Is it even possible? I know Arsenal, Bayern, Manchester City, The German National team and others (smaller unknown teams such as the Ethiopian National team) been trying. Who could be successful at it just as Barca. Is it worth trying? I am curious. Certainly the Barcelona style is the most pretty of the the beautiful game.
Certainly? lol I am among many who do not enjoy the Barcelona style all that much at all. It depends on what you're looking to replicate as well. This Barcelona team can't even replicate the Barcelona team of half a decade ago, because Xavi, who has no equal in the modern game, is no longer there. And that team is unlike the Ronaldinho team. When Messi retires, can Barcelona still play the same way? If you make it a bit broader, then I guess Pep's team can be considered quite similar, but neither Barcelona nor Bayern fans would like to agree with that.
Different people always have their own preferences, beauty in someone's eyes may not appear to be so in someone else. Thus far, Arsenal has tried to copy the Barcelona style, but their players like to pass the ball around with no end result. The closest team that can emulate Barcelona, in my opinion, is Spain, since close to half of the team come from Barcelona. But there is no magician (Messi) in the team who can create something out of nothing.
I am also not a huge fan of the Barcelona style. It is cool to see for a while, but it does get repetitive. Sometimes you want to see a shot from outside of the box, and not a million intricate passes.
Thai National team are pretty good at implementing this boring style and that makes them pass through the second group stage of AFC world cup qualification for the second time in their history.
Thailand hasn't clinched advancing in Asian World Cup Qualifying yet. They have 13 points and 1 game left, which is 24 March vs. Iraq. If Thailand draws or wins, they advance. If Thailand loses, they win the group if Iraq doesn't beat Vietnam on 29 March. Both of Iraq's games will be played in Iran. If Iraq wins both games, Thailand will finish second. Four out of eight second place teams advance, and Groups A, B, E, and H could all have their second place team with 13 points excluding points against the fifth place team. For Thailand, no teams are excluded because Indonesia is suspended, leaving Thailand in a group of four. Therefore Thailand could be eliminated on a tiebreaker as the fifth best second place team.
I think the OP was talking more about style than success. Not that the current team isn't successful. While the team with Xavi anchoring the midfield was obviously amazing, the 'tiki-taka' style was not everyone's cup-of-tea. It was quite polarizing. Some people thought it was brilliant, others thought it was dull. Whereas the style they are playing now... nobody can say its dull.
I was indeed talking about the style as well. The Barcelona team that revolves around MSN is quite different to the one the revolved around MIX. And I agree, this current team is far more entertaining. It still has shades of the old Barcelona, because it dominates possession, uses high-line, and press aggressively, but the way they use the ball is very different. I think Suarez is rather key. He single-handedly up the tempo of the team. Look at Liverpool with Suarez. 100+ goals, and the most exciting team in the EPL. Post-Suarez, and they're mid-table average-entertainment side.
Ok I a little bit exaggerate it but they have at least 90% percent chance to be in the second phase. Look at this 1. There are two conditions to be the group winner 1.1 Thailand doesn't lose to Iraq (unlikely) 1.2 Vietnam doesn't lose to Iraq (very unlikely) 2. Due to the Kuwait-Myanmar incident, there are many options that Thailand will be one of the best runners-up - Palestine doesn't lose to UAE - Malaysia doesn't lose to Saudi - Afghanistan doesn't lose to Japan - Philippines beats Uzbekistan - Saudi doesn't lose to UAE - Japan doesn't lose to Syria (this is what I say 90%) - Bahrain beats Uzbegistan - Jordan beats Australia - Philippines doesn't lose to North Korea - Philippines loses to North Korea but the goal difference is not exceeding 2 goals. - Thailand loses to Iraq but the goal difference is not exceeding 3 goals (I would say this is also a 90% chance)
Before qualifying for World Cup 2018, I've never seen Asia use a qualifying format where some, but not all, second place teams advance. Africa advanced some, but not all, second place teams in qualifying for World Cup 2010.
