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<p>Kylian Mbappé’s rapid start to his career could put him in the running for the greatest soccer player of all time.</p>
<p>That topic is one that sparks debate among a certain set of players. Four men separate themselves from their peers in their respective eras.</p>
<p>Pelé, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Mount Rushmore of soccer all played in similar positions along the front line. Yet, they interpreted their roles differently based on their skillsets and the tactical formations used.</p>
<p>Central midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers are mostly excluded from these debates. Reason being, their ability to influence a match tends to come on a collective effort. Contrarily, attacking midfielders, forwards and strikers score most of their team’s goals. Individuals can create the majority of a side’s chances, therefore allowing for more individual brilliance.</p>
<p>Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are still strong players. However, their best days are in their dominant past. Instead, one of Lionel Messi’s teammates has the ability and potential to one day join the ‘GOAT’ debate.</p>
<h5><strong>Prodigious Beginnings</strong></h5>
<p>Kylian Mbappé is already a legend. If his career ended today, Mbappé would be remembered as one of the greatest French players in the history of the country. In six seasons, he accomplished more than most players have in their entire careers. At 23, he scored 26 goals for <em>Les Bleus</em> and will most likely become their all-time leading scorer. Next season, he can surpass Edison Cavani’s mark of 200 goals. In doing so, he becomes the all-time leading scorer in Paris Saint-Germain’s history. Mbappé currently has 171 scores for the Parisians.</p>
<h3><strong>Comparable statistics</strong></h3>
<p>The game changed drastically over the years. Players flip clubs and country regularly, making statistics more jumbled. The fact that leagues and competitions in South America do not necessarily align with European competitions makes things more confusing. Regardless, there are certain comparisons to make between Pelé, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and a young Kylian Mbappé .</p>
<h5>Club success</h5>
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<td></td>
<td style="text-align: center;">Domestic League wins</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">Domestic Cup wins</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">International Cup wins</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Pelé</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">17</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">4</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Maradona</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">3</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">4</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Messi</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">11</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">14</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Ronaldo</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">7</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">12</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">11</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Mbappé</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">5</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">5</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">0</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Pelé, Messi and Mbappé have success at one club, with the exception of Messi’s lone season in France and Pelé’s brief tenure with the New York Cosmos. International cups includes things like the UEFA Cup, the UEFA Champions League, the Copa Libertadores. Plus, there are competitions along the lines of the FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup and even an intercontinental Super Cup.</p>
<h5>International success</h5>
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<td style="text-align: center;">World Cup</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">Continental Cups</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">Smaller competitions</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Pelé</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">3</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">7</td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">Maradona</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Messi</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
</tr>
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<td style="text-align: center;">Ronaldo</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Mbappé</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>When representing their country, each of the five players has success. Of course, the landscape of international soccer changed over the 70 years of play. Remarkably, Pelé and Maradona never won a Copa América.</p>
<p>Smaller competitions refers to things like the UEFA Nations League, the Olympics, the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions (<a href="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.com/2022/05/31/argentina-vs-italy-on-tv-coverage-details/"><em>Finalissima&nbsp;</em>in 2022</a>) and various small tournaments from Pelé and Brazil in the 1960s.</p>
<h5>Individual success</h5>
