LvG's looking at Giggs there saying "I told you so." Hernandez' career has been on the downward slope for a few years now. Never had a chance under LvG as he contributes nothing outside of the opposition box. Real Madrid was his best bet to succeed as they can support a striker like him when they completely dominate 90% of their matches where he can be involved in only the end of moves. I will be shocked if he does well at Bayer Leverkusen.
Poor man's Inzaghi. No bias, just fact. Still better than any American (possibly ever). I think he could do well at Leverkusen feeding off of Calhanoglu though.
Yeah and the European matches have the appeal they have because you don't see them every year, well apart from that spell where we seemed to always play Barca. Once you put them into a league a lot of the excitement/interest is dead imo.
The top players dont play for fun. Relegation promotion drives competitive competition. When you lose it means something, without this its, oh well we can try again next year, who cares.... As you say even if this was to go ahead, the novelty factor would be gone in a year or two.
It was more than a pipedream. The G-14 discussed plans for a Super League of the top European sides. No small clubs, not small towns. Just the best Europe had to offer. It would have had an incredible fan base and sucked up all TV money. This got UEFA to reorganize the CL to its current form. It never happened because the powers in UEFA knew it would destroy them.
You honestly think that Barca, Real, Man U, Bayern etc were about to turn their backs on the domestic leagues for good? Because it was discussed as a possibility and more so as a show of power to UEFA does not mean it was on the verge of happening as you put it.
Laws would have to be rewritten because the clubs need the approval from their FA to play in a league based outside their own borders.
I might be a minority here, but I strongly feel that after you are beating a team with 4+ goals, you should take a break. You've proved your point, leave them some dignity. Unless you really need the goals for the goals difference, these humiliations are totally uncalled for. Germany could be proud with those guys. U.A.E. 10 - 0 Malaysia Australia 5 - 0 Bangladesh Qatar 15 - 0 Bhutan Saudi Arabia 7 - 0 Timor-Leste South Korea 8 - 0 Laos Kuwait 9 - 0 Myanmar Like seriously, 15-0? Tell me about that overcompensating.
If it meant money without having to squabble against the lesser sides, sure as hell they would do it. Do you think the method used to distribute CL money just happened by chance? Do you realize what type of sponsorship such a league would bring. It would be the European soccer version of the NFL. Would a club want to play in a shithole of a venue that is Catania or go London instead? The big clubs dominate against their league opponents on the pitch and making money but when the shit hits the fan and things come to a vote, the big boys are the minority. An NFL structured league would alleviate that and give this big franchises stability. And there is still talk that it may happen some day.
All good in theory. Making it happen would have huge ramifications to football and hence why I dont think it was ever close to becoming reality. Teams walking away from their domestic league is just unthinkable tbh.
It's not your fault if the opposition sucks or has an off day. Those 40-0 games in the Pacific WCQ's were obviously excessive though.
Besides all of the distance issues, refeereing, making it happen for real, I think the biggest problem with this Super League would be - how to keep the competitiveness at the current level. I mean - everything is just fine - you could gather 20 teams from around Europe, put them in a league and having top derbies every weekend. But if not the first year - after 5 years some of those teams, for instance AC Milan, could be as behind from Barca, Real and Roma, as Catatnia are behind us and those other teams right now. Will those teams posses enough integrity and would they stay motivated enough in improve, instead of distributing the proceedings between the share-holders and half-assing their mercatos? If you are guaranteed a spot - there would be AC Milans in that league, maybe not straight after it's creation, but soon enough. And if there is a relegation in place - at some point the same problem will occur. Half of the teams could stay strong, the other half will be just better Catanias and Frosinones, or AC Milans.
It may seem unthinkable but if it would have been all for business. Do you think these clubs give a shit about their FA's, EUFA or FIFA. They would have been ready to operate outside of those regulators. Look at how pissed they are when a player gets injured on NT duty. These big clubs don't give a damn about the institutions. It did not come close to becoming a reality because UEFA (Platini) acceded to their demands. The Cup Winner's Cup was eliminated and the Champions League replaced the Champions Cup. Instead of only the domestic champion taking part, there are now 3 or 4 teams from the bigger countries. It shut down the drive for a Super League and the G-14 dissolved.
Reports Arturo Vidal sent home from #Chile camp after turning up the worse for wear... pic.twitter.com/ryVXixfNQT— Football Italia (@footballitalia) September 3, 2015
I think a lot more changes are going to come about in the next 5-10 years in UEFA especially because of the FIFA scandal. I don't see how there won't be any.