Thank you SO MUCH for articulating what I clearly couldn't.

You could be the best player the world has ever seen but if you were born in Guatemala then forget about the world cup. Look at Gareth Bale, fantastic player one of the best in the world and could almost walk into any national team but he will never play in the world cup and probably never play in any international tournament. It's why club football always wins. Success shouldn't be constrained to what piece of rock you were born on.

Gareth Bale could have played for England, but clearly he thought he had more chance of winning the World Cup with Wales.

So you don't like/ agree/ appreciate the whole idiom of the World Cup. You don't agree with teams. You only subscribe to individual players.

With respect, I think you are missing the whole concept of the World Cup. it is an amalgamation of the finest players playing for their country. Your argument is totally redundant.

Just a pity Gareth Bale didn't have a country good enough to win let alone make any impact in the whole World Cup.

Club football is superior as it doesn't require you to be born in a specific area of the world to be successful. Your own talent carries you instead of hoping you have other talented people born on the same rock as you. It's pointless to argue to the contrary.

But your argument (it it's that) is laughable and moreover you cannot back up your statement with fact.

Only bitter people think club football means more than the World Cup, people scarred by years of bitter defeats All football fans know any club footballer would give all their Premier League (or even Champions League) titles to win the World Cup

This. I'm actually laughing here as I type, any footballer , from the lowliest Sunday player to ANY professionl, would give their eye teeth to hold the World Cup trophy. It's a given, kids in the local park playing with their mates, quote World cup players....

To suggest otherwise is just blatant sour grapes and quite frankly ridiculous.

Agreed, you could argue that the latter stages Champions League is a higher standard player for player. But you never see players as distraught as when they go out of the World Cup.

Indeed. Very well said.

These arguments are ridiculous. You're with your club the whole season playing 38 games to win the league and you can lose it all by one goal. To compare it to going out the World Cup you had no chance of winning after 3 games when you only see your team mates sporadically is ridiculous.

Try watching more football.

[quote=FrankieFixer;73710066]These arguments are ridiculous. You're with your club the whole season playing 38 games to win the league and you can lose it all by one goal. To compare it to going out the World Cup you had no chance of winning after 3 games when you only see your team mates sporadically is ridiculous.

Try watching more football.[/QUOTE

That's your comeback. Risable.

I think he's good enough to take Wales to a major international tournament. Wales have a strong enough midfield to make a team out of. They could do with some extra defenders and a striker but a midfield including Bale, Ramsey, Allen is a good trio and King, Collison and Ledley are all decent too.

With the Euros expanding I fancy them to qualify for one of the next 2 Euros. Scotland also. And Ireland. (Sorry Northern Ireland, even my present optimism has it's limits. Maybe in a decade.)

[quote=Scarlett Berry;73711721]
Watch more football and don't use words you can't spell.

Well, Italy plays in the final every 12 years, so some countries actually do have a shot at winning the cup.

The World Cup is the biggest football competition in any footballer's life. Everyone knows that. To you winning the Premier League maybe more important, but to every single player in your team lifting the World Cup is the dream and no other title comes even close.

They deserve bashing because of their lack of knowledge, Adrian Durham said something very similar before Germany routed England in 2010, said Thomas Muller wasn`t a good player, ha! Germany have a fantastic record and fair play to them.

Yeah sure there is some national pride, but isn't based on military history anymore, obviously

Since football is a kinda tribal replacement for national conflict, i think it gives Germans a good outlet.

Now Bavarians on the other hand, at least the CSU supporters and Kini lovers, totally different ballpark.

They still have that brutish animalist ESL type nationalism that has lead to so many wars. Equally Austria FPÖ ... yuck..

The Stuttgarter Zeitung has a very interesting leader article this morning - that through their sporting prowess the German nation is coming to terms with the hitherto "tension" regarding their national identity - not least because of the palpable support and encouragement from around the world. It is certainly heartening to see so many different nationalities giving the German team a rousing endorsement for their obvious talent and a "new" unfettered open admiration, even from the English.
Today's reports (okay it was the Mail) of some England players living it up boozing and so on in some exotic holiday is a sombre comparison. Results it seems only come from hard work, discipline and determination.

No, I know it is a bad example - mind you, certainly they seemed to love her/themselves on her Big Day/Week - as well as having a public holiday. Your word jingoism is the right one. The Germans are not jingoistic, but the English can be.

Celebration in Berlin currently going on

http://www.zeit.de/sport/2014-07/nat...nschaft-berlin

The Greeks would disagree with that.

Would you bail somebody out who had cooked the books?

Yes, I think you're right. From a footballers perspective I suspect playing in or winning the World Cup is the big one. That's what they say in interviews. Although Harry Redknapp suggested otherwise in a recent interview about some professional footballers desire to play for England.

That would suggest that the Club over Country preference thing is mainly a fan thing. I think most England fans want to see both their Club and England do well but when push comes to shove.....

The German people are not jingoistic for the most part though, whatever possible EU related disasters have happened in Greece doesn't change that.

The nation and London especially was experiencing a high throughout the summer of 2012, in London because we had the Olympics as well. It was the most euphoric time I've witnessed in London and indeed Britain, the feel-good spirit was everywhere in my experience. Actually I think Britain got it right with the Olympics, we took pride in our country (as displayed in the opening ceremony) but without any of the xenophobia that sometimes happens when we celebrate things. We invited the rest of the world to join in and experience it with us, it wasn't us saying "we're better than you, so f*ck off!"- in a nutshell I think that's the mentality that many Little Englanders have.