By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
lestatdark on 24 June 2010
Gnizmo said:
Slimebeast said:

Well it's partly true. For example, it's harder to qualify to the 2nd round in the Euro Cup than it is in the World Cup.

How can it be more competitive if 2 of the best teams are excluded? I don't but it for even a second. You get a lot of teams in it that would get curb stomped by most of the teams that qualify for the World Cup.

As for your second post, well I can't full disagree although I wouldn't list as many countries. England and Portugal, for example, I wouldn't really say are ones I expect to make it. Given how they have performed so far I think I can hardly be blamed either =p. They have the highest density of top talent, but that doesn't make their B teams better than A teams else where. Having the best top-end doesn't make the entire league automagically better as Japan just proved.

I disagree. Portugal's first game was pretty bad true, but Ivory Coast's defensive attitude didn't help. Funny enough they played more open with Brazil, and got tore apart

Portugal's game against North Korea, especially the second half, was the single best individual team display of offensive football in this WC so far.

Don't go saying it was just because it was North Korea. Honduras is pretty much equal to North Korea and Spain only managed to score two goals. New Zealand has also the same skill and all teams had trouble with them. And Brazil only managed to score two goals against North Korea and conceded one. 

We might not be candidates to win the WC, but to say that we're playing bad, pfff.



Current PC Build

CPU - i7 8700K 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz turbo) 6 cores OC'd to 5.2 GHz with Watercooling (Hydro Series H110i) | MB - Gigabyte Z370 HD3P ATX | Gigabyte GTX 1080ti Gaming OC BLACK 11G (1657 MHz Boost Core / 11010 MHz Memory) | RAM - Corsair DIMM 32GB DDR4, 2400 MHz | PSU - Corsair CX650M (80+ Bronze) 650W | Audio - Asus Essence STX II 7.1 | Monitor - Samsung U28E590D 4K UHD, Freesync, 1 ms, 60 Hz, 28"

Around the Network
Barozi on 24 June 2010
Gnizmo said:
Barozi said:

I agree about the last part.
But I don't know why you called the UEFA teams overrated. If you referring to the Japan - Denmark game that happened just a few moments ago, I can assure you that Denmark is probably about as strong as Ecuador or Columbia.

In my eyes they weren't the favorites in this match.

The same is true for every game of France so far this year. Only really shocked by the bad performance of Italy

I am not claiming UEFA teams are over-rated. I am saying the conference as a whole. Take Slimebeats comment as the exacts of what I was talking about. Too often I hear how anything not European is crap. Hell when I was in Germany people repeatedly claimed that the Eurocup was more competitive than the World Cup! Honestly I am pretty sure we agree on the subject based on what you are saying. UEFA has some of the best teams, but there are plenty of other countries that could compete.

I think that is true for the group stages. Also the Euro Cup doesn't have the round of 16, so the tournament seems more interesting.



Slimebeast on 24 June 2010
Gnizmo said:
Slimebeast said:

Well it's partly true. For example, it's harder to qualify to the 2nd round in the Euro Cup than it is in the World Cup.

How can it be more competitive if 2 of the best teams are excluded? I don't but it for even a second. You get a lot of teams in it that would get curb stomped by most of the teams that qualify for the World Cup.

As for your second post, well I can't full disagree although I wouldn't list as many countries. England and Portugal, for example, I wouldn't really say are ones I expect to make it. Given how they have performed so far I think I can hardly be blamed either =p. They have the highest density of top talent, but that doesn't make their B teams better than A teams else where. Having the best top-end doesn't make the entire league automagically better as Japan just proved.

For the medals it's obviously not more competitive, but what they mean is the group play.

Euro Cup has 16 teams and 8 go to quarter finals. World cup has 32 from which 16 go to second round.

So it's harder to qualify from the group play in Euro Cup than WC because the talent isn't as diluted as it is in the WC (which always has a bunch of weak teams like North Korea, Honduras, Algeria and New Zealand).

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Portugal 3 2 0 1 5 3 2 6
 Turkey 3 2 0 1 5 5 0 6
 Czech Republic 3 1 0 2 4 6 −2 3
 Switzerland 3 1 0 2 3 3 0 3
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Croatia 3 3 0 0 4 1 3 9
 Germany 3 2 0 1 4 2 2 6
 Austria 3 0 1 2 1 3 −2 1
 Poland 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Netherlands 3 3 0 0 9 1 8 9
 Italy 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
 Romania 3 0 2 1 1 3 −2 2
 France
 Spain 3 3 0 0 8 3 5 9
 Russia 3 2 0 1 4 4 0 6
 Sweden 3 1 0 2 3 4 −1 3
 Greece 3 0 0 3 1 5 −4 0


Gnizmo on 24 June 2010
zuvuyeay said:

@barozi

yes that is the world cup list to look at

@ gnizmo

i'm only talking about competetive world cup matches really,i think you're including everything

everything outside a world cup is pretty meaningless really like usa beating spain in the confederations,a good win but doesn't matter,mexico and the usa do well in world cups,but you're qualifying is easy,obviously youy'd get better qualifying from europe or south america but then you'd be in less world cups overall

in the end that list i put up shows the power houses of world cups,

obviously when someone out of the top 6 wins it,we'll all sit up and take notice

maybe spain will win this time

I'll agree that World Cup performances mean more than others. However, no matter how awesome Pele was it doesn't affect Brazil right now. He isn't playing, and if he was he certainly wouldn't be any good for the team if he was. You have to look at how the teams are performing today to see relative strengths of the current teams.

I also wouldn't completely discount the Confederations Cup. Not a huge tournament, but more than just a typical friendly. I only mentioned it because of Spain's extremely impressive win streak that it put an end to, and picked right back up afterwards till Switzerland showed up.

