International Football Friendlies

Wednesday, 17 August 2005
FIFA World Cup European Qualifying
FYR Macedonia v Finland, 19:00
Faroe Islands v Cyprus, 19:00
Kazakhstan v Georgia, 13:00
Latvia v Russia, 16:00
Liechtenstein v Slovakia, 19:15
Romania v Andorra, 19:30

International Match (aka Mickey Mouse Games)
Austria v Scotland, 20:30
Denmark v England, 19:00
Malta v Northern Ireland, 19:00
Rep of Ireland v Italy, 19:30
Wales v Slovenia, 19:30

Download the goals to your mobile! If you have £10 spare...

The Disney Channel maybe?

x-post

Austria 2 Scotland 1
Denmark 1 England 3
Malta 0 Northern Ireland 0
Rep of Ireland 1 Italy 0
Wales 1 Slovenia 1

The only players who have been drafted from the U21s into the seniors are Celtic players - Beattie and Marshall.

No Rangers players travelled with the squad because they are "involved in Europe". The European games aren't until next week - after the OF game.

Call me paranoid and all that but...

also I predict..
Liechtenstein v Slovakia: 1-1

Call me paranoid and all that but...

Like why did Barry Ferguson's "long-standing" pelvic injury, which mysteriously kept him out of dozens of Scotland games while he was at Rangers, suddenly clear up when he went to Blackburn?

Want all you like. You fuckers chose to play the last international game at Wembley against GERMANY... what a fucking cheek! What a slap in the face that was.

Has anyone been to Liectenstein? I'm thinking of going for new year.

Absolutely, because the last time we played at Wembley one of our atempts at goal went below England's crossbar while all of England's attempts went over ours

i've been there. :D
It's funny.. I only saw Vaduz and the very close surrounding parts though. Vaduz is like 1 street.. They have a good art museum. When I was there there were hardly any visitors in the museum. Most tourists were buying souvenirs.. There are 1000 souvenirshops in one street in Liechtenstein. I also saw the king's castle. (tough to miss..) I don't think it's open for visitors ever. It looks kind of impressive. (a little boring, but it's on a hill iirc)

I think if you're going there you should definetely visit the Fc Vadus stadium.. I regret not visiting it.

ihttp://www.fcv.li/fans/images/shop/schal_neu.jpg

*chortle*

Scotland are winning!
Scoring goals!
Passing the ball!
Kenny Miller looks like a footballer!
Walter Smith knows TACTICS!

If this keeps up I might start enjoying watching them again...

(I won't mention England getting humped, oh no, not me)

(I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it)

That's what the Pompey players call him !

david james can never play for england again, can he? if the list of howlers wasn't long enough before tonight, surely now he is beyond redemption.

Lots of positives I suppose.

http://fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/rank/procedures/0,2540,3,00.html

kinda makes sense when you read it through. twice.

wouldn't be so hopeful of our chances against France.

Ashley Cole
Rio Ferdinand
Steven Gerrard
David Beckham
Joe Cole
Frank Lampard (although he may have come off just after the second)
Wayne Rooney
Michael Owen

Hardly a weakened side. Of the players that came on up to that point, only Glenn Johnson was an 'experimental' substitution.

Resign Eriksson etc

Oh, and a big thank you to Craig Levein for taking Rab off Cetic's hands. On a good night he makes David James look accomplished.

Well, he's rubbish isn't he?

Ah, Barry Ferguson rejoins Rangers, Barry Ferguson doesn't play for Scotland - can you join the dots here?

I thought Mexico beat Ireland only 2-1 in WC94?

I'm not upset about the result, though, because a) I'm happy for the Danes - good for them! I hope they're all delighted; b) the Spurs players had gone off before any goals went in, so we can blame everyone else; c) I like situations that make some of the £100k/week millionaires seem ridiculous and stupidly overrated; d) it was funny to see James play so badly, again. Also, I thought we looked the better side first half, though others seem to disagree.

I am sorry that Scotland didn't do better in the end; same for Ireland. Maybe if Ireland's greatest ever goalscorer had been fit, they could have done better.

ireland were ok. i was not impressed with our defence in the first half, but with duff and a.reid on the pitch, we seem to be creating a decent amount of chances.

dunne should sit out the french game, i think. i'd be tempted to put harte in ahead of o'shea, but i can't see it happening. andy reid *must* start.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1551326,00.html

That's what the rest of us are advised!

Thomas Brolin ?

