World Cup

[atlantacowboy]

Better opening game from England than usual in a WC. I'm pleased with this win! We'd have won 2-0 probably if not for some absolute rubbish officiating.

England usually dominates play but has trouble scoring. Almost bit them in rump again yesterday. Harry Kane is the man.

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

Ireland would top qualifying in Asia, Oceania, Concacaf and Africa. Would finish in the top 3 in South American qualifying.

Lol must be a once every 4 year soccer fan. You have no idea what you’re talking about. They couldn’t even qualify in a group with Serbia , Georgia , Wales.

 

[jterrell]

I disagree. Irelands starting lineup in competitve games is made up of mainly experienced English Premier League players. Outside Brazil and Argentina, very few south american teams would be made up mostly of players playing in the 5 big pro leagues. Ireland would match up very well in this company.

Also disagree on the Northern Ireland thing. No player in the Northern Ireland squad would make the Ireland team. Because people born in N.I. are also entitled to an Irish passport most good players routinely declare for Ireland. The current Ireland team has a number of N.I. born players (and Manager!) and so is in reality an all-Ireland team.

I am giving you actual scores of games played recently and you are talking about your opinion, lol.
Chile went to Europe and played major European sides and finished 2w-1l-2d.
They played the 2017 Confed Cup(the baby world cup) and finished 2nd beating a good Portugal side in the Semi-finals before losing 0-1 to Germany.

I am a fan of the Irish and root for them (outstanding, goosebump inducing chants/songs) but that side is not very good.
Northern Ireland has a lot of talent and if combined yes they would be far better.
No different than how good Russia would be with Ukraine and others added.

South America is the toughest region to qualify because they really have no bad teams. They lack the obvious depth of Europe where 52 teams compete but the 10 or so they do have are akin to the SEC.
Europe has the majority of the top 20 to be sure. But they also have a high number of very poor teams from tiny tiny nations that rank outside the top 175.
UEFA is set up so that the top 16 get a real shot at the Cup. 13 of them go so 3 decent squads get left out after losing a home and away. And 1 or 2 sides probably sneak in that aren't really World Class quality but hit a good run of form over the home and away. BOTH Northern Ireland and Ireland made that final 16 and combined obviously would have made the top 13 to get bids.
Russia is currently rated so poorly because they didn't have the qualifying matches to boost rankings as they were an auto-bid as host.

Europe has the best leagues by far but championship players and bench players and such are not the same as EPL/LaLiga/Bundesliga stars.
Irish players aren't exactly at Barcelona or Man City or Real Madrid or the likes.
Many. many of those players are not world class but merely really good professionals.
South Americans number many of those actual stars. For again a region with 20% the number of teams of Europe.

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

He usually does.

Ronaldo and Messi score about the same rate as the other.

The difference is Messi is better at getting others involved. He’s a better all around player then Ronaldo.

And Messi just has the magic. Like Michael Jordan if not better type of magic.

Today was a very bad day though.

Except for when Messi plays for Argentina. Ronaldo has won 3 straight player of the years and right now he’s been better.

 

[CATCH17]

Except for when Messi plays for Argentina. Ronaldo has won 3 straight player of the years and right now he’s been better.

Ronaldo has had better seasons as of late.

He’s still not better and Messi trails him by a few years and still has time to add to all he’s done that’s already on par with Ronaldo..

Also, the Messi and Argentina thing should be put to rest after he got his team to the World Cup final last time.

That team is poorly managed.. For all of the players they have they can’t figure out the best chemistry.

Who has produced better then Messi for that team? Even Aguero struggles.

 

[csirl]

Lol must be a once every 4 year soccer fan. You have no idea what you’re talking about. They couldn’t even qualify in a group with Serbia , Georgia , Wales.

Definately not. My family has been involved in soccer for generations.

Irelands record against African teams is:
W9 L1 T3 80%

And the teams played are all among the continents traditional best - Algeria, Cameroon, Tunisia, Egypt, Morroco and South Africa.

82% record against Asian teams.

Ireland should have qualified for the current WC but unfortunately are handicapped because the main sponsor - who pays the coaching staff salaries - is a fan of Roy Keane and so Roy has to be one of the coaches .

 

[uvaballa]

Good wins for Japan and Senegal.

 

[jterrell]

Definately not. My family has been involved in soccer for generations.

Irelands record against African teams is:
W9 L1 T3 80%

And the teams played are all among the continents traditional best - Algeria, Cameroon, Tunisia, Egypt, Morroco and South Africa.

