Cote d'Ivoire 2 Cameroun 3 was certainly far from boring.

Too many class players on field there for that to happen with Drogba, Kalou, Song, Eto'o, Geremi and co.

There are possibly more mismatches in international qualifiers than most types of football, which may be the reason for this perception, but the answer to the question is obviously that all football is usually boring. Unless you give a monkey's which team wins, it is a very rare game that provides any real entertainment for the viewer. And if the team you support is playing an inferior team, only a (very rare) goal glut will satisfy. Conversely if the team you support is playing a much better team, pre-match dreams of giant-killing will almost always be dashed, leaving the viewer feeling slightly depressed at the futility of it all.

One of the more amusing traits of football commentary is "well we've played x minutes and neither goalkeeper has had a serious save to make". This comment, or a variation, can be heard in nearly all football matches. Commentators' memory banks seem to be wiped clear after every game and they go into the next one expecting both goalkeepers to be constantly fending off shots from all angles.

quote:

Originally posted by drughi:
Are you sure...

I support France

It is something like Juve squad...

Italy won WC only once ( dont count titles before War II ) and 8 out of 11 players were from Juve...

Others like ROI and Bonyek were in semifinals...I think...

I dont give a f...for Azzuri...

To support Totti and co...

I like Lippi but to prefer Totti ahead of Ale is out of mind...

I mean who is Totti, disgrace for whole Italy and player who battle vs relegation...

And Romanisti.. Juve saved you last season...not Juve, but Moggi merda...

We should have let you play in Serie B this season...

Say thanks for point vs Lazio and win in Bergamo...

But I suppose we have to take care about our nursery side...

ALLEZ LES BLEUS...

And Interjambo dont talk about things you dont understand...

Unity...did you know what Scottish fans sing when England lost vs Romania on EURO 2000...

GOD SAVE ROMANIA...yeah, they were United...

I saw few Chelsea Head Hunters in France during WC...they simply said...we would like Beckham for just one hour...there would be no teenage girl who would scream about him...

You have your club...and country is for other things...

To see Berlusconi celebrates anything would be shame for me...

You invite me not to talk about things I don't understand then you act surprised that Scotland fans might celebrate an England defeat?

You don't know sheet man

Anyway for me it's anyone against England and anyone except England against the Azzurri.

Not a popular position on here I'll bet

I do support Italy instead of England, but not having much national identity myself I'm not really that passionate about them.

No Interjambo I am not suprised...because at least I know something about being half - half citizen...and I lived in one very divided country like Belgium, once...

but you talk about unity...there is bigger difference between South and North of Italy...
it is Great Britain if we talk about unity...and Scots dont own their passport...if you know what I think...

And dont teach me international affairs...I bet you would lose in it

And amico...NON VINCETE MAI

quote:

Originally posted by drughi:
No Interjambo I am not suprised...because at least I know something about being half - half citizen...and I lived in one very divided country like Belgium, once...

but you talk about unity...there is bigger difference between South and North of Italy...
it is Great Britain if we talk about unity...and Scots dont own their passport...if you know what I think...

And dont teach me international affairs...I bet you would lose in it

And amico...NON VINCETE MAI

International affairs? I admit it's a long time ago but I did do a full year course in International Law as part of my Scots Law degree at Edinburgh University.

I think you'll find that Scotland would easily meet the prerequisites for statehood but the people have not opted to exercise their right to self determination.

More fool them but that's democracy for you

Someone said earlier about the influx of nations since 1991, it may have been Dave.

I agree that this has had a damaging effect on international football. The more exciting groups are the ones that contain nations of similar ability. The best group thus far has been the one with Denmark, Turkey, Greece and Ukraine. Closely followed by that of ROI, Israel, France and Switzerland.

I'd also agree with George about this - for the neutral, the majority of games are extremely dull, especially if the game is a bit of a mis-match. We've seen with England that supporters seem to expect a 4-0 drubbing of all but the top ten nations in the world every time England play.

In both cases, unless 'your' team/one side performs with a bit of flair and scores several goals, then it's jolly dull.

On the point of proliferation, there are 11 teams in the qualifiers who have mustered a grand total of 13 points between them over the course of 80 matches. I can't help thinking that for the UEFA affiliated teams we're getting to the point where some form of pre-qualifying is needed to weed some of the underperformers out. If the qualifying proper could be reduced to, say, 32 sides, then there would be more competitive games and slightly less dullness. Won't ever happen, of course...

You're at it again Dave. You say Joe Cole was "out of his depth" against Wales. Cole has excelled in the Champions League against the best teams and best defenders in the world, but you somehow imagine that playing against a Swansea City full-back is a step up for him. Diew diew, it's a fantasy world.

But on the point of the lack of meaningful qualification games, the problem isn't really too many rubbish teams, it's too many places available. In the good old days of 16 qualifiers, Europe only had 8 or 9 places. Now they have 16 or 17. And with the help of seeding, it's extremely rare for half-decent teams not to qualify, as was the case in the 70s and 80s. E.g. Holland in 82 and 86, England and Czechoslovakia in 74 and 78.

