2007-11-19 - A game of three halves?
So I was watching a Dutch football talk show last night and guess who was invited. Henk Kesler the head of the KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association). In an earlier article I doubted they knew exactly what was what. Well, they know exactly! He proudly said, in response to a wall of criticism of Marco van Basten and the Dutch national team, that UEFA ranked the Netherlands as the top team in Europe, and that they would likely be seeded as one of the four teams heading the groups at the finals. He also commented that he didn't exactly think that was a good idea given the teams that are the other groups heads, apart from the fact that they would be sure to play all their games in either Salzburg or Bern. What shocked me more was that he claimed that Germany had deliberately lost to the Czech Republic (at home) to make sure they wouldn't be seeded in the first group of teams with Austria, Switzerland and Greece!!! But then if that's true, how far does this go? Will the Netherlands and Germany and others carry on this little game on Wednesday? If so, I'd rush to a betting shop to put a bet on Germany not beating Wales at home and the Netherlands losing in Belarus on Wednesday because those are the results that are needed for them to move down the seeding groups (for the Netherlands of course only if Germany win against Wales). It of course also brings Croatia and potentially others into this. Was the 2-0 loss at the hands of Macedonia really such a great win or was it a great loss??? It seems that football is not only played in the stadium but inside the FA headquarters all around Europe! Of course, the Netherlands losing on Wednesday won't be proof because a win against Belarus away isn't exactly a foregone conclusion for any team these days, especially one that has scored less than Cyprus in this qualification campaign! Kesler also said that losing in Belarus wasn't exactly good for the FIFA ranking, and that could still possibly mean they would be seeded in the second group of seeds for the upcoming World Cup qualifying draw. He also said that Van Basten is very keen to win and told Kesler that to become European Champion you need to beat everyone anyway so it doesn't matter whether you get draw against easy or difficult opponents. That is of course true, and if you can get yourself out of a 'group of death' there could potentially be lesser teams in the quarters and semis. If Van Basten sets his aims so high, i.e. winning the tournament, which isn't so unbelievable given the Netherlands' recent European Championship history and the quality of their players, then of course it doesn't matter if you get beaten in the first round or in the semis. Both would be failures. Kesler also alluded to Germany's situation when reacting to further criticism. Before the World Cup Klinsmann was under intense pressure, not being able to put a serious run of results together. Indeed, I remember watching Germany play Japan a week or so before the tournament with the Germans 0-2 down and thinking that they were just hopeless and didn't have a chance in hell. How wrong I was then, and possibly how wrong all those criticizing the Dutch team could be now. Saying that, we won't be playing at home, and that helped the German team a great deal of course. Oh well, only time will tell.
On a side matter, I wonder how many people are rushing to the betting shops to bet on England to win the finals next year. They looked so out of it following their loss in Russia that it could be fate messing around in football again. Remember Denmark 1992? Denmark didn't even qualify and won the tournament. How about 2004 when Greece came from nowhere to win? Much as I'd hate it, I'm starting to think England would be a good bet.
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2007-11-19 - FIFA Ranking |
| Posted by rdasilva |
| By the way, does anyone have the time and interest to work on a FIFA ranking that we could update after every match? I would be happy to provide expertise and/or space for publication on the web. I would be really interested to play 'what-if' on such a ranking, in order to know how it could change. It would also be very nice to be able to objectively verify the real FIFA ranking. Please send me an email. |
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2007-11-19 - Untitled Comment |
| Posted by SwedeinFrance |
Very interesting article. Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with losing a game if you can gain personal (SPORTING) advantage from it. The big picture must be to try to win the tournament, and if losing a game helps that cause, then it is morally defendable.
It actually reminds me of the 2006 Olympic Icehockey tournament. Sweden played in group B and the final game was played the day after group A was finished. Switzerland had managed to finish 2nd in grp A, with Canada in 3rd. Sweden had a final game versus Slovakia and could (more or less) choose to finish 2nd (and play Canada) or 3rd (and play Switzerland) in grp B depending on the outcome of that game. Now, anyone who knows Icehockey knows that you'd rather play Switzerland in the play-offs than Canada. The Swedish head coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson told media that he wasn't sure he wanted to win the Slovakia game for exactly this reason. This caused an uproar in Sweden and there was a huge debate going on what the moral obligations were to try to win every game. Well, Sweden lost the final group game, easily made it through the quarter finals vs Switzerland and had well rested players to play the semis and the final and ended up winning the tournament. |
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2007-11-19 - well... |
| Posted by Adrian |
i believe macedonia vs. croatia was indeed a display of coefficient battle...
what is interesting , though, is that Belarus - Netherlands is played at 19.00 CET , while Germany is played at 20.30 CET, so the Germans will already know the result from Minsk, after 15 minutes of their game... So they are in a more comfortable position, as they can play their normal game if the Netherlands don't lose in Belarus ( on purpose or not ) |
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2007-11-20 - Untitled Comment |
| Posted by Anonymous |
| I'm not counting any chickens until England have booked their flight to the Championships..but with one of the strongest defences in Europe and players like Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Owen, Cole etc of course we've got a chance..maybe we'll win 3 penalty shoot outs in a row and win the whole thing :-) |
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2007-11-20 - hehe |
| Posted by Adrian |
| you'll be singing "Three Lions on a Shirt" again... i love that song even though it's about the england national team... after we ( Romania ) qualified, i played numerous times... cause "football was coming home" again |
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2007-11-20 - Re: Untitled Comment |
| Posted by rdasilva |
| England winning one penalty shoot-out is rare enough, let alone three! |
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2007-11-21 - Belarus 2-1 Netherlands |
| Posted by rdasilva |
Did anyone listen to me and bet on this result? So far no goals in Germany either. Saying all that, the Dutch were outplayed completely and if they staged that loss they should get a job in Hollywood. They're just crap! I hope UEFA fine them and kick them out of the European Championship because they have nothing to do there but make up the numbers, or are they going to do a Germany and suddenly become a world power in a week? I hope not. I hope the Dutch FA bury van Basten and remember him for what he did for Ajax, Milan and Oranje (as a player that is!)!
Berwerkt door rdasilva aan 2007-11-21 bij 20:54 |
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2007-11-21 - Germany 0-0 Wales, Belarus 2-1 Netherlands |
| Posted by rdasilva |
| I hope I have a lot of rich readers now... |
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This weblog will list the latest interesting issues in international football to do with tournaments and results in general.
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