England will do what they always do, barely make it out of the group and then lose in the quarter finals in penalty kicks
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2015/16 Football/Soccer thread
- Thread starter tml
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yeah we obviously won't win it but people saying 'lol 100% wins isn't even good because the group sucked' are the same people who would be like 'lol england drew with slovenia they suck' if it happened, can't have it both ways. we did everything we needed to do with a pretty subpar squad at times and i'm pleased that we managed to not choke to any shit cunts like germany only taking 1 point off ireland in 2 games lol.
Spain and england, one of these 2 have proven themselves recently on the international stage
The 100% record is impressive and especially with england's current squad. The problem is that now people look at germany and spain and other countries who dropped points in arguable tougher groups so they think that equates to instant euro success. They can't see that the groups and their challenges are extremely different and that in this sport if a>b and b>c then a>c is not a guarentee
as a belgian, it's both hilarious that the dutch who've been better than us for the last 2 decades or so didn't quality, and sad because we won't get the chance to wipe the floor with them ourselves in france.
also we'll be the new #1 in fifa world rankings woohoo. it doesn't mean shit but it sure feels better than ranking 57th like we did in 2010.
also we'll be the new #1 in fifa world rankings woohoo. it doesn't mean shit but it sure feels better than ranking 57th like we did in 2010.
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belgium is really overrated imo
First of all, the USA has been dreadful. No words needed. Yes, they were never top-class but this has been shambolic
I'm not completely on the "Klinsmann out" brigade though, mainly because he has identified useful players for us. His tactics and fitness are dreadful, anyone who read Philipp Lahm's testimony or even glanced at Bayern back then would've known but us Americans were blinded by "ooh European coach and ex-player!!" Rather, I think Klinsmann should stay on in some directorial capacity, convincing kids to represent USA if they can and helping the academy system in the States. I'm not sure who would take over as head coach if he leaves though. The main choices seem to be his understudies Ramos and Andreas Herzog, some American coach with experience like Bruce Arena, or someone foreign like Bielsa.
http://www.theguardian.com/football...soccer-and-why-it-could-cost-jurgen-klinsmann
Leaving this here if anyone's interested in that college/highschool vs academy system debate in the USA
But now to talk about Euros...
It's not really a shock that Holland fell this far, especially after their World Cup, 3rd place aside, wasn't super convincing. Just as Brazil technically bettered their results from 2010 and 2006 (4th place vs. 5th/6th) but no one talks about it because of 7-1 and poor play, Holland's 5-1 and Robben's form obscured the fact that their tactics were essentially kick it for Robben to chase and hope no one brings attackers that De Jong can't kick out. All these new Dutch players are raw, and all the old ones are fading (Sneidjer, Van Persie), barring Robben and possibly Huntelaar. Blind Sr. will probably stick around for a bit, even though he lost the crucial games vs. Iceland and Turkey.
Italy vs. Norway: Giovinco, Florenzi, and Candreva were the difference for Gli Azzurri; its a real shame that none of them got a chance to shine at a World Cup. Giovinco in particular looks to have revived himself with Toronto. And as I type, he's consigned the Red Bulls to another defeat. Oh woe.
Congratulations to Wales, Northern Ireland, Albania and the many other so-called "expansion teams". Yes, the expansion may have let "500 shit teams" in, but its worth noting that most of these teams qualified automatically and took down some (relative) giants in the process.
I'm not completely on the "Klinsmann out" brigade though, mainly because he has identified useful players for us. His tactics and fitness are dreadful, anyone who read Philipp Lahm's testimony or even glanced at Bayern back then would've known but us Americans were blinded by "ooh European coach and ex-player!!" Rather, I think Klinsmann should stay on in some directorial capacity, convincing kids to represent USA if they can and helping the academy system in the States. I'm not sure who would take over as head coach if he leaves though. The main choices seem to be his understudies Ramos and Andreas Herzog, some American coach with experience like Bruce Arena, or someone foreign like Bielsa.
http://www.theguardian.com/football...soccer-and-why-it-could-cost-jurgen-klinsmann
Leaving this here if anyone's interested in that college/highschool vs academy system debate in the USA
But now to talk about Euros...
It's not really a shock that Holland fell this far, especially after their World Cup, 3rd place aside, wasn't super convincing. Just as Brazil technically bettered their results from 2010 and 2006 (4th place vs. 5th/6th) but no one talks about it because of 7-1 and poor play, Holland's 5-1 and Robben's form obscured the fact that their tactics were essentially kick it for Robben to chase and hope no one brings attackers that De Jong can't kick out. All these new Dutch players are raw, and all the old ones are fading (Sneidjer, Van Persie), barring Robben and possibly Huntelaar. Blind Sr. will probably stick around for a bit, even though he lost the crucial games vs. Iceland and Turkey.
Italy vs. Norway: Giovinco, Florenzi, and Candreva were the difference for Gli Azzurri; its a real shame that none of them got a chance to shine at a World Cup. Giovinco in particular looks to have revived himself with Toronto. And as I type, he's consigned the Red Bulls to another defeat. Oh woe.
