Stoobs Posted June 18, 2023 Visiting Supporter Share Posted June 18, 2023 Imagine what we would celebrate like if we ever made it to the knock out stages of a tournament. This is brilliant…. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 1 hour ago, GlobalVillan said: The people of Malta will not have been excited by 2000 pissheads arriving from England before strolling to routine 4-0 victory. I assure you of that. They live in Malta. They see pissheads on holiday everyday. Extra 2000 makes little difference. What makes the difference is a chance to see their team competing against the best footballers in the world. Little kids in Malta, playing football everyday, they appreciate their national team, people that might train at their local club, going against Harry Kane or Trent. Internationals matter. Unless you are a big cynical football nation who sees it above their standard to play part timers in the summer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlobalVillan Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 11 minutes ago, Mic09 said: They live in Malta. They see pissheads on holiday everyday. Extra 2000 makes little difference. What makes the difference is a chance to see their team competing against the best footballers in the world. Little kids in Malta, playing football everyday, they appreciate their national team, people that might train at their local club, going against Harry Kane or Trent. Internationals matter. Unless you are a big cynical football nation who sees it above their standard to play part timers in the summer. There is little to no benefit in these nations getting brushed aside year on year. They've never really improved becaise of it and never will. Also, Malta isn't a "pisshead" holiday destination at all. Only the visit of certain nations football fans makes it that way for a few days. Like I said, I see no benefit to Mslta playing England at any stage never mind a week after the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted June 18, 2023 Author Share Posted June 18, 2023 9 minutes ago, GlobalVillan said: There is little to no benefit in these nations getting brushed aside year on year. They've never really improved becaise of it and never will. Also, Malta isn't a "pisshead" holiday destination at all. Only the visit of certain nations football fans makes it that way for a few days. Like I said, I see no benefit to Mslta playing England at any stage never mind a week after the season. You think that it the vote was to happen the Maltese FA would vote against playing England? Or Germany, Spain, Italy etc etc Also think as an away game Malta would be different from the usual England ones, it's easy to spread out across the various hotels, bars, beaches even towns l, I wouldn't be convinced that >75% stayed in Valletta, I'm sure some were in my hotel 30 mins away and on top of that it's not somewhere to go get coked up and find the local firm for a scrap, the mentality going there is different 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 We’re 7 mins away from penalties in the Spain v Croatia game on Channel 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 Penalties it is… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 8 hours ago, GlobalVillan said: There is little to no benefit in these nations getting brushed aside year on year. They've never really improved becaise of it and never will. 8 hours ago, villa4europe said: You think that it the vote was to happen the Maltese FA would vote against playing England? Or Germany, Spain, Italy etc etc I mean this is just it isn't it. Is it theoretically possible that random guys on VillaTalk know what would be best for Maltese football than the Maltese Football Association do? Sure, I guess, anything is possible. But it seems a bit arrogant to just presume so, and it doesn't matter anyway because the Maltese Football Association think what they think and they aren't going to change their minds, so. The root of the confusion here is this 'they've never really improved because of it and never will'. They don't need to 'improve' *precisely because* it is true that they 'never will' qualify for a tournament. This was their finals, as it will be when they play Italy and when they play Ukraine, and that's fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhioVilla Posted June 19, 2023 Share Posted June 19, 2023 This is the furthest the US has ever been from any of their CONCACAF rivals. Smoked both Mexico and Canada in games that truly are not close. And the pipeline shows this will continue for a whole lot longer. Mexico has some serious problems and Canada, while definitely improved, still doesn't pose much of a threat to the US. