El Profesor

But can any arab government sit at the table with Israel at this point without losing its legitimacy before its own population? In my opinion, restraining Israel is imperative for the americans in terms of damage control. The notion that the Global South will unite over the palestinian cause is obviously pure fiction. But at the same time, the images coming from Gaza definitely hurt american image worldwide and, most especifically, the Biden administration.

The impression I have looking from afar is that after the events from October 7th, the israeli government settled on solving their "Gaza Strip problem" once and for all. In other words, ethnic cleansing Gaza. Netanyahu and co. probably calculated that the Hamas terrorist attacks had generated a wave of sympathy towards Israel from the international community, and that they could push an extremely tough strategy without much public condemnation in the West. More, they probably counted that Europe, sooner or later, considering the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza, would end up accepting thousands of palestinian refugees, in a repeat of 2015. Obviously, all their forecast failed miserably and know they don´t really seem to really a plan. It seems that they´re killing innocent people due to a strange state of inertia. As the Vietnam War shows, even if one of the combatants kills a large number of enemies, it´s impossible to win a war if one doesn´t have a clear objective. This is a terrible tragedy, and the worst part of it is that only an intervention from the americans can bring it to an end. Unfortunately, it seems that one of the few bipartisan consensus in Washington is supporting Israel no matter what.

Hopefully those two goals can give him confidence and also more minutes.

IMO The whole "Essequibo is venezuelan" is a diversion by Maduro. In order to the US lift its sanctions against Venezuela, Maduro promissed fair and free elections. The problem is, if that happened he would inevitably lose those elections. The chavistas are trying to create the poison and at the same time sell the antidote. The goal is to destabilize America's backyard with the intention of getting the Biden administration to make concessions on that promisse of free and fair elections. I don't believe guyanan oil reserves are the main aspect of this conflict. I mean, even if Venezuela got hold of them, they wouldn't able to do much. Chavez and Maduro turned PDVSA, the state-run oil company, into a shadow of its former self. It's incredibly corrupt and inefficient, I don't see how they would be able to increase production.

I think the two Bayern matches are crucial for ten Hag, considering Bayern's recent past of absolutely crushing opposition in Europe.

Glass Half Full: there are lots of questions around 777 Partners, but there are also some reasons for optimism for evertonians. From what I've seen at Vasco, 777 at least is willing to put significant ammounts of money to strenghten their teams. Their lack of success here in Brazil, so far, is not a fruit of insuficient investiment. Their budget at the start of the season was over 20 million dollars, which is a considerable ammount for brazilian football. They also spent a lot more recently, before the transfer window closed, in order to save Vasco from relegation, including the signings of Dimitri Payet and Gary Medel. The problem seems that they hired the wrong personnel to be put in charge of the club. Probably due to inexperience in how to manage a football club. At least now they have a really good coach in Ramon Diaz and, like I've mentioned earlier, signed better players. One could point that they are learning from their mistakes. Everton fans should expect a significant ammount of reinforcements for Everton in the winter transfer window. IMO part of their lack of success is certainly due to the inexperience but also due to the fact that almost all clubs they bought were in a tough position to begin with. Vasco despite being one the biggest football teams in Brazil had already 4 relegations behind them in the last 2 decades. Lastly, Everton is clearly the most valuable asset from their football portfolio. They have every reason to try to make it work. Milan in a super tight spot when another american group, Elliot, took over and look where they are now.

After the match against Peru, Richarlison told the press he is going to seek psychological help when he returns to England. Hopefully he can get it together. His case reminds me of Harry Maguire, once you become the target of banter in social media, it can be really tough to perform. At the same time, I don't think his lack of performance is only due mental reasons. Everton fans probably know better, but it seems to me that Richarlison's best position is as a winger who works his socks off without the ball and produces a decent ammount of chances. I don't really think he finishes well enough to be a striker.

Are there any teams in football that consistently make a profit from TV and attendance revenues? Brighton may make some decent money, I guess, but I am not sure it's sustainable to depend so much on player sales. I mean, you are always in need to find replacements and there is always a huge risk in recruiting new players. In contrast to the american major leagues, it seems that football clubs have a really hard time from a financial point of view. I guess that's why 777 can take over a traditional club like Everton in Premier League for 600 million pounds, whereas even a team with a really small fanbase like the Miami Marlins was sold for more than a billion dollars.

Definitely. They own Vasco da Gama here in Brazil. So far, 777 has done a horrible job. The club is in the relegation zone, after their worst season start in history. If I'm not wrong, it could be 777's third relegation, after Genoa Hertha Berlin. A terrible record. Hopefully Everton can find a better ownership.

2019/20 Bayern is one of the strongest teams I've ever seen, so I expected it Flick to do very well with the german NT. He seems completely lost though. Even if it that's not the best generation of players, Germany has a pretty good squad on paper. Funny thing is 06 team was weaker imo and Klinsmann is a worse coach than Hansi Flick. Any chance they ditch Hansi for Nagelsmann?

