World Cup 2026

[Sheilbh]

Portugal are a far better team than the current Argentina. They will be fine without Ronaldo, much more so that Messi-less argies.

I said it about the World Cup - I think Portugal have a fantastic team that is, at this point, being sacrificed for one man's ego.

UEFA feels strange at the moment, with Germany, Netherlands and Italy being at such a low point.

Yeah I don't really know what's behind it. I don't know if there's maybe issues with the youth training/setup going on?

I mentioned in the World Cup thread but honestly some of the stuff I've seen from Germany reminds me of England 20 years ago. In particular I think the stuff about WAGs and was the camp too relaxed which was discourse we had about the 2006 World Cup (leading to Capello's 2010 where the team were very isolated, treated very strictly and everyone hated it). But also saw some stuff from German TV ahead of the Paraguay game saying that game is the problem with an expanded World Cup, it's just going to be like a domestic cup tie against a lower side etc. But then also Klopp's comments today on taking the job. It feels like there's a really toxic media (including ex-players)-national team dynamic going on which from an English perspective feels very familiar and slightly triggering. But I think Klopp is a very good coach (if, ultimately, a very bad man) - I'd expect him to do very well.

Italy seems a bit chaotic - from what I've read they've been speaking to both Guardiola and Ancelotti who don't want the job. But both of them feel like quite different directions, which suggests that the federation aren't sure what to do. (I also feel - and this is maybe just recency bias and growing up in the Serie A era - but that Italian coaching is less of a force than it used to be, especially compared to coaches from Spain.)

Also it's been there with Tuchel and Nagelsmann but I think Klopp and maybe Guardiola heading into international management would be really interesting. I've always thought club and national team management are very different jobs and wondered if managers like Klopp and Guardiola especially could work at a national team where they only coach the team for a few weeks a year and then have a tournament over the course of a month - because they both feel like managgers who need a lot of time with their teams to get it to work. On the other hand I think the Madrid job is a bit like international management - so Ancelotti makes more sense. But all that could be absolute nonsense and it may be that some of the best club managers in recent years are absolutely able to adapt that to national teams.

[Threviel]

What's wrong with Klopp? Why's he a bad man?

[celedhring]

Managing Liverpool to glory? Sheilbh is an Everton fan 

I'm not aware of him being more or less of an arsehole than your average football manager, but I don't follow the PL that closely.

[Threviel]

No, I hadn't heard anything either, managing uninteresting teams is not a crime.

[The Brain]

You didn't check Trivago?

[Threviel]

You didn't check Trivago?

Now that you mention it he's obviously evil.

[Sheilbh]

Managing Liverpool to glory? Sheilbh is an Everton fan 

History's greatest monster

Although also the Trivago ads are annoying

[Josquius]

UEFA feels strange at the moment, with Germany, Netherlands and Italy being at such a low point.
Yeah I don't really know what's behind it. I don't know if there's maybe issues with the youth training/setup going on?
 

I wonder if the internationalisation of football could be at play?
The top domestic teams in Europe, even the mid rank teams. Don't have even a a youth time made up of domestic players. They have talented youngsters from around the world.
So no longer do you have a significant chunk of the world's top players with a single passport but they're a lot more spread out? - Haaland for example.

There's also the rise in African teams and their actively courting talented youngsters in Europe. I've mentioned before Sadiki was born in Belgium, played for Belgium at youth level, would easily be in the modern Belgian team...but he chose Congo.
Quite a few other examples of this.
African teams are a lot more organised. The Internet no doubt helps a lot.

[Norgy]

Here I thought Klopp was bad for not talking about creolisation of the French language or something.

[Sheilbh]

I wonder if the internationalisation of football could be at play?
The top domestic teams in Europe, even the mid rank teams. Don't have a youth time made up of domestic players. They have talented youngsters from around the world.
So no longer do you have a significant chunk of the world's top players with a single passport but they're a lot more spread out? - Haaland for example.

Maybe. I think with the bigger countries - I think England, France and Spain all seem to have a relatively reliable pipeline of young players coming through and there's been investment in that side of the game (I know England have basically copied a lot of what France did before 98 and, twenty years in, it does seem to have helped). I'm not sure if that's a bit of a gap with Germany and Italy? And similar with, say Portugal v the Netherlands?

One thing that may be absolutely meaningless but just thinking of Haaland and also Bellingham is that they came through Dortmund who have a particular reputation for developing youth. And also I seem to remember a fairly decent Dortmund presence in the Germany teams that were so good ten years ago. Is there maybe something there too? As I think Dortmund have had a tough few years and I wonder if they just accidentally play quite an important role within German football?

There's also the rise in African teams and their actively courting talented youngsters in Europe. I've mentioned before Sadiki is born in Belgium, played Belgium at youth level, would easily be in the modern Belgian team...but he chose Congo.
Quite a few other examples of this.
African teams are a lot more organised. The Internet no doubt helps a lot.

Yeah it's something I like generally. In some cases I think it is clearly a sense of choice or identity (and not just with Africa - see Olise's preference for France). But I think it's often after the local national team has not expressed an interest/indicated it's not going to happen. I think that's the case with Semenyo for example who just had no interest from the England camp. But also it's a choice you might make young to maximise your chances in international tournaments.

Here I thought Klopp was bad for not talking about creolisation of the French language or something.

Least of his sins.

[Syt]

The German FA commenced a concerted effort to revamp its youth programs in preparation for the 2006 world cup at home. That generation then went on to play well in the tournaments from 2006 on and winning the 2014 WC. It seems, though, that since then the investment in youth players has not managed to maintain the high level.

[Norgy]

Woltemade was a big signing for Newcastle.

He hardly made a dent in the Premier League. Just big and a bit clumsy, and totally bereft of confidence in the later stages of the season.

[celedhring]

No changes to Spain's youth setup at a concerted level, but the league as a whole is much healthier than the 1990s or 2000s, with clubs failing left and right, so there's more money to put in youth development. And it shows.

I think you can look at the sides we put in the 1990s and 2000s, which were dominated by Barça and Real Madrid, and compare them to the current ones, which are much more diverse. Real Madrid seems to just have given up developing players anyway.

[Zoupa]

Considering how weak our league is, it's a testament to the FFF's methods how well the national team has been performing.

[celedhring]

Considering how weak our league is, it's a testament to the FFF's methods how well the national team has been performing.

Key to that, I think, is that French players seem to have little trouble moving to other leagues during their formative years in a way that Italians and Germans don't.

Spanish players historically have always had big issues moving abroad, but we do have a strong league to compensate (and younger generations seem to have an easier time moving to the PL for example).