Football

^This is what the US did, but it will only work up to a point. I do think the Chinese will produce better technical players than the US ever did though.

The US needs to get their top flight players to play in Europe's top 5 leagues to compete against the best players in the world.

The US needs to leave CONCACAF and join COMMEBOL to be able to compete at the World Cup imo. The COMMEBOL competition is hyper difficult and would help the US tremendously, but there will be times they don't make the World Cup though. The US will need to weigh a World Cup berth basically every 4 years or be prepared not to make it every 4 years, but be able to compete blow for blow with the world powers.

28 minutes ago, Stromboli1 said:

The US needs to leave CONCACAF and join COMMEBOL to be able to compete at the World Cup imo. The COMMEBOL competition is hyper difficult and would help the US tremendously, but there will be times they don't make the World Cup though. The US will need to weigh a World Cup berth basically every 4 years or be prepared not to make it every 4 years, but be able to compete blow for blow with the world powers.

I had some thought that the two confederations would decide to replicate the format of the Copa America Centenario on a regular basis. A recurring high quality tournament like that can only help, especially CONCACAF teams which hope to improve. Probably the most benefit would go to US, Mexico, and Costa Rica, but it could help others as well. It does not seem like there is any push by the confeds to do so.

There is some talk of a Nations League like UEFA is going to do, but that will not help in CONCACAF nearly as much as it will help in UEFA.

On the US leaving, I think CONMEBOL would like if they and Mexico asked to join. That would bring a lot of money among other things.

^The UEFA Nations League is happening and will be linked to Euro 2020 as well.

I would like the Copa America to be bigger, but COMMEBOL won't do that.

CONCACAF is stuck with the shitty biennial Gold Cup, every other confederation does quadrennial competitions.

CONCACAF even got stuck with Suriname, French Guiana, and Guyana...... COMMEBOL told them to gtfo.

33 minutes ago, Stromboli1 said:

^The UEFA Nations League is happening and will be linked to Euro 2020 as well.

 

CONCACAF even got stuck with Suriname, French Guiana, and Guyana...... COMMEBOL told them to gtfo.

Whoever came up with the idea for the UEFA Nations League should be rewarded, it's a really smart idea. Getting rid of the need to create pointless friendlies is going to good for UEFA nations, from the top to the bottom.

Those three countries are only a small part of the problem for CONCACAF. The organization is generally run by the Caribbean nations because each nation gets one vote, it can be a mess at times.

CONCACAF is dumb.

Canada, Mexico, United States, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama should all leave to go to COMMEBOL imo.

Then COMMEBOL gets 8 allotments for the World Cup, then Oceania & CONCACAF only get .5 each and playoff.

COMMEBOL World Cup qualifying could be.....

10 (North) x 10 (South) - top 4 teams in each division qualify.

4 x 5 - group winners from each group qualifies (4) and group runners up from each group qualifies (4).

Copa America

4 x 5 - top 4 teams from each group qualify for the Round of 16.

I think this could work.

^^  I would go along with that. That would be a strong confederation.

It's funny to me that OFC will start getting an automatic spot. I don't think an OFC team has won a match in the World Cup or Confederations Cup since Australia left for the AFC.

Having joined AFC principally to avoid play-offs with the likes of Uruguay under the old format, I'd be interested to know if Australia feels aggrieved at New Zealand now having a virtual clear run to the finals. You'd hope not of course, since the current arrangement affords them the long term benefit of competing against better opposition and their club sides now meeting teams from China, Japan and South Korea in the AFC Champions League.

The USA and Mexico could do well out of following a similar path, although they may have to burn a few bridges with CONCACAF in order to make it happen. Mixing it with South American teams would give them tons of experience, which will always be more conducive to making real progress at the highest level. It would be a good idea too to work towards having MLS representation in the Copa Libertadores.

Even with the OFC getting the spot, I imagine Australia still thinks they made the right decision. They needed better competition on a regular basis. If only we could get New Zealand to do the same, the OFC could be absorbed into the AFC. 

On 7/16/2017 at 6:15 PM, jkjk said:

Even with the OFC getting the spot, I imagine Australia still thinks they made the right decision. They needed better competition on a regular basis. If only we could get New Zealand to do the same, the OFC could be absorbed into the AFC. 

With Asia having nine places it honestly wouldn't be a bad thing for New Zealand to follow Australia's lead. They would still have a reasonable chance of qualifying and more opportunity to improve. It can't be easy, especially factoring in their pedigree in rugby, to create public interest in international football when their team only ever plays the likes of Tahiti.

On 7/17/2017 at 10:34 AM, Michael* said:

With Asia having nine places it honestly wouldn't be a bad thing for New Zealand to follow Australia's lead. They would still have a reasonable chance of qualifying and more opportunity to improve. It can't be easy, especially factoring in their pedigree in rugby, to create public interest in international football when their team only ever plays the likes of Tahiti.

It's even worse when you lose to New Caledonia. 

On 7/17/2017 at 2:07 PM, jkjk said:

It's even worse when you lose to New Caledonia. 

I would have to believe that even a Bellazon XI could give New Caledonia a run for their money.

Adnan Januzaj, almost certainly a candidate for Sunderland's all-time uninterested and/or twisty-faced XI, off to Real Sociedad for an eye-watering £10m. The rumours of Jose crossing the days off his calendar until the lad found his way back to Old Trafford were obviously wide of the mark.

Glenn Whelan, Big Chrissy Samba and Mo Elmohamady: yep, that's a Steve Bruce shopping cart if I ever saw one. Jeff Kenna and Clinton Morrison better stay close to their phones!

I wonder if Neymar would regret a move to PSG. The idea of leaving when you have a star on your team because you want to be the star on your own team doesn't always work out.

If true......

PSG will be thinking of the Neymar deal as more of a coup d'état than a transfer. Sure, they'd be getting one of the biggest stars in the game as part of the bargain, but being seen to wrestle him away from one of the world's most prestigious clubs affords them more street cred than any individual player could offer. Based on that premise, the more obscene the outlay, the bigger the statement.

On ‎21‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 11:41 AM, Frederick said:

Glenn Whelan, Big Chrissy Samba and Mo Elmohamady: yep, that's a Steve Bruce shopping cart if I ever saw one. Jeff Kenna and Clinton Morrison better stay close to their phones!

A bit of a curious case is Elmo. We played him at full-back, where he looked like an out of position winger and at right midfield, where he looked like an out of position full-back. It wasn't until he followed Steve Bruce to Hull that the idea of trying him as a wing-back was belatedly hit upon, and he seemingly became a decent performer. A lot of our fans would have probably turned their noses up at the prospect of re-signing him, but honestly, I'd take him over a crapkicker like Billy Jones in a heartbeat.

Maybe others always knew it, but I learned something interesting about the PSG-Neymar situation today. If PSG get him, they will have to sell a few players to make things work with financial fair play rules. That would make me not want to go there if I were Neymar, knowing the team would be weakened (at least somewhat).

^A bunch of reports were unfounded as the Neymar saga developed, until UEFA officially speaks/rules on the PSG FFP situation I won't believe any of these stories.

I would laugh if Neymar didn't go to PSG now.

It will be nice to root against Neymar again, I don't like Neymar when he plays for the Seleção. At Barca he was tolerable and masked by the team.

I guess it helps that I've been to Camp Nou twice.

^^  Maybe the FFP stuff will end up being wrong, no reason to dwell on it until it happens, I guess.

The funniest way this could go, to me anyway, is if Neymar goes and Barcelona turns around and quickly picks up Mbappe right from under Real Madrid. Maybe it's just me, but I think that would be funny.