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Adopted scouser living the dream | Newsman | Views are personal

[BBC Sport @BBCSport]

"In Argentina, Maradona is God. Messi was something different." ✨

Lionel Messi always wanted to forge his own path 🇦🇷

[Derbyday @derbyday2017]

💣Pocos saben que, además del fútbol, los ingleses también inventaron la palabra “soccer”.

Muchos piensan que “soccer” es un invento yanqui. Pero no, boludo… la palabra la crearon los ingleses… y después se olvidaron de ella.

Inglaterra, 1863.

En el siglo XIX, cuando decían “football” se referían a varios juegos distintos. El fútbol normal era uno. El rugby (rugby football) también era “football”, porque se inventó en la ciudad de Rugby (Inglaterra) en los años 1820.

Para diferenciarlos crearon la Football Association, y al fútbol clásico lo llamaron oficialmente Association Football. Pero… ¿quién carajo va a decir todo eso en la vida real? Nadie.

Los estudiantes de Oxford.

En los años 1880 los pibes de Oxford tenían una moda: agarraban cualquier palabra y le agregaban el sufijo -er. Así rugby se convirtió en rugger, y a “association” lo acortaron a assoc y también le pusieron -er.

Quedó assoccer → y después simplemente soccer.Un simple slang de estudiantes, nada más. En Inglaterra nunca terminó de cuajar y con el tiempo se olvidaron de la palabra.

Después llegó Estados Unidos.

A fines del siglo XIX los yanquis inventaron su propio deporte: agarraron cosas del fútbol europeo y del rugby, le metieron sus reglas y lo llamaron gridiron football (por el campo que parece una parrilla). Pero nadie decía el nombre completo. Decían simplemente football.

Al fútbol europeo necesitaban ponerle otro nombre para no confundirse. Y ahí apareció el viejo “soccer” británico. Perfecto: corto, claro y sin confusión.

Association Football → assoccer → soccer

Los ingleses lo inventaron… y se olvidaron.
Los yanquis lo levantaron y lo siguen usando hasta hoy.
Y el resto del mundo se calienta cada vez que lo escucha. Así estamos.

¡No te olvides de suscribirte! ⚽️🔥

[Liverpool FC @LFC]

In love and memory of Diogo.

Remembering our lad from Portugal ❤️

[Peter Frankopan @peterfrankopan]

I love the World Cup. But the older I get, the more I realise it's about far more than football: each tournament tells us something about empire, migration, identity, power and the changing world. So: a few quick thoughts ! 1/5

[Daniel @danielholkss]

The Messi versus Ronaldo debate ended years ago. The problem is one side cannot accept the verdict.

Ronaldo is one of the greatest athletes ever produced. Disciplined, physical, relentless. A monument to what willpower can build.

But Messi does things that willpower cannot explain. Things that should not be possible at that speed with that many people trying to stop him. Things that make experienced footballers stop and watch with their mouths open.

You do not compare a great man to a genius. They are not the same category.

Ronaldo arrived at greatness. Messi arrived from somewhere else entirely.

Miles ahead is actually underselling it.

[Curiosidades Europa @CuriosidadesEU]

🇭🇺 O lendário Puskás.

[failed @unnamedbutalone]

Asian teams at the World Cup

20 games
3 wins ✅
5 draws 🤝
12 losses ❌

9 spots are way too many for this confederation

[Match of the Day @BBCMOTD]

Jurgen Klopp doesn’t mind the hydration break, for a certain reason...

[WhoScored @WhoScored]

Lionel Messi has recorded 130 perfect 10 ratings since we started collecting data.

That’s 92 more than any other player.

It’s also more than Cristiano Ronaldo (38), Neymar (33), Luis Suárez (30), and Harry Kane (26) combined.

As if those numbers weren't ridiculous enough, he's turning 39 today. 🎂🐐

[DW Sports @dw_sports]

😱 Jürgen Klopp walked out of an interview after DW asked about comments by Bastian Schweinsteiger, a fellow World Cup pundit.

