Year Round The Football/Soccer Thread v2

[FrostyMouse]

I think we all were. Their group wasn't even that good, so it was even stranger.

 

[kakashi919]

I don't really mind though. I'm hoping Japan wins it all

 

[BBB Banana]

Don't think Brazil has bee amazing or even good but I think we will win. But I hope not cuse I want a new coach for Brazil and if Mano doesn't win the olympics he's out.

 

[Bugzee]

Arsenal have actually signed a non-French, over 18+ player and his Spanish!

Miracle!!!!

 

[FrostyMouse]

The biggest farce of the football world arrives with England having become third in the FIFA rankings.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19177783

 

[kakashi919]

Lol what? So, they are above Italy? And Uruguy and Netherlands? When was the last time England won anything? Italy won 2006 World Cup.... made it further than England in the last couple of Euros ( not 100% sure about this). Uruguy certainly won more trophies. And well... Netherlands is just a better team.

 

[BBB Banana]

Only now you guys realize? I mean denmark is weak as hell and has been on top 10 for a while. I don't mean to sound butt hurt but even though we are not going trough our best phase Brazil should still be in top 10 as well as france.

I mean the ranking has teams like 9. Croatia 10. Denmark 12.Greece above Brazil, France, Mexico...

I get that our points have been stable lately because we don't have to play qualifiers for wc2010 and the systems works this way

Importance of the match (1 friendly, 2 qualifiers, 3competitions) x result (3 win 1 draw -1 loss) x Strength of the opponent x strength of the opponent's countinent football.

So we can only have matches of importance 1 which means other teams can get twice as points by beating the same opponent for wc qualifiers for example.

Plus we haven't been playing strong opponents lately so that also doesn't help much.

And if we think a little about england they lost to italy which is a weaker team than spain which means they lost less points than italy in the end because italy lost to spain a stronger opponent.
So if you beat a strong opponent you win more points but if you lose you also lose more points.

Plus Fifa ranking has been very recently reformulated so you will only be able to see the true superior teams in the long term. And those we all know who are.

 

[FrostyMouse]

Banana, of course I realize, but it shows that regardless of the recent changes which have been made to finally have an "accurate" FIFA world rankings, it's still quite flawed and we won't be able to have an "accurate" ranking system until

Italy also had a draw against Spain and a win against Germany, so even though they lost to Spain in the final, I thought it should've been worth more to them. Admittedly, Italy had been playing rather poorly since the 06 WC win.

Banana, I just don't like this new system, as it devalued Italy's Euro runner up placing.

 

[BBB Banana]

Yeah it's quite flawed that if you lose to a strong opponent you lose more points than if you lose to a weak opponent...

And if you lose a hard important match you lose more points than if you lose a friendly match. I mean at least you got to those important matches

 

[FrostyMouse]

Yeah it's quite flawed that if you lose to a strong opponent you lose more points than if you lose to a weak opponent...

And if you lose a hard important match you lose more points than if you lose a friendly match. I mean at least you got to those important matches

Yeah, it just works out badly. Germany sort of got more out of the Euros than Italy, even though Italy went 0-1-1 against Spain and crushed Germany, and any system that gets us that just isn't accurate.

---------- Post added August 11, 2012 at 12:07 PM ---------- Previous post was August 08, 2012 at 11:21 PM ----------

Mexico pulls the rug out under from Brazil with a deserved 2-1 victory. It was really 2-0 as Hulk added the consolation goal in the 90th minute.

 

[BBB Banana]

I was rooting for Brazil... until 30s in the game than I decided the gold isn't worth enough for us to keep this awful coach...

I hope they fire Mano after all his neck has been on the line for a while.... with him Brazil only wins against below avarage teams...

Hope they choose Scolari to coach Brazil again I think he's the guy we need and he has made it quite clear that he wanted to coach us in 2014.

 

[FrostyMouse]

Mario has been pretty bad. Scolari would be a good coach, but does Brazil have the players to win? That's the real question. Brazil has quite a few very talented players, but can they really come together and win as a team against match hardened squads?

 

[BBB Banana]

Yeah that's a question. Spain and German are way more mature but I think Scolari can work miracles. He made Portugal into what they are today.

He's what the boys need a coach who can not only shape their talents but their heads. Scolari is the best coach I've seen at building group spirit.

 

[FrostyMouse]

I think Scolari's a great coach, but I don't think that he can get past that advantage that Spain and Germany have. The primary thing I see as being in Brazil's favor is that the WC will be in Brazil. That could give them added boosts in matches, and we did see that it helped France to their WC victory in 1998. :P

However, France had an all time great big match player in Zidane and this Brazil squad doesn't have someone like that.

If the WC weren't in Brazil in 2014, I'd see Brazil going out just as early as they have the last few WCs, or in other words, the Round of 16 if they met a good team, or the QFs. I don't really see Brazil making it past the SFs, but realistically, I see them going out in the QFs. I could be wrong, but I just think Spain and Germany have too many advantages for Brazil to overcome. Now, if Neymar actually becomes a star, and Oscar, Lucas, and some others become breakout players, then yes, Brazil could have a much better chance, but that relies on potential development, whereas Spain and Germany already have solid players.

