Internationals LIVE (74 Viewers)

[Vialli_92]

Shocked Chile didn't make it but I suppose their golden generation is ageing a bit now and catching up with them.

Sampaoli might be able to make something happen by the time the WC comes along because no way can they keep relying on Messi to bail them out.

If he has one bad game they pretty much are guaranteed to lose the match

 

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[zizinho]

European championship, La Liga, Champions League. These guys are mad ::

Hey give Messi a break. He managed to qualify for the WC, huge feat right there

 

[Klovn]

Hey give Messi a break. He managed to qualify for the WC, huge feat right there

They managed to get ahead of Venezuela, Bolivia etc. damn man

 

[zizinho]

They managed to get ahead of Venezuela, Bolivia etc. damn man

Lets be real, Ronaldo couldnt do the same if he played for Argentina

 

[Bianconero81]

Idk man, teams like Costa Rica can hang with the big dogs. Then you have the obvious two, US and Mexico.

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Europe needs to get less teams

They already do. The number of European teams was reduced after the 2002 World Cup I believe. There's no point in giving teams from lesser federations more spots, especially when you consider their level is mediocre at best, especially CONCACAF and the AFC.

In other news:

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/bruc...t-european-team-go/1vbqphdgipdhs1snuez71xbq00

I'm sure "Hotshot European Teams" would be quaking in their boots confronting the likes of Grenada, Guyana, Martinique, Montserrat, and Saint Lucia.

 

[ALC]

And who would you give the spots to?

It's fine as it is, honestly. Nothing more can be done to get the most deserving teams to the World Cup. Europe has the strongest and deepest region by far, just look at who isn't qualifying. 6 of the top 10 FIFA ranked teams. 13/20 ranked. 24/40 ranked. That's 60% of teams but they get 42% of qualifying spaces. Seems about right on the basis of making the game global.

China are absolute garbage, they won't qualify for the next 2 World Cups minimum.

Good point, there’s a lot of good teams in Europe.

 

[piotrr]

Good point, there’s a lot of good teams in Europe.

It's basically like European Texas, Nevada, Oregon etc are qualified for the WC. Shame on you 'Murrica.

 

[IliveForJuve]

God, I hope a South American team wins the WC.

 

[JuveJay]

They already do. The number of European teams was reduced after the 2002 World Cup I believe. There's no point in giving teams from lesser federations more spots, especially when you consider their level is mediocre at best, especially CONCACAF and the AFC.

In other news:

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/bruc...t-european-team-go/1vbqphdgipdhs1snuez71xbq00

I'm sure "Hotshot European Teams" would be quaking in their boots confronting the likes of Grenada, Guyana, Martinique, Montserrat, and Saint Lucia.

I'm sure at home the teams from the Hex can give and have given good to very good European sides tough games or took points off them in the past, even on neutral venues now and then it has happened (especially Mexico, US), but Arena surely isn't talking about the little islands. Even though many of those places have the benefit of French and British-born second or third generation players to aid the squads they are not any higher standing than a Gibraltar or San Marino, who are mostly semi-pro. They'd struggle with Andorra, Lichtsteinstein and Luxembourg, and lose by a few goals to the Faroes, Cyprus and Estonia. In fact Estonia went to the Caribbean to play some of these sides recently with a squad of local players and had good results.

The British island nation guys tend to be in non-league here, one or two in League 1 or 2. Even Haiti's most dangerous player is playing for my hometown club in League 2 at the moment Actually he scored a couple against Japan last night.

Arena is talking about going to a jungle or playing on garbage pitches. You'd think the US haven't experienced that before the way he talks about it. They've only been playing games in those places for 85 years. A good coach changes tact and adapts to the conditions, you don't just do the same thing you always do when you are playing with a handicap.

 

[Bianconero81]

God, I hope a South American team wins the WC.

Brazil look like your best bet; Uruguay are a sleeper. Argentina and no chance, and Peru might not even make it past the group stages. Colombia will entertain and exit unceremoniously in the round of 16.

The European threat comes from France, Spain, and possibly Germany. I don't see anyone winning the WC outside of 3-4 teams.

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I'm sure at home the teams from the Hex can give and have given good to very good European sides tough games or took points off them in the past, even on neutral venues now and then it has happened (especially Mexico, US), but Arena surely isn't talking about the little islands. Even though many of those places have the benefit of French and British-born second or third generation players to aid the squads they are not any higher standing than a Gibraltar or San Marino, who are mostly semi-pro. They'd struggle with Andorra, Lichtsteinstein and Luxembourg, and lose by a few goals to the Faroes, Cyprus and Estonia. In fact Estonia went to the Caribbean to play some of these sides recently with a squad of local players and had good results.