"The Danish team is all right but it is nothing special. If we played them when it really mattered, we would win.

"They have some good players and decent pace but if we couldn't beat them in a competitive game we wouldn't deserve to be at the World Cup finals anyway.

It's this increasingly topsy-turvy aspect of football (both at club and international levels) that should see the World Cup pan out just as unpredictably as the last one, apart from Brazil winning it, tho they did just lose to a mediocre Croatia. Basically, it's anybody's who can be arsed with scrapping for it.

Apparently paul McCartney's office overlooks Soho Square. So that's Sven, Macca and the Film Censor perverts all on the same square. No wonder they all get their jobs muddled up. Well, Sven does.

Buit yes, it is quite good that they lost, assuming that they take it as a kick up the backside.

A small handful stand out - being allowed to stay up and watch England lose 4-3 to Austria in the summer of '79, overturning World champs (with teenage Maradona) Argentina at Wembley a year later, Peter Withe thumping the post with an injury time header as Brazil held on to their slender lead in '81, Barnes in the Maracana '84 (ITV lost the satellite link), Lineker's four in Madrid '87 (on the radio - too late for Peter Jones, though that's the voice I hear), Gascoigne rampaging against the Czechs in the year of Englandneworder, the 6-1 vs Iceland last summer (Tim H texting me the goal details as I chugged down the Thames with parents and in-laws).

I think I'll always remember Wednesday night - sitting in the back of the Micra as we turned down Hare & Billet Lane, trying to soothe Ava, the tape clicking to a stop and Five Live coming on... Pam: "Did he say FOUR?"

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be travelling on, now,
’cause there’s too many places I’ve got to see.
But, if I stayed here with you, girl,
Things just couldn’t be the same.
’cause I’m as free as a bird now,
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can’t change.

Bye, bye, it’s been a sweet love.
Though this feeling I can’t change.
But please don’t take it badly,
’cause lord knows I’m to blame.
But, if I stayed here with you girl,
Things just couldn’t be the same.
Cause I’m as free as a bird now,
And this bird you’ll never change.
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can’t change.
Lord help me, I can’t change.

What does he say?

I know this is pedantry of the highest order, but why "of course"? I support Celtic and Scotland, and wouldn't dream of supporting Ireland. Unless they were playing England. Ho ho.

I actually uttered the phrase "we're really missing Barry Ferguson" on Wednesday night. I was quite drunk though.

http://cgi.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/images/2005/04/27/mick_quinn_body_150x180.jpg

Iran: U.S. Soccer requests friendly

The United States' men's national team could soon be making a flight to Iran.

According to Iran Football Federation chief Ali Kafashian, the USSF has made a request for a friendly in the middle eastern country in October or November. Kafashian said Iran is considering the offer while the United States has neither confirmed nor denied the alleged request.

"Any discussions we have with other federations are kept internal until we have a signed agreement," USSF spokesman Neil Buethe told the Associated Press.

As of now, the United States' last game of the year is scheduled to be a World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica on October 14 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

you're excited, right

away with ye

port to ILF, obviously.

Ireland looking very good so far against Norway

Watching South Africa/USA here.

feel like this england game might be one of those fun occasional 3-0 ones that get everyone's hopes up

For visitors Norway, Premier League stalwarts Alfe Inge Hangeland, of Fulham, and Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen both feature

lolwut bbc

keano's tv gonna get smashed

Sixteen Gooners on international duty, and I bet at least two come back injured (RvP doesn't count).

Gibbs is in the England side?

Selected other results:

Finland 8-0 San Marino
Hong Kong 0-7 Paraguay

btw darragh tell us if petter vaagan moen does anything of note cos he is a superhoop in january appara

will keep youse up to speed

all about the long, doyle and lawrence so far tho

why is tyldesley calling him gour-KOOFF

gamst just struck a beaut free kick in. really delicate cunt up and over the wall at speed.

lol

another great rtc-edo predo

top goal benzema

moen seems to be coming in from the right but pretty left-footed. neat but nothing amazing so far

england are awfulllll. so fucking static! move around, make some angles, don't just stand there waiting for a ball that'll never get to you.

even when there is a pass on it's always always ball to feet - stop - ball to feet - stop- etc, like a gorilla slowly doing a join the dots. put it front of someone, build some bloody momentum.

