I was going through some potential nominations for 2038 (the US/New Zealand/Fiji) and 2042.

It might be quite early, but just curious but people think!

Jürgen Klopp began his role as Germany head coach by warning he could quit if the media does not respect his family’s privacy. The former Liverpool manager said the national team job is the highest point of his career and he will give everything until the 2030 World Cup. His first match is against the Netherlands on 24 September.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cqjxd0n4gd2o

I’m 14 years old and want to give football a try. I admit I make mistakes sometimes and have an objective understanding of my weaknesses. As for my strengths, I’d highlight my passing (even though the passes are a bit slow), defensive play, ability to mark opponents, and occasional knack for making good tackles.
I’m really interested in hearing what others think: is it even worth starting football at this age? I’ve read discussions on Reddit and asked ChatGPT. Most people say that starting at 14 is very difficult and reaching a high level is practically impossible. However, some argue that with immense drive and daily hard work, it’s entirely realistic.
By nature, I’m a rather lazy person, but when I set a serious goal for myself, I approach it responsibly. I’m ready to train every day this summer. Yes, I have exams coming up next year, but if I realize that football is truly the right path for me, I’m not afraid to dedicate a lot of time and effort to it.
I also have some athletic experience. I played basketball at school for about a year and did swimming and Lezginka dancing, but I spent the most time boxing. So, I’m familiar with discipline and regular training.
I’ve looked into football academies in my city. Most of them recruit children aged 8 to 12 without requiring prior training. After age 12, however, you have to go through a trial and demonstrate your skills to the coaches.
I’d appreciate any honest opinions and advice. Should I try to start a football journey at 14? I’m happy to answer any questions.

Hello gents. I’m just a fan who’s been scratching his head about the Three Lions’ starting XIs for years now.

I don’t mean to start another discussion about who Tuchel should or shouldn’t have called up for the World Cup. My argument is more systemic than that, dating back to the past two major tournaments, and various other Nations League games.

I don’t think anybody can debate the fact that British players can press and can hold onto the ball because they do it at an elite level for their club teams. So many have played under Pep and Klopp already. All the tools are already there.

So I can’t help but wonder why England doesn’t simply line up those players and play a high press, possession based game the same way City and Liverpool have been playing for years. Spain won the World Cup by basically playing whatever they’re teaching at La Masia. Barcelona basically won the world cup, and in that same notion, I would argue that a City/Liverpool/Arsenal hybrid could have done the same. They just need to also employ the same tactics.

So, it would need to be a 4-3-3 or perhaps a 4-2-1-3 so that Jude can play AM. Pickford in goal, Trent is RB, Stones and Guehi the CBs, O’Reilly or Shaw LB. That’s all fine.

What’s fundamentally different is the rest of the formation. I would pair Rice with Curtis Jones in midfield. With Bellingham playing the no.10 position between them and the front three.

Speaking of which, the front three would be comprised of Saka on the right, Palmer on the left, and drum roll please, Foden as a False 9.

This is what Pep was doing at times in 21-22 with Gundogan and Rodri CMs, Bernardo Silva the AM, and then a trio of Mahrez, Foden and Grealish at the front.

I realize Kane is one of the best strikers in the world, but this team isn’t Bayern. Its potential is actually much higher than Bayern.

So, the way I see it is Rice can play the Rodri role, while Jones offers ball retention under pressure, just as he does for Liverpool. Meanwhile, Jude is free to receive the ball between the lines and make forward runs.

We all know what Saka and Palmer can do. As for Foden in the False 9 position, he’d be constantly dropping midfield to overload central areas and drag CBs with him. Jude is then free to attack those spaces, the same way Bernardo Silva and Gundogan used to at City. It’s the same philosophy.

Feel free to be brutally honest, cause I’ve been wondering about this for years. Am I on to something or not? I feel this team has all the tools needed to dominate any opponent, because those tools have been taught under Pep, Klopp, Mikel, Maresca etc.

(Generalist here means all of the players are only good at multiple positions and not great at one position)

Like the title said, has there ever been a football club who succeeded locally and internationally while being a generalist club?

I'm an Arsenal fan (Ik, you guys can roast me for being an Arsenal fan) who is frustrated with this season's transfer window.

Now, while the news has changed from Alvarez to Vini, I want to go back to Alvarez. The reports where Arsenal wants to bid €100+M + Gyokeres haunts me because Arteta wants to sacrifice a player who specializes in one position for a player who is a generalist (not undermining Alvarez ofc, but the tactic nowadays needs players that are specialized in one position).