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<td style="text-align: center;">Ballon d’Or</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">Top scorer in domestic league</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">Best player of the year from home country</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Pelé</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">7*</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">14</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1*</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: left;">Maradona</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">2*</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">6</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Messi</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">7</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">8</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Ronaldo</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">5</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">5</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Mbappé</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">0</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">4</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">2</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>There are too many awards to go around for these four players. Top scorers, best players at tournaments, most assists in a year, league player of the year, Golden Ball at World Cup or continental cup. This is simply a surface-level look at the illustrious careers of four of the game’s greats. Plus, the table shows how Kylian Mbappé already has individual success.</p>
<p>The Ballon d’Or ‘wins’ for Pelé and Diego Maradona are retrospective. Up until 1995, only <a href="https:\/\/www.givemesport.com/1716175-pele-and-maradona-every-ballon-dor-winner-if-noneuropean-players-were-always-eligible">European-born players were eligible</a> to receive the award. In 2016, France Football announced who would have won the award if it were open to the world, not just Europe, for each year since its inception.</p>
<p>Note that Brazil only started handing out an award for Brazilian footballer of the year in 1970, thee only year Pelé won. Plus, the award only goes to players in Brazil. However, it remains the best comparison to the other players listed.</p>
<h5>Peak Performance</h5>
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<th style="text-align: center;">Best era</th>
<th style="text-align: center;">Highlights</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Pelé</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1957-1965, 1970 FIFA World Cup</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">Three World Cups, domestic success</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Maradona</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1977-81, 1986-1990</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">Single-handedly carried Argentina to 1986 World Cup</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Messi</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">2009-19, 2021 Copa America</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">Dominated Spanish soccer for a decade</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Cristiano</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">2007-08 club season, 2011-12, 2016-19</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">Won regularly in three countries at highest level</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Mbappé</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">2018-current</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">World Cup win, bright talent</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Out of the five categories, peak performance is the most important. Many prefer consistency and longevity, which is understandable. But peak performance displays the ability to rise above your competition and reach heights that few can in the history of the sport.</p>
<p>In soccer, the heights Maradona reached from 1986-1990 are still unmatched. Pelé played for legendary teams on the club and international level. Cristiano and Messi played for club sides that are among the best in soccer history. Maradona didn’t have that luxury on the club or international level, but rather willed his teams to the mountaintop.</p>
<h3><strong>Kylian Mbappé path to being the greatest of all time</strong></h3>
<p>“I want to win and win more. If you look at the world of football, there are a lot of great players and if you fall asleep then someone can take it away from you. I’m a lucky guy who plays for a great team at club and international level, but I don’t look back. I don’t think about what I’ve won, my goal is to keep winning. I want to make football history,” said Mbappé after he received the Best Player of the Year Award at the 2021 Globe Soccer Awards.</p>
<p>His drive to become the best fuels his game. The first step in reaching soccer’s Mount Rushmore is to lead PSG to their first Champions League triumph in spectacular form. If he is able, then he will be among Pelé and Maradona in a small group of elite players who led their respective clubs to their first piece of major continental silverware. Mbappé is already in an exclusive club with Pelé they are currently the only teenagers to score in a FIFA World Cup final which exhibits their precociousness.</p>
<h5>More French success</h5>
<p>The next step for Kylian Mbappé to emerge as one of the greatest of all time is to win more international hardware with France. <em>Les Bleus</em> has the deepest talent pool when it comes to players, so they are among the favorites in every competition for the next decade.</p>
<p>The last step will be to leave France down the line and to challenge himself either in the Premier League or La Liga. Out of the five ‘Big Leagues’ in Europe, Ligue 1 is fifth. While there is plenty of talent in the division, PSG is the overwhelming favorite every season due to their financial advantage in the nation and club soccer overall. The Ballon d’Ors will come eventually because he is currently the best and most explosive player in the world.</p>
<p>While he has a long way to go, don’t be surprised when if Mbappé joins the G.O.A.T. conversation.</p>
<p>In 2017, Maradona spoke highly of the French international to AS, a major Spanish newspaper.</p>
<blockquote><p>“For me, Mbappé is the revelation of football. He seems to me that he can be better than lots of players.”</p></blockquote>
<p>Including Maradona.</p>
<p><em>PHOTO: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images</em></p>


