into the box, he should have stopped the play, not run into the box, loose the ball in a clean tackle and then protest for a penalty. 4. Penalty, no doubt. But I stress out that I don't know if the ref could have seen it, from where he was, this was a linesman penalty to give. 5. Eto'o turns around, and the ball hits him in the back and under the arm. I wouldn't have given this one either. As for this lasting for a long time, maybe, maybe not. Bosingwa has already retracted his statement, where he said the ref was on an ordered job, chelsea have sent a protest, but have included the appologies from the players regarding their reactions, nonetheless I wouldn't be surprised if some get a heavy shoe dropped on him. As for the rest, like I've said, the ref was a joke, all in all, I'd say that the 2 legs even out on ref mistakes. Barça were denied a clear penalty in the 1st leg, plus a send off, which would have put the 2nd leg in a completely different light. To me, a team that so clearly hands over the initiative to it's opponent (65% ball possession for Barça in both games), that can only score 1 goal in 180 minutes of football, after having scored 7 against a much tougher defense, they can only blame themselves. The truth is, Hiddink never expected Barça to score, even from a lucky goal like that.

didn't they? Barça have a weak defense, even when they play with their starters. After 180 minutes of football, they only score once against that defense, and on a rebound ball, and you say they didn't play defensively? Over 65% ball possession by Barça on both legs, and chelsea didn't play defensively? They handed the iniative clearly to Barça, on both legs, got lucky in Camp Nou not have had a penalty against them and a send off, and at home, while it appeared they were planning to play with the ball more, after getting a 9 minute goal, they went back to it, giving the ball and the iniative to Barça. I'm sorry, but any team that settles back to defend with a risky 1-0 result is suicidal, and in my oppinion, they deserved to be taught a lesson for their play style. Their only focus for the whole 180 minutes was to stop Barça's attack. That was clearly NOT the same team that got to the semis by beating liverpoo 3-1 at anfield and drew 4-4 at home. There's only a reason for that, they didn't play to win, they played not to loose. I think united, beeing an extremely balanced and experienced side, will win it again, and I know it'll be a much more exciting game to watch than another united-chelsea final.

I've talked about this game a lot lately, and while I agree that chelsea have reason to be upset with the ref, I personally only saw 2 penalties, the Manouda foul, pushed outside the box for who knows what reason, and the Piqué handball previously mentioned. The red card was a joke, and the other fouls were dives by drogba and anelka. Nonetheless, I think the Piqué handball was much more visible to the linesman than the ref, so if the ref looked at him and didn't get a confirmation, it's the linesman fault.

