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Trump Spewed a Mind-Blowing 100 False Claims In One Week: Report

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    #31
    News latest columns leagues tournaments transfers betting tips match previews special

    While many in England believe that it is coming home at World Cup 2018, it is hard to ignore the fact that the Three Lions have not yet negotiated their tricky quarter-final tie with Sweden.

    The game on Saturday afternoon is England’s most significant in the last decade and a bit. The last time the Three Lions made the last four of a World Cup was back in 1990. I remember it well, as a seven-year-old crying my eyes out as Germany beat us in a penalty shoot-out.

    Unfortunately, I have endured many penalty shoot-out losses since then with the Three Lions. The victory over Colombia was England’s first ever shoot-out win at a World Cup. For all the delight of making it through to the last eight, we should not forget that we still have to beat an excellent Sweden team to progress further in Russia.

    Sweden are a very dangerous opponent
    In many ways, Switzerland would have been an easier opponent for England in the quarter-finals, despite the Swiss being the highest ranked team left in our section of the draw.

    One of the main reasons that Switzerland would have been favourable opponents is the fact that Sweden are just so hard to defeat. Swedish boss Janne Andersson has created a team based on hard-work and team ethic.

    Gone are the days when superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic dominated the team. This team has few stars, as the team is the star. The most highly-rated player is arguably RB Leipzig winger Emil Forsberg, who scored the winner against Switzerland in a typical 1-0 Sweden win.

    I say typical Sweden win because they tend to be involved in low scoring games. The World Cup group stage games against Germany and Mexico were the exception rather than the rule.

    Sweden have a highly organised and solid defence, which has kept clean sheets in five of their last six games. They tend to hit teams on the break, as their forward options are not great. They have proven in qualifying and in Russia that their style of football gets results.

    England a horrible record against Sweden
    Sweden are something of a bogey side for England. In the last 20 games that the Three Lions have faced the Scandinavians, England have won just four times. In that run, Sweden have recorded nine wins.

    That is the sort of record that England boss Gareth Southgate will know all about. He will attempt to get the message across to the players that they cannot afford to be complacent.

    Sweden got the better of the Netherlands and Italy in making it to the World Cup. They will certainly fancy their chances of a repeat against England on Saturday afternoon.

    England the favourites to progress
    Despite history being against them and a tough game with Sweden, England are odds of 19/20 to progress to the semi-finals of the World Cup. Looking at other odds, Southgate’s side are the favourites to make the final of the competition, mainly due to their perceived easier route to the final.



    There is a belief from the fans that England can go all the way and lift the trophy at World Cup 2018. However, as English fans, we also have an inbuilt sense of doom, as we have seen the Three Lions slip-up unexpectedly on so many occasions.



    The exit at Euro 2016 in the last 16 against Iceland was undoubtedly a game that springs to mind. However, England went into that clash with the Nordic nation highly complacent.



    Everybody connected with England knows that the players cannot show the same sort of attitude against Sweden, as if they do then the World Cup journey could come to a very abrupt end in Russia.



    Can England overcome Sweden to make it into the World Cup semi-finals?

    Comment


      #32
      Trump is married to a gold digging whore. He has been married for to 3 gold digging whores and cheated on all three with other gold digging whores. He cheated on his current gold
      Digging whore with a gold digging porn star whore without a rubber. If he got the porn whore pregnant would he have had her keep the baby? Since he is such a good pro life christian?

      Anyone the supports if a sell-out and terrible human being.

      Family Values.

      Comment


        #33
        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        Trump is married to a gold digging whore. He has been married for to 3 gold digging whores and cheated on all three with other gold digging whores. He cheated on his current gold
        Digging whore with a gold digging porn star whore without a rubber. If he got the porn whore pregnant would he have had her keep the baby? Since he is such a good pro life christian?

        Anyone the supports if a sell-out and terrible human being.

        Family Values.
        More than 240 million people around the world play soccer regularly according to the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The game has evolved from the sport of kicking a rudimentary animal-hide ball around into the World Cup sport it is today.

