I agree with this. Although, their attacking midfield and strikers look great, their defence and goalkeeping is very average. Games are won by strikers, tournaments are won by defence, and so you should start building any serious team from the back. France is exciting forward, but their back is not even close to their 1998 level. I think France has some interesting future for sure, but I am not certain their current system produces valuable defenders. Nevertheless, they still will be one of the favorites in Russia, not the top one (like Germany, Brazil, Italy, or Spain, but right behind them, with Argentina).
Apparently, the guy doesn't know the meaning of the word "objective". however, that particular post gave me a good moment of laughter. yup, one sole and very recent trophy at national team level (a very important one though) Messi also has one himself, an olympic gold (which he might have forgot that he won it, as it was ages ago) For both, till now, is one piece of silverware at National team level vs. endless (as they still keep on coming) multiple pieces of silverware at club level. Point remains the same.
yeaaaahhh no. Considering yearly Messi and Ronaldo have up to 3 (4 if they play for Super Cup 5 if they compete for Europe Super Cup, 6 if they are eligible for CWC) team trophies and can only win 1 NT title every 2 years (Messi has less excuse with an extra Copa America) the point doesn't stand, it's a totally different beast. The fact that Ronaldo has a Euro with a "weak" team speaks volumes.
That team couldn't have been that weak given that they won the final completely w/o Ronaldo. But I'm sure they had many great victories led by Ronaldo before reaching the final. Ronaldo is winning more for both club and country in the last 12 months than at any other point in his career, even though he's clearly on the decline. I know this makes no sense at all, but gonna put this theory out there: could it be that football is a team sport and Ronaldo is just playing on better teams compared to 3,4, 6 years ago? I know... this theory is "out there".
I guess when I put the word weak in quotations in went over peoples heads. Unfortunate. No we weren't actually weak, but that was the mindset of everyone who wasn't paying attention to Portugal (everyone else) and what they and the youth teams were doing before the tournament started. Even now our youth teams who qualify for every tournament now get no recognition but that's ok...we won the Euro. But yes, Ronaldo led the way in qualifying and throughout the tournament. His brace to get us out of the group stage, His tracking back and winning a ball on defense (shocking he did that) lead to his assist of Quaresma vs the Croatians, the inspiration he gave for the PK shoot out and finally being the first shooter as opposed to wanting to be the last to get the glory. The game winning goal in the semi finals we're all great victories where his leadership showed.
I can't believe what I'm seeing. You must be the first Portugal supporter, whom I see considering its own NT as being "weak". . . Anyhow, the OP was not about how strong or how weak their teams may be. The OP basicly was about how titles at club level don't necessarily traduce itself into titles at national team level. If it's one more or one less, is just a matter of numbers, and on reference to some players, both Messi and Cristiano, through their whole careers, have only had, one important piece of silverware at national team level, while they each have lots of them at club level.
Even more so with this statement: Who ever gives anybody recognition for qualifying for a youth tournament? lol
Ronaldo showed great leadership but his actual performance is not legendary. Messi's performances at either CA 15 or CA-C were better, and although the Euro is harder to win the route that Portugal had was not all that harder than Argentina's so the performances can be compared at almost equal weight. What can be held against Messi is going scoreless in 360 minutes worth of finals when the WC is included. Ronaldo is also scoreless in two international finals but he only played 15 minutes against France.
I'm still rolling with Brazil in 2018. Just seem to have the perfect mesh as of now. Outlandish attack (IMO best front 3 in world in Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Coutinho), found a nice defense that hasn't allowed a goal in open play ( 2 own goals and a pen), and a nice balance between youth and experience.. Youth: Gabriel Jesus, Neymar, Coutinho, Marquinhos, Alex Sandro, Allison Experience: Renato Augusto, Paulinho, Dani Alves, Marcelo, Miranda Leadership: Neymar, Augusto, Paulinho, Casemiro, Marcelo, Dani Alves, Miranda. Brazil really impressed me how they responded going down 1-0 at Uruguay. To respond the way they did was impressive. Just think 2018 gonna be their time which is good for football. It's better when Brazil is at their best. Been too long of an absence from finals for them... Will be going on 16 years of an absence...
Only thing about Brazil I wonder about is how they mentally would do against Germany or France. (Germany because of the 7-1, France because they seem to beat them in World Cups and are not afraid of them.) But other than that it is difficult to see anyone beating them on a neutral site with the way they are playing right now. (A lot can happen in a year though.)
Minimal affect I think. Brasil team has totally changed since the 7-1 from the manager down to the players. Plus they could always rationalize it with 'we didn't have our best player, our best defender, etc."
Maybe. But when it comes to matters of the psyche and football and ghosts of the past we have seen it take its toll on players and teams. Even teams as great as Brazil. And you know the media will put extra pressure on them and bring it up a lot. I am not saying it will be their downfall but I would like to see how they bounce back in their first World Cup since their drubbing. Especially if they have to face Germany.
I think versus Germany. We probably play with extra motivation or something. France is a bogey team for us definitely. I'll say this though. We looked good the year before the World Cup in the last 3 editions and didn't win. Our team still has a long way to go.
To me the interesting thing is how well Brazil has been defending. If they can keep this defense up with their attack, it's going to be hard to get the best of them. If you made me do a power ranking now based on form I'd go this: 1) Brazil 2) Germany 3) Italy 4) France
Did anyone else watch the England v. France friendly yesterday? France went down to 10 men in 65th minute and absolutely dominated England from then on. Won 3-2.... should have been 6-2 at least. England is so bad.,. France could have won the game with 7 players... But I think if France makes this their lineup what it was: Lloris Sidibe (23), Varane (24), Umtiti (23), Mendy (22) Kante (26), Pogba (24) Ousmane Dembele (20), Thomas Lemar (20) , Kyllian Mbappe (18) Giroud Thats the best team in the world IMO. Now its really young. And they are going to make mistakes. But their combination of pace, power, and skill going forward is unbelievable. When France plays Payet, Matuidi, Sissoko, and Giroud all at the same time there just isnt enough pace. And Kante is so good at patrolling the middle it enables Pogba to act as a second CAM which is where he is best.
According to Bet 355 (via ESPN FC TV) the current odds to win the World Cup are: Germany 11-2 France-13-2 Brazil 7-1 Spain 8-1 Argentina 9-1 Italy 14-1 Belgium 16-1 England 20-1 Portugal 20-1 Colombia 33-1
loads of talent... especially going forward and they should score a ton of goals. they are however vulnerable IMO to teams that can shut it down and hit them on the counter as i do not think they are organized very well defensively
Assuming they qualify, I wonder what Argentina will look like in year with Sampaoli in charge. He tactics and style of play could make them much more dangerous.
Well, when in charge of Chile, his tactics and style of play became almost useless playing vs. both Uruguay and Peru, both of which are among the 4 last opponents they must play against, till the end of qualifiers. And to that, we must also mention, that Sampaoli has never made any of his teams in the past, look impressive playing at high altitude cities, which is also a very important issue, as Argentina finishes their WC qualifier campaign in Quito, Ecuador, against the home team, whom very likely that when it happens, they will be in dispute against them for the last WC spots. And what's even worse yet, about this issue, (under almost every coach they've had in the past), is that Argentina almost always play's like crap at high altitude cities.
Not sure what "almost always" means, but in this century alone, Argentina played well at Quito and La Paz for the WC02 qualifiers under Bielsa, getting a win and a draw respectively, plus tied both matches at these cities for the WC14 qualifiers under Martino.