Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Road to Nowhere: 2021-22 Champions League

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #51
    Sheriff getting full bang for their bucks with Real, Inter and Shakhtar visiting.
    Sheriff Tiraspol are quite something else, I just learnt. There's an excellent US-based Moldovan guy called Slava Malamud, a specialist on sport in the ex-USSR, whom I follow on Twitter thanks to ursus having linked elsewhere on here to his Twitter thread on the HBO drama series Chernobyl, who has posted a long thread about the hilariously incongruous rise of Sheriff and its context in the ex-KGB-sponsored separatism of Transnistria and its domination by mafiosi.

    Thread here: (20) Slava Malamud on Twitter: "So let me put this into perspective a little bit. I don't think a lot of folks truly understand what it means that a team from Moldova has made it to the Champions' League. I grew up a 15-minute drive from Tiraspol and I can give you a tiny bit of an idea..." / Twitter

    It's worth reading to the end. His final tweet on the topic, after a comic survey of football in Moldova, is:

    "Never let anyone tell you not to dream big, kids. There is nothing, NOTHING, that positivity, hard work, a secret nation-building KGB plot and an international gun-trafficking ring can't accomplish."

    Comment


      #52
      That Is the most otf tweet ever

      Comment


        #53
        Slava is a phenomenon.

        He is a Moldovan Jew who was one of the leading sports journalists in the USSR/Russia before he and his paper got on the wrong side of the current regime. The paper got sold to Putin's mistress and he chose to emigrate.

        He is now working as a math teacher in suburban Baltimore and raising his son, who is a decent ice hockey goalie. He had a side hustle as a reporter on the Washington Capitals (who have a number of Russian stars), but became persona non grata there when he started to speak out about Capitals' superstar Alexander Ovechkin's very public support for Putin.

        Comment


          #54
          Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
          Slava is a phenomenon.

          He is a Moldovan Jew who was one of the leading sports journalists in the USSR/Russia before he and his paper got on the wrong side of the current regime. The paper got sold to Putin's mistress and he chose to emigrate.

          He is now working as a math teacher in suburban Baltimore and raising his son, who is a decent ice hockey goalie. He had a side hustle as a reporter on the Washington Capitals (who have a number of Russian stars), but became persona non grata there when he started to speak out about Capitals' superstar Alexander Ovechkin's very public support for Putin.
          None of this is real surely. His life is too vivid.

          Comment


            #55
            It is all quite real

            You aren't the only one with stories

            Comment


              #56
              Blood and Circuses is good on football in Moldova/Transnistra

              Comment


                #57
                Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                It is all quite real

                You aren't the only one with stories
                I'm currently trying to get Garcia to get him on the podcast.

                Comment


                  #58
                  That idea had occurred to me

                  He'd likely have to wait until school is back in session (next week, I think), as he spends summers driving around the country attending minor league baseball games and observing the madness of rural America.

                  Comment


                    #59
                    Things You Knew Would Happen Part 2,472: Having also done so in Saturday’s PL (second) debut, Ronaldo now gives Man Utd the lead inside the first fifteen minutes of his ECL return.

                    Comment


                      #60
                      (…and now Wan-Bissaka sees red, which I didn’t see coming.)

                      Comment


                        #61
                        Four penalties awarded already in Seville, one apiece scored, two missed by Salzburg.

                        Comment


                          #62
                          Blimey. I’m watching the wrong game.

                          Comment


                            #63
                            That was inevitable after the red.

                            Comment


                              #64
                              Lingard plays the ball straight to Young Boys for the simplest of winners.

                              Comment


                                #65
                                Lingard!!! WTF.

                                Comment


                                  #66
                                  The kits in Barca - Bayern are a mess.

                                  Bayern are wearing their "mountains that don't really read as as such" kits with the plain white backs,

                                  And Barca are wearing this nonsense, which looks even more pink on the pitch

                                  Comment


                                    #67
                                    Seville Salzburg was a helluva game. 4 pens two missed, 1 red card, 100 yellow cards, biblical rain storm, Eric Lamela came on and played excellently. When I saw him warming up I cashed out after being on Seville. I mean down to ten men he’s not exactly who you want coming on is he? He was great. Helluva game.

                                    Comment


                                      #68
                                      Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                      The kits in Barca - Bayern are a mess.

                                      Bayern are wearing their "mountains that don't really read as as such" kits with the plain white backs,

                                      And Barca are wearing this nonsense, which looks even more pink on the pitch

                                      I can never unsee either of these kits - my eyes hurt

                                      Comment


                                        #69
                                        Mueller gives Bayern the lead off a sharp deflection from Eric Garcia's back that wrong footed Ter Stegen

                                        Comment


                                          #70
                                          Question asked elsewhere: Has Ronaldo won the Europa League?

                                          Comment


                                            #71
                                            He won the UEFA Cup with Inter

                                            Comment


                                              #72
                                              Juve suddenly find themselves 3-0 up in the Oresund.

                                              Comment


                                                #73
                                                The inevitable Lewandowski goal makes it 2-0 and Koeman responds by putting on two 17 year olds

                                                The gap between the two sides is a chasm

                                                Comment


                                                  #74
                                                  Is it only Real who wave white hankies disdainfully?

                                                  Comment


                                                    #75
                                                    Speaking of inevitable goals

                                                    Lukaku gives Chelsea the lead

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X