World Cup: 2018 WC Qualifiers Part II

[maclean]

Congrats to Germany on winning the 2018 WC. The Italians are the only ones that stop them.

boooooring. Germany is certainly one of the favourites, sure. But I wouldn't even go so far as to peg them as clear favourites.

;-) we have some good or promising players in Forsberg, Claesson, Granqvist, Lindelöf, Olsen... Hopefully a couple of more develop and have a breakthrough before world cup and we may be able to advance

I'll look forward to being pleasantly surprised It'll be good to not have it just be a game of "feed Ibra", though I'll admit I'd like to see him draw in too

 

[DDRhockey]

 

[Deficient Mode]

Imagine needing to score a goal to qualify for the World Cup and benching Insigne but playing Immobile and Gabbiadini

Can't say that 11 deserved a different result.

 

[Bon Esprit]

Congrats to Germany on winning the 2018 WC. The Italians are the only ones that stop them.

I'm sick and tired telling people the French are better at this point and they beat us in '16.

 

[Luigi Habs]

I like Italy it's my 2nd favorite national team after Argentina but this is the best thing that could've happened to italian football. Assuming of course that they're going to start taking serious actions.

If it wasn't for Messi, I would've wished the same fate for Argentina. They also need to tear everything down and start again.

 

[John Pedro]

Imagine needing to score a goal to qualify for the World Cup and benching Insigne but playing Immobile and Gabbiadini

Can't say that 11 deserved a different result.

 

[Deficient Mode]

lol never liked him much but he's right.

 

[Cassano]

lol never liked him much but he's right.

Can you translate what the tweet says?

 

[Deficient Mode]

Can you translate what the tweet says?

"Why the f*** am I coming on? We need a win, not a draw", pointing at Insigne.

 

[Bures Elbow]

Ventura’s only major honour in his 31-year managerial career remains a Serie C1 title with Lecce all the way back in 1996.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

If he gets to play more in Dortmund he possibly could get to go with the team atleast.

I hope so but I would say Strandberg is the closest to a callup of the guys outside of the team right now. If Isak starts seeing regular Bundesliga time he's gonna be hard to leave off. 90% of this team will be the World Cup team though, no doubt.

He's not going to play much in the Bundesliga, as long as Auba stays healthy. I think he could possibly play in the Europa League and the Pokal, so maybe he can get another 10 starts between now and the end of the season.

 

[Deficient Mode]

I definitely hope Isak doesn't go to the World Cup or break out with any team other than Dortmund, lest some bigger club should try to buy him prematurely from the attention he gets.

 

[sr edler]

As a Swede that couldn’t care less about the national football team I had a strong feeling they would beat Italy. This Italian team simply has no marquee players and looks really average.

 

[joe89]

He's not going to play much in the Bundesliga, as long as Auba stays healthy. I think he could possibly play in the Europa League and the Pokal, so maybe he can get another 10 starts between now and the end of the season.

I mean, it speaks for itself. He wasn't on the team for a single qualification game, so it's gonna be tough for him. Actually he was not even a starting player on the U21 team until a few months ago. But if anyone would do that sudden jump, it'd be a talent like him.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I definitely hope Isak doesn't go to the World Cup or break out with any team other than Dortmund, lest some bigger club should try to buy him prematurely from the attention he gets.

I know you hate Dortmund players playing international games, but it could be good for a player like Isak. How many games is he going to even play this season? Probably won't hit 20. When you have talented young players who play so little because there's so much quality competition, sometimes them getting in a full international tournament at a high level could be good for them. Thats very different than Weigl or Goetze or Auba or someone like that playing international games, which is an added workload.

 

[Deficient Mode]

I know you hate Dortmund players playing international games, but it could be good for a player like Isak. How many games is he going to even play this season? Probably won't hit 20. When you have talented young players who play so little because there's so much quality competition, sometimes them getting in a full international tournament at a high level could be good for them. Thats very different than Weigl or Goetze or Auba or someone like that playing international games, which is an added workload.

So when he breaks out and Real Madrid or Manchester City wants him, Watzke will cave after he's put in zero quality full seasons for Dortmund? Good for the shareholders, but for the rest of us, a nightmare. He can play with their U21's.

 

[Eternalize]

It's an ironic stance some fans take, particularly from Northern European countries, where they pretend that such tactics are inherently 'cultural' to countries like Italy, even when their own teams are doing it right before their eyes. I saw Swedish players constantly dive, fake injuries, waste time, etc. If Italians were doing it, I can only imagine the barrage of insults and sweeping generalizations that would have been spewed.

Sweden played Italy's own game against them. I dispise diving and cheating, but couldn't care less if it's coming against Italy. This isn't the same swedish national team that we saw in the group stage. This isn't how you will usually see Sweden play.

I adore Italy in some ways, like seeing how proud they are for being italian when they sing the national anthem. But they are an easy team to dislike just by watching their antics on the pitch from time to time. It's basically everyone on the team, some more than others. Also take into account that their fans were booing Swedens national anthem. That's as disrespectful as it gets. If Sweden didn't adjust to the way Italy were "playing" by doing the same, they might not have gone through.

 

[rangerssharks414]

Ventura resigned as the Italian national manager.

 

[Albatros]

Always had mixed feelings about the man, but what a career.

 

[Live in the Now]

Take a look a this Italian squad compared to what they had 10-15 years back...they used to have a team full of world class talent and now...

They're going through a dip in generational talent much like Holland is right now and what Germany went through at Euro 2000.

They still have it. It didn't play. A bad coach can sink a team, doesn't matter what players they have. Between their back line, Verratti (suspended), Belotti, Insigne, Jorginho, Bernardeschi, and El Shaarawy a team like that should never miss the WC.

Instead they play losers like Gabbiadini, Immobile, Eder, and Parolo. Candreva and Darmian not that much better. Justice served I say. Any non-Italian that wants to see those players play WC games over players like Belotti and Insigne is a liar. I'm glad they're out.

 

[N o o d l e s]

Meanwhile Berardi can’t even get a call up. The talent is there, where the f*** was it???

 

[Rob]

Yay!

LOL!!!

 

[cgf]

Now it’s safe to say this is the worst Italian generation in decades

It's more on coaching than the talent. Belotti & Insigne is a pair of forwards most nations would be jealous of, and they have some nifty options for an attacking trio; Veratti is an absolute maestro, and the have some capable partners for him; and a lot of talent on the back line. They were just poorly coached, with a Conte they'd be a very tough team that could end some contender's run.

 

[Hadoop]

Hoping Ibra returns to the Swedish national team for the World Cup and fully expect him to do so.

 

[bottomofthefoodchain]

Just remembered there's a chance South Ireland will get papped out too

What a tournament this is shaping up to be.

Huh? Ireland suck, nobody cares about them, just as nobody cares about us.