The Sports Thread

These tossers throwing themselves on the ground whenever an opponent breathes on them should be made to watch film of Georgie Best, ankle deep in mud, being hacked at by Norman Hunter or "Chopper" Harris and refusing to go down or Pele having the entire Argentinian team trying to break his leg every time he got the ball. 

Yes, that's a major annoyance. They could also look at Jimmy Johnstone against Athletico Madrid or Racing Club in the battle of Montevideo (not that I am quite old enough to have seen those live). Or Maradona against Gentile of Italy. I have spoken lots of time to folks I used to play football with as a teenager and I don't ever remember anyone staying down injured at all (never mind this rolling around accompanied by a scream). You do see it a bit in kids football these days, but it's not nearly as bad as the professional game.

These tossers throwing themselves on the ground whenever an opponent breathes on them should be made to watch film of Georgie Best, ankle deep in mud, being hacked at by Norman Hunter or "Chopper" Harris and refusing to go down or Pele having the entire Argentinian team trying to break his leg every time he got the ball. 

Yes, that's a major annoyance. They could also look at Jimmy Johnstone against Athletico Madrid or Racing Club in the battle of Montevideo (not that I am quite old enough to have seen those live). Or Maradona against Gentile of Italy. I have spoken lots of time to folks I used to play football with as a teenager and I don't ever remember anyone staying down injured at all (never mind this rolling around accompanied by a scream). You do see it a bit in kids football these days, but it's not nearly as bad as the professional game.

When I was a youngster playing both football and rugby the mantra was always "don't let them know you're hurting". It seems that footballers now don't care if they look like a total pussy or not. 

Deschamps must have put a rocket up the French at halftime because that was like a completely different team in the second half. Could be very difficult to beat now they have got going.

It looks like the Aussies have got Egypt in the next round Daniel. Could be a tall order against Mo Salah and co but this world cup has shown that nothing can be taken for granted.

Well done to Australia. I think Egypt is a good draw for them, they are quite a patient team and don't score too many goals. I think one of the African sides that attack faster would be more of an issue for Soutter and the rest of the defence.

Regarding the abject failure of Scotland once again. This was the worst and we didn't deserve to go through. Of course we should have had a penalty against Morocco which would have put us through, but we rode our luck against Haiti who could maybe have had a penalty too.

What do Scotland do now. I think tournament happening every two years does us no favours at the moment. We end up sticking with the same older players especially in central defence and up front isn't too exciting. Maybe we should forget the Euros clear out the old guard and bring some promising youngsters in now. There has to be a decent defender out there. I mean we have a number of players playing in Serie A which is unheard of, build on those. Celtic and Rangers having the monopoly in tge Scottish game doesn't help, young Scottish talent wasted and all those who challenge look abroad to fill their teams to try to compete.

If you look at the Scotland teams of the 70s and early 80s we had a full team playing in the top league in England with championship winning teams. What has happened.

Yeah, it sounds like we'll have a better chance against Egypt than the other teams we were looking at. I still aren't expecting us to win after watching our matches thus far though. I watched yesterday's France vs Norway match & the first-half hattrick from French winger Ousmane Dembélé was brilliant to watch. The dude simply couldn't miss!

And what a home victory from my Manly Sea-Eagles over arch-rivals the Melbourne Storm last night. The 30-4 shellacking was just what I needed & puts us back into fifth spot on the NRL ladder. We have the fourteenth-placed Parramatta Eels away next week which is looking very winnable at this point, despite our couple of State of Origin players being rested.

If you look at the Scotland teams of the 70s and early 80s we had a full team playing in the top league in England with championship winning teams. What has happened.

I was reading an article about just that a couple of days ago. It was comparing how the Scottish Premier League clubs and their norwegian counterparts, countries with similar size populations and football income revenues, spent their money. It seems that the norwegians have prioritised their youth development and grass roots football for some time now with a corresponding improvement in the fortunes of their national squad as a result.

Yeah, it sounds like we'll have a better chance against Egypt than the other teams we were looking at. I still aren't expecting us to win after watching our matches thus far though. I watched yesterday's France vs Norway match & the first-half hattrick from French winger Ousmane Dembélé was brilliant to watch. The dude simply couldn't miss!

I couldn't understand why the norwegians basically let him score the same goal three times, though. You would have thought they would at least have made some effort to stop him cutting inside onto his left foot after the first goal. All the same, France look like the team to beat as they seem the most complete side.

If you look at the Scotland teams of the 70s and early 80s we had a full team playing in the top league in England with championship winning teams. What has happened.

I was reading an article about just that a couple of days ago. It was comparing how the Scottish Premier League clubs and their norwegian counterparts, countries with similar size populations and football income revenues, spent their money. It seems that the norwegians have prioritised their youth development and grass roots football for some time now with a corresponding improvement in the fortunes of their national squad as a result.

