The Official 14/15 Various National Soccer Team News Thread

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

Yeah, no decent striker in the history of soccer has ever missed a tap-in. Also, they all would have scored the second Welbeck goal. Every time.

Good job BF. If Sanogo happens to wander into this thread, you've probably just ruined all the confidence the lad gained from scoring three goals for France's U21 team over the last week.

[Locke]

And in other news:

Italy coach Antonio Conte has played down Giorgio Chiellini's controversial departure from the national team's camp this week.

Chiellini, 30, was summoned back to Turin by his club Juventus after a scan revealed a foot injury which has ruled him out of Tuesday night's Euro 2016 qualifier against Norway in Oslo.

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) initially agreed with Juve that the player would remain with the national team and receive treatment from their doctors.

Less than 24 hours after that announcement, however, the Serie A side demanded Chiellini be sent back to Turin to be treated by their medical department.

Juve hope to have the player fit in time for their opening Champions League fixture against Malmo next Tuesday, but their demand was interpreted as a way of getting one over former coach Conte, who left the club by mutual consent in July.

http://www.espnfc.com/european-champ...lini-departure

Good on Conte for not making a huge deal out of it.

Unlike....

The Bayern winger (Franck Ribery) announced his career with France had come to an end earlier this summer after he missed out on the World Cup through injury.

UEFA president Platini -- a former France captain -- refused to accept the decision and cited the FIFA rules, which state that a player cannot refuse a summons to international duty.

"If Deschamps calls him up, then he has to come to the national team," Platini had told Bild am Sonntag. "That's written in the FIFA statutes. If he doesn't report for duty, then he would be banned for three matches for Bayern Munich."

http://www.espnfc.com/bayern-munich/...platini-threat

The French are being idiotic about this.

Heres a really good article explaining the issue in depth:

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/name/62/p...25710/headline

[devo22]

pathetic stuff from Platini. What is it with France and not accepting retirement of their star players? Same thing as with Makelele back then. Not surprising that he singles out Ribery, given that they have a home Euro coming up, but come on ... he didn't threaten Philipp Lahm (who is younger than Ribery by the way), did he? Of course not. Platini is a tool, just like Blatter and all the other FIFA/UEFA officials. Corrupt idiots.

I wonder if Platini had something to say about the retirement of Samir Nasri. No? Quelle surprise ...

by the way I watched Germany vs Argentina last week and before the game, they officially paid tribute to Lahm, Klose and Mertesacker, with flowers and stuff. THAT'S how you treat your star players - you accept their decision and thank them for their contributions, not threaten to punish them.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by devo22

pathetic stuff from Platini. What is it with France and not accepting retirement of their star players? Same thing as with Makelele back then. Not surprising that he singles out Ribery, given that they have a home Euro coming up, but come on ... he didn't threaten Philipp Lahm (who is younger than Ribery by the way), did he? Of course not. Platini is a tool, just like Blatter and all the other FIFA/UEFA officials. Corrupt idiots.

I wonder if Platini had something to say about the retirement of Samir Nasri. No? Quelle surprise ...

by the way I watched Germany vs Argentina last week and before the game, they officially paid tribute to Lahm, Klose and Mertesacker, with flowers and stuff. THAT'S how you treat your star players - you accept their decision and thank them for their contributions, not threaten to punish them.

Exactly! Not trying to strong-arm Ribery back into playing.

From the other article that I posted:

The point is, you do all this privately. You don't play this out via the media. You don't go out of your way to make him appear unpatriotic while making yourself appear like some kind of bully. And equally, while you're at it, if you're Platini, maybe you realize that you missed a good opportunity to keep quiet.

Yes, you're French. You love your country and your country's football and you weren't just a star for Les Bleus -- you once had Deschamps' job. But now you're the UEFA president. You represent all of Europe. And, besides, this is a FIFA matter. It has nothing to do with you and you have nothing to gain from weighing in on this.

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/name/62/p...25710/headline

[GirlySports]

The Italians have always been more harmonious than the French.
And Germany are just in a different class.

[Burke Salad]

I like Welbeck, at least his speed creates chances.

[Bagor]

Strange, Rummenigge doesn't seem bothered by it.

Speaking to Sport Bild, Rummenigge responded to Platini. "Everthing's settled anyway," he said, before adding that Ribery has already discussed the situation with France coach Didier Deschamps.
"He will not receive a call-up anyhow. Everything's fine."

http://www.espnfc.com/bayern-munich/...platini-threat

Maybe it's not the French being idiotic but just Platini. Jeez he even referred to Lahm.

"If there is disagreement between Lahm and Low, the Germany coach will no longer call on him, that's one thing. But basically it is not Lahm's decision, it's Low's.
"[With Ribery] it's a very different situation. Franck Ribery cannot simply decide whether he plays for France or not. If coach Didier Deschamps invites him, he must come to the national team.
"This is defined in the Fifa statutes. If he does not come, he is suspended for three games with Bayern Munich. I don't understand him anyway. He is French, the European Championship in 2016 will take place in France!"

http://www.goal.com/en/news/90/franc...rement-platini

So Low is not going to call up Lahm. According to Rummenigge, Deschamps won't call up Ribery. Nothing to see here except Platini running his mouth on something that he should be keeping quiet on.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

Yeah, no decent striker in the history of soccer has ever missed a tap-in. Also, they all would have scored the second Welbeck goal. Every time.

you are taking this way too seriously

like I said people would do it if it was Messi, no one said ban him from the team, I like Welbeck and said he would do well for Arsenal

[Barnet Flame]

I'm really not.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Bagor

Strange, Rummenigge doesn't seem bothered by it.

