England v Andorra

[cambridgeshire canary 7,800]

So, today live on ITV one we England, the 4th strongest team in the world according to Fifa rankings take on Andorra the 156th ranked team in the world with kickoff at 5PM. So, what could go wrong? Don't tell Roy and Iceland. Thankfuly the Fifa rankings don't tend to really mean anything at the end of the day,

According to various probably nonsense rumours England will go in heavily rotated, with Lingard and Bamford set to start with Kane getting a rest on the bench. What are your predictions for the match?

[Don’t be Krul 452]

I predict it'll start at 5pm

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

Fortunately I start work at 13.30hrs. 

[lake district canary 4,831]

Just another example of why the present international set up is so daft. 

[TIL 1010 5,246]

57 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Just another example of why the present international set up is so daft. 

Why is it daft ?

[FCC 94]

BAFTA Bamford - is that the best we can muster. Come back Carlton Palmer. 

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

Put the whole second team out to give them a game and match time. If they're not good enough to beat Andorra comfortably, they'll not be good enough for serious opposition.

That said, Andorra are a slight step up on San Marino whilst also being a bit more cynical, so they might put up some stiff resistance for a while. At the same time, it took the Danes 84 minutes to finally crack the Faroese resistance and Scotland only beat Moldova 1-0. And Liechtenstein kept Germany down to 2.

[Greavsy 2,645]

1 hour ago, lake district canary said:

Just another example of why the present international set up is so daft. 

Not trying to put words into your mouth Lakey, But are you implying that England, and higher rated teams should only be playing similarly rated teams? 

isnt that akin to what the 'bigger' EPL / European teams tried to do at a domestic level that got booted out? 

Edited September 5, 2021 by Greavsy

[Canary73 327]

13 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Put the whole second team out to give them a game and match time. If they're not good enough to beat Andorra comfortably, they'll not be good enough for serious opposition.

That said, Andorra are a slight step up on San Marino whilst also being a bit more cynical, so they might put up some stiff resistance for a while. At the same time, it took the Danes 84 minutes to finally crack the Faroese resistance and Scotland only beat Moldova 1-0. And Liechtenstein kept Germany down to 2.

The Danes made a load of changes for that game. Beat Israel mid week and they are pretty much there which they should expect to be from that group.

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

10 minutes ago, Canary73 said:

The Danes made a load of changes for that game. Beat Israel mid week and they are pretty much there which they should expect to be from that group.

There's also the element that for the Faroes, Denmark at home is a right old derby match as don't forget, the Faroe Islands are a semi-autonomous part of Denmark. If there's one game those lads will be fired up for, and indeed what the crowd would be fired up for, it's that one.

[lake district canary 4,831]

52 minutes ago, TIL 1010 said:

Why is it daft ?

Because domestic seasons are being disrupted at inconvenient times so England can play Andorra and other similar type fixtures, 156th ranked in the world.  There should be world cup qualifiers for anyone over 128 before they join the top ranked countries in the main qualifiers. I would probably go further and make it the top 64 and everyone else has to pre-qualify.

37 minutes ago, Greavsy said:

Not trying to put words into your mouth Lakey, But are you implying that England, and higher rated teams should only be playing similarly rated teams? 

isnt that akin to what the 'bigger' EPL / European teams tried to do at a domestic level that got booted out? 

No, because that was going to be a closed shop. I'm not suggesting that, just that smaller very low ranked countries should have a pre-qualifying tournament between themselves before joining the rest in the main qualifiers.  It happens in all sorts of sports.

It's a huge issue imo - or at least it ought to be.  The Premier League is already a farce of a league imo, but it is further spoiled by transfer windows and international breaks.  People will say, "it is what it is and we have to deal with it" but that doesn't make it right. 

[Greavsy 2,645]

Cheers for clarifying Lakey. as I say wasnt trying to put words in your mouth. Agreed it was a closed shop and therein lies a difference. 

However, with your plan, wouldn't there be more international breaks for the lower ranked teams, as they would have more matches? And if its a complete international break, ie at all levels, then all teams get disrupted equally. If there was a break just for lower ranked teams that would be more disruptive as not all teams would have players called up  What they do now isnt ideal, but it is consistent.   

[KeiranShikari 1,524]

On the bright side Farke's Norwich teams usually do well after breaks.

[cambridgeshire canary 7,800]

   

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

1 hour ago, lake district canary said:

Because domestic seasons are being disrupted at inconvenient times so England can play Andorra and other similar type fixtures, 156th ranked in the world.  There should be world cup qualifiers for anyone over 128 before they join the top ranked countries in the main qualifiers. I would probably go further and make it the top 64 and everyone else has to pre-qualify.