We.re very far away from anything resembling an Unites States of Europe, but that seems like the end objective, and I can understand why. As more responsability is given to bigger entities, we move closer to a global union that will come eventually. After all, the planet isn't as big as it looks. Still, there's lots of things that need to be better adressed, like proper usage of EU funds, which a lot of countries waste, an honest effort to balance things out all around, otherwise you run the risk of permanently damaging economies in certain countries, etc, but that's all a bit off topic Now, that's where you're wrong. Bigger leagues "prey" on smaller leagues, so here, we don't have that many european players, except players from eastern europe. In that regard, it's cheaper to buy a player than to train and build him up from the youth programs. benfica have a "must win" mentality, and for the last years, they've pretty much bought a new squad every year, to have them fail, and then they start again. this year, they've spend upwards of 30m€ to end up in 3rd place. Deco already has portuguese citizenship, that's why he's played in our national squad. As for ronaldo, my point is that there was another proposal out there, a variation of the 6+5 rules, in which you were limited to 5 foreign players that hadn't been in the country for less than 5 years. That's not the point. A lot of those players have value to play here. They simply don't because lower teams prefer to buy players in Brazil (mostly) than they want to for portuguese players, and that's mainly because they're cheaper and their wages are lower. While I applaud wanting better players, that's not the case, in pretty much any league. Why teams like liverpoo and arse rid themselves with foreigners when there's local talent that is equal/superior to what they go outside to buy? And the lower teams, it get's even worse. And it's because they're cheaper, and they work for less. That rule the FA has regarding the apearences in the national squad is nice, but it's circumvented so many times that's it's virtually useless... Unlike other bussinesses, which can continue and grow, despite the number of companies that exist, football is very much dependant on it. Every league needs the lower, smaller clubs for support, to create a stable player base, to have the sport closer to the communities. When those smaller clubs can't survive, because they don't have revenews to cover their expenses, the player base is smaller, and the structure built on it faulters. We've seen it everywhere, clubs going into debts so big that they cannot survive it, or need desperate measures to stay above water, like the most recent case with valencia. An industry that depends on a certain degree of control, since clubs can't relocate, and is unable to establish regulations that would help it's survival, is quite probably doomed, because it forces most clubs to operate well above their possibilities, and sooner or later the house of cards colapses. Well, not really. States have a limited ammount of power. There's quite alot of decisions that are only decided at the federal level, and don't forget, they've had that form of government for over 200 years, while the EU still struggles for legitimacy within it's own members. While we have the open borders, and the euro, we're still individual countries. And while you're correct about the comparison, it's not exactly what they want to impliment. They don't want to limit anyone from working anywhere, they want to limit the number of foreigners in each team. That will mean that each club will think better on who to hire, and not simply throw money away on every potential player they see, like united has done, with macheda, and the brazilian twins, anderson and nani. When you know you cannot go for quantity, you go for quality, be it foreign or domestic. That means each league will be a little more self sufficient, smaller clubs will be stimulated to keep up and probably expand their youth programs, since there'll be a bigger demand for local talent, Local players will have their value increased, since you cannot simply go abroad and buy cheap workforce in bulk, and that ensures that each league can survive, and clubs are no longer forced to live above their possiblities. Exactly. The big shots forget that, not only are the leagues very different, so are the countries where those leagues are. The differences between GNPs has influence, since the quality of life is different, the minimum wages are different, etc. And yet, the EU wants everyone everywhere play by the same rules, when in fact no one plays in the same level...

1st of all, trying to turn the EU into a massive country is so far into the future that to think that football is a stop gap for it is completely a non-factor. 2nd, football is NOT the same as any other bussiness, and players are NOT like other workers. That fact has been been made very clear ever since the bosman law came into effect. There's and ever increasing gap between big and small, but unlike bussinesses, clubs can't buy other clubs, can't move their headquarters to a different country, clubs are limited to their countries laws and regulations, plus their FA's laws and regulations, and add to that the EU's laws and regulations. while companies can move factories and the like to other countries and get cheaper labour, and advantageous tax incentives, clubs cannot. And yet, the EU persists on ignoring that football is a world onto itself, and that their laws that promote free movement are in fact descriminating against players IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES. You say that we cannot discriminate between a citizen born in the EU from a citizen born in England, for example. But the simple fact is that it's cheaper to get foreign players than it is to get the home grown kind, and that, not only is discrimination, it also does not protect their right to work. There's teams here that practically don't field a single portuguese player, and there's clubs in malta and romenia that are pretty much all portuguese. Where's the logic in that??? Besides, most players that play in EU countries have or are close to having EU nationality as well, even if they're from Cameroon, Brazil or Argentina. A lot of them can get double citizenship fairly easy anyways, since there's tons of emmigrants there, so in effect, there's no limits. Messi does not count as a non-EU player, and he's just 21, Ronaldo could ask for english citizenship, since he's been in the UK for 5 years, so how do you stop it?? What the EU is doing is simply ignoring the fact that football can't follow the same rules as normal bussinesses, because it'll be it's downfall, they're ignoring the problems it presents to it's member states' citizens, putting their european citizenship above their country's, and they're in effect dennying a joint effort by the governing bodies to solve this, i.e., UEFA and FIFA. If you exclude this, the only chance will be a solution akin to what the americans have, transfer limits, salary caps, etc., but I sensirely doubt any FA can pull THAT off.

I dissagree. This EU law has enabled things like arsenal, with 90% foreign players, and benfica, with 87% foreign players to be a reality. And what does it get them? benfica has a youth program whitch they intend on beeing like ours, and yet they put at most one of their kids in the 1st team, while we put 2 or 3 per year. We play with at least 6 portuguese players, and yesterday we even had 9, while benfica has played various games with 1-2 portguese players, and had no portuguese players in the pitch at one time this season, a 1st for such an historic club. In treating football and football clubs like any other bussiness, the EU is beeing descriminatory itself, because it's failing to protect the rights of the players born in those countries. By ignoring that football is not a bussiness like they perseve it, they're killing it. The only alternative would be transfer limits and salary caps, and I don't see anyone agreeing on that...

