What a football fan wants most from the World Cup final is a clear and worthy winner. Instead, there is a feeling that everything that could have gone wrong for Croatia, did so. They attacked more, were on the receiving end of a very unfortunate penalty, put the ball into their own net and will forever live with the sense of what could have been.
France eased their way to the trophy throughout the tournament without being spectacular. Their 2-0 quarter-final win over Uruguay and yesterdays’ final were the only occasions they won a game by more than a single goal.
The more interesting element of France’s development as a football powerhouse is what didn’t happen at Russia. The legacy of Guy Roux, who educated the nation on how to develop natural young talent into tier one achievers, fills every top league in Europe today. Celtic’s young Les Bleus are a remarkable example of this.
The win will turn the spotlight onto French football, as a consequence, following up on the signing of Dembele, Ntcham and Eduard will be more difficult. Let’s hope that the wealthy in England are fully focussed on taking advantage of the obvious superiority of the English academy system.
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TURKEYBHOY
About 1986,I went down to London for a few days. Hitched it,stayed in a place called-IIRC-The Albion Hotel in Gillingham Street.
£12 a night. I later discovered it was £5 an hour. And that it was the same hotel-AFAIK-that Jeffrey Archer met a lady of the night called Monika
Strange places,big cities. Turn right instead of left,you can,erm,get your eyes opened!
World cup
So, what’s new I ask??? The cheats won again. I’ve watched a lot of Griesman, he should be called Polaris after the diving. First goal—- he dived. Score should have been zero – zero. Penalty my arse, never.
Anyway, what do I know.
KINGLuBO
BMCUW @ 1.15…well done to you! I suppose most of us felt like that many years ago, nowadays though, it’s only the dinosaurs (and we know what happened to them)…too long a time working in the ‘entertainment’ business for me to feel that way…I accept everyone ‘cept huns (and I mean HUNS) and I’m happy that Celtic fans are showing their true, open to all, colours…I hope soon players too will be able to fly their own personal rainbow flags…
Regards…
WEEBOBBYCOLLINS
I’ve probably known a lot more GBLTQ people than I was aware of,I expect we all have. Some questions are irrelevant amongst friends and acquaintances.
…. …. √
TURKEYBHOY on16TH JULY 2018 1:11 PM
AULDHEID,
What I heard was that Croatia managed to get to the final in spite of their governing body being an absolute shambles.
======
The governing body looked pretty good to me.
BMCUWP
You have friends who are monarchists? (I’m assuming that GBLTQ stands for God Bless – something that starts with an L – The Queen)…
I know Celtic is supposed to be a club that is open to all … but monarchists? That might be stretching it just a bit …
:)
LYING -a new definition –
“I’d have to go back and look at everything I said and think whether that was the right response at the right time . There is a sense at the back of my mind that we didn’t get everything absolutely right.”
Michael Gove 16 7 18
Best Beatles choon ever — LIES
https://youtu.be/1n03a7cLf0M
auldheid
Wasn’t Mamic, the Croatian super-agent (and pal of Suker) charged with, and convicted of, fraud, in relation to various football dealings. I understood that Modric had given evidence against his former agent in relation to his transfer to Spurs, but when called to testify at the trial, he changed his story, and said ‘i dont remember’ to pretty much everything but his name’. and has how, himself, been charged with perjury.
MIKEINTORONTO
I probably do,mate. And I certainly canny be hit on for getting an acronym wrong.
I mean,it’s not like it NATO,for instance. ANTO or TOAN would make no sense at all. But GBLTQ,I reckon most people know what it refers to.
Or any tumbling of the letters,tbh.
Anyway,LBGTQ-I googled it!-as opposed to GBLTQ,isn’t that sexist?
Celtic are reportedly tracking Uruguay No.10 Giorgian De Arrascaeta.
The Cruzeiro playmaker made two appearances for his country at the World Cup .
MIKEINTORONTO
Mailed ye,ya smartarse.
I got that the second I hit “post” and could do eff all about it!
Wonderful…
Ryan Christie is trying to contact the fan in the wheelchair, he collided with on Saturday via Twitter, if anyone can help …….
When I lived in Brasil, I watched Giorgian De Arrascaeta a lot (he was Uruguyan club, Defensor before Cruzeiro) he was an absolute stand-out then. Two footed, eye for a pass and could strike a ball. However (dunno why) seemed to lose momentum a bit when he went to Cruzeiro.
