OT: *** 2014 FIFA World Cup ~ Brazil ~ 6/12-7/13 [ESPN] ***

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Haha, I dunno. Playing for Liverpool doesn't help. His face, his demeanor, the "scandals" (racist against Evra, etc.)
And the worst last World Cup, he get a red card for literally stopping the ball on the goal line in the 120th minute against Ghana. Ghana misses the ensuing penalty and you just see sleezy Suarez celebrating on the touchline. What really got to me was, he straight up said in his post match interview, "I am a national hero, I should be the new goalkeeper for Uruguay."
 
Haha, I dunno. Playing for Liverpool doesn't help. His face, his demeanor, the "scandals" (racist against Evra, etc.)

He did not say anything racist. I lived in South America and calling someone "negro" is not an insult there. Evra just took it that way. Suarez still apologized but Evra refuses to shake his hand still. Racism is only racism when the intent to insult is there.

And the worst last World Cup, he get a red card for literally stopping the ball on the goal line in the 120th minute against Ghana. Ghana misses the ensuing penalty and you just see sleezy Suarez celebrating on the touchline. What really got to me was, he straight up said in his post match interview, "I am a national hero, I should be the new goalkeeper for Uruguay."

Any player would do that. I would do that. If McDonagh would cover the puck with his hand in the crease in game 7 of the SCF, with 20 seconds to go, resulting in a penalty shot that is stoped by Lundqvist, we would all love McD for that. It's the desire to win and doing anything to accomplish that.


The only bad things he did, was biting someone twice (Ottman Bakkal in Holland in 2010 and Branislav Ivanovic in England in 2013). Apart from that, he is a unique talented player who has the heart and soul of a true champion.
 
The success of the Premier League has really hurt the English national team.. so sad.

I wouldn't blame the premier league - it's not like England were significantly more successful in the years before. I think a good start would be a long hard look at coaching. It's no coincidence and certainly not the fault of the Prem that only once did an English manager win it. There hasn't been an elite or even great English manager for at least two decades. And somewhere I read the numbers for licensed coaches and it was embarrassingly low for England compared to Spain, Germany or Italy.

Blaming the domestic league for too many foreigners is easy, but the true problems lie much deeper. We had a similar situation in Germany ~2000. After the disappointment of 1998 and the embarrassment of 2000, the German FA looked for a solution and the youth development was overhauled. That worked pretty well and we are currently reaping the rewards.
 
You can overhaul the youth development all you want, but if teams are unwilling to give top minutes to English youth players in important situations because it's much less time consuming to just outsource that job to a foreign player then that youth is never going to fully develop. Italy had a similar situation decades ago, but they put a ban on foreign players in the 60s and 70s and they certainly saw a revival in their national team in the form of a World Cup in 1982. I'm not saying the same would happen to England, but it's certainly a good place to start.

Also, wasn't the thought that coaching was the problem the main reason Fabio Capello was hired to coach the English national team? That didn't seem to help. If anything, it is becoming more and more clear that coaching isn't the problem.
 
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You can overhaul the youth development all you want, but if teams are unwilling to give top minutes to English youth players in important situations because it's much less time consuming to just outsource that job to a foreign player then that youth is never going to fully develop. Italy had a similar situation decades ago, but they put a ban on foreign players in the 60s and 70s and they certainly saw a revival in their national team in the form of a World Cup in 1982. I'm not saying the same would happen to England, but it's certainly a good place to start.

It works well in Germany and Spain without any restrictions at all on foreign players (so even less than the EPL, where work permits aren't easily granted for non-EU players). To me it looks more like there simply aren't enough talented English players and thus the EPL teams resort to foreign talent. Force-feeding average talents playing time will not make them good enough by themselves.
 
I wouldn't blame the premier league - it's not like England were significantly more successful in the years before. I think a good start would be a long hard look at coaching. It's no coincidence and certainly not the fault of the Prem that only once did an English manager win it. There hasn't been an elite or even great English manager for at least two decades. And somewhere I read the numbers for licensed coaches and it was embarrassingly low for England compared to Spain, Germany or Italy.

Blaming the domestic league for too many foreigners is easy, but the true problems lie much deeper. We had a similar situation in Germany ~2000. After the disappointment of 1998 and the embarrassment of 2000, the German FA looked for a solution and the youth development was overhauled. That worked pretty well and we are currently reaping the rewards.

