International Friendly Matches

[angel]

I'm from Belgian origin and I've asked myself about Hazard ethnicity. He has a bit of North African look and a strange name, but I looked for picture of his parents and his brother and they are clearly white Belgians. A picture of them :

I think it's silly to speculate about their ancestry. If Eden Hazard were an Arab, then this would have been a widely reported fact by now, especially when Arab immigration into European countries has been a very recent development. For example, it's widely reported in the media that Karim Benzema is an Algerian, and that Andres Villas-Boas had an English grandmother. The media tend to report exotic things, whereas something like "Eden Hazard is a Walloon of Walloon ancestry" is not notable.

 

[Luckyboy]

Eden Hazard is not an arab

Otherwise , you will be able to find that piece of information in wiki. according to them , he is purely from Belgium.

 

[Europe]

i came accross this:

ashley young vs eden hazard in the england-belgium friendly match

Were they playing the same role though? Some passes can be pretty meaningless. Shots is interesting.

 

[frederic38]

first off, i didn't watch the match, not even the highlights, so if somebody has more info than me then please post about it
but what i have read is that the english media or fans or pundits were putting a lot of pressure on hazard because of his transfert to chelsea and his hype
they were saying that maybe young or chamberlain could outshine him
i guess that it's the reason why they did these comparative statistics

what i have read is that most of hazard's passes were towards england's goal (they also had a graph with the direction of hazard's passes apparently, and most of them were towards the english goal, or lateral passes)
he had 6 "key passes" and i have read that dembele (black striker) has been awfull, otherwise his "key passes" would have changed into assists

 

[Europe]

I think it's silly to speculate about their ancestry. If Eden Hazard were an Arab, then this would have been a widely reported fact by now, especially when Arab immigration into European countries has been a very recent development. For example, it's widely reported in the media that Karim Benzema is an Algerian, and that Andres Villas-Boas had an English grandmother. The media tend to report exotic things, whereas something like "Eden Hazard is a Walloon of Walloon ancestry" is not notable.

He does look a little North African from this picture though.

But you do make a good point that the media would have mentioned it if he was part Arab.

 

[frederic38]

giroud's nice assist for jeremy menez vs estonia:

[video=youtube_share;1CAroN0wT6E]http://youtu.be/1CAroN0wT6E[/video]

you could see that giroud was very angry at the end of the match, because he didn't play much, and touched the ball just 2 or 3 times

to understand why he was pissed you have to understand that from the start, laurent blanc said that giroud would always come in at the end of the match (he didn't say it really, but everybody knows what he means, remember that i said you from the start that giroud would not be a starter)
following giroud's incredible showings, everybody asked laurent blanc why he didn't play with giroud titular, and benzema next to him, because giroud is a real goal scorer, while benzema is more a winger or offensive middlefielder

laurent blanc said that it was possible to play with giroud and benzema as starters, but that he would have to change the middlefield

so everybody was expecting to see giroud start a match in the 3 friendly games that we played, but it didn't happen
even worse, each time giroud came in, he replaced benzema, it was like the coach saying that it was impossible to play with both giroud and benzema at the same time
it's like laurent blanc didn't want to try because he was affraid that it would work perfectly

giroud is frustrated because he made his best to earn his place in the starting 11, but he is denied by the coach
he started just 1 match with the french national team, it was against germany because benzema was injuried, and he scored

so it will be the same at the euro champs, giroud will come in in the end of the match

 

[Freethinker]

I don't think there should be too much weight behind the friendlies today but England may have started their Whitest lineup in sometime. 9 out of 11: Butland, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines, Lampard, Carrick, Johnson, Carroll and Cleverley. They beat an Italian squad who seems to be sinking into multicultural mode. Even without "Stupor Mario" they managed to start these 2 bums.

