[Archived] Why?

[joey_big_nose]

Consider also that Brazil is 3 times larger than Argentina. And Argentina are by no means a powerful economy.. especially over the last 3 years, but things are improving 

RE:Uruguay - they are no push over at home - and when does popuation have anything to do with sporting performance?

359459[/snapback]

Population has a huge amount to do with sporting performance. The pool of talent is larger with a larger population.

Consider Scotland and England. The fascilities, funding and interest in the sport is near enough identicle across the boarder but they suffer from having less kids coming through to pick and choose from.

Other smaller countries that do well in sports, such as yourselves and Holland, do so through excellent coaching and getting a higher proportion of kids off their fat backsides and out on the field.

Indeed if Australia did not spread itself so thinly between five major team sports- cricket, rugby union, rugby league, aussie rules and football- I think you would have an excellent side.

[AussieinUk]

Other smaller countries that do well in sports, ....through excellent coaching and getting a higher proportion of kids off their fat backsides and out on the field.

359479[/snapback]

I was goint to argue that that is the sole reason, but you covered it

And on paper, I think Australia have an excellent side!

[Lee]

Shame im out selling popies for Remberence Sunday.

359454[/snapback]

Who else read it as selling puppies?

[andy82]

In terms of acclimatization for Germany you can't get much closer than Switzerland.....

359389[/snapback]

You can, but theyve already been to Germany once this year.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Maybe I've missed something, but why on earth are England playing Argentina in Switzerland next week?  Whats wrong with playing in England?

Being a sweet and innocent girl Clare, you perhaps didn't immediately think of the 'dirty dollar' as quickly as myself once it was announced that the match was being staged in Switzerland.

Being a slightly older and more cynical chap than yourself, I suspected from the start that filthy lucre had quite a lot to do with it.

And surprise surprise, it's been reported that the FA will make more than £2m from staging the match - from the sale of television and ancillary rights.

Those less cynical than myself may possibly believe the line from the FA that Switzerland was chosen due to its proximity to Germany and because of the need for "acclimatization of similar conditions" to those we will encounter in Germany next year.

To me, that argument is about as convincing as Robbie Savage's claim that he was moving from Birmingham to Blackburn to be nearer to his parents in Wrexham.

I'm afraid, as far as the FA are concerned, I don't believe a great deal that emanates from them - especially after the fiasco last season when the Millenium Stadium was chosen for the Arsenal v Rovers semi-final with a ridiculous kick-off time of 12.15pm.

Did the FA give a damn about the inconvenience to Rovers fans of making us travel that early to Wales? Did they hell. All the FA cared about was their precious TV rights and making as much money as they could.

Our semi-final could easily have been staged at a more appropriate neutral venue like Villa Park, but as Villa's stadium only holds 42,000 - (10,000 less than the 52,000 who attended our game at the Millenium Stadium) the FA naturally wanted to cash in - with a significant proportion of the gate receipts for semi-finals ending up in the hands of the FA.

Too many pigs with their snouts in the trough, I'm afraid.

When the new Wembley opens, fans in the north of England who want to see the national side will be forced to travel down to London for every game. There will be no more matches at Old Trafford or Anfield. The FA have got bills to pay and they want to recoup as much money as they can.

As in life, money rules the football world these days. The supporters can go to hell.

I think its almost tantamount to blackmail the fact that England supporters have to attend the friendly in Switzerland in order to gain the relevant "caps" to ensure World Cup tickets. Don't go to Switzerland for the Argentina game and you won't be guaranteed a World Cup ticket.

With one eye on Germany, thousands of England fans have indeed applied for the Geneva tickets. No doubt many of them wouldn't have been so keen to travel all the way to Switzerland if they didn't need the "caps" to apply for World Cup tickets.

After all, given the contempt and disdain with which Sven usually treats friendly matches - changing half the team around after 45 minutes - it's perhaps understandable that some England fans have become somewhat indifferent to friendlies.

