Miscellaneous Football Thread

KBC

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I saw there's no thread dedicated to Football leagues other than those popular and common among people, so with the exception of those popular ones, Any league/cup news can go in here. Americans have your space here. :p

There's a lot in up and coming leagues in asia that should have more attention than there is.

Discuss here.
 

KBC

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No. Only PSG's big money Signings. :D
 

Dr. Pepper

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I watched a few Lille games last season to see what the fuss was about with Hazard and co. Think I'll watch a bit more this year to see how PSG get on. Pastore, Nene, Menez and Gameiro as attacking options with Leonardo managing is a mouthwatering prospect.
 

KBC

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I watched a few Lille games last season to see what the fuss was about with Hazard and co. Think I'll watch a bit more this year to see how PSG get on. Pastore, Nene, Menez and Gameiro as attacking options with Leonardo managing is a mouthwatering prospect.

Hazard is frigging amazingly fast, coupled with that great control over the ball. Reminds me of Walcott, doesn't run like from defence to offense but Hazard starts a trick run out of nowhere. Great to watch.
 

iridescentt

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My God.
mexican-shart.png
 

6ry4nj

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A discussion elsewhere (which was off-topic there lol) got me thinking about the idea of "Best of the Rest" teams. The idea is that the best players from the countries that don't qualify for the Euro Championship or the World Cup "finals", are selected as a combined team, which qualifies for the tournament automatically. Only talking about full international tournaments obviously, but it could be applied equally to the African Cup of Nations and the Asian and South American equivalents whatever they're called.

It came up because I feel it's such a tragedy that huge talents like Bale and Giggs (my examples happen to be both Welsh but there are probably like cases from all over) never get to play top-flight international football.

I realize it's a logistical nightmare as the teams would have to have their own manager/coach, coaching staff and other infrastructure. Hopefully the countries contributing players could manage all this between them. It has happened occasionally in other sports (Rest of the World and Asian XI in cricket, British Lions in rugby union).
 

puddleduck

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They were charity or friendly games though. Just could not work in football.

First issue who is insuring the players? Who is paying their wages, who is paying for the coach? The security etc...

Why are the countries that haven't qualified got to accept they'll never qualify? Giggs may not have played in a world cup, but having every summer off has probably been important in allowing him to play until 40.

Oh, and how is a team that's cobbled together before the tournament starts going to succeed ahead of nations playing with each other monthly? What of the language issues?

My final point... It already exists, it's called club level football...
 
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6ry4nj

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They were charity or friendly games though. Just could not work in football.

First issue who is insuring the players? Who is paying their wages, who is paying for the coach? The security etc...

Why are the countries that haven't qualified got to accept they'll never qualify? Giggs may not have played in a world cup, but having every summer off has probably been important in allowing him to play until 40.

Oh, and how is a team that's cobbled together before the tournament starts going to succeed ahead of nations playing with each other monthly? What of the language issues?

My final point... It already exists, it's called club level football...
Are you saying a competitive tournament game can't be "friendly"? I don't see why not. Anyway, I'm sure there have been some extremely spiteful "friendlies" over the years.

I don't see payments as much of a problem, although it would need to be something worked out between the relevant international association (ie. FIFA, UEFA etc.) and the player's national FA. Much the same as all the other teams do!

If Wales qualifies then obviously its players don't play for Best of the Rest. This team would only form once the qualifiers have been decided.

I think you've answered the language issues in your next line about club football. Language issues are solved in club football every day - and sometimes at very short notice.

Club football is not the answer for a variety of reasons. For a start, there's an even smaller minority of clubs that are competitive at the top level. Secondly, this is something that the players' national FAs could derive some satisfaction/encouragement from.

As for teams cobbled together, well that's valid to a point, but we return to the fact that it has been done in other sports. Even if they were uncompetitive, to me it's better than never being seen on that stage.

I quite understand the reflex to reply "just can't be done", but I frankly don't see the point of it. Certainly it seems unlikely to happen, but that is different from saying it's "not feasible" or "impossible".
 

puddleduck

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Err what, I don't understand your first point. What has a game being "friendly" got to do with games that were merely "friendlies." The Barbarians do not turn up in the World Cup. The Lions do not compete in the World Cup. The Asia XI did not compete in anything other than a test match, which many felt shouldn't even have been First Class status.

