International Break thread

[magik9113]

some decent games coming up

today 9/5
Nations League:
Serbia vs Spain
Portugal vs Croatia
Scotland vs Poland

WCQ:
Argentina vs Chile

Tomorrow 9/6
Nations League:
France vs Italy

WCQ:
Uruguay vs Paraguay
Brazil vs Ecuador
Peru vs Colombia

Sat. 9/7
Nations League:
Ireland vs England
Ukraine vs Albania
Germany vs Hungary
Netherlands vs Bosnia and Herzegovina

9/8
Switzerland vs Spain
Portugal vs Scotland

9/9
France vs Belgium

9/10
Netherlands vs Germany
Colombia vs Argentina
Paraguay vs Brazil

[magik9113]

Shout out to San Marino for winning their first ever competitive match

[Stannis]

Scoring against Italy in 23 seconds was probably the only notable record Albania had and could hold.

France just wiped that away by scoring in 15 seconds. Happened to be against the Paisans as well.

FML

[cgf]

Wurtziala are just amazing right now. If the double pivot gels behind them, we should be really dangerous in 26.

[Shaazzam]

Canada's last victory over the Americans on U.S. soil was in July 1957, a 3-2 World Cup qualifying victory in St. Louis. The Canadian men had gone winless in 23 consecutive games against the U.S. in America since then, but outclassed their opposition Saturday.

"We were on the front foot the whole match," said Canada coach Jesse Marsch. "We were strong. We were committed and [they] made me proud. Made me proud to be their coach, that's for sure.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/canada-soccer-us-recap-sept-7-1.7316839

[magik9113]

Canada's last victory over the Americans on U.S. soil was in July 1957, a 3-2 World Cup qualifying victory in St. Louis. The Canadian men had gone winless in 23 consecutive games against the U.S. in America since then, but outclassed their opposition Saturday.

"We were on the front foot the whole match," said Canada coach Jesse Marsch. "We were strong. We were committed and [they] made me proud. Made me proud to be their coach, that's for sure.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/canada-soccer-us-recap-sept-7-1.7316839

Not hiring Jesse Marsch very well may haunt the U.S. for a very long time. Only time will tell.

[magik9113]

Wurtziala are just amazing right now. If the double pivot gels behind them, we should be really dangerous in 26.

should be a fun match tomorrow in Holland

[cgf]

Wurtziala are just amazing right now. If the double pivot gels behind them, we should be really dangerous in 26.

should be a fun match tomorrow in Holland

Should've been interesting but the Dutch are apparently so scared of our NT that they've started melting down & fighting amongst themselves before we've even gotten the chance to put 5 past them

[cgf]

France gets back on track against Belgium. Removing Griezmann and having to come up wiht something that wasn't "give to Mbappe" really helped open them. Hopefully DD doesn't figure out what that means before 2026.

[Foye]

Is it just me or has RealGM gone way too far with all the ads on this site?
This page is hella unusable without adblocker...

[magik9113]

Scoring against Italy in 23 seconds was probably the only notable record Albania had and could hold.

France just wiped that away by scoring in 15 seconds. Happened to be against the Paisans as well.

FML

Spalletti's Italy sure know how to break records
Di Lorenzo's lack of awareness on that goal was inexcusable, but videos have surfaced of Donnarumma having not been ready when the whistle for kickoff blew. He didn't even have his gloves on yet. Inexcusable error by the ref.

Good win for Albania vs Ukraine, now they face Georgia who just hammered Czech the other day.

Wurtziala are just amazing right now. If the double pivot gels behind them, we should be really dangerous in 26.

should be a fun match tomorrow in Holland

Should've been interesting but the Dutch are apparently so scared of our NT that they've started melting down & fighting amongst themselves before we've even gotten the chance to put 5 past them

For me it just adds a little extra flavor to the glorified friendly tournament known as the Nations League

Is it just me or has RealGM gone way too far with all the ads on this site?
This page is hella unusable without adblocker...

this has been an issue for me for years honestly

[Foye]

Is it just me or has RealGM gone way too far with all the ads on this site?
This page is hella unusable without adblocker...

this has been an issue for me for years honestly

Yeah, it was bad for years but now there is an ad after like every third post and whenever you want to post something.
This is annoying to the point that I don't even want to post on here anymore.

[wco81]

What is the approach to the Nations League, are European national teams taking it seriously?

Following the Euro and with WC coming up, instead of friendlies you have this other competition now?

[magik9113]

What is the approach to the Nations League, are European national teams taking it seriously?

Following the Euro and with WC coming up, instead of friendlies you have this other competition now?

While being more competitive than the friendlies of old, but still they are just glorified friendlies. No one is gutted if they don't win the Nation's League or even if they get relegated. England got relegated and went on to make the Euro final.

The nice thing is that it avoids complete waste of time matches, like when I'd have to sit through an Italy-Malta or Italy-San Marino friendly game for no good reason.

[wco81]

What is the approach to the Nations League, are European national teams taking it seriously?

Following the Euro and with WC coming up, instead of friendlies you have this other competition now?

While being more competitive than the friendlies of old, but still they are just glorified friendlies. No one is gutted if they don't win the Nation's League or even if they get relegated. England got relegated and went on to make the Euro final.

The nice thing is that it avoids complete waste of time matches, like when I'd have to sit through an Italy-Malta or Italy-San Marino friendly game for no good reason.

Do teams play their best lineups?

I guess some might since Odegaard got injured.

Some top players may want to rest if the competition doesn't carry the prestige.

But if they sell a lot of tickets and get good enough ratings, maybe it gains in prestige.

Clubs have to let their top players play in international matches but maybe they put their foot down if key players keep getting injured.

[magik9113]

What is the approach to the Nations League, are European national teams taking it seriously?

Following the Euro and with WC coming up, instead of friendlies you have this other competition now?

While being more competitive than the friendlies of old, but still they are just glorified friendlies. No one is gutted if they don't win the Nation's League or even if they get relegated. England got relegated and went on to make the Euro final.

The nice thing is that it avoids complete waste of time matches, like when I'd have to sit through an Italy-Malta or Italy-San Marino friendly game for no good reason.

Do teams play their best lineups?

I guess some might since Odegaard got injured.

Some top players may want to rest if the competition doesn't carry the prestige.

But if they sell a lot of tickets and get good enough ratings, maybe it gains in prestige.

Clubs have to let their top players play in international matches but maybe they put their foot down if key players keep getting injured.

yes this past break it looked like most teams played their top players

[El Turco]

I dont know if it is because of Nations league but there are too many international breaks, I think there is one each in September, October and November. We definitely didnt need one in September when leagues just began, it creates too much congestion in schedule.

[wco81]

I dont know if it is because of Nations league but there are too many international breaks, I think there is one each in September, October and November. We definitely didnt need one in September when leagues just began, it creates too much congestion in schedule.

Maybe the incomes these international matches provide is just too lucrative for them to turn down.

Back in the day, when there were far fewer international matches, each match took on much more significance.

Also the salaries earned by players in these international games are probably significant nowadays that players probably make sure when they sign their club contracts that they're going to be permitted to play a certain number of international games by their clubs, which provide most of their incomes.

[El Turco]

Sure but there is diminishing returns at some point when you give so many breaks as teams are ramping up. Then players have to play 60-70 games a year in tight schedule, which is not sustainable at high quality.

Outside of maybe Barcelona and City, no team in Europe started strong and I think congested schedule has something to do with it.

[magik9113]

We definitely didnt need one in September when leagues just began, it creates too much congestion in schedule.

totally agree. the September break sucks