England vs San Marino

[Crabbycanary3 994]

My mate and I had a little bet on how many times Pope would touch the ball. I said 4.

I watched the first half an hour but couldn't be arsed and switched over

[NFN FC 1,118]

10 minutes ago, Crabbycanary3 said:

My mate and I had a little bet on how many times Pope would touch the ball. I said 4.

I watched the first half an hour but couldn't be arsed and switched over

I think you're getting your microstates mixed up CC. The pope plays for Vatican City not San Marino 

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Back in the good old days we gave them a goal as a head start 😉👍

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

This WC is going to be a farce anyway. Played in December. Will we be having a mid season break?

[Greavsy 2,412]

8 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

This WC is going to be a farce anyway. Played in December. Will we be having a mid season break?

Poor old footballers getting to many games, will go from this season to euro champs, then next season and world cup, however that fits in! 

God they'll be complaining..... 

[Van wink 2,994]

Well at least there were no flags

[cambridgeshire canary 6,668]

England with 85 percent possestion, don't think even we can top that

[daly 499]

What a waste of time playing a team with a population slightly less than Great Yarmouth 

[horsefly 4,273]

51 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

England with 85 percent possestion, don't think even we can top that

Well, not now that we don't play Ipswich any more

[NFN FC 1,118]

29 minutes ago, horsefly said:

Well, not now that we don't play Ipswich any more

Bit harsh on San Marino

[TheGunnShow 5,905]

Just showed why this generation won't win a trophy. Germany, France, and serious teams would have ran in eight or nine there. England were simply not clinical enough when presented with very decent chances.

San Marino's keeper did make some very good saves. That tip onto the post from the Ward-Prowse free-kick was an excellent stop.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,734]

26 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Just showed why this generation won't win a trophy. Germany, France, and serious teams would have ran in eight or nine there. England were simply not clinical enough when presented with very decent chances.

San Marino's keeper did make some very good saves. That tip onto the post from the Ward-Prowse free-kick was an excellent stop.

 

To be fair our best striker wasnt on the pitch....Kane would have had 5 alone

[ron obvious 1,495]

10 hours ago, daly said:

What a waste of time playing a team with a population slightly less than Great Yarmouth 

How on earth does this happen? What's the rationale behind having a 'country' 5 miles square involved in the World Cup? Insane. And pointless.

[TheGunnShow 5,905]

39 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

How on earth does this happen? What's the rationale behind having a 'country' 5 miles square involved in the World Cup? Insane. And pointless.

What's the point of England in the World Cup then? They're only going to bottle it because they're not good enough.

[kirku 1,332]

6 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

What's the point of England in the World Cup then? They're only going to bottle it because they're not good enough.

There's a fair old leap of logic between country of about 30k competing in the qualifiers and a major footballing nation competing at the World Cup, isn't there?

[TheGunnShow 5,905]

45 minutes ago, kirku said:

There's a fair old leap of logic between country of about 30k competing in the qualifiers and a major footballing nation competing at the World Cup, isn't there?

Same principle applies. Size of country is not relevant here. Quality of football is. San Marino are unlikely to qualify for the World Cup, but they have to be beaten. England are unlikely to win the World Cup but if they qualify then they have to be beaten.

Entirely consistent.

[kirku 1,332]

35 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Same principle applies. Size of country is not relevant here. Quality of football is. San Marino are unlikely to qualify for the World Cup, but they have to be beaten. England are unlikely to win the World Cup but if they qualify then they have to be beaten.

Entirely consistent.

You must realise how absurd this sounds?

I am unlikely to start against Preston and bag a perfect hat-trick. Lukas Rupp is unlikely to play given his recent injury.

Entirely consistent.

Edited March 26, 2021 by kirku

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

4 minutes ago, kirku said:

You must realise how absurd this sounds?

 

Have to agree with Gunno,  all members of Fifa are entitled to enter, just as with the FA Cup and members of the FA. just that the competition is played out in a different way. In normal times its great for smaller countries to host the bigger ones and vist them too. If we cant see off the likes of San Marino, Luxembourg or Andorra, we have no business in the finals .

[kirku 1,332]

Just now, wcorkcanary said:

Have to agree with Gunno,  all members of Fifa are entitled to enter, just as with the FA Cup and members of the FA. just that the competition is played out in a different way. In normal times its great for smaller countries to host the bigger ones and vist them too. If we cant see off the likes of San Marino, Luxembourg or Andorra, we have no business in the finals .

Not really the point I was making.

To equate England competing for a trophy they've won and a nation who've won one game in their history qualifying is nonsense.

On the overall point, I don't think microstates should be in the qualifiers. At the very least, there should be a form of pre-qualification in a similar vein to the FA Cup. It's a complete waste of time.

[dylanisabaddog 4,842]

1 minute ago, kirku said:

Not really the point I was making.

To equate England competing for a trophy they've won and a nation who've won one game in their history qualifying is nonsense.

On the overall point, I don't think microstates should be in the qualifiers. At the very least, there should be a form of pre-qualification in a similar vein to the FA Cup. It's a complete waste of time.

Iceland (population 350,000) 

[TheGunnShow 5,905]

19 minutes ago, kirku said:

You must realise how absurd this sounds?

I am unlikely to start against Preston and bag a perfect hat-trick. Lukas Rupp is unlikely to play given his recent injury.

