Essential The Official Football (Soccer) Thread - 'We will not be there.' - Pep Fraudiola

[null]

1 of those is not like the others but 100%, to act like AFCON is not a major tourney on the same level as Euros or Copa is laughable and despicable and Carra dead wrong for that and rightly got checked

doesn't surprise me with carragher. deep down i think he is a bit of a ....

the stuff he said about kate's loyalty and especially the spitting incident are indicative of this.

he might be one for funny banter but he inner person comes out every now and again.

 

[Diddly Drogba]

Would love to see all these "power houses" lose "their" talentpools once the youth dem see how colonialism has them in these euro countries. France losing all their talent and going back to picking only Cacs and becoming shyt.... the meltdown they would have would be glorious...

Never gonna happen.

 

[phcitywarrior]

vibes

Micah and Daniel checked him but didn’t go far enough IMO.

Simple question: Jamie, what is the definition of a major tournament? Not big, but major.

Major =/= Big.

Example: The FA Cup, CdR, Dfb Pokal etc are all major trophies but depending on the club that wins them, they may not be seen as “big” trophies. Real Madrid sees the La Liga title and UCL as “big” trophies but it does not mean the CdR, Spain’s Premier KO cup competition is not a major trophy.

Same for AFCON. It is CAF’s premier tournament, by definition it is a major tournament along with the WC, Euros, Copa etc. Now, is it as prestigious as the aforementioned? Depends on who you ask.

Africans can’t play in the Euros and Europeans can’t play in the AFCON. So after the WC, it is the continental title that will hold prestige for the respective confederations.

I followed this same topic on reddit/soccer and like usual, those fools were just mouthing rubbish.

“AFCON is played too frequently so it devalues it” - It’s played every two years because up until 2026 WC, Africa was under represented in the WC allocations. CAF needed more regular tournaments to develop African football. There were times only 2-3 African nations were represented at the WC. Judging from the long list of African players that have been play top level football, that’s a travesty.

“No one cares for the AFCON” - Go ask the Egyptian streets who is a bigger legend for the Pharaohs, Aboutrika or Salah. Similarly, Ivorians will rate Yaya Toure over Drogba because the latter never delivered the AFCON for them.

“AFCON doesn’t matter for B’Dor” - The year Mane got 2nd in B’Dor, it was winning the AFCON that titled his favor against Salah.

Sky Sports has actually edited out Jamie’s AFCON snafu from their YT upload. That should tell you all you need to know.

 

[phcitywarrior]

Never gonna happen.

Never say never.

Won’t happen soon but if Euro nations become too stacked, you might start seeing some 2nd tier players make that flip eg Brahim from Spain to Morocco.

This next WC will be very big for CAF now that we have 9 allocations. Need to see more regular QFs, SFs and eventual winner before that switch occurs en masse.

CAF also needs to keep developing as an org. Cut the corruption and invest more in the infrastructure.

 

[hood b. goode]

Micah and Daniel checked him but didn’t go far enough IMO.

Simple question: Jamie, what is the definition of a major tournament? Not big, but major.

Major =/= Big.

Example: The FA Cup, CdR, Dfb Pokal etc are all major trophies but depending on the club that wins them, they may not be seen as “big” trophies. Real Madrid sees the La Liga title and UCL as “big” trophies but it does not mean the CdR, Spain’s Premier KO cup competition is not a major trophy.

Same for AFCON. It is CAF’s premier tournament, by definition it is a major tournament along with the WC, Euros, Copa etc. Now, is it as prestigious as the aforementioned? Depends on who you ask.

Africans can’t play in the Euros and Europeans can’t play in the AFCON. So after the WC, it is the continental title that will hold prestige for the respective confederations.

I followed this same topic on reddit/soccer and like usual, those fools were just mouthing rubbish.

“AFCON is played too frequently so it devalues it” - It’s played every two years because up until 2026 WC, Africa was under represented in the WC allocations. CAF needed more regular tournaments to develop African football. There were times only 2-3 African nations were represented at the WC. Judging from the long list of African players that have been play top level football, that’s a travesty.

“No one cares for the AFCON” - Go ask the Egyptian streets who is a bigger legend for the Pharaohs, Aboutrika or Salah. Similarly, Ivorians will rate Yaya Toure over Drogba because the latter never delivered the AFCON for them.

“AFCON doesn’t matter for B’Dor” - The year Mane got 2nd in B’Dor, it was winning the AFCON that titled his favor against Salah.

Sky Sports has actually edited out Jamie’s AFCON snafu from their YT upload. That should tell you all you need to know.

i didnt know the bolded

Ive long thought that AFCON should be played in the summer to match other international tournaments (temp concerns I know, but late night games if possible) cause it hurts African players in europe (having to leave midseason)

Im hopeful football will get on the same page with international tournaments one day

and for carra:
When you put the evidence together...

 

[phcitywarrior]

i didnt know the bolded

Yep, look at the CAF WC qualification from the 70s until 98. Africa only had 1-3 automatic spots into the WC. Europe had 10+ spots.

That’s why many have said CAF qualification for the WC is the most demanding. Many big nations get knocked out even before they get to the WC.

CAF didn’t get 5 spots until the 98 WC.

European and South American nations have claimed the majority of the WC berths, something that the 48 team WC will remedy.

Ive long thought that AFCON should be played in the summer to match other international tournaments (temp concerns I know, but late night games if possible) cause it hurts African players in europe (having to leave midseason)

Im hopeful football will get on the same page with international tournaments one day

Summer would be best but the issue is, outside of North Africa and Southern Africa, it would be difficult to host the tournament in much of Sub Saharan Africa because of the torrential rains that would mess up the pitches and the tournament.

But with AFCON being hosted every 2 years. CAF gets more chances to improve the structure of the tournament.

 

[LuuqMaan]

This is his level.

Filthy

Then to have the father not do anything is even weaker

WTF!!