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted June 19, 2023 Share Posted June 19, 2023 8 hours ago, OhioVilla said: This is the furthest the US has ever been from any of their CONCACAF rivals. Smoked both Mexico and Canada in games that truly are not close. And the pipeline shows this will continue for a whole lot longer. Mexico has some serious problems and Canada, while definitely improved, still doesn't pose much of a threat to the US. I hadn't realised until the final that Balogun was playing for the US, should make a big difference as the lack of a good striker was keenly felt at the World Cup. While Canada's best 1-2 players are arguably better than America's, it's clearly the case that the average quality of the American team is much higher than Canada (unsurprisingly) and as a team game, having a better average quality should tell over having one or two superstars more often than not (see Norway v Scotland this weekend for another example of this). The more interesting thing for me is the precipitous decline in the competitiveness of Mexico, who were absolutely shambolic in the semi-final. There seems to be a major dearth of talent in this generation of Mexican players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhioVilla Posted June 19, 2023 Share Posted June 19, 2023 1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said: I hadn't realised until the final that Balogun was playing for the US, should make a big difference as the lack of a good striker was keenly felt at the World Cup. While Canada's best 1-2 players are arguably better than America's, it's clearly the case that the average quality of the American team is much higher than Canada (unsurprisingly) and as a team game, having a better average quality should tell over having one or two superstars more often than not (see Norway v Scotland this weekend for another example of this). The more interesting thing for me is the precipitous decline in the competitiveness of Mexico, who were absolutely shambolic in the semi-final. There seems to be a major dearth of talent in this generation of Mexican players. It feels like Mexican development and coach pipeline has all but dried up. Meanwhile, Klinsmann wasn't the most successful manager, but the ground work they did is starting to blossom, and they are winning more battles on the international recruitment. Add in the MLS becoming a better league, and it feels like USMNT is ready to take off. These next 3 years are super important, with Copa America and a World Cup on home soil. Feels like a turning point for the game here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted June 19, 2023 Share Posted June 19, 2023 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 19, 2023 Share Posted June 19, 2023 7 hours ago, OhioVilla said: It feels like Mexican development and coach pipeline has all but dried up. Meanwhile, Klinsmann wasn't the most successful manager, but the ground work they did is starting to blossom, and they are winning more battles on the international recruitment. Add in the MLS becoming a better league, and it feels like USMNT is ready to take off. These next 3 years are super important, with Copa America and a World Cup on home soil. Feels like a turning point for the game here. It's really ripe for a decent european manager to come in, bit like Hiddink going to South Korea and getting a great tournament out of them which laid the foundations for future generations. Regardless of the investigation outcome I genuinely can't believe you just re-appointed Berhalter. Still as World cup co-hosts you'll get a decent draw so should be a path to quarter finals regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWARLEY2 Posted June 19, 2023 Share Posted June 19, 2023 Feel for Kamara. Left his honeymoon to get exactly zero minutes for France. His missus will be giving him loads !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 New Zealand vs Qatar and ROI u21s vs Kuwait both abandoned following claims of racist abuse from players 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 That 's Sweden out of the Euros already. Give Janne Andersson a new 5 year contract, he's "good for the group " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 Luxembourg with a great result tonight, 2-0 in Bosnia. They've been improving plenty in last 5 years and have a decent chance of making the euros. As much as the minnows get dismissed there's an example of regular pot 5/6 team that has improved steadily with more exposure to playing the best teams regularly. Shocker for Poland aswell, were 2 up in Moldova and lost 3-2 so Fernando Santos won't be lasting too much longer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoobs Posted June 20, 2023 Visiting Supporter Share Posted June 20, 2023 Another good night for SJM. I know this is controversial but are Scotland the greatest national team in the world. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Platt Posted June 20, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted June 20, 2023 4 minutes ago, Stoobs said: Another good night for SJM. I know this is controversial but are Scotland the greatest national team in the world. I have a soft spot for them from Scottish Grandparents on Mother's side. Prefer watching them to England under Safegate. Looking good at the moment 2 big games in September away to Cyprus and Spain I can imagine huge support at both of those! Happy for McGinn and nice to see Hutton on ViaPlay coverage comes across well. Best team in the world not quite that's still Argentina and Emi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 Hansi Flick sacked by Germany. Only 1 year to the home Euro's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 Losing 4-1 at home to Japan will do that for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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