Village Idiot

Messi has said he won't shave his beard until the Centenario is over. I hope Argentina stays long enough for him to grow a hipster beard. That would be awesome. http://estaticos.sport.es/resources/jpg/5/8/barba-messi-cuestion-supersticion-1465803687585.jpg

Real Madrid Castilla lost again in the Segunda B playoffs and won't go up, which means Odegaard will be loaned out somewhere. It will do him good since things really aren't working out right now.

Despite Xisco's heroics (scored again yesterday), Girona are through to the Liga Adelante playoff final after a dramatic 120-minute ET winner. They'll play Osasuna for a spot in La Liga. I hope Girona can manage it after last season's heartbreak. Never been in the top flight and it's a class city. Osasuna have the "been here a dozen times" psychological advantage, though. The way they disposed of Nàstic in the other semifinal was pretty impressive.

Further shows that if you take Neymar and Marcelo out of Brazil, Brazil's got nothing.

Almost certainly This new format is a bit of a joke, tbf. Agreed. Whack it up to 32 teams imo. The right decision was to keep it as it was but, yeah, if they were going to expand best to go all the way to 32. A group phase where 16 out of 24 teams will progress to the knockouts is close to pointless.

I never understood what he brings to Barca tbh, tries to be their new Xavi but just seems so inferior to lots of other players in a similar mould. VI please rebuff me He's great for Barça. He's more workmanlike than Xavi, and that's how Lucho wants the midfield to be nowadays. He's playing very close to the box for Croatia, which is a bit weird.

The Poles were massive compared to the Swedes, tbf, proper MMA has weight classes and shit.

Almost certainly This new format is a bit of a joke, tbf.

You'll be fine, this group phase is pretty ridiculous, even finishing 3rd you have a good chance of going to the knockouts. And there's just no way you'll finish last I enjoyed watching England play, which is a pretty novel feeling. You're usually boring and ponderous. Even if this tournament comes still a bit early, your spine is so young you can expect nice things from this team in the future.

And we are going to hold a WC in that god forsaken place

Happy that you can continue to mock England for their big posturing and not delivering, as per usual. You can say 'typical england' with a smilely and bait the rest of the English born forum legitimately. *clears throat* Typical England

As an amateur Eire fan, how am I supposed to feel about this result? I need guidance from the vets.

Russia are really really shit. Putin will need to double up on bribes and threats if they are meant to do something of note in 2018.

I remember a time where Sterling's game seemed to have a little more to it than just pace. What happened?

Aaaaand he takes another one. He's not even good at it?

Lovely start by England by the way, very entertaining to watch. Rooney seems a bit of a relic in this team though, the game is bypassing him completely.

Spanish commentators are completely puzzled about Kane taking corners too. Why is he doing that?

More De Gea leaks today... some whatsapp screenshots with a convo between De Gea and the protected witness. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ckne8DtXEAAzuyd.jpg:large They are actually pretty harmless, but in them "De Gea" reveals he set up another party with 5 ManU teammates.

Much better second half. God I love Euro summers. First the Euros, then the Olympics

What an unsurprisingly turgid game.

He hired a guy that ran a trafficking ring to provide some girls for his mates. Did he know that the guy was running a trafficking ring though? If he was just trying to get some hookers for his mates then fair play like. I'd do that for my mates. *shrugs*, the guy was a prominent pornographer, that's about it. I guess Muniaín and Isco (if confirmed) seem to be in bigger trouble if the sexual assault accusations pan out.

Could you link us to a Spanish paper carrying it please? Not coming up in searches for me. These are the guys that broke the news: http://www.eldiario.es/politica/Gea-Muniain-pornografo-Torbe_0_524948592.html

He hired a guy that ran a trafficking ring to provide some girls for his mates.

De Gea, Munain and an unrevealed Spanish footballer involved in the investigation of a prostitution and women trafficking ring. Apparently De Gea would have hired the services of an infamous Spanish porn impresario in 2012 to procure girls for Muniain and the other footballer. De Gea wasn't present during the encounter, and the women were allegedly raped. One of the girls is now in protective custody and has allegedly testified against them, and apparently there's proof (calls and whatsapp activity) that would back up her story. All our media - including the serious one - is carrying the story, so it's likely true.

Barça have settled with the Spanish taxman re: the Neymar signing tax fraud. Barça will pay €5m and the prosecution will withdraw criminal charges. This should also wind down the other Neymar court case, since the settlement means the €40m sign-on bonus we paid Neymar is considered a wage and not a transfer fee. Neymar had been sued by former part-owners DIS claiming that they were entitled to part of that bonus.