Allright.. how do you see the future of your national team? Looking at today's players, and today's talents and youth players, what might your national team possible look like during the World Cup of 2010, in South-Africa or any other place? Do you think it will be an improvement compared to the current squad?

USA 0 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw in the group stage.

USA 0 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw in the group stage.

Only if Klinsmann isn't the head coach. He's worth at least a win.

Only if Klinsmann isn't the head coach. He's worth at least a win.

I'm thinking Peter Nowak is going to be the coach.

Canada will struggle in the next WC qualifiers as always. I think we're ranked 8th in CONCACAF, which sends only three teams (and a fourth gets a chance in a playoff against the equivalent Asian team).

With Toronto getting an MLS team and with the rapid growth fo the sport in Canada, I'm hopeful we'll be good enough to make it in 2014.

Until then, I'll have to keep supporting England like everyone else here.

With Toronto getting an MLS team and with the rapid growth fo the sport in Canada, I'm hopeful we'll be good enough to make it in 2014.

Until then, I'll have to keep supporting England like everyone else here.
It seems to me that the sport has rapidly been growing here ever since I was a tyke and I laced up my first pair of cleats. I think 2014 is overly optimistic. 2022 at the earliest, and that assumes global warming will make some areas of the globe unlivable and that the Yukon and NWT will eventually turn into moderate climate zones and welcome millions from all over the world.

I'm thinking Peter Nowak is going to be the coach.

You're probably right, but there's always hope.

i was thinking the world cup of hockey....

Allright.. how do you see the future of your national team? Looking at today's players, and today's talents and youth players, what might your national team possible look like during the World Cup of 2010, in South-Africa or any other place? Do you think it will be an improvement compared to the current squad?

IMHO the Netherlands have a lot of potential for the (near) future, just not with the current coach... :(

He's killing the team's development by doing three things:
- He's allowing his ego to get in the way of picking the best players for the team. He's blatantly displaying favouritism towards a few players which he is very familiar with due to his previous employment at Ajax' second team...
- He's using double standards when it comes to evaluating performances. Some players are clearly being heavily picked on (and now two of the best players available to the Dutch national team refuse to play for the team because of the coach).
- He's still in the Stone Age with regards to tactics. His ridiculously desperate attempts to play 4-3-3 are hurting this team. He should really just join the rest of the world in modern football and play 4-4-2 or 4-5-1. We simply do not have the players that are required to play 4-3-3. This system requires two wingers with great speed and a good crossing pass as well as a striker who play like Van Basten himself did in 1988, and a really dominant defensive midfielder to close the gaps which are a result from fielding 3 forwards. We don't have any of the four (anymore). Although Van Persie might be the striker he is looking for. We have good winger, but he's mostly about speed and diving (Robben) and he is very selfish, so passing isn't really his forte. And defensive midfield? Van Bommel could be that man, but Van Basten chased him away very effectively. Now we're stuck with Sneijder. Nice player, but no defensive skills whatsoever. Strikers? Four very good ones: Van Nistelrooij, Kuyt, Huntelaar and Van Persie. Van Persie's doing just fine. The others are different types of players than what Van Basten is looking for. Van Nistelrooij and Huntelaar are "snipers". You don't see them, and then all of a sudden they touch the ball once (or twice) and it's a goal. Exactly the opposite of what Van Basten is looking for in a striker. He wants a striker that is dominant and holds onto the ball for long periods while the midfield catches up to the attack (and they still are required to score many goals). Kuyt is more of a second striker type of player. Ideal in a system alongside someone like Van Nistelrooij. Kuyt is always active, never standing still. Exactly what you need to draw the attention away from your "sniper".


Currently about 75% of the Dutch think that Van Basten should be sacked, but the football union (and also the press, but to a lesser extent) is so deep up Van Basten's ass that this, unfortunately, is unlikely to happen before he's ****ed Dutch football beyond recognition...

The only thing saving Van Basten are the results so far. Like a 1-0 win over Luxembourg... :crazyeye: Or a 1-1 draw against Bulgaria...

Allright, fair enough. But how do you guys see the team in 4 years? What players could possibly be in it?

Allright, fair enough. But how do you guys see the team in 4 years? What players could possibly be in it?

That's a difficult one...
Now I'm going to have to take into account a lot of factor that are really variable (improvement of younger players, decline of older players...)