Schweinsteiger was accused of using racist stereotypes during his analysis of Germany's opponents Ivory Coast 🇨🇮

[Jfunnell @jfunnell_lfc]

He’s “the greatest ever goal scorer”

Who failed to score more than Messi in every season except 2. In one of them seasons he outscored Messi, he was outscored by Suarez.

And that’s not even getting into assists, chances created etc.

It’s fucking laughable to think he’s anywhere near Messi.

[David Perell Clips @PerellClips]

Dave Kitson was an ok football player. Yet, his book outsold David Beckham, Frank Lampard, and Steven Gerrard's combined.

Harry Dry on the copywriting principle that explains why:

"I think it's a foundational copywriting principle: what can I do that no one else is doing that people care about?

Kitson had a bad career. All these guys wrote books about their careers playing for England. Kitson didn't have any of that. He thought: 'I've been in the Premier League. So I'll tell some truths. I'll do an undercover. I'll tell you this player's got a gambling addiction. This is what it's like when England go abroad and everyone's going out.'

But no one wants to read a book by Dave Kitson. So instead, he signed it as The Secret Footballer. Kitson's product is objectively so much worse than David Beckham's. But just by positioning it, just by a little bit of storytelling, he could outsell him. That's copywriting."

[Minnesota Sports Fan @HendrickD82]

8. He is the joint 27th top scorer in World Cups.

In terms of goals per game, he's in the bottom 10 of the top 100 goalscorers in World Cup history.

He scored 1 goal at the 2006 World Cup. A group stage goal. The second goal in 2-0 win over Iran, from a penalty.

He scored 1 goal at the 2010 World Cup. A group stage goal. The sixth goal in a 7-0 win over North Korea.

He scored 1 goal at the 2014 World Cup. A group stage goal. The winner in a 2-1 win over Ghana. His first meaningful World Cup goal. In his third World Cup.

He scored 4 goals at the 2018 World Cup. All group stage goals. A hattrick in a 3-3 group stage game vs Spain, including 1 penalty. And the only goal in a 1-0 win over Morocco.

He scored 1 goal at the 2022 World Cup. A group stage goal. The opening goal in a 3-2 win over Ghana. From a penalty.

8 goals.
3 of them penalties.
And for those keeping count, that's ZERO knockout goals for Cristiano at World Cups.

His World Cup legacy is quite embarrassing when you look at both his goalscoring record, and where Portugal have finished.

Semi finals in 2006, when they had better players than him. Lost to France in the semi, he had a stinker.

Round of 16 in 2010. Lost to eventual winners Spain. He was awful.

Group Stage exit in 2014.

Round of 16 in 2018. Lost to Uruguay. He was crap.

Quarter Finals in 2022. Lost to Morocco. He was dropped during the tournament.

When you compare to Messi, and Argentina's record over the same time, it's night and day.

[TobyWrites @tobyasky]

This video is a World Cup game against Uruguay by the way.

Ronaldo made the Portuguese federation file a complaint to FIFA, to award the goal to him, and that he touched the ball with his head. The complaint didn’t even progress because of a sensor on the ball.

I have never seen anything like this before. Mind you, this goal was awarded to his TEAM MATE, Bruno Fernandes. A team goal.

Now, you want same team mate (s) he wants to carry him, how can they carry him when he’s always trying to take their spotlight if they even get any.

Cristiano tried to claim the goal on the pitch, but didn’t work. After the game, he kept complaining just like you see in this video, it didn’t work. He then made the federation ask for a review from FIFA,they were ready to present video evidence (I wonder what evidence). It still didn’t work.

It was an adidas ball and they had a chip inside, FIFA and Adidas stood on business. This is technology, you did not touch the ball Ronaldo.

Guess why he needed that goal so bad? He wanted to equal Eusebio’s 9-goal record for Portugal in World Cup history. Eusebio scored all 9 goals in one World Cup. Ronaldo is on his 6th World Cup and has 8 goals. So he is chasing that record with everything. That’s not even the point.

