[Fee-Go]

Onefootball has reported that del Bosque is upset over national football taking precedence over club football. I dunno about you guys but he is slightly out of line here in my opinion. National team football is very important and SHOULD take precedence.

Here's bits and pieces of onefootball's article:


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Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque was philosophical on Friday after midfielders Zinedine Zidane and Santiago Solari reported back with injuries following international duty.

"Clubs are slaves to national squads," he said. "But we can't complain."

Zidane suffered a thigh injury while playing for France against Russia and Solari sprained his knee during Argentina's win in Germany.

"These are the rules and we must accept it," added Del Bosque. "I won't criticise because I believe countries must be represented by their best players and they are all proud to become internationals.

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What do you guys think?

 

[Jun-Lei]

I think Del Bosque is entitled to have his own opinions about this. You didn't post the full article, so I can't exactly gauge the extent of whether he's gone out of line.

No doubt national football is important, and especially so during World Cup season. But I think DB also realises that this is a very crucial stage for Real, as they are in contention both for a La Liga title and the CL title. Any injuries resulting from friendlies at this stage would dent not only WC hopes but also Real's title chasing ambitions. As this is the centenary year, surely Real hope to win something. If DB said anything, then he's only reflecting the concerns of club coaches worldwide who sometimes resent being subjugated to national requirements of releasing players. He's certainly not alone.

I wonder what Camacho would have to say if he got wind of DB's remarks.

 

[raul17]

I'm on the fence. I think the clubs should some say when NT is playing a friendly, but then I remember how the English clubs and Ajax bullied American players with benchings if they go. And these were Gold Cup ties which is the N. American version of the European Nations Cup!!

The English prblem is funny because one of the conditions to play in England (Britain) as a non-EU national is percentage of NT games played! Don't play enough NT ties, no work permit! Over here, MLS still have games even when NT plays!!!

 

[colocolo]

The NEVER ending battle..Club over National Duty ...In South America its worse than the worse soap opera you ever saw in your life.... Its worse than politics in all of our Banana Republics..

 

[Vampire Lestat]

I don't think he is out of line.

In the end, Clubs pay the players salaries, and while the NT has every right to prepare for the WC, sometimes the NTs don't take into consideration that simple fact.

 

[AMOROSO!]

The clubs don't only pay the players' salaries, but they also pay their medical insurance and just about everything from their electricity bill to their cars. Moreover, if someone like Zidane gets injured for 6 months, France will simply call up someone else and wait for Zidane to heal (with Real's expenses, of course) while Real not only will miss their best player, but will probably have to spend some 20 million dollars on a new player as cover if they want to do anything good.

Sometimes, the NT need to think some stuff. Meaningless friendlies are annoying for everyone.

 

[labas]

Meaningless friendlies are annoying for everyone.

The problem is most national team coaches (and if you think about it, they have a point) believe the above quote makes no sense. It's selfcontradictory.

It's annoying, but there's no way out of it. Notice they always complain when something happens? Just how it works.

 

[AMOROSO!]

Why is it selfcontradictory?

What I mean is, that of course the NT coaches should be free to pick a squad for a friendly in view of the WC, but take for examble that trip France made to Australia earlier this year? The players didn't want it, the clubs were furious and in the end France returned with Dugarry badly injured. Thats my definition of meanginless friendly.

 

[The Merengue]

I don't think we can avoid these guys being called up,especially in a World Cup year.What really pisses me off is when the selections become stupid.

Take Zidane for example.IMO,he is showing some signs of being tired.he hasn't had a weak off in such a long time,and when you're supposed to run the show for both your NT and your club,sometimes you need a break.I think Lemerre should have recognized that and given Zidane a break,and I believe it would have been to France's benefit as well.

Surely he shoudln't have been played for the full 90 minutes.I couldn't believe it really.

 

[labas]

It's selfcontradictory in the way that a national team coach will tell you there's no such thing as a meaningless friendly And how are you to argue that?:neutral:

 

[raul17]

The funny part to all of this is that the only way to eliminate the mess is to have an uniformed calendar. But it seems that NT and the clubs are against it!!! If Lennart had suggested this proposal, I thnk it would have been praised as an excellant ideal!

 

[Gwydno]

I agree with Del Bosque. The problem is that FIFA, UEFA, CONMEBOL and national associations have realized how much cash they can obtain from football, so national matches are multiplying senseless. What's the key points? They obtain the money for FREE. They just have to pick up the best players and let'em play. If they get injured or exhausted it's not their concern. I think national teams should just pay the wages of the players proportionally to the time they count on them