So why are you commenting on a team that you've never watched ... Alderweireld is a regular in the Belgian XI as an RB ... career-wise Vermaelen, Vertonghen and Alderweireld are very similar ... Alderweireld was a key player at Ajax ... 3 succesive titles in the Dutch league (2011, 2012 & 2013) and a few cups. Eventhough he's our weakest link, he's much better than Opare who you claim to be the best in the Belgian league ... I can tell you that Opare isn't but that most likely is useless as you constantly demonstrate a huge bias ... do you even watch Standard de Liege play? PS both Vertonghen and Alderweireld fit nicely into Wilmots plans ... usually only 1 floods forward leaving behind 3 CBs ... they're a far cry from world class, but asserting that they are mediocre is selling them short.
I've seen plenty of Alderweireld at club level, but he's played CB. I've watched Belgium a couple of times during qualifying and all I can say is that the full backs were at best OK. Don't recall if that was Alderweireld, but whoever it was didn't leave a good impression. Vertonghen is a mediocre stop-gap LB, while being a class CB. Most Tottenham fans can attest to that. They find him decent enough, but keep getting irritated by the fact that the team has no proper LB. Obviously more than you do. Offensively speaking its not even debatable. All in all he's a first choice RB in Belgium's dominant club this season with some incredible defensive stats and one of the standouts for the club at Europa League level. Standard Liege has the best attack and by far the best defence in the league. Opare is a key player in that team, yet according to you Opare has no claim to best RB in the league? Besides: Why are you getting so riled up about? I didn't say you have poor fullbacks, just mediocre ones. And mentioned that both Benteke and Lukaku are in poor form lately. And who is demonstrating a huge bias?
No doubt Belgium can turn out to be the surprise team of the tournament. I already mentioned myself that draw, lucky path and a stand out player is often what is behind the success of surprise semifinalists in past World Cups and I agree Belgium have these ingredients. The difference is that I personally don't rate teams based merely on their tournament standing and, besides, with teams like Belgium there is always a (high enough) chance that they will flop instead. Anyway, one of the things that makes the World Cup interesting is that we get to see these teams and compare how they actually perform against our expectations. For now, for whatever reason, a team like Chile has managed to grab my attention a lot more than Belgium. That could very well change, but that is how I see things now.
So a few friendly wins with our third string keeper, one in some LG Cup with domestic players, etc. matter much in 2014? Not at all. And you keep saying we had pretty much the same then as we do now but that is simply not true. Only 5/11 players from that game still start for us today (one has lost his spot recently to a 20-year-old that starts for Schalke) and only 3 of those players were on the field when you scored your three goals (Spahic was taken off, our only defender that was better than average at the time, and was replaced by some no-name). You need to understand that we are a much better team now. 3/4 of your victories against us came back when we were a 4th tier UEFA side! We now have key players, like Pjanic (who was progressed a LOT since then and is one of the best young players in Europe now), Asmir Begovic (miles better than any keeper we've had in our history), Senad Lulic, Izet Hajrovic (another nice young player who recently made the move to Galatasaray and is already starting), Medunjanin (Turkish League, linked to Swansea), Mujdza (Freiburg), etc. Our difference in quality from 2009 and 2014 is amazing. Where did you read our coach saying he doesn't know anything about Iran? I haven't read anything like that yet. EDIT: Btw, wanna know our H2H record with Greece before this campaign (including results in Euro qualifiers)? It was 0-1-4.
3 quick points. 1) I don't think I said you had the same team you have now. I said you fielded the same team against Iran that you were fielding in UEFA qualifiers and that team had most of the players who are even today your top stars. 2) If I felt that these friendlies proved as much as you imagine I am saying they prove, I would never say that I rate Bosnia slightly better than Iran right now! How could I with that kind of a record? Yet, I have said that while I predict Iran to beat Bosnia, Bosnia is probably slightly better than us right now. 3) Your coach made those comments after the draw about Iran. If you want, I will try to find the link and quote him.
1) Yeah, but my point was that it doesn't matter who we fielded back in 2009. It only matters who we field in June of 2014. 2) The Greeks thought the same thing... 3) Nah, I trust you. He really is an idiot.
Nah I'm not stirred up ... instead I'm shaking my head ... I just feel that your views are a bit skewed:
Wow. You are one manipulative SOB... Take part of a quote here. Part of a quote here. Bring it out of context. And then have the audacity to pretend its a quote. Adding you to ignore. Hate liars like you. --- Will only add: Whether or not I am biased towards African teams is irrelevant with regards to a discussion that concerns Belgium and has nothing to do a any African side whatsoever.