The Premier League started in 1992, free movement of players since 1995. That's when it all went wrong. After making the world cup semi's in 1986 and 1990, they missed the world cup in 1994 and have not made it past the quarters since.
 
You can overhaul the youth development all you want, but if teams are unwilling to give top minutes to English youth players in important situations because it's much less time consuming to just outsource that job to a foreign player then that youth is never going to fully develop. Italy had a similar situation decades ago, but they put a ban on foreign players in the 60s and 70s and they certainly saw a revival in their national team in the form of a World Cup in 1982. I'm not saying the same would happen to England, but it's certainly a good place to start.

Also, wasn't the thought that coaching was the problem the main reason Fabio Capello was hired to coach the English national team? That didn't seem to help. If anything, it is becoming more and more clear that coaching isn't the problem.

As soon as the foreign player is from within the European Union, I'd argue this is no longer possible, due to the freedom of movement for workers, so Union law.

If I remember correctly, there hasn't been any jurisdiction yet, though.
 
The Premier League started in 1992, free movement of players since 1995. That's when it all went wrong. After making the world cup semi's in 1986 and 1990, they missed the world cup in 1994 and have not made it past the quarters since.

You can hardly blame the EPL starting in 1992 for missing WC 1994 (with qualification in 92/93). And you also conveniently left out 74, 78 and 84. And did that 1990 team just scraping by Cameroon in the quarters really play so much better than the 2002 team losing a little unluckily against Brazil?

Looking at the English record at big tournaments since 1966, there doesn't seem much difference in performance before or after the EPL.
 
Wow, I just completely disagree with your sentiments within this post.

He did not say anything racist. I lived in South America and calling someone "negro" is not an insult there. Evra just took it that way. Suarez still apologized but Evra refuses to shake his hand still. Racism is only racism when the intent to insult is there.

This makes absolute no sense. I understand the fact that you're saying where Suarez is from, this may be common, but when you're living somewhere else for years, you become accustomed and on top of that should learn to comprehend saying something as inappropriate as he did. Before I even vacation in countries I try to learn the things that we do that are considered inappropriate there. This guy has been in England for years and you're going to really tell me he didn't know what he was saying was wrong?

On top of that it wasn't done in a cordial way. By all accounts it was said to him in a derogatory matter in a heated moment. And I don't believe the comment was "negro." That's what Suarez argued at the hearing. Forgive me if I don't take his word for it. The comment was supposedly more along the lines of "negrito negrito negrito." Basically taunting him saying "blacky blacky blacky." I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't meant to be "friendly."



Any player would do that. I would do that. If McDonagh would cover the puck with his hand in the crease in game 7 of the SCF, with 20 seconds to go, resulting in a penalty shot that is stoped by Lundqvist, we would all love McD for that. It's the desire to win and doing anything to accomplish that.

This is the only part I semi-agree with. However, his diving, constant antics, faking injury and the WC cheating is absurd. McDonagh covering the puck is one thing. He's not flopping around the ice like a dead fish half the time. Suarez literally dives and fakes injury to either draw a call or kill time, multiple times EVERY GAME. He's an embarrassment. The worst part, is that the below Gif, is rather commonplace for him and happens nearly every game.

AdmiredFalseCatfish.gif




The only bad things he did, was biting someone twice (Ottman Bakkal in Holland in 2010 and Branislav Ivanovic in England in 2013). Apart from that, he is a unique talented player who has the heart and soul of a true champion.

Finally, this. The ONLY bad things he did was biting someone TWICE. The ONLY bad thing was that he BIT A PLAYER. TWICE!

Do you know how repulsive that is. The guy not only is a moron and does an absolutely despicable action once. But he does it twice! He didn't even learn how pathetic and horrid it was after the first time. There are very few things lower then biting another human being. I can't believe you act like this is all but nothing.

Suarez is an amazing player. He's one of the best in the world and is the sole reason Liverpool fought for the title this year and that Uruguay is still alive. That being said, he has done nothing to prove his haters wrong. He is by all appearances a repulsive human being on the field. He has absolutely no shame. This guy is more then just a "do anything to win" player. He's a loose cannon with absolutely no respect for his opponent. He's a racist, a bully, a cheap shot artist and a cheating piece of scum.
 
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Take Crosby, and add biting, racist name-calling, and all around classless behavior.

