2024/2025 International Club Football Thread

[devo22]

Donnarumma obliterates Musiala ... looked like a nasty ankle break at minimum.

Thank god for this super important tournament.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Yeah that has all the makings of a career altering injury, that was an ugly after shot of his leg/ankle.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I haven't watched much of this tournament, but PSG playing thug life out there today.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Just a dreadful day. Müller’s goodbye. Musiala with a potential season ending injury

Just lovely.

[Locke]

Yeah, not ideal. I wasn't really expecting PSG to go 'Full Goon' and I really hope that Musiala is okay.

[Locke]

Minor thing...but...so, Alexander-Arnold now at Real Madrid, goes just by 'Trent' on the back of shirt now? I wonder what the reasoning for that is.

[Playfair]

Originally Posted by Locke

Minor thing...but...so, Alexander-Arnold now at Real Madrid, goes just by 'Trent' on the back of shirt now? I wonder what the reasoning for that is.

From Wikipedia:

He also switched the name on the back of his shirt from ‘Alexander-Arnold’ to ‘Trent’ in order to avoid confusion for Spanish fans

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Playfair

From Wikipedia:

Interesting. Spanish speaking people usually aren't troubled by multiple names, they have complex naming nomenclature themselves.

[Locke]

Well that was a frantic ending to the Real/Dortmund match, that could have gone either way at the end there.

[Locke]

Bayern Munich said Jamal Musiala faces a "lengthy" recovery from a left leg fracture after his collision with Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma at the Club World Cup.

Bayern said on Sunday that Musiala had flown back from Florida to Munich that morning for surgery on the injury he picked up in Saturday's loss to PSG in the quarterfinals.

Bayern said doctors found Musiala "sustained a fracture of the fibula [a bone in the lower leg] associated with an ankle dislocation."

"This serious injury and the lengthy lay-off are a real shock for Jamal and us all," Bayern board member for sport Max Eberl said in a statement.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/...llision-bayern

[CroFlames]

The play was not malicious IMO. Donnarumma had a right to the ball as did Musiala. It was an unfortunate accident.

The argument some are making (Neuer) is that Donnarumma didn't need to do that in a tournament like this. I think the argument is stupid because you can't tell a racehorse not to race on a track. You can't tell a professional footballer to only give 50% when he's on the pitch.

That's what sets pro athletes apart from us. When they are "on", they give it all.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

The play was not malicious IMO. Donnarumma had a right to the ball as did Musiala. It was an unfortunate accident.

The argument some are making (Neuer) is that Donnarumma didn't need to do that in a tournament like this. I think the argument is stupid because you can't tell a racehorse not to race on a track. You can't tell a professional footballer to only give 50% when he's on the pitch.

That's what sets pro athletes apart from us. When they are "on", they give it all.

For any athlete, I think the moment you start only giving it 50% or holding back, you get injured.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

The play was not malicious IMO. Donnarumma had a right to the ball as did Musiala. It was an unfortunate accident.

The argument some are making (Neuer) is that Donnarumma didn't need to do that in a tournament like this. I think the argument is stupid because you can't tell a racehorse not to race on a track. You can't tell a professional footballer to only give 50% when he's on the pitch.

That's what sets pro athletes apart from us. When they are "on", they give it all.

You could make the same argument Musiala shouldn't go for such a ball in a tournament like this.

[Senator Clay Davis]

If we're going to victim blame then the majority of the blame is on Bayern for taking this waste of a tournament seriously. Yeah I know there was a lot of that delicious Saudi blood money available and it's hard to resist, but besides the money itself absolutely no one cares about this event on a serious level. If Man City didn't choke (throw?) their match we'd have four European teams in the final four and we'd be hearing how boring and predictable this has been.

[devo22]

this is from yesterday, so no idea what this stupid dynamic pricing thingy is up to today ... but Fluminense-Chelsea tickets were available for 13 dollars, while the cheapest PSG-Real tickets were on sale for 232 dollars.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1941844980135309773

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

You could make the same argument Musiala shouldn't go for such a ball in a tournament like this.

And the argument would be equally dumb. Players play. It's what they do.

[Senator Clay Davis]

^^Not sure if those prices are USD or not, but we're up to $45 today. Wonder if we're witnessing a preview of next year, I could see half empty (or worse) stadiums for the WC next year. Between the expanded field diluting the quality even further, the oppressive weather in America this time of year, Americans not caring at all, and the general anti-American sentiment, the WC has very high humiliation potential for FIFA. Which is great.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

If we're going to victim blame then the majority of the blame is on Bayern for taking this waste of a tournament seriously. Yeah I know there was a lot of that delicious Saudi blood money available and it's hard to resist, but besides the money itself absolutely no one cares about this event on a serious level. If Man City didn't choke (throw?) their match we'd have four European teams in the final four and we'd be hearing how boring and predictable this has been.

Any new tournament is hard to start especially ever 4 years. The first world cup was a throwaway, England didn't even enter until 1950.

The issue here is going from the original format of 7 teams to 32 and hosting it in the US. Total cash grab. We don't need to see 4 Asian teams and 4 African teams and 4 CONCACAF teams and we don't need Salzberg (sorry devo). In fact, it used to be just two teams, europe and south american would have the international cup, then increased to 7.

The most you should have is 16 teams, maybe even 12 for the first one.

The 4 european champs, the best 2 south american, the best one each of Africa, Asia, CONCACAF and Oceania. The hosts and a wildcard, maybe a qualifier of some sort.

4 groups of 3, group winners go to semifinals, final and done.

[Senator Clay Davis]

And still nobody wants it lol. We all know if the Euro teams take it seriously they will romp. Maybe one of the Brazilian or Argentine teams can do a bus parking masterclass to steal a result or two, but if the basis of entertainment in your tournament is you hope the best teams don't care that much to try and keep it interesting, yeah thats not good. The Club World Cup basically happens every year, it's called the Champions League. I think it'd be way more interesting to invite a few South American teams into the UCL instead of having the fifth best team in England make it. But this tournament is irrelevant and always will be, unless, of course, FIFA pumps up the Saudi blood money.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

^^Not sure if those prices are USD or not, but we're up to $45 today. Wonder if we're witnessing a preview of next year, I could see half empty (or worse) stadiums for the WC next year. Between the expanded field diluting the quality even further, the oppressive weather in America this time of year, Americans not caring at all, and the general anti-American sentiment, the WC has very high humiliation potential for FIFA. Which is great.

I hate FIFA and all that, but I am a hypocrite every 4 years and get completely wrapped up in the WC. I consume as much as I can, and I imagine many people are in the same boat as me.

The CWC is dumb and that's why Americans don't support it.