        Records trace the history of soccer back more than 2,000 years ago to ancient China. Greece, Rome, and parts of Central America also claim to have started the sport; but it was England that transitioned soccer, or what the British and many other people around the world call “football,” into the game we know today. The English are credited with recording the first uniform rules for the sport, including forbidding tripping opponents and touching the ball with hands.

        As the sport developed, more rules were implemented and more historical landmarks were set. For example, the penalty kick was introduced in 1891. FIFA became a member of the International Football Association Board of Great Britain in 1913. Red and yellow cards were introduced during the 1970 World Cup finals. More recent major changes include goalkeepers being banned from handling deliberate back passes in 1992 and tackles from behind becoming red-card penalties in 1998.

        Some of the top players throughout history include Pele (Edson Arantes Do Nascimento) from Brazil, who scored six goals in the 1958 World Cup and helped Brazil claim its first title; Lev Yashin from Russia, who claimed to have saved more than 150 penalty shots during his outstanding goal-tending career; and Marco Van Basten from Holland, who won several very prestigious soccer awards during one year alone. There are many debates over who the greatest soccer players are of all time; but players like Zinedine Zidane, Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Lionel Messi, and Roberto Baggio make almost every list.

        Comment


          #34
          The contemporary history of the world's favourite game spans more than 100 years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the Football Association in England was formed - becoming the sport's first governing body.

          Both codes stemmed from a common root and both have a long and intricately branched ancestral tree. A search down the centuries reveals at least half a dozen different games, varying to different degrees, and to which the historical development of football has been traced back. Whether this can be justified in some instances is disputable. Nevertheless, the fact remains that people have enjoyed kicking a ball about for thousands of years and there is absolutely no reason to consider it an aberration of the more 'natural' form of playing a ball with the hands.

          On the contrary, apart from the need to employ the legs and feet in tough tussles for the ball, often without any laws for protection, it was recognised right at the outset that the art of controlling the ball with the feet was not easy and, as such, required no small measure of skill. The very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise from a military manual dating back to the second and third centuries BC in China.

          This Han Dynasty forebear of football was called Tsu' Chu and it consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with feathers and hair through an opening, measuring only 30-40cm in width, into a small net fixed onto long bamboo canes. According to one variation of this exercise, the player was not permitted to aim at his target unimpeded, but had to use his feet, chest, back and shoulders while trying to withstand the attacks of his opponents. Use of the hands was not permitted.

          Another form of the game, also originating from the Far East, was the Japanese Kemari, which began some 500-600 years later and is still played today. This is a sport lacking the competitive element of Tsu' Chu with no struggle for possession involved. Standing in a circle, the players had to pass the ball to each other, in a relatively small space, trying not to let it touch the ground.

          The Greek 'Episkyros' - of which few concrete details survive - was much livelier, as was the Roman 'Harpastum'. The latter was played out with a smaller ball by two teams on a rectangular field marked by boundary lines and a centre line. The objective was to get the ball over the opposition's boundary lines and as players passed it between themselves, trickery was the order of the day. The game remained popular for 700-800 years, but, although the Romans took it to Britain with them, the use of feet was so small as to scarcely be of consequence.

          Comment


            #35
            S
            occer is one of the most popular sports in Europe and the Americas. It has a vivid and interesting history in the world of sports. Early evidence of soccer being played as a sport finds occurrence in China during the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. In China, it was during the Han dynasty that people dribbled leather balls by kicking it into a small net. Recorded facts also support the fact that Romans and Greeks used to play ball for fun and frolic. Some facts point to Kyoto in Japan where kicking of ball was a popular sport.

            It is said that early growth of the modern soccer started in England. Some amusing facts even mention that the first ball used was the head of some Danish brigand. It is said that during medieval times, the old form of soccer used to allow many ill practices like kicking, punching, biting and gouging. The main aim was to carry the ball to a target spot. People grew so fond of the game that they would throng the field all day long. Sometimes the competition grew fierce and masses got so wild that there were frequent incidents of violence during the game. It is also said that soldiers admired the game so much that they missed archery practice to watch it.

            King Edward III banned soccer in 1365 owing to the growing incidents of violence and military indulgence in the sport. In 1424 King James I of Scotland also proclaimed in the Parliament— "Na man play at the Fute-ball" (No man shall play football).

