World Cup: National Team threads #2

[Live in the Now]

Hudson Odoi has picked Ghana as his NT.

Ghana will be playing some forwards in midfield then. That's always fun. Hudson-Odoi would be their best but man they have a lot of forwards for the future. They're in a really easy WCQ group too. They should coast through it.

 

[cgf]

Come on Flick:

Musiala/Wirtz - Havertz - Sane/Gnabry
Gundogan - Goretzka
Kimmich
Gosens - Hummels - Klostermann - Baku
ter Stegen

Werner
Sane/Gnabry
Musiala/Wirtz
Neuhaus
Ginter

​

...or at least:

Musiala - Havertz - Sane/Gnabry
Wirtz - Goretzka
Kimmich
Klostermann - Hummels - Ginter - Baku/Gosens
ter Stegen

​

....though I won't gripe if all he does is:

Havertz
Musiala/Wirtz - Sane/Gnabry
Gosens - Kimmich - Goretzka - Baku
CB* - Hummels - Klostermann
ter Stegen

*Torunarigha / Uduokhai / Halstenberg​

 

[gary69]

Hudson Odoi has picked Ghana as his NT.

Didn't see this coming, but I guess it's understandable how the past year or so has been for him.

He will get to play at the ANC in January, WC 22 qualification depends on the playoff draw, but Ghana should be in a good spot to progress to that stage from their group.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Marcus Berg, Gustav Svensson, Andreas Granqvist, Mikael Lustig and Sebastian Larsson have all announced they are done with the swedish national team.

Our nt should look something like this right now:

Robin Olsen, Kristofer Nordfeldt, Karl Johan Johansson

Victor Lindelöf, Pontus Jansson, Filip Helander, Marcus Danielsson/Joakim Nilsson/Carl Starfelt

Emil Krafth, Anton Tinnerholm, ludwig augustinsson, Joel Andersson.

Albin Ekdal, Kristofer Olsson, Jens Cajuste, Mattias Svanberg

Dejan Kulusevski, Viktor Claesson, Emil Forsberg, Jesper Karlsson

Zlatan, Isak, Quaison, Jordan Larsson/Sebastian Andersson


Ugh, but janne will probaly find a way to include Sema, Mattias Johansson, Martin Olsson and Pierre Bengtsson. Swedish coaches always likes old over the hill mediocer players.


I think a 3-2-3-2 would be intresting.

olsen
lindelöf - helander - jansson
Svanberg - Cajuste
Kulusevski - Claesson - Forsberg
Zlatan - Isak

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Hudson Odoi has picked Ghana as his NT.

No he hasn't, this is an unconfirmed rumour.

 

[Evilo]

Reported by several different source though.

 

[bluesfan94]

Hudson Odoi has picked Ghana as his NT.

Can’t blame him and good for Ghana.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Reported by several different source though.

Not by good ones, and good ones have said that as of right now it's BS.

 

[Evilo]

Are you implying African sources are not trust worthy?
Or somehow you know if they are or not?

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Are you implying African sources are not trust worthy?
Or somehow you know if they are or not?

I'm implying that The Athletic's Chelsea reporters with a long record of reliability who say that it's unfounded are more reliable than The Daily f***ing Mail and The Sun

 

[Evilo]

I'm implying that The Athletic's Chelsea reporters with a long record of reliability who say that it's unfounded are more reliable than The Daily f***ing Mail and The Sun

So you ignored the various African sources as "not good sources"?

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

So you ignored the various African sources as "not good sources"?

If this was settled to the point of being "Hudson Odoi has picked Ghana as his NT." (your exact words), then more Chelsea sources than just tabloids would be picking it up. I have no input on the veracity of these African sources. What I have input on is that it's sure as hell not "Hudson Odoi has picked Ghana as his NT" when sources with long records of reliability on Chelsea are saying it's untrue right now.

You are talking as if it is a concluded thing. It's not.

 

[Evilo]

You said "as of right now it's BS".
Personally I don't know the reliability of "Ghanasoccernet" for instance, but I certainly wouldn't call them BS or say they're "not good sources" just because you're not familiar with them.

Anyway, I don't think I could care less honestly.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

You said "as of right now it's BS".
Personally I don't know the reliability of "Ghanasoccernet" for instance, but I certainly wouldn't call them BS or say they're "not good sources" just because you're not familiar with them.

Anyway, I don't think I could care less honestly.

Sigh. What I said at first is that it was unconfirmed, after you were stating it as fact. Then I said that reliable Chelsea sources were calling it BS. You turned this into a referendum on Ghanaian sources, when all I was saying from the get-go is that this was unconfirmed and that sources that I know to be reliable were calling it BS.

