FIFA 2014 World Cup all-purpose thread

[IthacaMatt]

Could be but baby steps at this point. The MLS TV deal tripling is great and is valued @ $90 mil/season which is above the $83.3 mil/season (250 mil for 3 years) for NBC to cover EPL in the US whoever the EPL now has a domestic contract of 3.018 billion pounds for 3 years of covereage in the UK. That's $5.17 billion US or $1.72 billion/year which is on par with the NFL @ $1.9 billion/year to broadcast to a much smaller population.

Actually, MLS is getting five times as much as under previous TV contracts. Big jump up. Ought to help average salaries as well as maybe funding an additional designated player per team.

 

[ImperialOrange]

As someone from a country with a large Turkish population which has not integrated well and is responsible for much of the country's criminal activities, yes, I do follow this.

Do not confuse a re-opening of dialogue with a slam dunk admission. There's still a lot of work to be done.

I thought, as of recently, Turkey had some serious issues and waring factions. Not all of Turkey is Istanbul although it was the place to be in 2005.

 

[Alsacs]

I agree with you it's not a slam dunk because nothing of that size is ever a slam dunk because of France being aholes and some EU members wanting Turkey to accept less seats in the EU Parliament upon admission and I agree with the Europeans on that. Turkey has a huge population and if they we're given full seats off the bat only Germany and Francd would by the EU Constitution have more seats if Turkey was given full status.

I am not Turkish(I am Greek, Italian, Scottish) but they are key IMP because they are the EU/USA'a best ally to tell Russia be good actors or we have a spot(Turkey to keep you in sight). Their is work for Turkey to do, but when Turkey gets the couple of EU standards done in the next year or so I believe they will become full EU members because Germany(the most important EU member IMO) supports them. My point though is that it's not a 1 sided love affair Turkey wants in the EU and the EU is interested unlike UConn with either the ACC or B1G. It's mutually beneficial as Turkey's location is HUGE and the fact Ataturk in the early 20th century in a Muslim dominated nation has been able to turn Turkey into a close Mideast democracy is great. Even though Turkey isn't Middle Eastern and the county is technically in Asia and Europe. I had great talks about this stuff with Amb. Goodwin Cooke as a student at SU. He loved Ataturk calling him the George Washington of Turkey.

 

[cmr27]

The nearest country to the Middle East that I can picture being able to host a World Cup would be Turkey. That would be pretty cool. Istanbul is awesome.

Agreed. The relatively-small Basiktas stadium is in a great part of town with one of the prettiest lookouts in the game. I've always wanted to attend a game there. Otherwise, I don't think Turkey has the infrastructure to host. It has everything else though.

 

[cmr27]

I agree with you it's not a slam dunk because nothing of that size is ever a slam dunk because of France being aholes and some EU members wanting Turkey to accept less seats in the EU Parliament upon admission and I agree with the Europeans on that. Turkey has a huge population and if they we're given full seats off the bat only Germany and Francd would by the EU Constitution have more seats if Turkey was given full status.

I am not Turkish(I am Greek, Italian, Scottish) but they are key IMP because they are the EU/USA'a best ally to tell Russia be good actors or we have a spot(Turkey to keep you in sight). Their is work for Turkey to do, but when Turkey gets the couple of EU standards done in the next year or so I believe they will become full EU members because Germany(the most important EU member IMO) supports them. My point though is that it's not a 1 sided love affair Turkey wants in the EU and the EU is interested unlike UConn with either the ACC or B1G. It's mutually beneficial as Turkey's location is HUGE and the fact Ataturk in the early 20th century in a Muslim dominated nation has been able to turn Turkey into a close Mideast democracy is great. Even though Turkey isn't Middle Eastern and the county is technically in Asia and Europe. I had great talks about this stuff with Amb. Goodwin Cooke as a student at SU. He loved Ataturk calling him the George Washington of Turkey.

I hit a 2-day seminar on Turkish history in Istanbul last summer. It's a fascinating place. It's a petri dish/microcosm of just about every major issue in the world economy. The entire town smells like oranges too, so it has that going for it.

