The Ultimate Football Thread 2013-2014 Vol. 4 EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A etc

[chiva1908]

Olympiacos owner just confirmed Pulido signed already.

Read this, I just find it odd that neither UANL nor Pulido have said anything/released a statement...

 

[Coupé It]

Nah.
You're thinking of Raul Jimenez..
I know you seen his game winning bicycle kick goal for Mexico.

Oh okay. Yea I remember.

Keep me updated within the Mexican media.

 

[yankeesking92]

An absolute legend, more than happy to be able to say I've seen the man become one of the best. He truly stood for what Barcelona claims they are about.

 

[flyeed]

Real fan, but Puyol will always be one of my favorite players of all time

 

[eiddyfouw]

Overrated IMO

You new around here? Haven't seen your name pop up before.

But thanks for letting me know early that your opinion on football is completely irrelevant from here on out

Puyol was the heart of Barca & Spain for quite sometime. He deserves all the praise he gets.

 

[sfc415]

If the rest of Barca had Puyol's passion and commitment, I highly doubt they'd be in a slump right now

 

[Beans]

You new around here? Haven't seen your name pop up before.

But thanks for letting me know early that your opinion on football is completely irrelevant from here on out

Puyol was the heart of Barca & Spain for quite sometime. He deserves all the praise he gets.

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[ROYGBiV]

Puyol is def a beast, Chlamydia, yeast.
I'd be terrified if I was a stricker on the opposing team.

 

[vtotheinay]

puyol in the fifa video games was a freakin brick wall back there man. NOBODY could ever go around him haha seemed like he ripped everyone in 1 on 1 situations. one of my favorites as well, he will be missed

 

[rook]

Whenever i think of modern day barca and this generation i think of Puyol before anyone, even messi. He was one of the first soccer players i knew growing up playing because he was so good and loved..and his hair was like a trademark lol.


Congrats to a great career. Dude who called him overrated gotta be a troll

 

[southboston78]

You new around here? Haven't seen your name pop up before.

But thanks for letting me know early that your opinion on football is completely irrelevant from here on out

Puyol was the heart of Barca & Spain for quite sometime. He deserves all the praise he gets.

Nah I'm not new but I can name at least 5-6 center backs better than him during his era. He was a good player that played with passion and worked hard but there were better defenders just sayin. By the way this is a forum intended for opinions. I Apologize Your hero Tarzan has retired

 

[Kimchi Papi]

Puyol is arguably one of the top 5 Spanish footballers ever. He was the heart & soul of Barca & the Spanish sides he played on. He also played the "right way" & I'd consider him the best Captain Barca has had. No one represented the club better than him; throughout his career he always displayed respect, loyalty, passion, and heroism. More importantly, he expected that from his team mates too.

I'm grateful/thankful to what he & Valdes contributed. I got to see some beautiful football played with skill, grit, determination, & heart not to mention all the trophies they won. Truly an end of an era.

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[tpfltxl]

Congratulations on a great career, Puyol

Keeping with Barca news, Messi agreed to a new deal

 

[Trey Bantz]

In Argentina, some small club produces a talent and they either sell him to Europe or to Boca or River. No other club can put the money on the table. Ezequiel Lavezzi is a perfect example. I remember when San Lorenzo was willing to sell him for 3.5 million Euros and nobody bid but River. San Lorenzo is one of the so called "Big 5" of Argentina, and they were still struggling to pay their players. River needed up taking years to pay that 3 million. Gutierrez (the Colombian forward). Is another example. River wanted him, CA said ok, deposit the money and he's yours (2 mill) took forever for River to make a deposit of 800k

As a San Lorenzo supporter, I remember that saga vividly. River was only willing to pay that transfer fee in small installments to which our newly hired manager at the time, Ramon Diaz, said no ******* way. Diaz famously compared Lavezzi to a Ferrari and ended up being right, he stayed one more year, won us the league in 2007, and then was sold to Napoli for 6 million euros (still low IMO but the club needed the money).

 

[eiddyfouw]

You new around here? Haven't seen your name pop up before.

But thanks for letting me know early that your opinion on football is completely irrelevant from here on out

Puyol was the heart of Barca & Spain for quite sometime. He deserves all the praise he gets.

Nah I'm not new but I can name at least 5-6 center backs better than him during his era. He was a good player that played with passion and worked hard but there were better defenders just sayin. By the way this is a forum intended for opinions. I Apologize Your hero Tarzan has retired

Jada is that you?

