R.Bear Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 (edited) 15 hours ago, ender4 said: It’s easy. It’s the normal meaningless friendly matches repackaged to sound slightly better than ‘meaningless friendly’ so they sell more tickets, especially in countries where football and the national team isn’t as big as in England. Basically just think of it as a training match to test out new players or formations. This is rubbish and incredibly ignorant. The Nations League allows top teams to play other top teams in competitive matches outside of tournaments. As they are usually separated in qualifying groups because of seeds, this isnt usually possible. Not to mention that doing well in your group gives you a second chance to qualify for tournaments which can be a life saver, like for Scotland at Euro 2020. It is absolutely not a "glorified friendly" competition. The rankings points are increased which effects seeding for qualifiers and also you dont have things like ridiculous substitute allocations which amongst other things, make friendlies a farce. Edited June 5, 2022 by R.Bear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 1 minute ago, R.Bear said: This is rubbish and incredibly ignorant. The Nations League allows top teams to play other top teams in competitive matches outside of tournaments. As they are usually separated in qualifying groups because of seeds, this isnt usually possible. Not to mention that winning your group gives you a second chance to qualify for tournaments which can be a life saver, like for Scotland at Euro 2020. It is absolutely not a "glorified friendly" competition. The rankings points are increased which effects seeding for qualifiers and also you dont have things like ridiculous substitute allocations which amongst other things, make friendlies a farce. Why don't they just scrap the normal qualifying then and have this as combined tournament while also providing the 20 + teams for euro 2024? That's the issue for me, you have all these endless games in June....and on top you have the usual 8-9 games for euros qualifying crammed into about six months. Something will have to happen anyway if euros really is going to 32 teams in near future as then you'd have top 3 in all groups qualifying automatically. Decent compromise would be I think the highest ranked 16 teams go through automatically so they can play endless nations league games v South American and themselves while other 16 just go in normal groups and battle it out with Andorra, San Marino and Scotland. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Bear Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 (edited) 9 minutes ago, VillaChris said: That's the issue for me, you have all these endless games in June....and on top you have the usual 8-9 games for euros qualifying crammed into about six months. Something will have to happen anyway if euros really is going to 32 teams in near future as then you'd have top 3 in all groups qualifying automatically. It's better than pointless friendlies. We don't take any notice of pre-season results for our club so why do they exist at international level? Managers don't want their players to play in them, players half the time don't want to play in them and the fans don't turn up to watch them. International friendlies have been a pox on football for years and the Nation's League was one of the few things UEFA have gotten right in recent years. As for a 32 team Euros. Yes it will likely happen and yes it will probably be the top 3 teams qualifying but so what? The top teams qualify which is what everyone wants and if they are cruising then they can mix it up and try new players in competitive games. The Nation's League has been a big success but unfortunately COVID messed up the scheduling of this one and the last one. It will be back on track by next year. I should also add that the different leagues in the Nation's League allows teams to play against their level so the minnows like San Marino don't get thrashed 10-0 every game which is also a huge benefit for them. Edited June 5, 2022 by R.Bear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 (edited) Friendlies still exist don't they, pretty sure England played someone in March so they can't even abolish them. Was versus Ivory Coast and someone else so pointless considering there was no summer tournament. It's just too many games for me and I don't despise international football like many on here. De Bruyne was spot on with his comments in the week. Edited June 5, 2022 by VillaChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Bear Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 (edited) 18 minutes ago, VillaChris said: De Bruyne was spot on with his comments in the week. He was right about the scheduling. The club games should have been the last of the season. Having the players hang around then to shoot off to international duty in June is ridiculous. Next season starts early and there is a World Cup in October. The players should have been allowed a free summer. Ironically friendlies would have solved this as they could have just been cancelled, the Nation's League does need to be completed as it affects qualifying and they had to fit in somewhere. Basically COVID and Qatar hosting a World Cup ruined everything. 18 minutes ago, VillaChris said: Friendlies still exist don't they, pretty sure England played someone in March so they can't even abolish them. Friendlies will always exist otherwise European teams will never play South American teams outside of World Cups every 4 years and that's only if they meet of course. I think they should be completely abolished. European club teams dont face South American club sides at all outside of the World Club Cup and pre-season tours. No-one cares about that so why care about playing Brazil? Edited June 5, 2022 by R.Bear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 5 minutes ago, R.Bear said: Friendlies will always exist otherwise European teams will never play South American teams outside of World Cups every 4 years and that's only if they meet of course. I think they should be completely abolished. European club teams dont face South American club sides at all outside of the World Club Cup and pre-season tours. No-one cares about that so why care about playing Brazil? South American teams are joining the Nations League in 2023 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Bear Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 4 minutes ago, Zatman said: South American teams are joining