My best guess (might be biased... ;) ):

4 years from now:
GK: Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax)
RB: Khalid Bouhlarouz (Chelsea)
CB: Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg SV)
CB: Ron Vlaar (Feyenoord)
LB: Tim de Cler (AZ)
RM: Nigel de Jong (Hamburg SV)
DM: Serginho Greene (Feyenoord)
OM: Wesley Sneijder (Ajax)
LM: Robin van Persie (Arsenal)
FW: Dirk Kuijt (Liverpool)
FW: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Ajax)

Now I realize some of these may be a bit far fetched. Who knows at what level Tim de Cler can still perform in 4 years time, but good left backs are extremely rare. I have high hopes for Feyenoord's Roysten Drenthe, but considering he's only played in Feyenoords first team for 7-8 times it's really hard to say where he will be in 4 years time.
I also realize that Greene doesn't play DM at Feyenoord, but he did play there last year, and he was even better then (now he's Feyenoord's only player that plays well every match, with Vlaar injured).
Also Van der Vaart could easily replace Sneijder, but IMHO Sneijder has more potential, especially considering the fact that he's perfectly ambidextrous.
I also left Robben out. :blush: IMHO Van Persie is already a better player and he is still growing. Robben has reached his maximum already. Plus, I really, really hate all the diving he does... :mad:

well, considering that our team is still pretty young they should do about as good as this year, provided they can qualify which certainly is possible. many of our key players (Barnetta, Senderos, Djourou, Vonlanthen) are still very young and haven't reached their peak yet, IMHO.

i was thinking the world cup of hockey....
when will the next one be, btw?

We won't be at the WC in 2010, so I won't start to think about players who could possibly be in the team.

Belgium stood at the cradle of football and managed to field decent teams for many years although being a small country. Nowadays football is a very international affair with lots of countries that are starting to catch up with the 'established' football countries.
Belgium's population isn't that big that the great football talents are there for the taking. Belgium better start to invest big money in training the youth or otherwise we will never be at a WC again: sad but true

We will probably have a new manager after McLaren fails to get England into the semi finals. Copying the last appointment, it will be Terry Venables in charge who will play an inverted Christmas tree formation with additional star. Walcott will be built up as the player to win the world cup on his own but will be injured before the world cup. He will recover but never hit form. Lampard will still be playing and still be getting slated for his performances.

Now I realize some of these may be a bit far fetched. Who knows at what level Tim de Cler can still perform in 4 years time, but good left backs are extremely rare.

My guess is that De Cler will not be good enough by that time. As a matter of fact I think Urby Emanuelson has already passed him on the list. Eventhough Emanuelson originally isn't a left back, he's had a great year and had just one or two bad matches. Great player.


Also Van der Vaart could easily replace Sneijder, but IMHO Sneijder has more potential, especially considering the fact that he's perfectly ambidextrous..

I think Van der Vaart is better than Sneijder, since Van der Vaart is much better at making the difference. The amidextrous thingy speaks for Sneijder of course, but more important I think is the fact that Van der Vaart is always injured...he might be unfit for football in 4 years time if he continues like this.


I also left Robben out. :blush: IMHO Van Persie is already a better player and he is still growing. Robben has reached his maximum already. Plus, I really, really hate all the diving he does... :mad:

Robben has not reached his maximum, he can still learn at a different club. Nonetheless I agree that if one had to chose, it should be Van Persie indeed. I'd prefer him in a Bergkamp '98 role though; Huntelaar as central striker and Van Persie hanging around him. That's where he is most lethal I think.

It' still too early to tell. I remember doing a similar exercise at another forum, trying to guess who would be the star player of the major teams in the WC 2006, and among promising youngsters that are now bench warmers or have had near career ending injurees, I don't remember having guesses correctly that much of them...

What will probably happen to Portugal is that we'll qualify without much brilliance to Euro 2008, and Scolari will keep his very conservative choices. Something similar to what happen in Euro 2004 may happen again: that he realises that he was backing players that no longer can pull it, nad has to switch most of the team before or during the competition. We may not have the players to make a quick impact though, as we did in 2004 when he switched 5 or 6 players and all but one of the newcomers were ready to jump in because they were starters for the european champions Porto.

Anyway, Scolari will proabably go after then, and a lot of new players will have to be nurtured into the first team, because from the regulars of the current team they will be too veterans in 2010: Ricardo, Quim, N. Valente, Costinha, Petit, N. Gomes, Maniche, Deco, J. Andrade, R. Carvalho, F. Meira all over 32.