 

[BillJay]

This is going to be crap show. I can't wait for Platini-Blatter election for FIFA President. Platini seems very likely to cram the winter WC on the European leagues while Blatter has stayed quieter on this because he wants to win the election. Blatter has quietly buying the African region while Platini has bought Asia by supporting this winter WC. This election will likely be decided by UEFA and CONCACAF.

I think Blatter is more likely to take the WC from Qatar then Platini. Platini voted for Qatar I think he was bought, but sadly I want Blatter to win re-election as the devil you know is better than that fraud Frenchmen Platini.

UAE would have been the best Arab country to host the WC if FIFA wanted it in that scary region. Qatar 2022 is one WC I won't consider going to as I would never feel safe. Just give 2022 to Australia keep it in the Asian region and give the USA 2026 for our 250th anniversary as a country.

from FIFA's point of view having the USA's 250th birthday in 2026 is an argument against us having the World Cup in 2026 - they wouldn't want to share the spotlight

 

[bnoro]

Well, a big part of it is the EPL requirement that they have a certain number of home grown players on each club's roster. That's why English players generally are more expensive than they should be, relative to other talent in Europe.

Not 100% true. There are 17 foreign player spots available to each team's roster. So in order to fill a 25 man squad, the rest of those players have to be association trained. They don't have to be grown through the academies or anything like that.

In Champions/Europa league, in order to fill a full 25 man squad, you need to have at least 4 club trained players (at the club for 3 years before they turned 21) and 4 association trained players.

A team like Manchester City could theoretically only keep a 17 man roster of all foreigners but it wouldn't be too smart.

 

[CanadianSU]

The EPL had a very very bad world cup...

Most of the best players in the WC were not from the EPL.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Not 100% true. There are 17 foreign player spots available to each team's roster. So in order to fill a 25 man squad, the rest of those players have to be association trained. They don't have to be grown through the academies or anything like that.

In Champions/Europa league, in order to fill a full 25 man squad, you need to have at least 4 club trained players (at the club for 3 years before they turned 21) and 4 association trained players.

A team like Manchester City could theoretically only keep a 17 man roster of all foreigners but it wouldn't be too smart.

It's a smart rule as it keeps EPL teams from flooding their youth set ups with foreign players. In theory, it will keep the local talent quotent high and make sure youth players arent abandoned before they've had proper time to show their worth.

 

[Alsacs]

from FIFA's point of view having the USA's 250th birthday in 2026 is an argument against us having the World Cup in 2026 - they wouldn't want to share the spotlight

Nah, I don't think the nation's 250th birthday would take away from the World Cup. Who even knows if matches would be played on July4th in 2026. The 2026 World Cup is coming to North America because Argentina/Uruguay want 2030, 2018 is in Europe, 2022 is in Asia thus 2026 has to go to Africa or CONCACAF by rotation. Mexico has hosted twice thus the USA will get it a 2nd time if Canada got its act together maybe they could co-host.

 

[Alsacs]

It's a smart rule as it keeps EPL teams from flooding their youth set ups with foreign players. In theory, it will keep the local talent quotent high and make sure youth players arent abandoned before they've had proper time to show their worth.

The FA has smartly forced this on the Premiere league teams because of the dearth of English talent. The clubs want England to do well so they agreed to a minimum of whatever slots for young English talent in the Premiere youth academies.
England isn't developing their Rooneys, Gerrard, Lanpards this generation and its smartly causing the FA to scramble to poach available talent. If England had our population they would find the athletes but they aren't finding many in England now.

 

[Bortukal]

What I think could be interesting is if FIFA made the World Cup actually a WORLD Cup. By that I mean matches would be spread worldwide across all the Federations instead of having all matches in just one country. For instance, Group A matches might all be held in France. Group B matches in Uruguay, Group C in Japan, etc. If possible, make it a rule that a team can't play in a country encompassed by its own Federation. Set the knockout rounds in separate countries also. With this format, a lot more countries get a piece of the action and it alleviates the burden of single country hosting 32 national teams and their supporters.

 

[Alsacs]

The EPL had a very very bad world cup...

Most of the best players in the WC were not from the EPL.