They need a quality player like Gareth Bale.

milner's stupid play living up to his stupid face. classic great british donkey.

like a gorilla slowly doing a join the dots

I love this

even when there is a pass on it's always always ball to feet - stop - ball to feet - stop- etc

first touch dont allow for anything else imo.

attn: Canada, Colombia, Poland, Norway -- we are in ur countries, steeling ur yung playerz

whoaaa an andy carroll stepover - get that down ye naysayers

carroll vs mexes is a sensual encounter i must say

"england just gone off the boil a little bit" - spotters badge 4 tyldo

Ah, a chorus of boos - don't ever change, Wembley

I'd boo if I'd paid all that money and Gareth Bale wasn't even picked.

Poor old Carroll. As Peter Crouch has learnt if you're 6ft plus and play up front for England the coward players in the team will just lump it up to you all game.

I'm not even an England fan and I still find the whole spectacle alternatively funny/depressing. At least attempt to play some football.

Only watching to hear the French fans do the 'Baby Give It Up' Nasri chant.

Poor old Carroll. As Peter Crouch has learnt if you're 6ft plus and play up front for England the coward players in the team will just lump it up to you all game.

so otm, seen it happen when spurs are in any way pressured too. if crouch were any fuckin good in the air, it'd be something

Every time Gerrard plays a 40 yard ball that connects I sigh 'cos it only encourages him to try another 10 that don't.
Chamakh has scored for Morocco btw James.

Feo, Rosicky and Arshavin all safely banked and can't be lost no matter what happens. Also Eboue gets Bully's Special Prize.

imo it's not so much just the hoof as the then not bothering to run up and support him after yr big man miraculously wins it. (heskey got unfairly stitched up this exact same way this summer.)

What price Gibbs injuring Sagna or vice versa James?

Chamakh subbed off. Not injured.

fuck's sake trap, let's see coleman. 72 mins gone in a friendly and he's putting on s hunt to shore up a 1-1 result at home

Okay England rubbish obviously. But it is startling to see just how much life Domenech must have sucked out of these French players judging by what they've shown tonight.

Rio gonna merk Nasri hard.

that wasn't in doubt, tbf xp

Oh here you all are. Nasri's enjoying his evening with all the time and space in the world to do whatever the fuck he wants.

Carroll doing a lot of work for England but have they given him one single ball in the penalty box yet? Fucking tragic waste of a centre forward having him knock on balls to no-one.

Twitter's fake Jamie Redknapp on fire:

You've got to admire the wit of England fans, in fairness. Thousands of them in this sell-out crowd have come dressed as seats

moen not doing anything, norway not doing anything really. you;d swear there was something on this the way they're packing the midfield

Cappello would be out by the weekend if this wasn't a friendly,

norway steal the points, gamst ball to set up huslak

jay fucking bothroyd comes on, putting the tin hat on it.

Jay Boothrod - better than Bale?

bothroyd's welsh i thought

mcgeady's picked up a bit of usefulness in moscow it seems

game over, no coleman. absolutely pointless stuff from trap, good enough performance though

wait whut 2-0 france

Fabianskiland 3 - Eboue Coast 1. Final score, no injuries.

ooooh nasri post

about half-an-hour ago. No-one plays the last ten minutes of a meaningless friendly quite like England

Oh Gerrard crocked. Eh...can't bring myself to care.

feckin crouch

Great finish!

Prolific.

wtf cant rewind utv

still wont head the fucking thing though, #1 failing

great feet for a big guy

I so want him to overtake Owen eventually.

go on rodders. you spurs plonkers keep underrating him til we get promoted and bring him home.

every chance, with 22 goals and what with being rested for spurs every week (fingers crossed)

xp

johnson really gone backwards, or just having a bad game?

5 mins in a fecking friendly? what i miss?

U didn't miss anything. God knows where that's come from.

delay in waiting for johnson to put in a decent cross this second half imo

Keeper can't even hoof it properly. For shame.

brave england hearts i mean wf tyldesley shut yr face

There's a banner up at the Italy game: "No to multi-ethnic national team". Suspect this is a regular thing.

That was alright. Had them on the rack at the end, showed a bit of passion, plus it's all very well playing fancy stuff in friendlies but which team stepped up better in the summer when it counted?

Tyldesley " interesting to imagine what the England front line will look like when Rooney and Lampard are back fit". Really??? Cos I'm pretty sure I KNOW what it looks like. Saw it 5 months ago FFS.

You just know as soon as Redknapp is in he'll recall all the golden generation in some kind of attempt at an England's Brave Tottenham Globetrotters side.

