Gherm
706 posts
@CptHastings1916 @kehm0r Support is a bit much. Farage tried to play a political trick and his bluff wasn't called by the main parties. He can have his by-election, but nobody is compelled to contest it on the terms he's set.
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@mathewclarke @navic_ular Yes they count for nothing because theyre setter colonists. If you live in an island off the coast of Argentina that used to belong to Argentina, you should accept it shouldnt belong to Britain 8000 miles away. If not just leave, rather than getting thousands killed for a flag.
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they're still shadowboxing with the Argies in their head
Mathew@mathewclarke
Yes poor ickle Argentina
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@ShinMarginalScr @GramsciPartisan Us* Sí* Ballon*
I'm getting absolutely fucked by autocorrect here.
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@ShinMarginalScr @GramsciPartisan Owen won the Balloon d'Or in 2001. He wasn't anywhere near Ronaldo in terms of raw talent, but he wasn't some bum. On Beckham, I don't dispute your assessment, but he was a global phenomenon, so there was always hype. He was also absolutely sick in 98/99.
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People don't hate the English football team for anticolonial reasons.
They do so because the English media and fans are extremely entitled and used to pretend their mid team were favourites and shit, and English is more of a global lingua franca than Spanish or French.
Arlo White@arlowhite
Much of the hate for the England football team is very odd. Sure, Scots & Welsh will always have the ick (Scots had a chance to be independent & didn’t vote for it) If it’s historic colonialism, why don’t people hate on the Spanish, Belgians or French in the same way? Very weird
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@GramsciPartisan @ShinMarginalScr The song was about England hosting a tournament for the first time since 1966, which often gets forgotten.
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@GhrestryRoad @ShinMarginalScr No I don't think it's the same, "football's coming home" to me (I speak British English in everyday life) implies that football's home is England, which might be historically true but since it claims more ownership over the global sport than the others, it's more annoying.
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@GramsciPartisan @ShinMarginalScr "Ramenez la coupe a la maison" strikes me as the same sentiment when read equally unkindly. Is it just because they're successful? "Why not Is?" And "Y si? SÍ" equally 'arrogant' too. That habit really is forceful
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@GhrestryRoad @ShinMarginalScr Force of habit + "it's coming home" is oh so annoying
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@sammythemc @wc_wells @Tom_D_B_ Perhaps. Which would then explain the desire to downplay interest post hoc. But I'd have thought this would be an incentive to invest and improve. But then Lalas' comments make it clear there are other priorities.
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@GhrestryRoad @wc_wells @Tom_D_B_ I think the love affair might have more to do with nationalism than soccer
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I think the thing is that Americans don’t really have a game where you have to control a ball with anything other than your hands, and so (perhaps understandably, let’s be charitable) have no conception of the skill required to control one with your feet, legs, chest and head.
Scott McKay@TheHayride
The reason soccer is "the world's most popular sport" is that it's the cheapest one. All you need is a ball. That burned out car over there is one goal and that dumpster over there is the other. You don't need any equipment. You don't even need shoes. Kids with no hands can play soccer. Most of the best players seem to be from Third World countries where they live in mudhuts and wear Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl Champions shirts every day. Stop talking to me about what a beautiful, sophisticated game it is. It isn't. Yes, there are plays. There are plays in every sport. But football, basketball and baseball are far, far more sophisticated and require greater skill and athleticism than soccer, and you people sound like idiots trying to claim otherwise.
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@GhrestryRoad @Tom_D_B_ You are everything I’ve come to expect from a keyboard chav.
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@GhrestryRoad @Tom_D_B_ Short of shoving your nose directly into the words and shouting them in your ear I’m really not sure how to help you understand the work that “lack of fan interest” and “brief” are doing in that tweet.
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This tweet that emphasizes the same point I just made? Did you even read it?
“There is no denying that USA soccer still lacks both the fan interest and the player-development infrastructure of the world’s serious footballing nations. Until at least one of those changes, and probably both, the US will struggle to do much more than make the occasional run beyond the Round of 16.
Nevertheless, every four years, the country will continue to unite behind this team, whatever its flaws, and we will enjoy our brief but intense love affair with the beautiful game.”
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@Tom_D_B_ We certainly understand soccer requires skill.
It’s, and I can’t emphasize this enough, that we don’t care.