Fred is not rated by most, but at the same time he flies a bit under the radar. He left brazilian football at a really young age and was never a starter for the national team. Players like Alisson and Gabriel Jesus, on the other hand, are the focus of a lot more criticism and controversy.

Yes, I saw the save, It has reignited the Alisson debate. Today, a journalist especialized in european football posted a defence of Alisson on Twitter, and his mentions were a mess. A guy said in answer something like: "Well, Alisson may well be a lion at Liverpool, but with our national team he is a little cat." I am convinced that most brazilian fans would trade him for Emi Martínez in a heartbeat. Still, I like Alisson a lot actually. Our best goalkeeper in a long time. It´s a shame he´s judged by a very small sample-size in this country. Yeah. I think he was overconfident with his feet ability arriving from Roma. I remember a blunder versus Leicester, where he tried to dribble a forward and it lead to a goal. It´s good that he changed this aspect of his game.

Vitor Roque scored a goal today. 19th goal of the year. For a striker who is still only 18 years old, he looks very impressive. Barça has a good one on their hands.

As a player. As far as I know he has never publicly declared support neither for Lula nor for Bolsonaro. But like 90% of the players of out national team, he probably is a Bolsonaro supporter, especially considering how religious he is. The gripe with him is that he doesn't make decisive saves. Most think he should have saved De Bruyne's shot in 2018, the croatian goal in 2022 or at least one of the penalties versus Croatia. I do think that brazilians tend to prefer goalkeepers who make acrobatic saves. Alisson who relies more in good positioning to make his saves doesn't really fit the football culture here. In my opinion, he's really underrated in Brazil and is still the best brazilian goalkeeper though.

Liverpool fans, are you guys aware how much the average brazilian football fan dislike Alisson? Most LFC fans I talk to really like and respect Alisson, whereas here most fans don't want him anywhere near the national team. I find the difference in perceptions regarding him, in Brazil and in England, very interesting.

Talk here in Brazil is that Fluminense turned down a 30 million euros for André. It makes sense since Fluminense is at Copa Libertadores quarter-finals. André´s gonna leave Fluminense soon, but probably in January, after the brazilian season is over. IMO Liverpool should try to make that offer to Corinthians for Gabriel Moscardo. Insane talent. Only 17 years old and a starter in a big club. I think he´s going to be the best brazilian 6 of his generation. Corinthians being completely broke up is also a factor. They will definitely sell him for the right offer.

FSG transfer policy is really baffling. I mean, I really thought that with their baseball background they would explore market inneficiencies to build strong teams at ower budgets. There are so many of them, especially at a sport like football where analytics are really far behind from US major leagues. I am truly convinced, it is possible to build exciting and nice teams spending much lower sums than the likes of City and PSG. Real Madrid, for example, bought Vinícius and Rodrygo for a combined 90 million euros. IMO You have to cut the middle man, clubs like Benfica, Brighton for example. Instead of buying MacAllister after the World Cup, they should've done when he was loaned to Boca, when it was quite clear he was a class player. Moises Caicedo has been a big prospect for quite some time in south american. Buy him when he is at Independiente del Valle, instead of waiting to see if he can prove himself in Europe. I know there is a lot of risk, but Milan, for example, returned to the top of european football not when their chinese owners spent crazy money, but when a different ownership group focused on getting young players.

I saw the goal. haha Chelsea has a really good one on its hands.

To be honest, I don't know much. Vasco was in the 2nd division and I don't really follow Serie B. But I've found on Twitter some information about him.

I think he is. After seeing Neymar picking Barcelona, Florentino is determined not to lose the next great player from Brazil. He hit two home-runs with Rodrygo and Vinícius but it seems so far that he completely whiffed on Reinier. Hopefully Endrick will be another case of success.

Apparently, yes. The Northeastern states vote heavily in Lula´s favor. There were roadblocks there and none in the state where I live, Santa Catarina, where Bolsonaro won in a landslide. Contrary to what many expected, including me, there hasn´t been any violence tonight. I´m really relieved. Honestly? I am glad it´s finally over. So much conflict and tension in the last few months. I´m looking forward for the World Cup, hopefully a good campaign will help heal the wounds of the nation.

So much suffering and unintended consequences out of this war.

Well, there's the presidential election this year here and it'll probably WWIII between Lula and Bolsonaro supporters. We should form a TF365 colony in Uruguay.

I agree. But at the same time, I understand why people do that. Hitler is for us what the Napoleon and the French revolution was to people in the 19th century. Any historical event is measured and compared to Hitler and the World War II. We still very much live in the shadow of that war. By the way, I saw a guy on Twitter comparing Putin´s invasion of Ukraine not with Hitler´s agression of Czechoslovakia but with Mussolini´s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. I agree, that was a very good point. It´s a much better comparison. It was a widely condemned attack and it isolated Mussolini, driving him to the arms of a more powerful ally, Nazi Germany. Before the invasion of Somalia, Mussolini and Hitler didn´t get along very well, considering both had conflicting claims regarding austrian territory. I think the same could happen with Russia. Ukraine will make Russia into a pariah state and will drive Putin to the arms of China.