Though more than a third of that for Canada comes from Davies. And if you add in David it’s 70 percent of the total. The top 2 US players make up 26 percent of the US value.
Hazard won the young player of the year award that year, but he was also the runner up for overall player of the year also (behind Suarez). And he was Chelsea’s player of the year that season as well.
That's my gut feeling, but I wouldn't care to state that definitively. And they've got a lot of players who have had and are still capable of much better than today, but I don't get the feeling that they will be going too deep in this tournament. Nor my Croatia. Morocco, I think, will pose a challenge for Canada because I believe they'll go all out a similar (albeit different) counterattack with pace game, but they'll do it out of a lower block and more balls to Ziyech.
Fellaini was panned hard before the Brazil WC. The 13/14 season with United he was considered a flop, and barely played. Also, they played Origi for 90 minutes against us, resting Lukaku. He was 19, playing garbage minutes for Lille. Now they have peak De Bruyne, peak Witsel (Atletico is several levels higher than Zenit), an experienced Courtois (he was 22 when we played). Mirallas they also rested against us and only came in at the hour mark. Trossard is a rock with Brighton, one of the reasons they are punching way above their weight. This Belgium was not any weaker than the one we played, and that's why I expect them to make QFs, like they did in '14.
Over here, Dale Johnson takes my arguments, and throws them in a shredder.... Should Canada have had three VAR penalties vs. Belgium? (espn.com)
We're #15 in value at €277.4 million. Wales is #23 (€160.15m) and Iran #28 (€59.53m), so our team is significantly more expensive than those two put together.
Witsel at 33 is not peak compared to the same player at 25. Nor is De Bruyne at 31 (though he’s still a very good player). Lukaku scored against us so the fact that he was absent today is particularly relevant. As is the absence of Kompany and the fact that Hazard is a shell of the player he was in 2014 when he was one of the best in the EPL. There’s no real argument that this current team is better. 2014 was the generation where so many of their guys were in their peak years. This tournament is their final run together and a lot of them aren’t what they were 8 years ago. Canada played great today and has a lot to be proud of. That doesn’t mean this version of Belgium is better than 2014 or that we need to knock the 2014 team to try to make Canada look better. Canada played great and was unlucky, we don’t need to create false comparisons from the past to prove a point other than that.
Denmark to hold talks with England over QUITTING Fifa amid huge World Cup row about One Love armband ban | The US Sun (the-sun.com) Anyone else see this? Ever since the crazy, non sensical UEFA Super League Idea had it's aborted debut announcement a few years ago I've been wondering why UEFA and Conmebol, and other outside powers like El Tri and the US, haven't simply walked out on FIFA after the 2010 voting debacle, and Roman Vomitorium level scale of corruption it revealed. How hard could it be to leave FIFA, and build a new organization modeled w/the efficiency of modern sports corporations, rather than the bloated, insanely corrupt bull--- fest that is FIFA. It shouldn't be too difficult to build the framework, the infrastructure is already in place, and the incentive to do so is MASSIVE. Essentially Infantino and his thugs use bribes, and the sheer size of the collection of totally irrelevant federations to keep the true powers in check, and at the whim of whatever the more numerous, ---- show federations prefer. Why not just bail, set up a competing organization, and go from there? WHy do they need FIFA? What do they need them for? FIFA is a giant vacuum cleaner sucking up insanely massive piles of money for what exactly? It's crazy that the momentum for this could start over something as small as a silly wrist band, which has got to be the most pusillanimous protest ever, and they couldn't even stick to that, but I'll take it, I will absolutely take it. I'll grant its a pipe dream, but a few days ago, I was just dreaming of this possibility, not actually thinking there was any chance of it happening but man, if UEFA tells FIFA to ---- off, wow, we could have a real, genuine, legit organization eventually building out international soccer, instead of basically a soccer IOC. Would be awesome. Hopefully this starts the momentum to make it happen, or barring that, making real change happen at FIFA. If UEFA and the big dogs leave, FIFA will go bankrupt in like 5 seconds. That would be incredible.
Some of the greatest things we’ve ever done, have often come out of the stupidest little things. Can’t imagine FIFA will let us go without a fight however.
While I’m the last person to look solely at transfer values as the barometer of talent, this does provide some evidence of what I’m talking about. The US roster, 1 to 26, is deeper and more talented than the Canadian roster. Canada has one elite player, one very good player, a decent player at the European level, and then a bunch of second and third tier Euro players sprinkled with some MLS players. Coaching matters, particularly at the international level when you just can’t go out and buy/trade for who you want. I know there are some on this board who try to minimize how good Herdman is, but results don’t lie. In the only competition that mattered, Canada was the best team and deserved winner.
Not a great game, but typical Swiss side. Very very hard to score against, savvy and tough to beat. I still think Brazil have a nasty group here with Serbia.
Korea looks so sharp and technical, top to bottom (except for Hwang’s miss). Jealous of their ball movement. ETA: News flash, Nunez is still good.
Grandpa Godin puts a header off the post from a corner. When Korea sets up in defense, Uruguay has a tough time breaking it down. They look better in transition. Darwin Nunez is the same player I’ve always seen with Liverpool - looks the part but doesn’t produce enough.
This is the dilemma of VAR: either you commit to the human element of officiating, with all the good and bad that entails, or you commit to getting everything right by the book, with VAR. You can't have the review booth making judgments based on player reputation, flow of the game, evening out mistakes, etc. VAR is supposed to be a check on those things. It's either a foul or it's not.