Congratulations to Wales, Northern Ireland, Albania and the many other so-called "expansion teams". Yes, the expansion may have let "500 shit teams" in, but its worth noting that most of these teams qualified automatically and took down some (relative) giants in the process.
Alright so I read most of that article and I can point to the biggest flaw with these high school coaches. We have been doing it there way for years and what has it gotten us? If a player played in a year of the academy league when it started, they would be around 26 years old. The problem isnt that the usa hasn't found an identity, its that we had one and its primary focus is to develop players for high school and college and then maybe some might want to play professional and we can pick the best players from that to represent us on a national stage. If our focus is to have players socialize and play with their high school classmates throughout the season cutting off minimum 2 months from the academy season, then nobody should be worrying about the results of the mens national team for the next 12 years. The high school system has failed dramatically, and the coaches don't want to admit their fault in all of this mess. The academy is also a little suspect since in a lot of places around the usa, the same people who were failing to develop players are now put in the same situation but under a different title. Maybe Klinsmann stays on as coach maybe not, but the level of coaching at the ground level isnt good enough to say that the problem lies at the tactics of the national team only. The academy should have been another way to identify talent and bring them up and away from the ground level coaches and develop them in a higher level. Why ODP and the Super-Y league identification for players was thrown out the window when the academy came along is beyond me. We say that players slip through the cracks, and instead of creating more programs to catch these players, we narrow the search so more players can slip through. The United States has a massive problem and a lot of people either don't know the real problem or don't want to address it and its a lot easier to blame the coach.
As for the current squad, I will put some blame on Klinsmann for pressuring his stars to get guarenteed playing time in order to play national team and make the world cup squad. Hindsight being 20/20 it wasn't a smart thing to pressure since all the stars playing in high levels in europe decided to move back to a lesser and developing league to get the guarenteed time instead of trying to fight and earn a place in a high european club team. One player in France, One at Sunderland, I think Cameron is still at Stoke, a couple in the bundesliga, and I know of one for sure in England's second flight while the rest come from the MLS is absolutely ridiculous for a country that wants to be competing and beating the top teams in the world. Should I have to point out where all of Germany's players, or Argentina's players currently start and play their club football? Even a country like Brazil who have tactical problems at the national team level, have players playing at much higher levels consistently than the United States does at the moment. We have talent that may or may not be developing right in the youth, and our current players decided to get paid and take it easy 6 years before that kind of move is acceptable, and the veterans are getting too old to be as good as they once were on the international stage.
TL:DR frickin read it
I really agree with what you said about the works done at ground level and countries all around the world are having the exact same problem. In Malaysia where I live in, a lot of money was used to promote the sport and promised as prize money but the results have been sub-par because the coaches (and by extension, the players) have mediocre understanding of modern tactics. Players were also promised high wages and rarely venture out of the country because of the lucrative salary being offered here. Furthermore, the way the league is managed helps to "protect" the local players in the sense that they give out prizes in 2 categories; best foreign player and best local player. This causes the players to not push themselves to challenge and aim to be as good as the foreigners. The corruption in the FA was also a long-standing issue and it doesn't look likely to get resolved soon.
African and South American countries strive to have players playing in the top leagues elsewhere while they are in their prime are even past their prime slightly. Having players playing and making strides in foreign countries where the league is much more developed should be the goal until your league can become pristine enough. If the national team players go and try to help the MLS grow, then don't expect the team to do well on the international stage for a while
Sorry for a second reply, but I stumbled across this article that might help explain some problems. http://www.thecoachingjourney.org/1/post/2015/10/-the-real-problems-behind-our-national-team.html
Yes I completely agree with this. How can Italy be in the 17th when Austria is 9th?
Anyway, thoughts of today's games?
- Everton v Man. United
- Tottenham v Liverpool
HBK
Subtlety is my middle name
Indeed, and no one knows this better than us Chelsea fans lmao
Liverpool were missing 9 first-teamers so the fact that they didn't lose it is already very impressive ( Mignolet and Sakho bailed them out. Origi was awful - in what universe is ge worth 10 mil? )
As for the Everton v MU game, conceding 2 in quick succession knocked the fight out of them, I think. Before that, they were dominating until Utd punished them for their stupid mistakes.
Alexis scored again against Watford today. Great game for them, sitting 2nd on the table. Away to Everton next week tho, could be tricky, but seeing Everton aren't in a good form after drew against Liverpool and lost to Man U. Hope Arsenal play like they played against Man U, pressed high on the pitch and also scored two quick goals which cost Man U the game.
Also, Sterling scored a hattrick against Bournemouth, and Bony netted two. I'm looking forward to see Sterling action with City and De Bruyne also.
Anyway, Neymar scored 4 goals.
Also, Sterling scored a hattrick against Bournemouth, and Bony netted two. I'm looking forward to see Sterling action with City and De Bruyne also.
Anyway, Neymar scored 4 goals.
Crazy game just now. Newcastle 6-2 Norwich. The defending from both teams are pretty awful and they seem to be trying their hardest to throw away the game or give away cheap goals. Credit to Wijnaldum for scoring four in a relatively new league though.
Horrible defending? From Newcastle? Why I'd never have guessed lol
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