Kylian Mbappé is not part of the discussion for greatest soccer player of all time. However, his bright start could put him in that area.

Kylian Mbappé's road to being the greatest of all time - World Soccer Talk

Kylian Mbappé's road to being the greatest of all time

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<p>Pep Guardiola owns a monumental resumé of achievements earned during his time at Manchester City.</p>
<p>But, things are not happy go lucky at the Etihad, at least over the last couple of months and days. Guardiola made a statement on his future on the same day Harry Kane declared he would stay at Tottenham for another season. Kane’s announcement assured Guardiola and City supporters that the Premier League’s best striker over recent seasons would not join the Sky Blues.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>“I would need a break after seven years [at City],”</em> Guardiola said at an XP Investimentos event.</p>
<p><em>“I need to stop and look around, learn from other coaches, and I might take [the international management] road.”</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Guardiola differs from the standard-mold of managers.</p>
<p>Instead of fighting through obstacles, he seeks exit when things get contentious. After three straight LaLiga titles, Barcelona finished second to Real Madrid in 2012. The Catalan ditched the Camp Nou instead of bringing Barcelona back to the top.</p>
<blockquote><p>&nbsp;<em>“Four years is an eternity as Barca coach,” </em>Guardiola said towards the end of that 2012 season.</p>
<p><em>“The main reason why I have taken this decision is because four years is many years,”&nbsp;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Tell that to Sir Alex Ferguson who managed Manchester United for 27 years. Or to Arsene Wenger who led Arsenal for 22 years and had to get fired before he left the club.</p>
<p>Those managers built their sides to be dominant for decades. Meanwhile, Guardiola seems to join previously successful teams before making his way out.</p>
<h3>Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich</h3>
<div id="attachment_343221" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><div><figure class="image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-343221" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-343221 size-medium" src="https:\/\/ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https:\/\/images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/WST_20210826_WST_343214_Pep-Guardiola-Barcelona-300x201.webp&amp;width=300&amp;height=201" alt="" width="300" height="201" srcset="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/Pep-Guardiola-Barcelona-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/Pep-Guardiola-Barcelona-600x401.jpg 600w, https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/Pep-Guardiola-Barcelona-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/Pep-Guardiola-Barcelona-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/Pep-Guardiola-Barcelona.jpg 972w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"></figure></div><p id="caption-attachment-343221" class="wp-caption-text">Pep Guardiola established himself as one of Europe’s premier managers during his tenure at Barcelona.</p></div>
<p>Pep Guardiola decided to take his next job at Bayern Munich. The Bavarians announced Guardiola’s arrival on January 16, 2013.</p>
<p>That season, Die Roten ended up winning the treble. It seemed like the Bayern Munich board forced Jupp Heynckes out. They locked their minds on hiring whom many considered the best tactician in the game. However, how can you improve a team that has won everything?</p>
<p>Bayern continued their domestic dominance under the four-time La Liga Coach of the Year. They extended their streak of Bundesliga titles to four in a row by winning three-straight Meisterschalen. The streak is <a href="https:\/\/www.transfermarkt.us/bundesliga/erfolge/pokalwettbewerb/L1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">now at nine</a>.</p>
<p>Also, Bayern broke the points, goals-scored and goals-conceded records under Pep Guardiola.</p>