And yeah, USA and Mexico might as well be given an automatic spot in the round of 32 at this point. 20 years ago it would have just been Mexico though, which is part of my point. The game is evolving much more rapidly outside of Europe. In part because there was a lot of ground to cover, but also because the teams are getting better.

On a related side note I am really hoping that they start hosting World Cups in more unknown teams areas. It has done wonders for USA, Japan, and Korea. Hopefully South Africa sees a similar jump in skill but we will see.



Starcraft 2 ID: Gnizmo 229

Slimebeast on 24 June 2010
Gnizmo said:

On a related side note I am really hoping that they start hosting World Cups in more unknown teams areas. It has done wonders for USA, Japan, and Korea. Hopefully South Africa sees a similar jump in skill but we will see.

Australia is the favorite to get it in 2022. That would be cool, wouldn't it?



Around the Network
Gnizmo on 24 June 2010
Slimebeast said:

For the medals it's obviously not more competitive, but what they mean is the group play.

Euro Cup has 16 teams and 8 go to quarter finals. World cup has 32 from which 16 go to second round.

So it's harder to qualify from the group play in Euro Cup than WC because the talent isn't as diluted as it is in the WC (which always has a bunch of weak teams like North Korea, Honduras, Algeria and New Zealand).


Ah well, fair enough then. Language barrier probably interfered a bit. I did watch it by the by, so I am familiar with the results. I am still pissed that Spain won. One lucky goal! Germany was the better team.

@Lestat
I am not claiming they are complete garbage or anything, or even performing poorly. They just aren't putting on the same show as Brazil or Germany did in the first game. I wouldn't die of shock if they won, but itisn't something I expect.



Starcraft 2 ID: Gnizmo 229

Lostplanet22 on 24 June 2010
Gnizmo said:
Barozi said:

much better indicator than the other useless ranking

I'd say the Elo ranking are the best indicator of over-all quality. Belgium is on the list, but what have they done lately? Historical records are good for historical strength, but not current. That is probably one of the worst things about the current FIFA rankings. They weight games from too far back too highly.


Being very unlucky with the draws ..They had to beat Spain to qualify for the WC...If they were second in the group they had to play a Duel against Portugal. =p.



 

disolitude on 24 June 2010
Slimebeast said:

For the medals it's obviously not more competitive, but what they mean is the group play.

Euro Cup has 16 teams and 8 go to quarter finals. World cup has 32 from which 16 go to second round.

So it's harder to qualify from the group play in Euro Cup than WC because the talent isn't as diluted as it is in the WC (which always has a bunch of weak teams like North Korea, Honduras, Algeria and New Zealand).

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Portugal 3 2 0 1 5 3 2 6
 Turkey 3 2 0 1 5 5 0 6
 Czech Republic 3 1 0 2 4 6 −2 3
 Switzerland 3 1 0 2 3 3 0 3
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Croatia 3 3 0 0 4 1 3 9
 Germany 3 2 0 1 4 2 2 6
 Austria 3 0 1 2 1 3 −2 1
 Poland 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Netherlands 3 3 0 0 9 1 8 9
 Italy 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
 Romania 3 0 2 1 1 3 −2 2
 France
 Spain 3 3 0 0 8 3 5 9
 Russia 3 2 0 1 4 4 0 6
 Sweden 3 1 0 2 3 4 −1 3
 Greece 3 0 0 3 1 5 −4 0

Wow...Croatia beat Germany in Euro 2008 qualifying?

Germany seem to dominate everyone else but they really seem to have a hard time against Balkan soccer teams...

Last 4 times they played Croatia or Serbia (Yugoslavia) in euro/world cup they have 1 tie and 3 losses.

 



Lostplanet22 on 24 June 2010
disolitude said:
Slimebeast said:
 

For the medals it's obviously not more competitive, but what they mean is the group play.

Euro Cup has 16 teams and 8 go to quarter finals. World cup has 32 from which 16 go to second round.

So it's harder to qualify from the group play in Euro Cup than WC because the talent isn't as diluted as it is in the WC (which always has a bunch of weak teams like North Korea, Honduras, Algeria and New Zealand).

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Portugal 3 2 0 1 5 3 2 6
 Turkey 3 2 0 1 5 5 0 6
 Czech Republic 3 1 0 2 4 6 −2 3
 Switzerland 3 1 0 2 3 3 0 3
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Croatia 3 3 0 0 4 1 3 9
 Germany 3 2 0 1 4 2 2 6
 Austria 3 0 1 2 1 3 −2 1
 Poland 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Netherlands 3 3 0 0 9 1 8 9
 Italy 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
 Romania 3 0 2 1 1 3 −2 2
 France
 Spain 3 3 0 0 8 3 5 9
 Russia 3 2 0 1 4 4 0 6
 Sweden 3 1 0 2 3 4 −1 3
 Greece 3 0 0 3 1 5 −4 0

Wow...Croatia beat Germany in Euro 2008 qualifying?

Germany seem to dominate everyone else but they really seem to have a hard time against Balkan soccer teams...

Last 4 times they played Croatia or Serbia (Yugoslavia) in euro/world cup they have 1 tie and 3 losses.

 

You should ask the English =p.



 

Gnizmo on 24 June 2010
Slimebeast said:

Australia is the favorite to get it in 2022. That would be cool, wouldn't it?

Indeed. I think it would be better for a OFC nation to get it, but the conference is really bad so I can see why people wouldn't want to give them an automatic spot. Still given the relative proximity it might be able to bring enough attention to the sport to get the sport to be competitive. I really wish FIFA would rotate it between the conferences. I loved that idea even though it was extremely short lived.



Starcraft 2 ID: Gnizmo 229