Reintroducing Angelo Ogbonna:

And here's half Egyptian Stephan El Shaarawy. He might look "white" to some but he doesn't fly with me. Plus look at this clown's ridiculous hair "style":

 

[frederic38]

thanks for the update
friendlies before the start of the season don't mean much, because all the players are not 100% ready
but it was expected that after balotelli, the new non-white playing for them was going to be el sharawy (and yes, that's the most ridiculous haircut i know in europe right now, only sakho can beat him: http://mode.glamourparis.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/mamadou-sakho.jpg or maybe neymar on a "good" day: http://l.yimg.com/a/p/sp/editorial_...gs_of_footballers_before_they_fall_asleep.jpg )

i don't know about this ogbonna guy, is he seriously goingt o play regularly for italy?
it doesn't seems like a good idea
i hope that somebody can go to the 2014 world cup instead of them (denmark is in their qualifying group: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_UEFA_Group_B)

also pato scored 2 goals out of brazil's 3 goals in a friendy against sweden

 

[Giles Daldanus]

Interesting news from Cyprus. Some of the Cypriot footballers threatened to boycott a friendly match vs. Bulgaria due to the coach’s decision to call up a number of naturalized players who are plying their trade in the Cypriot First Division – Vincent Laban (French), Dosa Junior (Portuguese with African roots) and Helio Pinto (Portuguese). Most of the players who disagreed with the manager (one of them is Makrides) compete in foreign leagues and they sent out an open letter to the media. It has to be mentioned that 61% of the footballers in the top division in Cyprus are foreigners (this is an absolute record when it comes to European championships and possibly championships all over the world). In some matches only 2 out of 22 footballers on the pitch are from Cyprus. As summed up by the spokesman for the Professional Association of Cypriot footballers: “the national team is the last refuge of Cyprus-born footballers and it should remain that way, clubs have now completely lost their identityâ€￾. Eventually the friendly match went ahead anyway and Cyprus lost by a score of 0:1. Unfortunately, local Cypriots are fighting an uphill battle.

Naturalization of foreigners is not without precedent in Cyprus. German Reiner Rauffmann earned five caps for Cyprus in the early 2000s. Serbian Sinisa Dobrasinovic has featured regularly for the national team since 2009.

Here is the most recent team photo from the 15[SUP]th[/SUP] of August 2012:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Cyprus_national_football_team_2012.jpg

Number 18 is Dobrasinovic, Dosa Junior is No. 2 and Vincent Laban wears the shirt with number 21. The rest of the players are Cypriots.

Helio Pinto didn’t participate (it was recently brought to light that he has amassed a number of caps for Portuguese youth national teams, so he most likely won’t be eligible for the World Cup qualifiers).

Great win for Argentina, Messi and Schuerrle really managed to impress...shame that Germany were reduced to 10 men due to Zieler's ejection and also had to cope with Hummels' injury, but Argentina have proven that they have the skills and mental fortitude to be a title contender in Brazil 2014.

 

[third wave]

I don't think there should be too much weight behind the friendlies today but England may have started their Whitest lineup in sometime. 9 out of 11: Butland, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines, Lampard, Carrick, Johnson, Carroll and Cleverley. They beat an Italian squad who seems to be sinking into multicultural mode. Even without "Stupor Mario" they managed to start these 2 bums.

Reintroducing Angelo Ogbonna:

And here's half Egyptian Stephan El Shaarawy. He might look "white" to some but he doesn't fly with me. Plus look at this clown's ridiculous hair "style":

[/QUOTE

Jermaine Defoe scored a spectacular deciding goal.

 

[Arend]

Great win for Argentina, Messi and Schuerrle really managed to impress...shame that Germany were reduced to 10 men due to Zieler's ejection and also had to cope with Hummels' injury, but Argentina have proven that they have the skills and mental fortitude to be a title contender in Brazil 2014.

After 104 years (!) Ron-Robert Zieler was actually the first German goalkeeper that was send off, but I guess he could live very good without this special “honorâ€￾
The first 30 minutes it was a pretty good match from both sides, and the red-card pretty much killed it. Messis penalty was kind of strange, but after that he played superb and was together with Higuain the best men on the pitch. To be a real contender for 2014 Argentina needs improve their defense though (I am hoping for Federico Fernandez) and maybe a better goalkeeper could help also.

