Nations League Semi-Final - Italy 1-2 Spain - Wednesday 6th October, 2021

[Stan]

 

        VS      

Kick-off 19.45 (BST)

Venue - San Siro, Milan

 

[The Käiser]

Game over and no comments....nations league semifinal not garnering much fanfare. 
 

is that a statement of what fans feel about that particular competition?

[Dr. Gonzo]

31 minutes ago, The Käiser said:

Game over and no comments....nations league semifinal not garnering much fanfare. 
 

is that a statement of what fans feel about that particular competition?

I hope so, it's a shit competition.

But I'm happy to see that Italy's lost and the Bonucci was sent off 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, The Käiser said:

Game over and no comments....nations league semifinal not garnering much fanfare. 
 

is that a statement of what fans feel about that particular competition?

I like it. I think one day it could be really big but not quite yet. 

[RandoEFC+]

I like it as well, better than pointless friendlies at least even if it isn't by much. I think the lack of comments here is just down to the countries involved. If it was England or Germany there would be discussion. They can probably do more with the format, I'd rather they had this than have those international breaks where England play friendlies against Hungary and Brazil or something for no reason.

[Dr. Gonzo]

10 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I like it as well, better than pointless friendlies at least even if it isn't by much. I think the lack of comments here is just down to the countries involved. If it was England or Germany there would be discussion. They can probably do more with the format, I'd rather they had this than have those international breaks where England play friendlies against Hungary and Brazil or something for no reason.

I liked when England (or other sides) would get to play against Brazil or Mexico or whatever... you know, sides that aren't just in Europe. Sure, it's not a meaningful match with something on the line... but I think there's value in getting your squad together and seeing how they do against a squad from a different part of the world. Also increases exposure to different tactics/playstyles that we probably won't see England encounter until a World Cup.

I mean, realistically, I didn't really like them - but I'm probably not going to like most international football that comes in the middle of club football (dreading the next world cup tbh) - but I liked it better than this international league cup bollocks.

 

[RandoEFC+]

9 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I liked when England (or other sides) would get to play against Brazil or Mexico or whatever... you know, sides that aren't just in Europe. Sure, it's not a meaningful match with something on the line... but I think there's value in getting your squad together and seeing how they do against a squad from a different part of the world. Also increases exposure to different tactics/playstyles that we probably won't see England encounter until a World Cup.

I mean, realistically, I didn't really like them - but I'm probably not going to like most international football that comes in the middle of club football (dreading the next world cup tbh) - but I liked it better than this international league cup bollocks.

 

I always felt like the friendlies against teams like Brazil stopped being genuinely interesting and competitive matches a few years ago though. Whenever you get international friendlies now you get clubs playing around to see how many fake injuries they can use to keep their players from international duty without overstepping how much they can get away with upsetting the players or the national setups (actually this has gotten bad enough when the international breaks are for competitive fixtures), and the likes of Brazil visiting Wembley can be exciting but when it's half a B team for both sides and it's more about the showpiece event than the football or the tactics it sort of loses its seriousness and appeal in my opinion.

There's room for both the Nations League and international friendlies. Maybe replacing most of the friendlies with an actual sort of competition but still having a few friendlies will ensure that the friendlies that still happen are worth watching. I get your point with Mexico and Brazil but there have also been a lot of tedious and boring friendlies in the past against fairly average European sides that England meet regularly at tournaments or in qualifiers already. I just think the Nations League deserves more of a chance. It was quite fun when England got to the semi-finals a few years ago. Maybe they can even sack off the European aspect and make a FIFA Nations League where doing well in it gets you a spot at the World Cup and you get to see competitive football between say Argentina and France more than once every four years.

[Beelzebub]

12 hours ago, The Käiser said:

Game over and no comments....nations league semifinal not garnering much fanfare. 
 

is that a statement of what fans feel about that particular competition?

The competition has no essence. It just feds to the qualification process.