calum_gers Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Honestly I am pretty surprised about Turkey underperforming for so long now. 80 Mio football mad people and a league which "protects" home grown players as far as I read. Always thought they are a "sleeping" footballing giant and will sooner or later awake but they don´t. The clubs do pretty well in Europe though and youth teams aren´t bad neither. Plus they can always fill their ranks with players born abroad but of turkish roots( Sahin, Altintop, Can etc etc. etc.) Sometimes you simply can not explain why. Turkey in 2002 were one of my favourite international teams. They also had some awesome names, Hasan Sas, Umit Davala, Rustu Recber and of course Bulent Korkmaz. Magnificent stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrif John Bunnell Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Turkey at Euro 2008 were excellent as well. Some great comebacks and an unlucky defeat to Germany in the semi final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andershen Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Just seen the Welsh pitch invasion on SSN and I know taking the piss out of fans for celebrating a goal is fairly shite chat but Jesus Christ, that was one of the most embarrassing things I've seen. Andorra ffs! A country with a population smaller than Dundee! Wales = diddy pub team with one dick with shite hair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calum_gers Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Turkey at Euro 2008 were excellent as well. Some great comebacks and an unlucky defeat to Germany in the semi final. Funnily enough after posting I went and watched their game with the Czech's in 2008. Nihat was another great player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthernLights Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Just seen the Welsh pitch invasion on SSN and I know taking the piss out of fans for celebrating a goal is fairly shite chat but Jesus Christ, that was one of the most embarrassing things I've seen. Andorra ffs! A country with a population smaller than Dundee! Wales = diddy pub team with one dick with shite hair. I see the FAW have been charged over it - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29145771 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 As for those who claim things never changed, here's an unashamedly brilliant line from a BBC Football article today: Can't you just feel the humility? Or who could forget Shearers bold prediction that expectations were so low we just might win it? That's the kind of deep insight you only attain from stamping on other peoples heads. England - they'll never learn. There's some other hilarious conclusions emerging from "who is your least favourite World Cup Team?" Apparently the much fabled German - Dutch rivalry doesn't actually exist and both countries are instead primary rivals with.....wait for it........Iran Or the 3% of Dutch respondents who consider the Netherlands to be their least favourite team. Of the 50% of English respondents who were "not interested" in football, how many thought it was the rugger or cricket world cup? To be fair though, with the group England have, they're probably right. They could still lose to the lower ranked teams, and definitely could get beat by Switzerland at Wembley, but I doubt they'll drop enough to reach third, let alone fourth. They won their toughest game comfortably, and they're usually a very good qualifying team. They'll still collapse come France though. You're right things will never change - media outlets will flit between outright "woe-is-me-ism" before returning to tubthumping "believe" rhetoric. It also won't change how England will do - most of the time as good as they could hope, sometimes worse, but never exceeding expectations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supras Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 To be fair though, with the group England have, they're probably right. They could still lose to the lower ranked teams, and definitely could get beat by Switzerland at Wembley, but I doubt they'll drop enough to reach third, let alone fourth. They won their toughest game comfortably, and they're usually a very good qualifying team. They'll still collapse come France though. You're right things will never change - media outlets will flit between outright "woe-is-me-ism" before returning to tubthumping "believe" rhetoric. It also won't change how England will do - most of the time as good as they could hope, sometimes worse, but never exceeding expectations. They were very lucky getting a relatively weak first seed, the likes of Italy or Germany would have mutilated them, but in a competition of 24 European teams it would be absolutely extraordinary if they failed a qualify. A level of failure they would struggle to reach. If it means a "Come on England....buhleve!!" in 2016 then the inevitable pumping by the first passable football side will be as gloriously funny as it usually is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 They were very lucky getting a relatively weak first seed, the likes of Italy or Germany would have mutilated them, but in a competition of 24 European teams it would be absolutely extraordinary if they failed a qualify. A level of failure they would struggle to reach. If it means a "Come on England....buhleve!!" in 2016 then the inevitable pumping by the first passable football side will be as gloriously funny as it usually is. You mean in qualifying? Weren't England first seed? With Switzerland 2nd? Even then, there aren't too many sides you would pick Switzerland over in pot 2. Belgium definitely, but Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Czechs, Hungary and RoI would all be at or below Switzerland's level IMO. Yeah, it would be tough for them to fail so badly that they wouldn't make the final 24. They'll be there, so in this case, the "qualified already" argument might be annoying, but for once it's probably about right. It doesn't mean they'll make it beyond the first knockout round though, which is probably what they should be aiming for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supras Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 You mean in qualifying? Weren't England first seed? With Switzerland 2nd? Even then, there aren't too many sides you would pick Switzerland over in pot 2. Belgium definitely, but Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Czechs, Hungary and RoI would all be at or below Switzerland's level IMO. Yeah, it would be tough for them to fail so badly that they wouldn't make the final 24. They'll be there, so in this case, the "qualified already" argument might be annoying, but for once it's probably about right. It doesn't mean they'll make it beyond the first knockout round though, which is probably what they should be aiming for. My mistake, they inexplicably were first seeds. After their horrendous world cup I'm not sure that would be the case now, the Swiss are ahead of them in the rankings (by 11 places!!). The qualified already statement is exactly the kind of blissful arrogance I was pointing out, all European nations with a population over 30m are extremely likely to qualify, but they're not going to brag that it's over after 1 game. As for Scotland, our population puts us very much within the top 24 in Europe, we should qualify, but we've been unfortunate in that there is two much larger nations in our group - Poland and Germany. Third place would be our expected finish in the group, we are better than Ireland despite their best players being Scottish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Naitch Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 A shedload of games on over the next six nights as the ''week of football'' thing really kicks in. All the matches on the telly as well which isn't too shabby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandmagyar Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 A shedload of games on over the next six nights as the ''week of football'' thing really kicks in. All the matches on the telly as well which isn't too shabby. Yeah! What to watch though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Naitch Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Yeah! What to watch though? I've got the Spain game on with goal alerts so that'll cover all them apart from the England game. EDIT: Brilliant save from Casillas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandmagyar Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Casillas at fault there! 1 down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sergie's no1 fan Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 England are boring San Marino into submission. Seriously what a bunch of shitebags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calum_gers Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 England are utterly pathetic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ginger Prince Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I see the Spain game is on Sky Sports - What channel is the England game on? Could only see Spain game on any of my channels.....? ITV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lichtie23 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Mon the Luxembourg......just hold on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc_smfc Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Lallana was miles onside for his goal. Be ready for a whole lot of criticism of this England team for not having racked up the goals (yet) against San Marino Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc_smfc Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Just as they let Townsend score, what a diddy outfit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Naitch Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Slovakia back in front against Spain with 4 minutes left. Brilliant goal it was as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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