We're told that the Argentina game is going to be different and Sven will treat it as a normal competitive match. That remains to be seen.

If England fans go all the way to Geneva to see Peter Crouch starting, I don't think many of them will be happy. It's now 16 games and no goals for Mr Crouch this season. (14 for Liverpool and two for England.)

Against Aston Villa last Saturday, he missed a simple header from a couple of yards out. And Rafa Benitez says that he's good in the air....

Most England fans can see through this gangling beanpole's limited abilities. He hasn't got the pace or mobility needed for Internation football at the highest level. He looked completely out of his depth against Austria. I'm sure Peter's a nice guy and all that, but in terms of ability, he's a donkey.

In previous England friendly matches, Sven hasn't had the balls to upset the likes of Alex Ferguson by playing United players for the full 90 minutes. Sven seems terrified of upsetting the big clubs. It will be interesting to see what happens this Saturday.

I can actually only think of two England friendlies over the last 20 years that I've really enjoyed, where there's been flowing attacking football from the start - the 3-3 draw against Sweden at Elland Road in 1995, and England's 4-2 win over Spain at the Bernabeu Stadium in 1987, when Gary Linker scored all four goals.

Let's hope that the Argentina game bucks the usual trend for boring stale friendly matches.

Just checking my stats - we've played the Argies six times in the last 25 years. In 1980 we beat them 3-1 at Wembley. (An impressive result as they were World Champions at the time.) In 1986 of course, there was the infamous 'Hand of God' match, in 1991 we had a 2-2 draw with them at Wembley, in 1998 we lost on penalties in the World Cup, in 2000 there was a 0-0 friendly draw, and in 2002 we beat them 1-0 in Japan.

Edited November 9, 2005 by Anti Euro Smiths Fan

[joey_big_nose]

AESF, I think you may of ballsed up a bit here. The game was staged in Geneva at Argentina's request, they are the home side. Blue/white posted some excellent reasons for this:

1.  If the match was held in B.A.- the Argentine FA can only charge in Argentine pesos… or roughly .33 US Dollars (and I’ll not touch the US/Pound conversion)- so you see it’s miniscule.  It makes more sense to charge dollars or at least a stronger currency.  That’s why Argentina hasn’t hosted an international friendly since at least the last economic meltdown (the almighty $$$).

2.  I think this is not the first time that all the Argentine expats play a match

on the continent- if i'm not mistaken, they've done it in Italy & Morrocco (well, you know... close enough).  I'm sure AFA uses this as a selling point when prising players from clubs teams..... that 10 hour flight to BA is an utter bear.

3.  Lastly, I think that we couldn’t host the Brits (regardless of economic meltdown or recovery) as the powers to be are fearful of a typical Argentine welcome (read hysterical) to an invading Brit ‘force’-  I rather doubt you lads would be happy with boiling oil or water thrown at you from windows.

Nah…. I’m just kidding.  But believe me, our folks still remember 1812 or whatever year you guys landed in BA looking for the spaniard’s soft white underbelly .

359470[/snapback]

Also I would be suprised if the FA made any more money from hosting the game in Geneva that holding it in the UK.

Can I implore you to write a page long piece on something you like about someone, or something. Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens or Brown paper packages tied up with string, that sort of thing. Or if you are looking at something more 'gritty' maybe the many positive impacts of the tabloid press on British society, or how the queen embodies all that is valued in this beautiful country of ours.

Make us FEEL your passion, not drown in the acid bile of your hate.

[philipl]

AESF, I think you may of ballsed up a bit here.

359674[/snapback]

An understatement!

It is a hilarious read if you insert the fact:

"Argentina are the host nation and have requested the game to be played on neutral territory in Europe"

at the start of the rant. Switzerland is just about the only neutral place in Europe easilly accessible for all and sundry.

As for the raindrops and roses, AESF does call Clare sweet and innocent....

Edited November 10, 2005 by philipl

[Duff's Minder]

All these conspiracy theories are hilarious. It seems pretty simple to me.