Jermaine Defoe scored a spectacular deciding goal.

trolling attempt: 0/10

 

[Europe]

"

I don't think there should be too much weight behind the friendlies today but England may have started their Whitest lineup in sometime. 9 out of 11: Butland, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines, Lampard, Carrick, Johnson, Carroll and Cleverley. They beat an Italian squad who seems to be sinking into multicultural mode. Even without "Stupor Mario" they managed to start these 2 bums."

England still had Young running around out there. Why not put Joe Cole on left?

They didn't even have Rooney and wilshere out there.

Baines seems much more skilled in attacking than A Cole. Does anybody else think that?

I hope Ferdinand does not come back.

 

[frederic38]

Jermaine Defoe scored a spectacular deciding goal.

there are no deciding goals in a pre-season friendly matches

The first 30 minutes it was a pretty good match from both sides, and the red-card pretty much killed it. Messis penalty was kind of strange, but after that he played superb and was together with Higuain the best men on the pitch. To be a real contender for 2014 Argentina needs improve their defense though (I am hoping for Federico Fernandez) and maybe a better goalkeeper could help also.

i already said it, for me argentines are the worst at taking penalty kicks
it has nothing to do with skills, it's so easy to score from a penalty that virtually all professional players have the same odds to score than messi or any of the top-skilled player
then it's all about the nerves, or the ability to forget every thing around you, to ignore the pressure

Interesting news from Cyprus. Some of the Cypriot footballers threatened to boycott a friendly match vs. Bulgaria due to the coach’s decision to call up a number of naturalized players who are plying their trade in the Cypriot First Division – Vincent Laban (French), Dosa Junior (Portuguese with African roots) and Helio Pinto (Portuguese). Most of the players who disagreed with the manager (one of them is Makrides) compete in foreign leagues and they sent out an open letter to the media. It has to be mentioned that 61% of the footballers in the top division in Cyprus are foreigners (this is an absolute record when it comes to European championships and possibly championships all over the world). In some matches only 2 out of 22 footballers on the pitch are from Cyprus. As summed up by the spokesman for the Professional Association of Cypriot footballers: “the national team is the last refuge of Cyprus-born footballers and it should remain that way, clubs have now completely lost their identityâ€. Eventually the friendly match went ahead anyway and Cyprus lost by a score of 0:1. Unfortunately, local Cypriots are fighting an uphill battle.

Naturalization of foreigners is not without precedent in Cyprus. German Reiner Rauffmann earned five caps for Cyprus in the early 2000s. Serbian Sinisa Dobrasinovic has featured regularly for the national team since 2009.

Here is the most recent team photo from the 15[SUP]th[/SUP] of August 2012:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Cyprus_national_football_team_2012.jpg

Number 18 is Dobrasinovic, Dosa Junior is No. 2 and Vincent Laban wears the shirt with number 21. The rest of the players are Cypriots.

Helio Pinto didn’t participate (it was recently brought to light that he has amassed a number of caps for Portuguese youth national teams, so he most likely won’t be eligible for the World Cup qualifiers).

Great win for Argentina, Messi and Schuerrle really managed to impress...shame that Germany were reduced to 10 men due to Zieler's ejection and also had to cope with Hummels' injury, but Argentina have proven that they have the skills and mental fortitude to be a title contender in Brazil 2014.
​

very interesting indeed

in 2002 i remember that they were close to upset france (reigning world champion, althought it was an undeserved title if you ask me) in a qualifying match for the 2002 world cup
they scored the first goal, and a great one: http://youtu.be/NxsppbkuY-A

the black defenders from france were horrible but the man from cyprus scored an amazing goal

i saw like everybody else how many foreign players their best team (apoel nicosia) had in last season's champions league, but i figured that the other teams of the league were more cypriot

Helio Pinto didn’t participate (it was recently brought to light that he has amassed a number of caps for Portuguese youth national teams, so he most likely won’t be eligible for the World Cup qualifiers).

if it was for a youth team FIFA won't have anything to say about it i think
a while ago i gave the example of a moroccan player who played for morocco in a friendly match (at senior level) and then switched to the belgian nationality and played for belgium
i didn't even know that it was possible, but aparently you can play for different national teams (even if it's not a youth team) as long as you play friendly matches

