FIFA World Cup 2022

[lanky316]

What are you talking about? I managed to enjoy the first quarter of an hour of Kidderminster/Chester and now got a referee doing all he can to help Charlton avoid humiliation in a cup competetion (there must be a better word for that) at Stockport.

[gunnar hendershow]

I'm personally very cupset that there's no World Cup I can watch during work.

[TheGrandAvatar]

46 minutes ago, lanky316 said:

What are you talking about? I managed to enjoy the first quarter of an hour of Kidderminster/Chester and now got a referee doing all he can to help Charlton avoid humiliation in a cup competetion (there must be a better word for that) at Stockport.

Missed the Chester and Kidderminster game. Luckily have found Charlton and Stockport. If you find that better word let us know what it was. As all I can think of is Charlton player's keep handing the referee money and he's helping them. 

[Pogue Mahone]

5 hours ago, Adam said:

Yeah, when I was a kid Belgium was a real nothing nation. They couldn't be considered even a good European nation really, which is why this team has been a true Golden Generation, because having KDB, Hazard, Lukaku et al in their primes together is a real change in fortunes.

I find it hard at the moment to see a way back to that with what they have coming through at the moment.

Imagine having that crop of talent and deciding Roberto Martinez is the best person to manage them. What could have been.

[Moses Julep]

This generation of Belgium players really reminded me of England from 2003 to 2010. Probably the most talented group of players around except none of them seemed like they wanted to work together and thus they constantly underwhelmed. Plus their managers seemed dodgy at best.

[Baddar]

Luis Enrique has left his role as Spain boss.

[Naitch]

13 hours ago, Moses Julep said:

This generation of Belgium players really reminded me of England from 2003 to 2010. Probably the most talented group of players around except none of them seemed like they wanted to work together and thus they constantly underwhelmed. Plus their managers seemed dodgy at best.

Sven and Capello both had pretty good resumes, they just clearly weren't capable of dealing with the lack of cohesion in the squad. In Capello's case, I'm sure that was as much down to the issues having been left unchecked for so long.

Steve McLaren, much like Roberto Martinez, was absolutely the wrong choice to manage such a star-studded team. I'm not sure who would've been a better choice at the time, mind. Maybe Allardyce, based on his strong reputation at the time, but his first corruption stuff happened around the same time so you'd just have ended up with his brief run happening a decade earlier. That would've led to Peter Taylor taking the role if the same approach was taken as in 2016, much more likely to have ended up with McLaren anyway though.

It was never going to happen but imagine if Fergie had taken on the England job in 2006?

[Chris2K]

Portugal deny Ronaldo threatened to quit the World Cup squad after being dropped.

No smoke without fire etc, and his recent behaviour would certainly make this plausible, but I also think that makes it an easy thing for a media outlet to make up.

[Moses Julep]

13 minutes ago, Naitch said:

Sven and Capello both had pretty good resumes, they just clearly weren't capable of dealing with the lack of cohesion in the squad. In Capello's case, I'm sure that was as much down to the issues having been left unchecked for so long.

Steve McLaren, much like Roberto Martinez, was absolutely the wrong choice to manage such a star-studded team. I'm not sure who would've been a better choice at the time, mind. Maybe Allardyce, based on his strong reputation at the time, but his first corruption stuff happened around the same time so you'd just have ended up with his brief run happening a decade earlier. That would've led to Peter Taylor taking the role if the same approach was taken as in 2016, much more likely to have ended up with McLaren anyway though.

It was never going to happen but imagine if Fergie had taken on the England job in 2006?

Sven was absolutely the wrong choice for the squad. With the firepower he had, how often did he simply choose to defend a 1-0 lead and get bitten for it?

Capello was fascinating because it seemed like he gave up very early into his reign. A tactical magician that’s not afraid to drop players was now suddenly toeing the English’ line of “we need to play with passion”. That’s when you knew he’d given up and that’s when you knew the environment surrounding the team was so hopeless that no one could get anything out of them.

[The Lusophone]

I mean no matter who got, they'd all have the same problems - the press's insistence on playing Lampard and Gerrard in the same team, the lack of any kind of left winger (firstly because Steve McManaman is a knob, and then because there just wasn't one) and over reliance on 'moment' players like Beckham rather than an actual style of play.

[Colly]

I do wonder if Lampard and Gerrard could have worked in a modern 3 man midfield? Sack off Beckham, play a Carrick type in the Rice role and let the pair of them interchange like Bellingham and Henderson have? Granted you have the same lack of a left sided player off the striker (Joe Cole as Foden?), but it feels less shoehorned. Still no room for those two and Scholes though.

[Bobfoc]

2006 was England's biggest chance to win a World Cup, but I think a lot of that was because there wasn't an outstanding team in international football at the time. On paper, there were several teams that could have won that tournament, and so it proved when an Italian team that probably wasn't as good on paper as those in the past came through in the end.

By 2010, Spain had emerged as the best team, rather like Brazil in 1994. At that point, I don't think even the best England manager imaginable could have won that tournament.

[Naitch]

37 minutes ago, Colly said:

I do wonder if Lampard and Gerrard could have worked in a modern 3 man midfield? Sack off Beckham, play a Carrick type in the Rice role and let the pair of them interchange like Bellingham and Henderson have? Granted you have the same lack of a left sided player off the striker (Joe Cole as Foden?), but it feels less shoehorned. Still no room for those two and Scholes though.

