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If England played any of the following in a World cup/Euros knockout game, I would expect the  other team to come through, whether on penalties or in normal time: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Brazil, Argentina, Chile. Then there are the likes of Croatia, Mexico, Belgium, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, Portugal which the game could go either way and then I'd expect England to beat pretty much everyone else

And you would be disappointed. You wouldn't think we wouldn't beat USA (was it?), struggle against Algeria & Costa Rica. But the proof is in the pudding. Competition game against Greece, Ivory Coast or another S. American side with a good team at the moment and I wouldn't be confident.

 

Chile, Colombia, Belgium are comfortably better than us man. As teams and individuals.

 

Pretty sure we've faced Portugal in 3 or 4 times in major cup competitions in the last 15 years. They've beat us every single time.

 

I said Chile were better than you, I watched Colombia in the Copa and they looked s*** in the main, although they do have a good side. I don't really rate Belgium

You mentioned Chile twice. We haven't beaten a side in competition football as good as Belgium or Colombia since... Argentina in 2002 and they didn't even make it out the group. Be interested to see the teams we've beaten, drawn and lost in 30 years of comp.

Sorry just noticed that now

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Albania 22nd in the FIFA rankings, France 23rd. :lol:

 

Mike Ashley will love only having to buy from the Albanian League now.

I have been yelling about this for ages, and every time I mention it people think I am crazy or justify the ranking because it is mathematical. It is simple, Romania and Wales haven't qualified for the last two major tournaments and are ranked among the top ten team in the entire world on the back of a few recent good results in qualifiers that are amplified by the artificially high rankings of European teams. Romania are especially ridiculous. Their biggest competitive accomplishment over the past four years is beating Turkey and Greece in qualifiers, yet they are 7th. Such a ranking shouldn't be used to seed World Cup or determine work permit situations.

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Albania 22nd in the FIFA rankings, France 23rd. :lol:

 

Mike Ashley will love only having to buy from the Albanian League now.

I have been yelling about this for ages, and every time I mention it people think I am crazy or justify the ranking because it is mathematical. It is simple, Romania and Wales haven't qualified for the last two major tournaments and are ranked among the top ten team in the entire world on the back of a few recent good results in qualifiers that are amplified by the artificially high rankings of European teams. Romania are especially ridiculous. Their biggest competitive accomplishment over the past four years is beating Turkey and Greece in qualifiers, yet they are 7th. Such a ranking shouldn't be used to seed World Cup or determine work permit situations.

 

That's why though. The rankings are basically a form guide rewarding nations for winning matches, not for qualifying for things. Don't see much wrong with it whatsoever. CONEMBOL is worth more than UEFA fwiw. The other federations have a lot of shitty nations so a smaller value is needed to make the rankings somewhat fairer.

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Nah, I understand that, I just believe that is a foolish system given the things the rankings are used for...i.e. comparing teams in tournament/qualification draws. It is fine as a form guide, but in international football, tournaments are the beginning and end of everything and need to be weighted more heavily. The rankings are based on a four year window and if you fail to qualify for both of your major tournaments in that period, it should be very detrimental to your ranking.

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Jack Wilkshere loves an injury!

 

 

October 2009 - Ankle (out for five weeks)

January 2010 - Hamstring (five weeks)

November 2010 - Back (two weeks)

August 2011 - Ankle (14 months)

February 2013 - Hip (one week)

March 2013 - Ankle (four weeks)

May 2013 - Ankle surgery (seven weeks)

October 2013 - Ankle (two weeks)

January 2014 - Ankle (two weeks)

March 2014 - Ankle (two months)

October 2014 - Ankle (two weeks)

November 2014 - Ankle (five months)

August 2015 - Fibula ('few weeks')

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None of the best players that qualify to play for Albania actually play for Albania

 

Such as?

Shaqiri, Xhaka, Dzemaili, Behrami, Mehmedi(all Switzerland), Mustafi(Germany), Januzaj(Belgium), also a few Greeks

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None of the best players that qualify to play for Albania actually play for Albania

 

Such as?

Shaqiri, Xhaka, Dzemaili, Behrami, Mehmedi(all Switzerland), Mustafi(Germany), Januzaj(Belgium), also a few Greeks

 

:thup:

 

How many of those players would've realistically chosen to play for Albania anyway? Don't think any were born or raised in the country itself (and all are good enough to play for better national teams).

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Most of them were born in Kosovo to Albanian parents and then emigrated. I don't really know much about that part of the world so couldn't tell you what the chances of them playing for Albania were

 

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