 

[Evilo]

See, you didn't say that.
You didn't say "reliable Chelsea sources were calling it BS".
Here's what you said :

Not by good ones, and good ones have said that as of right now it's BS.

By saying "not good ones", you didn't say anything about Chelsea, you included the african sources.
But again, I don't care. You're just bad faith here. When it comes to an african NT, maybe Chelsea sources aren't the best? Would seem fair to me. And I sure wouldn't call it "BS".

And referendum? What?

 

[bluesfan94]

Holy shit, we're really arguing whether ghanasoccernet is a good source compared to Chelsea's beat writers?

 

[Eye of Ra]

confirmed: zlatan will keep play for the swedish nt Uppgifter: Zlatan vill fortsätta i landslaget

 

[cgf]

If I'm reading Flick's interview right, it sounds like he's going to talk to Neuer about following Toni (thankfully) but is leaving the door open for Müller & Hummels...at least for this transitional period.

I think it's time for Müller too. He's really slowed down and I just have a tough time seeing him warranting a spot in 14 months over Gnabry, Havertz, Musiala, Sane, Werner, Wirtz, and all of Amiri / Adeyemi / Brandt / Hofmann / Moukoko / Nmecha / Volland.

Hummels is the old-timer I'm most unsure of what to do with. Both because there isn't a clear-cut replacement for him who is sure to be ready by next winter, and also because I think he has a good chance of still being good enough for one last tourney.


...at least if we compensate for his fading legs properly; i.e. a full-confidence ter Stegen sweeping up behind him; Klostermann & Uduokhai's speed flanking him in the back 3; Baku playing opposite Gosens, so that Kimmich can partner Goretzka right in front of the backline.

Spoiler

Havertz
Musiala/Wirtz - Sane/Gnabry
Gosens - Kimmich - Goretzka - Baku
Uduokhai - Mats - Klostermann
ter Stegen​

EDIT:
Chief Scout Thomas Schneider is stepping down early...can't say I'm too broken up about that, hard to know whether it was he or Jogi who drove the cronyism in our NT's scouting, but replacing everyone at the head of that decision making process is a good thing.

Next is hopefully Bierhoff...though that may have to wait until after the WM...


EDIT2:
Howedes will brought in for a role that sounds like a way to groom him to replace Bierhoff. I'm game.

 

[BMann]

Der Bomber is no more. One of the best ever forwards to play the game. After all what does one want from your striker.

Ruhe in frieden.​

 

[Eye of Ra]

Antonio Colak made Croatia and Birmancevic made Serbia for the upcoming qualifers.. 2 Malmö players. Very unusual that 2 players from Swedish league gets a spot for the Croatian and Serbian NT.

 

[Savant]

Looks like there is going to be some push back on releasing players over the international break that will have to miss additional games due to quarantine rules

Liverpool make major decision on four players to avoid selection nightmare - Liverpool Echo

Alisson, Firmino and Fabinho are all in the Brazil squad for World Cup qualifiers in Chile and at home to Argentina and Peru.

With the final game against Peru not taking place until 1.30am UK time on Friday, September 10, there were already fears the trio would not be back in time for Liverpool's trip to Leeds United on Sunday, September 12, which kicks off at 4.30pm.

However, current Government rules mean they would in any case have to quarantine and miss the Leeds game along with Liverpool's first Champions League group game and the home clash with Crystal Palace on September 18.

 

[Evilo]

Great news for England.
Promising goaltender Etienne Green, who said many times he felt French and has lived in France since age 4, has decided that he would represent England since their goalies are so bad.

I feel happy we help the tiny nations like Algeria, Morocco, Guinea, Gabon, Spain or England get better thanks to our players.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Unfortunately by declaring for England he has already shown that his career will be a disappointment.

 

[cgf]

Great news for England.
Promising goaltender Etienne Green, who said many times he felt French and has lived in France since age 4, has decided that he would represent England since their goalies are so bad.

I feel happy we help the tiny nations like Algeria, Morocco, Guinea, Gabon, Spain or England get better thanks to our players.

We're not above taking charity. Bella Kotchap <3

 

[PanniniClaus]

Great news for England.
Promising goaltender Etienne Green, who said many times he felt French and has lived in France since age 4, has decided that he would represent England since their goalies are so bad.

I feel happy we help the tiny nations like Algeria, Morocco, Guinea, Gabon, Spain or England get better thanks to our players.

Based on what i've seen so far he's light years from the England or French team... Certainly an easier path through England than France which is stating the obvious.