2016/17 Soccer/Football Thread

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Is it just me or the transfer market has gone crazy? 30 mil for Pickford who just had one season in a relegated team. Monaco want 100mil for Mbappe who scored only 15 goals in the French League and only has 1 season (yes, he looks the real deal but player development can go south very quickly). Even Everton want more than 60 mil for Lukaku who hasn't performed in a big game ever.

If Morata, Bale or Rodriquez leave, I'll think Real would pocket about 60 mil each despite them not being in the first 11.
 
The transfer market's been getting crazier and crazier every year. Meanwhile, Salah at age 24 after a breakout season only has interest from one club who is refusing to pay €50m for him smh
 
The demand from Chinese clubs has helped push prices up a little bit and Chinese investors are bringing money to some smaller clubs. But it's mainly because of PL's TV money which keeps going up every 3 years. You'd think it might reach saturation soon but with the untapped markets of China, USA and India, who knows if watching the PL will suddenly take off there. The £1bn player might sound ludicrous now but so did the £50m player not long ago... And it's frightening to imagine. Also clubs know that the PL clubs have cash to burn so they'll just double their asking price because they know the customer can pay it. It's like street stalls charging a different price to different ppl, it's all about what they think you can pay. Pickford has potential but is nowhere near a £30m keeper lol.
 
The demand from Chinese clubs has helped push prices up a little bit and Chinese investors are bringing money to some smaller clubs. But it's mainly because of PL's TV money which keeps going up every 3 years. You'd think it might reach saturation soon but with the untapped markets of China, USA and India, who knows if watching the PL will suddenly take off there. The £1bn player might sound ludicrous now but so did the £50m player not long ago... And it's frightening to imagine. Also clubs know that the PL clubs have cash to burn so they'll just double their asking price because they know the customer can pay it. It's like street stalls charging a different price to different ppl, it's all about what they think you can pay. Pickford has potential but is nowhere near a £30m keeper lol.
Agreed I mean tell someone a couple years ago that a young goalkeeper with just potential would be sold for 30m and they'd laugh you out, at this rate we'll be breaking the 1bn barrier in a few years xD
 
Transfer market has swollen because now there's less risk in bad investment, if you spent crazy money in the 90s it would catch up to you. Lazio in the late 90s is a great example, they had players like Marcelo Salas and Christian Vieri and were so prominent and then they nearly got bankrupt in the early 2000s. Now with corporations and billionaires taking over clubs there is less risk in bad investments and clubs can casually toss 90m for a striker like Higuain. Even Lacazette to Arsenal is rumored to be upwards of 55m, partially due to Aulas but an objective valuation might put him at around 40m imho.
 
Germany won Confederation's Cup with their B-team. Draxler takes Golden Ball (imo Goretzka or Stindl would have been better), Werner wins Golden Boot (3 goals, tied with Goretzka and Stindl but won via having 2 assists) and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen was voted Man of the Match thanks to some truly heroic saves.

First half was very exciting, Chile had a lot of early chances but the biggest weakness of this golden generation was exposed: they lack a truly clinical finisher up top (kind of ironic considering this nation produced the likes of Ivan Zamorano and Marcelo Salas but whatever). Germany were very hard-pressed in the opening and Isla and Beausejour were able to run in behind and cross easily. Unfortunately, there was nobody in the box who could reach them.

The first game-changer was Diaz's giveaway which allowed Goretzka to set Werner free so he could tee up Stindl. After kind of spinning their wheels for the first 20 mins, Germany finally had an exploitable weak point: Chile's lack of pace at the back coupled with their reckless giveaways in midfield. Following the goal, Chile found it harder to create as both Diaz as well as Jara and Medel found themselves closed down, which in turn forced all of Aranguiz, Vidal, and Alexis deeper as they had to pick up the ball from deeper positions. Isla and Beausejour also had even fewer targets to aim at, so Chile ended up banging their heads against a German wall for the rest of the half.

This pattern continued into the second half as Chile's attack was forced deeper to protect their center-backs, who were exposed time and time again by the pace of Werner and Draxler in attack. Only good saves and lucky deflections kept the Germans off the scoreboard, while Chile were restricted to efforts from distance by Vidal and Aranguiz and poor corners from Alexis.

The second major incident occurred when Jara raised an elbow and clipped Werner as the striker attempted to turn. Despite Jonas Hector refusing to throw the ball until referee Milorad Mazic consulted the video assistant, Jara received a yellow instead of a straight red. This changed the game as Chile began playing recklessly, with Vidal and Aranguiz among those using full-body lunges to win the ball back. Germany responded in kind, culminating in a minor skirmish between Vidal and his Bayern teammate Kimmich.

Chile actually did force a couple of chances at the end, with Beausejour finding Sanchez who was tackled, with the ball falling to Vidal whose shot was saved by Ter Stegen. Aranguiz also forced a save from Ter Stegen, but the worst miss came when substitute Edson Puch managed to cutback to Zagar whose effort was blazed wide with an empty net. Ter Stegen finished his performance was a save from an Alexis free-kick.

Starting lineups:

Chile: Bravo; Isla, Jara, Medel, Beausejour; Aránguiz (Zagar 81'), Marcelo Díaz (Valencia 53'), Tucu Hernández; Vidal; Alexis, Vargas (Puch 81').
Subs: Herrera, Toselli, Diaz, Roco, Mena, Silva, Fuenzalida, Puch, Rodriguez, Gutierez, Zagal, Valencia.

Germany: ter Stegen; Mustafi, Ginter, Rudiger; Kimmich, Rudy, Goretzka (Sule 90+1'), Hector; Draxler, Werner (Can 79'), Stindl.
Subs:


Congratulations to Germany for a fine summer of football so far, and to Chile for making it to 3/3 finals in 3 summers.
 
Chile only had themselves to blame. They make too many silly mistakes in front of their goal and could have conceded 2 or 3 more. Of course, they also lack good FWs and Sanchez decided to have one of his off-days didn't help.

That aside, Germany has shown that they have great squad depth; probably as good as France. They'd be a threat in the World Cup to be sure and Goretzka among others should be making some of the senior side nervous.
 

destinyunknown

Banned deucer.
The most important thing for Germany is that they finally have a good striker in Werner, which is what they had been lacking these past few years. Squad depth is important and all but they already had that before.
 
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