[maxout]

I was wondering what everybody would think of a new international competition. I realize the fixture list is already crowded, but i think this competition should replace the confederations cup and also some of the friendlies. Here is my proposal:

A home and away playoff for all countries in FIFA. You rank countries from 1-32 using the Coca-Cola Rankings system. There would thus be a maximum of 5 legs for any given team. Probably the best year for this to be played would be in the 9-12 months or so before the WC or 9-12 months before the euro. (qualifying should be finished, or almost finished by that point for MOST teams). Like I said, you could use this to replace some of the friendlies or the confederations cup. (teams that get knocked out earlier, would be able to schedule friendlies on their own)

The best part about this would be that it would be unique that it is a home-away international competition. Of course, travel costs would be high, but there is alot of travel involved with friendlies. I also think teams would be interested in this as they are likely to meet teams outside of their region.

Obviously nothing will ever rival the prestige or the WC or Euro or soon the new Copa. But I think this could serve as a interesting, tune-up competition. The golden globes to the oscars. Sort of like a preseason competition. I think its a more attractive alternative to friendlies because it is an actual competition, simulating .. to a smaller degree top flight international competition.

 

[ToniSamp]

The clubs would not be so happy to release their players for the NTs. So.... impossible.

 

[maxout]

read my post again.. i said they would replace the friendlies. I seem to recall quite a few players from major clubs playing in tune-up friendlies to the World Cup.

 

[ToniSamp]

read my post again.. i said they would replace the friendlies. I seem to recall quite a few players from major clubs playing in tune-up friendlies to the World Cup.

I read again and say the same thing: friendlies are friendlies.... a tournament is another thing.

 

[JawZ2002]

make it a torny 4 lower league players of a certain country then lol

 

[ToniSamp]

England?

:tongue:

 

[maxout]

I read again and say the same thing: friendlies are friendlies.... a tournament is another thing.

hmm.. maybe we're having a communication problem. I don't quite understand you. are you saying that clubs would release players for friendlies.. but would refuse for competitions? It would have been better if you had elaborated a bit more instead of snapping. I apologize if I'm expecting too much as english may not be your first language.

In any case, I presented the scenario as a hypothetical. I realize clubs would be reluctant to release players at crucial times, because the travel demands and injury possibility.

However 'impossible' is a bit harsh. There are alot of leagues that would not be concurrent with a good portion of the time described. (not the italian league, but several others inside and outside europe). So, it could still be atleast the level of the confederations cup (which also didn't have alot of major players)... and maybe a bit better. I guess thats what I was trying to get at.

 

[ToniSamp]

Well, I explain you: you have to consider the different mentality of american and italian people. I saw the last friendly Italy-Usa.
We won, but the USA ruled. The fact is that in Italy a friendly is a friendly, nothing more. And every time we have to play a friendly the clubs say "It's useless, our player could get injured, it would be better to avoid them...". Sometimes the clubs obtain that a player does not play more than 45 minutes (for example). The same happens with players of other countries (in particular those from South America).
Now, you can imagine if FIFA announces a new tournament (that is surely more demanding than simple friendlies) what would be the protest of the clubs!
If a tournament was not more demanding than the simple friendlies it would mean that some teams are snobbing it.

 

[Tinto]

Anything that would replace friendlies with more serious games would be a disaster. The trend should be towards fewer games - especially in years of major tournaments such as the W.C. and Euro Championships. One of the reasons the small teams did so well is that all the Euro players were dead tired from all the games. I'm talking about South Korea and the U.S. mainly.

 

[maxout]

Anything that would replace friendlies with more serious games would be a disaster. The trend should be towards fewer games - especially in years of major tournaments such as the W.C. and Euro Championships. One of the reasons the small teams did so well is that all the Euro players were dead tired from all the games. I'm talking about South Korea and the U.S. mainly.

The USA? a small team?

I wonder why a team like Brazil is doing so well, considering that most of their best players have been playing in europe. Germany? Ballack played a zillion games.. as did khan.

You also have to consider that the two 'small' teams you mentioned, USA and korea generally train significantly harder than almost all the other teams.. and this was going on well before the beginning of the world cup. its no wonder they did so well. they trained hard, and they didn't have the attitude of 'lets just get the group stages over'.. so we can get the the REAL competition.. which so many other teams did.


Also consider that approx 50% of UEFA teams advanced to every round.. so european players did pretty well. I think teams like england, portugal, and france are just making excuses. england met brazil, which was probably the most talented team left, and they had played well up untill that point. Portugal has some pretty old players that make up its core, Figo, Costa, etc. And france was blindsided by senegal in the first match.. I think they just thought victory would be handed to them.

If anything major powers need to improve their attitude, work harder, give some respect to their opponents. The rest of the world is catching up. An asian, african, or north american team might not content for a WC title.. but they can sure knock off a few of the 'bigger' teams that COULD have won it.

 

[ToniSamp]

Well, maxout, everybody is free to have his own opinion, but I think that there is something true in what Tinto wrote.
Korea and Japan, for example, prepared themselves very well for the appointment of the WC and their Leagues cannot be compared to the Europen ones. Then, as regards the J-League, they made a pause in winter and they have just begun a league in March, with a new interruption at the end of April. As regards the USA I don't know them well enough to hazard an opinion, but MLS is also not that hard.

If you read the latest interview of Zidane, he said that after this season many players from Europe where too tired and that something must change.
Then I agree with you: there are many players who did not show to be so tired (in particular those of Bayer Leverkusen, who played a complete CL + Bundesliga).