Still, a couple of these plus the likes of Miguel, Tiago, C. Ronaldo, Quaresma, Simão will still be available and these are all proven players.
From the emerging players, some of them already capped, the names of Moutinho (CM), Nani (wing), Raúl Meireles (DM), H. Almeida (Str), Bruno Vale (GK), Manuel Fernandes (DM), Tonel (CD), Moreira (GK), Nélson (RB) look the safer bets.
Other players hopeful of causing an impact are maybe Miguel Veloso (DM/CB), Djaló (Str), Manuel da Costa (CD), P. Ribeiro (GK), Ivanildo (wing), Vierinha (wing), Hélder Barbosa (wing/AM).
Finally, those following the youth competitions refer the names of Fábio Paim (wing/Str), Bruno Gama (wing) or Yago Fernandez (CD) as players that can become NT material a few years from now.

I'd say that unless some really talented young player develops in the meanwhile, it will be around these players that the possible NT for WC2010 will be built. What can be concluded is that there is a lack of full backs and strikers and excess of wingers... as usual.

Freddy Adu and a bunch of guys who wish they were Freddy Adu.

Manuel da Costa hasn't impressed that much at PSV yet..

Allright, fair enough. But how do you guys see the team in 4 years? What players could possibly be in it?

Aw, c'mon, this was the first year I ever paid attention to the US Soccer team. It was actually quite fun to watch. Maybe by 2008, I will know a couple names. ;)

Vierinha (wing)

Careful with this guy.. his last name doesn't give me much confidence :nono:

Manuel da Costa hasn't impressed that much at PSV yet..

Yeah, but he only played about 10 games for Nancy as professional player before being signed for PSV. You don't expect such an unexperienced player to just walk into the first team of a seasoned CL club, especially being a center back, right?

Careful with this guy.. his last name doesn't give me much confidence

His last name is Freitas. ;)

Northern Ireland loke quite good at the moment and have a srotng group of young talent like Davis, Evans, Baird, Lafferty, the list goes own. If we qualify i think we could suprose a few people.

I think the team of my country has got a chance, but they have to keep working hard and don't just say: "Oh we're doing great, what a nice life!". Depends on them.

Germany's prospects look better than ever since the early 90s. The team already plays both beautiful and successful football and is mostly comprised of young players in their early or mid-20s with a few that are a bit older. Most of them will peak at 2010 if normal patterns are followed.
Also the trend against German players in the league seems to have been stopped. Many clubs again favour young domestic talents over cheap but mediocre foreign players. Werder's and Stuttgart's immense success with that strategy has brought other clubs to copy it. And those who still rely on money-only at least buy the good German players from the others.

As for positions:

Goal: There have always been many high class German keepers at any time and that's not different today. Behind Lehmann and the still favoured Hildebrand there are others like Enke, Weidenfeller, Wiese and Jentzsch that are all good enough and better than what certain other countries have.

Defense: Mertesacker, M. Friedrich and possibly Metzelder are good central defenders. Lahm is very good on the left. Fritz shows potential on the right, recently making his debut in the team. Overall still the least densily covered part, but at least the first-choice players are world class or have the potential to become it.

Midfield: Frings and Ballack are to me the best defensive pair in the world. Schneider might be a little old in 2010 but maybe it will still be enough. Schweinsteiger, Borowski and Trochowski are very decent alternatives, though. There are talents like Meier and Boateng, we'll see how that turns out. The first choice however is probably second to none or will be in 2010 if the development continues like this.

Offense: Klose is currently world class, but with strikers it is more a matter of form than with any other type of player, maybe save the keeper. Podolski is very promising. Also there are many other young players that might turn out well, such as Schlaudraff, Kuranyi, Kießling, Hanke and Hunt.

Chance would be a fine thing....

For Turkey the future is unknown but there are some promising players. Possible 2010 Squad. And some prospects for you Football Manager fans:)

Goalkeepers: Volkan Demirel(Already has some caps), Aykut

Defenders: Gokhan Zan(He is injury prone but should make it to the world cup)

Ibrahim Toraman(Still young should play in 2010)

Hamit Altintop(Definetely)

Hakan Balta(Promising player from Vestal Manisaspor)

Midfielders: Nuri Sahin(Top player. Needs to get some more caps for the NT)

Emre (Do not like him but his XP is much needed)

Arda Turan(Still 19. The next Emre perhaps?)

Aurelio(Lack of defensive midfielders caused a Brazilian to earn a cap. I am in full support)

Caner Altin(Very good winger and wing back. Star of the U18 team last year. Should be there.)