The British island nation guys tend to be in non-league here, one or two in League 1 or 2. Even Haiti's most dangerous player is playing for my hometown club in League 2 at the moment Actually he scored a couple against Japan last night.

Arena is talking about going to a jungle or playing on garbage pitches. You'd think the US haven't experienced that before the way he talks about it. They've only been playing games in those places for 85 years. A good coach changes tact and adapts to the conditions, you don't just do the same thing you always do when you are playing with a handicap.

He's such a loser. I mean he is, or should have been, fully aware of the conditions. CONCACAF as a federation has 41 teams, and 35 of them are irrelevant. AFC has about 5-6 good teams. I don't understand why any other federation should take spots from Europe; their teams simply aren't good enough. I'd argue that Africa probably deserves more teams, at the expense of either North America or Asia.

 

[JuveJay]

Yeah I'd say CAF is the third strongest region by a way. It's a numbers thing - number of countries and number of players with exposure to the strongest leagues. That's the European leagues, and many African and European-African players inadvertently have the benefit of that because of colonialism.

Looking at who didn't qualify this time - Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Algeria (finished bottom of their group), Guinea, Ghana, Gabon. These are all teams who either made their mark in recent times or who have high profile players.

 

[Bianconero81]

Yeah I'd say CAF is the third strongest region by a way. It's a numbers thing - number of countries and number of players with exposure to the strongest leagues. That's the European leagues, and many African and European-African players inadvertently have the benefit of that because of colonialism.

Looking at who didn't qualify this time - Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Algeria (finished bottom of their group), Guinea, Ghana, Gabon. These are all teams who either made their mark in recent times or who have high profile players.

Ivory Coast can still qualify; they have a winner takes all game against Morocco, and they're playing @ home. Zambia also missed out, and they're a pretty solid team.

 

[Afghan_juventus]

My money is on Argentina. Sampaoli is the best coach in the world along with Allegri.

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Messi is the GOAT, no questions asked.

Well out of all the players that have played while watching football (last decade). Messi is definitely the best.

Though my uncles rave about Platini, Zico, and Maradona.

 

[X Æ A-12]

meh all the old farts rant on about how great players were from their day even though anyone with a brain and without massive bias knows footballers are infinitely fitter, more tactically disciplined and the sport is more team based so its much harder to shine as an individual talent ie none of them came close to Messi. I think part of it is, subconsciously, they are tortured by the fact that a man half their age is earning so much money, so many accolades and is so much better then those they looked up to in youth. Threatens their own sense of accomplishment and reminds them of how old they've gotten. So they shake their fist at the tv and rant about how Messi never would've cut in the leagues that were going on back when I was 15 and still had dreams.

 

[Cerval]

Only Messi fans consider him to be the greatest in history and push that agenda; Him and Ronaldo are the best of their generation that's all.

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Players are fitter now, but infinitely less talented as well. This generation isn't close to even the one there was 10-12 years ago. Everybody with a set of functioning eyes can see that.

 

[ALC]

Only Messi fans consider him to be the greatest in history and push that agenda; Him and Ronaldo are the best of their generation that's all.

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Players are fitter now, but infinitely less talented as well. This generation isn't close to even the one there was 10-12 years ago. Everybody with a set of functioning eyes can see that.

How are they infinitely less talented tho? I can argue they can’t pull as many tricks because the opposition is fitter so it’s harder to get away with it.

 

[X Æ A-12]

And teams are much more organized and disciplined when defending, so even if you beat the first man with a trick or pace there's frequently one or two more ready to cover space behind him so there's less to gain from taking players on

 

[IliveForJuve]

Messi is the legendary GOAT of football.

Dude totally deserves a World Cup.

Argentina winning the World Cup with Dybi as a starter would be

 

[Cerval]

How are they infinitely less talented tho? I can argue they can’t pull as many tricks because the opposition is fitter so it’s harder to get away with it.

Having worse technique and skills. It's not only tricks.

 

[X Æ A-12]

Look at someone like Ozil. Talent is unquestionable, probably could have cut back in the day on that alone but he is lazy and has the attitude of a loser. The talent he has is of less value today if he is going to jog around the pitch when your team is behind