I was watching the highlights and thinking that... The 2nd goal was so simple, yet there was no marking on wither piennar or felaini... Could it be their phisical form is dropping, after so many games? It's not supposed to, they should be used to playing this many games...

Damn! We had a similar game here, a few years back, altough it was a semi-final, between us and benfica. 2-2 at ful time, 3-3 at overtime, and 12-11 in penalties, with benfica going through. A game worthy of a final, that was... 2 send offs in that one too, but it was one for each side.

Well, we have a pretty good striker that at the moment is 4th choice, and I think he deserves more, a loan to a PL club would be very good for him. I'm talking about Yannick Djaló, don't know if you know him, but you can take a look at him here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6MlmkU75bQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgZMkEgPQCs

The weak link in Barça is the defense. Puyol is average, Marques isn't that special, sylvinho is 35 and Váldez might be up to the task on the goal, but needs better coverage. Barça need 2 good central defenders, although i doubt Puyol will leave the starting 11, it might put him at left back, which he can do as well, but in addition they also need another good left back. With all their attacking power, and the support that both midfield and attack give to defensive work, with a decent defense, Barça would be as close to unstopable as possible.

Yeah, well, what those idiots at the EU general assembly forget is that football is NOT a normal bussiness, where the normal rules of trade apply and free movement for workers isn't really that good an idea. But no, they keep their attitute toward the game that has brought us to a breaking point since the Bosman rule came into beeing. The simple fact that they claim discrimination is the basis for it is falatious, because what we're seeing now clearly points to a much more disciminatory rule that what we would have, and that is the fact that any player born in any EC country is worth less than a foreigner, and that is not only discrimination, it's gonna kill the sport in the medium/long term. What's the point in spending millions to train new players when they're gonna leave for pennies? Smaller clubs are gonna start/continue to disapear until the foundation of each countries' FAs will collapse. England, the most powerful league in the world, hasn't produced a tittle fighting side in God knows how many years, and probably never will, they even missed out on the last Euro, and they claim the 6+5 is discriminatory? They've given free reign to the the bigger sharks to keep spending more and more, keep paying more and more, until we'll reach a critical point and it'll all come down like the house of cards that it is. Any structure is only as strong as it's weakest link, and the weak links are getting weaker...

Ye i got that bit Mouse, ta! I meant Sporting4ever, if he had anymore inside goss, any fights bewtween the players etc, juicy stuff that could lead Mout-man to maybe look at a new blue'er club lol No, no gossip about fights (we're not THAT undisciplined, you know... ). There's a few ideas running around as to the reasons for the renewal. Basically, the value is lower than the previous one by 10%, but since Moutinho renounced the 10% he'd get from any deal, Sporting get basically the same, while anyone buying would in effect pay less for him. Some say that this is to make him an easier player to buy, since he continues to be an extremely regular player, he just missed his 1st game of the season due to reaching the limit bookings, and we're 3 games away from the season end. Others say that it's a way to extend his contract and help close some wounds between him and the fans. In any event, it looks as though Moutinho will likely be staying, while Veloso might be the one leaving, but not for an offer like Bolton made, which is basically one third his value.

In a 5-2 result where the spurs keeper did the amazing job that he did, you still blame the ref? That's beeing a sore looser, xav...

V for vendetta: "People shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of it's people."

United have changed the game in the 2nd half. 15 minutes to go and it's 4-2

I swear I hit the "p"... Who you askin? Sporting? If he is, I don't get it... google translator fails big time

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Ah, that's more like it... Seems more and more I'm constantly neck deep in teenagers, and not in a good way...

Don't know how much that rumour comes from when Scolari was there. We heard about that here, that Filipão wanted him, as an sub for Deco, when he retired, but chelsea has a lot of quality in midfield, both offensively and defensively, doesn't seem they need him or Veloso.

Rome is GMT+1, I think... GMT+2 at the most.