Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Qualifiers

Also this.

S.A. qualifiers are super intense and fun to watch.

Yeah... Germany, France and Italy NOTORIOUSLY don't give a damn about qualifiers other than qualifying. You also tend to have far better organized teams in Europe so park the bus tactics become a true pain in the arse.

Don't really buy that at all. The team that best parked it against Spain in 2010 was Paraguay, for instance. And if there is an organization deficit its more than made up for in the higher aggression.

The aggression is there...  and it often ends up costing SA teams against European ones due to cards (often red in key moments).  If weather is a factor (heat), SA teams have an advantage over European ones because European teams just wear down and can't hold the organization together.  Pitch conditions (which tend to be inconsistent outside Europe) also factor in. Then aggression is a differentiation when it becomes more street style football.  

But when conditions are such that European players are accustomed to, SA teams just have a very very hard time.  There's a reason that SA teams' records in WCs played in Europe are awful.

I don't see a SA team winning in Russia.  Not at all.

Why are people bringing the 7-1 to this discussion lol Marcelo and Paulinho are the only players from that game still in the team.

We are favorites alongside Germany and France from what i've seen. Tite has been so good, teams can barely get into our box nowadays. We have only conceded 2 goals since he took over, one penalty and one own goal

The 7-1 is irrelevant, but every non-tournament international football game is also irrelevant.

I agree with hipster Mole. The only thing that matters is the last ten minutes of the cup finals. I'm talking about the great cups like the WC, Champions league, FA cup, and the Carabao cup, not any mickey mouse BS cup. I can't believe you guys waste your time with these meaningless games.

Psh, I have watched them, quite easy to take them in. But as Mole said, it's qualifiers. More importantly, we are in 2017, the WC is in 2018. Form, injuries, condition, team selection, etc. all still very much in the air at this point.

That being said, they have come a good way from their "showing" in 2014. They look really good. Also, it's Brasil, it's kinda to be expected of them.

BC *bleep* pos starting the jinxing already.

M99 wrote:BC *bleep* pos starting the jinxing already.

His jinxing ability is on par with McAgger so...good luck with that.

They have definitely improved on the disaster of a team they were in the WC, but I wouldn't go as far as to portray them as this scary winning machine.

In my lifetime, I have only seen two National Teams that reached God Mode, were simply light years ahead of everybody else with WC players in almost every single position.

1. Brazil 2002: I think this team was assembled by God himself.
2. Spain 2008-2012: A ruthless killing machine with players from Barcelona's golden era.

This Brazil team is nothing like those two, and doesn't (at least for now) deserves to be branded unstoppable.
Let's see how they're going to evolve in the next couple years first.

Mexico as always

France in 1998, 2000 and 2006 were insane. They were godly in 2002 and nobody could beat them period... but then Zidane got injured a week before the WC and that was the end of that. They would have beat Brazil that year. They were the best team in the world easily. I actually think that the 2002 team was the best of the lot if it weren't for the bad luck with ZZ. They had ZZ and the top scorers from EPL (Henry), Serie A (Trezeguet) and Ligue 1 (Cisse). The defense was a rock as always. But they didn't have time to adapt to life without ZZ... they needed another week or two.

Italy 2002 was even better than 2006 too

elitedam wrote:I agree with hipster Mole. The only thing that matters is the last ten minutes of the cup finals. I'm talking about the great cups like the WC, Champions league, FA cup, and the Carabao cup, not any mickey mouse BS cup. I can't believe you guys waste your time with these meaningless games.

That isn't fair, I never said any of the WC games are irrelevant.

Just qualifiers are completely irrelevant when it comes evaluating tournament success.

Don't make me bring up countless examples of teams romping through qualifying then flopping or struggling through qualifying and winning the tournament.

England is a prime example btw.

Really hope that Brazil and France face off each other next year at some point ,( semi-final or final would be great ) .

France in 2002 was immense and "Godly"...up until the actual tournament. I remember them quite well. Even if Zidane wasn't there, they could have EASILY navigated out of the group with the squad they brought. France capitulated in a huge way, looked like they couldn't have given 1 or 2 shits. Never forgot Henry's red card either against Uruguay.

Hell, Freeza beat them 2-0 too. Tommason and Rommedhal the scorers.

What a game that was in 2002 remember watching that in class.

You don't understand how much influence Zidane had on that team though.  EVERYTHING in terms of attack was built around him.  It was foolish to adopt such a 1 player centric system given the wealth of talent... but our manager was Roger Lemerre remember.  He was the team physio who got promoted to coach.  

The players ran the team (namely Zidane did).  When they needed a coach, there wasn't one.

It wasn't just the attack, it was the entire team. No one played well. No one stood out. Well, except Henry but for the wrongest of reasons. It was just a bland showing that I'm sure people actually forgot about. I think that is where my distrust for France NT really started and why it is hard to shake it off.

A lot of our issues have been coaching Doc. Trust me. Hidalgo, Michel, Platini and Jacquet were very good coaches (yes, Platini was a coach briefly). Houllier was just a coward and couldn't hand the pressure of being the NT coach and kept blaming the players. Santini, Lemerre and Domenech were a joke.

Other than 2012 were we just really lacked talent... we've always been well doted with good players. How we have performed has been a directly correlated to the quality of coaching.

Other issue has been players with bad attitudes. Anelka, Gallas, Ginola, Cantona, etc.

We don't have any of that right now and didn't in 2002 either. I just think it imploded when ZZ went down and nobody filled the power vacuum on the pitch or in the locker room. It's as if the air went out of the room.

To dive further away from the OP, what exactly is up with France NT coaches? They make some of the oddest decisions.

Doc wrote:

M99 wrote:BC *bleep* pos starting the jinxing already.

His jinxing ability is on par with McAgger so...good luck with that.

I am nowhere near lol