International Football General Chat

[Zatman]

That is Scotland domestic problem though, internationals are different and Scotland have been bad for a while, but if comparing squads Scotland have a better core group of players than Northern Ireland but maybe Strachan isnt as organised O'Neill or his players arent as committed or maybe its both

[VillaChris]

5 hours ago, Zatman said:

He did get Coventry relegated though, he is a good short term manager in that he can rally troops for a short period but over a period he isnt that great

He took over in September 1996 and they went down at VP in May 2001.

I'd call keeping a team like that up for 4 seasons pretty good going. If Eddie Howe is in charge of Bournmouth still in 4 years time would you say he's a bad manager...it's just football gravity.

[VillaChris]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

That is Scotland domestic problem though, internationals are different and Scotland have been bad for a while, but if comparing squads Scotland have a better core group of players than Northern Ireland but maybe Strachan isnt as organised O'Neill or his players arent as committed or maybe its both

In midfield and attack I think they have decent players....Burke, Snodgrass, Matt Ritchie, Naismith some talent there. Comparable to both Irish squads.

All falls down at the back though...their centre back options are horrific.

They could probably do worse than get McLeish back...just play for 1-0s and draws.

[BOF]

22 hours ago, VillaChris said:

So will Argentina miss out on the World Cup? It's a legitimate question now after they lost 1-0 at home to Paraguay...their second loss at home already:

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil	10	6	3	1	23	9	+14	21	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup		—	2–2	MD15	2–1	MD11	MD14	MD18	3–0	5–0	3–1
2	Uruguay	10	6	2	2	21	7	+14	20			MD13	—	MD11	3–0	MD15	4–0	3–0	1–0	MD18	3–0
3	Ecuador	10	5	2	3	18	14	+4	17			0–3	2–1	—	MD14	MD18	2–2	3–0	MD16	2–0	MD12
4	Colombia	10	5	2	3	15	12	+3	17			MD16	2–2	3–1	—	0–1	MD17	MD11	2–0	MD13	2–0
5	Argentina	10	4	4	2	11	9	+2	16	Advance to inter-confederation play-offs		1–1	1–0	0–2	MD12	—	0–1	MD13	MD17	2–0	MD16
6	Paraguay	10	4	3	3	10	12	−2	15			2–2	MD16	MD13	0–1	0–0	—	2–1	MD11	2–1	MD18
7	Chile	10	4	2	4	15	16	−1	14			2–0	MD12	MD17	1–1	1–2	MD15	—	2–1	0–0	MD14
8	Peru	10	2	2	6	11	19	−8	8			MD12	MD14	2–1	MD18	2–2	1–0	3–4	—	MD15	2–2
9	Bolivia	10	2	2	6	11	20	−9	8			MD17	0–2	2–2	2–3	MD14	MD12	MD16	2–0	—	4–2
10	Venezuela	10	0	2	8	9	26	−17	2			0–2	MD17	1–3	MD15	2–2	0–1	1–4	MD13	MD11

Just look at their schedule though...next away to Brazil who I thought were in trouble a few rounds ago but have been excellent since Tite took over. They also have away games in Uruguay who have won all their home games, away in the altitude of Bolivia and last day they're away to Ecuador which could be do or die. Ecuador already beaten them at home.

Argentina are similar to England a bit...terrible defence (had Demechelis still playing for them last night) and upfront Higuaín and Aguero are brilliant club strikers but both are terrible for the national team.

They also make mediocre selections for coach...Bauza has had success in club level in South America but he's pretty defensive, Argies have far better options managing in Europe.

As much as the anarchist in me likes to see the big boys get a bloodied nose or miss out on major tournaments, I can't really wish for the Argies to miss out.  It'd be a poorer tournament without them in it for sure.  As for whether they'll miss out.  If they can't get Messi back fit and playing then there's a very real chance yes.  Although I'm assuming that 'blue' playoff spot is in reality a green spot when they end up playing Bhutan (or similar) in a playoff.

[HanoiVillan]

Yes, 5th appears to be basically automatic, since it's a playoff against New Zealand. 

[VillaChris]

Yeah it's basically a fifth automatic spot....last time New Zealand played off v Mexico who'd just had a terrible qualifying campaign and lost 10-2 on aggregate.

Think it would be fairer if Oceania played an Asian team and South American played Concacaf.

[Zatman]

or South America played one of European play-off spots Italy vs Argentina for example be tasty

actually I think Word Cup play-offs shouldnt be seeded or regionalised

[VillaChris]

I remember that time ROI played Iran in a play off for some reason...not sure why that happened but quite fun.

[Zatman]

49 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

I remember that time ROI played Iran in a play off for some reason...not sure why that happened but quite fun.

their was 9 groups in Europe so 1 spot had to play an Asian team and Ireland drew that

[villa4europe]

It was 2002 vs Uruguay because the 2 host countries from Asia qualified

[Zatman]

37 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

It was 2002 vs Uruguay because the 2 host countries from Asia qualified

2002 was

Ireland vs Iran and Uruguay vs Australia ( i remember this game for the bizarre thing of Recoba taking shots from free-kicks inside the centre circle

[villa4europe]

fifa banning england and scotland from wearing poppies on the shirts

that'll cause a stir, apparently it'll be classed as a political statement, again apparently the FA have responded with whats the punishment when we ignore you, happened before and we wore black armbands with poppies on them

FIFA sorting football out one insignificant problem at a time...

