• Have something to say? Register Now! and be posting in minutes!

World Cup Qualifiers

MrFlyingV

Flying V God
2,396
227
63
Joined
Nov 22, 2010
Location
Tri-Valley
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Germany are the good guys of 2018. Iceland will be the Cinderella we all love. Fuck Brazil.

Germany is my team but I would be very happy seeing Poland (Lewandowski) and Sweden go far too.
 

potzer25

The most eubillicant poster.
10,534
501
113
Joined
Aug 5, 2011
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,909.09
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Definitely true and the changes will be swifter and more ruthless than here. I heard the coach is already gone and 3 players have decided that is it too.....so far.

This. So much this.

Italy will come back faster and stronger than the US.

The US is apparently fine with mediocrity and it pisses me off.
 

rsw626

Ayatollah of Rock n Rolla
2,158
869
113
Joined
Oct 7, 2016
Location
between here and there
Hoopla Cash
$ 10,356.06
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Any idea on why the coach never put in Insigne? The guy is a really good striker and obviously, Italy very much needed a goal.

De Rossi thought so too. He was having a spat with Ventura about it. At half time the players should have duct taped Ventura to a toilet stall in the locker and finished the 2nd half on their own.

Yeah, there's a video out there showing DeRossi getting pissed when they told him to warm up to go on. From what I saw, the translation was something like "Why me? We need a win, not a draw" as he pointed to Insigne saying he should be the one going on. For the life of me I can't figure out why, when needing a win, were Insigne, Belotti and El Shaarawy not starting, and Insigne never came on.

Italy has a lot of problems, starting with bad coaching and an aging team. No doubt they will have a huge overhaul of the team and system, similar to how Germany did years ago, though unlike Germany who noticed the issues before they got too bad and revamped from the grassroots up, it took a huge embarrassment to wake the Italian FA up.
 

Payton

Well-Known Member
10,498
2,214
173
Joined
Aug 15, 2014
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Yeah, our failure is totally dwarfed by this. Unbelievable that Italy won't be in the World Cup.

Hard to say... I mean I know Italy is a MUCH MUCH better soccer nation than we are, but the competition in Europe is also much stiffer...

I mean, Sweden v. Trinidad and Tobago? I think our loss is clearly more embarrassing.

Honduras and Panama advancing over the United States (A country with 350+ Million citizens?)...
 

Payton

Well-Known Member
10,498
2,214
173
Joined
Aug 15, 2014
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
For me, happy to see Sweden get in...but it looked like today they had no interest in scoring. Full on defensive shell although they should have had 2 penalty shots for handballs....maybe.

ESPN had an article how Italy screwed up. One was they never played the FIFA rankings game properly and ignored friendlies losing to Haiti and Luxemburg and that affected their FIFA ranking and that put them in with Spain for Group play. Ouch. I never knew the importance of friendlies. They matter at certain times of the calendar. Groups were selected in July 2015 and your FIFA ranking that day is where you are put. That goes on Italian FA and Conte for not taking things seriously earlier. Of course the Italian cronism in their hierarchy for hiring Ventura was the other problem and probably age too...but this team was supposedly better than Conte's Euro '16 team that took Germany to penalties. That part is on Ventura.

Interesting stuff... Didn't know all that. I did wonder how Italy ended up with Spain in their group though. This explains it.
 

Payton

Well-Known Member
10,498
2,214
173
Joined
Aug 15, 2014
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
And go Ireland! Its the only nationality rooting interest I have left!

After that, probably Belgium... Just familiar with a lot of their players.

and England I suppose. Though their fans are SOOOOO funny when they lose that I kinda secretly root for failure there... LOL!!
 

rsw626

Ayatollah of Rock n Rolla
2,158
869
113
Joined
Oct 7, 2016
Location
between here and there
Hoopla Cash
$ 10,356.06
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
And go Ireland! Its the only nationality rooting interest I have left!

After that, probably Belgium... Just familiar with a lot of their players.

and England I suppose. Though their fans are SOOOOO funny when they lose that I kinda secretly root for failure there... LOL!!

Used to live there and still have a lot of friends there. Lately, England fans have actually been realistic. Whereas in the past they thought they would win EVERY tournament they were in, then meltdown when they didn't, now most acknowledge that A) they were in the easiest qualifying group and B) They will most likely either not make it out of the group stage, or will squeak by and get put out in the first knockout game, basically the "same old same old".
 

Payton

Well-Known Member
10,498
2,214
173
Joined
Aug 15, 2014
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Used to live there and still have a lot of friends there. Lately, England fans have actually been realistic. Whereas in the past they thought they would win EVERY tournament they were in, then meltdown when they didn't, now most acknowledge that A) they were in the easiest qualifying group and B) They will most likely either not make it out of the group stage, or will squeak by and get put out in the first knockout game, basically the "same old same old".