I like the idea of using a 3atb with wing backs, interchangeably using a Neville or Beckham, and later the likes of Glen Johnson/David Bentley on the right, with Ashley Cole being the obvious first choice on the left. Bridge/Baines/Lescott/Downing/Joe Cole is a decent depth of options depending on whether you want to attack or defend, with plenty of rotation options in central midfield (Barry/Hargreaves/Jenas) to avoid the need for playing Lampard and Gerrard at the same time. Keep Scholes post-2004 and I think that setup would've worked much better than reality showed.

@Bobfoc is right though, that Spain squad were destined to dominate. Even if England had qualified for Euro 2008 in place of Russia, progressing out of a group including Spain and Sweden, only to face eventual winners Spain again as Russia did in the semis, wouldn't have been ideal. Come 2010 and that Spain side was hitting it's stride while England were arguably at the point Belgium are now, there's no chance they were going to stand a chance.

It'll be interesting to see how Belgium regroups, I think the idea that they might struggle to find an identity until after 2026 has merit, but England's performance since 2016 (and several tournament winning sides too) shows that it's better to have a cohesive team than a star-studded one. Portugal's performance against Switzerland without Ronaldo starting is another example of that.

[gunnar hendershow]

England could've/should've won in 2006. As said it was very crowded at the top without a clear favorite. A France team most of us thought was after its sell-by date and an Italian team that just played very tough football but never blew anyone away. Germany, Portugal, England, and Brazil I remember all having some level of hype. I will say whether it be marketing or just living in the Anglosphere, the aura of England in 2006 was of a team with the most talent it had ever had. They just never had that cohesion they needed, and a lot was Gerrard and Lampard being unable to play together but surely a lot comes down to management not identifying where to put players in order to succeed.

In my memory Brazil in 94 and Spain in 2010 are the only nations that went into the World Cup marketed as the favorites and won. 2002 I recall most of us expecting a France repeat. 2006 was very much an "any of these half dozen or so teams" situation and England was certainly one of them if not at the top of the list.

[Bobfoc]

I remember Eriksson being far too attached to a particular starting line-up. It often felt like a case of trying to cram players into a 4-4-2 system, regardless of how well it utilised their skills. It took him quite a while to start Lampard ahead of Butt, even though it was patently clear who was in better form, and he persisted with Heskey for far longer than anyone thought was wise.

For those reasons, I never truly thought England were likely to win in 2006. They played a dull, ponderous style of football that wasn't ever likely to scare the best teams, and so it proved against a Portuguese team that wasn't all that impressive either. Even if they'd won that penalty shootout, I can't imagine a front line of Peter Crouch and a 17-year-old Theo Walcott would have caused France many problems.

[Szumi]

A modern day 352 could have maybe worked for England with Beckham as a WB, so long as he didn't have to maraud end line to end line like most wing backs. But it's the best idea I could fathom to make England work.

 

USMNT Twitter is an even worse place now than before or during the World Cup because Gregg Berhalter is in talks to extend his contract. Apparently our fans think that because we finally have a good amount of promising U23 players and hosting the 2026 World Cup, we could easily land Enrique, Zidane, Deschamps, Mourinho, Low, or Martinez as manager instead.

Give me Berhalter over Roberto fucking Martinez.

[Moses Julep]

10 hours ago, damhausen said:

England could've/should've won in 2006. As said it was very crowded at the top without a clear favorite. A France team most of us thought was after its sell-by date and an Italian team that just played very tough football but never blew anyone away. Germany, Portugal, England, and Brazil I remember all having some level of hype. I will say whether it be marketing or just living in the Anglosphere, the aura of England in 2006 was of a team with the most talent it had ever had. They just never had that cohesion they needed, and a lot was Gerrard and Lampard being unable to play together but surely a lot comes down to management not identifying where to put players in order to succeed.

In my memory Brazil in 94 and Spain in 2010 are the only nations that went into the World Cup marketed as the favorites and won. 2002 I recall most of us expecting a France repeat. 2006 was very much an "any of these half dozen or so teams" situation and England was certainly one of them if not at the top of the list.

Brazil were totally the favourites in 2006. Reigning champions with Ronaldinho and Kaka at the peak of their powers, with Robinho, Ronaldo, Adriano, Emerson, Cafu, and Roberto Carlos all in the background. Not to mention the coach that led to the World Cup on 1994. But this was another case of a team of individuals that couldn’t coexist and didn’t go too far. 
 

That World Cup stands out for two things for me: Italy frankly cheating in every other game to win the thing (Grosso with Australia would never happen with today’s VAR) and Zidane and Henry essentially deciding they wanted to the win the cup and playing like their lives depended on if until Henry literally keeled over in exhaustion during the final and Zidane lost his cool with Materazzi.

[Baddar]

I'm not quite sure I agree with Jurgen Klinsmann when he says Croatia are the "Brazil of Europe" with a similar style. Not exactly the vibe I've been getting.

[gunnar hendershow]

9 minutes ago, Baddar said:

I'm not quite sure I agree with Jurgen Klinsmann when he says Croatia are the "Brazil of Europe" with a similar style. Not exactly the vibe I've been getting.

They both are popular tourist destinations?

[Bobfoc]

I expect the semi-finals will be Brazil v Argentina and France v Portugal. Netherlands v Croatia and England v Morocco would be much better. You'd have three countries that have never won it before and another that's gone 56 years since winning it.