THREAD: Despite being the greatest of all time, Leo Messi still gets plenty of stick on Twitter for ONLY playing for Barca and never winning World Cup. Got me thinking about how Twitter would have treated some of the greats of the past
PELE
WC 58- Full of pub teams – Scotland, Wales. N Ireland. Sweden made final
WC 62 – Hardly played
WC 66 – Cried about rough treatment
WC 70 – Replace with Pele with my gran and they still win
Ended career in US farmers league. Never tested himself in Europe
VERDICT: FRAUD
FERENC PUSKAS
Bottled it in 1954 World Cup final. Won a few rigged titles for Franco-backed Real Madrid. Won a few European Cups in the years before English clubs took it seriously. Never tested himself in England. VERDICT: FRAUD
Thailand goalkeeper Chatchai Budprom advises Malaysian fans to sleep well tonight because he believes they will experience a ‘nightmare’ tomorrow evening
#AFFSuzukiCup18
#THAvMAS
Trash talk comes to the Suzuki Cup 😮
MARADONA
WC 82 – Let the side down
WC 86 – Cheated England, outscored by Gary f****** Lineker
WC 90 – Bottled it in final
WC 94 – Booted out
Barcelona flop
Never tested himself in England. VERDICT: FRAUD
JOHAN CRUYFF
WC 74 – bottled it in final
WC 78 – Let his country down by pulling out due to ‘political beliefs’
Spent several years in US pub league
Traitor to Ajax. Never tested himself in England. VERDICT: FRAUD
ZINEDINE ZIDANE
96, 97, 98 – Bottled it in 3 Euro finals.
WC 98 – Sent off, let country down. Scored free headers against static defence
UCL final 02 – 99 / 100 it goes into row Z
WC 02 – Anonymous
WC 06 – let country down
Never tested himself in England. VERDICT: BALD FRAUD
PAUL GASCOIGNE
A true England legend. The haters will say that he underachieved because of his lack of discipline but they’re just bitter. Had he stayed injury-free, could have been the greatest of all time. VERDICT: FOOTBALLING GENIUS
FRANZ BECKENBAUER
WC 66 – Bottled it in final
WC 70 – Bottled it in semi-final
WC 74 – Lucky winners against superior Dutch
Tainted European Cup wins – helped by ref in 75 and goalposts in 76
Spent years in US farmers league. Never tested himself in England. VERDICT: FRAUD
DAVID BECKHAM
One-trick pony that Fergie saw through.
WC 98 – Let country down against Argies
So-called greatest game came against pub team (Greece)
So-called redemption was just scoring a penalty against a dud Argie side that even got beaten by Sweden
VERDICT: HANDSOME FRAUD
MICHEL PLATINI
WC 82 and 86 – bottled it in semi-finals
EURO 84 – Won when England weren’t even there
Spent 1st half of career in a pub league
Never tested himself in England. VERDICT: FRAUD
ZICO
WC 82 and 86 – bottled it in quarter-finals (that penalty miss!)
Spent most of career hiding in Brazil. Only European experience at Udinese!!! Ended career in Japan pub league. Never tested himself in England. VERDICT: FRAUD
KENNY DALGLISH
Flopped at 3 World Cups
Spent first half of career in farmers league
Scored European Cup winner against a pub team
Lucky to have great players around him at Liverpool. VERDICT: FRAUD
ROBERTO BAGGIO
WC 94 – Bottled it in penalty shootout
Only won a couple of rigged Serie A titles and the tinpot UEFA Cup.
Ridiculous ponytail. Totally overrated. Never tested himself in England. VERDICT: FRAUD
Asian Cup 2011 - 🇶🇦
Club World Cup 2017 - 🇦🇪
Club World Cup 2018 - 🇦🇪
Club World Cup 2019 - 🇶🇦
Asian Cup 2019 - 🇦🇪
World Cup 2022 - 🇶🇦
Club World Cup 2023 -Saudi
Asian Cup 2023 - 🇶🇦
Asian Cup 2027 - Saudi (tbc)
World Cup 2034 - Saudi
“growing the game” 🙄
With 2034 FIFA WC seemingly Saudi Arabia's, many are asking where this leaves Australia...
But what about South East Asia?
For example, Indonesia has population of 300m, one of world's biggest economies, football's very popular
Earliest region can now host tournament is 2040s
14-17 Zico 🇹🇭 - nice football, 2 AFF Cups, weak defence, too loyal, forced out by politics
17-19 Rajevac 🇷🇸 - too defensive, too strict, forced out by players
19-21 Nishino 🇯🇵- ???
21-23 Polking 🇧🇷 - nice football, 2 AFF cups, weak defence, too loyal, forced out by politics
From the moment Ishii was installed as Director of football, this was intended outcome. It was delayed due to resistance from players but sabotage of Euro trip and defeat to China made it possible again.
