2022 FIFA World Cup Finals

[PGen98]

"Serafin, is that your shoulder or you just glad to see me?"

Tasty!

 

[Webster]

 

[PGen98]

They all absolutely earned their spots, so great!!

 

[Webster]

The Guardian: Pulisic clear to play for USA against Netherlands as Berhalter faces familiar foes

Louis van Gaal says he doesn’t recall the last time he faced Gregg Berhalter in a competitive match. Berhalter, whose United States team will play Van Gaal’s Netherlands on Saturday in the last 16 of the World Cup, doesn’t believe him for a second.

The date was 4 May 1997. Berhalter was a fresh-faced 23-year-old center-back for a mid-table Sparta Rotterdam side that beat Van Gaal’s Ajax team – who had played in the Champions League semi-finals only 11 days earlier – thanks to an 88th-minute winner. “I think he remembers,” Berhalter said on Friday with a smile. “Being that competitive, he has to remember that game.”

Twenty-five years later, the US manager will take on the underdog role once again when the Americans meet a favored Dutch side that have yet to taste defeat in 18 matches since Van Gaal took over after last year’s European Championship, conceding only 14 times in that span. Should they buck the odds against the Oranje, the Americans would go through to the last eight of a World Cup for the first time since 2002, when Berhalter’s left foot nearly sent the US into the semi-finals at Germany’s expense.

That the biggest game of his three-and-a-half-year tenure will come against the Netherlands carries added meaning for Berhalter, who has become the first man to play for and manage an American side at a World Cup. After leaving the University of North Carolina following his junior season, he cut his teeth with a number of Dutch clubs at the outset of a decade-and-a-half playing career in Europe, signing with Zwolle in 1994, then with Sparta in 1996 and Cambuur Leeuwarden in 1998.

It’s no surprise that Dutch football has deeply informed his coaching philosophy. “I learned so much in Holland,” Berhalter said. “It’s almost like, what concepts haven’t I taken from Dutch football? It was a great experience being there. After every training session, you have a debate with your players about it. After every game, you have a talk with people about the game. People love to discuss soccer and you really learn a lot. I went to Holland just out of university, totally unprepared for professional-level soccer. If I wasn’t in Holland, I don’t think I would have had that background that really helped shape my ideas.”

Berhalter described how his experience in the Netherlands was an awakening to the nuances of the game that weren’t a part of his development back home.

“Just about spacing and the positional game, third man, triangles,” he said. “There was a striker, an old striker that I played with when I first got there. His name was Remco Boere. He would yell at me for giving him the ball with too much spin. He wanted balls that came at him straight that I had to hit with my laces. And I wasn’t good enough hitting with my laces, so I had to practice, practice, practice so I could play him a ball that he wanted.

“If you ever laid a ball off to someone and you put it to their wrong foot, they would start yelling at you. How crisp you play passes. There were a lot of details that I was missing that I learned in Holland.”

 

[PGen98]

Going to be one interesting match!!

 

[Webster]

I shouldn't laugh but....

 

[PGen98]

I shouldn't laugh but....

Don't bite the towel, you monster!

 

[Webster]

Don't bite the towel, you monster!

 

[Webster]

Don't bite the towel, you monster!

Maybe he likes his fibers strong and natural.... *adds deadpan* ...you know, like Serafin?

 

[PGen98]

Maybe he likes his fibers strong and natural.... *adds deadpan* ...you know, like Serafin?

Good old fashioned conservative thread that doesn't like being used by anyone not into conservative viewpoints? I could see it

 

[Webster]

Granit Xhaka provoking the entire Serbian bench!

 

[PGen98]

Trying to be a super pest, have to appreciate that, they help to get the other team off of their game

 

[Webster]

Pelé moved to end-of-life care in hospital, reports say

Brazilian football legend is reportedly no longer responding to chemotherapy treatment

www.theguardian.com

The Brazilian football great Pelé is receiving palliative care after he stopped responding to chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer, the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S Paulo has reported.

Pelé, 82, was admitted to hospital on Tuesday to re-evaluate his cancer treatment, according to medical reports.

According to Folha de S Paulo, the chemotherapy has now been suspended and Pelé is receiving end-of-life care, being treated only for symptoms such as pain and shortness of breath.

The Albert Einstein hospital in São Paulo declined to confirm reports that the football legend known as the The King is under palliative care and said it would only communicate through official bulletins. The latest medical report, released on Friday, said Pelé was being treated with antibiotics for a respiratory infection. His condition was “stable, with a general improvement in his health status”, the report said.

 

[PGen98]

Aww, poor Pele

 

[Webster]

 

[PGen98]

One of the game's true legends, an absolute mammoth in the sport, he will be missed!

 

[Webster]

Senegal are 'dangerous' opponents for England

England are through to the last 16 of the World Cup but if they want to go further they must overcome a 'dangerous' Senegal side who are hoping to make Africa proud.

www.bbc.com

England v France. It's the World Cup quarter-final everyone is talking about. Yet, there are significant hurdles to overcome first.

Both sides may face lower-ranked opposition in their last-16 ties on Sunday but this is a World Cup that has thrown up shock result after shock result. France must first overcome Poland, while England face African champions Senegal.

They may sit 13 places lower than England in the Fifa world rankings, but Senegal have a squad packed full of talent, even without injured superstar Sadio Mane.

"We know we will be favourites in terms of rankings but Senegal will be a very dangerous side," said England manager Gareth Southgate. "We know many of their players who play in the Premier League and throughout Europe."

 

[PGen98]

Yep, do not overlook anyone in this tournament. They're all capable of winning this!

 

[Webster]

Yep, do not overlook anyone in this tournament. They're all capable of winning this!

C'mon Senegal, channel your inner Sadio Mane!

 

[PGen98]

C'mon Senegal, channel your inner Sadio Mane!

Just because the US lost, don't go crushing my dreams, too