            When and where exactly did soccer start is a question that has no precise answer to it. You can easily say that this popular game has been played for more than three thousand years. The nativity of modern-day soccer must be credited to Britain. It was also known as the association football, with Scotland and England being the co-founders of the systematic game of soccer.

            Modern History of Soccer: 18th Century Onward
            In 1815, a major development took place that made soccer popular in Universities, Colleges and Schools. The popular English School and Eton College came forth with a set of rules, known as the Cambridge Rules. Football was segregated into two groups; some colleges and schools opted for Rugby rules that allowed tripping, shin kicking and also carrying the ball. These rules were exclusively prohibited as per the Cambridge rules.

            King Edward III banned soccer in 1365, owing to the growing incidents of violence and military indulgence in the sport.
            The history of modern-day soccer was established in 1863. In October 1863, eleven representatives from London clubs and schools met at the Freemason’s Tavern to set up common fundamental rules to control the matches amongst themselves. The outcome of this meeting was the formation of the Football Association. In December 1863, the Rugby Football and Association football finally split as the supporters of the Rugby School rules walked out.

            Firmly establishing the foundation of soccer in 1869, the Football Association strictly banned any kind of handling of the ball. Soccer’s popularity spread rapidly during the 1800s as British sailors, traders and soldiers introduced the sport to different parts of the globe.

            Italians, Austrians and Germans drew to Europe, while Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil adopted the sport in South America. FIFA was established in the year 1904 and by early 1930s, different leagues were operating from various countries. FIFA is credited with organizing the first world cup in Uruguay. The history of soccer is rich with events, development and its growing craze all over the world. You will find yourself amazed as you learn about different times of this wonderful sport that has held our awe and admiration for over 3000 years

            Comment


              #36
              The first football clubs
              Football clubs have existed since the 15th century, but unorganized and without official status. It is therefore hard to decide which the first football club was. Some historians suggest that it was the Foot-Ball Club formed 1824 in Edinburgh. Earlier clubs were often formed by former school students and the first of this kind was formed in Sheffield in 1855. The oldest among professional football clubs is the English club Notts County that was formed in 1862 and still exists today.

              An important step for the emergence of teams was the industrialization that led to larger groups of people meeting at places such as factories, pubs and churches. Football teams were established in the larger cities and the new railroads could bring them to other cities.

              In the beginning, football was dominated by public school teams, but later, teams consisting by workers would make up the majority of those. Another change was successively taking place when some clubs became willing to pay the best players to join their team. This would be the start of a long period of transition, not without friction, in which the game would develop to a professional level.

              The motivation behind paying players was not only to win more matches, but in the 1880s the interest in the game has moved ahead to a level that tickets were sold to the matches. And finally, in 1985 professional football was legalized and three years later the Football League was established. During the first season, 12 clubs joined the league, but soon more clubs became interested and the competition would consequently expand into more divisions.

              For a long time, the British teams would be dominant. After some decades, clubs from Prague, Budapest and Sienna would be the primarily contenders to the British dominance.

              As with many things in history, women were for a long time excluded from participating in games. It was not before the late 19th Century that women started to play football.

              Comment


                #37
                The first competitions

                Historic football game in picturesOther milestones were now to follow. Football Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup) became the first important competition when it was run in 1871. The following year a match between two national teams was played for the first time. The match that involved England and Scotland ended 0-0 and was followed by 4000 people at Hamilton Crescent (the picture shows illustrations from this occasion).

                Twelve years later, in 1883, the first international tournament took place and included four national teams: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

                Football was for a long time a British phenomenon, but gradually spread to other European countries. The first game that took place outside Europe occurred in Argentina in 1867, but it was foreign British workers who were involved and not Argentinean citizens.

                The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in 1904 and a foundation act was signed by representatives from France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. England and the other British countries did not join FIFA from the start, they had invented the game and saw no reason to subordinate to an association. Still, they joined in the following year, but would not partake in the World cup until 1950.

                Domestic leagues occurred in many countries, the first was the English Football League which was established in 1888. The leagues would by time expand by more divisions, which were based on team performance.

