World Cup 2014 thread

[William_the_Bloody]

Originally Posted by Christian Benteke

The Premier League hasn't really crowded them out imo if you're good enough you'll likely play.

One thing I don't like is English players are just too ignorant to move abroad and get first team experience that way if they're not playing for their clubs. Plus the ones that do show some promise join clubs like Man. City and Chelsea who end up ruining them; Rodwell, Sinclair, Wright Phillips, Daniel Sturridge (thankfully worked out at a proper club for him), Steve Sidwell, Scott Parker etc... Now you've got Nathaniel Chalobah, Josh McEachran, Ryan Bertrand just wasting away at Chelsea... the list is endless. Something has to be done about Chelsea and their stockpiling/loaning.

We have a population of 50m which is more than enough to compete with the likes of Germany & Italy when you consider Uruguay and Costa Rica, but you are right with the UK team point. What I would do is compete in the World Cup and Euros as a British team and bring back the Home Championship instead of pointless friendlies.

Bale, Ramsey & Adam Matthews at Celtic would all make the squad and probably start. Darren Fletcher could have done a job before his illness and Scotland have Izzy Feruz coming through now... competing as individual nations helps nobody imo.

EDIT - I realise this would never happen by the way. I also think the domestic leagues should merge but that's another discussion.

I like your synopsis it would be great to see team UK, but I realize this is a pipe dream, Scotland doesn't appear to want to stay in the union let alone share the same national team.

As for the premier league well I guess we'll agree to disagree. I'm not following soccer like I use, to, but when you have players like Shearer and Scholes speaking out on the issue than it has some clout, and if these stats are correct, than the premier league defiantly has a problem.

BBC Sport - State of the Game: Premier League now less than one third English
Premier League has second-largest proportion of foreigners in Europe | Football | The Guardian

[Cuthbert]

FAO: Manky & James - BBC Sport - Ryan Gauld: Dundee United made Sporting Lisbon move possible

The Scottish Messi. Fair play for moving abroad to play football. I can't understand why more don't do it. What's not to like about living in Spain or Portugal and getting paid to play football?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRbzyIQW-xY

[Unknown Soldier]

Originally Posted by William_the_Bloody

In Canada England is always hyped up because they're seen as the best football representatives for the Anglophone world, but as a soccer (football) fan, I just roll my eyes when the media begins speculating if this could be England's year.

The reason they're hyped up, is because of the UK press which loves to build the team up and then tear them down again......... it sells newspapers!

The fact is they're are just not a world class team like the Germans, Brazilians, Italians, ect. They haven't made it to the semi finals in 24 years, the finals 48 years, and their recent WC record risks putting them on par with the United States.

The problem is the Premiership, which despite not being the best and most technical league in the world is probably the most popular and best marketed, which is why everybody thinks England should have a great team, especially the British public.

I disagree with your comment on foreign players though, I do think the Premier League has crowded out young English talent in the last decade, the foreign players on the heavyweight teams are phenomenal in comparison to most German and French team leagues, so I imagine things will get worse before they get better.

I think if you check the leading squads of the other big leagues they have just as many foreign players in their starting eleven as we do. Also going back to the 80's and 90's when only three/four foreign players were allowed per team, all the other leading national teams were still better than England as well, so regardless of how many foreigners play here England always under-performs.

The other problem with England is their population pool, it should be team United Kingdom, Gareth bale anyone...ah but sadly that will never happen, will it?

I can't see that making much difference, as you'd probably get about 2 or 3 at most Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish players in a British squad anyway.

Originally Posted by Christian Benteke

The Premier League hasn't really crowded them out imo if you're good enough you'll likely play.

One thing I don't like is English players are just too ignorant to move abroad and get first team experience that way if they're not playing for their clubs. Plus the ones that do show some promise join clubs like Man. City and Chelsea who end up ruining them; Rodwell, Sinclair, Wright Phillips, Daniel Sturridge (thankfully worked out at a proper club for him), Steve Sidwell, Scott Parker etc... Now you've got Nathaniel Chalobah, Josh McEachran, Ryan Bertrand just wasting away at Chelsea... the list is endless. Something has to be done about Chelsea and their stockpiling/loaning.

They very rarely take up offers to go abroad for some reason, I can't believe it's because they miss mum's cooking.

We have a population of 50m

You shouldn't listen to what William says and then just quote him, because we have a population of around 63m.

which is more than enough to compete with the likes of Germany & Italy when you consider Uruguay and Costa Rica, but you are right with the UK team point. What I would do is compete in the World Cup and Euros as a British team and bring back the Home Championship instead of pointless friendlies.

Uruguay has a population of just 3m and Costa Rica 4m which proves football is a lot more than just population pools.

[Cuthbert]

lol, its 53m so I rounded it down, unless you're talking about the UK as a whole (which is 63m)

[Cuthbert]

Messi fans give this a watch if you have the time, a documentary on Messi that ITV did. Aired some time in either 2012 or early last year. It's very good.

The Lionel Messi Documentary: "World's Greatest Player" - Dailymotion Wideo

Here's his 2010 World Cup highlights:


Lionel Messi - World Cup 2010 - YouTube

There's about five assists in there, disgustingly unlucky not to score.

[William_the_Bloody]

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

I think if you check the leading squads of the other big leagues they have just as many foreign players in their starting eleven as we do. Also going back to the 80's and 90's when only three/four foreign players were allowed per team, all the other leading national teams were still better than England as well, so regardless of how many foreigners play here England always under-performs.

I did check out the stats with the exception of Spain because I think they're are walking the same thin line.

You mentioned the French & German league, and with the exception of Bayern Munich, which is still a lot better than most major Premier league teams, the French and German squads are packed with nationals.

Man U has always been good about fielding English players but outside of that its pretty dismal with Arsenal being the worst offender. Part of the problem as the BBC article pointed out, is that English players now account for less than 1/3 of all the minutes played in the league. I think that has a tremendous impact on the potential development of young English players. Sure you always have instant stars like Alan Shearer, but what about those great players who develop over time? Yes they could go abroad, but no one is more likely to give you a chance than your own country.

I wouldn't really give a f)ck if I wasn't of English heritage, so we all want the same thing, and I don't see anything wrong with stating the number of foreign players are hurting the national team if that is the reality.

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

I can't see that making much difference, as you'd probably get about 2 or 3 at most Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish players in a British squad anyway.

Bale? Ramsey?

[QUOTE=Unknown Soldier;1466182]

[Cuthbert]

Bale, Ramsey, Matthews + Islam Feruz and Ryan Gauld could potentially represent Scotland. Obviously you're not going to have the spine made of up Welsh or Scots because they are tiny compared to England.

It's a disgrace players like Best, Rush, Giggs, (did Jimmy Johnstone play in a WC?) didn't play in a World Cup and it will be an even bigger disgrace if Gareth Bale doesn't.

Merge the teams bros.

[Goofle]

Ramsey > Bale

[Cuthbert]

Neither are a patch on Delph to be honest.

[Unknown Soldier]

Well that was a flat and dull match, France were one of the best teams of the WC until Germany stubbed out their lights without any real problems.