Confederations Cup Thread

[RG30]

Host nation is South Africa with the World Cup less than a year away, stadiums are ahead of schedule, the SA govt are not concerned by secruity but FIFA are concerned by the shortage in hotels. Anyway Spain are favourites at 6/4 with easily their best squad available.

Group A

Spain
South Africa
Iraq
New Zealand

Group B

Italy
Brazil
Egypt
USA

Dates: 14th June - 28th June (Live via BBC website/BBC3/Red Button)

[Thames]

I'm supporting New Zealand

[Thaumagurist*]

Pointless tournament.

[TBM]

Pointless tournament.

Why?.....its better than watching pointless friendlies

[Thaumagurist*]

When you have people like Blatter who moan about players playing too many games and wanting to reduce the top division to 16 teams, this tournament seems a bit of a pointless cash-generating gimick.

[TBM]

When you have people like Blatter who moan about players playing too many games and wanting to reduce the top division to 16 teams, this tournament seems a bit of a pointless cash-generating gimick.

Spacey, it happens ONCE every FOUR YEARS......hardly gonna burn the players out, is it!?

[rabidbee]

Except that it means these players are potentially playing summer tournaments at least three of every four years, on top of the league season.

[Thaumagurist*]

Except that it means these players are potentially playing summer tournaments at least three of every four years, on top of the league season.

Yep. Would have thought it would be best to have every other summer off. Did it all start off with the summer prior to France '98? IIRC, that was a mini-tournament with just 4 teams, i.e. England, France, Brazil and one other (can't remember who at the mo) and this was just a maximum of four games for the players. This would have been a good enough format to test out the facilities prior to the WC the following summer. Why did they feel the need to expand it?

[TBM]

Except that it means these players are potentially playing summer tournaments at least three of every four years, on top of the league season.

Yep. Would have thought it would be best to have every other summer off. Did it all start off with the summer prior to France '98? IIRC, that was a mini-tournament with just 4 teams, i.e. England, France, Brazil and one other (can't remember who at the mo) and this was just a maximum of four games for the players. This would have been a good enough format to test out the facilities prior to the WC the following summer. Why did they feel the need to expand it?

Cos its the winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships

And anyway teams dont have to enter if they dont want to and im sure those that really need a summer off will just put out a B side anyway of players who want to play.

Stop moaning and enjoy football for once in your life

[Thaumagurist*]

What if those in the B team do really well that they may get a chance of playing in next year's WC? I'm sure most players would prefer to play in the WC rather than this tournament.

[TBM]

What if those in the B team do really well that they may get a chance of playing in next year's WC?

So whats the problem???

[Thaumagurist*]

What if those in the B team do really well that they may get a chance of playing in next year's WC?

So whats the problem???

They'll probably have no summer break for well over 2 years....leading them to be knackered and Blatter demanding that the top leagues be reduced!

[TBM]

What if those in the B team do really well that they may get a chance of playing in next year's WC?

So whats the problem???

They'll probably have no summer break for well over 2 years....leading them to be knackered and Blatter demanding that the top leagues be reduced!

You're making no sense Spacey!

[papereyes]

When you have people like Blatter who moan about players playing too many games and wanting to reduce the top division to 16 teams, this tournament seems a bit of a pointless cash-generating gimick.

Spacey, it happens ONCE every FOUR YEARS......hardly gonna burn the players out, is it!?

It exists to test whether the host nation can actually hold the bastard thing.

[TBM]

When you have people like Blatter who moan about players playing too many games and wanting to reduce the top division to 16 teams, this tournament seems a bit of a pointless cash-generating gimick.

Spacey, it happens ONCE every FOUR YEARS......hardly gonna burn the players out, is it!?

It exists to test whether the host nation can actually hold the bastard thing.

Exactly - its a trial run

[RG30]

Brazil Squad

1 JULIO CESAR
2 MAICON
3 LUCIO
4 JUAN
5 FELIPE MELO
6 KLEBER
7 ELANO
8 GILBERTO SILVA
9 LUIS FABIANO
10 KAKA
11 ROBINHO
12 VICTOR
13 DANIEL ALVES
14 LUISAO
15 MIRANDA
16 ANDRE SANTOS
17 JOSUE
18 RAMIRES
19 JULIO BAPTISTA
20 KLEBERSON
21 ALEXANDRE PATO
22 NILMAR
23 GOMES

Italy Squad

1 Gianluigi BUFFON
2 Davide SANTON
3 Fabio GROSSO
4 Giorgio CHIELLINI
5 Fabio CANNAVARO
6 Nicola LEGROTTAGLIE
7 Simone PEPE
8 Gennaro GATTUSO
9 Luca TONI
10 Daniele DE ROSSI
11 Alberto GILARDINO
12 Morgan DE SANCTIS
13 Alessandro GAMBERINI
14 Marco AMELIA
15 Vincenzo IAQUINTA
16 Mauro CAMORANESI
17 Giuseppe ROSSI
18 Angelo PALOMBO
19 Gianluca ZAMBROTTA
20 Riccardo MONTOLIVO
21 Andrea PIRLO
22 Andrea DOSSENA
23 Fabio QUAGLIARELLA

Spain Squad

1 Iker CASILLAS
2 Raul ALBIOL
3 Gerard PIQUE
4 Carlos MARCHENA
5 Carlos PUYOL
6 Pablo HERNANDEZ
7 David VILLA
8 XAVI
9 Fernando TORRES
10 Cesc FABREGAS
11 Juan CAPDEVILA
12 Sergi BUSQUETS
13 Diego LOPEZ
14 XABI ALONSO
15 SERGIO RAMOS
16 Fernando LLORENTE
17 Daniel GUIZA
18 Albert RIERA
19 Alvaro ARBELOA
20 Santi CAZORLA
21 DAVID SILVA
22 Juan Manuel MATA
23 Pepe REINA

[Stranded]

It's not pointless as it gives the host country of the next World Cup a dry run.

Looking at the squads put forward most of the entrants don't consider it pointless.

If England qualify for the next one, then it won't be considered pointless.

[gh7901]

Stop moaning and enjoy football for once in your life

Spot on. ffs its just a few games, im sure the players dont need your concern Spacey. Never heard of someone moaning about there being too many games!

[Royalee]

What if those in the B team do really well that they may get a chance of playing in next year's WC?

So whats the problem???

They'll probably have no summer break for well over 2 years....leading them to be knackered and Blatter demanding that the top leagues be reduced!

I take it you want to ban the U21 tournament too and stop all international friendlies? Goon

[RoyalChicagoFC]

'Mon Spacey

--Half the entrants play five games (over two weeks), and the other half play 3

--As others have noted, it's a dry run for the big enchilada (and lord knows if ever there was a host nation that could use it)

--They're only doing this in summers preceding World Cup summers anymore

--Blatter's a gimp, and while I do take your point about his rigging things so to make his own prophecies self-fulfilling...

--Aside from a few weeks here and there, being a footballer is a full-time, year-round occupation anymore, and to the extent possible, these guys need to be something close to match fit over the duration of their playing careers

Anyway, South Africa v. Iraq kicks off in 25 minutes