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@Jack_THFC_2003 You could say the same about Engurland.
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Nobody gets knocked out of a world cup more times in one tournament than the Scots
Blair McNally@BlairMcNally1
Tonight. I am Mexican! 🇲🇽
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@artmarkham @jrmamana @NobletStrength Yes. I guess the steelman of the US argument is that if soccer was their no. 1 sport then they'd be a force to be reckoned with, which is hard to refute. I think those arguing that say, Russell Westbrook, could turn his hand to football if he so wished are the less realistic.
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@GhrestryRoad @jrmamana @NobletStrength If a footballer is described as exceptionally athletic, you're saying (in the UK) that he has exceptional speed, endurance, strength etc., and saying nothing about his technique, skills, intelligence, mindset etc.
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Anyone that denies that Messi is one of the most gifted athletes of the past century is a moron and should be dismissed on that alone, but it's literally one of the most popular positions on this app.
Jake Butt@Jbooty88
Also, I don’t think much would change if top football and basketball players played soccer. Look at Messi, is he the GOAT bc of size/ athleticism? No, it’s bc of his skill. His touch. His vision and feel. All of that is completely separate from raw athleticism and it’s developed from birth. Systematic change and a decade long+ investment is needed to get US team to the next level imo
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@jrmamana @artmarkham @NobletStrength They're called sportsmen. We have plenty of teams called "Athletic" (Oldham, Wigan) and Atlético were named after Athletic Bilbao, who had English founders. Now 'athlete' has largely fallen out of use as a catch-all term, its mostly used for those who do track and field.
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@artmarkham @NobletStrength are sports not known as athletics over there? atlético is just across the channel? is this like how we call it trash and you call it rubbish or are you engaged in that treasured british pastime known as pedantry
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No World Cup games tonight so let's put together a World Cup 2026 playlist. Any song with a link, however tenuous, to the tournament. If you think you need to put your reason for your song then tell us.
I'll start with Oasis - Wonderwall
I'm sure that's self explanatory
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@shornKOOMINS @sambosravioli Stewart Downing turned into Messi, Pele, Maradona and Cruyff combined for 25 minutes against Steaua Bucharest in 2006
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@sambosravioli Ha. Yeah, and that's absolutely fine and fair. Christ you can prefer Stewart Downing if you want. That's up to whoever. But in terms of objectively the best there's no competition at all imo. He's absolutely miles clear, of everyone
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In fact 3-4 years is generous. By 88 it was pretty widely accepted Ruud Gullit was the best player in the world, with van Basten not far behind. There's an absolutely massive mythological thing around Maradona which doesn't stand up to any real scrutiny.
Sean@shornKOOMINS
I'm old enough to have seen Maradona but at this point anyone saying Maradona is just trying to be edgy or a hipster or something. He was the best player in the world for 3-4 years. Messi has been that for 20 fucking years ffs. It's not close.
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@TomBrady80 @FrankHorsley67 Well you said that losing to DRC would be "better for all of us including yourself". I'd say beating Mexico in the Azteca, ending their unbeaten run there after being down to 10 for 40+ mins is better than par.
A swede backing Norway too, mad.
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@GhrestryRoad @FrankHorsley67 Mexico played like the favorites throughout the game. Wasn’t wrong. A 3-2 loss doesn’t hurt anybody it’s just a chain mover. It blends right in Mexicos World Cup history and England going out in the quarters would be right on tune and really tonally brilliant.
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You know what Mexico should probably be favorites over England at home in Mexico City in 35+ degrees Celsius with history and context behind.
If it was in US different story but England have never done shit in the World Cup outside of English soil.
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@SkywayWilly @Banter_Buddies Well, Willy, this has made me look very smalltime and altogether a bit of a tit. You're a gentleman.
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@GhrestryRoad @Banter_Buddies Gotta give your boys their props. I'm impressed with the way they handled the moment. I owe you a Chicago hot dog, or tacos al pastor if you're ever in town.
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They really don’t know what they’re walking into, which will make this so much funnier when Mexico beats them. Azteca magic is real. These lot deserve a second hand of God.
Nathan 🦉🏴@Nathanswfc2004
Fucking hell acting like we’re going over the top at the Somme again It won’t be full off nutty Mexicans it’ll be full of influencers and latina onlyfans birds showing their tits off whilst we have to deal with a 35 year old championship striker
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