Sports MissingNo.'s Football Blog, featuring occasional guest posts – Fútbol is Life

[MissingNo.]

This Week's Highlights (CW 40)

Wed, Oct. 06:

UEFA Nations League

Italy - Spain (18:45 UTC)


Thu, Oct. 07:

UEFA Nations League

Belgium - France (18:45 UTC)


Fri, Oct. 08:

FIFA World Cup '22 Qualifiers

Czech Rep - Wales (18:45 UTC)
Germany - Romania (18:45 UTC)
Latvia - Netherlands (18:45 UTC)
Russia - Slovakia (18:45 UTC)
Turkey - Norway (18:45 UTC)


Sat, Oct. 09:

FIFA World Cup '22 Qualifiers

Azerbaijan - Rep of Ireland (16:00 UTC)
Finland - Ukraine (16:00 UTC)
Andorra - England (18:45 UTC)
Switzerland - Northern Ireland (18:45 UTC)

Sun, Oct. 10:

Nothing of note.

Slim pickings this week - pretty much everything starting Friday is filler based on what I think might make for some (mildly) entertaining Football. Italy - Spain and Belgium - France should be worth a watch, though.

It's a good thing this is a slow week though, because I mainly wanted to do this as a trial for the weeks to come, provided there's interest in weekly schedules such as this. Also, I know this is a Euro-centric list. The Guardian has a handy webpage for upcoming fixtures, but it only covers Europe's major competitions. If interest is high for non-European competitions and anyone knows a similar source for other regions, let me know.

 

[MissingNo.]

This Week's Highlights — National Cup Edition

Step aside, Europa League. Champions League, who? There's National Cup matches this week in some European countries including Germany and England, so here's a little selection of what you can expect.

DFB Pokal — Round 2

1. FC Nürnberg - Hamburger SV (Tue, Oct. 26, 20:45 local time)

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Lots of tradition on either side of the pitch. Nuremberg (9 German Championships, 4. German Cup Wins) are hosting Hamburg (6 German Championships, 3 German Cup Wins) for their second matchup this season, having already played each other in the 2. Bundesliga one month ago (2:2).​

VfB Stuttgart - 1. FC Köln (Wed, Oct 27, 20:45 local time)

Stuttgart (5 German Championships, 3 German Cup Wins) and Cologne (3 German Championships, 4 German Cup Wins) have played rather different Bundesliga seasons so far, with Cologne overperforming with their best start to a season in recent memory (13 points in 9 matches), while Stuttgart had a rough few weeks (10 points in 9 matches) with their best forwards being injured, and several cases of Covid upsetting the starting 11 over and over again.​

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Borussia Mönchengladbach - FC Bayern München (Wed, Oct 27, 20:45 local time)

Gladbach (5 German Championships, 3 German Cup Wins) and Bayern (31 German Championships, 20 German Cup Wins) could not be a lot farther apart in the Bundesliga. Bayern have scored more than thrice as many goals in the first nine games, and collected twice the points. But when the both of them met on the first match day this Bundesliga season, the game ended in a draw (1:1).​

Carabao Cup/League Cup — Round of 16

I do not feel knowledgable enough to provide small write-ups about those matches, so here is just a selection of games without any flavour. Sorry.

Arsenal - Leeds (Tue)
Chelsea - Southampton (Tue)
Burnley - Spurs (Wed)
West Ham - Man City (Wed)



Also, I finally got around to updating the header in the OP. It is not much, but still better than what was there before.

 

[MissingNo.]

Hi there, everyone!

I love football. I have ever since I was a boy, going through the youth teams of our tiny rural football club. I have spent countless Saturdays in our clubhouse, watching Bundesliga matches with my team mates after we, most often than not, had gotten our asses handed to ourselves by the local competition. I have been a fan for well over two decades.

Over the years, I have followed the scene with a lot of interest and enthusiasm. But recently, my interest has been waning increasingly. At fist I discarded it as frustration with my favourite club, but I have come to realise it is more than that. Football does not move me anymore the way it used to. I still enjoy discussing it, I still watch the occasional match. But it is no longer a significant part of my life. I lack the energy for such investment. I have simply burnt out.

When I created this thread, I sid so not only to provide this community with an outlet to discuss ball, but also in the hopes that I might be able to rekindle the flame to some extent. However, the opposite has proven to be the case.

I am not saying that I want to close this thread, or that I will no longer participate in it. What I am offering is for someone else to take my mantle. Someone who possesses the enthusiasm I have come to lack, to make this barest of barebones ST live up to its potential. If our little football affine community is content with the status quo of the thread, all of the above is of no consequence.

However, if someone else wants to try and make a better job of managing this ST, making it a more active and vibrant place than I have been able to, be it through regular polls, weekly discussion points, what have you (I do have ideas, but I lack enthusiasm to do it myself), I will gladly step aside.

 

[Chaotic Neutral]

Is there a Fami fantasy league at premierleague.com? I have a team there already in a different league, but I think it's easy to join other leagues.

The idea has been floated, but there has not been much of an interest.

There is now! Let's see if the interest picks up!

Fantasy Premier League, Official Fantasy Football Game of the Premier League

Official Fantasy Premier League 2023/24. Free to play fantasy football game, set up your fantasy football team at the Official Premier League site.

fantasy.premierleague.com