Suarez goes above and beyond the antics on anyone in the NHL. No one is saying you can't support the guy, but it's pretty easy to understand why 85% of the known world thinks he is a ****.

Human bites that break the skin are almost 100% infection prone, because of how full of bacteria the human mouth is.
 
Suarez is a great finisher. He needs one chance. Rooney is Rick Nash. Big contract. Manchester United will regret that contract. Wait until the new Dutch manager names RVP his captain.
 
Take Crosby, and add biting, racist name-calling, and all around classless behavior.

Suarez goes above and beyond the antics on anyone in the NHL. No one is saying you can't support the guy, but it's pretty easy to understand why 85% of the known world thinks he is a ****.

Human bites that break the skin are almost 100% infection prone, because of how full of bacteria the human mouth is.

Read the below article. It's basically an explanation as to why Suarez is the way he is.

The author poses it as an excuse. However, my feeling about these things is at some point, you have to overcome the adversity you faced, no matter how bad and grow up. You have to comprehend right from wrong. We're not going to let murderers off the hook because they were abused.

I realize this is all easier said then done. I realize i was raised in what would be considered "lucky" terms and often my opinion on this is not coming from a place of experience, but there is no excuse for horrid antics. And quite honestly, Suarez has proven to be an awful person on the field for one reason or another, time after time, coach after coach, suspension after suspension.

People tend to forget after awe-inspiring performances, last summer it was a question as to whether this guy would be ALLOWED to play in the league again, let alone become a face of the league.

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/sto...nner-luis-suarez-soccer-most-beautiful-player

Read the article, judge for yourself. To me, it just made it even more clear, the guy had a rough upbringing but never overcame the personality traits that were engrained in him at a young age.
 
It's a very well written article making an illogical excuse.

A man doesn't bite simply because he is crazy. He bites because he is clinging to a new life, terrified of being sucked back into the one he left behind.

If Suarez really doesn't want to go back to his old life, engaging in behavior that might see him banned from games, losing money and tarnishing his image is the last thing he'll want to do. What a ridiculous argument.

Tim Cahill is always talking about how he wants to make money so that his parents who worked 2 jobs raising him never have to work again. That's a noble cause. If Cahill went out and started violently attacking players on the pitch, it's hard to make the justification that he did so for his parents.

Some people are incapable of looking at things objectively. It's like countries with their "Dear leaders," except in Uruguay evidently it's their star footballer.
 
It's a very well written article making an illogical excuse.



If Suarez really doesn't want to go back to his old life, engaging in behavior that might see him banned from games, losing money and tarnishing his image is the last thing he'll want to do. What a ridiculous argument.

Tim Cahill is always talking about how he wants to make money so that his parents who worked 2 jobs raising him never have to work again. That's a noble cause. If Cahill went out and started violently attacking players on the pitch, it's hard to make the justification that he did so for his parents.

Some people are incapable of looking at things objectively. It's like countries with their "Dear leaders," except in Uruguay evidently it's their star footballer.

Exactly. As I said earlier, last summer we weren't talking about Suarez being the "player of the year" we were discussing whether he'd ever play in the EPL again.

If he continues with these antics, no one will put up with him. The article was well written, but also completely biased in tone (which is what good journalists do). However the point, as you said, is illogical, considering the exact opposite is true.
 
I understand the hardships he had to endure but there is no excuse for biting another human being. He still has some major maturing to do.
 
Why Asia gets more teams than CONCACAF I'll never know. Great showing for our conference so far.
 
What do you guys make of the whole Cristiano Ronaldo injury thing? I heard a doctor said the injury could be career threatening, and that he told Ronaldo he should sit, but Ronaldo replied with something along the lines of, "That will be my call." But then Beto comes out and says Ronaldo is 100%, but I really don't think this carries much weight at all. And now I saw on ESPN that he practiced with a brace on his knee today. However, if he's really that badly hurt, why didn't Portugal take him out when they were already being beaten by Germany, like when the score was 3-0? I guess it's really impossible to know, but what do you guys think?
 
Ja, there's quite the drop off after Japan and South Korea.

Australia isn't much worse.

And likewise for CONCACAF after USA, Mexico and Costa Rica there's a drop off. I'd say both deserve the same amount, but the huge population of Asia gets them that 0.5 extra.
 
I'm LOVING this. I HATE Italy more than any team, ever.

well, I hate Brazil almost as much...
 

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