• The KillerFrogs

2023-2024 European Football Thread

I'm 41 (almost 42) and have played for 39 years. I was never fast so, to be good, I had to excel in strategy, tactics, angles, etc. Reading the game is still my strong suit and making incisive passes into dangerous areas is the only reason I'm valuable to a team.

The result of all that experience and success is a deeper appreciation for the game than any other sport. There's more strategy and nuance in a soccer game than any other save for maybe hockey. You not only have to be a great athlete with great skill, but you also have to be a great thinker and process multiple inputs quickly to make proper decisions.

I've coached now for 5 years. My oldest is just now getting to the age where they're starting to think through the game as they play. Getting them all to think the same way as they advance through a game is our biggest challenge now. But it's a fun one.

I watch every sport that exists so, even if I hadn't played for 4 decades I'd probably still watch and enjoy it to a certain extent, but it's my favorite because of how much of my life has been spent in and around it.
Good for you to be coming up on 42 and to be in good enough shape to still be playing. I know it is a lot of running and you probably inspire some people to get more fit. Thanks for your insight on the game.
 

Purp

Active Member
Good for you to be coming up on 42 and to be in good enough shape to still be playing. I know it is a lot of running and you probably inspire some people to get more fit. Thanks for your insight on the game.
I'm not sure I inspire anyone to get fit, but it helps stave off excessive roundness a little longer. Recovery takes a lot longer these days and I'm not very fit anymore, but the human body is capable of much more than its brain wants to believe it can do. Mind over matter is a mantra that has gotten me through games for 25 years.
 

Chongo94

Active Member
I am curious as to the origin of people’s interest in soccer here? Did you play the game, or maybe your kids did so you had to learn the game? I don’t know the game because I had no exposure to it as a kid other than junior high gym class, ha, so it has no appeal. I had a friend drag me to Manchester United vs. Manchester City in Houston, and still too boring to watch for me, but I have no understanding of strategy—it seems slow and stunted relative to the fluidity and speed of hockey with its two nets. And being I already spend too much time as a sports fan, I will not prioritize my time to try and become a fan of soccer too.
Like Purp, I started as a kid playing the sport and just stuck with it more so than others. My town had a fairly robust soccer community surprisingly so that also helped stay ingrained within the game. As I got older I started to appreciate the historical and cultural aspects of the sport and promotion and relegation among professional club teams more and more, again just keeping me within that soccer scene/bubble I guess for lack of a better term.
 

Moose Stuff

Active Member
Good for you to be coming up on 42 and to be in good enough shape to still be playing. I know it is a lot of running and you probably inspire some people to get more fit. Thanks for your insight on the game.
Getting WAY off point here but if I could change just ONE thing about society that would totally change the lives of so many people for the better it would be for everyone to get themselves in better shape.
 

dawg

Active Member
I am curious as to the origin of people’s interest in soccer here? Did you play the game, or maybe your kids did so you had to learn the game? I don’t know the game because I had no exposure to it as a kid other than junior high gym class, ha, so it has no appeal. I had a friend drag me to Manchester United vs. Manchester City in Houston, and still too boring to watch for me, but I have no understanding of strategy—it seems slow and stunted relative to the fluidity and speed of hockey with its two nets. And being I already spend too much time as a sports fan, I will not prioritize my time to try and become a fan of soccer too.
My journey into the beautiful game isn’t as interesting as Purp or Chongo, but the 1994 World Cup got me into in soccer. I watched the 1998 WC on Telemundo and woke up @ 2am for matches in 2002. Finally getting DTV in 2000 made following EPL much easier (anyone remember Fox Sports World?) Now it’s easier watch Arsenal matches than Mavs or Rangers games (thanks, Bally).
 

Eight

Member
question for those who have played and i know this isn't a case of it is nearly as simple to do as it is to type the question, but........

the german attacker at the end who never took the shot. needs to do better with that chance with what was at stake and time in the match?
 

JogginFrog

Active Member
Those who think soccer is boring should be watching the Serbia-Cameroon match. Currently 3-3 in the 75th.

