I've never held much of a torch for international football. As an Englander I find the whole 'optimism' spectical (or lack of it) a total turn off.
Week to week football keeps it going for me and I shudder how the manager monitors his mobile on the whereabouts and injuries of his squad.
These international breaks are massively dispruptive in terms of team performance at our level and upwards.
What do others feel?
I feel that the League program is an interruption of International Football, and fortunately the next break is coming soon in November I am to understand. 👍⚽️
I suspect a lot of torches went out all over the U.S.
I enjoy both. Despite the upheaval it causes, international football does bring a different dimension to the game.
Said many times before that International football no longer holds any interest to me and unless a Fulham player is involved I don't care. It feels old fashioned and just boring now. I don't know half the players who turn up for England yet could happily name the England squads during the 60s through to the 80s.
Nothing to feel proud at and the sooner we stop the pointless flag waving the better.
It would make more sense if we had league 11s playing each other.
Quote from: cottage expat on October 11, 2017, 09:23:30 PM
I enjoy both. Despite the upheaval it causes, international football does bring a different dimension to the game.
I agree 👍⚽️
In a world that is becoming increasingly divided and poo. International sport is pretty much the main thing that brings countries and people in general together, and being the number 1 sport in the world (sorry Americans, but it is) international football is hugely important.
I get that a lot of Englishmen seem to feel some divine right to success and are constantly annoyed that the England side rarely fail to disappoint, but that is completely missing the point of the whole thing. The fact that English fans feel no sense of pride these days is more to do with the FA and English culture then the value of International football. If England were not as terrible as they have been the last 10 years, I'm sure there would be a hugely different feeling towards it.
For the sake of disrupting a domestic teams momentum, its absolutely worth having the international breaks in football. Every team has the same week off, so it's up to the coaches to have their players ready to go.
The mild inconvenience of not getting to watch your domestic team for a few weekends a year is more then repaid by the big shows. The vibe an atmosphere around the world cup, and the various continental cups are brilliant and the most fun and unifying events on the calendar. Even when I was living in Canada, a country where "Soccer" sits somewhere in between Basketball and Lacrosse in terms of team sport popularity, Every pub with TV's in the city was rammed full expats from everywhere during the Euros last year.
The potential injury that comes from internationals is the main worry, but it also gives a lot of players an added incentive to play their absolute best for their club teams to try and get selected for their national team (to play well for their national team and end up hopefully finding a better contract at a bigger club).
I don't care about international football now, and neither do many England players.
The magic of international football for me was every four years a month of televised football in an age when there was scant live TV coverage, with the European tournament a decent "filler" halfway through the wait to the next World Cup. It hasn't really changed much, but the world around it certainly has, with televised live football practically a commodity now. Bit like having salmon for tea really. If you'd told me forty years ago just how accessible it would become, I'd have been gobsmacked and imagining utopia.
Having seen the '66 World Cup win, the magnificent side we had in '70', the '86 Hand of God the '90 semi and the 96 semi I feel I need a break from internationals now. Some of the nonsense spouted by coaches after a really lame showing, talking platitudes of drivel, I find insulting. I have sympathy for the England players, I really wonder what is said to them when training or just before they take to the pitch. I read that when asked about England's poor showing against Iceland last summer Hodgson said recently, 'I think the players froze....' emm. fp.gif :doh: :022: :58:
Don't get me wrong I want to see the national side well. I used to enjoy internationals. I always watch the games but the last one by half time I had had enough.
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It is the clubs with money and the richer players who now dominate the game of football with 'live' supporters marginalized both by the cost of watching and a media dominance since they are holding the purse strings of revenue to keep the largesse within the game at an all time high. I see little difference in the product of International football and games at top tier league level with outcomes often being too predictable when football should always be a serious level playing field competition in which the inevitable happens only as often as reasoned chance allows. That is why I enjoyed the Wales v Rep of Ireland game which could have gone either way. I also like watching youth games where players are not yet so well versed in the cynical arts and crafts or too frightened to express themselves. I don't much care for the International 'holiday' idea but the alternative is postponements for teams losing players and so either way we put the league games on hold. The game is where it is and I am just grateful I have had the opportunity in my lifetime to see so many great players in the flesh without needing bucket-loads of filthy lucre to fuel my love for footie.
Football needs to break the stranglehold the media and richer clubs have on it and get fans back through the turnstiles prepared to watch any game as long as it is a good one.
