I doubt either the Netherlands or Sweden would be seeded. Seeding would be based on FIFA rankings and the Dutch and Swedes are quite low there. The likes of Ireland/Wales, Iceland/Turkey, No. Ireland and Slovakia would be seeded above them.
Disgusting things happened yesterday in Zenica. Bosnian fans attacked to Greeks, Bosnian assistant manager hit one of our players (Gianniotas) in the face and broke his teeth. Dzeko once again with his usual shitty character. I guess UEFA isn't bothered to ban these people...
Other possible seeded teams are Ireland/Wales/Serbia/Montenegro/Romania/Denmark/Czech Republic/Greece and onl ireland from these teams is in the top 30 right now. Either Netherlands or Sweden will be still in the top 4. Only if Iceland finishes 2nd will they be Unseeded.
I think Iceland will finish 2nd however. They have a great team and really sacrifice for each other. Turkey and Ukraine are good teams, but I think Iceland is slightly superior. They definitely have the better manager to both Turkey and Ukraine. They might even take something vs Croatia tomorrow. I am predicting a draw, as it will be in Iceland.
Anyone here think that Macedonia has a chance to take any points from Spain tonight? They are playing in Macedonia, and there was a huge scare when we played them when they were 2-1 up. What do you all think? We really need it to happen, in order to move to the top of the group. Of course if we beat Spain in Spain next game that will do it, but I am hoping we can get a head start before that. Also it won't be easy to beat Spain in their own home, although it can be done by Italy. Any of you think Macedonia have a slight chance of snatching at least a draw?
Macedonia just got a 0-0 draw with a team much better than them, Turkey, albeit Spain is better than Turkey. The Intertops odds have these probabilities: Macedonia win: 4.9% Draw: 12.7% Spain win: 82.4%
I think its quite hard. Macedonia is not interested as they know they cant finish higher than 3rd. Damn , these groups literally give no chance from any other team other than Spain/Italy Sweden/France/Netherlands and Portugal/Switzerland to qualify in the play offs. We re gonna see only one Surprise from Europe, and that will be the last play off match. Every decent team we have will be qualified. I expect Europe to do well this WC, better than previous.
I agree that Europe will be insane this World Cup. At this moment, European teams are literally dominating. South America is probably the only region that can compete with Europe now if you ask me. African teams have really gone downhill, and I don't expect much of anything from them. I watched the African Cup earlier this year, and literally their passing and ability to keep the ball was ATROCIOUS. Every single team looked extremely shaky. Even Cameroon. I watched the whole cup, and I said to myself that teams like Slovakia, Iceland, Ukraine, and even Albania would win that cup easily. Finland would be a strong favorite as well if they were in it. Literally it was that bad. Its amazing how much African football has fallen. Algeria arguably had the best squad on paper and they didn't even get out of their group. If thats not enough, I can also say that the African teams will die in the cold weather and conditions in Russia. Asian teams will probably perform ok like always. Maybe a little less than usual. I expect to see maybe 1, maximum 2 in the Round of 16. Australia and Japan are the strongest I suppose. South Korea and Iran can cause a few problems as well. But again the cold weather might be a problem. North American teams will probably fail as well. Mexico is by far the best out of them, and they will do ok, but I don't see much from the rest. USA is not good at all. Costa Rica only have two good players: Navas and Campbell. Last World Cup was a fluke. They did reach the quarters but what brought them there was quite lucky. Uruguay were without Suarez when they beat them. Italy were managed horribly and were an extremely questionable team back then with a bunch of individuals that couldn't communicate. Greece took them to penalties. And not to mention as well, all of this was in really hot weather that the Costa Ricans were used to, and not so much the European teams. South American teams will likely have some performing well, and others not so much. Brazil is managed quite well now and I think they could reach quarterfinals at least, maybe semifinals. Argentina just got a new manager who really knows how to coach a team, and they have arguably the best attacking talent in the world with: Messi, Dybala, Di Maria, Higuain, Icardi, and Aguero. However their midfield and defense is a problem. Chile will likely do ok. Vidal and Sanchez are world class, and if their path isn't too tough they could probably make the knockouts at least. Uruguay I have no idea about. Suarez and Cavani hold a great attack but Suarez is not as good as he used to be, and Cavani I am not sure how good he is because he plays in a league with a horrible defense. Godin is a great defender. Otherwise they are lacking. I honestly have no idea how well they will do. Now on to European Teams. Germany, and Italy I think are the strongest. France is just behind those teams. Portugal and Croatia are highly on the rise and could be considered contenders I suppose. Croatia have a midfield of Modric and Rakitic, which are some of the best box to box midfielders in the world. Mandzukic is a great striker who works so hard and is world class. Perisic always performs well for the national team and has found the back of the net a number of times in qualifying. Their defense has improved quite a bit with Corluka, Vrsaljko, Vida, and Srna. Then there is Belgium and Spain who are quite talented teams but their management is questionable. And also we have some of the smaller European teams who I expect to cause a few upsets and do well for them: Poland, Iceland, Switzerland, and possibly Ireland. I'd overall say the top 5 favorites are: Germany, Italy, Croatia, Argentina, and Brazil. Not in that order but they are equally top 5 at this rate. Then behind them you have: Spain, France, and Portugal. Then I'd say Chile, Belgium, and maybe Uruguay. What do you think?