<p>In the Champions League, they lost three straight semifinals. Ironically, they were against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.</p>
<p>Perhaps the 2011 FIFA World Coach of the Year questioned his own tactics. With these clubs’ understanding his philosophies, Pep decided to make baffling decisions that backfired. Despite such great domestic success, domination in Europe eluded the manager.</p>
<p>Guardiola made it clear to Bayern Munich’s board that he would move on from the Allianz Arena.</p>
<h3>Controversial move to England</h3>
<p>During his last year in Germany, Manchester City announced that Guardiola would become their next manager.</p>
<p>In eerily similar fashion to Bayern and Jupp Heynckes, Manchester City seemed to be pushing Manuel Pellegrini out. With the former Barcelona captain available, clubs went out of their way to bring him in. Frustrated by the rumors, Pellegrini publicly addressed Guardiola’s arrival.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>“They are not doing anything behind me,”</em> Pellegrini said at a press conference in February 2016. <em>“I knew this a month ago.” </em></p>
<p><em>“But, I don’t think it’s good, this rumor and speculation about different things. I would prefer to finish the speculation today.”</em></p></blockquote>
<div id="attachment_343224" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><div><figure class="image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-343224" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-343224" src="https:\/\/ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https:\/\/images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/WST_20210826_WST_343214_Pep-Guardiola-Manchester-City-300x378.webp&amp;width=300&amp;height=378" alt="" width="300" height="378" srcset="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/Pep-Guardiola-Manchester-City-300x378.jpg 300w, https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/Pep-Guardiola-Manchester-City-150x189.jpg 150w, https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/Pep-Guardiola-Manchester-City.jpg 338w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"></figure></div><p id="caption-attachment-343224" class="wp-caption-text">Pep Guardiola’s time at Manchester City is glittered with success. But, European domination avoids him.</p></div>
<p>Under the Olympic gold medalist, the Citizens have won three Premier League titles, three Carabao Cups and one FA Cup. In four seasons under Pep Guardiola, Manchester City won three Premier League titles. Moreover, the Citizens won England’s first domestic treble in 2019. Under Guardiola’s regime, Manchester City broke the league’s points and goals-scored records.</p>
<p>Last season, the club reached the Champions League final for the first time in their history. The trophy slipped from their grasp, losing to Chelsea, 1-0.</p>
<p>Reminiscent of his Champions League stumbles in Germany, pundits criticized Pep Guardiola’s decisions.</p>
<p>Guardiola elected to put the team-leader in goals, Ilkay Gundogan, in a holding midfield role. The traditional defensive midfielders of Fernandinho and Rodri started on the bench. Also, he did not start Sergio Aguero or Gabriel Jesus, going with a false nine instead.</p>
<h3>Guardiola’s Next Move</h3>
<p>With two years remaining on the three-time Premier League Manager of the Season’s contract, <a href="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/2021/08/25/guardiola-plans-to-quit-man-city-in-2023-eyes-national-team-job/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rumors of exit strategy surface</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>“I would like to coach in a European Championship, a Copa America, a World Cup,”</em> said the three-time Premier League winner.</p></blockquote>
<p>It may be detrimental to the club during the recruitment process because players know that Pep will not be there past 2023.</p>
<p>Also, if things go wrong, he may step down next year. Perhaps, Pep Guardiola really needs a rest. Maybe he wants to learn some new approaches to the game, and that’s okay.</p>
<p>But, to some, it looks like he’s running away from the grind once again.</p>


