Summer Mercato 2011

[xudong]

I think Brazil is the most talented national team in the world, their problem is coach's selection and lacking a true No. 9.
Spain is by far the best team as they have players in all areas of the field and most of them are WC. ON top of that, they all pretty much play on the same team.
Germany is probably the best coached team in the history of football. As they never seems to have WC players but yet always finish at the top or near the top of any Int'l tournament.
Holland is just a machine at the moment, and as much as I hate to admit, they are becoming more and more like Germany. In ways that, they don't have talented players but yet can finish high in tournament.

England is way way over rated by their media and their local players transfer fee. I mean Pool just paid like 20mil for that Jordan Herderson guy. Come on, I seen him played and he is nothing special. Merkel is a much better player than him at this point and shown more potential. Maybe Milan can sell Merkel for 40mil then....

Argentina is interesting as they got Messi along with probably the best attacking line in football(Kun, Tevez, Milito, Zarate, Levessai, Di Maria, Higuin,Pastore), yet they lack a true passing midfielder and a solid defensive line. But then with a DM pair of Cambassio and Meacharno, you really don't need that great a defense.

Italy, I would not say they are better than Holland and Argentina, but definitely better than England. They lack a focal point of the team and lack true WC players. They are a squad fill with good players but just lacking something to become WC.

to everything that you said in this post. Particularly interesting (and a bit saddening too) is that Holland these days are becoming more pragmatic/realistic/Mourinho-istic than idealistic/romantic. That's also why Cruyff himself supported Spain over Holland in the WC 2010 final. Cruyff believed that Holland had betrayed their tradition, and ironically, Spain were more like Holland in the past.

I personally think (and hope) it is just their current coach and shouldn't represent the future of Holland. but of course, if they keep grinding out good results, they may get used to it and in my opinion that would be sad. I guess that's what you meant by they are becoming more like Germany.

Interesting enough, German style never bothers or annoys me (unlike in the case of Holland, I think it might have to do with expectations), though I have never truly supported them in any big tournament. The only game that they had my sympathy was the EURO1996 final when they ran out of players to injury and suspension, and even the 2 backup goalkeepers were sitting on the bench dressed in field-player jerseys. Then they were one goal down after the first half due to an incorrect penalty call; and you know the rest of the story: Bierhoff scored twice and the second one was the "golden goal" and which in itself involved offside contraversy too. I actually felt happy for them (first time ever and last time so far ) German tradition is that their players are tactically and mentally superior, and is very efficient and as you said, like a machine.

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South Africa is a neutral place. I don't think Van Bommel and De Jong can escape from the stern look of Europe referees, that can be even worse in South America. They will get reds.

I agree with you about game changers. However, there are small & big game changers. Big game changers are the true champions. I can't call Del Piero a champion when he missed at least 2 one-on-one chances against Bathez in Euro2000 final, and he even refused to take the first penalty in WC2006 final. Robben is another example for missing chances in WC2010 final. With talent and good form, a top player can win a league, but a tournement with knock out rounds can only be won by players with great winning mentality.

So I think Holland have only Sneijder, Argentina have only Messi, others are not proven big game changers. That will result them to be overrelied by teammates and tightly marked.

How many players can be called "big game changers" today, in your opinion?