Burak Yilmaz(Had a big impact this season. Still 21. Needs to improve)

Forwards:

Hakan Sukur(He will want to play. Not kidding)

Nihat(no expalanations needed)

Halil Altintop(Needs to play regularly and I think he should transfer to a bigger league. Sorry my German friends:( )

It seems to me that the sport has rapidly been growing here ever since I was a tyke and I laced up my first pair of cleats. I think 2014 is overly optimistic. 2022 at the earliest, and that assumes global warming will make some areas of the globe unlivable and that the Yukon and NWT will eventually turn into moderate climate zones and welcome millions from all over the world.

Don't forget we only have to beat other CONCACAF teams to get there. CONCACAF is probably the weakest of all the regions, only Mexico is a real serious contender.

Given how our under 20s are doing, I still think we could actually do it for 2014 (provided other countries stop pillaging our top players).

Man, Finnish youth team looks good in the player list but sucks on the field. On next WC Litmanen would be 40 so he won't play even in the qualification, but I'm pretty sure that Hyypiä will continue.

Well, at least midfield looks good, Kolkka on the left, Väyrynen and maybe Heikkinen in the middle and Tainio on the right side. Eremenko Jr may play in attack with Forssell, Kuqi or then 21-year old Kangaskolkka. And Roman Eremenko who plays in Udinese is an option.

Defence is rock-solid, Hyypiä and Tihinen on centre, only the sides worry me. Now Pasanen who plays in centre in Werder Bremen plays on the right side and Kallio who plays as striker in Molde is on the left side. We need fresh meat on those places, maybe Ari Nyman could do that, or some young now almost-unknown player.

Goalkeepers? Hehe. Jussi Jääskeläinen or Antti Niemi will play in qualification, Niemi only if Jääskeläinen cathces an injury or if Finland achieves place in EC. So goalkeepers look damn good.

So will Finland achieve its place in WC 2010 in South Africa? Maybe, but at least it looks good now.

Australia seems to be doing quite well. Hopefully ou greatest player will overcome hi injury problems that have plagued him throught his career. Gnerally we have a good chance should the refs do their job. The last two games we played we have awful refs and they cost us first a win and then thy cost a comprehesnsive victory.

So will Finland achieve its place in WC 2010 in South Africa? Maybe, but at least it looks good now.

What about the Moisander brothers?

What about the Moisander brothers?

I'm not sure about them. When they were in Finland they were hot prospects but I don't know how they are doing now. Do they still play in Ajax?

And Finnish team gets Perparim Hetemaj of AEK when he is good enough. Jani Virtanen of Udinese and Juho Mäkelä of Hearts may be good in future, and of course some surprisers from Veikkausliiga, maybe Eetu Muinonen could play in 2010 WC, or 2012 EC. (If we ever get to big competitions.)

I think they moved to FC Zwolle last summer..

Yeah, I remember too that they moved to some lower division club

I can see England being somthing like

GK - Robbinson - cant really see anyone challangeing him whos miles better

RB - Neville - he will do a cafu and play on for ever
CB Terry
CB Rio Ferdinand
LB Ashley Cole

RM Lennon - Looked good comming off the bench in the last world cup 4 more years experience
CM Reo Coker - Strong young player U21 captin should be in the main squad soon
CM Gerrard
LM Downing - only left winger for the future i can name

SC Rooney
SC Wallcott - already showing good signs and hopefully can learn of Henry at arsenal

Still Neville....?

No more Robot? Damn...

Still Neville....?

I thought he would have been gone before Beckham.

I can see England being somthing like

GK - Robbinson - cant really see anyone challangeing him whos miles better

RB - Neville - he will do a cafu and play on for ever
CB Terry
CB Rio Ferdinand
LB Ashley Cole

RM Lennon - Looked good comming off the bench in the last world cup 4 more years experience
CM Reo Coker - Strong young player U21 captin should be in the main squad soon
CM Gerrard
LM Downing - only left winger for the future i can name

SC Rooney
SC Wallcott - already showing good signs and hopefully can learn of Henry at arsenal


In my opinion your'e trying to name too many new players, in my opinion the 2010 England squad will not have changed much fro mow (at least the starting 11 won't).

I'll bet that the medifield will be Gerrard on the left, Hargreaves and Lampard centre and Joe Cole on the right. As for the forwards, Owen, isn't out forever, just for a season or so ;) , however if he doesn't come back to the strating 11 it will be because he's been usurped by Crouch. For Walcott I don't see him getting into the first team until about 2014 at the earliest, even then we'll still have Rooney (in his prime), Crouch, Owen, Defoe, Johnson and many others contending for a space.

Just an excuse to post this youtube clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYn5e3ALAxY

WE LOVE THE ROBOT!