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World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

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Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

Terrierbyassociation said:
Why not throw in the Faroe Islands then? :rolleyes:

Lets throw in a legitimate country, even one that doesn't play that well like Belgium or Austria or Ireland.

I'd play for them if I was born there.
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So, we're going to affirm... you would play for Moldova if you were born there, yes?
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
We have more challenging matches to qualify for the WC... but its still us, Mexico, Costa Rica and some Central American straggler or two duking it out for the World Cup berths. It's still a challenge, but the way the power is balanced in CONCACAF, it would be a HUGE upset for us not to get a WC berth every shot we get.

England, OTOH, at least has a huge amount of competition to make any given tourney. Keep in mind that they managed to miss out on Euro 2008.
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Look at their 2010 qualifying group though. England got to play home and aways against Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Andorra; and I guarantee going away to Andorra is nowhere near as tough an experience as going away to El Salvador.

For comparison, this is what CONCACAF qualifying would look like with a European model
4 groups
Group 1:
Mexico
Panama
Jamaica
Canada
Bermuda
El Salvador
St. Lucia
Cayman Islands
Montserrat
Group 2:
US
Trinidad and Tobago
Guatemala
Barbados
Bahamas
St. Kitts and Nevis
Grenada
Dominica
Aruba

And so on with 2 more groups, with the winners qualifying.

If UEFA really wanted to make qualification a challenge, they would knock the Faroes, Moldovans, etc. out early.
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

Patman said:
So, we're going to affirm... you would play for Moldova if you were born there, yes?
Click to expand...

No, because they don't really have a team. And for the purposes of showing you are a fool, it was impossible for me to have been born in Moldova.
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

Terrierbyassociation said:
Why exactly? I would always want to play for England regardless of how good they are. And its harder for England to play in the World Cup than the USA because of the way the regions work out.

If you want to basically play in guaranteed World Cups, you would play for the USA.
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In each of three sports (soccer, cricket, other), you're identifying yourself with the country (out of the countries you're considering) that's the "best" in that sport. (Leaving aside for a moment the fact that the English soccer team hasn't won anything in over 40 years.) If you self-identify as English, why doesn't that extend to cricket or ice hockey? If you self-identify as Indian or American, why doesn't that extend to soccer? Maybe it's unconscious, but it's clearly what you've done.
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

Terrierbyassociation said:
No, because they don't really have a team. And for the purposes of showing you are a fool, it was impossible for me to have been born in Moldova.
Click to expand...

What do you mean they dont have a team? They play in international events including WC qualifying.

The country also has a national league that has at least some recognizable teams. They are equally as valid a choice as Ireland would be.
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

jmh said:
In each of three sports (soccer, cricket, other), you're identifying yourself with the country (out of the countries you're considering) that's the "best" in that sport. (Leaving aside for a moment the fact that the English soccer team hasn't won anything in over 40 years.) If you self-identify as English, why doesn't that extend to cricket or ice hockey? If you self-identify as Indian or American, why doesn't that extend to soccer? Maybe it's unconscious, but it's clearly what you've done.
Click to expand...

India isn't even close to the best at cricket. They won a trophy last year for the first time in 30? years. They're the perennial underachievers in the sport. Always doing less with more.

England would be the best choice for cricket.

India and England don't even have ice hockey teams.

Sure it sounds unfair, but am I supposed to pick one country for everything and ignore countries who play said sports that I have ties to?

Should I be rooting for England ice hockey and Indian soccer?
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

Terrierbyassociation said:
Why not throw in the Faroe Islands then? :rolleyes:

Lets throw in a legitimate country, even one that doesn't play that well like Belgium or Austria or Ireland.

I'd play for them if I was born there.
Click to expand...
So if you were a hockey star who was born in England and raised in the USA, you'd play for England in Worlds and Olympic qualifiers and whatnot?
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

I suppose it might actually have been slightly easier to swallow (even if it still would have been considered traitorious) if Rossi had the chops to be a top player for Italy. But to give up on being a godsend to your birth country, which is on the rise, where you were raised, to be a bit player for an international power... that's the worst.
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

jmh said:
So if you were a hockey star who was born in England and raised in the USA, you'd play for England in Worlds and Olympic qualifiers and whatnot?
Click to expand...

Why would I? You need to pick a sport both teams have legitimate aspirations to succeed in, regardless of how small those team's chances are.