The reaction to the Iceland loss was epic though... :D
 
Last edited:

Gopherfan84

Well-Known Member
1,593
363
83
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
If you think U.S. fans are upset about missing the WC, take that and multiply it at least 10X and you'll have some idea of how angry Italy and the Netherlands are about missing out.
 

rsw626

Ayatollah of Rock n Rolla
2,158
869
113
Joined
Oct 7, 2016
Location
between here and there
Hoopla Cash
$ 10,356.06
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
If you think U.S. fans are upset about missing the WC, take that and multiply it at least 10X and you'll have some idea of how angry Italy and the Netherlands are about missing out.
True. But The Netherlands missed the last Euros also, so it wasn't a huge surprise. But the Italians are going mental.
 

MrFlyingV

Flying V God
2,396
227
63
Joined
Nov 22, 2010
Location
Tri-Valley
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
True. But The Netherlands missed the last Euros also, so it wasn't a huge surprise. But the Italians are going mental.

I heard Ventura needed a police escort and had to go out the back door to get to his home yesterday. The risk of taking on the big gig with an international giant like Italy and failing. Arena seems to already been forgiven getting the FOX analysis gig so quickly. That ain't happening for Ventura. Sucks to be him.
 

rsw626

Ayatollah of Rock n Rolla
2,158
869
113
Joined
Oct 7, 2016
Location
between here and there
Hoopla Cash
$ 10,356.06
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
I heard Ventura needed a police escort and had to go out the back door to get to his home yesterday. The risk of taking on the big gig with an international giant like Italy and failing. Arena seems to already been forgiven getting the FOX analysis gig so quickly. That ain't happening for Ventura. Sucks to be him.
Yeah, he's going to probably need to get out of Italy for a while.
 

MrFlyingV

Flying V God
2,396
227
63
Joined
Nov 22, 2010
Location
Tri-Valley
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Interesting stuff... Didn't know all that. I did wonder how Italy ended up with Spain in their group though. This explains it.

I looked back at July 2015 Fifa rankings. Dregs Romania, Slovakia, Wales, Austria, Croatia were Euro teams ranked higher than Italy then. Wow.

A couple of these teams were put in Pots as number 1 seeds of the 9 Groups but faded in strength as Group play progressed. What happened to Romania ranked #5 in Europe? Poland won that group and is much stronger than Romania now. Denmark in that group too.

Serbia won Group D. Luckiest team of all because 2015 semi-powers Wales and Austria in their group at that time both dropped off. If Italy is in that group, they are in World Cup I believe.

France was actually lower ranked than Italy then but got in a Group with the Netherlands who was the number 1 seed in Pot A. Netherlands faded too.

Poor Italy got in with Spain who has become much stronger now and is now a WC favorite.

Luck of the draw.
 

MrFlyingV

Flying V God
2,396
227
63
Joined
Nov 22, 2010
Location
Tri-Valley
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
I looked back at July 2015 Fifa rankings. Dregs Romania, Slovakia, Wales, Austria, Croatia were Euro teams ranked higher than Italy then. Wow.

A couple of these teams were put in Pots as number 1 seeds of the 9 Groups but faded in strength as Group play progressed. What happened to Romania ranked #5 in Europe? Poland won that group and is much stronger than Romania now. Denmark in that group too.

Serbia won Group D. Luckiest team of all because 2015 semi-powers Wales and Austria in their group at that time both dropped off. If Italy is in that group, they are in World Cup I believe.

France was actually lower ranked than Italy then but got in a Group with the Netherlands who was the number 1 seed in Pot A. Netherlands faded too.

Poor Italy got in with Spain who has become much stronger now and is now a WC favorite.

Luck of the draw.

Italy ( Pot 2 team) was ranked 17 in the World at that time and Croatia (final Pot 1 team) was 14. Couple extra friendly wins and they move ahead of Croatia and are a Pot 1 team with Spain but no Spain in their Group. Even in Pot 1 anyone could have gotten France. Germany could have too. Poor Netherlands (Pot 1 team) got France (Pot 2) in their Group lol.
 

bksballer89

Most Popular Member
147,460
39,350
1,033
Joined
Apr 16, 2013
Location
New York, NY
Hoopla Cash
$ 109,565.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
I just don't understand what went wrong with the Netherlands after they made it to the SF in the 2014 WC
 

Sgt Brutus

Goober
26,749
11,028
1,033
Joined
Nov 19, 2014
Location
Arizona
Hoopla Cash
$ 500.41
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
I just don't understand what went wrong with the Netherlands after they made it to the SF in the 2014 WC
Age I think was the biggest factor (also lost LVG to MANu)

Robben, Van Persie, Sniejder were the big 3 but 2014 was the last bit left in the tank for them. The younger guys haven't gelled as a team.
 

tducey

Sports discussion
14,562
2,723
293
Joined
Oct 22, 2014
Location
In a house
Hoopla Cash
$ 46,233.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Guess we now have our 32 teams for the World Cup for next year. Should be a fun event. We'll know the 8 groups on December 1.
 
Top