Edit: Ends 3-3. Physically, it was a weird match, a bunch of 6-4 Serbs against a bunch of 5-8 Africans. The Serbs played physical early and the Cameroonians did a bunch of diving. Ugly on both sides. An unforced error gave Cameroon a corner and they converted (29th), putting the Serbs into a panic. They responded with 2 beautiful goals in first-half stoppage time, then another early in the second half, and the game seemed over.

But Serbia played a sloppy high back line and Cameroon burned them twice in 5 minutes to level the match at 3. With a draw making it unlikely for either side to advance, the last 25 minutes was an end-to-end schoolyard scramble. Both put shots on the frame, but neither could get the winner.
 
Last edited:

JogginFrog

Active Member
As a very casual fan of the game, the most annoying aspect is the walk-walk-walk behavior on throw-ins. Do you ever see the ref reverse possession due to excessive movement up the line? Is that the penalty for doing so?
 

dawg

Active Member
Gladiator GIF


Yes, General. Very much so. Two damn good matches today, with Brazil and Portugal - Uruguay still to follow.
 

Moose Stuff

Active Member
Highly entertaining games this AM with lots of goals. End of South Korea and Ghana was absurd. I’ve never seen a game ended immediately after an important corner was earned but BEFORE the corner was actually taken. South Korea manager ended up getting a red card for his dissent. Brutal decision by the referee IMO
 

Moose Stuff

Active Member
As a very casual fan of the game, the most annoying aspect is the walk-walk-walk behavior on throw-ins. Do you ever see the ref reverse possession due to excessive movement up the line? Is that the penalty for doing so?
Most annoying aspect for me is games like Mexico/Argentina where players were going down with fake/exaggerated injuries every couple minutes. Unwatchable. Mexico in particular. scheiss those guys.
 

dawg

Active Member
Yeah, I'd have expected Canadia and Belgium to come out of that group, though Croatia isn't a stunner either. Germany are right back in it with a result against Spain.
Yup. Canada couldn't pay off their total dominance vs Belgium or their early control vs Croatia. A good side on their way home, but that's how World Cup go.

BTW... how old is Modric? If you told me 24, I'd say yup, that makes sense. *Checks notes. Spits out coffee* He's 37? Thirty. scheissing. Seven?!. Dude is still bossing MF in high-level matches for Madrid and Croatia. Insane.

Looks like we'll have plenty of groups with multiple teams' advancement riding on the final round.


Dis Gon B Good GIF
Anticipation Popcorn GIF
 

dawg

Active Member
Most annoying aspect for me is games like Mexico/Argentina where players were going down with fake/exaggerated injuries every couple minutes. Unwatchable. Mexico in particular. scheiss those guys.
The LLLa Tri dude who ran into an Argentina player, waited a few seconds, then grabbed his head as though he had been hit by a .30-06. scheiss LLLa Tri, now and forever and unto ages of ages amen.
 

FROG2597

Active Member
I am curious as to the origin of people’s interest in soccer here? Did you play the game, or maybe your kids did so you had to learn the game? I don’t know the game because I had no exposure to it as a kid other than junior high gym class, ha, so it has no appeal. I had a friend drag me to Manchester United vs. Manchester City in Houston, and still too boring to watch for me, but I have no understanding of strategy—it seems slow and stunted relative to the fluidity and speed of hockey with its two nets. And being I already spend too much time as a sports fan, I will not prioritize my time to try and become a fan of soccer too.
Played until I was 12 and then focused on the sport that landed me at TCU. To be honest, I always enjoyed soccer but that type of running was not for me. Have 2 kids that have played all their lives and I was the manager for my sons team pretty much all thought club until U15. Daughter was an All-American last year and likely (hopefully) be a 2 time All-American later this year. My son just finished a pretty successful Freshman (Plebe) season for West Point starting every game he was healthy to play. When your kids love something, you usually find yourself loving it as well. I personally find the game intriguing, especially looking at it tactically.

I think it's funny listening to all the haters. Especially the ones who only talk about a sport, whether soccer or anything else, just to bag on it. Seems productive.
 
Last edited:
Top