He's far from my hero. I'm not even a Barca fan (the only player that I actually like at Barca is Pedro). But I can't take away credit from what he's done, and call him overrated.

Sure, this forum is for opinions, I'm kindly putting you on notice, that your opinion is 100% incorrect.

Look at your logic, you can name 5 or 6 CB's better than him in that era, so because you can name 5 or 6 players who you believe were better, (even if they were) does that mean we should not celebrate the successful career of a long standing great player? I'd be with you on this, if you were talking about Pique, but Puyol deserves the credit he's received.

La Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year: 2001
ESM Team of the Year: 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06
UEFA Team of the Year: 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
UEFA Club Best Defender: 2006
FIFA/FIFPro World XI: 2007, 2008, 2010
UEFA Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament[34]
2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Team of the Tournament
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 2010
BBVA Fair Play award: 2011–12

FIFA World Cup: 2010
UEFA European Championship: 2008
Summer Olympics: Silver medal 2000
FIFA Confederations Cup: Third-place 2009

La Liga: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13
Copa del Rey: 2008–09, 2011–12; Runner-up 2010–11, 2013–14
Supercopa de España: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013; Runner-up 2012
UEFA Champions League: 2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11
UEFA Super Cup: 2009, 2011; Runner-up 2006
FIFA Club World Cup: 2009, 2011; Runner-up 2006


But hey, since you say there were 5 or 6 better CB's in his era, none of that really matters, he's just overrated. I hear you.

 

[southboston78]

It's my opinion man. I don't need to list his accomplishments because I know them - so thanks for reinforcing what I know. All I am saying is yes he was a good player, warrior for Barcelona but do I think he was a bit overrated yes I do. No need to get into arguments here since this is a forum for you, or anyone else to voice their opinions. I applaud you on listing his accomplishments and your reasoning. I have my reasons but I don't need to make a list. Thanks for the insight though

 

[Sinner]

 Sepp Blatter admits Qatar 'mistake'  

 

[eiddyfouw]

 Sepp Blatter admits Qatar 'mistake' 

I genuinely never understood their winning of the bid besides bribery.

I mean really, what are they going to do with all of the stadiums when the WC is over?

Hell, Cape Town's stadium right now is basically used for concerts (which only a few happen in summer).

 

[imasoleman18]

made a World Cup bracket group on espn.com the group name is "NIKETALKDOTCOM" if anyone is interested

 

[fear the ibis]

I can't stand Barca but Puyol is that dude. Only current generation Barca player I respect.

 

[eiddyfouw]

Congratulations on a great career, Puyol

Keeping with Barca news, Messi agreed to a new deal

 

[eiddyfouw]

Rumoured WC Condom....

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[Kimchi Papi]

New espn WC commercial...

 

[Coupé It]

I genuinely never understood their winning of the bid besides bribery.

I mean really, what are they going to do with all of the stadiums when the WC is over?

Hell, Cape Town's stadium right now is basically used for concerts (which only a few happen in summer).

Exactly, what the hell are all those stadiums going to be used for. No god damn sense.

Can FIFA back out of Qatar? I mentioned this before, if they're trying to appeal or bring the World Cup to a Muslim country - why not Turkey? They have stadiums that can be used prior and after 2022 with a great football fanbase. Qatar is a joke. There is no way shady things didn't happen behind closed doors.

 

[MetalMario]

Qatar was something out of this world, I would've liked it going back to Korea(runner up in the voting process)

but yes it is possible for FIFA to go out of Qatar, when it was in South Africa and the months building up to it with construction falling behind they did say that if all else fails they're throw it back to Germany who had '06 of course you know. Germany was prepared with the fan fests and acceptance of millions of tourists in such a short time (I was there

) That being said if there was a rule that there would be a host and a "backup" host ready to go just in chance it says a lot about state of politics and national pride/representation not being given a good shot. "Hey if your country isn't in total chaos  you can have the biggest sporting event that raises your economy for the next 20 years" We would need a list of backup hosts just in case and it being the footballing world with the exemption of USA and possibly 1 or 2 Asian countries the World Cup would always be in Europe. Because that backup has to be at the ready without putting enormous amounts of money for hopefully nothing and most of the money is for stadiums in recent World Cups besides Germany.

hated the preparation for the US World Cup in '94, (time zones man

)