Who are ya? (The new football thread)

President Hugo Chavez proclaimed Venezuela had been "robbed" of their victory goal after his team were beaten on penalties by Paraguay in the Copa America semi-finals.

Paraguay won a penalty shootout 5-3 on Wednesday to reach Sunday's final, sinking a desperately unlucky Venezuelan side who had an apparent goal ruled offside and hit the woodwork three times during the goalless draw. The match, which was marred by an ugly fight involving players and coaching staff from both sides as they left the field, ended Venezuela's remarkable run. Long regarded as the weakest team in South America, the side known as the "vinotinto" or "red wine" for their burgundy jerseys punched above their weight to reach the Copa semi-finals for the first time. "In my modest opinion, based on observable facts, THEY ROBBED US OF THE VICTORY GOAL! And I hope that with that I don't offend anyone," Chavez said via Twitter from Cuba where he is undergoing treatment for cancer. "In truth, our vinotinto won last night. Paraguay did not beat us in that game. Fidel (Castro) and I saw clearly that we had a goal taken from us."

Insolence

In the 1936 Olympics, Hitler's country of birth was defeated by the soccer team from Peru.

The referee, who disallowed three Peruvian goals, did what he could and more to avoid displeasing the führer, but Austria lost 4 to 2.

The following day, soccer and Olympic officials set things straight.

The match was annulled. Not because an Aryan defeat at the hands of an attacking line, know for good reasons as the Black Steamroller, was inadmissable, but because, the officials said, fans had run onto the field before the end of the match.

Peru left the Olympics and Hitler's country won silver.

Italy, Mussolini's Italy, took the gold.

Turkish clubs whose fans are involved in crowd trouble face having all males over the age of 12 banned from their grounds as an alternative to playing games behind closed doors.

 

The Turkish Football Federation policy means that only women and children will be allowed in to matches for the duration of a ban. Children will need ID to prove their age before being granted free entry.

The TFF said: "After this decision, which is a first in world football, there will be no silent and unexciting games played without spectators. The change will make teams remember the beauty and values of football."

Hello Babblers. This is my first post, and as it's in the footie thread, I thought it might be apposite to quote Liverpool Football Club's former manager, the late Bill Shankly:

"The socialism I believe in is everybody working for the same goal and everybody having a share in the rewards. That's how I see football, that's how I see life."

YNWA

Mariano Rajoy hasn't even set foot inside Moncloa and already something is changing. This is a new era; power has changed hands – in parliament and on the pitch. That, at least, is the theory. They say you shouldn't mix football and politics but in Spain it often seems impossible to do anything else. You can try to take the football out of politics but you can't take the politics out of football. The search for political explanation for sporting success and failure, for footballing meaning, is constant. When it comes to the battle that really matters, Madrid versusBarcelona, it is unavoidable.

 

On Sunday 20 November, the Partido Popular won general elections, returning to power for the first time since 2004. Out went the PSOE and its Barcelona-supporting leader, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero; two defeats later, in came Mariano Rajoy. "Real Madrid get strengthened," ran the cover of the freebie Catalan sports newspaper El 9, alongside a rather odd picture of the victorious candidate jumping for joy. "Rajoy, a self-confessed Madridista, brings the PP to government," continued the cover: "a party with which [the Madrid president] Florentino Pérez and the white team have always enjoyed a magnificent and fruitful relationship."

 

And so it was that as they gathered to celebrate with the world's worst disco down at PP HQ on calle Génova, power shifted from FC Barcelona to Real Madrid. Zapatero has gone. So, after this Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Getafe left them six points behind Real Madrid at the top of the table, have Barcelona's title hopes? "Barça are six points away!" cheered AS's cover on Sunday. This morning, they lead on the betting odds: for the first time in three years, Madrid are favourites. Even El País noted: "The league escapes Barcelona." And, never mind the football or the fact that Rajoy's not had the chance to do anything yet – Ana Pastor, the woman the right most loves to hate, and first in line when the cuts come, was still on TVE this morning – it's all down to the change at the top.