Canny see him coming to us, but would’ve thought a move to Europe would suit him better.
Rio- seems agreed a deal with Monaco a couple of years ago but it fell through
MIT
GBLTQ…..God Bless Lizzie The Queen….obviously ! Surprised you didnae see that. ?
On the subject of Gay Bars – because it seems to be a topic of conversation at the moment, and for no other reason – I went through a phase of inadvertantly stumbling into gay bars on occasion, mostly when accompanied by Mrs Bateen Bhoy, due to the fact that my ‘gaydar’ was malfunctioning. It would take me ages to suss it out, and was the subject of much hilarity to Mrs BB when the penny finally dropped with me that most of the clientele was male ( not especially unusual ) and that many of them were couples…..?.
The worst it got was when we went on vacation in USA, and visited New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, finding ourselves, by complete chance in gay bars in each of these cities. The final straw for me was when i booked a weekend at the very tip Cape Cod in a little town called Provincetown. It turned out to be a Gay/Lesbian town. Every pub/club was a gay bar, but we had a great time. I have to say, The people there were some of the most pleasant, friendly and welcoming we met – in the best possible way – during the whole 3 weeks.
Bada Bing,I seen the incident on Saturday,also I recognized the guy in the wheelchair,he stays in Livingston,I managed to tweet Ryan Christie,who after about 20 minutes tweeted me to say he got in touch with the fan.
T2- thanks for reply, nice touch by Ryan to contact the guy.
Front garden fighting with a Focaccia an Innis & Gunn and the adverts on CQN.
CelticNaeNews csc
Auldheid
Had there been a wet t – shirt event she’d have walked it.
King Lubo@2.47
Appears to me you know quite a lot.
Griezmann was on his way down for the free kick .Never touched. Heard commentators attempting to justify it saying that he was “anticipating the contact”. As far as I’m aware not covered in the rules therefore as guilty as Neymar of blatant cheating/ diving.
The penalty. Look at Persics reaction. He was shocked that it got past the French player in front of him. Never intentional and ball to hand. What amazes is that the clown masquerading as a referee spending so long on VAR and then awarding it. If VAR were introduced in Scotand (aye ready/right) then those are those are the type of decisions that would go against us. Ref must have been issuing a come and get me/ stop the 10 call to the SFA.
I say the above as someone who had money on France to win it but it will just about cover an entrance ticket to the Warner Brothers tour here in LA (As an 11 year old wonders why Dad is on a Celtic blog on holidays.
Anyway I’m delighted that we are truly a club open to all.
“And a club shall be formed for the maintenance of dinner tables…..”
Auldheid
I sincerely hope that the cover up by the SFA and their cheating and obfuscation to protect one club is about to be exposed. You and the other resolutioners certainly lit the candle rather than complaining about the dark but I’m sure the craft are formulating an escape plan/ justification.
Any regulatory body that allows/ is compliant in allowing one of its members to burn 170m of debt whilst cherrypicking the parts of its “history” that it likes is capable of performing remarkable feats to ensure self preservation.
Aff oooottt to a different version of la la land.
HH
BSR- She looked as if she enjoyed some hospitality..
Afternoon Timland, hottest day of the year so far, 46.7 deg an hour ago, too hot for this old man.
Today I have been a washing machine repair man, and industrial cleaner and an electrician, fecking washing machine was spewing water for half an hour, took ten mins to fix the problem but the after effects of a flood took a wee bit longer, then I went out and bought a Jeep, Mrs TET is delighted, if she is happy then I am happy.
Was perusing the betting sites to see if I could find anything that could recoup a few bob to help pay for the Jeep, still perusing, but I noticed the huns are playing the morra, I thot that the euro cup thing was on a thursday, why are they playing the morra, embdy know ?
Humza Yousaf takes lead against hate crime, condemning anti-Catholic bigotry
£18m being quoted for the Uruguayan playmaker De Arrascaeta.
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.
She wore the team shirt and cheered as Croatia faced France in a on Sunday in a thrilling World Cup final. Later, soaked by the rain, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović smiled in defeat and hugged every player from both teams as the winners were given their medals.
