Today's Football 2015 / 16

[toffeejack]

But that's not how it works though. In essence, the premier league is like sticking all the best European sides in one group. The conference contains San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra etc. As those at the bottom get better they rise up through the groups.

The current set up in the Euro qualifiers is like having 2 teams from the prem, then 1 from the Championship, L1, L2 and the conference, and you wonder why the team from the conference gets spanked all the time.

I don't know what the answer is, but having a conference side pitched against vastly superior opposition time after time does nothing to develop the conference side.

the gap is larger than prem v conference though. it's more rhyman league stuff - they're part-timers playing in a professional qualification arena. there were no away fans last night. not because they didn't buy any tickets ... they don't have any fans!

 

[toffeejack]

You say that but look at the strides that teams like Malta, Luxembourg, The Faroes and Albania have made

Albania were an easy three points for years but now they've qualified. 5 of the their first team play in the top European Leagues

They're proof that you shouldn't bar the lower ranked teams from mixing it with the bigger sides

Faroe Islands did the double on Greece, Luxembourg gave a couple of sides a genuine fright and Malta almost got an upset win over Italy away from home

i wasn't saying banish them forever, if san marino had a sudden upsurge of talent like that then they'd be putting cricket scores on the lower level teams they'd be competing against and then they'd be vindicated in being let back in. similar to zimbabwe in test cricket.

 

[tsubaki]

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

I trust you feel the same way about the African and Asian qualification process, which has several layers of prelims before the main group stages?

Mate, I believe Oceania should get an automatic place at the World Cup Finals FFS

I regularly fight the corner for the smaller sides

I'm about inclusion, not exclusion

My posting history here backs that up

 

[The Cowboy]

Mate, I believe Oceania should get an automatic place at the World Cup Finals FFS

So do I but that has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

So do I but that has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

It does

At the moment the top Oceanic team not only has to win their own grueling qualifying campaign but then they have to play off against a South American team

This is designed so that teams like New Zealand, New Caledonia and Tahiti don't "inconvenience" the major nations at World Cups

This is why I hate pre qualification. That's essentially all the Oceanic block is. Pre Qualify only to have to jump another hurdle after that

I've always been against exclusion at international level

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

I mean, @Allezfan has argued this point with me many a time

It's no secret my stance on the issue

 

[The Cowboy]

It does

At the moment the top Oceanic team not only has to win their own grueling qualifying campaign but then they have to play off against a South American team

This is designed so that teams like New Zealand, New Caledonia and Tahiti don't "inconvenience" the major nations at World Cups

This is why I hate pre qualification. That's essentially all the Oceanic block is. Pre Qualify only to have to jump another hurdle after that

I've always been against exclusion at international level

Ok, lets just have one massive global league then, ya big hippy.

 

[Rook]

I just think it's outrageous snobbery to demand that the lower ranked teams play in their own little league away from everyone else

They have every right to compete with the other sides and this campaign has shown that the tomato can list in UEFA is getting shorter with every decade. I'd name San Marino, Gibraltar and Liechtenstein as the only truly poor sides left. Everyone else, even Andorra, have a chance in a competitive fixture. Andorra giving Wales a fright in the home leg is proof of that

You can't exclude those three sides, you'd have to do the whole of pot 6 and that's unfair to the other sides in that pot who actually have a go

Take the bottom 12, create 3 divisions for 4 spots in final qualifying (best 2 second place sides have a playoff). If your side is a monstorous #$%^show like Gibraltar or Greece there needs to be some consequences. Plus said teams in bottom divisions might get a bit better if they play each other.

 

[ijjysmith]

Just let the lower ranked nations have a pre qualifying round.

Easy.

 

[summerisle]

Highlights of England u21's last night. Excellent second goal :

 

[Rook]

35' Jozy Alitdore has been issued a red card. Altidore was on the bench. Reds still have 11 players on the field.

 

[USABlue]

35' Jozy Alitdore has been issued a red card. Altidore was on the bench. Reds still have 11 players on the field.

saw a clip of that. not sure what happened, must have said something to the line judge

 

[Nymzee]

Danny Ings out for the season LOL

 

[DualityNSNO]

35' Jozy Alitdore has been issued a red card. Altidore was on the bench. Reds still have 11 players on the field.

??? what?
Hahahaha
Did he get a red card for committing crimes against football then?