This thread is for discussion of the Team GB football team which will compete in the Olympics. The squad announcement is due today. David Beckham and Craig Bellamy are expected to be amongst the squad.
I'm quite surprised by that. Given the 'ceremonial' nature of Team GB I thought a place in the squad would have been his reward for the work he's done in regards to the Olympics. Giggs, Bellamy and Richards will be the over age players.
Unless Pearce flukes a gold he is dead man walking, and about time. This Becks thing should hopefully make it more likely he is got rid of.
If Wilshere and Cleverley are fit, I think it would be a less uglier watch than the NT even more so if Allen is brought in as a replacement for Bale.
Clearly you've not seen Pearce manage a team before, and if you think it's any kind of advantage to lose Bale you are clueless.
Becks had a phenomenal goal from a free kick tonight for the Galaxy. Too bad he won't be on your Olympics team. He is in great shape and plays more defensive now than I ever remember since he came to LA. I would love to have him on our USA team!
I have seen enough of Pearce to know that he is likely to play Cleverley as a right winger and play Muamba in central midfield instead. However he hasn't selected his favorites like Muamba or Rose so hopefully not. As for Bale, he is nowhere near as good as you Spurs fans like to believe but I digress, my point was aesthetically speaking, if Allen was brought in to replace Bale, the football played would still not be ugly. Nothing to do with the actual results.
I can almost forgive not knowing that Wilshere is out til October at the earliest but this.... this... oop:
Is it incorrect to even mention Muamba? Or do I need to add a "good luck with his recovery" every time I mention him?
This might of been the one and only major international tournament Bale could of ever been apart of. Roy Hodgson really sabotaged this GB Olympic team by selecting Phil Jones, Martin Kelly, Jordan Henderson, & Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to England's Euro squad. In my mind, this is a huge conspiracy to weaken team GB. IF GB would of won the Gold medal in Football there would of been talk about perhaps merging all of GB on all internationals stages (which it technically should be). However, that's a lot off money to miss out on. That would mean merging four FA's into one, and merging four international sides into one. I'm sure some countries would love to make money by sending four different teams into qualification tournaments, even if really only one has a shot at qualifying. I don't blame Bale for not wanting to be apart of this farce, if there was no chance to win a medal. Just enjoy your short off season. If GB united and threw all their support and all their FA's behind this Olympic squad they could of challenged Brazil for the gold. Shame. What could of been.
Assuming that all of GB got behind this team, and every single FA (and clubs) in GB were supporting it and encouraging their players to take apart in it; and ticky-tack injuries weren't a factor. This would be my ultimate 18 GB team if I were assembling it (apologies ahead of time to N.Ireland). STARTING VI: GK - Robert Green (Queens Park Rangers) E LB - Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur) W CB- Phil Jones (Manchester United) E CB- Chris Smalling (Manchester United) E RB- Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur) E MF- Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) W MF- Darren Fletcher (Manchester United) S MF- Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal) W LW- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal) E RW- Theo Walcott (Arsenal) E CF- Danny Welbeck (Manchester United) E BENCH: GK- Jason Steele (Middlesbrough) E DF- Martin Kelly (Liverpool) E DF- Steven Caulker (Tottenham Hotspur) E MF- Barry Bannan (Aston Villa) S MF- Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) E MF- Tom Cleverley (Manchester United) E FW- Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea) E This line-up of course means that Welbeck, Walcott, ect. were left off the England Euro squad (dreaming) freeing them up to be selected to the Olympic squad, and guys like Micah Richards and Frank Lampard took their spots making them not eligible for this squad as the three over 23 year old's. Of course because Green was only a bystander at the Euro's I think he would of been fresh enough to play at the Olympics without jeopardizing his EPL season. My three over aged players would of been... GK - Robert Green (Queens Park Rangers) E MF- Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) W MF- Darren Fletcher (Manchester United) S This team would of been strong and athletic up top, with and Giggs and Flecther controlling the midfield, and veteran GK Robert Green organizing the back line. This team, I think, would actually challenge Brazil (which is basically sending its full national team to the Olympics).
Hmm. Don't think you really undertand the English, Scotish, Welsh, N.Irish world view of the game but thanks for your input.
Politics aside, how is Wales any different then Catalonia? They have a national team too, that was established in 1904, however there's is not recognized by FIFA or UEFA. So buddy, what's the "English, Scotish, Welsh, N.Irish world view of the game"? It was pretty clear Vicente del Bosque could of easily named David de Gea, Thiago Alcantara, and Iker Muniain to the Spain's Euro squad deservedly, but it would of knocked all of them out of the Olympics. Spain brought an extremely veteran squad, the only player named to Spain's team that would of been eligible for u-23 consideration was Jordi Alba. England could of done the same.
Have you really just said 'politics aside' when discussing whether discussing whether a country (or not) get affiliated to FIFA? haha , quite a big aside.