lol Croatia ahead of Spain, France, and Portugal. Not likely. All those players you listed were playing fine at Euro 2016, with Rakitic playing much worse this season. They don't get anything new to raise them to a new level, so how does a team that exits the Euro in the 2nd Round a top-tier World Cup favorite, ahead of teams like France and Spain who have the best talent pound for pound (and have won/been to finals in recent tournaments)? How is Croatia ahead of Portugal after Portugal beat them last year, shows they can win against any opponent, and has been playing better since the tournament? You must be banging some Croatian girl. I have Croatian neighbors, I understand ya.
Your post only shows how biased you are (specially with your team) Among all those teams mentioned, only 2 whom don't deserve to even be mentioned there, are Italy and Croatia. And least of all, at the very top of the list.
Did you forget that Croatia beat Spain in Euro 2016? I know Portugal did beat them but they needed extra time to do so, and it was quite an even game with just some luck going Portugal's way. Portugal was no way superior to Croatia that game. I think on a normal day Croatia would have got the better out of them. Its true France and Spain have more individual talent, but Croatia has a much superior manager. Have you seen all these three teams play recently? If you actually watch the games, France and Spain were less impressive. The only game France really played impressively was vs Iceland. They looked like just an average team throughout the whole tournament otherwise. You can argue that they also beat Germany, but Germany had a number of injured players and one of their goals was a penalty. Also don't forget France were playing at home which is probably why they even got that far. Have you seen Spain play at Euro 2016? Croatia beat them there, and Italy completely dominated them. Turkey was their only impressive game. Also if you look at both their starting teams, its quite questionable whether France and Spain are that superior to Croatia. A midfield of Modric and Rakitic is arguably superior to Pogba and Matuidi. Busquets and Iniesta are aging and maybe 5 years ago you could say they were better, but now Modric and Rakitic are probably one of the best midfield pairings in the world. Perisic vs David Silva is also quite debatable, especially when you look at how much better Perisic plays for Croatia. Mandzukic vs Diego Costa is also again debatable. Costa might be superior individually, but Mandzukic works so much better for the team. Griezmann is better than Perisic but that is only one area. Giroud quite a step below both Mandzukic and Costa. In defense Spain probably has the best out of the three, but Croatia and France are comparable. Corluka and Vida vs Varane and Koscielny is again debatable. Srna and Vrsaljko can compare with the French full backs. The only thing about Spain and France that you can really say is superior is their bench. Otherwise both starting teams are all equal. France and Spain are a bunch of individuals, while Croatia is a team that is managed quite well and smartly. Just look at how they play, and you will see what I am saying. Also let me tell you that I highly doubt Croatia would have lost to Sweden or tied with Belarus.
In what position? Thats really hard to say. Defense: Chiellini/Bonucci/Ramos/Boateng Midfield: Modric/Verratti/Kroos Attack: Messi/Ronaldo/Lewandowski
For Croatia read my post above. Have you seen how Italy play at Euro 2016? Have you seen how impressive they were vs Belgium and Spain? And have you seen how Germany needed tough penalties to beat us? And that was when our starting team was this: -Eder-Pelle- -De Sciglio-Giacherinni-Sturaro-Parolo-Florenzi- -Chiellini-Bonucci-Barzagli- -Buffon- If GERMANY needed penalties to beat this team, what does that tell you about Italy? And that was like Italy B team except for defense. The real midfielders starting are DDR, Marchisio, and Verratti, and in attack Insigne, Belotti, and Immobile. Candreva is missing as well. Say all you want that France and Spain have so much talent, but Italy and Croatia actually have a team and know how to sacrifice for each other and work hard together. Spain and France are a bunch of individuals.
So what ? For both Croatia and Italy, in the 2 last WC's, both couldn't get out of group phase, where in the last of them (2014), they both got equally eliminated by a team from Concacaf, whom defeated them both, there (whom are not even mentioned on your previous post) and Croatia, today got wiped by Iceland, with whom they share the lead at their qualifier group Oh and Italy, only manages to get good results against crap teams (like today), and maybe some at friendlies, that have no importance to anybody. Fact is, whenever Italy loses, you come up as if they were its B or C team, and when it wins, only then was its A team. Italy and Croatia, at Uefa level, maybe can be considered as being top (together with lots of other teams), but besides from a few friendly matches, once confronted to teams outside Uefa, nothing happens with them. Known or famous players don't make their teams be top if when it counts they still play like crap, and can't manage to make it count. And at last, one match doesn't turn a team into a favourite. Takes lots more than that.