Does Murphy ever criticize Gerrard? He wasn't terrific Danny. He gave the ball away umpteen fucking times!!!

Yeah, that was weird: "no surprise Garrard was England's man-of-the-match - he always is"

Everybody seen this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzM_dhVU21c&feature=player_embedded#!

looooooooooooooool

oh here it is

That's just fucking incredible, given how good Ronaldo's goal would have been. Nani is such a tool.

I think the funniest bit is that the ball had seemingly crossed the line before Nani headed it.

There's a banner up at the Italy game: "No to multi-ethnic national team". Suspect this is a regular thing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/nov/18/mario-balotelli-racist-abuse-italy

A "multi-ethnic national team" is the main reason why the Germans are both exciting and competitive for the first time in memory. Neither of which you could really say about Italy right now.

At the risk of sounding pedantic, Matt, I'd say the Germans have been consistently competitive for as long as I can remember. It's the 'exciting' bit that's new and hard to get your head round. Otherwise, what you say is OTM.

At risk of sounding pedantic, I said BOTH exciting and competitive.

He did, I saw it

Nani is such a tool.

It's hardly Nani's fault the linesman called it wrong - he was onside + as you say the ball was already in.

And if he'd left it alone there'd have been no issue.

It is Nani's fault for being a stupid tool, though

xpost

Like, he could hardly have known that he was definitely onside, or that the ball had definitely crossed the line

It's hardly a big deal given that a) it was a friendly and b) they won anyway, just amusing to see Ronaldo robbed of a wondergoal.

Best bit is his wee jumpy tantrum, I'll never get tired of see him crying at the world.

nani and the linesman did the right thing, ronaldo will find zen quicker this way

http://i44.tinypic.com/np06x3.gif

aw bubby

I don't get why England and Scotland haven't played each other for nearly six years. It's what the (England) fans want to see!
― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 09:20 (5 years ago)

happier times

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/11/18/1290083915070/South-Africa-vs-USA-010.jpg

BRAD GUZAN

Chile beat Uruguay two nil. Last game w bielsa as coach :(

Brazil vs Scotland disappointing so far. Brazil playing a bit meh and Scotland looking frightened to commit bodies forward. The diagonal ball behind the full backs from Charlie Adam looks a good strategy if we can get enough people up the field to do anything with it.

Didn't think I'd ever see Stephen Crainey in a Scotland jersey again.

I was listening to some commentary on the radio and for 5 minutes I thought it was a rugby match.

Also, fuck Kenny Misser for life.

Me, back in July:

The Brazillian FA sold off the 'rights' to host games to Kentaro iirc. So they never play in Brazil any more, but in soulless places like Doha, Zimbabwe and Wembley North London's marvelous Emirates Stadium.

Two good chances in two minutes from Brazil - one shot fumbled by Greegsy and one header off the bar. I'm running out of time for my "goal before 35th minute" bet.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/265251885.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJF3XCCKACR3QDMOA&Expires=1301235323&Signature=2YfEuaFLhoQDCi8UDPY1Yigb%2BxE%3D

Inspired comedy goalkeeping from uruguay, cesc 1-0.

The Guardian's mbm'ing it, and then following up by streaming France-Germany. Bold play by the media outlet.

Cracking game as well. Pujol has a goal wrongly ruled out for offside, Uruguay go up the other end and equalise.

twp

I thought Cleverley on Neymar was more of a penalty than the hand ball. Nice football from England in build-up to TWP goal.

he was crap up til then

dopey formation with him leading the line on his own is p much designed to make him look like a useless potato tbf, goal only came about cos he dropped deep

lampard or osman should be where cleverley is, cleverly should be where welbeck is, welbeck should be on the bench cos he's looking like the tall swp out there

twp i mean

this should be really good but big phil is the rafa of international football. well done you won something once but now you suck and i wished you'd go away.

ronaldinho. in 2013. ffs.

ronaldinho in 2013!

wonder if italy still feel like playing christian vieri?

kaka would have been like 500x better a choice. in 2013. kaka.

and don't get me started on luis fucking fabiano. europe has brazilian strikers under 30 that can still play the game big phil. where tf is robinho or hulk? big phil would love hulk, if he wasnt just picking players who were around when he could still manage.

england otoh look quite enjoyable again! would kill for a winger but whatchagonnado

hulk is busy bing shit for zenit iirc

*being*

no one there dictating in the middle for brazil, big phil seems to have fallen for the "ramires is a dmc" canard

also seem weirdly deferential tonight, couple of times neymar and ronnie have played it safe instead of toasting cahill like they easily ought to

powww FRED! in 2013.

