What's Up With The Powerhouses?

cson

England tonight and on the opening weekend. France out. Italy struggling to draw with Paraguay. Brazil mediocre against North Korea. Spain losing. Germany losing today.

Only Argentina cleaning house and Holland comfortable against Denmark have shown any of the form we'd have expected [Germany's demolition of Australia nothwithstanding].

What the **** is up?

Krusader

I'll do an Eamonn Dunphy and say "Kids don't play football on the street anymore"

el rabitos

perhaps they dont want it as much as the other teams.

davyjose

cson wrote: »

England tonight and on the opening weekend. France out. Italy struggling to draw with Paraguay. Brazil mediocre against North Korea. Spain losing. Germany losing today.

Only Argentina cleaning house and Holland comfortable against Denmark have shown any of the form we'd have expected [Germany's demolition of Australia nothwithstanding].

What the **** is up?

Did anyone watch the Germany match today? A lot of people see the scoreline and assume they were poor. Robbed blind, and still the better side with a man down for an hour.

/just sayin

Ush1

England a powerhouse? You read too many rags.

flahavaj

Powerhouses. Sh*thouses.

Mister men

cson wrote: »

England tonight and on the opening weekend. France out. Italy struggling to draw with Paraguay. Brazil mediocre against North Korea. Spain losing. Germany losing today.

Only Argentina cleaning house and Holland comfortable against Denmark have shown any of the form we'd have expected [Germany's demolition of Australia nothwithstanding].

What the **** is up?

How are England a "powerhouse".. They have qualifed for one major Cup semi final in the last 40 years. Does that make South Korea or say Greece "powerhouses".

davyjose

Mister men wrote: »

How are England a "powerhouse".. They have qualifed for one major Cup semi final in the last 40 years. Does that make South Korea or say Greece "powerhouses".

They're one of a handful of teams to have won the WC, they have one of the strongest leagues in the world, their clubs are hugely successful in European football.

Not a huge stretch to see why they might be considered a powerhouse.

steelcityblues

I think a lot of players overhype the importance of club football (esp. if they play for a Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United), and see international football as a distant second. Thus, it is beginning to reflect in the traditionally 'bigger' nations performances.

Sad, but true!

flahavaj

If Tesco had any sense they'd start making "Boo-Boo-vuelas" in anticipation of England's early arrival home.:pac:

Ush1

davyjose wrote: »

They're one of a handful of teams to have won the WC, they have one of the strongest leagues in the world, their clubs are hugely successful in European football.

Not a huge stretch to see why they might be considered a powerhouse.

Yes it is.

Brazilian League isn't considered strong.

davyjose

Ush1 wrote: »

Yes it is.

Brazilian League isn't considered strong.

I wouldn't use the same criteria to describe Brazil as a powerhouse, would I? 5 World Cups would do that. England is a hugely important nation in the football world, like it or not; that's why they're considered a powerhouse.

Edit: And come on, it's a bigger stretch to lump them in with S Korea/Greece ffs.

steelcityblues

davyjose wrote: »

I wouldn't use the same criteria to describe Brazil as a powerhouse, would I? 5 World Cups would do that. England is a hugely important nation in the football world, like it or not; that's why they're considered a powerhouse.

Edit: And come on, it's a bigger stretch to lump them in with S Korea/Greece ffs.

Brazil took England's invention and made it their own!

Ush1

davyjose wrote: »

I wouldn't use the same criteria to describe Brazil as a powerhouse, would I? 5 World Cups would do that. England is a hugely important nation in the football world, like it or not; that's why they're considered a powerhouse.

Edit: And come on, it's a bigger stretch to lump them in with S Korea/Greece ffs.

Important nation ain't a powerhouse.

Uruguay is a more important nation in World Cup terms and they aren't a powerhouse. The fact is the English national team has been consistently poor for quite some time and have no right at all to be considered a powerhouse. People in England and Ireland might find it easy to swallow though.

