Just a thought after hearing that Yarmolenko just scored his 41st international goal. I mean, he’s not a bad player, but 41 goals? Lukaku has 62 for Belgium. Again, not a bad player by any stretch, but that would make him one of the greatest international goal-scorers of all time.
How Easy Is International Football?
- Thread starter acnumber9
- Start date
About 2 levels below club football when the big teams aren't involved.
Where would this Dutch team finish in the Prem
Another one. Depay has scored more goals for Holland than Marco Van Basten.
theres so much cannon fodder in qualification.
San Marino, Faroe Islands etc.
strikers get to pad their stats much easier at international level than at club football.
it’s high quality when good teams play against each other - but far far too many easy games.
when was as the last time England lost a qualification game?
I know it’s harsh to deprive small nations of playing against bigger sides, but it’s making international football a bit of a mockery.
there should be some form of pre qualification.
San Marino have been playing internationally now for what 30 years?
they have only ever won one game and concede more that 4 goals a game on average.
it’s a joke.
Stekelenburg, Krul, de Roon, Veltman, van Aanholt, Berghuis, de Jong all played/play for shite bottom half teams. Ake isn't very good. Depay, Klaassen were massive flops, Donny is heading the same way. Blind was ok at best. Wijnaldum and VVD have been the only success stories in the PL from their current bunch of players.
If we assume Frenkie and De Ligt are in the Wijnaldum/VVD category then I think they could get 50-55 points. So around 10-12th place.
Is that a function of the number of games he has played?
How to make something elitist.........
Not even. Depay has played a few more, but not a huge difference. 7 or 8 games I think.
This is why we need to stop judging players on pure stats. This isn't baseball.
International football is not easy though.
There are many easy qualifications but ask Messi and Ronaldo how hard it is to score and influence world cup games. Ronaldo does have a euro but he wasn't even Portugal's best player and didn't even play the full final game.
Messi does not even have a Copa.
International football is not easy though.
There are many easy qualifications but ask Messi and Ronaldo how hard it is to score and influence world cup games. Ronaldo does have a euro but he wasn't even Portugal's best player and didn't even play the full final game.
Messi does not even have a Copa.
Have you factored in the number of international games Marco wasnt available for due to injury? In 1988 for example he played just 11 club games all season and it was a frequent problem.
too many shit teams in qualifiers. for example, I remember Portugal being called out for their brand of football 4-5 years ago, yet they scored more than 3 goals per game (!) in their qualifying group. when you're drawn with Andora, F. Islands and Latvia, that's basically 6 training games. Switzerland's group record was 9-0-1, quite telling. it's like putting Mike Tyson in ring with caf members. some of the nations simply don't play the same sport.
Even some of the best nations usually have holes in their squads so pretty low.
The thing is, with international football, it's very tough for any team to be cohesive, even a strong one, which means unless the players are used to play with each other at club lvl (Spain 2010-2012 or Bayern 2014), parking the bus is a very effective way to shut down most of the dominant teams and that's how Spain or Germany got knocked out in 2018.
The thing is, with international football, it's very tough for any team to be cohesive, even a strong one, which means unless the players are used to play with each other at club lvl (Spain 2010-2012 or Bayern 2014), parking the bus is a very effective way to shut down most of the dominant teams and that's how Spain or Germany got knocked out in 2018.
no. Not at all. It happens in all sports, so you don’t have completely mismatched games.
International football is easy yet we're about to splash £120 million on a player who can't yet a game for England.
*Lights fire and walks away *
*Lights fire and walks away *
It's a pretty poor standard.
Lot of weak opposition and even the best teams with strong options in every area of the pitch aren't great as they don't play together anywhere near as much as they play with their clubs. Also major tournaments happen when most top players are knackered from a long season.
Lot of weak opposition and even the best teams with strong options in every area of the pitch aren't great as they don't play together anywhere near as much as they play with their clubs. Also major tournaments happen when most top players are knackered from a long season.
It's easy in the sense that stats can be padded due to whipping boys like San Marino.
But at the same time, it's difficult at the top level and also due to selection being determined by nationality, a team can easily go from world beaters to average without too much ability to change that whereas clubs can always buy players and improve.
Teams like Holland and Croatia are an example of the above.