Don't recognise most of tonight's Holland line-up, although I'm familiar with Clasie and Maher as FM superstars. Is this pure experimentation, or can we expect to see more of these young doods after that performance at the Euros?

FFFFFS Gaazza Cazza

i never think about chris smalling really

is he a zombie

benzema rattles the crossbar with a free-kick, valbuena nods in the rebound.

Been a terrific 1st half. ribery and ozil both excellent, although ribery hasn't really bothered going at lahm and instead has drifted centrally and run at mertesacker.

I've also got France-Germany on, not for the pandemic ideology of never viewing a game that takes place in the UK or that someone else might be watching, but for the novelty of being able to stream on my phone.

Is this possible normally? I did have a Sky Sports app once, but got rid when they hiked the price up.

i might not have even hated itv tonight

maybe its because its my first match in 2 or 3 months

Brazil are kind of depressing these days

podolski was awful tonight.

also seem weirdly deferential tonight, couple of times neymar and ronnie have played it safe instead of toasting cahill like they easily ought to

― r|t|c, Wednesday, February 6, 2013 8:40 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Dante/Neymar fannydanglish attempted linkup on the final Brazil attack was kind of the ultimate expression of their hearts not really being in it. enjoyable game tho

ozil, fucking hell what a pass.

gawjus ball

dj mencap otm but

literature can change your life

tough on france, this is the best i've seen them play for about 4 years*

*i didn't see their qualifier with spain last year.

dante seemed likeable and competent tonight albeit a bit reminiscent of roque junior

lol the quality difference between this and the england game is absurd

hey france maybe try a decent final ball sometime

they've gone to crap since they went 2 up top for whatever reason.

haven't watched much la liga this season, had forgotten what a joy ozil is.

slick german laser passing but this defence still needs a kick up the backside

who was that ribery just toasted, howedes? awful

ah big merts of course

yah they really don't look structurally sound do they?

hummels looked 2 yards out of position just then but somehow made the tackle anyway.

Oh lord that pass by Özil. Germany are utterly gorgeous, yr boys done well pandemic.

Brazil - Italy is proving to be pretty entertaining. Balotelli with a beauty to make it 2 - 2 just now

it's on ITV4

http://www.irishrail.ie/media/PaulGreenWeb1.jpg

wrong thread but whatever

I feel your pain

Yeah that is a great goal from Balo. That's like 8 in 6 for club and country now. That he should maintain this form as some kind of norm is one of my most cherished footballing desires.

Only switched on after nn's tip (thanks) but have enjoyed this. I like the look of this Italy side, they've got a good crop of players there.

I'm talking as if they weren't runners-up in the big summer tournament

still quiet reliant on Pirlo but i suppose there's no reason he couldn't keep going for quite a while yet

It's the pacy young lads that caught my eye - de Scoglio, el Shaarawy, the Torino winger (Ciurci?). Quick feet and incisive in quite an unItalian way. Balotelli was looking kinda beastly the couple of times he got the ball before being subbed. Haven't seen the goal yet either.

yeah, there's a fresher feeling to this team than there has been in some time

conversely, i find it difficult to get enthused about Brazil. Possibly due to their persistent snubbing of Rafael

http://i.minus.com/ic6S56LFni1Nl.gif

Oscar's finish was gorgeous, an almost Kagawan sleight of foot.

Brazil suffer from familiarity nowadays, it's not quite like having a spaceship land every four years and spew you Socrates, Eder and Josimar. Neymar can't bring the exotica all on his own.

Plus playing in winter, it just lacks that certain je ne sais quoi

have you got a gif for that btw

http://i.minus.com/iQofFRuqaqqDg.gif

might as well give De Rossi his due while i'm at it

http://i.minus.com/irPwG3LNJSA9Z.gif

Fred's finish was pretty good too but he's part of the problem

he meant a gif for that certain jnsq

that thought did occur to me

look though, goals!

Brazil are on ITV4 again. Playing Russia

Is it cold there?

What are Brazil all about? That was rubbish.

That was ridiculous.

ah, that's gorgeous. Brazil still rubbish though

Looping gif of that mcshane pass to houlihan

Greatest fool in the game

Tart

really nice Vardy goal for otherwise very flat England