England have qualified for the world cup in Germany next year.

They have 2 guaranteed friendlies between now and then to play.

A Swiss sports agency offered the FA the chance to play one of them against one of the favourites for the cup. Sven snapped their arm off.

Traditional Pre-World Cup friendlies have been against some tier two (at best) Eastern European teams, which do you think is better for the team's development?

As my contact at the FA set this match-up I can promise you that it is not being done for the money, the FA can make £2m from a game in their sleep. A friendly at a sold out Old Trafford would make them twice as much.

[waggy]

way back in the summer i got an e-mail from easyjet saying the winter flight's were on sale.at the back off my mind i had read england would be playing a friendly in november,went on the fa site,and there it was a friendly versus the netherlands in november,quick as a flash booked my flights then rung my mate.

he burst out laughing have anotherlook he said,i did and yes we do play the dutch,november 2006

[Flopsy]

Who else read it as selling puppies?

359527[/snapback]

they're hell to pin on your lapel

[Alex Rover]

This is a strange argument. Argentina are the home team so it's their choice. They've chosen somewhere in the middle of Europe because most their squad plays in Europe. I'm sure the FA and the PL teams concerned are perfectly happy we don't have to nip over to Buenos Aires.

[USABlue]

As much as I want to win this one I will be more concerned with Bellers coming back unscathed from his advenutes with Wales.

[Will]

I think it is a fantastic friendly and cant wait to sample the ales in Geneva. To be fair, calling this a friendly is wrong, it will be far from that and will be as close to a big match as possible.

[Sydney Rovers]

This is a strange argument.  Argentina are the home team so it's their choice.  They've chosen somewhere in the middle of Europe because most their squad plays in Europe.  I'm sure the FA and the PL teams concerned are perfectly happy we don't have to nip over to Buenos Aires.

359899[/snapback]

Exactly, it's the same reason why Australia have been playing friendly matches in England with games at Craven Cottage, Loftus Road and the Majecki Stadium. It would be pointless to send a team thousands of kilometres to Australia to play a training match.

Edited November 12, 2005 by Sydney Rovers

[dave birch]

I can't understand why they didn't play it in Port Stanley?

[waggy]

I can't understand why they didn't play it in Port Stanley?

360204[/snapback]

the 10,000 england fans would struggle to get their in the quest for a cap,in the joke that is the englandfans club

[Rovermatt]

3-2 England.

The hype starts here.

[adopted scouser]

Scousers 3 Argies 2

[Rover91]

only 1 michael owen!

[Eddie]

That game more than justified the why. For once a friendly game that had passion and entertainment and that I actually couldn't pull away from.

[brfcshabba]

The arrival of Peter Crouch changed the game.

[Eddie]

I thought he did quite well. I'm not a Crouch fan, although I'm not a Crouch hater like some, but I thought he did pretty well and won the ball well a few times. Didn't set the world on fire but did what he needed to.

[greggyk]

Anyone else wonder why Sorin didnt get a yellow card for trying to handle the ball in?? DID THE REF NOT SEE IT!!!?

EFFIN CHEATIN SCUM!

GET IN ENGLAND!!

feels like we've won the world cup.hehe.

[Mattyblue]

We criticise them when they don't perfom, quite rightly after some debacles. But when they play like that there is no other team like England, the pace and passion was superb. Truely great football match. Bring on the World Cup.

ps what a site the England fans were as the 3rd crashed in. What a moment!

[thenodrog]

The arrival of Peter Crouch changed the game.

360324[/snapback]

Indeed. More his physical presence than anything he actually did, which is well worth keeping him in the 22 for cos if you want something different to happen then you have to do something different!

The emphasis changed because the Argies appeared to find him so difficult to mark and they started to struggle to even clear the ball.

Great game for the spectators and played in a good spirit by both sides. imo we deserved to win because over the 90 mins I feel we had the better chances abnd their keeper pulled off some stunning saves.