2017 Confederations Cup - Qualifiers, News and Updates [R]

And 1 competitive loss in 2 and a half years since taking over as coach of Portugal, including wins over Italy, Argentina, Belgium, France.......now that's impressive!

 

Of course you don't have a clue ... reading that dross ... topkek mate

 

Are you really comparing someone that plays in what is essentially a high school soccer league vs someone who plays in a top 2 league for a top 4 club? Call me crazy, but it seems like punctuation and logic may not be your thing.

 

Amen

 

Kek, crazy ...

... Portugal's darling, W.Carvalho, had a stint in that "high school soccer league" ... haha ... even was relegated with Cercle ffs

... the reputation of being a very defensive league is well-deserved ... e.g. Lukaku became top scorer with just 15 goals while in his first loan spell in the Prem, a last minute deal, he scored 17 for WBA feeding off scraps

... De Bruyne played well in Belgium but he wasn't as good as Tielemans ... Tielemans played better in Belgium than any of the other players on the Belgian NT ... among non-Belgian players, Yaya Toure probably came closest when the bulk of Ivory Coast's golden generation came through at Beveren.

... Renato hardly received any BuLi minutes and was mediocre whenever he was handed some ... "someone who plays in a top 2 league", top 2 kek mate, he either rots on the bench or he's abysmal whenever he's gifted a handful of minutes ... damaging his development

... Renato's minutes are mainly from his time in Portugal ... Russia are ranked higher on the UEFA Country Ranking ... Portugal are ranked 7th, Belgium 9th, with exactly the same allocation in Europe now (since the reform)

... the Portuguese league, a playground for the corrupt, has put all eggs in one basket, their big clubs, and even those are over their heads in debt ... the other clubs are mostly semi-pro or even amateur level ... licence requirements are much stricter in Belgium (most would be denied) ... KFCO, when playing in the 6th tier of Belgian football, ffs, drew roughly 10x as many supporters to their ground than lots of clubs in Portugal's "top" tier ... 15 out of the 18 Liga NOS clubs get very little attention ... when a game is played in Portugal and no one is around to see it, does it even count?

... Renato only has 2 goals ... while playing for an overpowered side (compared to the semi-pro/amateur clubs in Portugal) ... from over a year ago ... when he faced very weak "opposition" (one was battling relegation throughout the season and was relegated in the end) ... while Tielemans scored 33 goals (5 in Europe) + 25 assists and has more often been used as a holding midfielder


PS in Belgium the play-offs are edging closer ... Holland, having dropped to 13th place (losing a direct CL spot), also want a reform ... just like Belgium with 16 clubs and play-offs ... could improve Liga NOS as well ... especially because in Portugal it's every club for itself and the league is very top-heavy ... instead of beating up semi-pro/amateur clubs, the big clubs would face each other in play-offs

 

None of this was necessary. I never said the Portuguese league was great did I?

I said the Belgian league was weak in a sarcastic manner, which it is.

I said comparing statistics between 2 players in 2 very different circumstances makes no sense, which it doesn't.

The line about if a game is being played in Portugal and no one is there to see it, does it count? Have to admit I kinda thought that was funny.

 

wow so much hate in this post

 

On twitter today.

Cédric Soares: Has completed more crosses than any other player in the last 2 Premier League seasons (excl. corners.)

And he may be 3rd in the pecking order at right back behind Nelson and Cancelo.

Also Portuguese league was 5th in the world not too long ago ahead of France. If Benfica and or Porto go through into the next phase of the champions league that could change as well and they could move up to 6th.

And heres another tweet from today:
Portugal's #EuroWinners: Gomes struggling in Spain, Renato not playing, Guerreiro doing well in Germany, João Mário tearing it up in Italy.

Gomes is definitely struggling but I haven't seen him play much for Barcelona so I can't get into that much. Renato will eventually become a starter at Bayern, I'm expecting he starts getting more playing time soon. Hes what 19? on arguably the best team in the world competing with players like Vidal for playing time. Can't expect him to be starter this early on that team, that would be beyond incredible for a 19 year old.

I'm excited for confederation cup, this will be transition team from what they played like at the euros to what they wll hope to play like at the world cup. I'm expecting an attacking side at the confederation cup to test out how this style will do at the world cup. I'm expecting:

Ronaldo and Andre up front

A Midfield of Raphael, Joao Mario, Carvalho and Bernardo Silva.

Nelson, Pepe, Fonte or Semedo, and at left back I'm hoping Ricardo gets a call up from Nice unless Coentrao actually starts playing for madrid.

That would be a hell of a creative midfield. Then against the likes of Germany you could put Raphael back at left back and replace him in the midfield with a player like Adrien Silva or Renato.