                In 1908 would football for the first time be included as an official sport in the Olympic Games. Until the first FIFA World Cup was played in 1930, the Olympic Games football tournament would rank as the most prestigious. Women's football was not added until 1996.

                Black players
                As in many other sports the white male was predominant for a long time. In football black players started being present relatively early and in comparison with, for example, tennis, football has traditionally been known as a sport with a mix of black and white players.

                In Britain Andrew Watson is known to be the first black player, and he played in the Scottish club Queen’s Park in the 1880s.

                Comment


                  #38
                  A game of passion
                  audienceFew other sports show examples of passion to that extent as football. The arenas are flocked by shearing people; and in front of television even more are watching carefully and sometimes with great enthusiasm.

                  Already in the late 19th century Goodison Park was built in England in purpose of hosting football games. In 1894, the FA Cup final between Notts County and Bolton Wanderers was attended by 37,000 people. A milestone in football stadiums is the construction of Maracanã Stadium. In the year of 1950 the imposing stadium in Rio de Janeiro was ready for almost 200,000 people. No other sport has seen stadiums of that capacity built to host its games

                  The great modern competitions
                  No other sport event besides the Olympic Games can today measure itself with the FIFA World Cup. The first edition of the FIFA World Cup was played in 1930 in Uruguay and has since then returned every fourth year (with two exceptions due to the Second World War). In 1991 the first World Cup for women was held in China and has since then also returned every fourth year.

                  Today the biggest global tournament for clubs is the Champions League (played since 1992), the former European Cup (1955–1991).

                  Comment


                    #39
                    Globalization of the biggest sport in the world

                    In the late 19th Century only a few national football teams existed, England and Scotland had the first active teams that played games against each other in the 1870s. Today there are 211 national associations included in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world governing body of the sport. Another proof of the globalization could be seen in the increase of nations participating in World Cup qualifiers: from 32 in 1934 to over 200 in 2014.

                    The world regions have been divided into six confederations: Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Union des Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA), The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL).

                    The name of the game: football or soccer?
                    In most parts of the world, football is used as the name for the "chess of the green pitch", the biggest sport in the world. In the United States and Canada, however, soccer is used instead as a distinction from American football. A more formal name sometimes used is association football, but in popular speech, it is either football or soccer.

                    Comment


                      #40
                      Best Soccer Players Ever

                      10. Michel Platini
                      10PlatiniR.jpg

                      His reputation in the boardroom may now lie in tatters, but that shouldn’t detract from Michel Platini’s genius on the field. The playmaker entered the pantheon of greats with one of the most dominant displays in international tournament history, scoring nine goals including two hattricks to guide France to their first ever major trophy, the 1984 European Championships. As a member of their famous carré magique (magic square) midfield, Platini also helped Les Bleus reach two successive World Cup semi-finals and remained their highest ever goalscorer for nearly two decades. His prowess in front of goal, intelligent passing technique and dead-ball skills were all routinely showcased at club level, too. He won league titles with Nancy, Saint-Étienne and Juventus, also lifting the European Cup, Cup Winners’ Cup and Coppa Italia with the latter, and scoring a remarkable 224 goals in the process. Even Zinedine Zidane admits that Platini was the man he chose to emulate in the playground.

                      9. Paolo Maldini
                      9PaoloMaldiniR.jpg

                      They say that loyalty is an alien concept in the modern game. But tell that to Paolo Maldini, who spent 25 years at the heart of the A.C. Milan defence, winning just as many trophies in over 900 appearances. The versatile left back broke through to the Serie A giants’ first team aged just 17 and from then on remained a constant fixture until his retirement at 42, where his familiar No.3 shirt was permanently rested by the club. In fact, Maldini was so esteemed in the Italian game that even fans of Milan’s fiercest rivals, Inter, held up banners honoring his name during his final derby appearance. The man nicknamed Il Capitano was just as prevalent in the national side, appearing in three Euros and four World Cups including USA ’94 where, just like his defender father Cesare 32 years previously, he was named in the Team of the Tournament.
                      8. Zinedine Zidane
                      8ZidaneR.jpg

                      Few other playmakers have risen to the occasion as often as Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman scored one of the greatest goals in UEFA Champions League history with a left-foot volleyed winner in the 2002 final, netted twice for his national side in their 3-0 1998 World Cup final win over Brazil and almost single-handedly guided them to victory in Euro 2000. Of course, the former Bordeaux, Juventus and Real Madrid midfielder was just as renowned for his temperament as his exquisite ball control, agility and exceptional vision. Who can forget the iconic image of him walking past the Jules Rimet trophy having been sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final? But even such a shameful end couldn’t detract from a career which included three FIFA Player of the Year awards, a Golden Ball and three domestic league titles.

