The International Football Thread

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Scotland are simply not a football nation, they're not built for football. They suit Rugby & Tennis better.

They have good individuals, they've always produced quality players as far as I can remember (not talking about history because obviously they were one of the pioneers in football), but their problem has always been playing well collectively and getting those players to play as well as they do for their clubs.

[OneMoSalah 8,783]

If I were English right now, I'd be confused as to why they don't play like that in World Cups and European Championships, with the similar sort of energy and aggression they have along with the inventiveness they showed at times tonight. I mean sure England aren't favorites to win any sort of major tournaments, lets be realistic but they don't play anything like that tonight in tournaments. The World Cup you can say was a bit different but I wasn't really impressed at all in a footballing sense it just seemed like the same as usual, relying on talented individuals to make the difference as opposed to the philosophy making the difference. England are always going to be at the tournaments so they should be looking to try and go further than they normally do, in the same way that we are looking to try get to tournaments.

PS. Sterling's non existent attempt to tackle Andy Robertson for the Scotland goal is just crazy. He tackles him then Robertson doesn't get that one-two to get into the box never mind the goal. Small details. Although it was a friendly and England still won...

[kobematabryant 400]

Dont need a huge population to be good.

Just need a good infrastructure... Both china and india suck in football, with their huge population...

Also, Japan and Mexico are good futbol nations...

USA will become a world power in futbol soon and the huge population is part of the reason..

India don't give a fuck about football. China however do, but most of them are born to focus on the Olympics. The major reason why China lack the power in football is because firstly the infrastructure is horrid as you say and secondly, the corruption. Yes you are right about infrastructure but it is also about population, the bigger the population, the better the talent pool.

Japan and Mexico are great teams in their respective confederations but they've been both awful in the World Cups. They're not football superpowers either like Germany, Italy, etc.

Yes I agree USA will become a super power in football, if the sport catches on.

[kobematabryant 400]

you said they are not built for football ,, THEY were as important as any nation in developing the game , Study some history

Well I was saying they're not built to be a football superpower like Germany, Italy, etc nor are they built to qualify for major tournaments, this is an irrefutable fact. Name me last time they even qualified for a single tournament? Yes they were important in history, that's just the Liverpool argument.

[Nike 373]

you said they are not built for football ,, THEY were as important as any nation in developing the game , Study some history

Canadians invented basketball...

But they suck now.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

No more international breaks till March 2015. Yeaaaahhh

:yay:

[CHOULO19 24,332]

On a different note, anyone watched Bossingwa mark Messi out of the Portugal vs Argentina match like it was 2012?

[OneMoSalah 8,783]

Well I was saying they're not built to be a football superpower like Germany, Italy, etc nor are they built to qualify for major tournaments, this is an irrefutable fact. Name me last time they even qualified for a single tournament? Yes they were important in history, that's just the Liverpool argument.

Of course they aren't going to be a football superpower, I mean cmon, a football superpower should be a country that has a good league and has a top international team that competes for international trophies.

To be honest not many countries are actually able to just get a load of players and all of a sudden become a footballing superpower. It takes time and a long term plan. Germany revamped all their youth policies and what they did to develop players that however many years ago and the last 8 years or so they've started to really come to the fore as a top top top international team confirmed by the fact they became world champions in Brazil and were constantly in finals/semi finals since 2000. Spain as well always were well prepared to be a football superpower due to the way they viewed the game, that they got everybody from a young age comfortable with a general philosophy based on ball retention and that they have a B team league and stuff so there reserve players are getting more meaningful game experience and they won 2 Euros and a World Cup in 12 years.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

On a different note, anyone watched Bossingwa mark Messi out of the Portugal vs Argentina match like it was 2012?

Bosingwa win, Messi couldn't score. Sign him up.

[Yeboii 1,844]

Dont need a huge population to be good.

Completely agree

Just look at how Iceland has been playing as of yet. Beat the Netherlands 2-0 if I remember correctly!

[Nike 373]

Munich has or in the process of making an academy in USA

Man City has NYCFC, which already signed up kids to their academy...

I wouldnt be surprised if both Real madrid and man united do the same in the next few years.

[iseah100 5,612]

Modric out for 4 months. How will this affect Real?

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Modric out for 4 months. How will this affect Real?

More playing time for Khedira

[iseah100 5,612]

More playing time for Khedira

So Real is fucked.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

So Real is fucked.

Not so much imo, as bad as Khedira would be, I think he is still could do the job against lesser teams, if he is fit.

If Khedira injured, then they're really fucked.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Now THIS is what I call obvious match fixing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_mCBxlOnIA

[Special Juan 27,439]

Gutted for Omeruo and Mikel.

[Madmax 9,219]

Amazing! Well done Iraq.