Worse than this though, is the fact that the World Cup itself then consists of 8 groups of 4, with (mostly) 2 competent teams knocking out 2 third-rate teams. Only at the knock out stage, 7,000 games into the competition, when one is thoroughly footballed-out, do the games become properly competitive. And even most of those are rubbish...

What is odd is that nobody seems to have pointed out that England have, bar a miracle, already qualified. Even if they lose to Poland and Northern Ireland, they will still be one of the best 2 runners up and thus qualify automatically.

Sorry Dave, that grautuitous pop was directed at your earlier post.

Pre-qualifying for teams worse than Scotland has been needed, since the early 90s, but won't happen for precisely the same reason as England continue to play cricket against Bangladesh...er, whatever that is. Money presumably, but I don't quite see for whom.

Fair enough - throw away remark about Joe Cole, which wasn't meant to be specific to his performance against Wales. 'Out of his depth' would perhaps be better as 'oddly unable to adapt to playing consistently in the England side.' He just seems to do better for Chelsea than for England.

I actually concur that there are very few international sides (Brazil, Argentina, maybe Italy(??), er... ummm...) that might possibly represent a new challenge for Cole (J) in the form of a 'step up', and maybe not even then.

My badly made point is that for some reason, his form seems to disappear when playing for England - which may be more to do with Svennis' increasingly bizarre approach to the game rather than Cole's inability to be consistent when wearing an England shirt.

It is very difficult to criticise Sven when his record is measurably superior to his predecessors'. He hasn't changed his approach since his Lazio days and probably never will. Low-scoring wins against Liechtenstein in the previous campaign were wins nonetheless and it will take Sven to do the decent thing rather than Brian Barwick (or whoever is F.A. chief this week) if England are to at least excite the crowds.

Quite. This is why Sven has been able to get away (perhaps too strong a phrase) with a team where inconsistent performances seem to cause little concern to the manager. The results have been OK (the performances less so), so he stays.

quote:

Originally posted by Bracey:
No doubt the media and the public will berate the Australians with the attire of convicts.

True. The English seem to be bad losers and winners. We like to take the p1ss out of the losers whenever we win something. Maybe it's because we're starved of success and are desperately trying to prove a point.

The Cricket was on the TV at work and the commentator said: "it's one of the greatest test matches ever". I don't know anything about Cricket but i expect he said this because we have a chance of winning.

Note: I'm English.

Interjambo one year course is not enough...but it is not important...

About
think you'll find that Scotland would easily meet the prerequisites for statehood but the people have not opted to exercise their right to self determination.

I am not so sure...why they didnt opted for it?

Lack of prerequisites...and dependancy from England, in many things...of course you know situation much better...

but

lets see if we can compare it with North - South thing...what Sicily, Sardegna,Calabria, Puglia should be without North...

dark age...my friend, third world...industry is in the Nord...

What about England - Scotland...

Chuckie, about England being such bad losers...well I think media creates atmosphere, and in Italy, there is same problem, Azzuri are rated higher they deserve...

I mean Juve is basically formed around national players...and we are very good in winning lo scudetto...and have bad record in Europe especially vs English teams...

Same players at international stage, and we believe we will win WC...it is media pumped story...Italy dont deserve it...

So there are huge expectations and then after every competition mass hysteria about loss...

Luckily real fans dont give f.......k for Azzuri...Scirea is my country...

It is funny to hate Totti on Sunday and support him on Wed...for me it is very strange behaviour...

I know many Inter,Roma,Milan fans they prefer Juve to lose than their teams to win...

So...to expect them to support Italy and Lippi...

it is out of mind...

I would never let myself involved in some clashes for Azzuri...vs some German,Dutch or English fans...

Only some stupid people like Lazio and similar extremist can believe in patria and similar stupid things...

When Juve fans hate English fans it is about Juve - Reds...nothing else...

quote:

think you'll find that Scotland would easily meet the prerequisites for statehood but the people have not opted to exercise their right to self determination

It would be a masive move for them though. Political referendums, have to trade for petrol etc.

I get sick of people asking me if i'm "going to Germany 2006?". To do what exactly? Get stuck in, yell "c'mon then, let's 'ave it!" as i walk/run backwards!

Ingerland Ingerland Ingerland!

I actually support Italy the most. They were the reason in 1982 I started watching "soccer". I even grudgingly want Juve players to excel for the Azzurri. maybe because I live over here in N. America, but it seems there are more Azzurri fans here than in italy. 80,000 at the WC semi final in 1994. Every time Italy come over, it usually is a big affair in places like Toronto, New York, Chicago, etc.. IF they bring the 1st team.

Maybe they should play the next home qualifier at Giants Stadium.

I do agree that the qualifiers are long and boring most of the time. They need to have some kind of pre-qualifiers for the smaller nations

Also, another good game out of the Mexico-USA "classico". After the USA put a 2-0 whuppin' on the Mexicans, the Mexican coach said the uSA was still bad and that his mother and grand mother could play for the USA. To which Landon Donovan replied, " Mexico sucks!"

No that's some good old fashioned rivalry

quote:

Originally posted by Duncan!:
After the USA put a 2-0 whuppin' on the Mexicans, the Mexican coach said the uSA was still bad and that his mother and grand mother could play for the USA. To which Landon Donovan replied, " Mexico sucks!"

Don't you just love that razor sharp American wit?