By the end of the day, it was the Croatian president who had emerged as her country’s star of the tournament. Mediatoolkit, a Zagreb-based analytics company, found 25% more focus on her in news stories about the final than any of the players on the pitch, including the Golden Ball award winner Luka Modrić, as well as Ivan Perišić and Mario Mandžukić.
More than 80% of the stories were positive, Mediatoolkit said, for a woman who travelled to Russia at her own expense in economy class and often watched from the non-VIP stands – missing only the semi-final against England because it clashed with the Nato summit.
Boris Dežulović, a journalist and political commentator, said: “Her presence at the World Cup could definitely be described as an extended pre-election video.
“She has used this to reinforce her PR strategy of being the people’s president. This is something she has been doing in Croatia for a while now.
“Instead of being limited to the Croatian public, this campaign video of sorts was seen by billions of people all over the world.”
Grabar-Kitarović, who was elected President in 2015, presented as the new “polished” face of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
The party faced a slew of corruption charges over the years, the most noteworthy being those involving the , who is involved in five overlapping corruption trials.
Grabar-Kitarović, largely a HDZ bureaucrat until the 2015 election campaign, embraced the party’s legacy as the representative of the conservative and patriotic right, joining the lengthy protests and sit-ins of Croatian war veterans that coincided with the pre-electoral campaign.
However, with her foreign education, excellent command of English and previous high-ranking position in Nato, Grabar-Kitarović stood in stark contrast to the former generals and brutish local mayors usually associated with the HDZ.
Her performance in the World Cup is perhaps the clearest indicator of her role in the HDZ and Croatia’s political sphere, where the president is head of state and the country’s chief representative at home and abroad.
While the prime minister, Andrej Plenković, is tasked with negotiating with the head of Russia’s Sberbank, the largest single creditor of Croatia’s biggest and most troubled conglomerate, Grabar-Kitarović exchanged jerseys with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Executive and operational powers reside in Plenković’s government. Grabar-Kitarović is focused on promoting the values that a large part of the Croatian electorate holds dear – love of country and church – and for the president, another term.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/16/croatia-president-kolinda-grabar-kitarovic-world-cup
THE EXILED TIM on 16TH JULY 2018 5:21 PM
It’s second leg against the Macedonian outfit tomorrow.
Humza Yousaf appointed Justice Secretary as Nicola Sturgeon reshuffles SNP’s Scottish Government cabinet
The former Transport Minister takes over from Michael Matheson, and will lead on the delivery of new hate crime laws for Scotland
CQN
D17
I know that, but why a tuesday ?
HH
DAVID17
Way out of our price range.
Can someone help settle a pub argument please,
was Jock Stein in charge for all of our 9 in a row?
if so has any other Scottish football manager achieved 9 in a row?
the Cardigan comes to mind but was he the manager for all of their 9?
Embdae know the dates of next CLQs? Ta
Rock Tree Bhoy… yes…….and no….smith and sour ness…(not a typo)
24th & 1st
LOL at the critiques of the French team.
They won the World Cup in 2nd gear.
Sure, Croatia were sweet in patches, Belgium played some lovely football at times, Brazil were ocassionally flambuoyant; but all-round that french side are frightening.
Turned up the gas when they needed to – coming back from 1-2 down to the Argies and blew them away. Created clear space yesterday and you felt there might have been a real pumping heading Croatia’s way with 20 minutes to go.
The French have everything required in that squad – silky and spectacular football aligned with explosive pace, BUT – probably thanks to the water carrier Deschamops – a rigid mental strength and tactical discipline coupled with brilliant team ethics.
Their variations of performance to beat Argentina and then Uruguay and Belgium was tactically astounding – looked like a different team in all three matches, setting up to counter, to press, or to attack the space aggressively.
And I still don’t think they were really stretched.
It will take a devastativg recovery by Germany/Brazil/Argentina or spectacular improvement by Belgium or Portugal to stop them winning the next 3/4 major tourneys.
Given the age of that squad – second-youngest in the WC – and the talent in wait (which we know all abou tfirst-hand), they are set-up top dominate all before them.
Best national side of this Century by a distance. Well done.
512 on your Sky box for the Paris victory parade live, happening imminently.
As for Celtic’s future – We’re shopping in the right country…
Bada….ses above.Think thats wen they are.
Then 23rd for next round draw
Adi- thanks mate HH