                      7. Franz Beckenbauer
                      7FrannzBeckenbauerR.jpg

                      Nicknamed Der Kaiser (The Emperor) due to his commanding attitude on the field, Franz Beckenbauer spearheaded West Germany to victory at the 1972 Euros and the 1974 World Cup, Bayern Munich to three European Cups and four Bundesliga titles and the all-star New York Cosmos to three Soccer Bowls. Although he initially began his career as a midfielder, he earned his high-ranking status when he moved to the back four and invented the role of the attacking sweeper. Renowned for his high quality passing and unmatched ability to read a game, the two-time European Footballer of the Year also went onto influence the game as a coach, lifting the World Cup again with West Germany in 1990. From a nation with such a rich soccer history, Beckenbauer still remains its finest exponent.

                      6. Ferenc Puskás
                      6FerencPuskasR.jpg

                      Goal machine Ferenc Puskás also had an imposing nickname, the Galloping Major, although as a member of the army team that later became Budapest Honvéd his was given to him by none other than the Hungarian Ministry of Defence. Puskás took his military rank seriously, marshalling his club teammates to five league titles and the national Mighty Magyars to Olympic gold and the 1954 World Cup final, averaging a goal a game in the process. Puskás’ career was deemed to be over when he was handed a two-year ban by UEFA for failing to return to Honvéd in the wake of the Hungarian Revolution. But despite such a lengthy absence from the game, not to mention his ballooning weight and advancing years, the 31-year-old was handed a lifeline by Real Madrid in 1958. He repaid their faith in him with another remarkable goal tally (242 in 262 games) which helped them win five La Liga titles and three European Cups. The fact he could only use his left foot, and famously enjoyed the odd drink or ten, makes his prolific strike rate all the more remarkable.

                      5. Alfredo Di Stéfano
                      5diStefanoR.jpg

                      “We are all footballers, and as such should be able to perform competently in all 11 positions.” With the exception of the goalkeeper role, Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stéfano walked the walk as well as he talked the talk to become the sport’s first Total Soccer player. Nicknamed the Blond Arrow due to his quickfire pace and golden locks, the Argentinian showcased his creative genius all over the pitch, but made his name as a prolific forward. Di Stéfano was an instrumental figure in the Real team that lifted five consecutive European Cups in the 1950s, scoring in each and every final, and eight La Liga titles. Despite winning caps for three different countries (his native Argentina, his adopted Spain and an unrecognised-by-FIFA spell with Colombia), a run of bad luck cost him the chance to display his versatility on the World Cup stage. But he remains one of the most gifted all-rounders ever to step foot on a pitch.

                      4. Johan Cruyff
                      4CruyffR.jpg

                      Fellow Total Soccer player Johan Cruyff did manage to make it to the World Cup, and indeed the actual final, in 1974 where he received the Golden Ball and first executed Cruyff Turn. As well as inspiring a whole generation of schoolkids to practise the brilliantly deceptive move in the playground, Cruyff also influenced everyone from Eric Cantona to Xavi with his unrivalled skill, fluid movements and quick thinking, and transformed Holland’s reputation as a soccer force. Indeed, before Cruyff came along, no Dutch club had ever won a European competition. By the time he left Ajax in 1973 they had won three in a row. Cruyff then guided Barcelona to their first La Liga in 14 years during a spell in which he added the ‘Phantom Goal’ to his box of tricks. It’s difficult to think of any other player who has left such a lasting legacy.

