Topic: ⚽ UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany ⚽ - Qualifiers - page 359. (Read 46401 times)

OK.. looks like it is confirmed.

https://www.goal.com/en-in/news/lionel-messi-confirms-inter-miami-move-argentine-superstar-mls-snubs-al-hilal/blte4073fe5404e15b2

I don't think that it is a very intelligent move from Messi, but then it is his decision and his career. Messi might have wanted to take up the lucrative deal from Al Hilal. But his wife was staunchly against that idea. I just hope that in the end he doesn't regret about this decision. The financial details for the Inter Miami deal are not out yet. Messi might have got a decent deal, given his ongoing negotiations with Barca, Al Hilal and Inter. David Beckham is one of the owners of Inter Miami, and this might have also influenced his decision. 

Yes, this is already confirmed news on many online portals, and they also reported Messi's statement that he is going to America because he wants peace for himself and his family.
Barcelona seem to have failed to convince Messi that the financial construction of bringing him to Barcelona is sustainable.
Of course, Messi has a huge marketing value, and in America he now has the opportunity to further strengthen his personal brand and increase his earnings.
It seems to me that neither Ronaldo nor Messi will play in European football anymore.

Didn't Messi just signed with Inter Miami? At least that is what was published yesterday. If it's true what you say about his wife not wanting to move to Saudi Arabia, I guess he signed with Miami because of that. I couldn't find the exact financial agreement but there are speculations that he was offered a revenue-sharing deal with Adidas and Apple TV, but also a possibility to own a part of the club when he retires.

Still a lot of opaqueness regarding Neymar's offer from Saudi Arabia. I have reasons to suspect that it was not as lucrative as the ones given to Messi and Ronaldo. Anyway, Paris St-Germain is also owned by Arabs (Qataris, not Saudis) and their contract is also worth a huge sum ($263 million). If Neymar want to stay in Europe, it is understandable. Even Messi's wife was not happy with his move to Saudi Arabia and had asked him to stay with PSG. But fortunately Messi was able to convince her and avoid a $1.2 billion loss to his bank account. 

That's an interesting point you've made there regarding the potential chemistry between Brazilian players at Manchester United. However, if we look at the broader picture, Brazil's performance in international tournaments has been less than stellar recently, hasn't it? They have had some of the most skillful individual players globally, but the harmony often appears off when they take to the field as a unit. Curiously enough, these very players excel in their respective European leagues, which could be a testament to club-based practice and cohesion. Neymar's decision to join Manchester United over a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia is indeed intriguing, possibly indicating a strategic move to better team dynamics.

I think things need to be put into perspective. Brazil lost against Cameroon in the last match of the group, which meant absolutely nothing to them because they had already secured a place in the knockout phase of the competition.
Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia in the first match of the group stage of the competition and jeopardized chance to qualify for the knockout stage of the competition.
The players of Brazil know the players of Croatia very well, they play together with them in the world's best clubs and leagues, and they didn't underestimate Croatia as they knew that a very difficult match against Croatia was waiting for them.
In the statements before that match, all the players of Brazil spoke very respectfully about the players of Croatia and warned that they were in for a very difficult match.
In the match against Croatia, Brazil players gave their best, but it was not enough to win, and the Croatian players should be congratulated for that.
Croatia defeated the best team in the world and thus made the path to the world title much easier for the Argentina players.
In Argentina, after the defeat of Brazil against Croatia, there was a bigger celebration than in Croatia, did you know that? Do you know why? Because they knew that after the defeat of Brazil, the way to the world title was open for them.

I agree with this observation. After their big win against Serbia early on, Brazil became complacent during the FIFA World Cup 2022 group phase. They lost to Camroon by a margin of 0-1. Argentina also lost to Saudi Arabia in the group phase, but the difference is that they learnt their lesson and started to treat their opponents with respect. They never lost another match in the 2022 edition. On the other hand, Brazil got one more big win against South Korea in the round of 16, and then again went back to their old ways. And finally got knocked out by Croatia in QF stage.

Brazil underestimate all of their opponents thinking that they are the best and they prove that in the group faze but when it come to knockout faze they lose the big matches. Croatia goes on their teamwork and with every round they skip thats a big achievement for them. Will see them at next world cup where they will be because a lot od players wont play for them

Let's compare only the results of Brazil and Croatia at the last 2 world cups. At both world cups, Brazil is the first favorite for the title of world champion, but they did not even manage to reach the semi-finals. On the other hand, Croatia won medals, silver and bronze at both world cups, how can this be rationally explained?
We all know the value of Brazil's players and the value of Croatia's players. Are the Brazilian players overrated or are the Croatian players greatly underestimated?
In any case, for a national team to become a world champion, it is obvious that the great individual quality of football players is not enough if the team is not ready for great results.

Who could really argue that Brazil hasn't been enjoying a phenomenal run of form in international football competition? When they were at the top of their game, in the late '90s and early '00s, what happened? Killer aim, really dominant! The latest World Cups, though, man. They've certainly experienced their share of "facepalm" moments.