Entirely consistent.

Nope, they're not. One's due to perceived ability, the other's due to recent injury. Superficially similar, but actually chalk and cheese.

It's the same as the "what's the point of Burnley FC" thread but at international level.

Furthermore, Iceland ripped England a new arsehole in the Euros when Hodgson resigned. Latvia, Northern Ireland, Wales, Iceland, and Albania have qualified for the Euros over the last 20-25 years. Faroe Islands have given Scotland plenty of trouble and did the double over Greece less than a decade ago - and indeed after Greece won Euro 2004!

Edited March 26, 2021 by TheGunnShow

[kirku 1,332]

8 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Iceland (population 350,000) 

Are Iceland a microstate? No

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

13 minutes ago, kirku said:

Not really the point I was making.

To equate England competing for a trophy they've won and a nation who've won one game in their history qualifying is nonsense.

On the overall point, I don't think microstates should be in the qualifiers. At the very least, there should be a form of pre-qualification in a similar vein to the FA Cup. It's a complete waste of time.

I am not equating them, except for the fact they are both football treams entitled to enter a competition. 

Once you start excluding teams on 'merit', we then have a bigger question.....who decides and at what level...... maybe some fella called Kirku from the Pinkun should decide who should and shouldnt . It certainly sounds like he's got it all figured out.

PS England won it in their own back yard, possibly by a one goal margin.....England aint that great mate. 

Edited March 26, 2021 by wcorkcanary

[TheGunnShow 5,905]

I do like the Nations League for this though - gives smaller countries some more even games where they actually have a bit of a chance and can be competitive. Gotta admit, I was rooting for the Faroes to win their group and they did - they've always struck me as being pretty hardy as far as football teams from microstates go.

Incidentally, San Marino is an independent country and the Faroes aren't, they're a semi-autonomous part of Denmark.

[kirku 1,332]

8 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Nope, they're not. One's due to perceived ability, the other's due to recent injury. Superficially similar, but actually chalk and cheese.

It's the same as the "what's the point of Burnley FC" thread but at international level.

Furthermore, Iceland ripped England a new arsehole in the Euros when Hodgson resigned. Latvia, Northern Ireland, Wales, Iceland, and Albania have qualified for the Euros over the last 20-25 years. Faroe Islands have given Scotland plenty of trouble and did the double over Greece less than a decade ago - and indeed after Greece won Euro 2004!

San Marino is a microstate with a population of 30k, have never won a competitive match in their entire history, and currently have one professional player.

None of those facts are remotely comparable to "what's the point of Burnley FC", Latvia, Northern Ireland, Wales, Iceland, and Albania.

The logic on display and the strawman above are utterly laughable.

[kirku 1,332]

7 minutes ago, wcorkcanary said:

I am not equating them, except for the fact they are both football treams entitled to enter a competition. 

Once you start excluding teams on 'merit', we then have a bigger question.....who decides and at what level...... maybe some fella called Kirku from the Pinkun should decide who should and shouldnt . It certainly sounds like he's got it all figured out.

PS England won it in their own back yard, possibly by a one goal margin.....England aint that great mate. 

In the post you quoted I suggested a perfectly reasonable route for microstates to qualify.

If you choose to ignore that and spout nonsense about "some fella called Kirku from the Pinkun should decide" then that's your prerogative (but it doesn't exactly come across as particularly genuine).

As for "England aint that great mate". They really are that great - in comparison to San Marino.

[TheGunnShow 5,905]

1 minute ago, kirku said:

San Marino is a microstate with a population of 30k, have never won a competitive match in their entire history, and currently have one professional player.

None of those facts are remotely comparable to "what's the point of Burnley FC", Latvia, Northern Ireland, Wales, Iceland, and Albania.

The logic on display and the strawman above are utterly laughable.

No, the fundamental principle behind them is exactly the same. Just the extent is different. Your inability to understand this is laughable.

Furthermore, pre-qualifying potentially adds far more fixtures to the players of those microstates if they qualify for the qualifiers themselves. If fixture congestion is so much of a concern for larger countries, then they can put a reserve team out that should still be far more than good enough to win handsomely.

Frankly, the whole conversation of getting the smallest countries to pre-qualify for qualifiers smacks of misplaced arrogance. England may well be great compared to San Marino, but they're poor compared to Germany, Italy, or Brazil.

[kirku 1,332]

11 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

No, the fundamental principle behind them is exactly the same. Just the extent is different. Your inability to understand this is laughable.

Furthermore, pre-qualifying potentially adds far more fixtures to the players of those microstates if they qualify for the qualifiers themselves. If fixture congestion is so much of a concern for larger countries, then they can put a reserve team out that should still be far more than good enough to win handsomely.

Frankly, the whole conversation of getting the smallest countries to pre-qualify for qualifiers smacks of misplaced arrogance. England may well be great compared to San Marino, but they're poor compared to Germany, Italy, or Brazil.

You've dug yourself into a hole too big to climb out. Pointless going any further. Entirely consistent 🤣

[TheGunnShow 5,905]

3 minutes ago, kirku said:

You've dug yourself into a hole too big to climb out. Pointless going any further. Entirely consistent 🤣

I think you're projecting on that one.

[kirku 1,332]

2 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

I think you're projecting on that one.