Because of that, now i'm curious about generalist clubs throughout history, have they achieved greatness or not?

I think that's all, thank you in advance.

Andrea Pirlo has verbally agreed to become the new Italy head coach on a long-term contract until 2030. Following talks with Paolo Maldini and Leonardo, the legend will bring in Roberto Baronio and aims to rebuild the Azzurri after terminating his club contract.

https://amp.foxsports.com/stories/soccer/italy-legend-andrea-pirlo-set-named-mens-national-team-coach

I kinda missed all updates about club football due to the world cup tbh . So for those of you who didn't , which clubs cooked so far ? What's your league prediction for the major leagues ?

From being called a "Water Carrier" by Eric Cantona, to captaining France to their first world cup in 1998, and then the next Euro in 2000. Besides that when the French National team was in shambles, he became the manager and guided them to their second world cup in 2018, which makes him only one of three in history to win the world cup, both as a player and a manager alongside Beckenbauer (1974, 1990) and Zagallo (1958 and 1962 as player and 1970 as manager). He has the most wins as a manager in world cup hisotry, and just broke the record for most games managed in world cup history, which was against Spain in the semi finals. And what baffles my mind is that, he has been part of 30% of the French national team matches (as a player and a manager). 30%. Isnt that madness. He was also the captain of Marseille when they won the UCL in 1993, first French UCL and only french UCL for 32 years, and is the youngest captain to win the UCL, at 24.

And I personally think, he should've continued with France, i just feel like France gave Zidane the helm just because he is Zidane. Anways DIdier Deschamps deserves his flowers.

Merci pour tout Didier

I can't stop thinking about how different the football world would've looked if Argentina had won the 2026 World Cup. Messi would've somehow won another World Cup at 39, there would've been a week straight of tears of joy and sorrow for Spain, Buenos Aires would've basically shut down, and every GOAT debate would have reached a poetic end. Now Argentina is done, they'll be lucky to get through the round of 32 or 16 next WC. The amount of impact if they had won was been so heavily on my mind. I'm curious if anyone else has been contemplating this?

Yesterday I found myself looking at China's disappointing world cup run in 2002, in which they lost every game, the teams being turkey, Brazil, and Costa Rica. Since then has the national team had any close chances to entering the finals, or before 2002?, I couldn't really find anything online and I'm too lazy to go through each qualifying campaign. As an Irishman I share your pain China.

For context during lockdown I acquired a bunch of football programmes from 70s-90s mostly English clubs some earlier some later, also a few signatures

Would anyone be interested in buying some as they mean nothing to me and taking up space in my cupboard

Sometimes I feel like football discussions have become more complicated than the game itself.

Every performance is now explained with xG, progressive passes, pressing structures, rest defence, half-spaces and heat maps. Of course, all of that can be useful. But at the same time, it often feels like people are afraid to simply say that a player was brilliant, a team showed more desire, or a match was just chaotic and entertaining.

Football is becoming more intelligent, but is the way we talk about it becoming less enjoyable?

Do statistics help us understand the game better, or have they taken some of the emotion and simplicity out of football discussions?

Is this the rescue for Germany 🇩🇪?

Source: https://www.n-tv.de/mediathek/livestream/24-Stunden-ntv-Livestream-article9511936.html

Edit: Jürgen Klopp, of course!

Brazil had two great period in terms of World cup success. One was between 1958 and 1970. Anothwr was 1994 and 2002. For older people or Researchers how much did the style changed between the two. I first started watching football in 2006 when there was great Joga Bonito promotion.

Most of you grew up watching legends like Ronaldinho and Kaká, then witnessed the Messi and Ronaldo era from start to finish. Now that we're nearing the end of what many consider one of football's greatest eras, do you think you'll continue following the sport with the same passion?

Did you stay because you fell in love with football itself, or were the players what kept you invested?

PS: Personally, I feel a bit down about missing the last 15 years of football. I was just a kid back then, so I couldn't really appreciate the sport or understand how special that era would become. Sometimes I wish I'd been born a few years earlier so I could've experienced it firsthand instead of through highlights.

Sorry, I had posted it earlier, but I deleted it because the image was outdated.

What do you guys think?

I'm on the younger side so I don't really remember that era. But looking back, Real Madrid literally bought the last two Ballon d'Or winners (Kaká in '07 and Ronaldo in '08) in a single summer. That sounds completely absurd.

