Either Zlatan Ibrahimović or Cristiano Ronaldo will be missing from the 2014 World Cup!

That's a not so smart claim, if not saying FALSE:
in fact, many would see Zico82 > Hagi94 >= Bergkamp98 = Sneijder10

At WC1982, Zico was on course to win WC goldenball and very possible WC Goldenboot, until that fateful game lost to Italy, eventually the winner. BEFORE that game : Zico got 4goals+3ass (Rossi got ZERO goals) so imagine if Brazil won, Zico would play 3 more games to rack up his great STATS there! His closest rivals was Rummenigge and Boniek also got 4gaols at same round!

Zico 4goals+4ass/5games >> Sneijder 5goals+1as/7games

Believe me, in 50years from now, people will still talking of a Zico but they will NOT remember a Sneijder.

=======================================

Hagi was the best "playmaker" in WC94 while Dunga was the "best DM" there (two different style and position) They both were selected in WC94 all star team BTW

For me, Hagi was a better playmaker and a more complete MF (attack and defense) than Sneijder could be. A not so "fair" statement is to base their games in NT, as Netherland 2010 were better team mates than a Romania in 94. But look at the stats, Hagi was not shy from Sneijder in big games, if not saying BETTER:

Hagi 3goals+3ass/5games >= Sneijder 5goals+1as/7games
Hagi involved to 60% of Romania team goals > Sneijder 50% involve to team goals

 

Yeah, ok. Dunga > Hagi, LMAO!

 

ehm Ibrahimovic vs Cronaldo? Portugal vs Sweden? will start next week, anyway here are some statistics; Sweden has the advantage when it comes to head-to-head, 3 more wins, Portugal however has the msot recent wins. Most recent win Sweden 2 - 3 Portugal. The last 2 matches resulted into draws with neither team scoring.

 

In 50 years peaple will still remember Messi, but not because of the brillant World Cup 2006 or 2010. According to your logic Klinsmann 94 was better than Baggio and Romario: Klinsmann before the qutarer final: 5 goals, Romario: 3 goals, Baggio 2 goals. And Häßler had more assists than anyone in that World Cup, must have been brilliant.

And so were 9 others among them for example Brolin who was clearly better Hagi, or Balakov who was at least as good.

Look at the results, Netherlands in 2010 Silver Medal, one defeat against the World Champion, Romania 94 out in the quarter final, humiliated by Switzerland 4-1 and beaten by Sweden. Romania wasn't even the best of the underdogs, Sweden and Bulgaria were better.

 

If you argue so, than Ballack was the best player of 2006, since when Germany had won against Italy, he would have won the Golden Ball, and Müller is the real Golden Ball winner of 2010, since he was on course to win it til that fateful loss to Spain the eventually winner. Are we argue her with facts or with fantasies?

 

has this was the thread for
Zlatan Ibrahimović or Cristiano Ronaldo
now it seems it turned into Hagi vs Sneijder debate, i thought i would post this little video here

http://www.record.xl.pt/multimedia/videos/interior.aspx?content_id=852903

 

Back to the topic, I'm not sure if either Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic would make the World Cup better. Neither Sweden nor Portugal were convincing in the qualification. Both struggled even against the absolute minnows in their group. Sweden only narrowly beat Kazakhstan 1-0 and was even 0-1 down against the Faeroe Islands before winning the game 2-1. Portugal was even worse, they also trailed Luxembourg 0-1 before winning 2-1, and were held to a 1-1 draw against Northern Ireland.

 

So? Portugal did exactly the same in 2010 and 2012, but was only eliminated by Spain in the knockout stages of the main competition. And in Euro 2012 it reached the semi-final, surviving the group of death. I know that Netherlands was not at its best, but still Denmark was not a pushover.

 

It's still not a sign of quality, if you draw at home against Northern Ireland and struggle against Luxembourg. Apart from that, they had an exceptional easy draw this time.

 

Qualifying from one of the most difficult groups in international tournament history and going out to Spain on penalties in the semi-finals isn't a sign of quality? This is clearly a team that leaves their best for the bigger games. I'd think that would be much more of an indicator of their quality than a game against Luxembourg or Northern Ireland.

 

No drawing at home to Northern Ireland (a team that couldn't beat Luxembourg) and struggling to beat Luxembourg is no sign of quality. And being second in a very weak qualification group isn't either.

 

This is par for the course for Portugal. This truly is no different then any qualifiers they had since the 2008 Euro qualifiers. Many embarrassing results, but in the actual tournament they lift there game up to a much better level, only losing to Spain and Germany.

 

Nice to see people acknowledge that CIV had a difficult group to try to qualify against...

 

You missed the point. What we are saying is that Portugal usually does poor performances in the qualifying, even when it has some quality and proves it in the major competitions. Not that it matters for the game with Sweden, but judging a team from single results does not give you an accurate view of its quality.

 

I don't judging them from a single result but from a far from convincing qualification. They were in a very easy group, they couldn't win against Israel either at home or away, draw at home wit Northern Ireland and concealed two goals in the away match, were in trouble against Luxemburg. The only team they beat two times convincingly were Azerbaijan, the 99th in the Elo ranking.

 

That's not entirely true. It is obvious that you haven't watched the matches. Against Israel at home, Portugal conceded a goal with a tremendous mistake by the GK. The exhibition wasn't convincing, but it still was more than sufficient to win the match and if it had done so Portugal would not be in this situation. As for the other matches, Portugal struggled due to a poor defensive performance. The best example was Russia away, the most difficult match, where Portugal conceded an early goal in a defensive mistake and then created several goal scoring chances.

A similar phenomenon occurred back in 2010 and 2012, but the team always improved in the major competitions. So, given the recent history it is not reasonable to assess the probable performance in this game against Sweden basing on certain games where the motivation was not the same. I know teams like Germany always play with everything, regardless of the opponent, but Portuguese mentality is not like that. It may be hard for you to understand, but it's the truth.

 

Past qualifying games for Portugal and Sweden don't mean anything. This will look more like a WC knockout game. Portugal come through in these playoff games, ask the Bosnians, they hate us.

 

That's how I feel about Ukraine. We're not good enough to easily qualify from the group stage, thus we are in play-offs every time (except the 2006 when we did qualify directly). And play-offs have not been kind to us - lost 3 play-offs already (to Croatia in WC1998, to Germany in WC2002, to Greece in WC2010). Soon to be 4.

 

but but but but....

but...
but...

1-0

CRISTIANO

and it will be the same again in 2014.

You MAd?

Let me remind you that Brazil is our territory

 

I think any Swede, if given the chance before the game, would have taken a 1-0 loss.

Around the 80th min.......maybe not.

 

Please eliminate France!

 

We'll do our best.

 

I second that! The reason I like to see France eliminated is because I probably overrate them, seeing how they lost 2:0 to Ukraine and before that weren't able to get a direct ticket to the World Cup. But regardless of all that, and despite their miserable run in the 2010 tournament, France is still the only other UEFA side besides Spain and Germany that I truly don't want Iran to face.

 

Until today, I was very scared for Ukraine facing France too. We just did not match-up well with them before. Too much skill and creativity in the midfield with a potent attack.

 

Holy shit!

Zlatan Ibrahimovic 2 Cristiano Ronaldo 3