No, because that was going to be a closed shop. I'm not suggesting that, just that smaller very low ranked countries should have a pre-qualifying tournament between themselves before joining the rest in the main qualifiers.  It happens in all sorts of sports.

It's a huge issue imo - or at least it ought to be.  The Premier League is already a farce of a league imo, but it is further spoiled by transfer windows and international breaks.  People will say, "it is what it is and we have to deal with it" but that doesn't make it right. 

No, don't agree with pre-qualifiers at all. If they're really such weak teams, then a team like England should be able to put a second team out and still win with comfort. On top of that, there are very few such minnows in UEFA that would merit such a tournament. Furthermore, if these minnows are largely part-timers then making them pre-qualify makes it even harder for them to get their teams together.

On a different note, I wonder what international sport does for the tourism industry of these minnows when it comes to raising awareness? So, not just the idea of bigger countries coming to Malta, Gibraltar etc., but whether people still consider going there outside of sport? Suspect most people have only heard of the Faroe Islands due to football, if indeed not San Marino.

[KeiranShikari 1,524]

11 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Suspect most people have only heard of the Faroe Islands due to football, if indeed not San Marino.

Really?

[Ken Hairy 4,272]

Are people really bringing this pre qualifying nonsense up again?? 🙄

[Alex Moss 2,167]

Must admit I’m more looking forward to Kosovo v Greece, and seeing if our 3 lads feature tonight! And if so, fingers crossed they all come through in fine fettle! 

[Capt. Pants 5,014]

7 minutes ago, Alex Moss said:

Must admit I’m more looking forward to Kosovo v Greece, and seeing if our 3 lads feature tonight! And if so, fingers crossed they all come through in fine fettle! 

I think you'll see Rashica but Gianoullis will be on the bench along with Tzolis, although the latter is still classed as injured and might not even make the bench.

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

1 hour ago, lake district canary said:

Because domestic seasons are being disrupted at inconvenient times so England can play Andorra and other similar type fixtures, 156th ranked in the world.  There should be world cup qualifiers for anyone over 128 before they join the top ranked countries in the main qualifiers. I would probably go further and make it the top 64 and everyone else has to pre-qualify.

No, because that was going to be a closed shop. I'm not suggesting that, just that smaller very low ranked countries should have a pre-qualifying tournament between themselves before joining the rest in the main qualifiers.  It happens in all sorts of sports.

It's a huge issue imo - or at least it ought to be.  The Premier League is already a farce of a league imo, but it is further spoiled by transfer windows and international breaks.  People will say, "it is what it is and we have to deal with it" but that doesn't make it right. 

The problem with your suggestion, Lakey, is that there would be more international breaks for smaller countries to pre-qualify or you have no breaks for those matches.  And if it is the latter then any club that has a player from, say Luxembourg or Cuba, will lose those players for domestic games.  Now If you make the bar around level 64 that could really punish a club like Norwich as we are highly likely to be recruiting from those markets. 

[Surfer 1,547]

Where is the effective bar for work permits? For example we aren't likely to be signing a full Andorran international are we?

[Capt. Pants 5,014]

Well that's a flung together England team with 3 right backs!

5 man defence against Andorra?

[cambridgeshire canary 7,800]

2 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

Well that's a flung together England team with 3 right backs!

5 man defence against Andorra?

Trent alex arnold is playing in midfield. And no, I don't know why either

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

41 minutes ago, KeiranShikari said:

Really?

What other reason would people usually know about the Faroes or San Marino here in the UK if not for sport?

[Norfolk Dan 336]

San Marino : Good for taxes. 

Faroes : Whaling & and crazy underground motorway connecting islands. 

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

24 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

Well that's a flung together England team with 3 right backs!

5 man defence against Andorra?

So we give TAA a game but there is no position for him. OK, lets put him in midfield. Even though Southgate doesn't rate him.

Apart from Bamford, Southgate obviously doesn't think anyone has impressed much in the first three EPL games.

 

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

1 hour ago, Ken Hairy said:

Are people really bringing this pre qualifying nonsense up again?? 🙄

Well there is an elite system in the Euro Nations League.

[Ken Hairy 4,272]

Not many of the reserves staking a claim here. 

[Foxy2600 377]

Paper aeroplanes not paper coffee cups….racist bastArds

[Ken Hairy 4,272]

2 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

Well there is an elite system in the Euro Nations League.

That's because its league competition, the Euros and World Cup never have been regarding European qualifying and never ever should be.