Yes something went wrong somewhere along the line. I do remember under Thatcher school sports reduced and no ball games signs going up on every spare bit of grass. Imagine the did that on beaches of Brazil or any spare bit of ground in Brazil or Argentina. 

Of course a lot of it could be laid straight at the Doors of sky and the like and the amount of money involved. Big money buys and the lack of opportunity for young players. The  ridiculously small Premier league with Rangers and Celtic ruling the roost and none of the top league wanting to change due to the money that they get from those attendances.

Something has to change, we still produce some good young players, but we need to give more of them a chance and they need to learn that a move to Celtic or Rangers my be good financially at the time there may be better footballing opportunities available.

England made that Panama game more difficult than it should have been.

I think this morning's Columbia vs Portugal match may have been the most entertaining 0-0 draw I've seen.

Also, did anyone notice that a dodgy West Indian wicketkeeper in just his second Test & an under-performing veteran allrounder teamed up to break the all-time Test match sixth wicket partnership record against Sri Lanka this morning? 401 runs for the sixth wicket!! WTF!?

England made that Panama game more difficult than it should have been.

The defence looks dodgy as fuck and we were lucky to keep a clean sheet. Luckily Bellingham put the game on his back and was the only one who showed any real world class quality. I can't imagine France, Spain or Argentina having any sleepless nights about facing England unless they improve massively. One decent half in three games doesn't shout world cup winners to me.

If you look at the Scotland teams of the 70s and early 80s we had a full team playing in the top league in England with championship winning teams. What has happened.

I was reading an article about just that a couple of days ago. It was comparing how the Scottish Premier League clubs and their norwegian counterparts, countries with similar size populations and football income revenues, spent their money. It seems that the norwegians have prioritised their youth development and grass roots football for some time now with a corresponding improvement in the fortunes of their national squad as a result.

Yes something went wrong somewhere along the line. I do remember under Thatcher school sports reduced and no ball games signs going up on every spare bit of grass. Imagine the did that on beaches of Brazil or any spare bit of ground in Brazil or Argentina. 

I wonder if kids in the west now spend too much time indoors on their phones or games consoles which is why the teams from the world's poorer nations are getting comparatively better as their kids still go out in the streets kicking a ball about on a daily basis which you hardly ever see here, certainly round where I live anyway.

I think this morning's Columbia vs Portugal match may have been the most entertaining 0-0 draw I've seen.

Also, did anyone notice that a dodgy West Indian wicketkeeper in just his second Test & an under-performing veteran allrounder teamed up to break the all-time Test match sixth wicket partnership record against Sri Lanka this morning? 401 runs for the sixth wicket!! WTF!?

I watched the highlight of Colubia and Portugal this morning. There were so many chances and top saves, I thought that was the full game, but that was just the first 20 minutes. The offside decision to disallow the goal was ridiculous. There must be some error in the war for these that the distance shown would have been within that error window. Same for the Iran winner. You do have to feel sorry for a team to go out like that unbeaten.

I think I've said before about cricket, I used to watch it loads when I was young on the bbc. 5 day games and the one day games in the Sunday, but since it moved I know virtually nothing about what is going on.

I wonder if kids in the west now spend too much time indoors on their phones or games consoles which is why the teams from the world's poorer nations are getting comparatively better as their kids still go out in the streets kicking a ball about on a daily basis which you hardly ever see here, certainly round where I live anyway.

It's a real tricky one Sonny. My son is 13 and spends a fair bit of time on his phone or ninteno, but he is also incredibly active and would spend loads of time outside playing football or cricket or hockey. But where can they go for these, I'd have to drive him to a suitable place. Nothing nearby that his friends could all walk to with the roads that they would have to Cross.

When I was young you just went onto the streets in front of the house. No cars parked up all along the streets then. Then you would just shout car if a car came along and move to the pavement and continue the game when it passed. The speed the cars go round residential areas these days, you wouldn't have chance to shout car.

I wonder if kids in the west now spend too much time indoors on their phones or games consoles which is why the teams from the world's poorer nations are getting comparatively better as their kids still go out in the streets kicking a ball about on a daily basis which you hardly ever see here, certainly round where I live anyway.

It's a real tricky one Sonny. My son is 13 and spends a fair bit of time on his phone or ninteno, but he is also incredibly active and would spend loads of time outside playing football or cricket or hockey. But where can they go for these, I'd have to drive him to a suitable place. Nothing nearby that his friends could all walk to with the roads that they would have to Cross.

When I was young you just went onto the streets in front of the house. No cars parked up all along the streets then. Then you would just shout car if a car came along and move to the pavement and continue the game when it passed. The speed the cars go round residential areas these days, you wouldn't have chance to shout car.

Yeah that is a good point David. Traffic was virtually non-existent outside of knocking off time at the local factory near where I lived, so we could play in the street quite safely. There were a lot more green spaces available then too. It is certainly a different world kids grow up in now compared to when we were young. So many vested interests vying for their attenion all the time and successive governments that prioritise economics over quality of life.