2 points off of six games, they are the top seed in their group as well. WTF happenedDuke wrote:Greece are f***ing horrendous.Matthieu wrote:The Faroe Islands are currently beating the Greeks!
No they're not going to develop world class players, but you'd expect some kind of progression from rank amateurs over the past two decades. Watching their matches (and the likes of Gibraltar) is like watching a friendly between a PL club and a conference side. It's so embarrassing that the germany players didn't even celebrate their goals yesterday as it was a piss take.biggeordiedave wrote:They have a population of just over 30,000Bodacious Benny wrote:
It's a debate that's been had many times before on here, but all the tiny nations would have more chance developing as footballing nations by playing each other and the best one or two get a crack at qualifying. How far have San Marino come in the past 25 years of getting spanked every week? What's the point in that?. They're hardly going to get a full squad of world class professionals out of that. Should Wales be barred from competing with the big boys? They've only managed to get to a couple of tournaments in their entire history.
International football should have a tiered system, just like every domestic league In the world does.TJR wrote:Every nation has a right to compete and not allowing a nation to do so because some people think they aren't good enough would be very dangerous not to mention disgraceful.
Where do you stop. Pretty much everyone thinks England won't win the Euros so should we ban them from the finals despite them topping their group? In fact let's not even have the tournament, Germany are favourites so let's just give them the trophy now and not bother with the whole thing.
I think it would send out the message that football is elitist and if you're not up to standard then you shouldn't be allowed to compete at a certain level. Do you disagree with the format of the FA Cup? For me, one of the things that makes it so good is that Blyth can play against Man Utd. I realise the lesser teams have to play each other for several rounds before the PL teams even enter, but that's because there are an awful lot more of them. In International football, it's the other way round. I love the fact that these teams are given a chance. Look at the Faroe Islands!Bodacious Benny wrote:No they're not going to develop world class players, but you'd expect some kind of progression from rank amateurs over the past two decades. Watching their matches (and the likes of Gibraltar) is like watching a friendly between a PL club and a conference side. It's so embarrassing that the germany players didn't even celebrate their goals yesterday as it was a piss take.biggeordiedave wrote:
They have a population of just over 30,000
The international calendar is small though. There is only two years between major tournaments with only and handful of available dates for matches within those two season because of the extensive club football calender's.Bodacious Benny wrote:International football should have a tiered system, just like every domestic league In the world does.TJR wrote:Every nation has a right to compete and not allowing a nation to do so because some people think they aren't good enough would be very dangerous not to mention disgraceful.
Where do you stop. Pretty much everyone thinks England won't win the Euros so should we ban them from the finals despite them topping their group? In fact let's not even have the tournament, Germany are favourites so let's just give them the trophy now and not bother with the whole thing.
****, I completely agree with TJR.Bodacious Benny wrote:International football should have a tiered system, just like every domestic league In the world does.TJR wrote:Every nation has a right to compete and not allowing a nation to do so because some people think they aren't good enough would be very dangerous not to mention disgraceful.
Where do you stop. Pretty much everyone thinks England won't win the Euros so should we ban them from the finals despite them topping their group? In fact let's not even have the tournament, Germany are favourites so let's just give them the trophy now and not bother with the whole thing.
I don't often agree with you TJR but you've got it right on this one.TJR wrote:The international calendar is small though. There is only two years between major tournaments with only and handful of available dates for matches within those two season because of the extensive club football calender's.Bodacious Benny wrote:
International football should have a tiered system, just like every domestic league In the world does.
I'd understand your argument a bit more if these teams were making it to major tournament without winning games but that isn't the case and that is why we have a qualification process. Every nation has a right to try and qualify and the integrity of the competition is diminished if nations are stopped from attempting to qualify because people deem they aren't good enough before giving them a chance to prove if they are.
The point of the qualifiers is to give teams a chance to prove they are good enough to qualify for the upcoming major tournament.
. Game in hand against the Faroe Islands and can go 5 points clear of Hungary with 5 games left if they win it
. But they've already played the top team twice
Iceland and Wales are hardly the same level as San Marino etcMatthieu wrote:****, I completely agree with TJR.Bodacious Benny wrote:
International football should have a tiered system, just like every domestic league In the world does.
It's why you play the games ffs. There are 54 members of UEFA, they all deserve their chance.
To those of you who want a tiered system, bore off, there already is one, it's called group stage qualifying.
From a purely neutral point of view, I love watching the minnows get their chance. I stream Faroe Islands/Liechtenstein (there's a great book about them btw), etc... all the time because when they do something well, well it brings a bit of joy back to an otherwise boring, commercialized, septic sport.
And again, for the idiots who think they "water down the competition" or it's a "piss-take" well they are in the QUALIFYING stage, it's not as if they're in the actual tournament are they? ... and if they do get in, like Iceland might, like Wales might well good for them FFS, they beat the odds and defeated "better" sides.
![Scorecast Champ 25/26 + [redacted] Tunisia](./images/ranks/wc26-colly.png "Scorecast Champ 25/26 + [redacted] Tunisia")
Iceland and Wales haven't qualified for many more tournaments than San Marino thoughBodacious Benny wrote:Iceland and Wales are hardly the same level as San Marino etcMatthieu wrote:
****, I completely agree with TJR.
It's why you play the games ffs. There are 54 members of UEFA, they all deserve their chance.
To those of you who want a tiered system, bore off, there already is one, it's called group stage qualifying.
From a purely neutral point of view, I love watching the minnows get their chance. I stream Faroe Islands/Liechtenstein (there's a great book about them btw), etc... all the time because when they do something well, well it brings a bit of joy back to an otherwise boring, commercialized, septic sport.
And again, for the idiots who think they "water down the competition" or it's a "piss-take" well they are in the QUALIFYING stage, it's not as if they're in the actual tournament are they? ... and if they do get in, like Iceland might, like Wales might well good for them FFS, they beat the odds and defeated "better" sides.
. 
Of course, but under your rules they would have been chucked out years ago. Their lowest ranking ever was 131 in 2012 and they've never qualified for anything, ever. Now they're ranked 37th and on the cusp of qualifying for a major tournament for the first time.Bodacious Benny wrote:They're undeniably a few steps up in ability tho.