 

[BBB Banana]

I lately have beeen thinking that a team too young isn't too good either. Well we've got Daniel Alvez, David Luiz, Thiago Silva, Ramirez who are experienced.

But some key positions do lack some players with experience. Maybe players like Kaka (depending on his future if he goes to milan he could become a regular and get to a good level again) Luis Fabiano (has been playing very well but he's got a short temper) and Ronaldinho (has been playing on a good level but I don't trust him anymore) Can come back to the national team.

Maycom from Intenazionalle is also great but we can only use either him or dani alves. Marcelo is great and with confedertion cup he can get a national competition level of experience cuse it's kinda different from a club competition even though Real Madrid is huge.

I'm not sure about Hulk I like him but not sure if he can have a place in our team. Mybe he can stay in bench just to give the coach more options.

But we don't have players like Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Romário, Bebeto anymore. At least not ones who are on a good phase.

 

[FrostyMouse]

I lately have beeen thinking that a team too young isn't too good either. Well we've got Daniel Alves, David Luiz, Thiago Silva, Ramirez who are experienced.

Dani Alvez doesn't defend, and while fullbacks that go forward and help out down the wings are good, he often gets caught out of position, which leads to goals for the opposition. While I'm a Chelsea supporter, David Luiz is questionable defensively at times; however, he has gotten significantly better the past 12 months. Thiago Silva's a rock for Brazil, so that works. Ramires runs around a lot and is good on the counter (we can all look at that beautiful chip he put over Valdes in the CL SF at the Nou Camp), plus he defends, so that's good, but he's not great at all times.

But some key positions do lack some players with experience. Maybe players like Kaka (depending on his future if he goes to milan he could become a regular and get to a good level again) Luis Fabiano (has been playing very well but he's got a short temper) and Ronaldinho (has been playing on a good level but I don't trust him anymore) Can come back to the national team.

As you noted, none of those players are trustworthy or reliable.

Maycom from Intenazionalle is also great but we can only use either him or dani alves. Marcelo is great and with confedertion cup he can get a national competition level of experience cuse it's kinda different from a club competition even though Real Madrid is huge.

I haven't seen Maycom play, so I can't comment on him. Marcelo's a decent defender, but in La Liga, he's often not pushed that hard and isn't usually playing against the best players in the world. In practice, I'm sure he defends against the other Madrid players, but it's not the same.

I'm not sure about Hulk I like him but not sure if he can have a place in our team. Mybe he can stay in bench just to give the coach more options.

Hulk scores goals, but I think he needs more experience, which the move (which didn't materialize) to Chelsea would've offered him. There's a deal on the table for Hulk for another team, but 38 million euros is a lot.

But we don't have players like Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Romário, Bebeto anymore. At least not ones who are on a good phase.

Nope, Brazil doesn't have that level of player anymore, and the ones who could potentially get to that level are too young and not fully developed right now. Brazil having any chance in WC 14 relies on the development of the younger players into stars, and that's just too risky and uncertain of a proposition.

 

[BBB Banana]

Well nothing we can do but hope as Brazilians

But Spain isn't as stable as people think. Xavi, Iniesta, Villa are all very old already, we don't know how villa will come back, and if Iniesta and Xavi will be in top shape until WC2014.

Two years can be the time for Brazilian players to mature or not. But can also be the time for Xavi and Iniesta to get out of shape.

All in all Germany seems like the greatest contender for me, they have collected a serie of losses that gave them experience and are now a great team.

 

[FrostyMouse]

Well nothing we can do but hope as Brazilians

But Spain isn't as stable as people think. Xavi, Iniesta, Villa are all very old already, we don't know how villa will come back, and if Iniesta and Xavi will be in top shape until WC2014.

Two years can be the time for Brazilian players to mature or not. But can also be the time for Xavi and Iniesta to get out of shape.

All in all Germany seems like the greatest contender for me, they have collected a serie of losses that gave them experience and are now a great team.

That's all very true. The Spanish players are getting older, but there are players who can take their places as time goes on.

Germany could end up being that team that's always hyped up, but then always falls short.

 

[Saintz0r]

Will we ever get a gold medal in soccer? hahahhahah

Yup, gotta agree, we're screwed in the next WC. Scolari is certainly better than Mano, but I don't think it'll be a huge difference. Our young star, Neymar, is known for hiding himself from the game sometimes and Ganso has been worse than shit
I always had high hopes for Pato, he's decisive most of the time, a good scorer and all, but after getting to know Ronaldinho Gaucho he's either in the medical departament or not concentrating in soccer like he used to
And there's more, we're not playing the eliminatory, so we won't have any real game till de confederations cup... friendly games aren't taken seriously, which means we'll likely have a bunch of players in 2014, and not a team
Maybe we can cut Marta's hair and try to disguise her as a man...

 

[FrostyMouse]

Wait, you're telling me that Marta's not a man? That's news to me.

Have you seen the way she clatters into players at times?