[BOF]

On 13/10/2016 at 20:24, VillaChris said:

Yeah it's basically a fifth automatic spot....last time New Zealand played off v Mexico who'd just had a terrible qualifying campaign and lost 10-2 on aggregate.

Think it would be fairer if Oceania played an Asian team and South American played Concacaf.

I think the answer to that depends on whether you want the best teams in the finals, or whether you want more diversity.  If you want the best teams then you leave it as is because CONMEBOL and CONCACAF have the stronger teams.  And even then, if the AFC have a good side representing them then they've a fighting chance against CONCACAF.

[kurtsimonw]

World Cup should just be 256 team straight knockout tournament. Allow Isle of Man and that to have their own team to make up the numbers.

[Zatman]

Bolivia sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player and now Chile leapfrog Argentina in qualifying

[Davkaus]

On 11/1/2016 at 10:58, villa4europe said:

fifa banning england and scotland from wearing poppies on the shirts

that'll cause a stir, apparently it'll be classed as a political statement, again apparently the FA have responded with whats the punishment when we ignore you, happened before and we wore black armbands with poppies on them

FIFA sorting football out one insignificant problem at a time...

I support the ban, tbh. The poppy is a political logo, it has no place in football.

Wearing it against Scotland might not seem like a big deal, they'd probably join in. Germany? They'd probably be ok. But remember that the Poppy and its funds are no longer about WW1, it's about all British soldiers killed in combat. I imagine it'll go down rather less well if we played Northern Ireland, or Argentina.

FIFA shouldn't be getting together once a year to decide if the poppy is acceptable against this year's opponents. A blanket 'no political logos' rule is the best approach, IMO.

[BOF]

The problem with that whole discussion, irrespective of whether it's the poppy or a Palestinian flag in the stands etc is that the ones who want to do [it], whatever [it] may be, by and large refuse to see things from anything other than their own point of view.  And that's why the ban must be a blanket ban rather than selective.  Otherwise who decides what is acceptable or not?  "One man's freedom fighter..." etc etc.

The sad but typical thing is that while the ban is right in principle, the fact is that UEFA/FIFA do occasionally and hypocritically allow political statements if they deem them to be OK based on their own arbitrary judgement.

They allowed remembrance of Nelson Mandela at games across Europe.  One of the most political figures of the 20th century.

They also allowed politics to get in the way when they themselves decided that Spain and Gibraltar could not be drawn together in the same group for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

They turned a blind eye to Barça fans unfurling a Catalan flag (or you could say they allowed it by implication).

They currently have a rule that prevents Azerbaijan and Armenia from meeting each other.  You can say that makes sense.  But it's still against their policies.

Not that anything they do surprises me.  You play by their rules, even when they don't.  That's their prerogative.

 

Here's F365's irreverent look at it all.

Quote

The most wonderful time of the year
What is your favourite time of the year, dear reader? Is it Christmas, when you eat, drink, be merry and see the family? Is it your birthday, when you get presents and enjoy a personal celebration? Is it the first days of spring, when the countryside rubs its eyes after a long, cold winter? Is it New Year’s Day, the time for new beginnings and fresh starts?

Or are you like Mediawatch, for whom poppy outrage season is the most wonderful time of the year? Because we love remembering our forefathers fighting for the right to free will by having people abuse those who make the choice not to do something. Whoooooo!

 

[dAVe80]

I'm fine with FIFA's decision. I support the work the Royal British Legion does, and I wear my poppy with pride, but I fully appreciate that some parts of the world don't feel like that. To be honest I feel uncomfortable the way it's rammed down our throats that anyone who doesn't wear one is being disrespectful. This especially seems to be ramped up by the right wing press, and usually leads to scenarios like the one I overheard this morning (a lady from my work got all UKIPy about it, got sidetracked, and started going on about religion). The wearing of poppies on football shirts is a relatively new thing anyway, and we managed to go decades without having a poppy on our football shirts, so let's just crack on and play the game. Save the memorial for 11am on the Sunday, and 11am on the 11th November.

Edited November 2, 2016 by dAVe80

[BOF]

11 minutes ago, dAVe80 said:

I'm fine with FIFA's decision. I support the work the Royal British Legion does, and I wear my poppy with pride, but I fully appreciate that some parts of the world don't feel like that. To be honest I feel uncomfortable the way it's rammed down our throats that anyone who doesn't wear one is being disrespectful. This especially seems to be ramped up by the right wing press, and usually leads to scenarios like the one I overheard this morning (a lady from my work got all UKIPy about it, got sidetracked, and started going on about religion). The wearing of poppies on football shirts is a relatively new thing anyway, and we managed to go decades without having a poppy on our football shirts, so let's just crack on and play the game. Save the memorial for 11am on the Sunday, and 11am on the 11th November.

The irony, as F365 points out, is that some of those soldiers fought for freedom and the right to choose, so the people being so aggressive about the whole thing are missing the fact that the soldiers they want to honour fought for society's right to say no as well as yes.  But I suspect there's a demographic crossover* between that kind of intolerant person and a certain kind who voted for Brexit, and as such I wouldn't expect a huge level of general awareness.

 

* Just a crossover.  Not a complete like for like, before anyone gets upset

EDIT : Oops, I brought politics into football #ForShame

[Zatman]

poppy bashers are even worse, Stan was on Goals on Sunday the other day and they had to mention straight off he was wearing a wrist band poppy because they were expecting a backlash

as much as I think James McClean is a prick the yearly abuse he gets is ridiculous at this stage especially since he has explained his reasons many times