 

Zenit were beaten 2-0 in Brussels last week ... a good Sporting Anderlecht with Tielemans giving Portugal a fighting chance to overtake Russia on the UEFA Country Ranking ... better start supporting and pray Anderlecht win the return as well ... that's also sort of funny ... say: "Merci Sporting Anderlecht, merci Tielemans" and, although he doesn't seem to like it very much, give Tielemans a hug, like Lukaku did after watching him score those two screamers within two minutes.

Made in Neerpede ! @ytielemans @RomeluLukaku9 #Sportingboys #RSCA #COYM #KVOAND pic.twitter.com/nXSGa4Uylp

— RSC Anderlecht (@rscanderlecht) February 19, 2017

You're right though ... a top talent like Tielemans shouldn't be compared to a mediocre one like Renato Sanches.

Lovely facts, mate ... show us some love ... hugs are welcome.

 

Haha well I will give you Tielemans, he is without a doubt one of the best young midfielders in the world. Going to be world class for sure I believe. He would be my number 1 midfield buy if I were in charge of a top club.

 

lol. Renato has played a little over year at the top level and has already achieved titles Tielemans can only dream of. Guy can't even get out of his comfort zone and leave Anderlecht. If Renato Sanches is mediocre thenn Tielemans is bottom of the barrel.

 

I've analysed in great detail all the information concerning the relative merits of Belgium and Portugal and come to the firm conclusion that Belgium will not win a game in the 2017 Confederations Cup.

 

He talks tough - but you need to remember he said pretty much the same thing about Denmark before Euro 92.

J

 

It's the only thing happening in this thread ... feel free to add something else ... Confed Cup starts in June though ... still have plenty of time.

 

Renato's comfort zone is rotting on the bench ... golden boy, what an award ... VDVaart, Fàbregas, Anderson, Pato, Balotelli, ... yea most of them are a bit crap ... Isco rotted on the bench for years ... Götze, Buyern didn't quite work out (wink wink nudge nudge) ... luckily the likes of Hazard and Neymar avoided being on the receiving end of a golden boy ... seems cursed.

Tielemans is 19yo and will move this summer ... you can bet he'll avoid damaging his development

 

And yet it would be nice if we could steer this one back on track somewhat. There is only so much Portugal vs. Belgium talk an uninvested reader can take.

 

We have 3 games against Germany, Cameroon and Chile. My main focus is seeing if we have improved over the last few years. Leading into the 2014 World Cup I thought we were at our lowest point for over 20 years. Our performances surprised me as even though outclassed in all games we put up a bit of fight in two of them before the team ran out of energy in the last game. First up Germany. Got flogged 4-1 last time we played a competitive match (with a better team than now) but have a win and a draw against them in 2 friendlies since then. If they play at their best they will win beat us easily. Lets hope they treat it as a friendly or leave something in reserve for their second game. Not expecting anything out of this game. I would be very very happy with a point. Second game against Cameroon. I don't really know anything at all about them, other than they are African Champions. I don't know how this will turn out, but am hoping we can get something positive out of this game. Last game against Chile. Lost 3-1 in 2014, and despite having some good moments at times in the game deserved to lose 3-1. Chile have been mixing results in WC qualifying, but they have been winning half their games and we all know how tough CONMEBOL is so that's a pretty good effort. Hopefully we have improved since we last met them. I haven't seen any of their World Cup games but did see them play in the Centenary Copa last year and I think they are a similar standard to the 2014 side. Best we can hope for here is to hang on for a draw. Overall I guess I'm not expecting a lot in results, but see this tournament as valuable experience for the last two World Cup games a few weeks afterwards. For us its more about the way we play. With the tightness of the group at the half way stage I can't see us being qualifying until the last game (provided we qualify that is).

 

we only need a point to do that so I think we will.

 

It would be kind of funny if Russia get's home cooking and Mexico finds a way to finish second.

Then all the Portugal talk in this thread would have been in vain.

 

It was a 4-0. And nope 1st and 3rd group game Germany C will mean business while Germany bottling the 2nd game is almost a widely known meme.

 

As mentioned before

Mats Hummels: "The Confed cup doesn't interest me. I wouldn't be upset if I'm one of the players Jogi Löw will give a break" [SportBild] pic.twitter.com/d5HVsZ27c4

— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) March 2, 2017

837356517544378368 is not a valid tweet id

 

Confederations Cup ticket sales slow as Russians cool on 2018 World Cup warm-up:
http://www.insideworldfootball.com/...sales-slow-russians-cool-2018-world-cup-warm/

Chile has the most non-Russian applicants?

 

Arsenal have ruined this man ... Chile downgraded ... now about level with Portugal TBH