Soccer debate - Club vs. National Team

[mosta]

I've been curious about this topic for a long time and it comes up now and then. I think there's been a dramatic change over the last twenty years or so. Not that long ago, most club leagues only allowed like 2 foreign players per team. I remember I think Barcelona had Romario, Hagi, and Stoichkov, and one of them would be benched!--and that was just 10 years ago. Now I think all club leagues allow all foreign players.

So not long ago, the world cup really was creme de la creme, so to speak, the best players, best teams, best competitions.

now there's so much money in the clubs and they can take all the best players and have them train and play together all year, that for the most part the clubs have overtaken. Players don't spend much time at all with their national teams, I don't think.

But not entirely. I think if you took the top 20 club teams and top 20 national teams, and had a round robin or whatever, I think the top 50% would be dominated by clubs. Like 15-5. But I tihnk the top 5 or so would probably go either way and be close to a split.

From the last WC, I don't think the likes of Sweden, Mexico, or even (as much as I liked them) Germany would really be competitive to win a top league, not to mention Ecuador or Ukraine etc. Argentina or Italy versus Barcelona or Man U, I don't know I think it would be awesome to see. Maybe the very top national teams should be the clear winners. But what about Portugal or Holland or England from last year?

[ThaSaltCracka]

The only national teams that could be really competitive are probably France, Italy, Brazil, and Argentina, but I think these teams lose a majority of the time to the top clubs in the world.

[talentdeficit]

club teams benefit from players retired from national team play but not club play. despite that, i think brazil, argentina, france, italy, england, spain, germany, portugal and the netherlands would all dominate play against champions league clubs. especially given a full season of play together.

[valenzuela]

the question is who wins the best club in the world OR the best national team in the world.
Is there a team that can seriously challenge Italy?

[duracell]

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Countries would beat 95% of clubs. The highest of club teams would beat most countries.

Top clubs and top countries would be very competitive with no more than a 5-10% advantage either way.

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This is obviously the correct answer, so I stopped reading after this post.

[hoyasnaxa]

The best club teams would beat the best national teams. You have the best players from the best countries on these teams, without the weaker players on the national teams. The best club teams are basically all star teams of the best national team players.

[mosta]

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[national teams] especially given a full season of play together.

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I think this would change the question/ situation too much.

The way I think of this issue is: where do you see better played matches, top leagues and champ league versus world cup? I think the clubs give you much better, except maybe at the very very top of national teams. and even then it's hard to judge b/c those nat'l teams look great on paper, but most of their matches are against weak or mediocre national teams. I really have no idea how Italy would do against whatever the best club is. but Germany gave them a pretty tough match, and I don't see Germany being competitive. There's just such better ball movement when you play and train together all year in a club.

or: is holland or portugal really favored to compete for first in the EPL?

[mmbt0ne]

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The best club teams would beat the best national teams. You have the best players from the best countries on these teams, without the weaker players on the national teams. The best club teams are basically all star teams of the best national team players.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is more of a problem than people are giving credit for. Having top talent from all of the good countries mean you are losing some of that talent whenever you would play against a great national team. FIFA rules.

[legend42]

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The best club teams are basically all star teams of the best national team players.

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This statement makes no sense. Before making a declaration like this, why don't you *name* the best club team(s) in the world, and then back it up with their roster against that of, say Italy's, national team?

[ThaSaltCracka]

I think Inter, ManU, Barca, Chelsea, RM, and AC Milan are all better than Italy.