2014 World Cup Qualifiers (football, European, UEFA, players)

[LindavG]

Originally Posted by SophieLL

Uruguay gets their ass kicked by every CONMEBOL team and then goes and kicks asian team ass away. Uruguay get their ass kicked by even the weakest conmebol teams, but its still 6 best team in the world, SEEDED to be head of group. Uruguay struggles to even win one game in strong conmebol, and then goes and reachs the semifinal in WC.

If Uruguay got their ass kicked by every CONMEBOL team, they would not have qualified for a play-off spot (unless your qualis are messed up). Of course that's not really what happened. Jordan is one of the weakest teams ever to play in the PO and they were never going to win, anyway. They have never qualified for the WC. Show me one person who favoured Jordan over Uruguay. We all know how Uruguay got to that SF and they got their ass handed to them as soon as they faced decent opposition and couldn't rely on their cheating.

If Uruguay is the 6th best team in the world then Switzerland is the 7th best team in the world. Agreed?

so, yeah, basically, CONMEBOL is the strongest confederation, even if haters like ariete and lindavg are gonna hate.

If that is true, why has it been 36 years since CONMEBOL last dominated the final rounds of the WC? Why do they consistently get kicked out of the WC by UEFA teams? I'm not a "hater", I'm just being realistic.

Hopefully wc will have 2 SA finalists so haters stop talking nonsense about CONMEBOL teams not being able to qualify in UEFA.

It's about damn time. The last time SA had two finalists was in 1950. The last time SA had two semi-finalists was in 1978 when the WC was held in Argentina. They'll probably do a bit better than usual since the tournament is held on SA soil but we'll see how they perform in the long term.

Do you honestly not see your own hypocrisy when you make statements like this:

EVERY tema that has qualified for CONMEBOL (excluding, perhaps, ecuador) would EASILY qualify in UEFA

If we are haters because we say the worst teams in CONMEBOL would have a hard time qualifying in UEFA, then what does that make you?

Actually, i would LOVE to see UEFA teams playing in CONMEBOL. With the insane conditions (playing at unbearable heights) and the fans.

Yeah, we don't have tough conditions and crazy fans here at all. Kazakhstan, Serbia, Turkey, Moldova, Iceland, they're all so cozy and comfortable

who would make it out of the group with ONLY FOUR SPOTS????



but yeah, keep looking us crappy southamericans down.

We will see in the world cup

You have 4.5 spots but that's nearly half the confederation! The only person looking down on others here is you. You trash UEFA in every post you make.

[LindavG]

Originally Posted by SophieLL

1 Spain 1513
2 Germany 1311
3 Argentina 1266
4 Colombia 1178
5 Belgium 1175
6 Uruguay 1164
7 Switzerland 1138
8 Netherlands 1136
8 Italy 1136
10 England 1080
11 Brazil 1078
12 Chile 1051
13 United States 1040
14 Portugal 1036
15 Greece 983
16 Bosnia and Herzegovina 925
17 Ivory Coast 917
18 Croatia 901
19 Russia 874
20 Ukraine
21 France
22 Ecuador



5/6 of the COMEBOL teams playing in brazil 2014 and on the TOP 12 of FIFA RANKING. Thats like 85%. I mean, of the 12 supposed BEST teams in the world, almost HALF are southamericans. And, also, this are almost ALL southamerican participating. Its not like europe, who haves more than double spot than SA haves, of course they are gonna get representation.

But almost ALL southamerican sides (5/6) participating are TOP 12. 85% OF conmebol teams participating are top 12. 50% of them are TOP 10. 100% of them are top 20.

Show me another confederation that can match those percentages, and them come and look down on CONMEBOL qualys.

You are seriously going to use FIFA rankings to support your argument now? Great, I'm all for it. Let's see:

- Spain is the best team in the world by far, miles ahead of any South American team.
- The two best teams in the world are European.
- England is better than Brazil.
- Chile is only slightly better than the United States.
- Greece, Bosnia and Ukraine are all superior to Ecuador.
- Since Europe has at least 20 teams in the top 32, UEFA deserves 20 spots at the WC.