82% record against Asian teams.

Ireland should have qualified for the current WC but unfortunately are handicapped because the main sponsor - who pays the coaching staff salaries - is a fan of Roy Keane and so Roy has to be one of the coaches .

I can't debate the inner workings of the team with you only the results
The last two games Ireland played versus South American teams they lost 3-1 both games. Mexico and Uruguay.
In Euro 2016 they finished 3rd in the 4 team pool. 2 Goals scored.
In WCQ they finished 5W, 4D, 1L. Not a bad showing but Moldova and Georgia should have been 4 easy, easy wins.
FIFA has Ireland the 20th rated Euro side. 2 slots below Northern Ireland.

Africa and Asia both have far weaker teams than CONCACAF or certainly than CONMEBOL which is easily the strongest group.
10 South American teams and 8 of those rank in top 33 of FIFA. Lowest is 60th.

 

[jterrell]

Good wins for Japan and Senegal.

Tough officiating day.
Poland and Columbia both have gripes. Very early red card and such.

 

[The Fonz]

Russia is unbeaten against African countries can Egypt end that streak today? I doubt it.

 

[csirl]

I can't debate the inner workings of the team with you only the results
The last two games Ireland played versus South American teams they lost 3-1 both games. Mexico and Uruguay.

Ireland WON 3-1 against Uruguay last June. And it was a comfortable 3-1 win.

I'm not going to argue over European results. My point is that a lot of supposed mid ranking Europeans would qualify if they played in South American qualification. I think South America is over represented in the WC due to FIFA politics.

My view is that places should be determined by results. Should be 4 qualifying zones: Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia/Oceania. Each should havd only 4 automatic spots. The remaining 16 should be based on results alone - each zone getting a spot for each team that reached the final 16 in the most recent tournament. This would be fair to all regions.

 

[joseephuss]

Tough officiating day.
Poland and Columbia both have gripes. Very early red card and such.

Why would Colombia have a gripe? That was the easiest call for a ref to make. The Colombian player stuck his arm out denying a goal scoring opportunity. The ref has no choice, but to issue a red in that situation. It was a dumb play that cost his team.

 

[daschoo]

Also disagree on the Northern Ireland thing. No player in the Northern Ireland squad would make the Ireland team. Because people born in N.I. are also entitled to an Irish passport most good players routinely declare for Ireland. The current Ireland team has a number of N.I. born players (and Manager!) and so is in reality an all-Ireland team.

No offence but that's just entirely ignorant of the political situation in the 6 counties.
Also pretty bizarre that Roy Keane being assistant manager is the only thing stopping the Irish.

 

[uvaballa]

Tough officiating day.
Poland and Columbia both have gripes. Very early red card and such.

You thought that red card was a bad call? A blatant hand ball to stop a goal?

Reminded of that punk Sanchez’s hand ball against Ghana in 2010.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

England usually dominates play but has trouble scoring. Almost bit them in rump again yesterday. Harry Kane is the man.

Yeah, Harry Kane was the man for us. And he'd have had more if he weren't being fouled inside the box as much as he was.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Tough officiating day.
Poland and Columbia both have gripes. Very early red card and such.

I saw the video (missed the match due to schoolwork and work) of the handball in question, and I did see it as a deliberate hand ball. Normally, a yellow card would be sufficient for such a situation. However, as the infraction resulted in, what seemed to be, a clear goal being scrubbed, a penalty being awarded and a red card seemed fair to me for that infraction.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Russia is unbeaten against African countries can Egypt end that streak today? I doubt it.

No, 3-1 to Russia was the result.

 

[daschoo]

You thought that red card was a bad call? A blatant hand ball to stop a goal?

Reminded of that punk Sanchez’s hand ball against Ghana in 2010.

The one today was an idiotic thing to do 3 minutes in, given the situation the Suarez one he did the right thing.

 

[jterrell]

You thought that red card was a bad call? A blatant hand ball to stop a goal?

Reminded of that punk Sanchez’s hand ball against Ghana in 2010.

That early in the game during a tournament I would have went yellow.
If only to avoid being in the record books for earliest Red card given in a WC game.
But it wasn't a terrible call, just a game resulting one.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

That early in the game during a tournament I would have went yellow.
If only to avoid being in the record books for earliest Red card given in a WC game.
But it wasn't a terrible call, just a game resulting one.

Regardless of when that happens, that's a straight red for me. You can't just use your hand on a ball that is a clear path to goal. It's always a red card for me.