Easy to get a football fix these days.Different in years passed when all you could get was the big match and match of the day.You could also watch England games and the European games on the box.I used to watch these avidly getting behind any British club. Hasn't got that appeal to me anymore. Only interested in Fulham.Weirdly prefer watching England at Cricket and Rugby probably as it has not been over exposed Yet.
A lot of the problems with international footie come across as people just being disillusioned that England aren't performing well. Especially when people are lifting up the 60's as a golden age for international football. It was just as pointless back then.
This wouldn't even be a discussion if England had won anything in the last 50 years. It is a mix of entitlement and mediocre results. Like Arsenal or Liverpool fans.
People complain that they have fallen out of love with league football because they are a bunch of 'over-paid mercenaries' which is understandable but at least international players are not motivated by money since I think the fees are minimal in comparison. Unfortunately, it rarely makes the game more entertaining but when you see tiny Iceland qualifying and the improvement in self-esteem that is generated in these smaller nations when they achieve a modicum of success ('Maggie Thatcher, your boys took one helluva of a beating') one has to warm to international competition.
As it was the England team that delivered the greatest moment of my sporting experience, it would be churlish of me to forsake them when they are going through a brief (51 year) fallow patch.
Who else could I support anyway? 'Vamos, vamos Argentina' doesn't really cut it for me.
Sure they are currently devoid of real world class talent and play with all the flair and excitement to be expected of a team coached by Gareth Southgate but, it seems to me, I am stuck with it.
Being a football junkie I can't not watch.
This is a very interesting discussion...
I have always absolutely loved international football, until quite recently. I get really excited in the lead up to a tournament, get a wall chart of the matches, plan what matches i'm going to watch etc.
That all ended with the last Euros for me.
England have put in abject performances in the past - a particular low point being losing to 10 man Brazil in 2002. But in that game, there was at least some fight and some excitement in the first half.
At the 2016 Euros, there was nothing, in any of the matches. The Iceland game was just the icing on the cake - Sterling boots the ball out of play and leaps over the goalkeeper to get us a totally undeserved penalty and what happened next was simply beyond belief! I was actually praying that we didn't grab an equaliser, we didn't deserve it. Why weren't we just absolutely battering them??? Throwing everyone forward and launching ball after ball into the penalty area? Anything but the turgid pass, pass, kick it out of play which seemed to be the actual gameplan!
The recent qualifiers, I gave up after 10 mins of the first game and didn't even bother with the Lithuania game!
I am really hoping that my excitement is once again piqued by the impending World Cup, but i am not hopeful at the moment
Nostalgia for international football is not what it used to be. :005:
Totally predictable, seeding (like tennis) determines which teams get a free pass. Why bother with qualifiers.?
The nonsense of it all was summed up last week. To determine the best 8 out of 9 second place teams for play-off games, results against the bottom team in each group will be removed from the equation. So, WHY have those teams in the group in the first place. (Andorra, san Marino, etc).
Have a pre qualifier for the minnows to enter the qualifiers? One problem, that might include my team....Scotland. fp.gif
Quote from: jarv on October 12, 2017, 04:06:01 PM
Nostalgia for international football is not what it used to be. :005:
Totally predictable, seeding (like tennis) determines which teams get a free pass. Why bother with qualifiers.?
The nonsense of it all was summed up last week. To determine the best 8 out of 9 second place teams for play-off games, results against the bottom team in each group will be removed from the equation. So, WHY have those teams in the group in the first place. (Andorra, san Marino, etc).
Have a pre qualifier for the minnows to enter the qualifiers? One problem, that might include my team....Scotland. fp.gif
I agree. I would bracket Gibraltar with that. It is not being snobby. I recall Jimmy Greaves being interviewed at halftime once when we were playing Andorra. He said 'Who on earth are this lot? I could get me boots on for them!' and he was rapidly ushered away from the camera.
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At first I was gobsmacked over the USMNT loss to Trinidad and Tobago, but now I'm just sad about it.
Quote from: Forever Fulham on October 13, 2017, 11:30:08 PM
At first I was gobsmacked over the USMNT loss to Trinidad and Tobago, but now I'm just sad about it.
Exactly. At least England made it. Embarrassing that USA can't even qualify.
Thank God for the Women's national team. Roll on World Cup 2019 since the men can't get it done.
Of course there has to be a place for international football but I am not at all happy with the way it continually interrupts the domestic programme. Could the international Perhaps more of the international friendlies and qualifying matches should be played in the summers when a tournament is not being played.
I think I may have said this before, pity Internationals can`t just be played mid week, If a player gets injured or suffers from jet lag and misses a game, tough use your reserve players. Rant over. I`m going down the Pub. 092.gif :beer:
