Haha, now that would be truly devious. I do support England as well as Wales, England just edge it in football. I went to the England-Wales games in the last WCQs and supported England.
Not something I normally like to get into here, but born in Wales, to English parents and an entire English family, I lived in Wales for alot of my life but have lived in England for years now.
alright. just asked since you support two neighbouring countries. just seemed a bit odd. i wont tell anyone hehe
Well it should probably be on the politics forum, but Wales and England aren't countries. The UK is a country, Wales and England are just football teams.
Ooops, I would have put Breitner in twice by accident, as I missed that you already chose him as left back. Probably not a good idea to have two Breitners in the squad, that might result in unrest. Could also put Lizarazu into left back and move Breitner into right back? As for Maier vs Kahn, fair enough. I might idolise Sepp Maier too much based on childhood memories... let's see how Kahn plays in the summer (this is a bit unfair of course, given that he's past his prime).
At LB Bayern always had a good amount of class players, Breitner, Brehme and Lizarazu are all highly-ranked in any all-time LB list. I prefer Brehme playing in midfield, covering the early-70s Breitner when attacking and vice-versa. Looked like a nice combination to me. Both are intelligent enough to not stand in each other's ways. With Lizarazu, of course a world class LB had to be left out, but I think Breitner edges him out in terms of Bayern-history. I think Kahn's form between 1999 and 2001 for Bayern was better than Maier at his best. Kahn was absolutely stellar it still takes my breath away when I think about those years. And I've kept the NT out of it, mine is a Bayern All-Time XI, in a Germany All-Time XI Maier would clearly be my #1 choice, as he was very instrumental in Germany winning in 1974.
I see people are starting to compare Italy 1970 with Italy 1990 (it's always funny to see how threads develop...). What if the 1970 World Cup had been held in Italy and not in Mexico, how would Italy have played under Valcareggi in front of home crowds? And how would Vicini's Italy have played if the 1990 World Cup had been held in Mexico?
OK, I didn't distinguish between Sepp's performances for Germany and Bayern. Like I said, I am biased in favour of Maier, also because I respect him much more as a person.
The very same way Valcareggi's Italy played at home during Euro '68: cautiously and defensively. It's understandable. The shame of losing to N. Korea in '66 and being pelted with rotten tomatoes in Rome created a generation of Italian players who were terrified to lose. Under Valcareggi they almost never did; but they took few chances. How Italy's '90 team would look in Mexico is pure speculation. Vicini selected a pretty neat, inventive group of players. I am guessing they would play their constructive, inventive game in Mexico as they did at home. Perche no?
i dont think italy 1990 could have played any more boring football then they already did, so i dont see much changing. i think i had too high expectations for that world cup. i was sure we would win. i thought we were terrible. in fact the whole world cup was boring outside of a few moments and games. probably the worst world cup in history (for non germans maybe?). as for 1970, im sure that would have changed a bit. playing on brazils continent and everything, instead of at home in front of your own crowd. that being said, italians dont care as much about how we win as others do. if it takes a 3-0 goal difference throughout the tournament to win, we will take it and smile. wed rather leave the entertaining to others as we collect the trophies. so, even though im sure things would be different, i wouldnt not be surprised if it was exactly the same. italy were terrible in the group stages.