Many consider Pep Guardiola to be a tactical mastermind. However, with exit rumors surfacing, is he avoiding more times of peril at his club?

Pep Guardiola seeking another untimely exit - World Soccer Talk

Pep Guardiola seeking another untimely exit

<p><a href="http:\/\/view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/football-germany-england/image/9235718?term=fabio+capello" target="_blank"></a></p><div><figure class="image"><a href="http:\/\/view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/football-germany-england/image/9235718?term=fabio+capello" target="_blank"></a></figure></div><p></p>
<p>The great thing about football is that it is a never-ending soap opera. One tournament draws to a conclusion and it’s not long before another begins. In a little over a week, the Under 19s European Championship gets underway with England playing a potentially tough trio of Austria, Holland and France and in around seven weeks, the senior side will begin their own European campaign towards 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.</p>
<p>So the drama is set to start all over again for the national side. Only this time there’s a different dynamic underlying it all; the 2010 World Cup debacle.</p>
<p>Capello’s capital with the British press is all but exhausted. This shouldn’t matter at all, after all, what does the press know about anything, but in England it really does matter. The tabloid press seems to dictate how many people think and a sustained campaign against a manager usually sees the FA cave in to what the tabloids would self-reverentially call ‘popular demand’ for a change.</p>
<p>Capello’s problem is that any poor result or even a poor performance is going to immediately lead to calls for his head. Opening games home to Bulgaria and away to Switzerland is exactly the kind of games that it’s easy to emerge with just one point from. If that’s the case, you can expect Capello’s position to be unsustainable.</p>
<p>He has to win both games convincingly, failure to do so will open so many wounds, that it will be fatal for him. He’s got to change the team, change the tactics and win impressively from the get go. That’s a big ask.</p>
<p>I’m all for Capello carrying on, figuring that if you no-one is allowed to learn from mistakes then England is doomed to repeat them over and over again. But I know how the media works in England and Capello is one step away from being a dead man walking.</p>
<p>He has the additional problem that players know this too. They can probably afford to lose a game and draw one and still qualify, Capello cannot. So what better way to get a manager that you don’t like, the sack? One hapless performance against Bulgaria could do it.</p>
<p>Capello must already be weighing up who amongst the playing staff are his allies and who are the enemies. He’s fortunate in that the public’s belief in the players is at an all time low and that given every England manager is appointed as the antidote to the previous one, there simply isn’t an English manager who commands enough respect, has enough top rank experience and isn’t mired in legal matters to obviously replace him.</p>
<p>The hysterical laughter that greeted the suggestion from The Sun’s Sean Custis to make Beckham manager may yet come back to haunt us all. There’s a scenario just around the corner where The FA, needing some positive headlines and lacking any credible candidate but pressured to replace a dastardly foreigner who is being berated by a feral tabloid media, turns to a much loved national figure to save the day. Believe me, it could happen, even though it would be certifiably bonkers.</p>
<p>Watching England’s national side has always been like watching a soap opera and I have strong feeling that some dramatic plot twists lie just around the corner. Perhaps we’ll wake up soon and discover the 2010 World Cup was all just a bad dream.</p>


Capello Is One Step Away From Being a Dead Man Walking - World Soccer Talk

Capello Is One Step Away From Being a Dead Man Walking

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<p>Gentleman, let us put away childish things.</p>
<p>Yes, international breaks can provide some godawful football.&nbsp; Yes, it doesn’t seem fair for a player to risk injury for a team he plays with only five times a year and miss games for the club that employs him on a weekly basis.&nbsp; Yes, nations like Lichtenstein don’t give much bang for your underdog dollar when facing Germany.</p>
<p>But to call international football boring, to curse the name of the foreign sounding manager who would dare call up your club star to represent the nation that raised him, to rant on whatever message board or blog that will let you about the inanity of Wales versus Finland, France versus Lithuania, is arrogant in the extreme.</p>
<p>Hatred for the international break comes from the same school of thought that calls for the abolishment of the Carling Cup, the FA Cup, and the speedy introduction of the European Super League.&nbsp; If the same nations always seem to advance in international tournaments, the absurd logic goes, why not give them an automatic berth and have everyone else duke it out over the summer?</p>
<p>Well, for one, things change in international football, if maybe not fast enough for the club supporter who mentally erases the club season just as soon as it’s over.&nbsp; Hungary were considered a global footballing power in the 1950s, along with Austria in the 1920s.&nbsp; Yugoslavia, Denmark and Greece have more European Championships than England.&nbsp; Hell, Uruguay twice as many World Cups as England.&nbsp; Brazil was once considered small potatoes in South America, and Argentina didn’t participate in international tournaments for two decades out of fear of embarrassment.&nbsp; Who’s to say Ivory Coast, South Korea, or even the United States won’t one day win a World Cup?</p>
<p>Sure, these are established footballing countries with ambitious national programs, but what about San Marino and the Faroe Islands?&nbsp; These tiny nations are unlikely to take a national tournament by storm, but is it fair to take away the right of nations to compete in the most popular game on the planet just because you get a bit bored one Saturday or Wednesday out the season?&nbsp; If you ask any professional footballer, they will often point to international caps as the highlight of their career.&nbsp; It could be something curmudgeonly club-shirted punters, Best-Of DVDs in hand, might never understand.</p>


