I talked about the world cups...i did not mention either about germany winning the confederations cup with their team C.
They've not been top ten since at least 2006, maybe 2008 given what a strangely tough Qualifying group that was, both Croatia and Arshavins Russia were fantastic. I still don't think the senior team are top ten quality but they are still quite young.
The difference between Nigeria and Mali: clinical finishing. Mali with 29 shots on goal, 4 on target (vs Spain 10 sh / 7 ot)
Three way fight for Golden Boot: Brewster 7 goals Ruiz 6 goals Ndiaye 6 goals Those 3 plus Sancho for Golden Ball.
Just to note: This will be the first all-UEFA final in the history of this tournament and the first UEFA team in the final since 2009. Half of the finals in this tournament have never had a UEFA team and neither country has ever won this event.
Interestingly all this happens after UEFA's allocation dropped from 6 to 5 teams in the tournament. Take that, New Caledonia!
Yeah, there is no direct link but it should help change perceptions within English Clubs. It's been very convenient for managers and fans for that matter to blame a lack of talent coming through on blowing millions on some average foreign players instead of giving some youth a chance. They can't use this excuse anymore, well certainly not for the foreseeable future but I'm sure they already have another excuse ie: Can't risk kids with the amount of money at risk, etc etc. In City's case, I think it will be criminal if we can't make Foden into a regular first team player over the next few years otherwise we might as well give up.
It sucks doesn't it? They won the last 3 world cups at senior level. Italia Spain Germany Won the last 3 world cups at u20 level. France Serbia England And now they give the two world cup finalists at u17 level Spain England. Haters gonna hate.
One more thing - no one mentioned it but Mali were robbed of a goal, when Spain was 2:0 up. Don't know if it would have made a difference, but would be nice to have goal line tech...
Have you ever mentioned that the african teams used to play some of these international tournaments in youth categories with adults players and false papers? Everybody in europe knows that..just wonder if you ever took it in consideration?
lol who said we are passed that? Even with mri they can't be sure they are successfull in reading the players ages. Members fifa themselves confessed that in a recent report about this. There is too much money involved...they could limit the difference but nowadays there are still players 4 years older than they should be in these teams. When it was like 7-8 before.
Exactly. When a senior team is drawn from a 10-12 year span of players having one outstanding age group within that isn't enough. When you're showing outstanding groups of players across multiple age groups that's something different. English players from four age groups (Toulon and the U19 Euros featured various U18 players) have had success this year.
CAF is stricter than FIFA. Most African players have had to pass 3 MRI tests before the World Cup even starts. The chance of age cheats making it from Africa is minimal. You can even see it when watching the players from the past editions. Unless you believe players like Iheanacho and Success magically grew a couple of inches as overage players... Stop it. This problem still persists during prep, but no one screens their players as meticulously as CAF. In the past they even disqualified a US born Nigerian who failed the test.
They had success in 2017 in each age range. A team u21 u20 u19 u17! Maybe 2018 comes too soon but by 2026-2028 they will certainly do something.
I would tend to agree, but I'm afraid he's been in the hype shadow of Sancho and Brewster. I don't think Brewster will win it either, simply because he only showed up in the last two games. If I had to guess I would say it will go: Golden Ball - Sancho Silver Ball - N'diaye Bronze Ball - Ruiz
Whether you make one test or three doesn't change the fact that the mri is not 100 % sure about reading players ages. The fact they need 3 tests proves it. Why make 3 if one is 100 % sure? They just limited the difference that's all. Even jean marc guillou says that he got players older than their papers ages in his academies. I won't stop anything. It's a business that gives opportunity to certain players to shine and to get a contract in europe and they did not stop with the mri you mentioned. They can limit the difference with it but not stop it. Up to 4 years. When before it was more. The fact they sacrified one team to show their attention doesn't mean it suddenly stopped either.
The MRI test is not 100% sure about reading players ages, but: a) It mistakes actually go the other way - it can often reads players of the right age to be overage (vide the American born Nigerian who tested overage). b) The chance of someone over the age of 19 to pass the test is bordering on 0,00%. Ergo at worst players are 2 years overage, but the closer we are to 19, the chance of passing the test drops dramatically. c) There is a chance of players aged 18-19 to pass the test, but the older they are the chance of the passing gets closer to 0%. The actual controversy with MRI testing is twofold: - The African populace has not been properly tested, hence the results from MRI testing may be skewed, bone fusion in African populace may differ from the European or American standard. There are already signs that African kids have bone fusion earlier than their non-African counterparts. - There remains a risk of bona fide U17 players failing the test, it seems this risk is higher with Africans. Why do several tests? a) The players that started playing for the U17 team change. Players come and go. Its not a closed set of players. b) The borderline players are eliminated (vide for example Ndidi of Leicester - he passed an age test in 2012, but failed it in 2013) via the tests. So a player claiming he is 16, but is 18 will pass the test in 2016, but will fail the same test in 2017. Thats how screenings now work in Nigeria. It has change. You can even observe it. I've seen the 2013 Nigerian players - most have gone from having boyish build to masculine builds, a lot of them have grown, some of them even several inches (for example Girona's current no 1 goalkeeper Uzoho grew 2,5 inches since 2013, he used to have 187 cm, now has 196 cm - good luck doing that as an overage player; Iheanacho grew 1,5 inches during the same period). Claiming the system hasn't worked is just being ignorant.
http://m.afrik-foot.com/le-trafic-d-age-cette-pratique-repandue-dans-le-football Article about age trafic from a site focused on african football written in 2014 so 7 years after your mri bs. Sorry dude. Jean Marc guillou says himself he got older players than what their id claim in his famous academies there. The fact there was an age cheat scandal even in 2017 shows that it did not stop after 2007...and oh surprise two uefa teams in u17 world cup final You can call me ignorant as much as you want. We also say that love makes blind. Which is your case.