The Football Thread

[Banjo]

Very disappointed about tonights one way traffic game  and i would've changed channels to watch the Chelsea game if you team hadn't have been playing.
I assume that was Roma's worst ever European defeat?

[titoli]

If you ask me now I assume it is the most tragic difeat in the history of football.
Anyway we only lost once with same score in the '40's against the so called "great Torino" (the team that ended up in 1949 like Manchester United 10 years later).

Anyway, the regret is big. I don't think we'd have lost tonight until I knew Taddei wouldn't play. We had a chance and we blew it. Amen.

[Banjo]

If you ask me now I assume it is the most tragic difeat in the history of football.
Anyway we only lost once with same score in the '40's against the so called "great Torino" (the team that ended up in 1949 like Manchester United 10 years later).

Anyway, the regret is big. I don't think we'd have lost tonight until I knew Taddei wouldn't play. We had a chance and we blew it. Amen.

Yes you blew it in the 1st leg by conceding and if Totti hadn't have hit the bar the outcome could've been very different.

[titoli]

No, I don't think so. We blew it but couldn't be otherwise because we just don't have as many players as MU. Yes, they had players out too, but our defection were all of players which run and press. And we couldn't even try to patch it up (i don't think we could have, anyway) during the week as the last defection happened one hour before the match. 

[Banjo]

It must be galling for you seeing match fixing cheats AC Milan in the semi's.
Are you hoping for an all English final?

[titoli]

Frankly, I don't care at all. I have no energy left at the moment to support whomever. 

[Banjo]

Well at least you've had the pleasure of your teams winning something in your lifetime.I don't really know much about Roma's history but two World Cups is pretty enviable.

My club team Brighton (never won anything  ) doesn't even have a permanent home,our beloved Goldstone Ground was sold off by crooked moneymen 10 years ago and we're still being blocked by heartless politicians to get a new one erected

[titoli]

You know better than me what is like to support a team which never goes anywhere or near. But there's pride expecially in "not" supporting the winning teams as well (and expecially in Italy, I guess, where rules have less been respected than anywhere else). I think one should support his local team and that's that.

[Banjo]

You know better than me what is like to support a team which never goes anywhere or near. But there's pride expecially in "not" supporting the winning teams as well (and expecially in Italy, I guess, where rules have less been respected than anywhere else). I think one should support his local team and that's that.

I agree.I live in the English county of Sussex where Brighton & Hove Albion is the only football club with league status but apart from the town itself(i'm in Eastbourne 26 miles along the coast) you never see  an Albion shirt but instead a countless sea of shirts representing the very top Premiership teams.It seems there very little pride in supporting local teams with parents that support the likes of MU encouraging their kids to do the same.Its a great shame because there has always been the potential in Sussex for Brighton to be massively successful and to actually achieve getting a new plush all seater stadium (in Falmer hopefully) would go some way in the right direction for us.
About "not supporting the winning teams".This makes winning the odd game all the more satisfying as it must be very samey winning every week.

[Banjo]

Frankly, I don't care at all. I have no energy left at the moment to support whomever. 

Liverpool got through to the Champions League final and its good to see the back of that arrogant Jose Mourinho.Reading the papers this morning reminded me of Liverpool beating Roma on penalties in the 1984 final.Have Roma ever won it Titoli?

Not sure who i want to lose out of MU and AC Milan tonight.Milan (as well as being match fix cheats) are the Italian MU aren't they?

[titoli]

No, we never won it. This year could have been the right year but we were short of bench and Totti hasn't recovered from the severe injury he suffered a year ago.

No, MIlan isn't the MU of Italy: that is Juventus. Which has been relegated to B league this year when it sho0uld have been radiated and start from amateur league. Instead we'll have it again among us next year. Milan was close second as to cheating. They saved their neck as they let the arrangements with referees being held by a person who, though not having a official role in the sovciety, was sitting each match they played on the bench. Can you believe this? Of course they also saved their neck and were allowed to play CL because of Berlusconi: what can anybody say against that. So they had the exact amount of points of penalization  to enable them to play CL (and probably win it). At Uefa they said to italian football authorities they would have rather done without this crap, but hte italian authorities couldn't budge from what the ridiculous sport courts had decreed.   You want me to puke?

[Banjo]

So they had the exact amount of points of penalization  to enable them to play CL (and probably win it).

That stinks!

Well in that case i'm definately backing Liverpool in the final.I could only listen to the match on the radio last night and its sounds like Milan absolutely trounced MU who didn't offer any resistance until the 2nd half it seems.

Its going to be an interesting final,a rematch.Milan will be wanting to avenge that 3-0 lead they gave away in the last game and are strong favourites.But its impossible to discount Liverpool who have such a strong tradition in this tournament.They haven't played as many games as either MU or Chelsea this season and are likely to offer a stronger physical challenge and they always seem to have the luck on their side.

But in Liverpools case i think its stretching it a bit to call it the Champions League because they haven't won the English Premier League since i can't remember when,either  the late 80's or early 90's.Maybe Mourinho's right in calling them a cup team only?

[titoli]

To win a league you have to have at least 20 players for turnover. That means money. In Italy, this year, Inter had 30 (!) to alternate that's why they were so many points ahead of 2nd, poor us. In a home and away match anything can happen. Let alone a final. Still I think that, at the moment, Milan comes up as a favourite because they have more talent, though at the end of the season the decisive factor will be physical. Liverpool is very much what Milan is in Italy (they won more abroad), though they didn't cheat as much.

[Banjo]

To win a league you have to have at least 20 players for turnover. That means money.

My team Brighton & Hove Albion were in the English top flight 1979-1983,and in 1983 the season we went down we came within a whisker of defeating MU in extra time of the FA Cup Final.We've always had huge financial problems mainly due to crooked uncaring businessmen,and having had our ground sold in an very underhanded manner 10 years.

We never received any financial subsidies during that initial relegation but its totally different now with teams being relegated being given multi-million pay-offs to allowing them a huge advantage in getting repromoted.The gulf is constantly widening between the major corporation clubs and the small clubs and the only hope  my team has of achieving anything(once they finally allow us a home to play at!) is a multi-millionaire like Abramovich very heavily investing in us.

The club game is financially ruined which is why in many respects i prefer Internationals.
 
BTW 2005 (and potentially 2007) European Champion Champions Liverpool last won the Premiership(actually the old 1st division) in 1990.......

[titoli]

the only hope  my team has of achieving anything(once they finally allow us a home to play at!) is a multi-millionaire like Abramovich very heavily investing in us.

That is the hope everybody has. Nafta was a russian concern even bigger than Abramovic which got interested in A.S. Roma couple of years ago. They ran for life when they knew how much in debt the team was. So there's only Bill Gates left for us, I'm afraid...