My point is that, you don’t demand respect, you earn it. His attitude to always take the spotlight from everyone is what you see today, he would go the extreme even to steal his team mate’s goal just because of PERSONAL AMBITIONS.

His team mate will score, he will be unhappy because it wasn’t him. It just always be him.

Personal ambition has brought Ronaldo to the level he is, but the downside is that, the extremism of it can make your team mates see themselves as less, and you need them, because it’s a team game.

The Argentines are playing for their careers also, but there’s that extra motivation that they’re playing for Messi, it is not far fetched. A team mate like Otamendi even tattooed Messi on his body, De Paul will die for him, he’s Alvarez’ god, Lautaro owes him everything, Romero would never joke with him, Paredes and Enzo will go to battle with him, Dibu calls him a god, MacAllister said Messi told everyone to stop calling him ginger hair and nobody dared. De Paul said he is accessible and humble.

Messi will put his guys own, he will never say he’s the best, he barely even talks, but still they regard him like mad.

That is a leader you’ll go to battle with, not the one that tries to steal your goal.

[Ajoje⚽⚖️ @israel_ajoje]

Names. What a concept!

If you take a look at the Cape Verde squad sheet, you would find names like Lopes, Vozinha, Mendes, Tavares,Semedo and so on. Those look like Brazilian names right? They are actually Portuguese names.

Let me tell you something.

Cape Verde is a cluster of ten islands in the Atlantic, off the coast of Senegal. Nobody lived there until 1462, when Portuguese settlers arrived and founded the first permanent European settlement in the tropics. From that moment, the islands belonged to the Portuguese Empire, and they stayed that way for more than 500 years.

And that is the connection most people miss. Cape Verde and Brazil are not similar by coincidence. They were both Portuguese colonies. Brazil was colonised by Portugal. Cape Verde was also colonised by Portugal.

So when you Cape Verdean is called Lopes or Tavares or Semedo, you should understand that it is the exact same colonial fingerprint that gave Brazil its Silvas and its Santos and Brazilians are not more Santos than Cape Verdeans.

Names carry history. You just have to know how to read them.

My name is Ajoje. I am a FIFA Licensed Agent and International Sports Lawyer. I write on the Law and Business of Football, a lot. Repost and Follow if you want to read more posts like this.

[Neat Excel @AdewoluAre]

Let imagine this for a second together 🤔

A coaching room built on intelligence, control, and elite football IQ.

James Milner bringing leadership, discipline, and dressing-room authority.
Thiago Alcantara adding pure technical mastery, rhythm, and tactical calm.

And all of it under the modern, aggressive, high-intensity ideas of Andoni Iraola, a coach who demands structure, pressing, and bravery.

On paper, that mix of brains, experience, and intensity could build something seriously special for Liverpool’s next evolution.

Different ideas. Same obsession: winning.

Would a setup like this actually work in the chaos and pressure of Anfield football?

[Patrick Bury @PatrickBury]

"If Arsenal are unpopular with neutrals, it’s because they waste everyone’s time. Not just their opponents’ time, but our time too. Football fans everywhere are suffering Arsenal’s consequences. They are like a company that spews pollution into the environment in their production process, privatising the profits and socialising the costs. To them, dumping toxic sludge into the river is just free waste disposal. It’s the rest of us who get a headache when we drink the tap water" https://t.co/PHpC1FRgv7

[Tim @TimD2704]

Liverpool have had some utter utter garbage teams and seasons over the Premier League era.

NEVER EVER did they lose 5-0 at home or 7(Seven)-0 away to their biggest rivals.
Never did they finish lower than 8th, let alone 15th!!!!

[Red @TaintlessRed]

0.17 points per game difference between Guardiola and Klopp.

Guardiola took over a squad that was outspending everyone and had won the league with 2 different managers before him recently while Klopp took over a disaster from Rodgers and a club who'd not won a league in 30 yrs!

[Benedict Spence @BenedictSpence]

The way Liverpool have treated Salah this season has been pretty disgraceful. How you treat your club legends matters - it affects how other players perceive you. It has consequences. Think it’s going to be a rough couple of years.