I think the key Luis Enrique. He says how the team should play. Suarez is an important piece of the puzzle, but he definitely didn't single-handedly up the tempo. two cents for general debate on topic.. As for emulating Barcelona, indeed depends what we mean. Barca itself changed all the time, as is only natural, as teams just change with the times whether they want or not. If we mean a heavy emphasis on possession and getting good results with it, I think in the recent times most successful have been the Spain NT, because of quite obvious reasons. With Pep, Bayern has also done well enough, and they have certain similarities with Barca, but it's too much to say that they emulated Barca. They've done a Pep version of Bayern, and been moderately successful. Either way, when a team is very successful they must do many things right, and sometimes those teams play in a way that is not the norm of the day. Don't know about emulating, but it's only smart that others look at that team critically and see if they could benefit from changing their own approach a little, in this case, for example, questioning the amount of possession they think is ideal to have. But that's one part of Barca, not emulating.
define "emulate"! Do you mean the sheer number of boring passes, the lack of La Liga defenses that Barca players just cruise through, or what exactly do you mean by "emulate"? probably, and if there's any other team who could "emulate" (ambiguous word, so see my question above) then it's probably just another spanish / latin team. I don't see scandinavians, americans, brits, or african being able to emulate (if emulate here means completing 800 meaningless passes per game in the middle of the pitch) from a success point of view, probably. From an aesthetics point of view, no. Although, I might be a bit biased here cause I never liked Barcelona, and especially not their style of play certainly?? Certainly for you maybe. I, for one, never liked Barcelona, never liked Spain, Spanish football, and moreover I never liked tiki-taka. And before the haters jump at my throat to call me Barca hater let me tell you that I never liked Barca's style of play, or even players, but I never said they weren't / aren't the best football club in the world at the moment. Although... Bayern do give them a whooping every now and then But anyway... back to my point: Barca did AND does deserve to win, despite of their ugly style of play. They've found a winning formula and they're sticking to it until it stops working. That's how my great AC Milan beat the hell out of everyone from 1991 to 2007, that's how Barca is doing now. Good for them! But... I have the right to dislike their style of play and for good reason. For me, football means high speed games played between the boxes, with both teams being uber good both on attack and defense, with both teams giving their last breath on the pitch, with both teams attacking the freakin goal, not completing 800 passes per game without purpose. But... that's me. If you prefer falling asleep at Barca's games then that's your problem
you. I like you.... you're seeing things my way. That's exactly what I said, too about barcelona speaking of which... I have watched (I must have been probably bored, or something, cause otherwise I never enjoy barcelona play), barca play a few games in... hmm, 2012, or 2013 (sorry, I don't remember the exact year/season), but anyway, as I was saying, I watched Barca play without messi when the midget was injured for a longer period of time, and with no bias at all I can honestly say that hadn't I knew that I was watching Barcelona, or hadn't I recognized their jerseys I would have bet everyone on the fact that that team was rayo vallecano, or granada, or whatever. They did have xavi (not sure about iniesta), on the pitch and actually all their starting players (except for messi), but I swear that their game was horrible. And they didn't even play against strong teams, although in La Liga there is only one strong team (RM) besides Barca, so yeah... I have seen Barca without messi and I wasn't impressed. That's why it puzzles me beyond words how everyone fears barcelona. OK, maybe fear is too harsh of a word, but still, they are too respectful towards them. I just wish my great 2000-2005 AC Milan would still have maldini, pirlo, kaka, seedorf, sheva, and pippo. I would bet everything on Milan's victory both home and away against these Barcelona team. But, I'm getting carried by nostalgia agree with what??? Bayern fans have said it many times that they don't like Pep's style of play. Germans will never enjoy tiki-taka, although, I must admit that Pep changed this boring style of play in the last season. Still, ball possession has never been enjoyed by german football fans.