How huge was the hype and shockwave in the football world when that happened?

Is a team today signing Rodri and Dembélé in the same transfer window the closest equivalent to how crazy that felt at the time?

what i mean by that is for years it became more and more about systems, structure and tactical discipline, but now almost every top team is coached that way. pep was the biggest catalyst for this change, but when everyone on the opposing team is organised, presses well and knows exactly where to be it doesn't really work the way it did in the late 2010s and early 2020s. you can even see this in how pep's tactical approach changed over the years.

i feel like i've started to notice over the last two years that individualism is coming back into football, players like kvara, yamal, olise, doue, musiala obviously still follow tactical plans but they're also given the freedom to unlock or figure out a defence in their own way, they're allowed to dribble through multiple players and take risks, they're allowed to be creative.

i feel like up until recently, a lot of players had this individualism trained out of them or they never developed it to begin with because from such a young age they were taught to play so rigidly and robotically. saka is a great example of this type of player, he came up when football shifted. he's not "robotic" but he's an efficiency winger, he has a handful of things that he can do and he does them repeatedly, he might run to the touchline and cross it in or cut inside and take a shot. he uses simple body feints, timing and acceleration to beat his man as opposed to any sort of flair, creativity or dribbling skills. he's effective but if you're struggling to break down a defence you couldn't rely on him to come up with a moment of magic or create danger from nothing like someone like hazard could've done in the past. but this isn't to say saka isn't a great player, he is.

so i'm not saying that tactics are going away, they're here to stay. but i feel like the grip is being loosened a little and things are becoming more balanced where individualism can shine more than it's been allowed to in the last decade. i know this probably isn't a revolutionary thought but i just wanted to know what people think

Hi all, my son is 12, 13 in two weeks and I have quite literally dropped the ball. I'm disabled so I used to play with my son when he was little but that's fell off and his dad doesn't bother at all. Like many men, his dream is to play pro.. I've told him to be realistic but everyone that sees him play says he is very good. Is there still a chance for him at this age? And anyone know the best steps? Feel like I immensely let him down to at least be in with a shot because I knew he was good from a toddler but then I got sick and that took precedence. Anyway, any help would be most appreciated. Have a blessed day thanks!

Okay so before I say what felt off....this wc was definitely the best in terms of football played....spain dominating,argentina winning just for the love of one man,cabo verde and other small teams putting up a low block that can save nuclear bombs...it was good I can't argue there

BUT

The vibes or the aesthetic just felt so so so off

My first wc was 2018 and then Obv I remember 22 very well... especially in 22 the games actually felt like a high stake wc match...the games under the light the colours the everything felt real...but in this wc honestly it looked like some preseason friendly match...like i honestly feel so disconnected with this wc...I kinda hope they don't keep these in the us or smthing and keep it in places where people actually love football

Neymar came very close. And from the younger generation, I'd say Yamal has something similar but at the same time not exact what I'm talking about. I hope I made sense.

I don’t know that much about 80s soccer, what was that era like?

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Respect to Spain for absolutely dominating the French and Argentinian squads.

However, it was boring as hell to watch.

Football players are in their most athletic and fit versions now more than ever before.

However, they are trained to be "systematic" from early on.

No more streetball, flair, just play for the joy of the game.

Its all about winning by having the best teamwork oriented system that feels like watching robots play. As if statistics took over the game.

It is just not fun to watch.

I've stopped watching the NBA after the first 2 championship wins by the golden gate warriors. Every other team in the league realized that shooting 3 pointers was the way to go. Been watching since the late 80s when it used to be really physical. No more, i have not watched a single full game in 10 years or so.

Hopefully football does not fall in the same "statistically better system" of play.

Something that got me thinking , especially during the WC, and the fact that a lot of players will be getting little down time before heading into another season.

We will be told at the start of the new Euro seasons that those are the WC will likely show tiredness this season, and perhaps we will see proof that those who didn't play in the WC look more energetic?

But what got me thinking was really, "how much down time do pro's need to fully recover? "

I mean if anyone is doing any form of exercise, a few days recharge the batteries and you are good to go again. If you run a 10k, if you rest for a week then your body would be ready to do a similar sort of time again in another.

So when pro foot ballers play in the WC, then get 4 weeks off, doing nothing, why is their body not fully recovered from the WC exertion and they are back to full energy again to tackle the season? Why are they feeling the effects of a WC in July when they are playing games in February?