I'm sure you agree with all of the above.

Btw, in that top 22 list you posted, I also noticed 5 European teams that failed to qualify directly from UEFA and might not be there at the WC. The South American teams that are this high on the ranking are all guaranteed (or virtually guaranteed) a spot at the WC. The next SA team that does not have a spot at the WC is Venezuela at #37 and there are a ton of European teams ahead of them. So if Venezuela deserves a spot at the WC then it's only fair that those superior European sides (Scotland, Slovenia, Czech Republic, etc.) get a spot as well, don't you think?

[Indyking]

No sense in comparing Conmebol and Uefa. They are by far the 2 strongest confederations in terms of quality and tradition but they have their own peculiarities.

I think the problem of Conmebol for many Europeans is that there is really only 2 teams that have real chances to win an WC, just Brazil and Argentina. Yes, one may argue that Uruguay has a chance, but I would be really surprised if Uruguay wins a WC anytime soon. They got their 2 titles on times when the WC was just a mini-tournament.

Uefa has more teams with real chances of winning even if they are not in the top favorites. Who would thought that Italy was going to win in 2006? It was ugly played football for sure but they were able to pull it. My point is, if Italy or Holland or even France or Portugal, which are not nearly as favorites to win as Spain and Germany, wins the WC in Brazil, most people would be surprised but not as shocked if Uruguay or Colombia or Chile wins it.

All that said, I personally like South America football better than Europe in general. IMO Brazil and Argentina have had almost always better quality than any top European team based on the football style I enjoy watching. Apparently it's just not me considering that the vast majority of "best player of the world" titles were won by Brazil or Argentina players. If you want to look at the stats all the way back, then S. America shines even more, after all, they hold more than half of all WC titles plus 4 runner ups and, of course, they got Maradona, Pele, Messi.

[LindavG]

Originally Posted by Indyking

No sense in comparing Conmebol and Uefa. They are by far the 2 strongest confederations in terms of quality and tradition but they have their own peculiarities.

I think the problem of Conmebol for many Europeans is that there is really only 2 teams that have real chances to win an WC, just Brazil and Argentina. Yes, one may argue that Uruguay has a chance, but I would be really surprised if Uruguay wins a WC anytime soon. They got their 2 titles on times when the WC was just a mini-tournament.

Uefa has more teams with real chances of winning even if they are not in the top favorites. Who would thought that Italy was going to win in 2006? It was ugly played football for sure but they were able to pull it. My point is, if Italy or Holland or even France or Portugal, which are not nearly as favorites to win as Spain and Germany, wins the WC in Brazil, most people would be surprised but not as shocked if Uruguay or Colombia or Chile wins it.

This is my point. If South American teams are really as great as some would have us believe, why haven't they been more dominant at the WC? It's always Brazil & Argentina + Europe at the final rounds, no other teams have a realistic chance of winning the WC. Uruguay's SF last time around was a fluke, it had been decades since they made the SF before that. If it makes me a "hater" to point this out, so be it. I have nothing against South American football; in fact, I'm usually rooting for SA teams in the WC because I appreciate the passion that most of their fans have for the sport. But if you're going to be condescending about European teams despite our clearly superior record in competitive matches, expect to be put in your place.

All that said, I personally like South America football better than Europe in general. IMO Brazil and Argentina have had almost always better quality than any top European team based on the football style I enjoy watching. Apparently it's just not me considering that the vast majority of "best player of the world" titles were won by Brazil or Argentina players. If you want to look at the stats all the way back, then S. America shines even more, after all, they hold more than half of all WC titles plus 4 runner ups and, of course, they got Maradona, Pele, Messi.

