Jimi Shandrix Posted August 9, 2021 Author Share Posted August 9, 2021 On 04/08/2021 at 18:19, Theroadlesstravelled said: The USMNT up to 9th in FIFA world rankings. Belgium are number 1 and Brazil are number 2 so make of that what you will. Not in the slightest bit surprised by the US ranking. Think they'll be amongst the favourites in Qatar. I've been watching a lot of the MLS and its gone from a well paid retirement home for aging Europeans to one of the most skilful, entertaining leagues there is in a very short space of time. Much better to watch than the EPL or La Liga imo. A quick check on the interweb showed US born players account for about half of those playing. Belgium still being 1 and Brazil still being 2 however, show the world rankings to be seriously flawed to say the least. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonS Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 15 minutes ago, Jimi Shandrix said: Belgium still being 1 and Brazil still being 2 however, show the world rankings to be seriously flawed to say the least. The world rankings are about consistency over 4 years rather than a cup run over a month. Whether they should only be about consistency is another matter. They could give more weight to tournament success but were Greece the best team in Europe in 2001-2005? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 4 hours ago, GordonS said: The world rankings are about consistency over 4 years rather than a cup run over a month. Whether they should only be about consistency is another matter. They could give more weight to tournament success but were Greece the best team in Europe in 2001-2005? We could be here all day with the weird oddities of the FWR. Remember when the Czech Republic were one of the top rated sides in Europe, long after they'd gone off the boil? Haven't seen one in a while, but I particularly enjoyed the cranial detachments when Panama or Cape Verde would sneak above us in the rankings. "We'd batter them!" would be the cry from folk who knew absolutely nothing about how good they were (and often had daft ideas about how good we were, for good measure). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theroadlesstravelled Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 The USMNT squad for the 3 QC qualifiers. Amongst others 2 Bundesliga, 2 La Liga and 3 Serie A players didn't make the cut. A million miles away from the 2018 WC qualifiers. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 On 09/08/2021 at 11:10, Jimi Shandrix said: Not in the slightest bit surprised by the US ranking. Think they'll be amongst the favourites in Qatar. I've been watching a lot of the MLS and its gone from a well paid retirement home for aging Europeans to one of the most skilful, entertaining leagues there is in a very short space of time. Much better to watch than the EPL or La Liga imo. A quick check on the interweb showed US born players account for about half of those playing. Belgium still being 1 and Brazil still being 2 however, show the world rankings to be seriously flawed to say the least. The USA being 9th says absolutely nothing about how good they actually are. Their ranking is hugely inflated by playing rubbish opposition in the vast majority of their competitive matches. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonS Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 4 hours ago, Theroadlesstravelled said: The USMNT squad for the 3 QC qualifiers. Amongst others 2 Bundesliga, 2 La Liga and 3 Serie A players didn't make the cut. A million miles away from the 2018 WC qualifiers. That's a pretty young squad. Only four defenders older than 24, three midfielders above 22 and one forward above 22. One player in the entire squad over 28 and more than half of the outfield players under 23. Definitely a change of era for them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Shandrix Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 Cracking finale to the Kazakhstan v Ukraine qualifier. Ukraine scored what they thought was the winner in the 93rd minute only for Kazakhstan to equalise in the 95th minute. No more than the Kazakh's deserved. They kept going at it. Ukraine missed a raft of chances but were essentially every bit as shit as they were against England in the Euro's. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charger29 Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 Not exactly a good start for Ukraine in their group. Four games and four draws (two of which were against the bottom seed Kazakhstan). Luckily for them Finland and Boznia & Herz. seem to have taken a bit of a step back from a couple of years ago, so they've still have a fairly decent chance of sneaking through into the playoffs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 Ukraine were absolutely atrocious throughout the Euros, not surprised that has continued on to this window. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 On 09/08/2021 at 11:10, Jimi Shandrix said: Not in the slightest bit surprised by the US ranking. Think they'll be amongst the favourites in Qatar. I've been watching a lot of the MLS and its gone from a well paid retirement home for aging Europeans to one of the most skilful, entertaining leagues there is in a very short space of time. Much better to watch than the EPL or La Liga imo. A quick check on the interweb showed US born players account for about half of those playing. Belgium still being 1 and Brazil still being 2 however, show the world rankings to be seriously flawed to say the least. The first bit of this, followed by that final sentence, is hilarious. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 2 hours ago, Jimi Shandrix said: Cracking finale to the Kazakhstan v Ukraine qualifier. Ukraine scored what they thought was the winner in the 93rd minute only for Kazakhstan to equalise in the 95th minute. No more than the Kazakh's deserved. They kept going at it. Ukraine missed a raft of chances but were essentially every bit as shit as they were against England in the Euro's. Had it down as a draw and injury time just about finished me off! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin.Hood Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 2 Portuguese lads doing the business 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 2 Portuguese lads doing the business Luxembourg is more Portuguese than Scotland is English. Probably one for the fun facts thread, that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falkirkthebigclub Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 but he's only good for bagging a late goal in a 5-0 walkover Greatest goalscorer in the history of football. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanius Mullarkey Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 What a fucking boi. Spoiler Oireland though 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscuits Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 What a fuckin player 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blootoon87 Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 Hahaha, f**k Ireland. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welldaft Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 Honestly felt sorry for Ireland for a second. Then I remembered they appointed an utter haddy as a Manager. For that awful hair dye job alone they should be pumped. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Shandrix Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 5 hours ago, Marshmallo said: The first bit of this, followed by that final sentence, is hilarious. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheScarf Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 The Big Man eh? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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