Robben blasts players going to China in their 20's, says you have 1 career & you are wasting it !

I see we let Ding Dong FC slide, well done gents. Anyway, football doesn't revolve around Europe in the sense that if European football is to go poof in the morning, I would continue to play and follow other football around the world. That being said, if you want to really see the best football and really show your true worth as a player, Europe is where it is at. No question about that.

As for what Robben said, I wouldn't call it wasting your talent. Sure, that glory of being labelled best in the world would definitely not be available in China but their livelihood would certainly get ridiculously easier with the amount of money they'll make. Certainly not wasting your talent there and yes, it is about the money. Messi ain't getting paid with love and affection, it's in Euros.

Re: which WC was better. I too preferred 2014 over 2006 despite me having a vested interest in the latter. Also, South Korea beat Spain fair and square. Yes, the linesman (from my own nation) messed up big time but Spain did not capitalise on their chances and the ref didn't make Joaquin miss the deciding pk.

Betty La Fea wrote:

rincon wrote:Lets see the results of this. If you are willing @Betty.

Today, not in 2, 20 or 200 years, how strong (relative to others) are the Chinese league and the Chinese NT?

If AFC got 13 spots like UEFA China would be in the world cup. Always.They don't look good, but they have a new manager so this year is make or break for them.

I don't watch the Chinese league, but I am going to try to start this year.

Never a straight answer. You should get into politics, this dodging of arguments and questions would prove really useful.

Doc wrote:I see we let Ding Dong FC slide, well done gents.

lmao I was wondering whether to let it slide while reading, I think I concluded to say something about it but then was distracted by food.

Generally speaking, all this belongs into the "Chinese Overlords" thread

rincon wrote:

Betty La Fea wrote:

rincon wrote:Lets see the results of this. If you are willing @Betty.

Today, not in 2, 20 or 200 years, how strong (relative to others) are the Chinese league and the Chinese NT?

If AFC got 13 spots like UEFA China would be in the world cup. Always.They don't look good, but they have a new manager so this year is make or break for them.

I don't watch the Chinese league, but I am going to try to start this year.

Never a straight answer. You should get into politics, this dodging of arguments and questions would prove really useful.

It was a straight answer. China has made the final round or Asian qualification and there are less nations left in Asia than that make it to the world cup from Europe. If Asia got 13 world cup spots, China would be always be in the world cup. Would you argue against this?

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Doc wrote:I see we let Ding Dong FC slide, well done gents.

lmao I was wondering whether to let it slide while reading, I think I concluded to say something about it but then was distracted by food.

Generally speaking, all this belongs into the "Chinese Overlords" thread

Where is this Ding Dong FC thing coming from? Surely he didnt say that did he?

^in some above post

So you rate them as the 13th best in Asia? what about the league?

Hapless_Hans wrote:^in some above post

Oh warrior

rincon wrote:So you rate them as the 13th best in Asia? what about the league?

I'd say about 8-ish as far as National teams go. League-wise I'd say 3rd best in terms of quality in Asia. I only see their teams in the champions league though. I don't watch them week-in/week-out.

people are motivated by different things....robben with his talent might have been motivated by trophies and world footballer of the year awards. not every player has the talent to warrant being motivated by such. a league with 20 teams, with 22 players on each squad makes 440 footballers. of all those very very few of them will ever get nominated for top awards, and even fewer will ever win balon d'or, that's not even counting other leagues around.

trophies and titles are great, but football has a shelf life, and players need to take note of that. titles you won will not put food on the table after retirement. if going to china is beneficial for you and your financial situation do it......i don't even have a problem with a 20 yr old making that move. if you're an average player and there's a chance to get a good pay day, anybody will take that up, its a no brainer......fans won't pay your bills, its a business

Well if you are from Brazil you can still have an international career, half of the NT plays there.

Warrior wrote:Well if you are from Brazil you can still have an international career, half of the NT plays there.

Number 2 rated nation in the world going by FIFA.

Also, Mario Balotelli was racially abused yesterday in France:
https://streamable.com/4m3w4

Say what you will about Chinese super league, but that wouldnt happen over there. I'll let you have a guess what would the Chinese government do if it caught, on video, a citizen racially harassing an international superstar in their country? What Chinese fans would do if they saw somebody next to them doing that to an international star, in their county making them all look bad?

Spoiler:

Straight red card for using the FIFA world ranking as an argument.

i just look it up for the sake of it Brazil 2nd, Belgium 5th, Wales 12th, Iceland 21st... who did this lol, makes no sense at all.