I'm not lumping them in anywhere, just stating they shouldn't be at the top of the food chain.

FearDark

Its the ball.
Its the altitude.

Or maybe those teams [besides Germany] didnt deserve to win, think they can just turn up and get through to the knock out stages, forget about defending and the basics.

KerranJast

davyjose wrote: »

They're one of a handful of teams to have won the WC, they have one of the strongest leagues in the world, their clubs are hugely successful in European football.

Not a huge stretch to see why they might be considered a powerhouse.

A league chock full of players and managers from other nations.

davyjose

Ush1 wrote: »

Important nation ain't a powerhouse.

Uruguay is a more important nation in World Cup terms and they aren't a powerhouse. The fact is the English national team has been consistently poor for quite some time and have no right at all to be considered a powerhouse. People in England and Ireland might find it easy to swallow though.

I'm not lumping them in anywhere, just stating they shouldn't be at the top of the food chain.

Your taking semantics to a whole new level now Ush. As you've done too on the England thread. The fact is, England are a nation with World Class players, and failed to perform ... we've established that, so lets move back to the gist of the OP...

Mister Men lumped them in.

davyjose

KerranJast wrote: »

A league chock full of players and managers from other nations.

Every player in their squad is in the EPL, but again, the fact is some see them as a big team, with big players, who've failed to perform. Can you really not see what the OP is getting at?

Guy:Incognito

Mister men wrote: »

How are England a "powerhouse".. They have qualifed for one major Cup semi final in the last 40 years. Does that make South Korea or say Greece "powerhouses".

Why draw a magic line at 40 years? Why not 44 years?

Ush1

davyjose wrote: »

Your taking semantics to a whole new level now Ush. As you've done too on the England thread. The fact is, England are a nation with World Class players, and failed to perform ... we've established that, so lets move back to the gist of the OP...

Mister Men lumped them in.

That term gets bandied about. To me they have few. So just from my point of view and to cross them off the list, what's happening to England isn't suprising to me in the slightest.

But yeah, I'd cross off Germany also as they still played well despite the negative result.

Brazil will actually struggle against defensive sides as they are setup to counter attack and are lethal at it. They will do better against the likes of Portugal I'm sure.

Ferris_Bueller

France have trouble in their camp which is being reflected by their performance on the pitch.

Brazil weren't that bad IMO just Korea defended very well and in large numbers for a lot of the game.

Germany were extremely unfortunate not to get a result today between a missed penalty, a cruel red card and then having what should have been a sending off for Serbia not given.

Italy, when you look at their team, aren't really that great and a draw against the second best team in their group isn't disastrous, plus I thought the were the better team after they conceded.

England and Spain I cannot make excuses for, but usually there is always one or two big guns who underperfom.

Krusader

Mister men wrote: »

How are England a "powerhouse".. They have qualifed for one major Cup semi final in the last 40 years. Does that make South Korea or say Greece "powerhouses".

They've made it to 2 - Italia '90 & Euro '96

cson

davyjose wrote: »

Did anyone watch the Germany match today? A lot of people see the scoreline and assume they were poor. Robbed blind, and still the better side with a man down for an hour.

/just sayin

Yup, if they had a striker who could finish half the chances Podolski missed they'd likely have won. However the Serbians did hit the post and the bar so they could easily have been beaten more.

cson

@ the gob****es who are pushing the boundaries of semantics even further past the ridiculous that I considered possible;

1. Fifa Rankings

2. Pre World Cup Betting

And I don't like using this -> :rolleyes:

But here it's warranted.

Can we get back to the matter of my OP if it doesn't bother you too much; I do find it incredible that the likes of Spain and England can't raise themselves for what should be one of if not the highlights and aspirations of their careers.

Jordan Berbatov

FearDark wrote: »

Its the ball.
Its the altitude.

Or maybe those teams B]besides Germany[/B didnt deserve to win, think they can just turn up and get through to the knock out stages, forget about defending and the basics.

and Spain:)