The difference between England and the USA in soccer is much smaller than those of the USA with England in any other sport.
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

Terrierbyassociation said:
India isn't even close to the best at cricket. They won a trophy last year for the first time in 30? years. They're the perennial underachievers in the sport. Always doing less with more.
Click to expand...
The best of the three that you're considering.

(Hockey was a bad example. I didn't realize they didn't have a national team, and assumed they did because they have a domestic league. Basketball, let's say.)
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

JF_Gophers said:
What do you mean they dont have a team? They play in international events including WC qualifying.

The country also has a national league that has at least some recognizable teams. They are equally as valid a choice as Ireland would be.
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The way that UEFA is set up it is a joke and a waste of time that teams like Armenia, Maldova and the Faroe Islands play in the group stage. They should be removed from regular group play and have to qualify simply for the group stage.

Allowing them to play is a waste of time.

Are you seriously comparing some semi-pro leagues in Maldova to Ireland? :rolleyes: The only reason Ireland doesn't have a quality domestic league is all their players go as youths to England and Scotland.

If we took all the Irish players out of the EPL and SPL the domestic Irish league would be on par with the MLS.
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

Terrierbyassociation said:
Why would I? You need to pick a sport both teams have legitimate aspirations to succeed in, regardless of how small those team's chances are.
Click to expand...

I think this is fair. I mean, if you're a stud from Moldova with an American (or an Italian) wife, why not play for the US (or Italy)? Even if you're awesome, if you're surrounded by 10 losers what does ANYONE get out of it?

George Weah is an interesting case study on this - I'm not sure if he was ever eligible for another country's team, possibly Jamaica through his wife, but he was loyal to Liberia throughout, basically becoming the only FIFA Player of the Year to never play in the World Cup.
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

jmh said:
The best of the three that you're considering.

(Hockey was a bad example. I didn't realize they didn't have a national team, and assumed they did because they have a domestic league. Basketball, let's say.)
Click to expand...

I'd consider England to be better only because they play high profile Ashes (even though they usually lose), are more competitive, and rarely underachieve (choke) as badly as India does.
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

Terrierbyassociation said:
The way that UEFA is set up it is a joke and a waste of time that teams like Armenia, Maldova and the Faroe Islands play in the group stage. They should be removed from regular group play and have to qualify simply for the group stage.

Allowing them to play is a waste of time.

Are you seriously comparing some semi-pro leagues in Maldova to Ireland? :rolleyes: The only reason Ireland doesn't have a quality domestic league is all their players go as youths to England and Scotland.

If we took all the Irish players out of the EPL and SPL the domestic Irish league would be on par with the MLS.
Click to expand...

FC Sheriff has been very competitive in Europa/Champions leagues, and they have only been around since what 1997?

Maybe other european teams should be embarassed they aren't winning 10:0 against a semi-pro bunch of hacks. :rolleyes:
 
Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

JF_Gophers said:
FC Sheriff has been very competitive in Europa/Champions leagues, and they have only been around since what 1997?

Maybe other european teams should be embarassed they aren't winning 10:0 against a semi-pro bunch of hacks. :rolleyes:
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Do you even know why FC Sheriff is competitive?

Or are you just spouting nonsense for the fun of it?

FC Sheriff is owned and operated by Sheriff company, which gave the club a huge advantage. So to act like the team got to the top through hard work is ludicrous. Any team can be good in 13 years when a company owns them, builds a stadium and brings in a ton of overseas talent.

If Sheriff is so amazing, why are only two of the Moldovan national teamers playing for Sheriff? Why is the majority of the team (in a landslide) not Maldovan at all? Even some of the players that the team claims are Maldovan are from Senegal and other countries.

Maldova doesn't have a single national teamer playing in England, Italy, Spain or Germany. None in France or Portugal or Scotland or the Netherlands (the next 4 strongest domestic leagues.)
 
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Re: World Soccer XIII: Through the Group Stages

unofan said:
We're not just talking teams, here though. These are national teams, with the pride of a nation riding on them. He self-admittedly claims to be American in everything but soccer. So frankly, him choosing Italy is exactly like being a traitor.
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Maybe he doesn't view soccer as a nationalist? I mean, does he have to? Are the Russians who leave the Russian league and come to play in the NHL traitors?

I'll grant he's a merc, sure. But if soccer is your job... you're kind of already a merc. To me this is like being brought up a Mets fan and then choosing to sign for the Yankees.

Well, OK, bad example, because that would be a hanging offense. :p
 
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