General Football Thread

[Starvinho]

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has opened the way for goalline technology to be implemented in leagues from next season, as long as the International Football Association Board approves an "accurate and affordable" system when it meets in London in March 2012.

Fingers crossed that something can be sorted because it's long overdue.

[Starvinho]

http://www.lfp.fr/tropheeChampions/feuille_match/75129

An amazing game from tonight's French Super Cup, Marseille beat Lille 5-4. Lille where leading 3-1 with 5 minutes to go until Marseille scored 3 goals in 5 minutes to lead 4-3 going into injury time, Lille then qualised 2 minutes into stoppage time only for Marseille to score 5 minutes into stoppage time to nick it. I'm hoping the Community Sheild will be as good as this!

[DavidMarrio]

Diouf has been given a suspension for 5 years by the Senegalese FA

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2886/africa/2011/07/27/2593823/former-blackburn-forward-senegal-international-el-hadji

[Benjamin]

Chelsea lodge abuse complaint against Malaysian fans

Yay, citzens of my nation show their stupidity once again. Hope to God something actually comes out of this complaint, like banning my country from FIFA.

[IAceI]

Whats the crack like? The link is blocked at work

[Twist]

Chelsea lodge abuse complaint against Malaysian fans

Yay, citzens of my nation show their stupidity once again. Hope to God something actually comes out of this complaint, like banning my country from FIFA.

Unlikely, they'll probably get you to host the World Cup though.

[Benjamin]

This is the full report from that link:

Chelsea have officially lodged a complaint over what the club believes was anti-Semitic abuse aimed at Yossi Benayoun in their match last week against a Malaysian XI.

Yossi Benayoun in action against Malaysia XI

Having reviewed the match, in which Benayoun's every touch was jeered, the club believe abuse directed at the Israel international was anti-Semitic in nature and have therefore complained to the Malaysian FA.

A statement read: "Notwithstanding most fans behaving appropriately on the night, we believe Yossi was subjected to anti-Semitic abuse by a number of supporters at the game.

"Such behaviour is offensive, totally unacceptable and has no place in football.

"The club did not make representations at the time as it was initially unclear as to the nature of the abuse Yossi received, as several players from both teams experienced similar treatment, sometimes louder and longer. However, having taken time to consider the issue fully, it has become apparent that a formal complaint was necessary.

"Our stay in Malaysia was, on the whole, a very positive experience for all the team travelling on the pre-season tour. It is a shame, therefore, that the behaviour of a minority of supporters is also a memory we take away."

I'll post some of the comments that were given by posters when I'm back, but from what I heard from friends who went for the game (it's the only one I didn't go for, I went for both Arsenal's and Liverpool's), the booing against Benayoun was insanely violent and attrocious. One of my friends said he heard a guy say "Pergi mati, Yuhani mampus!" which basically translates into "Go die! Go to hell, Jews!"

Of course, it might not be Yuhani, I forgot what Jew is in Malay, but it's something like that.

[IAceI]

Well at least they took him with him rather than West Ham and leave him behind. Should be followed up on and dealt with but ultimately it's not like teams are going to stop going to places like Malaysia for pre-season money spinning tours.

Hope something comes of it, in some form though.

[Benjamin]

Through the comments section, I realized that Malaysian football fans here aren't as dumb as I thought they were. They're about twenty times more. One guy kept on going on about how Benayoun was being booed not because of his religion / race, but because of where he was from. If he meant Liverpool, then I wonder where he thinks Torres came from. If he meant Israel, then, well, yeah, he kind of proved my point of the stupidity of my country.

[Mr. X]

Bradley Fired

Can't say I'm too shocked, but it leaves a question of just who may take the job and be able to get us the results we want.

[Lineker]

Yeah, I agree pretty much with what GoGo said in the MLS thread. They weren't going any further under him.

[Mr. X]

I'd like to see us bring up a coach that has worked with the recent U19/21 squads and build us a younger national team with the veterans still playing major roles.

[Lineker]

A non-league football team has been given a "once in a lifetime" chance to play Spanish side Real Betis after Portsmouth FC were delayed in the US.

Conference South side Havant and Waterlooville will take on the La Liga team at home at Westleigh Park for the pre-season friendly at 18:30 BST.

Pompey's players are stuck in North Carolina after their plane was hit by a catering lorry at the end of a tour.

Seville-based Real Betis are currently on a pre-season tour of the UK.

A Havant and Waterlooville spokesman said: "The Hawks have secured a short notice once in a lifetime opportunity and will play Spanish Premier League side Real Betis at Westleigh Park.

"The Seville-based outfit were due to face Portsmouth, whose team remains stuck in America after their Stateside pre-season tour ended with a catering truck driving into the plane they were due to fly home on.

"Hawks HQ were quick to act, and the La Liga side will bring their full first team to Westleigh Park tomorrow for a 6:30pm kick off."

Tickets for the match will cost fans £5 and £10.

Real Betis had been due to play Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Portsmouth FC said: "Almost all of the squad and its coaching staff will not arrive back in Britain until Sunday.

"After lengthy discussions, the difficult decision to call the match off was made in conjunction with Real Betis."

Portsmouth FC chief executive David Lampitt said: "Unfortunately events outside of our control have conspired against us and we have been left with no choice but to cancel this match.

"We are naturally disappointed as we were looking forward to welcoming Real Betis, their fans and directors to Fratton Park and we thank them for their patience and understanding."

Fans who bought tickets for the Portsmouth match will be refunded, the club said.

In 2008, Havant and Waterlooville played Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

In March the team also hit national headlines after a match against non-league Dorchester Town. A Dorchester player was sent off for tackling a pitch invader who was dressed in a mankini.

When will it stop raining shit on Pompey?

[Lineker]

Clubs reveal all in BBC Sport Price of Football survey

[Gazz]

Clubs reveal all in BBC Sport Price of Football survey

Not all clubs, typical transparency from the Newcastle regime.

[Colly]

Couldn't they have just checked the coffee prices when they were making that frankly disgusting BBC3 'documentary' about how shit the North is?

[Gazz]

Remember River Plate got relegated?

Well, the Argentinian FA have decided to merge the two top divisions into one 38 team super league, so they've sort of been reinstated.

[King Ellis]

What? How does that work?

Surely they can't be playig home and away x 37?

[IAceI]

Two leagues of 19 I think I read. And it'll keep Boca and River Plate apart until the 'champions' stage or whatever. There's nothing quite like having a system to prevent your big club from going down, and then when it does happen, changing the system anyways. Then again Argentina haven't exactly ever been too fussed about keeping all the problems with their league hushed.

[Gazz]

It's been scrapped now apparently as pretty much everyone who isn't a River Plate fan went 'You can fuck right off'.

Argentina's league's are split in two anyway, Opening and Closing Stage, then the two champions face off for the overall title, so I guess they would have played 18/19 teams twice per stage.