International Champions Cup

[imp]

My daily paper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, refers to it as the "International Champions Cup". In much the same way that Bild used to only ever refer to the "DDR".

[Satchmo Distel]

How can they complain about their players being knackered in April then play this shit in July?

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

You know there's already a preseason friendlies thread, right?

I was punch drunk when I started it, noticed afterwards and.....

[Diable Rouge]

Even Ireland has fallen out of love with pre-season friendlies, with plenty of Lansdowne Road seats empty for Arsenal v Chelsea tonight - unsurprising at the extortionate price of €60!

https://www.ticketmaster.ie/2018-int...&minorcatid=11

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

MANCHESTER UNITED THRASH 7 TIME EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS AC MILAN IN AMERICAN SHOOTOUT!

Here, PPV, I went to the cinema the other day to watch 'The Lord of Milan'. Have you seen it? It's about Herbert Kilpin, your man from Nottingham who founded the club and "taught Italians how to play football". A lovely little documentary. A love letter to AC Milan, Nottingham, and football fandom. A homage to fanaticism; the lengths people go to to show their love for their club, to find out everything they can about it, and to mark the history of it. If you've not seen it you definitely should.

"We'll wear red, as we are the devils. And we'll wear black to strike fear into the heart of our opposition". Heavy shit, Herbs.

...didn't pay attention this thread was still going on.
So you were there.
Yeah, I mentioned it a while back here and have been following them on Facebook regarding updates, when it will be released on DVD or anywhere I can watch it.
Great how they have restored the place in Nottingham where he lived.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Juan Mata's Dad has got a stake in a tapas place on Deansgate (before I continue I need to hold my hands up and say I was wrong about tapas. It's fucking great. And though my issue was never with tapas itself, merely Britain's concept of what tapas is, I completely withdraw all complaints. If you want ten little plates of spicy pork in wine for your tea, fucking go for it. Why wouldn't you?). It's called Tapeo and Wine. While it lacks the charm of Evuna, and the beautiful settings of El Gato Negro it's still a great place to visit. The service was patchy, but the mineral water, and this is going to sound strange I realise, was the best I've ever had. Really smooth. Like cold, wet velvet.

Tapas is brilliant if you do it properly down in Barcelona or Valencia. The way it should be had. Unpretentious. All of it thrown up on plates in the corner of a bar where you pick a few every once in a while. Don't rush eat it but drink and eat over the course of a couple hours. Where the tapas is a supporting actor, maybe the side-kick, but never the lead.

If it's a pretentious hipster place in Sweden revolving around tapas, it's wank. Usually visited by a gang of friends; old school friends, lads who used to play football together or those who in their youth would hit the clubs together on weekends and often mid-week as well now with children hardly stay awake after 11, who meet up once every three months and someone recommends "a great tapas place" where you sit down at a table and eat them like you're in a Michelin restaurant. An hour for everyone to agree on which servings to bring in, you'll get a pickle there, some corner of a shrimp wrapped around a Chorizo there, end up with the thumb's nail of bread left to dip in the grilled red pepper and garlic dip left which no one else wants and when the tab is split you pay 60 euro for food, no more than you could have smuggled through customs under your eye lid.

[Satchmo Distel]

BRAVE MANCHESTER LIONS THRASH SWARTHY ITALIAN CHEATS AC MILAN IN AMERICAN SHOOTOUT!

by Wingco.

Fixed

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

heh

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

If it's a pretentious hipster place in Manchester revolving around tapas, it's wank.

Fixed also

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Even Ireland has fallen out of love with pre-season friendlies, with plenty of Lansdowne Road seats empty for Arsenal v Chelsea tonight - unsurprising at the extortionate price of €60!

https://www.ticketmaster.ie/2018-int...&minorcatid=11

There are about 15 arsenal fans in the whole of ireland, and not many more chelsea fans.

[EIM]

If it's a pretentious hipster place in Manchester revolving around tapas, it's wank.

Fixed also

You've seen TAST then?

[EIM]

How can they complain about their players being knackered in April then play this shit in July?

I don't really understand this argument.

[Satchmo Distel]

The season is too long and there is insufficient rest in the Summer, and the effects of this are felt later

[EIM]

But they have to play preseason friendlies to get players fit after time off. Does the location really matter?How more tired will they be after an American tour than a domestic preseason?

[Gerontophile]

Arsenal v Chelsea in 20 minutes. (USA obviously not interested in the mighty Rosenberg tonking Celtic in 7 minutes.)

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Do they have to anti-tweak just about everything in USA when it comes to football? The other day, some game, they had a bloody mic on the keeper and he was chatting with the commentators, in the middle of the game!
No, it's not very cool and hip. It's shite.

And this. How the hell am I suppose to see a difference between Milan and Barcelona? I'm up 2AM for the game and then I can't even spot who's who.

[ursus arctos]

That was an "All Star Game", which is even less meaningful than a friendly.

As to the kits, sportswear giants are cunts.

And these games exist only to extract revenue from clueless foreigners. The idea that anyone who knows anything about the sport cares troubles more than the mic or the kits.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

I tend to ignore International friendlies with the odd chance I'll watch focused if a new promising player is in the line-up. Like when Zlatan entered the scene.

These other games with clubs are indeed meaningless and only interesting to me because of the new players, getting a chance to see them in our colours for the first time and how they fit in, if they will contribute anything at all. Like now when Halilovic, former Barca, came on.