Tone it down will you ... you demonstrate that you're a fangirl of CAF teams and players in almost every post ... the complete quotes and context would make this even more clear ... UEFA teams and players are better than you give them credit for.
Know you wrote something... Will never know what. But who cares... you tried to derail my honest argument by distracting attention to non-connected issues. Vertonghen and Alder are mediocre full backs. Discussion won. Move on and accept it.
Oh! And Vincent Kompany is a vastly overrated centerback. Plus if you field Vertonghen at LB then a benchwarming Vermaelen or a 36 year old van Buyten has to man the CB with Kompany. And Vertonghen is your best CB.
Who plays in defence for Chile? Last I heard, Demel was placed there. Chile have a really poor defence, though they press well. Their mid (Pizarro, Vidal, Valdivia) and attack (Sanchez, Vargas) are impressive but that defence wont hold.
Forgot Isla and Medel as midfielders. But somewhat true - a very iffy backline with nothing more than a decent GK behind them. Arguably Chile has the least depth of all CONMEBOL teams save for Ecuador. Crossing my fingers for them all the same and hope Vidal dominates.
Indeed, a back four that consists of Isla, Demel and Beasujour (?) doesn't inspire confidence. Vidal will have to put in quite a perfomance against the likes of Spain, Netherlands and possibly/hopefully Brazil.
I am no expert on Chile to easily discuss their lineup, but they seem to generally play a 4 back formation with Medel and Gonzalez as their CBs and Isla and Mena as their right and left fullbacks respectively. While Medel (Cardiff City) and Isla (Juventus) are listed as midfielders for their clubs, when I look at the combined transfer value of Chile starting backline, I can't see any evidence that they are as poor as you suggest! In fact, quite the opposite. Other than Gonzalez, the rest seem rather highly valued on the transfer market. What's more, I don't find any evidence from Chile's results that this backline is so problematic either.
Maybe its just me, but I don't put as much emphasis on who plays for what club and how they are doing at their club as many of you do when it comes to rating teams. Sure, I consider that as well, but ultimately what a team gets in terms of its results and how well or poorly it plays is much more signfiicant in my eyes. Even when it comes to players that I see with a lot more frequency at the club level than the players for some of these various teams, I am ultimately mindful based on Iran's experience how a players club form doesn't translate neatly into how productive somone may be for the national team and vice versa. This applies not just to players who play in foreign leagues, and all the peculiar circumstances that affect each of them differently as they adjust to a foreign environment and the differing competitions they face at their clubs, but even players who play in Iran. Quite often, our national team coaches don't select any (or certainly many) players from a club that is doing quite well in our league, while picking players from another club that isn't doing as well but whose players perform better for the national team. I mention that because I really think that sometimes many people go quite overboard in trying to figure out how a team will do just looking at the names of their players. The example between Chile and Belgium in this regard is instructive for me. Belgium might have one of the highest valued teams on the transfer market, and rate much higher than Chile in that regard who in Vidal's absence would rate quite average, but from everything I have seen and heard, Chile is probably just better than Belgium.
Spain will win this, the scores for the four knockout stage rounds are: First round: Spain 4-1 Croatia Second round: Spain 3-1 Uruguay Semi-Finals: Spain 5-0 Argentina Finals: Brazil 0-4 Spain
No....people disrespect the entire CAF confederation because of how poorly they've performed at the past two World Cups. Ghana and Ivory Coast have shown that they can hang with the big boys...everyone else is going to have to prove they can get the job done before they start getting the benefit of the doubt...look at the track record of Cameroon and Mexico at World Cups and tell me why anybody in their right mind would pick Cameroon to advance over Mexico? Since their miracle performance in 1990, the only team they've beaten at a World Cup was a 1-0 win over the abysmal 2002 Saudi Arabia team. Likewise, Nigeria hasn't won a World Cup match since 1998. Being African Champs means nothing when your entire confederation has shown itself to be rather mediocre. Note that in the 32-team era, Africa has never advanced more than one team, despite having five teams at every tournament (and six at WC 2010).
well dont know what other think.... so i will just repeat what i said before.. i think that for Croatia game vs Cameroon will be key game... and tougher that one vs. Mexico... ofc i will praise my NT, and believe what we will advance...... but let be serious... teams as Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana are "unknown" to us... we had some games vs north african teams.. and thats irrelevant... based on style of playing teams like Algeria, Morocco, Egypt better suits to us.. but due to lack of experience it would be stupid from me to disrespect others teams from CAF zone...