International Football thread

[Aidan11]

3pts, job done.

[yuppie]

How many misses did Rooney have this evening?

[SaintPowelly]

How many misses did Rooney have this evening?

Atleast 5.

[yuppie]

Austria top group G.....

Russia draw at home to Moldova

[st_brendy]

Another glorified friendly out of the way.

I never thought the ICC's pain-staking 50 over World Cup format could ever be topped. But UEFA have managed it. Two years of "qualifying matches" followed by two weeks of "group matches" all to get us down to 16 teams in the first knock out round. 16 teams who could pretty much name before a single qualifying match had begun.

[Aidan11]

Now for Scotland.

[mikesiva]

Not a great match, but a win is a win, I guess....

I'm curious about this Estonia team...half the players have Slavic names, but the other half have names that seem Scandinavian.

And some of the players looked more...blond...than the other Slavic countries.

They're manager has a Swedish name...I think I remember reading somewhere that Estonia has a Scandinavian link to their history.

Did I read right?

[yuppie]

Another glorified friendly out of the way.

I never thought the ICC's pain-staking 50 over World Cup format could ever be topped. But UEFA have managed it. Two years of "qualifying matches" followed by two weeks of "group matches" all to get us down to 16 teams in the first knock out round. 16 teams who could pretty much name before a single qualifying match had begun.

There will always be to odd unfancied team making it.

[yuppie]

Not a great match, but a win is a win, I guess....

I'm curious about this Estonia team...half the players have Slavic names, but the other half have names that seem Scandinavian.

And some of the players looked more...blond...than the other Slavic countries.

They're manager has a Swedish name...I think I remember reading somewhere that Estonia has a Scandinavian link to their history.

Did I read right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_E ... %931721%29
This might help Mike.

[budgetmeansbudget]

How many misses did Rooney have this evening?

Atleast 5.

To add to his 5 in the San Marino game, seemingly needs a stationery ball to score.

[Aidan11]

He'd have the record now if he'd put most of them away.

[SaintPowelly]

I am still not convinced the goal was his.

[st_brendy]

Can't say I'm surprised at all those Rooney misses. He is not a great player. He can do great things, but he is not a great player. There is a massive difference.

Game after game, particularly with England, he will miss chances, misplace passes, hit free kicks into the crowd, be offside. But if you don't watch him from the first minute until the last, then a youtube reel of his best bits could easily convince you that he's up there with the best.

If I'm being honest, I don't think we have a single English striker who is good enough to play for us. Lightyears away from being world class.

[sussexpob]

Not a great match, but a win is a win, I guess....

I'm curious about this Estonia team...half the players have Slavic names, but the other half have names that seem Scandinavian.

And some of the players looked more...blond...than the other Slavic countries.

They're manager has a Swedish name...I think I remember reading somewhere that Estonia has a Scandinavian link to their history.

Did I read right?

Estonia is nothing like the other two Baltic countries, and no non-Russian Estonians will class themselves as being from a Baltic country, and certainly never call themselves Slavic!!! (Russian speakers will consider themselves Russian, not Estonian). Estonian language is very similar to Finnish, as is their culture, and they like to consider themselves as Scandinavian quite openly.

But then again, Finland isnt Scandinavia, and I dont personally see anything other than Finnish similarities in names, nothing Swedish for instance. Certainly in language and culture, Estonia has no Scandinavian influence.

I think 25% of Estonia would identify as Russian, so you still get a lot of Slavic names.

[Aidan11]

Costa just got a third goal for Spain against Luxembourg.