Yeah I talked about this earlier but Imperial nailed it the English league is so much deeper than Barca/Real, Munich, Juventus/AC Milan/Roma, PSG dominating their leagues. I doubt you would see a mid level team from leagues better than a Everton who isn't great but would beat most EPL teams at home including the favorites or in the case of Man U lose at home to them.

 

[Bortukal]

The FA has smartly forced this on the Premiere league teams because of the dearth of English talent. The clubs want England to do well so they agreed to a minimum of whatever slots for young English talent in the Premiere youth academies.
England isn't developing their Rooneys, Gerrard, Lanpards this generation and its smartly causing the FA to scramble to poach available talent. If England had our population they would find the athletes but they aren't finding many in England now.

My great uncle, a proper English gent, once commented to me that England's hopes of ever winning another World Cup died when the FA began bringing in foreign players en masse.

 

[Alsacs]

What I think could be interesting is if FIFA made the World Cup actually a WORLD Cup. By that I mean matches would be spread worldwide across all the Federations instead of having all matches in just one country. For instance, Group A matches might all be held in France. Group B matches in Uruguay, Group C in Japan, etc. If possible, make it a rule that a team can't play in a country encompassed by its own Federation. Set the knockout rounds in separate countries also. With this format, a lot more countries get a piece of the action and it alleviates the burden of single country hosting 32 national teams and their supporters.

Google Euro 2020 because that is what they are doing. It's being spread throughout Europe for that competition.
I wouldn't mind the USA/Mexico/Canada coming together and doing that.

 

[Bortukal]

Google Euro 2020 because that is what they are doing. It's being spread throughout Europe for that competition.
I wouldn't mind the USA/Mexico/Canada coming together and doing that.

Oh I didn't realize that. Makes a lot of sense.

 

[bnoro]

It's a smart rule as it keeps EPL teams from flooding their youth set ups with foreign players. In theory, it will keep the local talent quotent high and make sure youth players arent abandoned before they've had proper time to show their worth.

You can still buy a player aged 17 and have them count as club trained/association trained though. Bentaleb for Spurs is an example of this, he'll be a club trained/association trained player even though he grew up in France and is an Algerian international.

 

[Alsacs]

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/20631963
Here is the article

From Wiki though 12 of these 19 will get selected its really 13 of 20 as France just nominated Lyon a few days ago. I think England gets the Final since Germany had WC 2026
Bidding venues
Main article: UEFA Euro 2020 bids
The final list of bids was published by UEFA on 26 April 2014 with a decision on the hosts to be made by the UEFA Executive Committee on 19 September 2014. There were two bids for the Finals Package (of which one will be successful) and 19 bids for the Standard Package (of which 12 will be successful).

Country City Venue Capacity Package
Azerbaijan Baku Baku Olympic Stadium 68,000 (under construction) Standard Package
Belarus Minsk Traktar Stadium 16,500 (to be expanded to 33,000) Standard Package
Belgium Brussels Proposed New National Stadium 50,000 (60,000 potentially) Standard Package
Bulgaria Sofia Ovcha Kupel Stadium 16,000 (to be expanded to 24,000) Standard Package
Denmark Copenhagen Parken Stadium 38,065 Standard Package
England London Wembley Stadium 90,000 Finals Package and Standard Package
Germany Munich Allianz Arena 67,812 (to be expanded to 75,000) Finals Package and Standard Package
Hungary Budapest New Puskás Ferenc Stadium 56,000 (proposed new 65,000 stadium) Standard Package
Ireland Dublin Aviva Stadium 51,700 Standard Package
Israel Jerusalem Teddy Stadium 34,000 (to be expanded to 53,000) Standard Package
Italy Rome Stadio Olimpico 72,698 Standard Package
Macedonia Skopje Philip II Arena 33,460 Standard Package
Netherlands Amsterdam Amsterdam Arena 53,052 (to be expanded to 55-56,000) Standard Package
Romania Bucharest Arena Națională 55,600 Standard Package
Russia Saint Petersburg New Zenit Stadium 69,500 Standard Package
Scotland Glasgow Hampden Park 52,063 Standard Package
Spain Bilbao San Mamés Stadium 53,332 Standard Package
Sweden Solna, Stockholm Friends Arena 50,000 Standard Package
Wales Cardiff Millennium Stadium 74,500 Standard Package

 

[IthacaMatt]

Not 100% true. There are 17 foreign player spots available to each team's roster. So in order to fill a 25 man squad, the rest of those players have to be association trained. They don't have to be grown through the academies or anything like that.

