I agree with you, though I never know how people define world class. I think Berardi has a good chance to become very good also. I have just learn't that you can never rule out Italy, whether it's quality or the mentality of expecting results, I am never surprised if they make it far. I would also say that during the last U21 tourney, Portugal and Italy(despite a group stage exit) looked to be the best teams.
Only ones guaranteed to walk in to the Starting XI would be Lukaku, Hazard, and to a lesser extent Carrasco. Anything else Portugal is better served in or arguably as well served in. IMO, at least. Do you disagree?
Portugal have called up ancient fvcks like Carvalho ... he'll be 40yo ffs @Russia2018 ... Pepe and Fonte were born in 1983 (could be handy to have those 70 years of experience between them on the bench but they'll be very old and in Brazil2014 Pepe was a trainwreck) ... Belgium's CBs will start ... the Belgian barrier of Alderweireld and Vertonghen (best Premier League defense last season and again in the current one ... great club chemistry). Courtois would also be the No.1 between the sticks. FBs are Belgium's weak spot ... Portugal's FBs look promising but for their age they should have unlocked more of their potential. Who'll keep KDB from starting? Nainggolan > William Carvalho, etc. I'd have a 33yo Cristiano Ronaldo (Carrasco on the bench while De Bruyne and Hazard start) and Portugal's FBs in a combined starting XI ... that's it ... 3 Portugeezers and 8 Belgians.
Knew I forgot someone. KDB, definitely. Courtois on name alone, although Portugal is pretty well served there with Rui Patricio & Anthony Lopes.
Lol @ Alderweireld & Vertonghen starting ahead of Pepe. Pepe was the best player in the Euro final & arguably best player in the tournament. Fonte is solid enough but I'd agree on taking either of them over Fonte. Portugal has other top defenders coming up, see Pedro Pereira @ Sampdoria, a CB that was starting games in Serie A last year at 17 years old. Naingollan > William Carvalho for now, due to his experience maybe but that won't last considering William Carvalho already has accomplished things Nainggolan can only dream of. Vital in Portugal's Euro 2016 win, and you don't win the Euro U21 Best Player of the Tournament for nothing. Joao Mario at 23 is already considered by Inter fans to be their best player, despite just getting to the club. If Renato Sanches continues his development well at Bayern he'll be one of the best players in the world, nevermind his position. Ruben Neves captained Porto's team at 18 and has had all of Europe salivating for him. Andre Gomes is 23 just joined Barcelona and has been praised by their fans (see Barcaforum.com for proof). Etc. Etc. Belgium's midfield won't touch Portugal's in 2 years time.
Sure Pepe had a great euro final but he had a terrible World Cup in 2014 (god of kek in Portugal's opener) ... that's hardly an argument (for or against) ... Vermaelen (will be 32 then) was immense at the euros but can't use that as an argument either ... Pepe isn't going to improve/will only decline in the next 2 years ... 35 is old ... Kompany (will be 32 then) might even be a better option ... Alderweireld & Vertonghen's partnership at club level should be taken advantage of ... using the best defensive pairing of the Premier League, both in their prime, definitely is the best option. Pedro Pereira is nowhere near a starter in a combined XI. William Carvalho still hasn't made the move to one of the top leagues ... he needs more resistance than what he faces when playing the smaller clubs in Portugal. Joao Mario is a bit inconsistent ... what I've seen of the guy in his better games is promising but he wouldn't start in a combined XI (maybe after Russia) All of Europe is salivating over Tielemans as well ... neither him, Renato Sanches or Ruben Neves start in a combined XI though. Andre Gomes ... let's see how life in Barcelona treats him first ... I mainly have watched him play for Valencia and he didn't impress ... not bad but not great either.
I can agree with your assessment on Alderweild & Vertonghen, provided they are at the same level in 2 years time. Disagree with the rest but can respect most of the reasoning.
Nice. No wonder they did so well at the 2016 Olympics and the 2015 U20 World Cup. Wait, no... they didn't. The moment Joao Mario was mentioned as a top tier talent I knew that the depth in talent is actually pretty shallow. Some of the rest have a lot of hype behind them,. Overall however - no: Portugal is not on the level of depth and quality of talent as Spain, France, Germany.
