England

[Astroblack]

Why is Curtis Jones at right back? 

[La Parka]

Just now, Astroblack said:

Why is Curtis Jones at right back? 

Because Tuchels an edgelord 

[Stifler]

Just now, Mazzy said:

Yeah let's just have a Super League World Cup. Same 32 teams every four years, no need for qualifying then. Fuck qualifying, as long as your  country is one of those 32, who cares, right? 

 

Africa, Asia, and North America all have different stages to their qualifying process, where the weaker teams enter earlier on.

South America doesn’t do it because of the lack of teams, and the vast majority of them don’t have such a vast difference in quality.

Nations like Andorra hanging on for the first half an hour of a match and ultimately going down by a comfortable scoreline does nothing to help them.

Lets them and the likes of San Marino etc all do an earlier qualifying phase.

[Joe1984]

This has been inspiring stuff so far.

 

I'm off to the bookies to stick £10k on it coming home... 🙃

[La Parka]

James off at HT - colwill on. Move burn LCB. 

[Tonalis Bookie]

id like us to sign Noni so much

[toon25]

7 minutes ago, Mazzy said:

 

Yeah let's just have a Super League World Cup. Same 32 teams every four years, no need for qualifying then. Fuck qualifying, as long as your  country is one of those 32, who cares, right? 

 

 

That's not the fucking point though is it mate. If you enjoy this sort of fare, good on you, but don't tell me there isn't a better system to ensure meritocratic development of smaller footballing nations that this shite.

[Mazzy]

Madueke the most impressive so far 👀 

[David Edgar]

Shit selection of players. Shit half. Oh.

[54]

I'm only half paying attention, but is this game half as turgid as I think it is?

[Joe1984]

Just now, 54 said:

I'm only half paying attention, but is this game half as turgid as I think it is?

Probably more than half...

[Joe1984]

3 minutes ago, David Edgar said:

Shit selection of players. Shit half. Oh.

Lee Dixon on comms too.

[La Parka]

Got the resistance bands out it's that shit. 

[ponsaelius]

16 minutes ago, Stifler said:

Africa, Asia, and North America all have different stages to their qualifying process, where the weaker teams enter earlier on.

South America doesn’t do it because of the lack of teams, and the vast majority of them don’t have such a vast difference in quality.

Nations like Andorra hanging on for the first half an hour of a match and ultimately going down by a comfortable scoreline does nothing to help them.

Lets them and the likes of San Marino etc all do an earlier qualifying phase.

 

The likes of CAF, AFC and CONCACAF mostly have qualifying systems like that because of the size of those continents and the developing nature of many of these countries. Travel costs and lack of infrastructure makes it difficult for them to compete in longer qualifying campaigns without subsidisation so they are weeded out early on.

 

It is very much a bug and not a feature though - and certainly not conducive to them developing as footballing nations. Many countries don't play very regularly, good players don't commit to playing for them etc.

 

Europe is a smaller continent generally and even the micronations are wealthy countries with established football infrastructure and who can easily afford travel costs. The UEFA system of qualifying contributes to allowing all countries to play regularly against all different standards of opposition. This is one of the main reasons Europe has by far the most strength in depth of all continents and why even countries once considered minnows (e.g. Iceland) are able to qualify for world cups. Having 2 games every four years against a genuine minnow like Andorra is a small price to pay for the overall benefits of the qualifying system.

 

 

Edited Saturday at 16:48 by ponsaelius

[Novocastrian]

11 minutes ago, Tonalis Bookie said:

id like us to sign Noni so much

I would prefer him to Elanga.

[ponsaelius]

Elanga would have a hatty against these pyrenees postmen 

[Displayname]

Why is he bringing in a soon to be 35 year old Henderson? 

[toon25]

5 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

 

The likes of CAF, AFC and CONCACAF mostly have qualifying systems like that because of the size of those continents and the developing nature of many of these countries. Travel costs and lack of infrastructure makes it difficult for them to compete in longer qualifying campaigns without subsidisation so they are weeded out early on.

 

It is very much a bug and not a feature though - and certainly not conducive to them developing as footballing nations. Many countries don't play very regularly, good players don't commit to playing regularly etc.

 

Europe is a smaller continent generally and even the micronations are wealthy countries with established football infrastructure and who can easily afford travel costs. The UEFA system of qualifying contributes to allowing all countries to play regularly against all different standards of opposition. This is one of the main reasons Europe has by far the most strength in depth of all continents and why even countries once considered minnows (e.g. Iceland) are able to qualify for world cups. Having 2 games every four years against a genuine minnow like Andorra is a small price to pay for the overall benefits of the qualifying system.

 

 

 

 

In the last few months England have played Greece, Albania, Ireland and Latvia. It's hardly just 2 games against one shite nation. (I'm not saying that those nations are minnows btw, but in footballing terms they're still the equivalent of L1 dross)

 

 

Edited Saturday at 16:52 by toon25

[ponsaelius]

2 minutes ago, toon25 said:

 

In the last few months England have played Greece, Albania, Ireland and Latvia. It's hardly just 2 games against one shite nation.

 

So what? They should earn qualification. I'm not sure what the issue is here other than you don't find qualifying entertaining which is fundamentally not the point of it.

 

Greece have won more international tournaments this millennium than England, maybe they should start later on.

 

 

Edited Saturday at 16:53 by ponsaelius

[David Edgar]

Just looked at the bench and it doesn't excite me much. 

[toon25]

1 minute ago, ponsaelius said:

 

So what? They should earn qualification. I'm not sure what the issue is here other than you don't find qualifying entertaining which is fundamentally not the point of it.

 

Greece have won more international tournaments this millennium than England, maybe they should start later on.

 

 

 

 

Knew that shite would be trotted out as soon as I pressed reply. 

 

As to the first point, from a personal perspective I just can't see how these sort of games are worthwhile in any sense. 

[Tsunami]

Karen name shaming BDB for not creating openings in the 1st half. 

[La Parka]

These McDonald's adverts are so tight if you are blind. 

[ponsaelius]

6 minutes ago, toon25 said:

 

Knew that shite would be trotted out as soon as I pressed reply. 

 

As to the first point, from a personal perspective I just can't see how these sort of games are worthwhile in any sense. 

 

I've just explained why they're worthwhile. They provide regular football for all nations against different opposition, allowing them to develop and improve. Europe is strong largely because of this fact - even if any country under about 15 million population inevitably will go through noticeable peaks and troughs between generations. IE from winning tournaments and regularly qualifying to being 'shite'.

 

International football at qualifying stage isn't supposed to be entertainment really. It's a necessary means to an end and should also serve wider development of football. You don't have to watch it.

 

 

Edited Saturday at 17:05 by ponsaelius

[Tsunami]

What a team……