General Football - Weird Results And Other Things Worth Sharing - Page 37 - General Football & Other Sports - TheMortonForum.com Jump to content
TheMortonForum.com

General Football - Weird Results And Other Things Worth Sharing


TRVMP

Recommended Posts

Aye, that's that. 3-0 Santos against ten-man Boca. The Argentine giants both down and out.

Not a huge amount between Santos and Palmeiras in the league. 8th and 6th, respectively. Santos last won the Libertadores in 2011 - their third title - Palmeiras winning once in 1999.

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Club Deportivo Alcoyano of the Tercera Division, basically the 4th tier in Spain, put the mighty Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey last night, beating them 2-1 at home. They went 0-1 down just before half time, but equalised near the end of normal time and got the winner right at the end of extra time. They even got the winner when they were down to 10-men, ha! I assume Real put out a far from full-strength team, but still, that's some result.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember about ten years Real Madrid got absolutely horsed by Alcorcon 4-0, a little suburban team not far from them, also in the Copa.

There's been a ton of shocks in the Copa this year.  Cornella - who play on the astroturf next to Espanyol's stadium - beat Atletico Madrid. I watched that one and it was surreal to see what was basically a council pitch playing host to one of Spain's biggest teams. Ibiza beat Celta.

As of right now there are two third tier teams in the Round of 16 - Alcoyano and Navalcarnero (another suburban Madrid team, who beat Eibar.)

Ibiza play Athletic and Cornella host Barcelona in the final Round of 32 games, the former of those kicking off in around 20 seconds.

  • Upvote 1

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Watching Zulte Waregem against Leuven and their pitch is more of a tottie field that Cappielow was against Dunfermline the other night, and with only a fraction of the rain of sunny Greenock in the last few weeks. Still a cracking game though, end-to-end stuff, currently 2-1 to the hosts.

EDIT: Oooft, finished 2-3 to the good guys, what a game! I honestly don't think I've watched a boring game in the Jupiler Pro League this season, for pure entertainment it must be right up there as one of the best. That nick of that pitch though, by the end it made Cappielow last Friday night look like a bowling green.  

image.png 

EDIT: Add highlights. That pitch man. 

https://www.ohleuven.com/tv/1983264/highlights-zulte-waregem--oh-leuven-23

Edited by Cet Homme Charmant
Score update
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll try to dig up some highlights tomorrow.

Today, Ibiza took that early lead but lost out 2-1 - deservedly, it has to be said - to a last-minute Athletic winner. Bar(c with a cedilla)a won 2-0 at nearby Cornell(a with a grave) despite missing two spot kicks. I didn't watch that one, though, as I was on a video call; during this call I had my third monitor on to show the second half of the Republic of the Congo versus Niger in the CHAN. This isn't the CAN; it's an African national tournament, except all the squads have to be drawn from the country's league.

There'd be no point in doing this in Europe, of course, as it'd be massively lopsided, but Africa has fairly balanced leagues for all manner of reasons. Chief among these is that they guard their borders and nationalities with jealousy unrivalled. I have been taken to unwindowed back rooms in US airports, I have had my passport confiscated, I have been greeted with stares from CBP agents that look well beyond hate. I've been pulled aside at Stansted, mistaken for a cig-trafficking Pole, and begrudgingly let go. I've driven 480 miles in the driving snow to scowlingly receive a Chinese visa; I've flown back home from PEK, yelled at, two inches from my face, for having a post-security can of sparkling water in my backpack. But I've never, ever faced the sheer ruinous glare of contempt - the tangible, cut-it-with-a-panga "what are you, outlander, doing in my country" sneer - that met me on arrival at OR Tambo. My gulp was audible from Addis.

These are not people who fuck around with interlopers, and it is for this reason that CHAN is one of the world's best tournaments. When Libya says it's sending its best there, you can believe it. When Namibia's finest are en route to Yaounde, the whole country cheers them on. And then if South Africa doesn't qualify? Aw, what a shame.

