Sizzling FRIENDLIES

a quick look at the European Cup qualifiers and I already start to doze off

teams will need the three points, but Germany vs Ireland is not what gets me going at all

which kind of made me realise that in future the true football super-powers should simply play friendlies against each other, so that we fans have something to look forward to

Brazil , Argentina in the Americas

Germany, Italy and France in Europe

ALL exclusively playing their respective friendlies against each other

in a second division, we could have Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, the Ivory Coast and Holland keeping each other busy

the third division would consist of Greece, Turkey, the Czechs and Bulgaria

whereas England could concentrate on playing the Home Nations like N.Ireland, Scotland, Wales

that way, at least our friendlies would be emotional, meaningful and evenly balanced

I like the thinking Otto.

There would be no England V Germany though!

You're not that scared are you??

if all footballing super-powers should play each other then why the fuck do you have france there???

also otto no matter what you think, the last time you played england you were slaughtered in your own country 1:5

italian_hammer(DEANO!) wrote:

also otto no matter what you think, the last time you played england you were slaughtered in your own country 1:5

yeah, and the Great English Public then went on to vote it THE Greatest English sporting moment in history

I told my German friends before the game that nowadays you would have to take EVERYBODY seriously, even England, there simply were no small countries any more

problem for our English friends is that Slovakia, Turkey and Romania, or was it Hungary, have all beaten Germany in friendlies since then; hey, add Wales to that; which is exactly what I am talking about; these friendlies produce very uneven and ultimatively irrelevant results, just like the Danish drubbing of England

therefore, let Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy and France play friendlies against each other in one group, with the other countries belonging to different groups that have a sporting and emotional relevance

truth be told , I would be happy if ALL Germany friendlies were against Italy, and if we need a win from time to time, we simply play Argentina

Only one problem with Germany playing these better countries.Will have to get use getting beatings all the time.

italian_hammer(DEANO!) wrote:if all footballing super-powers should play each other then why the fuck do you have france there???

also otto no matter what you think, the last time you played england you were slaughtered in your own country 1:5

Becasue we've won four trophies in eight years, got to two WC finals, and have won more Euros than everybody else?

if you want to look at it seriously, I do think that there should be a pre-qualification stage where countries like Andorra, Azerbaidjan, Armenia, N Ireland, Iceland, Faroer, etc. play each other and then we get to the real qualification stage with everyone else. That way we wouldn't be filling the calender with uninteresting ties for the big boys and we give the smaller countries a chance to play some more interesting games as well and finally get some results and test their strengths against countries of similar stature.

ireland will beat germany rather easily.... u heard it here first otto...

mc'geady will score the first in around the 15th minute.... keane will get the second with about 10 mins to go.....

get yourself down to the bookies.... believe me it's easy money

cotr i´m sorry wind up or not it has to have some semblance of believability, and after their 4-0 home whacking v the dutch its evident RoI are just plain sh¡t

COTR wrote:ireland will beat germany rather easily.... u heard it here first otto...

mc'geady will score the first in around the 15th minute.... keane will get the second with about 10 mins to go.....

get yourself down to the bookies.... believe me it's easy money

have ireland any players missing?...

germany are already underestimating their opponents though in their usual arrogant way and this may just be their undoing...their manager herr loew said a few days ago that the qualification for the euros 08 is...as far as hes concerned...purely a formality. ...

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:cotr i´m sorry wind up or not it has to have some semblance of believability, and after their 4-0 home whacking v the dutch its evident RoI are just plain sh¡t

it was a reserve team frank against holland ....

the big guns are back against germany.... wait and see frank is all im saying

reserve side i think not just a few names missing the irish are on the slippery slope and will get whacked again

nut why do you bother rising to this type of top post, this is one of his worst yet

Regardless of the typical wind-ups and gibes flying around in all directions here, I think Otto has a good point here. Of course the "divisional" nature of it is wrong and simply wouldn't work in football, as there are far too many "good" teams at any one time and their form varies – some teams slip away, others emerge – and the "home nations" stuff is of course another wind-up barb, if not entirely undeserved.

But I like the idea of "top" teams playing each other, if only the idea of "frendlies" being always taken seriously could be established. For a start, we'd have to lose the name "friendly". I'd like to see something more like in rugby where every "Test" counts, tour matches of whatever kind etc. They might not have the same _competitive_ stature of the World Cup, Lions tours, even Tri-Nations or Six Nations but are anything but "friendlies".