the Nations League in 2023 There was talks. It wont happen. European players wont want to fly across the world every international break. I realise the non European internationals have to but that's unavoidable. Plus, how long before North American or African teams want to be a part of it? Then it just becomes a World Cup spread out over 18 months. UEFA and FIFA just need to stop changing things. The World Cup and Euros being expanded was a good idea but they must stay as every 4 years. The Copa America needs to be in one of the summers that don't feature one of those tournaments. That way European audiences might actually give a **** about it. The AFCON needs to be every four years and held in summer. If that means that certain countries cant host then so be it or risk clubs refusing to release players. Quite frankly after the absolute farce that was the last one, they should just can it altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosenthal Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 5 minutes ago, R.Bear said: There was talks. It wont happen. European players wont want to fly across the world every international break. I realise the non European internationals have to but that's unavoidable. Plus, how long before North American or African teams want to be a part of it? Then it just becomes a World Cup spread out over 18 months. UEFA and FIFA just need to stop changing things. Think the idea is for South American teams to compete in Europa, not that UEFA teams are to travel over there. Unfair for their fans, and bit of a mess. But can see why their FA would like it. Would probably lead to them playing additional games with just players from home leagues as well to give local games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 43 minutes ago, R.Bear said: There was talks. It wont happen. European players wont want to fly across the world every international break. I realise the non European internationals have to but that's unavoidable. Plus, how long before North American or African teams want to be a part of it? Then it just becomes a World Cup spread out over 18 months. UEFA and FIFA just need to stop changing things. The World Cup and Euros being expanded was a good idea but they must stay as every 4 years. The Copa America needs to be in one of the summers that don't feature one of those tournaments. That way European audiences might actually give a **** about it. The AFCON needs to be every four years and held in summer. If that means that certain countries cant host then so be it or risk clubs refusing to release players. Quite frankly after the absolute farce that was the last one, they should just can it altogether. The South American teams will be based in Europe for games, a contract has already been signed and the Finalissima game between Argentina and Italy was the start of the agreement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewiek2 Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 (edited) England proving once again how better they are with Mings in defence than without him. His record doesn't lie. Edited June 6, 2022 by stewiek2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted June 6, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted June 6, 2022 Digne playing for France vs Croatia right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 Big game today! Predictions? I suspect a 1-1 draw, Kane to score an 82nd minute pen after a questionable foul on Sterling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 2-1 win Neither team look interested or decent, huge overreaction to a result that papers over the cracks of another flat performance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow1988 Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 4 minutes ago, sparrow1988 said: I blame the heavy-handed German police. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow1988 Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 4 minutes ago, Mic09 said: I blame the heavy-handed German police. Judging by the video that I've been sent on whatsapp of the now sinkless wall and the smashed urinal in the gents of one of the Irish pubs over here, I'm going to say that the heavy-handed football fans also had a role to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 26 minutes ago, Mic09 said: I blame the heavy-handed German police. Again from my experience German police are really good, when we played in hamburg at it was a 9pm kickoff I can remember them getting on a loud speaker and saying like "please football fans, if you don't take the next train you will miss the game" at 6pm...to which everyone cheered and carried on, we were in a part of the reeperbahn, they had is where they could watch us, were really friendly, talked to us, gave us advice on where to go, even came up to us when we struggled to get in to the London bar and said there's a place round the corner with no one in there go get beer in there and come back here with them, finally got us to the ground and again gave us an area outside the ground with a Xmas Market style stand where we were all in one place and they could watch us Pure common sense and decency which I think from what I saw villa fans appreciated and matched - and that was all 2 weeks after ajax fans were naughty boys there and smashed up a few bars A million miles away from the French who gave us bizarre poorly explained instructions in an aggressive manner while dressed in full riot gear and then pepper sprayed us when they weren't understood or followed French police are **** terrible, I'm under no doubt the CL trouble was their fault 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 2 hours ago, villa4europe said: A million miles away from the French who gave us bizarre poorly explained instructions in an aggressive manner while dressed in full riot gear and then pepper sprayed us when they weren't understood or followed French police are **** terrible, I'm under no doubt the CL trouble was their fault Many journalists (after the CL farce) coming out saying that French police basically pepper spray fans at every French game. They sound awful. Again, incredibly sad the number of people who went for "Liverpool fans" without knowing what had actually happened. Football, eh? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 3 hours ago, Mic09 said: I blame the heavy-handed German police. Wait until they meet the more relaxed Qatari police 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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