This mutual suspicion means that the local leagues often have great talent. The best of Zimbabwean footballers can't just go to South Africa, as the best of Zimbabwean miners and shopkeepers and drug dealers do. The good old RSA only has a few slots for foreigners on its teams, after all. The best of South Sudan doesn't go to Sudan or to Ethiopia, but to India and Bangladesh, where they are inexplicably popular; and even then, there's once again only slots for a few. 

And the entertainment value is immense. Today's 1-1 draw between the Congo Republic and Niger wasn't exactly one for the ages, but how refreshing it was to even half-watch a game where there were fans in the stands. Plenty of locals - this was at the Turk-built Japoma in Duala - but also a healthy Nigerien support, and a few from Brazzaville as well. And it's the latter who will feel they threw it all away; they held a deserved lead going into the final 20 minutes, but an inexplicable handball on the edge of the box gave Niger a well-placed penalty.

Tomorrow brings Morocco-Rwanda and Uganda-Togo in a group that's already looking too close to call. If you can find a good stream of these games I highly recommend them. Most of these guys will never come close to playing in a top African league, let alone in Europe, so the quality isn't exactly CAN-worthy, but it doesn't lack for passion and there is the occasional spark of genius.

Edited by TRVMP
  • Upvote 1

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ended 0-0. Morocco having a very poor tournament so far - they were lucky to get past Togo and they looked off the pace today. Although they had by far the bulk of the possession, Rwanda at no time really looked rattled. In fact Rwanda could have snatched a win.

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Togo took a second-half lead with a header that was deflected just over the line, but just three minutes later Saidi Kyeyune equalized for Uganda with an absolute pearler from 25 yards.

Uganda are managed by a young Northern Irishman called Jonathan McKinstry. He's only 35, having started international management at the age of 27 with Sierra Leone. And the Cranes were of course managed by Bobby Williamson from 2008 to 2013.

35 minutes to go in Douala.

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Togo take the lead with an absolutely lovely dipping shot from Richard Nane, who is apparently skipper for ASC Kara in the Togolese top flight. He's been very very good and that shot was amazing.

This tournament is fucking ace, everyone should be watching it instead of "Arbroath."

  • Upvote 1

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Chapecoense won promotion back to Brazil's Serie A at the first time of asking, but needed a last-minute penalty to win the Serie B title on goal difference. The fairytale comeback continues.

Languishing in mid-table are none other than Cruzeiro, a massive club, but one in real crisis. Last year they were relegated for the first time ever, but they didn't even come close to rebounding this year. They're a complete mess off the field - points deductions, police investigations, and pre-COVID a huge amount of fan violence as supporters revolted against where the pride of Belo Horizonte now finds itself.

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

WAs looking at today's live scores. Apparently Zenit are at some junket in Dubai - the "Gazprom Training Camp" - and creatively chose to eschew club opposition in favor of national teams. A few days ago they beat the Jordan national team 1-0:

«Зенит» — Сборная Иордании: полный обзор матча на «Зенит-ТВ» - YouTube

And today they beat Uzbekistan 4-0 in their final game of the tour. No highlights for that one yet. Apparently it was - minus Odil Ahmedov - a full-strength Uzbek side.

I follow a lot of obscure football and outside of South Asia I can't remember the last time I saw this, a random national team playing a club team. 

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been half-watching Rangers-Antwerp while at work. 3-4 flatters the home side. Rangers should absolutely batter them at Ibrox. Not that they've been great either but they are clearly a stronger team. Yes, Antwerp missed two sitters but they were like headless chickens. It's odd to say about a team that's scored three times - a great header, a dodgy penalty, and a superb long-range effort - but they look so panicked when facing goal.

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, TRVMP said:

Been half-watching Rangers-Antwerp while at work. 3-4 flatters the home side. Rangers should absolutely batter them at Ibrox. Not that they've been great either but they are clearly a stronger team. Yes, Antwerp missed two sitters but they were like headless chickens. It's odd to say about a team that's scored three times - a great header, a dodgy penalty, and a superb long-range effort - but they look so panicked when facing goal.