                      3. Lionel Messi
                      3MessiR.jpg

                      ‘A miracle from God.’ ‘The Mozart of soccer.’ ‘Is he real or a Playstation character?’ Lionel Messi may be somewhat vertically-challenged but he certainly isn’t short of total admiration from his peers. Teammate Luis Figo even compared watching him play to having an orgasm. The Argentinian forward has earned such respect thanks to a breathtaking technical ability and a record-breaking list of achievements unlikely to be surpassed by anyone in the near future. With Barcelona he’s lifted eight league titles, four Champions League trophies and five Ballon d’Or awards (four consecutive), and become the highest La Liga scorer of all time with an astonishing 337 goals. And having previously been accused of bottling it on the international stage, Messi then silenced his few remaining critics when he picked up the Golden Ball at the 2014 World Cup.

                      2. Diego Maradona
                      2MaradonaR.jpg

                      Like Zidane, Diego Maradona’s previously glittering career also ended in shame. Failed drug tests at Barcelona and the 1994 World Cup—the latter heavily foreshadowed by his famously wild-eyed celebration after scoring against Greece—ensured that there would always be a black mark against his name. But when the diminutive Argentinian was at his peak, he was literally untouchable. Just ask those England internationals he ran rings around during that astonishing ‘Hand of God’ game at the 1986 World Cup—a tournament which he dominated in a manner not seen since Pele in 1958. As well as lifting the sport’s most coveted trophy, Maradona also used his lightning pace, quick reflexes and astonishing precision to guide Napoli to two Serie A titles and a UEFA Cup. Controversial and complicated as he may have been, the 20th Century game wouldn’t have been quite as beautiful without him.
                      1. Pelé
                      1PeleR.jpg

                      The man born Edson Arantes de Nascimento became a name that rolled off everyone’s tongues when he lit up the 1958 World Cup at the tender age of 17. Pelé scored six goals at the tournament, including one of the all-time final greats, to help Brazil lift the coveted Jules Rimet for the first time in their history. Of course, it wouldn’t be theirs, or their star No.10’s last. Pelé also contributed to Brazil’s 1962 successful defence of the trophy, although injury in only their second match robbed him the chance of playing a far more instrumental role. But ‘The King’ got to make amends eight years later when he guided the host nation’s Golden Generation to a third World Cup with a Golden Ball-winning display that remains the stuff of legend. By the end of his career, the Santos forward had netted an unfathomable 1281 goals, making him the most prolific goalscorer in soccer history.

                      Comment


                        #41
                        No, England Did NOT Invent Football (Soccer) As We Know It

                        n a performance rendered all the more tragicomic by his accompanying rant about the availability of alcohol in Qatar and his unplanned plunge into a decorative pool, Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards two weeks ago insisted that England had been robbed. “England gave the world football,” Richards complained at a sports security conference in Qatar. “For 50 years we owned the game … We were the governance of the game. We wrote the rules, designed the pitches and everything else. Then, 50 years later, some guy came along and said: ‘You’re liars,’ and they actually stole it. It was called FIFA.” (FIFA is the game’s global governing body.)

                        Well, yes, and no.

                        England invented a game of running around kicking a ball in the mid-19th century (although the Chinese claim to have played a version centuries earlier). They called it “football,” not because the ball is played with the feet, but because the game is played on foot rather on horseback. The term “soccer,” more commonly used in America now, was old English slang based on shortening “Assoc.,” a reference to the game’s formal name, Association Football (as distinct from Rugby Football). The point, however, is that the game first played in Sheffield in the mid-19th century — and throughout England for many decades hence — bears little resemblance to football as we know it today. And England, sad to say, has spent most of the past century trying, mostly in vain, to catch up. (Most of the top players and coaches in Sir Dave’s English Premier League are not, it should be noted, actually English.)

                        (PHOTOS: Pictures from the World Cup 2010)

                        If the pinnacle of football civilization today is Barcelona FC — whose intricate passing, close control and off-the-ball movement has made them not only the most formidable team in the world, but also the foundation of the Spanish national team that currently holds the World Cup — the English game of the of 19th and early 20th century was cro-magnon by comparison.