But at the same time, it's difficult at the top level and also due to selection being determined by nationality, a team can easily go from world beaters to average without too much ability to change that whereas clubs can always buy players and improve.
Teams like Holland and Croatia are an example of the above.
Back when the WC was just 16 teams in size the number of international teams trying to qualify was less than today, also the number of professional leagues around the world was significantly lower than today. the growth of football as a sport has grown right alongside the increased access to all National sides to take part. The only people who complain about mismatched games are those from the "big football nations". The minnows look forward to games against the elite teams even knowing they will get thumped. Im in NZ, our first WC was in 82 and at one Confeds cup we got humped badly by Spain. However on the flip side we now have a national team with pro players in a number of decent pro leagues around the world. Our entire International squad is made up of fully professional players. Back in 82 we didnt have any players playing outside NZ or playing professionally. A fair few other countries have seen the same thing happen and also the game of football grow within their own borders. The growth of the game through expanded tournaments that allowed lesser football nations to take part has been significant. Pushing the lesser teams back into little qualifying tournaments would just set back the global development of the game. It is absolutely an elitist attitude.
It's exactly as easy or as difficult as club football since, obviously, both sides of the game draw from the same pool of players.
Are San Marino any worse than a club in the conference?
The comparison would be valid iff you compared the elite levels of international football with the elite levels of club football.
They are still about the same.
Are San Marino any worse than a club in the conference?
The comparison would be valid iff you compared the elite levels of international football with the elite levels of club football.
They are still about the same.
This also means that other international strikers are not doing as well as hee. SO the key factor can't be international football as a whole, it would have to be the national team he plays for.
Yes.
of course smaller teams look forward to playing the bigger teams.
that’s a given.
the issue is not elitist. Currently it’s far too easy to qualify, and the quality of international qualification games has gone down the toilet.
when was the last time England lost a qualification game? It’s been years.
there’s no peril to the games - and they just become glorified friendlies most of the time.
it seriously dilutes the quality of games. That’s not good for football - especially as we all know footballers are playing too many games.
Based on?
If memory serves they don't have many players that play at a level as good as the conference.
Also, I have watched them play football and I have watched conference teams play football.
Yes, just look at Messi and Ronaldo’s scoring records in the World Cup if you think that international football is easy in the big tournaments. They both have pretty pathetic returns.
As for the Lukaku goal scoring numbers etc, these days there are a lot more games played (friendlies, qualifying, nations league etc.) against a lot of weaker teams that weren’t even around at this level before so the numbers can get inflated compared to the past. I think it’s more instructive to look at goals scored in major tournaments.
Qualifying is shite but the major tournaments are the highest level of competition IMO, even more than the CL.
The amount of pressure playing for your country is much higher, no two legged ties and playing in neutral venues for the most part. I mean this generations GOATs Messi and Ronaldo are yet to win a world cup. Ronaldo only has one Euros and Messi doesn't even have a Copa America. That tells me international football is extremely difficult.
The amount of pressure playing for your country is much higher, no two legged ties and playing in neutral venues for the most part. I mean this generations GOATs Messi and Ronaldo are yet to win a world cup. Ronaldo only has one Euros and Messi doesn't even have a Copa America. That tells me international football is extremely difficult.
Against Czech Republic in the qualifiers for this tournament.
Not sure what’s to be factored in. He played the games he played. He had 58 caps and 24 goals. Depay has 65 and 26 goals.
One of the reasons for which i dont watch international football.
Well obviously it isn’t. Which is why players like Yarmolenko can have extraordinary records in International football.
More games against shitter teams = more goals for average players.
Or the teams you’re drawn to play against. I mean, obviously he’d score more playing for Belgium than he would playing for Scotland. That doesn’t change how easy so many games are in international football.
1. If Yarmolenko has an extraordinary record, which is relative, it means better players than him have worse records. If his record was solely down to international football being so easy, then every good player should have a comparable record. Clearly, they don't so the relatively low quality of international football cannot be the reason for Yarmolenko's good record there.
2. If you took Messi and put him in the championship and he scored 1000 goals, would that mean that club football is relatively easy?
It's obviously a question of the levels.
International football, just like club football, has levels and it's easier at the lower levels.
Alright then.
I arbitrarily chose the conference. Let's say county league instead. Are San Marino any worse than a county league team?
Dunno.