International Thread Part Trois

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Good draw in the end for 10 man N. Ireland.
Ireland win 1-0. Cedric comes on for Portugal who finally score in the 92nd minute against Albania and win 1-0.
 
TheSecondStain said:
Well Rep of Ireland beat Georgia 1-0 to make a trip to the Euros looks more likely.
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I'm not so sure TSS. I'll have to check the tables, but I've a feeling they have Germany and Poland left to play. If I'm correct, that may even leave the door open for Scotland to pip them to third. I can't see ROI getting top two.
 
The Ides of March said:
I would love Turkey to qualify. For years they have underachieved. I can imagine there are games of football being played on every street corner in all the major cities and towns in that country. By contrast, the game has been anaesthetized in many of the major European countries and is played in "surgeries" where it is all down to coaching. Maybe that is what has happened with the Dutch game? Too much coaching from an early age. England do not have anyone with the imagination, talent, or creativity of the greats of yesteryear and I attribute this to what has happened.

Here in Mallorca the game is still played in the barrios in parks and in the school yard, and this is where players learn to be creative and skilful and then harnessed in the academies of the clubs the length and breadth of the Iberian Peninsula.
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Very good point. In terms of investment in football, Croatia is nowhere near not only the strongest european nations, but also not near average nations like Austria or Switzerland. And yet, we keep producing great players. Who can explain how a country populated with only 4 milion people can have three players playing in two biggest teams in the world (Modrić, Rakitić, Kovačić). We don't have money to invest, we certainly don't have good facilities, we barely have any uefa qualified coaches. But what we have is this culture of football. We have young kids playing on the streets every day, playing before school, playing after school. Not as much as when I used to be a kid about 15 years ago, which is expected given the nature of society in which we live today which revolves around the use of technology (a lot more kids playing computer games or looking at their smart phones then before) but still a lot.
 
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Tennis balls, squash balls, bouncing rubber balls and even small stones. The training equipment we used to use on the play ground, the street and even the pavements when I was a lad.

I do believe there is a lot to be said for the change in kids honing of skills these days.

Going to Ides' point though, I still don't care for Turkey qualifying though.
 
davecg69 said:
Exactly. I think it was nailed earlier on - football in much of Europe has become too technical, some coaching has taken the pure talent out of players ..... Where are the truly spectacular players now? Lionel Messinsets Europe alight, but he's not European. Where are the Del Pieros, Platinis, etc? And England have no one .....
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England have Oxlaide-Chamberlain. And Wales have Bale. Could be a pattern there.

Anyway, these things are cyclical.
 
What do you make of the Jack Grealish situation? Can't make his mind up between playing for England or Ireland...now Hodgson has asked him to decide. The other home countries and ROI have always had to consider players with mere links (tenuous or otherwise) to their country, whereas not so common for us. Grealish obviously wants to consider how many games he will get for England compared with Ireland...he is seeking the best of both worlds. Hodgson has shown interest, but can obviously make no promises. Is he the next best thing? Should we give him more time or should we just say that as he is not committed to England (but is making a career decision) he should just go with ROI. I feel sniffy about it, but on the other hand the other countries have to be pragmatic, so should England be the same.
 
Jack Charlton was adept at digging out sufficient Irish ancestry to qualify English born players to put on the green jersey. I've no idea how Irish Andy Townsend, Phil Babb or Tony Cascarino considered themselves, but I imagine they took purely career decisions.

Jack Grealish's circumstances may be different. He has played gaelic football, including at Croke Park, so his Irish heritage is probably a big part of his identity. Perhaps he genuinely feels torn about which country he wants to represent; perhaps he is also considering his family's wishes. And perhaps, given the absurd weight of expectations still burdening the England team, he'd have more fun playing for Ireland.

Good luck to him anyway. Here's hoping he turns out to be a) the real deal, and b) English.
 
I suppose an idealist would quote JFK's words: "Ask not what my country can do for me, but what I can do for my country." In that context, Ireland probably need Grealish more than England do, so there is no contest. But then we are talking about footballers here so who knows?
 
Figures released reveal for the first time that players wages exceed transfer fees (worldwide, not just us). A word of caution for those who complain we have a massive surplus from transfers sitting in a bank vault...that money needs to be set aside to pay contracts. Not as straight forward as £20 million - £10 million = £10 million.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...player-wages-hit-4bn-transfer-fees-2-7bn.html
 
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