Brazil got knocked out of the Copa America beating only Haiti.

Betty La Fea wrote:

rincon wrote:

Betty La Fea wrote:


If AFC got 13 spots like UEFA China would be in the world cup. Always.They don't look good, but they have a new manager so this year is make or break for them.

I don't watch the Chinese league, but I am going to try to start this year.

Never a straight answer. You should get into politics, this dodging of arguments and questions would prove really useful.

It was a straight answer. China has made the final round or Asian qualification and there are less nations left in Asia than that make it to the world cup from Europe. If Asia got 13 world cup spots, China would be always be in the world cup. Would you argue against this?

And they're languishing at the bottom of the table with 2pts and have no chance of reaching the world cup.

Let's be honest, China is still way below the world level in football and until they improve drastically i see no reason why they should participate in the world cup.

Pedram wrote:

Betty La Fea wrote:

rincon wrote:


Never a straight answer. You should get into politics, this dodging of arguments and questions would prove really useful.

It was a straight answer. China has made the final round or Asian qualification and there are less nations left in Asia than that make it to the world cup from Europe. If Asia got 13 world cup spots, China would be always be in the world cup. Would you argue against this?

And they're languishing at the bottom of the table with 2pts and have no chance of reaching the world cup.

Let's be honest, China is still way below the world level in football and until they improve drastically i see no reason why they should participate in the world cup.

Asia is probably the hardest zone to qualify out of.

They lost in Seoul, where everybody would struggle to get a result.

Drew you guys, which was a fair result although China had 2 decent chances they should have scored.

Uzbekistan are unstoppable at home. Fair lost

Nobody was beating THAT Syrian side that day.

One poor draw against Qatar with a new manager.

They are going to lose against South Gorea in March so they will be done, but they could quite easily end qualification with a 12 point run.

Nothing says "hardest zone" to qualify from like the asian teams getting 0 wins in the last world cup.

rincon wrote:Nothing says "hardest zone" to qualify from like the asian teams getting 0 wins in the last world cup.

The distance,climate, and locations make it difficult.

In Europe you know what you are going to get. Every place is pretty close in terms of infrastructure and travel too. Makes things a lot easier. Also the climate makes it easier for the footballers. I remember Drogba came back to Chelsea from Africa once sick with Malaria. He played, but it clearly effected his level of play for months after that. Its harder when dealing with tropical and hot climates.

Also Asian nations got poor groups in the Last world cup.

Australia was in a group with the reigning world cup champ, their runner-up, and the best in South America in stadiums that were pretty much home matches for them. They were never going to get a result.

I didnt watch South Gorea's matches so I don't know what happened there.

We were beating Ivory Coast until their substitutions provided the spark for them. Greece parked the bus the entire match and didnt even attempt to play any kind of football at all....these things happen. Colombia was playing a home match, never going to get a result there.

We'll see how the European players like playing in a desert in Qatar in 5 years though. Its not fun, and Asian nations have to slog through them to even get to the cup, every 4 years.

This all makes about 0 impact in world cup games. Japan, Korea, Australia, etc. all qualified. Then they played against other World Cup teams in neutral ground, and got 0 wins.

If teams that cannot beat anyone else in the world cup qualify out of Asia, then it is clearly not the toughest confederation to qualify out of. Silly excuses can only work for so long.

rincon wrote:This all makes about 0 impact in world cup games. Japan, Korea, Australia, etc. all qualified. Then they played against other World Cup teams in neutral ground, and got 0 wins.

If teams that cannot beat anyone else in the world cup qualify out of Asia, then it is clearly not the toughest confederation to qualify out of. Silly excuses can only work for so long.

You really believe a game, in South America, against Chile and Colombia were neutral?

They were not neutral at all those were home matches for those nations.

2/3 Asian teams qualified out of their group in 2010. That is
a 67% success rate when they were given groups who were not stacked.

Excuses. Simple as that.

Asian teams played against Algeria, Nigeria, Spain, Netherlands, Ivory Coast, Greece, Bosnia, Russia and Belgium.

9 out 12 teams they played weren't south american and they failed to beat all. Face reality, wait for your teams to perform before making claims that its the hardest qualifying stage. It is the confederation that got the least points per team out of all the ones present in the WC. It litereally did the worst out of all the competitors in the event.

rincon wrote:Excuses. Simple as that.

Asian teams played against Algeria, Nigeria, Spain, Netherlands, Ivory Coast, Greece, Bosnia, Russia and Belgium.