 

[Giles Daldanus]

After 104 years (!) Ron-Robert Zieler was actually the first German goalkeeper that was send off, but I guess he could live very good without this special “honor”
The first 30 minutes it was a pretty good match from both sides, and the red-card pretty much killed it. Messis penalty was kind of strange, but after that he played superb and was together with Higuain the best men on the pitch. To be a real contender for 2014 Argentina needs improve their defense though (I am hoping for Federico Fernandez) and maybe a better goalkeeper could help also.

Interesting – it’s indeed a distinction of dubious value, but I am sure that nobody will hold it against Zieler, as his foul wasn’t dangerous and he was just trying to catch the ball. I personally think that a yellow card should suffice in situations like that (unless it’s a particularly dangerous and/or vicious tackle).

I agree with you, Argentina’s defense (wonder whether Demichelis and Heinze are still being considered for call-ups) can be suspect and they are prone to mental lapses at times. Sergio Romero has improved (compared to two years ago), but it would have been interesting if Elizaga was still in contention for the goalkeeper jersey (he decided to play for Ecuador).

Jermaine Defoe scored a spectacular deciding goal.

It was a nice goal, I am guessing that he will be vying with Carroll for a starting spot during the upcoming qualifiers, as Rooney is essentially a lock..

Baines seems much more skilled in attacking than A Cole. Does anybody else think that?

Baines’ crossing ability is up there with the best in the Premier League, he could be very useful when in the attacking third of the pitch. It’s inconceivable that he could find himself playing alongside Cole (unless the Everton man switches to the defensive midfielder position), but I hope that he will get a chance in the upcoming World Cup qualification campaign.

in 2002 i remember that they were close to upset france (reigning world champion, althought it was an undeserved title if you ask me) in a qualifying match for the 2002 world cup
they scored the first goal, and a great one

Thanks for the clip, quality goal! Cyprus are a very unredictable side – sometimes they “explode” (they have a 4:1 win against Bulgaria, a 5:2 rout against Ireland and a draw with Germany on their records when it comes to official matches, but on other occasions they do poorly against national teams like Malta and Azerbaijan). Their star striker (Michalis Konstantinou) reminds me of a Spartan warrior

i saw like everybody else how many foreign players their best team (apoel nicosia) had in last season's champions league, but i figured that the other teams of the league were more cypriot

It used to be that way, but now it seems to be spread out…the same applies to the Serbian and Bulgarian leagues – some midtable or even “relegation fodder” clubs like Jagodina and Beroe have quite a few foreigners on their rosters. However, there are still small clubs that prioritize local player development and whose supporters are very patriotic (especially those in the Western parts of the Balkan countries).

if it was for a youth team FIFA won't have anything to say about it i think
a while ago i gave the example of a moroccan player who played for morocco in a friendly match (at senior level) and then switched to the belgian nationality and played for belgium
i didn't even know that it was possible, but aparently you can play for different national teams (even if it's not a youth team) as long as you play friendly matches

It seems as if the Moroccan player already had Belgian citizenship at the time he represented Morocco, so that’s why FIFA did not prevent him from switching allegiance. My understanding is that you are tied to one team (even if you earn a cap for a youth national side) unless you have double citizenship from the outset/prior to donning a national team shirt. Another example is Jermaine Jones who has represented both Germany and the United States at senior level (he already held an American passport due to ancestry at the time he made his debut for Germany). However, it can get quite complicated, as the rules change rather frequently.

 

[Europe]

"Baines’ crossing ability is up there with the best in the Premier League, he could be very useful when in the attacking third of the pitch. It’s inconceivable that he could find himself playing alongside Cole (unless the Everton man switches to the defensive midfielder position), but I hope that he will get a chance in the upcoming World Cup qualification campaign."

What do you mean playing alongside Cole? As a right back? Maybe Cole could go to right back and Baines could play left back. Cole I think is left footed, but he never really crosses.

 

[Giles Daldanus]

What do you mean playing alongside Cole? As a right back?