Given the size of the club game and the money that goes into that, not to mention how many "crucial" games the top players already play, I fear this may be a pipedream though. Until football becomes less "top-down" and less exclusively dominated by market forces, this'll never happen, alas.

Otto!

Let’s try to win first a game at the Euro Championships in this NEW Millennium!

italian_hammer(DEANO!) wrote:if all footballing super-powers should play each other then why the fuck do you have france there???

also otto no matter what you think, the last time you played england you were slaughtered in your own country 1:5

wtf is going on with you, France wins more in the last 10 years than england in 40 years

france is more a footballing super power than england

nobody cares that fucking 5:1 anymore in germany, forget that shit, it was not in a tournament, but i understand you, its the only postive thing for you against germany

you see it looks like we've got Huth signed up Deisler, you must be over the moon

borocooper wrote:you see it looks like we've got Huth signed up Deisler, you must be over the moon

What an improvement....

obviously, nobody would agree on any artificial division

still, I don't get why the DFB, for instance, does not try to organise friendlies mostly against the big boys that get fans all excited

what is the point of a friendly : Germany vs Wales / Hungary / Slovakia ?????

as for Germany vs Ireland, if the Adler cannot beat Michelle Smith's compatriots, the DFB should drop the whole lot and promote the U-21 to senior status under Daum's stewardship

personally, having watched classics like Germany vs Argentina/Italy at the WC, I am losing patience with those irrelevant games

Last World Cup there were no real classics...

so skip the World Cup as well...

It 's too boring!

ricardojol wrote:Last World Cup there were no real classics...

so skip the World Cup as well...

It 's too boring!

this World Cup Germany vs Italy was an ALL-TIME CLASSIC

last World Cup Germany vs Brazil was one of the best Cup finals for a long time

Germany vs Italy in Florence was a CLASSIC as well, if for all the wrong reasons

Germany vs Brazil, Germany vs Argentina at the ConFedCup was fantastic as well

nothing boring about it either

those are the countries Germany should always be playing against

Holland , on the other hand, should play all of their internationals against Portugal, the Czech Republic and Belgium: exciting stuff for the participants

difficult to disagree, I would have thought

I'd rather see how we trash the Germans again...

ricardojol wrote:I'd rather see how we trash the Germans again...

I know

Boro also dream of beating ManU

problem is , that ManU don't dream of beating Boro

Portugal, the Czechs and Belgiums are your ideal sparring partners

maybe we could add England to that list; neither of you will ever win anything again before you realise you are not nearly as good as you think and therefore learn some humility; besides, the EPL is now awash with Dutch players so that the emotional ties to kick-rush are getting stronger by the week

unfortunately, England do not have the class/quality to join Portugal and the Czechs for regular friendlies; the KVBN would have to decide whether to compete against the English home-nations or the Portugals of this world

But Boro is more Germany hard working and Huth in the defence and not popular in the world of football

So Holland must be Man U attacking style, vd Sar in defence and very popular in the world of football!

Otto...we beat United about 5 times in the last few years.

borocooper wrote:Otto...we beat United about 5 times in the last few years.

ssshht, don't confuse him by using facts.

You should have known by now that Darling Otto has created his own reality

ricardojol wrote:Otto!

Let’s try to win first a game at the Euro Championships in this NEW Millennium!

bump...

the sentiment behind otto's idea is very good.... he has just got a little muddled with the facts along the way....

don't worry otto we won't hold it against you

I love this one about "the bestgoalkeeper in the world" *cough*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5KbBfZ3kck

Axeslammer ! wrote:I love this one about "the bestgoalkeeper in the world" *cough*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5KbBfZ3kck

brilliant stuff.....

ricardojol wrote:But Boro is more Germany hard working and Huth in the defence and not popular in the world of football

Germany work hard and PLAY hard; when the Mannschaft plays football there is always a "Partylaune"

kids from Rio over Buenes Aires to Amsterdam are imitating Schweini's and Poldi's moves these days

ricardojol wrote:
So Holland must be Man U attacking style, vd Sar in defence and very popular in the world of football!

ManU style is just boring; and don't mistake world-wide shirt sales for flair or respect

those Singaporese and Thais are brainwashed

once the Germans discover how abosolutely bog-standard-average van Bommel is they will fall out of love with Dutch footballers as well; doubts are already creeping in over 2-metre-miss Makaay

you cannot sell pulp-fiction as world literature for ever without people noticing

@ Schlumpf

what do Boro fans make of huth's arrival ??

is huth the most expensive german ever