                        Back then, a player would run with the ball towards the opposing goal and his teammates would run alongside and behind him, hoping to pick up the loose ball if their man was tackled — after which, they’d run with the ball with their teammates around them, or else the opposition would do the same in the other direction. (You know, rather like 4-year-olds do when they’re first learning the game.) The idea of moving the ball towards the opponent’s goal by passing it from player to player was invented in Scotland (which, if you know your football geography, is a different country) in the early 20th century. Curiously enough, although entirely unrelated, six of the coaches in the English Premier League today are Scottish, more than from any other country (just four are English).

                        Scottish coaches took their style to Central Europe in the 1920s, creating the foundation for the legendary prewar Austrian national team, whose star forward, Matthias Sindelar, may have been the first “false 9,” wearing the center-forward’s number but drifting deep in search of the ball. These players ghost across the forward line in a way that made life impossible for defenders accustomed the more rigid formations: today, the role is exemplified by Barcelona’s Lionel Messi or Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney. That same interwar Scottish-influenced game in Central Europe laid the foundation for the “Magnificent Magyars,” the Hungarian national team led by the genius Ferenc Puskas, whose 6-3 thrashing of England at Wembley in 1953 (with the new “false 9,” Sandor Hidegkuti, scoring a hat trick) showed the Brits just how far they’d fallen behind the top teams in the global game. Sure, England won the World Cup on home soil in 1966, but that tournament win was a unique exception in the history of international football, which had England fans in 1996 singing of “30 years of hurt,” which would now of course be 46 years of hurt.

                        (SPECIAL: A Team-by-Team Guide to the 2010 World Cup)

                        The era of Brazilian dominance that began with Garrincha, Vava and the precocious teenager Pele destroying all comers at the 1958 World Cup owes a significant debt to Bela Guttman, an itinerant Hungarian-Jewish coach (whose career as a player included a brief spell with Brooklyn Wanderers in New York City). Guttman took the Austro-Hungarian game and transplanted it, coaching some of the world’s best teams, like Brazil; he also had influential spells coaching in Italy and Portugal.

                        Even the current Barca game so dominant in Europe and at the World Cup is not entirely indigenous. It is a product, in fact, of the influence of the Dutch “Total Football” of the early 1970s — the emphasis on quick one-touch passing, movement and positional flexibility that made the Netherlands the outstanding team of both the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, even though they won neither. (Curiously, the “Magnificent Magyars” had also been by far the outstanding team of the 1954 World Cup, but lost the final to a fitter and better-drilled German side.)

                        Rinus Michels, coach of that 1974 Dutch team, had actually arrived at Barcelona in 1972, bringing with him the philosophy of Amsterdam’s legendary Ajax football club. Critical to the Dutch game is the belief in instilling it in youngsters before puberty in the world-famous Ajax academy, which for decades was to football what Hogwarts is to wizardry. Michels was joined at Barcelona by Johan Cruyff, the most sublimely gifted footballer the world had seen since Pele. Cruyff’s number 14 became a universal icon among footballers for playmaking game intelligence. Excelling there as a player, Cruyff later coached Barca himself (one of four Dutchmen to do so after Michels), and remains an influential figure on the club’s board. And loads of his countrymen have also played at Camp Nou — indeed, if Barca today doesn’t have any Dutch players has only one Dutch player in a fringe role in its squad, that’s because it has so successfully implemented the Ajax “grow your own” model, with the core of its current team having come through its own academy, La Masia, which was modeled on the Dutch one.

                        (MORE: United and Chelsea Show That English Soccer is a Game for Old Men)

                        Cross fertilization is a staple of a game that has become steadily globalized in recent decades. Even England’s style of play and technical abilities have been substantially improved by the presence of so many foreign players and coaches in their top league, and they’re unlikely to be humiliated by any team as they were by the Magyars in ’53. Then again, the global dissemination of basic tactics and organization means that, these days, even minnows like Trinidad or New Zealand can go to a World Cup and avoid humiliation. England is still struggling to mimic successful playing styles in a game it claims to have invented. It has had two foreigners coaching its national team in the past decade, to no avail.

