Official Football/Soccer Thread

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Originally Posted by MVS

Why the love for Iceland, anyways?

Just an underdog thing?

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Nah. Iceland is my favourite place in the world. I have studied the language, history, etc. I have visited and I would like to spend more time there one day. So, naturally, I always support their footballers too. I want to see them do well and I hope they continue to improve. Getting to Euro or WC would be such a massive accomplishment for a nation of less than a million people and surely inspire even more players and put more money into the programmes. They have some really cool little stadia there tho. We snuck into the national stadium (it was unlocked :p).

I won Euro 2000 with them in Striker Pro 2000 for DC. ;)

Do they even have a million?

I thought it was like 300K and 200K of those aroound Rejkyavikiikiikiikikckeiept.

I hope Holland makes it, they're one of my fav teams. I don't know why, but I seem to always support the bigger names, possibly because growing up, that's all my father talked about. Of course, I also enjoy the underdog doing well. I'm happy Germany and England are in and I hope Holland makes it. Then all my fav teams will be in.

SC

Well if anyone's interested, here's a little Persian Football rundown:

After 6 weeks of the IPL, Zob Ahan is tops with 16 points. Perspolis, Pas, and Esteghlal follow with 11 points each, but are ranked in that order due to goal differential. Foolad is at the five spot with 10 points. Shamooshak and Saipa are in the relegation spots with 5 and 2 points respectively.

Iran's League Cup will begin on Oct. 21 with 113 teams competing in three stages. 54 provincial champions, 29 second division teams, and 16 first division teams. Those teams will play out the first two stages to book berths in the third stage against the 14 IPL teams. Current IPL leaders Zob Ahan won the last league cup. They, along with last year's IPL champions Sepahan, will represent Iran in the Asian Club Championships.

Iran played New Zealand today in the AFC/OFC Challenge Cup. Hopefully, Iran got a boost from Mahdavikia, Ali Daei and reappointed coach Branko Ivankovic. Still waiting for news on this one.

And finally some little tidbits:
Vahid Shamsaei, Iran's top futsal(indoor) goalscorer has joined the futsal team Lazio.

Al Ain, of UAE, won the inagural AFC Champions League over Thai side BEC Tero Sasana with a 2-1 aggregate. Farhad Majidi from Iran plays for Al Ain so that's why I thought this was important.

And that's about it.

SC

Well it's final. Germany beat Sweden, 2-1 in extra time. Great game, really exciting. Didn't think a women's game could catch my interest like this game did. Sweden really played well and I was impressed with their fight late in the match. Germany was off their game and Sweden almost capitalized, but an offsides flag saved Germany. Anyways, good match and congrats to Germany.

SC

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MVS

Do they even have a million?

I thought it was like 300K and 200K of those aroound Rejkyavikiikiikiikikckeiept.

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Yeh, that's about right. The concentration around Reykjavík is not quite that much. It is more than 50% in that region however.

It's astonishing that a country so small can almost win a group with the 3 time World Cup Winners. :)

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Originally Posted by spacecowboy

Well it's final. Germany beat Sweden, 2-1 in extra time. Great game, really exciting. Didn't think a women's game could catch my interest like this game did. Sweden really played well and I was impressed with their fight late in the match. Germany was off their game and Sweden almost capitalized, but an offsides flag saved Germany. Anyways, good match and congrats to Germany.

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I just watched the game. It was tape delayed in Canada. It was another very entertaining well played game. I knew the result beforehand because icepop's father mentioned it. Doh. On the one hand I am happily surprised how close the game was seeing as Germany was a big favourite. Sweden played well and came so close to winning that you can't not be disappointed to lose. Oh well, maybe next time. Congrats to Germany. They won on a great goal.

Oh, and if anyone wants to know "why Sweden", it's the same reason as Iceland (and Norway) for that matter. The only difference between them is that I actually have Norwegian blood. I love Swedish history, language, culture, food, music, literature, etc. I plan on living there one day. :)

Well the Euro2004 draw was this morning...
Latvia v Turkey
Scotland v Holland
Croatia v Slovenia
Russia v Wales
Spain v Norway

Personally, I think Norway and Scotland got the shaft. Then again I want Holland to go so I'm happy. Best thing is that Wales got Russia, a team they can probably beat. GO GIGGS! Anyways, looks like the bigger teams were favoured in these pairings.

SC

Bloody hell. Norway got the shaft! Spain is going to be hard hard hard to beat. A few years back I would have taken my chances with Norway getting a result, but they have not been as impressive the past 4 years. They have a shot because there are quality players... but it's a small one. :(

So, yeh, I am rooting for: Latvia, Scotland, Slovenia, Wales, and Norway. Each one an underdog but that's more the nature of the draw than anything else. Oh, and don't underrate Russia. They don't have as many big names but they are a pretty good team. They did make it to the last WC, after all. Wales is going to have a tough time. They've had a run of bad results lately and travelling to Russia is never easy. It would be cool if they won but I like Russia a bit too. I think they'll win.

Well I just got the news that Iran beat New Zealand in the AFC/OFC Challenge Cup 3-0. Mahdavikia made all three goals, two for Ali Karimi and one for 17-year-old Hossein Kaabi. Impressive and I'm happy for the team. Hopefully, we can carry this on and qualify for the Asian Football Championships.

SC

SC: Do you get the show Football Asia where you live? I get it on FSW Canada. I think it's on FSW in the US. Asian football is pretty interesting. I think it's an up and coming region.

* http://footballasia.com/

My favourite Asian team is Japan. Following them at last year's WC was really fun. :)