The Olympics where Portugal were unable to call their first 40+ options of players because their clubs rejected it? The U20 World Cup where Portugal were Top3 favorites and lost to Brazil in the quarters? It was on penalties and the FIFA review of the game is titled "Unlucky losers", after Portugal dominated the team that later lifted the trophy. http://m.fifa.com/u20worldcup/news/y=2015/m=6/news=unlucky-losers-pay-the-penalty-2648259.html Joao Marios 40+ million euro transfer was rated by Gazzetta Dello Sport just last week to be the best piece of business in Serie A over the summer, along with Higuain. Research is clearly not your forte. Your post is just riddled with ignorance from top to bottom.
If we go by up and coming talents, Dybala is second to none. Add Correa, Icardi, Lamela, Lanzini, Alario and it's great depth for Argentina in attack. Unfortunately, they remain peripheral players to the NT as the usual veterans continue to get called up.
LOL at the 40+ first choice players not being called up. I debunked that months ago. Excuses, excuses. Based on what I've seen off him, he's an even more overrated player than Pogba. He's like a bit more headless chickened Ramires.
Evidently you haven't heard of: Domenico Berardi Alessio Romagnoli Ricardo Samponara Davide Zappacosta Darmian Alberto Grass Danielle Rugani Insigne Immobile El Shaarawy Florenzi De Sciglio Nicola Sansone Federico Bernardeschi Manuel Locatelli Manolo Gabbiadini Mattia Perin Jorginho Stuaro Roberto Soriano Andrea Belotti Rolando Mandragora Accursio Bentivegna Vittorio Parigini Davide Calabria Italian football has a crap ton of young talent coming through. And the older players they have play positions that lend to being able to play into your 30s. Don't think tour ignorance is "truth". May not be all "world class", but there's a crap ton of young talent coming through for Italian football.
If only 1 CONMEBOL team makes a deep run in Russia, i.e. SFs at least, or none that wouldn't be a big surprise looking at their World Cup track record ... even at home Brazil got banged up badly ... like the last time the World Cup was held in Europe we could have another SFs on our hands with 4 UEFA teams ... expecting 3 or 4 UEFA teams to advance to the SFs, the final could be solely a UEFA affaire and obviously a UEFA team to win it all.
If we don't get Brazil in our track once again, we might also knock out someone else along the way. In any case, I really don't expect us to go further than quarters (and that's being very optimist, on behalf of my team). And of course, if we first do make it to the WC, because for us, getting out of Conmebol qualifiers, is maybe lots more dificult, than whatever the group stage at the WC may happen to be.
Can't win against Venezuela, Peru and Paraguay in recent games ... after losing at home to Paraguay during the last international break, argies now have both Paraguay and Chile breathing down their necks ... argies are playing some of the most appalling "football" on the planet ... for a team that should have much higher football standards, argies have no reason at all to pretend to be bertie big bollocks.
We have seen time and time again that what happens within South American qualifying does not necessarily correlate with how a team does within the World Cup tournament. In many ways the South American Marathon qualifiers are more difficult to predict than the World Cup itself.
@HomietheClown ... yet Brazil have always qualified (that we can predict easily) ... and we've seen time and time again that CONMEBOL teams struggle to make a deep run whenever the World Cup was held in Europe ... as I said initially: ATM argies need to worry that they don't end up in the bottom half of the table ... but let's assume they'll qualify for Russia2018 ... what are your expectations? ... reaching SFs already seems a big ask even if they up their game considerably. On paper the argies look good up front (less so on the pitch) ... then look at their midfield and the quality drops off a cliff ... while Mascherano is the only highly rated defender and he'll be 34 years old ... this is a very very thin squad ... even without injuries, there are gaping holes.
Argentina's play in Qualifying has no correlation with how they will do in Russia assuming they make it. That is the point.
Based on history the other remarks are valid too, e.g. CONMEBOL teams struggle to make a deep run whenever the World Cup was held in Europe. Still, as I said earlier, argies have no reason at all to pretend to be bertie big bollocks.