General Football Thread

[Colly]

Tom Finney has passed away. Sad news, but in a weird way I'm cheered up by the fact I heard it first from @badnewsbarrett.

[Lineker]

Remember Salvador Cabañas? Well in an update to his story, he's now lost everything. Sad.

[METALMAN]

I signed him for Tottingham on FM 2010 and he was amazing and won me all the shit.

[Lineker]

A team from Stoke-on-Trent ended a six-and-half-year, 171-game winless run with victory on Saturday.

Tunstall Town, of the Staffordshire County League Division Two, beat Betley Reserves 3-2 to end a losing streak that dated back to September 2007.

Town only ended a run of 143 consecutive defeats with a 1-1 draw against Whittington in January 2013.

"We were all ecstatic. All the hard work we have put in has paid off, " manager George Day told BBC Sport.

"It's been coming. There's been a lot of games where we have lost by the odd goal in four or five. It's coming together.

Town were also in the news in 2011, not for their losing streak, but for the age of their players.

In one of two 19-0 defeats in that 2010-11 season, their back four and goalkeeper had a combined age of more than 300 years.

"Until last season, we were basically a veterans team," added Ford. "Our goal difference was always between about -170 and -200, but last year it was only -70.

"We're phasing the old players out now, there's only one or two left that are in their 40s."

Town have finished bottom of the Division Two table in every season since they joined the Staffordshire County League, but Dan Dwase's goal and an Adam Rose penalty ensured that they cut the gap to second-bottom La Holditch to seven points.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Feyenoord is talking with Louis van Gaal to be their next trainer after this season.

[stokeriño]

Top this for a goal celebration:

http://youtu.be/2vcJibyBRAM

[Cymbols]

It's not even a good goal. Come on man, at least score a screamer before doing that!

[Adam]

Ref was right to send him off, he probably had a concussion anyway!

Utterly hilarious, from the world's scrappiest goal to the daft piledriving headbutt to the red card. Bravo.

[brenchill]

I don't think this has been covered here, but Diego Costa trained with Spain for the first time this morning.

That's Diego Costa who was born and raised in Brazil and moved to Spain when he was 21 years old.

[Lineker]

Bloody foreigners coming into our countries and representing our national teams rabble rabble...

[Baddar]

I don't think this has been covered here, but Diego Costa trained with Spain for the first time this morning.

That's Diego Costa who has born and raised in Brazil and moved to Spain when he was 21 years old.

They mentioned during the derby on Sunday how he'd be training with Sergio Ramos, his Spain team mate - I thought to myself that I could've sworn he was Brazilian.

[King Ellis]

This is why we'll never win a World Cup. Spain can steal players away like Costa yet we're sitting here like the suckers we are, worried about taking anyone in case we upset the Scots or the Welsh. :/

[brenchill]

It's a pity we can't just have Welsh players. You know, like the Cricket team.

[Matt]

Plus they're pinching Diego Costa, we try pinching Almunia, Arteta and Januzaj.

[brenchill]

And Di Canio that once!

[Gazz]

Carlo Cudicini!

[TCO]

If Diego Costa scores against Brazil at the World Cup, it'll be the ultimate heel move.

Isn't there a special rule for South Americans gaining Spanish citizenship faster? I remember it basically negating the foreign player rule while playing FM as a Spanish team.

Thiago will likely be going too, who's also Brazillian. Foreigners for all!

[EddieG]

If Diego Costa scores against Brazil at the World Cup, it'll be the ultimate heel move.

Isn't there a special rule for South Americans gaining Spanish citizenship faster? I remember it basically negating the foreign player rule while playing FM as a Spanish team.

Thiago will likely be going too, who's also Brazillian. Foreigners for all!

How much faster? He's been playing in Spain since 2007.

EDIT: Wiki says he's actually had the Spanish nationality since last summer.

Didn't realize he'd alraedy been capped by Brazil, didn't realize you can change countries.. I guess he's completely given up the Brazilian nationality, so maybe that factors into it?

[Lineker]

Cotonou Agreement!

In La Liga, players can claim citizenship from the nation their ancestors came from. If a player does not have European ancestry, he can claim Spanish citizenship after playing in Spain for five years.^{[citation needed]} Sometimes, this can lead to a triple-citizenship situation; for example, Leo Franco, who is Argentine-born, of Italian heritage, and can claim a Spanish passport, having played in La Liga for over five years.^{[dubious – discuss]}

In addition, players from the ACP countries — countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement — are not counted against non-EU quotas, due to the Kolpak ruling.

[Rich]

He only played for Brazil in friendlies, it's that simple, as long as you don't play a competitive match for a national team you are free to change countries.