A shameful episode reaches its inevitable conclusion
It was a decade that started badly for 🇹🇭 men but they still had best 10 years of any ASEAN side across age groups. Also only country to reach final stages of World Cup qualifying, while women made 2 World Cups. Both men and women now face a huge challenge as 🇻🇳 hit new heights
Vietnam under the calm Troussier look very different from under Park Sang-heo, who was so confrontational. Much less of the dark arts and nasty fouls that were very much a feature under Park
Incredible story as
@JuniorEldstal
scores the winning goal against Buriram to take Chonburi to the 🇹🇭FA Cup final. The 🇲🇾 international recently returned to Asia via a spell playing non-league football in England
📸 Santos
FT: Thailand 2-1 UAE - An excellent performance from 🇹🇭, full of intensity and no shortage of skill. Also extremely impressive response to a devastating blow on stroke of half-time. Akira Nishino’s attacking policy vindicated.
#WCQ
นี่คือภาพประวัติศาสตร์ของวงการฟุตบอลไทย ที่เราต้องบันทึกไว้!
Theerathon Bunmathan along with Yokohama F. Marinos are J.League champions.
#MTUTD
#jleague
Some pretty brutal scenes here. Should result in a few suspensions at very least. Don’t know what caused it but Buriram players certainly not given proper protection. Sheydayev set upon by about 6 at one point
That’s the mentality Asian teams need. Lots of commentators expressing pride and satisfaction with the “progress” of Asian football at this World Cup but once again, all countries eliminated before QF.
My latest piece for
@thesefootytimes
looks at the behaviour of some big Euro clubs as they give impression Asian tours are something to reluctantly endure rather than relish. Thanks to
@JSoccerMagazine
and
@MrRyanWalters
FT: 🇹🇭 0-1 🇸🇦 - Such a shame that a strong campaign was ended by an unnecessary VAR intervention. Much to be encouraged about given the comparison with the shambolic performances 2 years ago.
#AFCU23
Thailand’s era as dominant force in Southeast Asia clearly over. Missing four best players obviously had an impact but too many players underperformed. Malaysia deserved finalists
#AFFSuzukiCup18
No it doesn’t. It only works great for the few. Where are the automatic UCL places for the champions of 🇹🇷 🇦🇹 🇩🇰 🏴 🇨🇿 🇨🇭 🇬🇷 🇷🇸 🇨🇾 🇭🇷 🇸🇪 🇳🇴 🇫🇮 🇷🇴 etc, etc?
First face-to-face interview since lockdown. Good to catch up with Florent Obama 🇨🇲 to hear about the ambitious project at T3 side MuangKan Utd and also his Buriram days
While Thailand get set to run their best young talents like Supachok and Ekanit into the ground for a U23 tournament, Malaysia plays it smart by leaving out their star man. Rest is important
🇹🇭 League legend Cleiton Silva accepts a new challenge in 🇮🇳 with
@bengalurufc
Good luck to the former Osotspa, BEC Tero, Muang Thong, Chiang Rai Utd and Suphanburi striker
💥 We've got him! The Thai League's all-time leading goalscorer is now Blue all through!
Brazilian attacker Cleiton Silva has put pen to paper on a one-year deal with Bengaluru FC, with the option to extend by another year, the club can confirm.
#NewBlue
🔥 🔵
Thailand-Gabon match preceded by a one-minute silence for Aubameyang’s gran. That’s must be the first minute silence for a grandparent I’ve seen observed at a game.
I’ve started a blog on Thai football. All views and RTs appreciated. First piece looks at how Muang Thong’s failure to replace likes of
@Chanathipjay
and Teerasil leaves them on course for worst ever top flight season
‘Naivety’ - there’s that patronizing word to suggest a highly decorated 58-year-old coach doesn’t know what he’s doing cos, you know, this is Premier League.
It’s 100% part of the plan. Have they learned nothing ?
🤯 Five disallowed goals, two red cards... that was chaos!
⚪️ Tottenham's high line - bravery or naivety?
🔵 A Jackson hat-trick but why didn't Chelsea run away with it earlier?
Our writers attempt to unpick the madness of
#CFC
's 4-1 win at
#THFC
...
#TOTCHE
FT: Thailand 1-1 Iraq - Heroic performance from 🇹🇭 who advance to the
#AFCU23
quarterfinals for the first time. Huge credit to head coach Akira Nishino whose brave team selection paid off.
FT: China 0-1 Thailand - 🇹🇭 survive testing end to game and hold out for excellent win.
@Chanathipjay
Thitipan and Siwarak outstanding. Interim head coach Sirisak gives a great audition.
#ChinaCup2019
My new feature for
@TheAsianGame
looks at impact of the ASEAN quota in Thai League over the last two years. While there have been many successful signings from the Philippines in particular, the overall picture is mixed
On advice of FIFA and IFAB, the Thai League has agreed to suspend use of VAR. Sensible move as refs have been incapable of applying it fairly and consistently.