It's Arrogant to Call Internationals Boring - World Soccer Talk

It's Arrogant to Call Internationals Boring

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<p>It’s time for FIFA to rethink international football.</p>
<p>In 1992, UEFA changed the European Cup to the Champions League and transformed European club football into a more entertaining product that generates vast sums of money. It also didn’t hurt that the tournament now attracts a cumulative television audience of 4 billion viewers in 227 countries.</p>
<p>While club football in the form of the Champions League, Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga has flourished, international football has come far less important with each passing year. Sure, we football fans still love the massive tournaments such as the World Cup, Copa America and European Championships, but the rest of international football competitions are mundane and an inconvenience.</p>
<p>Take England, for example. Their first match in their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign kicked off last Saturday against Andorra. Between now and the next 14 months, England will play nine other matches against the likes of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine, Andorra and Croatia. Other than the home and away leg against Croatia, the list of future England matches hardly inspires any enthusiasm.</p>
<p>One of the main problems about international football is that other than the actual tournaments themselves, the qualifying matches and friendlies are – for the most part – dire. By increasing the number of teams that play in major tournaments and increasing the number of countries to participate in qualifying rounds, teams like England suffer a long and arduous process just to enter the World Cup and European Championships.</p>
<p>Sure, we shouldn’t take it for granted that teams like England should qualify for these tournaments, but there has to be a better system for reducing the length of the qualification process.</p>
<p>The way that internationals interrupt league football throughout the season is frustrating for football fans, players and the football managers and club owners. Everyone loses. Players are exhausted after flying halfway around the world and then are expected to come back and play club football the following Saturday. Fans are frustrated that the momentum from the start to the new season has been stopped, while club managers and owners do battle with football associations and national managers trying to find new ways to prevent their star players from competing in international games.</p>
<p>The solution is to cease the 14 month qualification process and replace it with a mini-tournament to determine which nations will qualify for the European Championships or World Cup. The mini-tournament would be held within the space of 30 days — thus allowing players and fans to watch teams compete to qualify for the major competitions. The solution would be more attractive to players, fans, club managers, owners and would hopefully appease the football associations.</p>
<p>I don’t pretend to have all of the answers, but I do believe that FIFA needs to look into changing international football to make it something we can believe in again. Hopefully they’ll do that before it’s too late, if it’s not too late already.</p>
<p>What do you think? Is international football fine the way it is, or should FIFA step in and rethink the way the qualification processes for tournaments are organized?</p>


FIFA Needs To Revamp International Football - World Soccer Talk

FIFA Needs To Revamp International Football

<p></p><div><figure class="image"></figure></div>If you live in the United States and you have ESPN Classic on your satellite or cable package, you’re in for a treat over the next two weeks. Earlier today (Monday, May 26), ESPN Classic broadcasted the 1972 European Championship final between West Germany and USSR. If you’re like me, you missed it (ESPN Classic has no plans to show the matches again in the near future, so set your DVRs).<p></p>
<p>Thankfully, ESPN Classic has more European Championship Finals in store. Each weekday night at 7pm ET between now and the beginning of Euro 2008, the TV network will air all of the Euro finals from 1972 to 2004.</p>
<p>Here’s the schedule:</p>
<p><strong>Monday, May 26, 7pm ET:</strong><br>
West Germany v USSR, 1972 Final</p>
<p><strong>Tuesday, May 27, 7pm ET:</strong><br>
Czechoslovakia v West Germany, 1976 Final</p>
<p><strong>Wednesday, May 28, 7pm ET:</strong><br>
West Germany v Belgium, 1980 Final</p>
<p><strong>Thursday, May 29, 7pm ET:</strong><br>
Spain v France, 1984 Final, 1984 Final</p>
<p><strong>Friday, May 30, 7pm ET:</strong><br>
Netherlands v Russia, 1988 Final</p>
<p><strong>Monday, June 2, 7pm ET:</strong><br>
Denmark v Germany, 1992 Final</p>
<p><strong>Tuesday, June 3, 7pm ET:</strong><br>
Germany v Czech Republic, 1996 Final</p>
<p><strong>Wednesday, June 4, 7pm ET:</strong><br>
France v Italy, 2000 Final</p>
<p><strong>Thursday, June 5, 7pm ET:</strong><br>
Portugal v Greece, 2004 Final</p>


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