To be fair to Antwerp, they were missing a few regular first team players due to injury, but they were absolutely typical of a Jupiler League side, good going forward, but terrible in defence. I predicted 2-3 before the game. 

It actually makes for a very entertaining league, it must have one have the highest goals-per-game ratio among the top leagues in Europe (haven't checked, just a gut feeling). Only one team in a league of 18 (Mouscron) has scored an average of less than one goal per game, and only one team (Club Brugge) has conceded an average of less than one goal per game. The emphasis is on attack, even from the teams at the bottom, and it makes for high scoring end-to-end matches. Honestly can't think of a boring match all season.  It's not surprising therefore that with this approach they don't fare well in European matches where they're up against more technically and tactically savvy teams. Possible exception is Club Brugge who are currently streets ahead of the rest of the league, 13 points ahead of Antwerp with a game in hand. 

Edited by Cet Homme Charmant
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Republic of Ireland 0 Luxembourg 1

image.png

  • Upvote 2

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, vikingTON said:

Republic of Ireland 0 Luxembourg 1

image.png

Being a nerdy football sadsack, I watched Luxembourg beat Cyprus 2-0 in the Nations League a few months back and I thought then that they actually looked like not a bad team. Given that Ireland are in freefall, and Luxembourg probably have one of their best teams ever, this result isn't anything like as shocking as it would have been a few years ago. But immensely pleasing nevertheless. :)

Edited by Cet Homme Charmant
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Night owls and insomniacs can watch a potential banger tonight. It's the Clasico Joven in Mexico City as America host Cruz Azul (well, they're currently always hosting them as they're temporarily groundsharing.)

The table is delicately POISED heading into this CLASH

Screenshot_20210417-182248_Goal Live.jpg

As with many Latin American leagues, the season is split in two, with an Apertura and a Clausura of 17 games. If Cruz Azul win tonight that's the Apertura top spot effectively theirs. 

But that doesn't mean they win it - instead it means they get the most advantageous draw in the eight-team playoff. 

Leon won both the regular season and the Apertura but look well off the pace this time. 

I had one of my Cruz Azul 'taps' on in the supermarket yesterday and a guy was saying he couldn't wait for the game. Turns out he was a Chivas fan. The Guadalajara outfit currently LANGUISH in 14th place or something. Utter disaster of a season for them. 

Oh, and unless anyone thinks that toe-curling NHS fetishism is something unique to the UK, this season's Liga MX has been branded TUS GUARD1ANES in tribute to brave frontline workers across Mexico and El Norte. 

Whether the huge media conglomerates who dominate Mexican soccer will be sharing their wealth with the nurses of Oaxaca remains to be seen. 

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

America 1-0 up at half time. I have to say, it didn't look a penalty to me, even after VAR, but Cruz Azul have been so sloppy and so toothless in the final third, and insufficiently closing down in the middle, that they deserve to be behind.

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/11/2018 at 5:36 PM, TRVMP said:

The CL is the pinnacle of football and has been for years, and anyone who doesn't like it is a fucking weirdo. My favorite is when people say "the Champions league should be for champions :angry: " and "it was better when there were more crap teams in it :angry: ", as if anyone's on the edge of their seat for Legia Warsaw against Barcelona or Salzburg at Juventus. The format is ace - all the continent's best teams plus a fair shot for the smaller countries to get involved.

 

And granted, not every knockout stage has been as amazing as this year's quarters, but this is what it's all about, the world's best facing each other with sparks flying and amazing comebacks and shocks.

I know the last games were a few days ago but this bears repeating again and again and again. Nothing compares to the UCL, nothing. It's the best competition in the sport by an absolute mile. You can say that the World Cup inspires more emotion, and that's absolutely true, but for the combination of quality and twists, the Champions League absolutely demolishes every other competition in the world.

It cannot be emphasized enough that anyone pining for the days of Juventus beating Icelandic teams 10-0, or those incredible matches between "Vaalerenga" and "Servette" in the quarter-finals, should be microchipped.

  • Upvote 1

EOho8Pw.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...