It isn't feasible. For so many reasons haha. Most of which are political and financial.

So you think a team of people not speaking the same language can be lumped together 3 weeks before a big tournament? Exactly why does this team of players get a spot that another country could have had? Why are you trying to turn international football into club football? Yes, that is exactly what you are basically talking about. How is there a smaller number of clubs competitive? How many countries have ever won the World Cup?

Mate, your idea is absurb, interesting. But competely absurb :P
 

shravi

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Don't really understand what their motivation would be since you have completely removed the element of patriotism by lumping together small nations. It would also be disrespectful to the authenticity of their culture and could have political repercussions (just because they are small and located close to each other doesn't mean they are the same).
 

6ry4nj

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It isn't feasible. For so many reasons haha. Most of which are political and financial.

How is there a smaller number of clubs competitive? How many countries have ever won the World Cup?
Political - in other words petty - concerns may be what prevents it from happening, but I don't regard that as impinging upon the feasibility of the concept. Financial arrangements need be very little different from at present, as I have said.

A smaller minority - I didn't say number - of clubs is competitive. Two or three clubs from 3 or 4 nations (with the occasional plucky outsider) compete on an equal footing at the Euro Champions League, compared with the hundreds of clubs in the top divisions of Europe. There's no comparison to the World Cup finals, where something like one in six or seven of the eligible nations (32? of 200ish) take part, with the vast majority at least drawing a game (and even a close loss can be a competitive match).

Also winning the tournament is not the point. You can be competitive without winning. There are countless examples of outsiders facing the giants of the World Cup and coming away with a draw and occasionally better. France and Italy are the obvious examples of two former World Cup winners, strong on paper, who have been known to let unheralded teams get the better of them.

If Brazil - the most likely to - is dominating the comp, they will dominate the Best of the Rest as well. That would still give Best of the Rest a chance to shine in other games, against more mortal opposition. It's a chance that Bale et al will never get as the only exceptional player in national teams that are often well below the standard of the elite clubs.
 

puddleduck

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Except Wales are a decent bet to qualify from one of the next couple if they get a decent group. They finished their last campaign strongly, and sensibly went with youth to give them the experience of a long qualifying campaign. Countries like Croatia, Russia, Uruguay, USA etc... have all come a long way by working hard on their infrastructure and technique at a basic level... but don't worry, there's no need anymore because that place you go through an extra knockout qualifying round to get is now gone. It's been given to a team that doesn't actually exist... oh, and we'll be using your star right-winger. Yeah, the same one who just got injured in our first group game and will miss the next 2 years and never be the same again. Oh, what's that? Your sueing us? Err... who? We don't exist.

How do financial concerns not need to change? Who insures the players against injury? Who pays for everything? Like security etc.

So these nations must firstly scrounge what resources they have (almost certainly below the big nations) to go through an entire qualifying campaign. Which, weirdly enough their star player keeps turning up for only to go home injured because he knows he has a place in the tournament for best of the rest. Then, having paid for the entire qualifying campaign, they are then expected to pay for their own players to go to a major tournament and play for ... err ... I still don't really get this part. Play for basically some kind of charity team? A corporate sponsored national team? Or I think you suggested FIFA chip in or something else ridiculous. Yes, every nation can pay their fees to FIFA so that a squad of 22 players gets to play in the World Cup. You know, because it's not fair if they don't.

In fact, sod having a qualification at all. Let's just let everyone go and play in the finals. We'll call it the Commie World Cup or something. Why even bother having a qualification period that stretches around 2 years? It would probably be fairer to just have a one-off game, drawn from a hat, played over 5 minutes with the team who has the most players called Tim pronounced the winner.

Also, Brazil have very rarely dominated any competition since about 1970 haha Even the one's they've won since have been fairly close-run affairs.

Every single one of your examples from other sports is void by the way. Not one of them compete in the same level of sport. The Lions are probably about as close as you'll get, but even then is something that is routed in history and exists within a sport that barely had more than 6 nations playing it when they first toured.

About as close as you'll get, is some kind of end of season all-star type game like you get in the States for their various major sports. Of course, those are more for show, and it would be difficult fitting it all in.
 

KBC

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Meanwhile in the friendlies,

Swiss Knives 4 - 2 Germany as we speak.

Eren Derdiyok hat trick and an assist. wow. So much for choking on own words huh germans.
 

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