Yes, this is an option for him, I think that Baines is a versatile player..

Maybe Cole could go to right back and Baines could play left back.

Indeed, Hodgson could experiment with that..

Cole I think is left footed, but he never really crosses.

He is the opposite of Glen Johnson in that respect – usually totally focused on defense and not too dangerous in an attacking sense.

Btw, another interesting result: USA won 1:0 against Mexico in a friendly match that was held at Estadio Azteca. The Yanks made history (first ever win on Mexican soil). Ironically, the goalscorer Michael Orozco Fiscal has Mexican parentage.

 

[frederic38]

right now ashley cole is considered one of the best fullbacks in the world, but i remember that when chelsea had bad results last season everybody was saying that he was getting old and that he should be replaced
now his team got better so it's all forgotten, but remember that when you are a fullback it's really easy to appear good when your team wins it all
for example see abidal at barcelona, he was the best left-back according to experts, because barcelona was winning everything
but when he played with france it was obvious that it was not the case

when his club was a little bit worse, it became more obvious that abidal had been over-rated:

http://rutube.ru/video/369027b364e93676b7e2260a787c4ba9/

http://rutube.ru/video/8d99fe4f8ebc9031b6b638e3b658bd46/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYyOvYIlv_w&feature=youtu.be

and here are his last matches for the french national team: (i won't translate the text in french but you can understand it pretty well with a translator like google traduction)

-worst mark of the match against bielorussia:
"Abidal (4) : il faisait son grand retour en Bleu après son opération d’une tumeur au foie. Mais la belle histoire a tourné au film d’horreur pour l’arrière gauche, qui a été contraint à marquer contre son camp. Un match à vite oublier."

-worst mark of the match vs albania:
"- Abidal (4,5) : soirée compliquée pour Abidal. Replacé dans l’axe en l’absence du duo Mexès-Rami, le joueur du Barça ne s’est pas vraiment montré à son avantage. Dans le dur tout au long des 90 minutes, l’ancien Lyonnais a éprouvé les pires difficultés à trouver ses marques."

with this goal: http://youtu.be/PgvoTipNHVw

-then he got the worst mark of the match against mexico in the 2010 world cup (2/10!) the worst match of the french national team because of the huge consequences it had (we are no longer a top european team and we are in spain's group for the qualifying to the 2014 world cup):
"Abidal (2) : décidément, la défense centrale française a failli ce soir. Si William Gallas n’a pas brillé, Éric Abidal a encore un peu plus sombré. Responsable du premier but encaissé par la France, suite à un mauvais placement, le gaucher a été à côté de la plaque. Pour couronner le tout, le numéro 3 a provoqué le pénalty mexicain transformé dans la foulée par Blanco. Un hors sujet en bonne et due forme."

the same could be said about patrice evra, who is considered one of the best fullbacks in the world when his team wins, but in france he is badly considered because he has been awful everytime he played for france
i heard former international players such as eric di meco (who used to be a left back like evra) or jean michel larqué say that he was not a good left back - and it means a lot because it's really unusual to say it clearly like that, you never hear anyone saying "he is a bad player"

the latest is van der wiel, he's rated very highly yet with holland he was horrible at the 2012 euro champs
here is jean michel larqué's reaction when he heard his price (6 millions): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNLkJ4CFQxM&feature=share&list=PL0949B32FC37BC0BD

i'm not saying that ashley cole is a bad player, but he's probably way over-rated and currently i suspect that he's finished

 

[Rebajlo]

France 0 Japan 1

FRANCE:

Started:6 Whites, 4 blacks, 1 Arab
Finished: 6 Whites*, 5 blacks *Includes Muslim convert Franck Ribery

JAPAN:

Started: 10 Asians, 1 White
Finished: 11 Asians

Japan's lone White player is striker Mike Havenaar, whose parents are Dutch:

Havenaar was born in Japan and has a Japanese wife, so they are welcome to him...

