So, what do you think?
Last week players set off for various parts of the world to play games that are largely forgotten this week. Does anyone care that Spain beat England, or France lost. How did Holland go? Can you remember? Because the fact is that these games are played by different rules. Coaches can change the whole team at half time – give the younger players some time on the pitch, whilst everyone else uses it as a break from the real pressures of club football. John Terry said as much in the wake of the Scolari sacking.
Of course it is a good way for players to collect caps (Beckham being a good example), and it can be entertaining (full houses at many games), and coaches can tinker (Germany had several debutants), but the reality is that friendlies are meaningless and little can be read into the results. I am sure that when the ‘real’ games are back on the tackles will have a little more bite. There must be a better time in the calender for national squads to get a little practice than last week. Your thoughts please.
no use of international frienlies.players are wasting a lot of precious time .professionalism is lost.injuries caused are affecting in the cluubs perfomeance.
International friendlies are welcome, but they must be played without interferring too much in national leagues, there’s too much bussiness around them and not too much football (don’t make me talk about injuries!) It’s a question of calendar, and the number of matches…
Sorry REL I am not English either 😉
Brazil barely play any friendlies at home these days thanks to their pulling power and their sponsorship deals (In London against Italy, Frankfurt against Turkey; Boston against Mexico to give a couple of examples). Friendly matches also ‘fill’ the calendar and help the FAs to justify the salaries they pay to their coach (maybe only 5 competitive matches a year?) Furthermore, TV companies fall over each other to show the games as a) they are cheap to produce and b) sponsors pay top dollar. Players, fans and TV audiences will soon be burned out. And then what?
Interesting comments. Hans, what was the reaction in Germany to their defeat against Norway? I am guessing that it was not as dramatic as the English press. I don’t hear the fans or media shouting for the coach Low to be fired for example.
International friendlies allow the public, not the hard core fans, to go along and watch some of the footballers they see every week on the news play. Of course, it’s publicity, but try telling a 10 year old watching Rooney, Messi, Torres, Klose, Kaka etc that it doesn’t matter because it’s not a ‘real’ game.
I’d like to agree with you REL, but I’m not English!
It’s only because England lost, that you feel that way about the friendly games……..
Yes, I agree that international friendlies are a waste of time. Fans are asked to pay ridiculous prices to see a second or third team play for 60 minutes before a host of substitutes spoil whatever rhythm there may have been during the game. The fact that there are companies that specialise in organising international friendlies says it all. Cynical, greedy and irrelevant.