9 out 12 teams they played weren't south american and they failed to beat all. Face reality, wait for your teams to perform before making claims that its the hardest qualifying stage. It is the confederation that got the least points per team out of all the ones present in the WC. It litereally did the worst out of all the competitors in the event.

And they showed their quality in 2010. Whether or not they failed to do anything in Brazil also doesnt change my main point.

The travel, the climate, the locations make it the hardest(Maybe Africa can challenge this claim) region to qualify. There is a reason the world cup is changing the ENTIRE football calendar to accommodate having the world cup in Asia in 2022. We'll see how other players fare with it.

Asian teams play in Asian conditions against other Asian teams. That's where it ends. Then 3/4 of these teams make it to the world cup and don't show a particularly high level. So it cannot be the hardest region to qualify from.

If the teams that make it out of Asia were to consistently advance far in the competition then you would begin to have a point. Right now, you don't. In the last world cup they had 0 wins. 0. That is literally the worst out of any confederation in the event. They lost against SA teams, African teams and European teams.

In 2010 that you bring up, they had 2 teams in the R16... that's it. That is still far from what other confederations do.

In 2006 they again all failed in the group stages. And on, and on, and on. They have no consistency of positive results at all. Much less consistently at a level of south america or europe, not even the same as africa.

"There is a reason the world cup is changing the ENTIRE football calendar to accommodate having the world cup in Asia in 2022."

For money man, no one cares about Asian footballers, the average football fan probably can't name an Asian footballer outside of Japan and South Korea

rincon wrote:Asian teams play in Asian conditions against other Asian teams. That's where it ends. Then 3/4 of these teams make it to the world cup and don't show a particularly high level. So it cannot be the hardest region to qualify from.

If the teams that make it out of Asia were to consistently advance far in the competition then you would begin to have a point. Right now, you don't. In the last world cup they had 0 wins. 0. That is literally the worst out of any confederation in the event. They lost against SA teams, African teams and European teams.

In 2010 that you bring up, they had 2 teams in the R16... that's it. That is still far from what other confederations do.

In 2006 they again all failed in the group stages. And on, and on, and on. They have no consistency of positive results at all. Much less consistently at a level of south america or europe, not even the same as africa.

Asian conditions? When was the last time you saw a desert or tropical forest in Japan? Or Gorea(North or South)? If its easy and no big deal then why is there outrage about player health when Qatar got the cup? Its harder, and Asian teams have to handle those tough conditions to get to the world cup.

A level of consistency of south America? Lets get real its all just Argentina and Brazil. Africa is a much larger revolving door than Asia. Paraguay parked the bus to beat Japan in 2010, and then got lucky in the penalty shootout.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:"There is a reason the world cup is changing the ENTIRE football calendar to accommodate having the world cup in Asia in 2022."

For money man, no one cares about Asian footballers, the average football fan probably can't name an Asian footballer outside of Japan and South Korea

They are changing it because playing in the desert is HARD, and the conditions players who aren't used to it will be at risk of exhaustion and other serious issues. No other region takes a team across the world to qualify in such harsh conditions. Africa's vastness is the only thing that comes close.

Cool. Keep thinking that China losing to Uzbekistan and Japan playing against Jordan is harder than playing against Germany or Argentina.

I like how south america is "just argentina and brazil" but a team like Paraguay (that you brought up) has higher finishes and more consistent qualifying than Japan, who is one of the most, if not the most, successful Asian teams.

rincon wrote:Cool. Keep thinking that China losing to Uzbekistan and Japan playing against Jordan is harder than playing against Germany or Argentina.

I like how south america is "just argentina and brazil" but a team like Paraguay (that you brought up) has higher finishes and more consistent qualifying than Japan, who is one of the most, if not the most, successful Asian teams.

The environments make it harder.

Why do teams struggle in Bolivia? The environment is harsh. Same reason paying in the desert or tropics, for a considerable amount of your matches, is also a harder challenge than playing most of your matches in a mild or cooler climate(Europe)

Also Japan would spank Paraguay 9/10 times they played. Paraguay had to park the bus to beat Japan in 2010, which is acceptable. Its a tactic that got them through.

Also Japan would spank Paraguay 9/10 times they played. Paraguay had to park the bus to beat Japan in 2010, which is acceptable. Its a tactic that got them through.

Paraguay has produced far better players than Japan ever has, this is a completely empty boast. Paraguay has also made it farther than Japan in a WC (quarter finals).

And yeah the environment makes some subpar teams like Bolivia and Ecuador get more of an even chance, but the standard of football per team is highest in South America than anywhere else.