LOL did you notice that Croatia had a number of suspended players vs Iceland? Rakitic, Pjaca, Brozovic, Vrsaljko, and Srna were all not there. And are you forgetting that in World Cup 2014, they got robbed against Brazil? Penalty wrongly given, and Croatia had a perfect goal disallowed. You are describing Prandelli's Italy. And we did have our A team in World Cup 2014, but Prandelli was horrible, and Italy were not good back then. They were just a bunch of individuals. Forget about World Cup 2014 Italy. That is long and gone. Look at Euro 2016? You say that Italy cannot beat good teams when it matters? Did you watch Belgium and Spain games?
How about vs. Ireland ? oh yes,........ it was Italy's B team there..... and once again eliminated before reaching top 4 teams of Uefa's continental tournament. (had they reached semi's, would've probably been diferent, but being incapable of reaching a top 4 position only proves its own mediocrity) And about Spain, since we gave them the shock treatment in 2014 they finished being the unbeatable team they were before it and has fallen in total irregularity, where they get good results together with bad results against almost everyone, good or bad teams, the same. Anyhow despite their irregularity, was still capable of getting away with a draw vs. Italy's B team , at the WC qualifiers in Turin.....
Not only was it our B team vs Ireland. We were not even trying. We already secured top spot in Round of 16 qualification. We didn't even try, we didn't want to risk suspensions or play too rough. We treated it like a friendly match, because we already had top spot secured. Spain did draw us at home its true, however we were not playing very well that day. I suppose part of it was our B team but half of it was our A team actually. Ventura was still getting used to coaching us, so we weren't necessarily at our best that day, and had a horrible first half. After going 1-0 down though we were the better side and pressured them so hard. And let me tell you that goal was a huge mistake Buffon made. It is not like that kind of thing happens all the time. Why are you complaining about me stating B team's though? I mean key players matter. When key players get injured, suspended, or we just field a weaker team that affects us. And also back on when you said Croatia got smacked by Iceland, what about France who got smacked by Sweden 2 days earlier. Sweden isn't even as good as Iceland.
Those are all just lame excuses, as the bottom line which is the only thing that counts, is that at important tournaments (World Cup and at continental tournaments), Italy's performance compared to many others, has been from regular to horribly bad. And with that background in mind, you have to have a very poor footballing type of view, to even consider them a top favourite to win next WC. In your OP, (which is about what we are debating here), you put your team at the level of Germany, Argentina or Brazil, on top of many other teams that have done lots more than whatever your team has done during the same time. If maybe you would've put them below all the other mentioned teams, you would have a point, but not doing so, it invalids the whole credibility of your post. My take : Top tier (only 2 teams) : Germany and Brazil, are whom they are, where they always are among the top favourites to win, where and whenever they play at. Both are at a level of their own. Besides, one of them is the current World champion. While the other is the team that has won the most WC champioships of all times. next tier (4 teams) : France reached quarters last WC and were finalists at last Euro. Portugal were champions at the last Euro. Argentina, which I believe, also doesn't belong to that top tier neither, were finalist of last WC and also finalists of both last Copa America's. and Chile, well we did win last 2 Copa America's next tier (only 3 teams) : Spain, haven't done much lately, but either way, they were the past WC and 2 times past Euro champions, issue's that still count for something. Belgium, besides their last quarters at the WC, they've managed to remain at the top of the FIFA's ranking list. Not much, if you ask me, but lots more than what other teams have done. Colombia, whom you didn't even mention, same as for Belgium, quarters last WC and a top ranked team for a long time. . . next tier (3 teams) : Uruguay, Italy and England, haven't done almost anything lately, but on their favour, they did win the WC in the past, which still counts for anything, but not for much. . . Croatia, besides big names in their team, but by just mentioning here, there are about 20 other teams of the world, that should also be mentioned here (some of which, are from Africa, Asia and Concacaf), reasons why the best thing would be to not even mention them here at all. Btw, what the hell are you talking about here ? Cold weather during Russia's summer ? You have no clue about weather in other countries and simply invent stuff just to fit it with all the crap you post, about others. Weather in SK and Japan, as they are at about the same latitude, of most of Russia, is very similar to the one of Russia, during their summer (which is the same season as in Russia), so it will have no effect on them. Maybe, and only maybe, might affect somehow Iran, but weather at northen Iran (from where most of its population is) is not much diferent than the one of Russia, so it really shouldn't affect them. And for the case of Australia, as they will be in winter, it might affect them a little, as their winter is not so tough, so the change will not be that big neither. For the cases of Iran and Australia, their adaptative issues to Russia's weather will not be much diferent to the adaptative issues that most mediterranean Uefa teams will have to suffer themselves as well.
Too early to say. The likes of Sweden, Denmark and Serbia can qualify, and at the same time one can see them doing nothing in the final tournament (its happened before recently). Also No. Ireland and Iceland are looking good and can qualify. And while I'll cheer for them as they are great stories, they'll also be favored to be eliminated after 3 games in Russia. But yeah... its funny that when the qualifying draw happened everyone talked about the Spain/Italy group but that ends-up being the most boring (unsurprisingly). Many of the other groups are really fascinating. I have no idea who will finish first & second in the Ireland/Serbia/Wales/Austria group.
What are you talking about? The last 2 world cups might've been the 2 worst for UEFA teams since 1950!