So Low is not going to call up Lahm. According to Rummenigge, Deschamps won't call up Ribery. Nothing to see here except Platini running his mouth on something that he should be keeping quiet on.

I think Platini is a little giddy these days, it seems rather clear to me that he finally got his cut from the FIFA coffers.

UEFA president Michel Platini has said awarding the next two World Cups to Russia and Qatar was "the right decision."

Platini said he had voted for both host nations -- a decision he said he had taken for "the development of football."

http://www.espnfc.com/league-name/st...25583/headline

Sepp Blatter has confirmed he will stand for re-election as FIFA president as he hopes to serve a fifth term.Michel Platini has already said he will not challenge Blatter and will instead run for re-election as UEFA president.

Blatter added: "I was not surprised because in private conversations I have had with Michel Platini before during and after the World Cup he has confirmed he would not be a candidate.

http://www.espnfc.com/league-name/st...25473/headline

[d_phaneuf]

some upsets today in qualifying

Cyprus beat Bosnia
Czech Republic beat Netherlands

Gareth Bale beat Andorra as well

[SuperMatt18]

Good win for Italy today.

2-0 over Norway.

Lots of unheralded names on the roster, and very few of their "stars".

Standout was Simone Zaza. Has looked good at striker for Italy in the last two matches.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Good win for Italy today.

2-0 over Norway.

Lots of unheralded names on the roster, and very few of their "stars".

Standout was Simone Zaza. Has looked good at striker for Italy in the last two matches.

really like the 3-5-2 system they play.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

Gareth Bale beat Andorra as well

Amazing goal + insane Welsh fans:

http://screamer.deadspin.com/fans-ge...tar-1632654248

[polak]

So Poland re-established themselves as a powerhouse and contender in International Football last weekend with an absolutely dominating 7-0 win against their opponents. Robert Lewandowski also silenced the critics that accuse him of not showing up when International duty calls by blasting 4 goals past the goalkeeper and proving that he is the best striker in Football.

Gibraltr didn't even know what hit them.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by polak

So Poland re-established themselves as a powerhouse and contender in International Football last weekend with an absolutely dominating 7-0 win against their opponents. Robert Lewandowski also silenced the critics that accuse him of not showing up when International duty calls by blasting 4 goals past the goalkeeper and proving that he is the best striker in Football.

Gibraltr didn't even know what hit them.

Their goaltender is a firefighter and I think one of their CBs was a local waiter.

It going to be grim when they play Germany.

[Locke]

LISBON, Portugal -- Fernando Santos is taking over as Portugal coach, despite his eight-game international ban for misconduct at the World Cup.

The former Greece coach replaces Paulo Bento, who quit two weeks ago after a run of poor results, the Portuguese Football Federation said in a brief statement on its website on Tuesday.

http://www.espnfc.com/portugal/story...ng-paulo-bento

[GirlySports]

Platini has been watching college basketball, that's the only way he could have come up with this idea where teams play in different cities and then meet at a Final Four location.

Euro 2020 will be played everywhere with the Final Four being at Wembley. This will be good advertising. Somebody copyright the phrase, Road To Wembley, right now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020

Round of 16 and Group Stage: Copenhagen (Denmark), Bucharest (Romania), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Dublin (Republic of Ireland), Bilbao (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Brussels (Belgium), Glasgow (Scotland)

Quarter-finals and Group stage: Munich (Germany), Baku (Azerbaijan), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Rome (Italy)

Final and Semi-finals: London (England)

In addition to this, starting in 2018, European teams will no longer play friendlies, there will play in a UEFA Nations League!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018%E2...Nations_League

According to the proposed format, the 54 UEFA national teams will be divided into four divisions: 12 teams in Division A, 12 teams in Division B, 14 teams in Division C, and 16 teams in Division D. For the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League, teams will be divided according to their UEFA national team coefficients, with the highest-ranked teams playing in Division A, etc.
Each division will be divided into four pools of three or four teams, so each team will play four or six matches within their pool (using the home-and-away round-robin format), between September and November 2018.
In Division A, teams will compete to become the UEFA Nations League champions. The four pool winners of Division A will qualify for the "final four competition", to be played in June 2019 with the winner of the final round crowned as the Nations League champions.
Teams will also compete for promotion and relegation to a higher or lower division. In each division, the four pool winners (except Division A) will be promoted, while the last-placed teams of each pool (except Division D) will be relegated.

[Locke]

No, Platini has been drinking fuel, thats pretty much the only explanation.

[SuperMatt18]

I actually like the Euro 2020 idea. The continent is small enough that it is neat to do that for one of the Euros.

The Nations League is ridiculous though.