General Football Discussion

[dws]

If UEFA had any balls, they'd suspend Dida from the next champions league game or two.

Which, of course, probably means they won't take any action against him.

Remember, the head of FIFA himself has said that he didn't think diving was any big deal.

So there's no reason to think that UEFA would be inclined to rule differently.

UEFA handed out a two match ban to Saulius Mikolaunus for diving(won a penalty for Lithuania) in the recent Euro qualifier v's Scotland. They may well view Dida's oscar winning performance worthy of something a little more draconian. Then again ....

[aveslacker]

If UEFA had any balls, they'd suspend Dida from the next champions league game or two.

Which, of course, probably means they won't take any action against him.

Remember, the head of FIFA himself has said that he didn't think diving was any big deal.

So there's no reason to think that UEFA would be inclined to rule differently.

UEFA handed out a two match ban to Saulius Mikolaunus for diving(won a penalty for Lithuania) in the recent Euro qualifier v's Scotland. They may well view Dida's oscar winning performance worthy of something a little more draconian. Then again ....

That does give hope.

[gordonvandekamp]

Remember, the head of FIFA himself has said that he didn't think diving was any big deal.

So there's no reason to think that UEFA would be inclined to rule differently.

UEFA handed out a two match ban to Saulius Mikolaunus for diving(won a penalty for Lithuania) in the recent Euro qualifier v's Scotland. They may well view Dida's oscar winning performance worthy of something a little more draconian. Then again ....

That does give hope.

I don't think UEFA will do anything in the Dida case. Mostly because of the nature of the incident, a fan running on the pitch. That's much different than a player diving in the middle of a game, disrupting the flow, and then gaining an unfair advantage for his team (as in the Lithuania v. Scotland case).

If anything, I can see them regarding Dida with sympathy rather than content for his actions as he was innocent in the fan attacking him. His retaliation and dive a few moments later, not so much, but I think the first incident (fan hitting him) and the context there, will negate any penalties imposed by the governing body.

It's unfortunate, though, as Dida put on a true spectacle.

[SE6Ajacied]

A bit of a trivia question this I know but can someone tell me why the match officials in Eredivisie wear different kits? In all the games I've seen they're wearing (unbranded) Nike shirts but Dick Jol wears Adidas (for example in the Heracles - Vitesse game last weekend).....

Just curious.

[Kowalczyk]

World Cup 2014 will be in Brazil...

Last time in Brazil was in 1950.

K.

[DanK]

World Cup 2014 will be in Brazil...

Last time in Brazil was in 1950.

K.

And I believe 2018 will be out of England, Netherlands/Belgium, Australia and I thought someone else.

Australia? No chance - Not for 2018 anyway. There is no way FIFA will let Europe miss out of 3 consecutive WCs. Not going to happen.

Australia could easily host the WC. We have the facitlites, have a proven record of holding large events and the support would be huge, plus as a bonus it would be too far for the hooligans to travel

But as I said, no chance in hell for 2018

[Kowalczyk]

I think Netherlands/Belgium couldn't do it, either. The number of big stadiums (50,000+) is too small. Together, Holland and Belgium can very well organize a European Championship, as we've seen in 2000, but for a World Cup you'd require six to eight stadiums of 50,000 seats or more (I think there are three, at the moment: Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Brussels). I don't think it would be a sensible investment to build another four or five huge ones in Holland and/or Belgium.

K.

[Van basten]

Nice debut for Koeman: Valencia-Rosenborg 0-2

[aveslacker]

Nice debut for Koeman: Valencia-Rosenborg 0-2

He could have stayed at Ajax and gotten that result.

[The Purple Cow]

The Association of Football Statisticians have produced their list of the 100 greatest footballers of all time.

No place for Cruijff in the Top 20 surprisingly, but MOST SHOCKINGLY OF ALL they rate Patrick Kluivert above the sainted Jari Litmanen. (!!!???!!!)

What drugs are these people on?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.j ... ats106.xml

[kraz11]

It's just according to some statistics like goals , cups , being a captain
and the level which explains why cruyff only 21 ( he wasnt a captain in Ajax and played half of his career in holland which isnt the biggest level )

[SPL]

The only statistic to come out of this is that 10 out of the 100 are from the Ajax Academy.add on Litmanen and that is 11 from our club I only counted 8 from Man U so we probably have the most players.