                        Now, it plans to give the job back to an Englishman. But the real challenge in teaching England to play top-tier competitive football doesn’t lie simply in coaching the national team; it lies in the emphasis on technique in coaching England’s 6-year-olds; in teaching the 9-year-olds to pass and move in an evolving geometry that keeps the ball away from opponents; in teaching the 12-year-olds to look up and see the whole pitch, and their teammates and opponents on it, through the eyes of a coach, and so on. In other words, to import “foreign” virtues at the grassroots, as Barcelona did in the 1970s.

                        To suggest football was somehow “stolen” from England is to imply that Mozart owes royalties to the crude percussionists of the cro-magnon era. Better to figure what England could “borrow” from modern football, if it is to become internationally competitive any time soon.

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                          #42
                          I think I prefer random sentence generator guy to soccer historian dude.

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                            #43
                            RAMson ranDOMice playing DI©E smoking ®ICE patch.


                            RANsom£!C€ rat cage$TRIPlugs STREAMix BEAUTY.



                            SKULTbidanger$HIPlows BONE$trap honker hug hickeys.

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                              #44
                              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                              I think I prefer random sentence generator guy to soccer historian dude.
                              "Soccer historian dude" has simply copied an article from Time online and pasted it here

                              http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2...as-we-know-it/

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                                #45
                                Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                                While many in England believe that it is coming home at World Cup 2018, it is hard to ignore the fact that the Three Lions have not yet negotiated their tricky quarter-final tie with Sweden.

                                The game on Saturday afternoon is England’s most significant in the last decade and a bit. The last time the Three Lions made the last four of a World Cup was back in 1990. I remember it well, as a seven-year-old crying my eyes out as Germany beat us in a penalty shoot-out.

                                Unfortunately, I have endured many penalty shoot-out losses since then with the Three Lions. The victory over Colombia was England’s first ever shoot-out win at a World Cup. For all the delight of making it through to the last eight, we should not forget that we still have to beat an excellent Sweden team to progress further in Russia.

                                Sweden are a very dangerous opponent
                                In many ways, Switzerland would have been an easier opponent for England in the quarter-finals, despite the Swiss being the highest ranked team left in our section of the draw.

                                One of the main reasons that Switzerland would have been favourable opponents is the fact that Sweden are just so hard to defeat. Swedish boss Janne Andersson has created a team based on hard-work and team ethic.

                                Gone are the days when superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic dominated the team. This team has few stars, as the team is the star. The most highly-rated player is arguably RB Leipzig winger Emil Forsberg, who scored the winner against Switzerland in a typical 1-0 Sweden win.

                                I say typical Sweden win because they tend to be involved in low scoring games. The World Cup group stage games against Germany and Mexico were the exception rather than the rule.

                                Sweden have a highly organised and solid defence, which has kept clean sheets in five of their last six games. They tend to hit teams on the break, as their forward options are not great. They have proven in qualifying and in Russia that their style of football gets results.

                                England a horrible record against Sweden
                                Sweden are something of a bogey side for England. In the last 20 games that the Three Lions have faced the Scandinavians, England have won just four times. In that run, Sweden have recorded nine wins.

                                That is the sort of record that England boss Gareth Southgate will know all about. He will attempt to get the message across to the players that they cannot afford to be complacent.

                                Sweden got the better of the Netherlands and Italy in making it to the World Cup. They will certainly fancy their chances of a repeat against England on Saturday afternoon.

                                England the favourites to progress
                                Despite history being against them and a tough game with Sweden, England are odds of 19/20 to progress to the semi-finals of the World Cup. Looking at other odds, Southgate’s side are the favourites to make the final of the competition, mainly due to their perceived easier route to the final.



                                There is a belief from the fans that England can go all the way and lift the trophy at World Cup 2018. However, as English fans, we also have an inbuilt sense of doom, as we have seen the Three Lions slip-up unexpectedly on so many occasions.



                                The exit at Euro 2016 in the last 16 against Iceland was undoubtedly a game that springs to mind. However, England went into that clash with the Nordic nation highly complacent.



                                Everybody connected with England knows that the players cannot show the same sort of attitude against Sweden, as if they do then the World Cup journey could come to a very abrupt end in Russia.



                                Can England overcome Sweden to make it into the World Cup semi-finals?
                                Copied from

                                http://www.soccernews.com/england-ca...sweden/262292/

                                and by the way England beat Sweden

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