 

[frederic38]

France 0 Japan 1

FRANCE:

Started:6 Whites, 4 blacks, 1 Arab
Finished: 6 Whites*, 5 blacks *Includes Muslim convert Franck Ribery

JAPAN:

Started: 10 Asians, 1 White
Finished: 11 Asians

Japan's lone White player is striker Mike Havenaar, whose parents are Dutch:

Havenaar was born in Japan and has a Japanese wife, so they are welcome to him...

first defeat in history for france against japan! :high5:

:doh:

 

[Europe]

England beat Brazil 2-1. England had 6 white starters and ended up with 8 whites on the field at games end.

Wilshere played great and Rooney and Lampard had the goals.

I don't know why Smalling started over Jagielka though.

WElbeck didn't seem to do much out there. I'd rather have Ricky Lambert or Adam Le fondre over Welbeck.

I'd rather have 18 year old mf Nick Powell in there over Welbeck. I think he could pass and move better than WElbeck.

Cahill made a bad pass to give Brazil a chance to score their goal.

 

[foobar75]

Watched the friendly between Germany and France today, won by Germany 2-1. The Germans featured a very white squad, I did not see the useless Boateng out there, so minus Ozil and Khedira, I assume Germany started 9 whites. All the subs in the 2nd half were also white.

I think France had 5 or 6 whites, and finished with 6 or 7 after Giroud came in for some African in the 2nd half. Not sure if wigger Ribery should count as white, but I'm including him for now.

 

[frederic38]

europe, i can imagine that you were very happy during that match :icon_mrgreen:
i saw that joe hart saved a penalty against ronaldinho ( a double save)

and i saw that neymar had a big miss:

[video=dailymotion;xxcf9u]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxcf9u_neymar-terrible-miss-vs-england_shortfilms#.UROCyGfWplM[/video]


regarding the france vs germany match, germany was whiter than when we played against them the last time (and won 2-1) they had no black player, and france was blacker, the most anoying thing was sagna
nobody in france can believe that sagna is back in the team and gets to start a match, because jallet starts for PSG and even scored a (lucky but spectacular) goal with the french national team, reveillere is a monster and he's the best fullback of the french league, and debuchy has always been perfect when he played for france

france started 5 whites + 1 arab to be exact (benzema) +5 blacks

with debuchy instead of sagna that should have been 6 whites, 1 arab, 4 blacks, which is OK, not perfect but whites would be more than 50%

after another big miss by benzema the public started shouting "giroud, giroud!" because they wanted benzema to be replaced by giroud, i wonder if the foreign commentators noticed that
and did they say something about benzema struggling to score goals with france?

oh, and germany's winning goal was scored because of black middlefielder capoue, and france's only goal was scored by white middlefielder valbuena

 

[Arend]

I skipped France – Germany yesterday and watched the semi-final of the African Cup, Ghana – Burkina Faso instead. It was quite entertaining:

[video=youtube;7TwZaXocO_A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TwZaXocO_A[/video]

The defensive work (and the goalkeeping) from both teams was hideous to say the least; I could also post this in the bad defenders thread. The equalizer for Burkina Faso was scored by Aristide Bance, a guy that scored impressive 0 goals in 15 games with Augsburg, and if you see him actually play you know why he didn’t scored more goals. He only got lucky because apparently the Ghanaian defenders were like 10 meters away from him and the goalkeeper didn’t react at all. Alas, some other scenes with gruesome defensive work are missing in that video. The Tunisian referee had also a very bad day ( regular goal for Burkina Faso not given, the second yellow card for Pitroipa, unjustified penalty for Ghana…just to name a few).

And what the hell is the matter with the pitch? They had actually more sand than grass on it….and those butterflies all over the place…

 

[frederic38]

i also watched some matches of that tournament, but i felt like i couldn't do it justice
too many things happening
you can't know what it's like unless you actually watch a game, an entire game, 90 minutes
and since the only non-black teams were the teams from maghreb it wasn't very interesting from a racial point of view
the big story of the tournament was drogba failing to win it with ivory coast

 

[ThePhilosopher]

Not sure if wigger Ribery should count as white, but I'm including him for now.

Never ever count him as "white"....there are no "white muslims".