[Philippe]

It's just according to some statistics like goals , cups , being a captain
and the level which explains why cruyff only 21 ( he wasnt a captain in Ajax and played half of his career in holland which isnt the biggest level )

I wonder what was the "biggest level" in the early 70's if not where Ajax played.

Ridiculous.

[aveslacker]

I've been thinking about our ideal line up. It is obvious that Ajax is still trying to find a way to replace Wesley as the linkman between defense and offense. We have a good strikeforce and a decent (when healthy) defensive midfield. But how to replace Sneijder?

What do people think of this? I'm not sure if this puts everyone in the right position, but I came up with the following (this is when everyone is healthy):

--------Steks
Ograru--Heitinga--vdWiel--Vertonghen
-------Gabri-------------Davids
--------------Kennedy
Suarez---Huntelaar----Luque

Ideally Kennedy, Suarez and Luque would be given license to roam around the wings and the spot behind Huntelaar. This would create a free-flowing attack that could really unsettle the opposition. I just worry if it will fill the gap between defense and offense well.

Thoughts?

[Philippe]

Luque as our left winger ? Emanuelson out ?

[aveslacker]

Luque as our left winger ? Emanuelson out ?

Didn't Luque line up there last weekend? He seemed to play pretty well out wide, no? I could be wrong on Luque lining up on the left. He did roam around a bit, and I'd like to see the wings do that more in the future.

How would you arrange the attack?

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not that sold on Urby as a left back. I thought Vertonghen did pretty well back there. Urby might be more useful as a left mid.

[Philippe]

Didn't Luque line up there last weekend? He seemed to play pretty well out wide, no? .

Luque plays more at a midfield position, he does not have the speed of Suarez or Rommedahl. But he had of course a great influence on the game.

I don't know how to play him best for the team.

[aveslacker]

Luque plays more at a midfield position, he does not have the speed of Suarez or Rommedahl. But he had of course a great influence on the game.

True, but he seemed effective when out wide.

I don't know how to play him best for the team.

Me neither. Would Kennedy be a better left wing?

[Philippe]

Steks
Ograru--Heitinga--Vermaelen--Emanuelson
---Gabri----Davids---Maduro---Luque
Suarez---Huntelaar

How about that ? If we have no left winger, we just can't play 4-3-3, although I am a fan of this system.

[aveslacker]

Steks
Ograru--Heitinga--Vermaelen--Emanuelson
---Gabri----Davids---Maduro---Luque
Suarez---Huntelaar

How about that ? If we have no left winger, we just can't play 4-3-3, although I am a fan of this system.

That sounds like a great lineup, but the whole team will get thrown in jail for not playing a 4-3-3.

Just to be safe, perhaps we should list Luque as a left wing and hope that no one notices he's playing left mid.

[Philippe]

that sounds like a very reasonable option

[The Purple Cow]

I don't like Heitinga in central defence though, he much better as a defensive midfielder, imho.

So...

..............................Stekkers (sigh)

Ogararu.......v.d Wiel*..........Vermaelen.......Vertonghen

............................Heitinga

................Gabri......Davids........Luque

..................Suarez..........Huntelaar

*To be replaced by a more experienced centreback in the next shopping period.

[Van basten]

.........................Steks
Ogararu....W. der Wiel..Heitinga...Vertonghen
..........Gabri.....Davids.....Urby
.........Suarez......KJH.......Luque

[kraz11]

It's just according to some statistics like goals , cups , being a captain
and the level which explains why cruyff only 21 ( he wasnt a captain in Ajax and played half of his career in holland which isnt the biggest level )

I wonder what was the "biggest level" in the early 70's if not where Ajax played.

Ridiculous.

I dont know for sure what was going those days but the fact is that cruyff
and neeskens among others i guess left to spain
I dont think that the dutch league, regardless of Ajax , has ever been in the same level as the spanish , italian or english.

[ajaxusa]

Okay, a bit of Dutch Touch in LA.... Ruud Gullit is the new coach of the floundering LA Galaxy.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

I dunno... haven't seen the Ruud boy too much as a coach except cause a lot of strife... but I'm hardly an expert.