Don't misunderstand me, though. This Brazil team is really real. Each player acts like a viral social media influencer by dropping abilities on the pitch. However, it appears that they have forgotten the password to their Wi-Fi-based group chat. Do they require an administrator to manage such powerful avatars?

The big question is whether or whether RNGesus will be able to save them in the next World Cup. Just seven bouts, so don't stress. It's the poker equivalent of a "YOLO" throw of the dice. Will they win big, or will the random number generators say no?

Well.. I don't know. Brazil has constantly underperformed for the last few years.. I am not just talking about the FIFA World Cup, but also other tournaments such as the Copa America. Individually they have the best football players in the world. But when 11 of them are in the field, the chemistry between them doesn't always works out well. And these same players perform exceptionally well when they play in different European leagues. And regarding Neymar, I heard that he rejected a very lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia, in order to move to Manchester United.

I'd really like to know why you feel this would be a good idea. Because the reasons you have are not reasonable enough for a club or national team to share it's manager..
First, the manager's attention will be divided. He can't focus on both teams a hundred percent. Maybe you feel it's only during international breaks that the managers of national teams work which is not true. They work round the clock too just like club managers.
The watch the players of their national team play for their various clubs so they'll know who to call up for a particular tournament. It's going to be a disaster for all the parties involved. Real Madrid, Brazil and Ancelotti will all be in a big mess.
Then there's also the fact that you didn't mention a small team. It's Real Madrid. A team of that magnitude. A tea fighting for the champions league, La Liga, Copa del Rey. Then Brazil. This is actually funny when I think about it.
It's not going to work. Neither team will even agree to that.

The Brazilian League has remained where it was, and European football has contributed to the fact that the level of all the top teams (which supply a lot of players to Europe) has leveled off. In fact, there is no difference between national teams if most of their players play in Europe. In such conditions, it decides randomly - the "yield" of generations and how lucky they are. For example, Belgium had a very productive generation, but they were unlucky. France has a yield generation that is lucky.

I am still bothered with managers not doing dual job, that should be more common. I know that it is going to be tough job for sure but that doesn't mean that we are not going to end up with that being a good idea for them. Ancelotti at the head of Brazil and Real Madrid at the same time would be an ideal situation without a doubt.

It is going to be a bit influencer on the players he already has at Real, he would favor them a lot more and that's a trouble, but at the same time they would be able to actually end up with something better for the long term since players would know what their manager wants from them at the club so it would help them at the national team as well. All in all dual job should start already.

@Sithara007 who said that Ancelotti is taking up the Brazil job because he’s already planning for Real Madrid’s upcoming season hence he won’t be coaching the Brazil team anytime soon. Furthermore I feel that Brazil will put in a improved performance because Fred, Anthony, Casemiro all are playing in the same team and hopefully Neymar too will also join them soon at Manchester United which will further improve their chemistry.

Again, the same is with Croatian national team. I don't follow Brazil that closely to know how much their coach changes the starting lineup. In Croatia there is standard lineup and everyone knows who will play and who will start on the bench. There are some rotation, of course, but the approximate starting lineup is always known. I'm very curious how will the Croatian national team perform in the final four of the UEFA Nations league this month, but that discussion is probably for another thread.

I would say that lack of team bonding is one of the issues with Brazil. Their players are immensely talented. But since they play for different clubs in different leagues, the players are not very familiar with each other. And this creates issues while playing as a team. On top of that, I don't have a good opinion about the current Brazilian coach. Carlo Ancelotti is about to replace Tite (Adenor Leonardo Bacchi), but I am not expecting much. Management has been quiet poor with the Brazil national team for the last 5-6 years, I would say.

I wouldn't say that the problem with Brazil is their national league. Look at Croatia. They have very poor national league, but the national team is one of the best in the world. Majority of national team players play in strong European leagues like Premiership so they bring much quality to the national team. I would say that with Brazil it's similar. Their star players (Casemiro, Richarlison, Thiago Silva...) are all playing in the top European clubs.

The problem is that Brazil has remained where they were in the 1990s, while the other teams have progressed. Now the gap between Brazil and the other teams have narrowed. And this was very evident during the 2022 edition of the Qatar world cup, when they were defeated by both Cameroon and Croatia. Brazil is no longer the invincible team that they used to be in the past. One of the main reasons is that the domestic league within Brazil is of low quality. All the star players want to participate in the European leagues, so only the emerging players prefer this league.

Brazil's golden era was 20 years ago (1994-1998-2002) since then they are always in the favorites group but never win anything. Now they have a good team again and with some luck they can take gold (like any other team from the top 10-15), but the World Cup is a fleeting seven-match tournament and the degree of randomness is such that it is generally impossible to accurately assess the strength of the teams. I would compare it to several all-ins in a row - the one who won is not the best at all, he just had more luck.