You cannot generalise South American or European football. There's a wide range of styles of play in Europe and I like that. I prefer offensive football myself but it would be boring if every team played that way. It's a challenge to play against teams that are more focused on defense and strategy. Personally, I'm proud of the Dutch footballing tradition (although we deviated from it in 2010) and I disagree that it's inferior to Brazil's or Argentina's. South America may have Maradona, Pele and Messi but we have Cruijff, Van Basten and Bergkamp. Had the Netherlands been located in South America, you can be sure the pro-SA posters on here would be hyping them like no tomorrow. But alas, we're European so that means we would struggle to qualify in CONMEBOL and we're worse (or on par at most) than any of the qualified SA teams + Uruguay.

[LindavG]

Portugal 1-0 Sweden

Both teams weren't at their best today. The first and the last 10 minutes were the most exciting part of the game. Ibra and Ronaldo were rather invisible but at least Ronaldo got a goal for his team in the 82nd minute. I'm rooting for Sweden so I hope they can turn it around in Stockholm but it won't be easy I don't want to meet Portugal at the WC considering the way our last few games against each other ended. Besides, Ibra > Ronaldo. Ibrahimovic is sure to provide lots of entertainment on and off the pitch

Also, Iceland 0-0 Croatia.

It would be great if Iceland qualified, I love seeing new teams at the WC If they don't do it now, they'll probably never get this opportunity again. It will be hard for them as well, though. They had their home advantage now (playing in Reykjavik in the middle of November is a pain) but I'm not sure they can keep it up in Croatia.

[LindavG]

Ukraine 2-0 France

France might not be at the WC Too bad, I always support France at every tournament (except when they play us). The WC is not complete without them

Greece 3-1 Romania

No surprise there. Looks like we'll have to suffer Greece and their anti-football once again. I think Greece scored more in this game than in all their WCQ combined, lol.

[tipitop]

Originally Posted by LindavG

Also, Iceland 0-0 Croatia.

It would be great if Iceland qualified, I love seeing new teams at the WC If they don't do it now, they'll probably never get this opportunity again. It will be hard for them as well, though. They had their home advantage now (playing in Reykjavik in the middle of November is a pain) but I'm not sure they can keep it up in Croatia.

No they can't. Croatia was much better team today. Island goalkeeper is man of the mach. Wonders do not happen twice.

[sw1992]

Ukraine 2-0 France.
I was shouting during last twenty minutes the game. My team won! But it might be very difficult in France.

[SophieLL]

Originally Posted by LindavG

If
You have 4.5 spots but that's nearly half the confederation! The only person looking down on others here is you. You trash UEFA in every post you make.

Im not trashing UEFA! Im just trying to defend CONMEBOL because you severely underestimate it. Yeah, of course UEFA haves more world class teams than CONMEBOL, because UEFA haves like 6 times more countries than conmebol! Im just saying that the general level (considering the best and worse CONMEBOL sides), SA is harder, more competitive, the level is too even! aka: is harder!

But ive already said UEFA has more good sides (of course, they have also MUCH more countries than conmebol). Conmebol, for being a region with ONLY 10 countries, having managed to win 9 wc (yeah, even if was only brazil, argentina, and uruguay a millon years ago) and consistently being up in the rankings and consistently producing AMAZING world class players its outstanding and something to reckon, and i think you are not acknowledging that, by repeating UEFA is SO MUCH BETTER than conmebol. You know thats not true. Yes, UEFA has a lot more countries than conmebol, therefore, they have more wc countries. But if we talk percentages, of course conmebol is more impressive, by far, than any other confederation.

But, yeah, UEFA are kings. Germany has been the bomb for years, Spains are world champions, and one can never forget about Italy, Netherlands, France (even if they might not make it this time), England, Portugal.

But CONMEBOL haves Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay. For a region that only haves 10 countries, to have that many world class teams, its at least impressive.


And of course it keeps producing some of the best players in the world, and currently the number 1 player in the world.

And i could go on but apparently you ll keep underestimating conmebol and i just say:see you in brazil 2014

[SophieLL]

Originally Posted by sw1992

Ukraine 2-0 France.
I was shouting during last twenty minutes the game. My team won! But it might be very difficult in France.

congratulations!!

i couldnt believe it when i saw the results!