It felt horrible, and I’m still angry, mostly because it was the most stupid and unnecessary foul inside the box I’ve ever seen.
Don’t forget Mönchengladbach, 5 times Bundesliga champion in the 70s and twice winner of the UEFA cup.
Indeed, I meant to write Hamburg, Köln and Gladbach. It was still too early in the morning, it seems.
Ooops! I see I will have to be careful here. But the concept of a second team is interesting. How important is a second team for you, compared with the first team?
i have had second teams in most sports, someone I root for as an underdog or whose players I like for some reason. But far less important than my main team.
I landed on St Pauli because the club & their supporters are unabashedly leftist anarchic antifascist pro-LGBTQ+ etc., and my club of 30+ years (Bayern) isn’t exactly right wing, but they think simply lighting up Allianz with Pride colors is an incredible gesture and they only reluctantly let their Qatar Airways relationship drop. I am seeking some karmic balance here, Pardel-Lux, because my team sucks politically (as do a lot of its supporters). Thank god the Ultras aren’t that way.
Yeah, probably. But honestly I don’t really count any of City’s titles, so second place 4 years in a row is pretty awesome. And they still have a CL semi-final to play.
I know Arsenal fans are losing their minds online, and the media of course loves to play up the “bottlers” narrative, but City aren’t really playing the same game as everybody else. They would have been dead and buried if they couldn’t pay whatever agent fees and salaries were necessary to get Guehi and Semenyo in January.
It’s probably why every non-Arsenal fan seems to be rooting for City - it doesn’t mean anything when City buys another title but Arsenal winning would actually mean something for their fans. So it’s more fun to mock their failure to do what only Liverpool have actually managed to do for the past decade.
At some point when the Premier League turns into another Bundesliga (Bayern 14 of the last 15 is it?) or Ligue 1 (PSG 11 of the last 13), and there is only any drama once a decade, maybe they will decide if they want to do anything about it. But I doubt it, the money keeps rolling in. City will have won 7 of the last 9 titles, and I certainly don’t see any other PL teams (other than perhaps Arsenal) that appear close to being able to challenge them in the next few seasons, even if Pep leaves (which, again, with unlimited money I don’t think he will).
I know the concept of a second team and also have one, Schalke 04, probably because it’s my dad’s team. I also have strong sympathies for St. Pauli, for the same reasons like yours, they probably have the most non-toxic fan culture in the (male) football world. Only for the rest of this season I’m rooting against them, because they are one of Gladbach’s main rivals in the battle against relegation.
ETA: and isn’t there a special club and fan friendship between Bayern and Pauli? It goes back to the time (late 90s?) when St. Pauli was in jeopardy of going broke, but Uli Hoeneß organized a friendly at their turf against Bayern for free whose revenues saved the club IIRC. This was one of the times that Hoeneß showed that he’s not always a total asshole and can be quite generous.
Watch the Championship, much more exciting!
You’re right, I’d forgotten about that (a little before my time, but it’s wholesome history).
I’m briefly having nice thoughts about Uli, but I promise they’ll go away soon.
I’m a Spurs fan, so I probably will be next year…
For the benefit of @Frodo, I will mention that a certain maniacal GK will be doing an AMA on Reddit tomorrow:
I’m Emiliano Martínez, World Cup winning goalkeeper - AMA : r/worldcup
The Championship is so damn ugly though.
Looks like Lamine Yamal tore his hamstring. Hopefully it’s low grade, missing the World Cup would be really unfortunate.
Thanks!, I’ll take a look.
I don’t know whether this has any basis in reality or is just hollow talk for the usual audience of one, but the Handelsblatt reports this (on a live ticker page, so no link):
Italy Instead of Iran? U.S. Special Envoy Proposes World Cup Change
According to a media report, a special envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump wants to replace Iran’s team at the 2026 World Cup with four-time world champion Italy, which failed to qualify. The “Financial Times” reported this, citing statements by Paolo Zampolli. The World Cup will be held in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
“I can confirm that I suggested to Trump and (FIFA President Gianni) Infantino that Italy replace Iran at the World Cup,” Zampolli said. He is of Italian descent. For him, it would be “a dream” if Italy were represented at a tournament taking place in the U.S. “With four titles, they have the reputation that justifies their inclusion.”
The initiative is reportedly motivated by an effort to repair Trump’s strained relationship with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The two heads of state and government had recently traded criticism following Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV.
Translated with DeepL(dot)com (free version)
The Guardian reports as well:
The felon’s accomplice talked about pedrigree, not reputation in the original English. Changes everything. Pedrigree is about genes, something President Ineptstein thinks he understands. Reputation does not compute with him or his entourage.
I bet they will claim they may decide on their own, if they (the Italians or whoever) pay enough. Just you wait.
That smells very ‘Spurs involved in European Super League breakaway’ to me. IE let’s ignore actual recent achievements (or lack of) and pick someone who’s really good and really big, honest.
Frodo, I read a piece today about the controversies in the Argentine football association, in which I learned that clubs are member/supporter owned. Could you give me the big picture of what’s happening? Thanks very much.
Glad to, but remember that I’m biased in favor of the current system.
Currently clubs are non-profit organizations “owned” buy the club members, elections are held to elect a president and the members vote and elect a person to direct the club destinies for a given period.
This makes clubs not just football entities but social entities, you can go to your club’s pool, practice basketball, yoga, aerobics, dance, etc.
Clubs are integrated with the community to a high level in some cases, and there’s a feeling of shared community that should not be lost.
This works as well as any other system, i.e.: not very well.
Some clubs are badly managed, some are better of, none is a money making machine (and that’s how it should remain, IMHO).
Now that we have a libertarian president, there’s intense lobbying to allow clubs to become for-profit, shareholder owned entities.
I hope they don’t succeed and turn our poor but proud social entities into yet another soulless corporate money-making device.
Our football association AFA is notoriously corrupt and the current leadership is by no means an exception, the forces of evil are taking advantage of this to push for club privatization… (because the AFA is against private clubs) BUT there’s one thing that has stopped them:
The World Cup success in 2022, it’s hard to argue against success and that has given the AFA the clout to stand firm.
Good stuff, thanks. I don’t think US folks can get their brains around the concepts of community ownership like that but I stand in exception.
What about the pro/rel situation in the top tier? Is relegation on hold or permanent?
The Green Bay Packers are community owned.
I mean in a fiduciary sense, but other than board of director elections they don’t do much AFAIK.
I hope just on hold, the incompetence and stupid shenanigans of the AFA leadership don’t help a bit in the fight against privatization. But I guess that’s usually the Argentinian Way™ you have to pull for the corrupt and incompetent in their fight against the evil and corrupt (and incompetent too).