In Champions/Europa league, in order to fill a full 25 man squad, you need to have at least 4 club trained players (at the club for 3 years before they turned 21) and 4 association trained players.

A team like Manchester City could theoretically only keep a 17 man roster of all foreigners but it wouldn't be too smart.

I don't see how your post negates the concept that English players cost more than "foreign" players because of the homegrown requirement. Look at what people payed for Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson

Oh I didn't realize that. Makes a lot of sense.

That's what the preliminary/qualifying rounds are - a tournament played in the homelands of the participants on a home-and-home basis,.

 

[IthacaMatt]

You might be right, but players shoot from that distance all the time. Nobody else gets blamed for it.

In the end putting blame on Messi for not producing something there would be like blaming someone for losing the lottery. The odds were stacked against him, and a Germany win was pretty much inevitable.

I'd say there was just as good a chance that if he blasted it on goal they got something on the rebound as there was that Argentina (the shortest team in the tournament) were going to get something in the air against Germany (the tallest team in the tournament).

Well, he could have put in a cross to the box and hope somebody knocked it in, instead of just blazing one way over the top on his team's last chance of the match. That was a little selfish of him, thinking about his personal "legacy" rather than what is the best chance for tying this game.

 

[ImperialOrange]

The FA has smartly forced this on the Premiere league teams because of the dearth of English talent. The clubs want England to do well so they agreed to a minimum of whatever slots for young English talent in the Premiere youth academies.
England isn't developing their Rooneys, Gerrard, Lanpards this generation and its smartly causing the FA to scramble to poach available talent. If England had our population they would find the athletes but they aren't finding many in England now.

The unique thing with Germany is they funnel all their home grown players to a few select teams all ending @ Bayern. When Germany hits the world cup they play as a team because they're pretty much all from 2-3 squads. I don't know that overall talent level is the issue in England as much as it is continuity in playing with each other in similar systems. That and their aweful coaching hires.

 

[Bortukal]

Julian Green's been listed on the first team at Bayern. The talk of him moving to Tottenham seems to have quieted down.

 

[mountaincuse]

Julian Green's been listed on the first team at Bayern. The talk of him moving to Tottenham seems to have quieted down.

Bummer, was going to see him on the spurs

 

[Alsacs]

Julian Green's been listed on the first team at Bayern. The talk of him moving to Tottenham seems to have quieted down.

Yeah it stinks for us Americans but I think Bayern plays enough matches that Greene will get some run on the first team. He would be better off being loaned and getting first team playing time, but Pep likes the kid and I think he will get some playing time.
Greene will be a star at the Gold Cup next year IMO.

 

[cmr27]

I don't know that overall talent level is the issue in England as much as it is continuity in playing with each other in similar systems.

I could slaughter thousands of bytes talking about the shortcomings of English football. In summary, the nation's mentality toward sport sets it up for failure. It's a contradictory mix of deep inner insecurity masked by outward arrogance. Young stars are built to impossible levels. There's too much too soon. Check out the recent photos in the Daily Mail of Jack Wilshire in Vegas. I can tell you now, he's done. He'll be great as the fourth-best option on West Ham in three years. Teams can only do so much to protect the young players from an English media/public that builds them up to impossible heights.

Then, when things don't work out, you don't get a loud backlash akin to the one against LeBron when he bailed on Cleveland. You don't get level-headedness. No. You get a dour fatalism that says the English will never achieve anything in big-time sports. Take the worst worldview on sport from the average Cleveland fan before last week and multiply it by 100. Perpetual defeatism fueled by a loud media destroys the athlete's mentality. I don't know how anyone succeeds in sport in the UK. Well, actually, I do. They leave. Andy Murray is a Scot who moved to Miami. The one success is the curious case of Bradley Wiggins.

Overall talent is not an issue. Compare the mentality of the English and German players. It's the byproduct of a system and culture. Which bums me out a lot.