Should teams like Andorra be in the World Cup?

[Jamon Jamon]

yes, it's a WORLD cup, how are any country or team ever going to progress technically or financially if they are never allowed to compete with the big boys. I personally find the Champions League a turn off now with the same teams competing year in year out, it was more of a global game when the teams came out of the hat and often saved them going bankrupt, Partizan Tirana V Man Utd, Bangor City V Real Madrid, Valetta V Juventus etc etc, i'd rather see that myself

 

[Spiros]

Just listen to yourselves. On the one hand you go on about the likes of Leeds and Man U showing no respect or thought to those lower down the club ladder, then on the other you can't wait to insist that smaller nations should have to pre-qualify for the 'right' to play in qualifiers for Euro and WC tournaments. Double standards or what. I'm surprised no-one's yet said 'No disrespect to the likes of Andorra and San Marino, but...'

This is the qualifying stages of the world cup. By definition all countries that are members of FIFA are entitled to participate. If you don't like the idea of watching England stuff these teams (remember that the fastest ever competitive international goal was scored against England by San Marino) then don't watch or go. If you don't like the idea that the FA want to charge £30 to see only one team of professionals on the pitch then don't pay. It's not Andorra's fault that our FA are a bunch of clueless rip-off merchants.

A few years back I remember going to Wenbley to watch England play Turkey in a WC qualifier. England won 5-0 and were booed off because last time we'd stuck 8 past the Turks. These days going to Istanbul and coming away with a draw is considered a good result, so let these teams have their games against bigger footballing countries, they might not always be crap. But what does it matter if they are?

 

[Pavilionaire]

In the same way that England have to go through the group stages to qualify I think the likes of Andorra should have to go through a preliminary group stage.

Last night's match was farcicial, with the ski instructors failing to make it into England's penalty area or even muster a shot at goal. The sight of them withdrawing a striker and putting on a defender when 5-0 down was pathetic.

The results speak for themselves. Andorra have just 3 wins in 84 matches - vs. Albania, Belarus and Macedonia. San Marino have NEVER won a competitive match in 19 years and only ever won once before - 1-0 against Liechenstein.

In the same way that cricket and rugby world cups have preliminaries football should do the same.

 

[bristolseagull]

Yeah, of course they should. They have every right to be.

Did anyone notice they have a Striker called Andorra.

is that funny?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

As The Guardian pointed out this morning ... Andorra is a member of the United Nations.

... which is more than can be said for England.

A vote among FIFA members to ban Andorra could easily lead to a vote to ban "pseudo nations" like Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England.

Best we shut up.

 

[HG201]

would you say the same if the FA Cup became a top one or even top two division league competition

Very good point

I completely agree, there is no reason why Andorra, and other countries like them should not be able to complete

 

[1066familyman]

I just can't see the point in playing a team that won't even try to score, they are playing just to concede less goals as they can, is there a point to it?

Well said. I'd have a bit more time for the likes of Andorra if they at least tried to make a game of it. Ok, so trying to take the game to England might result in even heavier defeat, but they're never going to progress playing five across the back with four sat in front of them and not even leaving their only 'attacker' in the oppositon half, are they ?

I'm sorry, but that game last night was just embarrassing.

 

[Nottseagull]

A few years back I remember going to Wenbley to watch England play Turkey in a WC qualifier. England won 5-0 and were booed off because last time we'd stuck 8 past the Turks. These days going to Istanbul and coming away with a draw is considered a good result, so let these teams have their games against bigger footballing countries, they might not always be crap. But what does it matter if they are?

But Turkey always had the potential to become decent due to population size, as do India and Pakistan for example. Andorra and San Marino will never reach a decent standard.

 

[Paxton Dazo]

is that funny?

Yes, that's why I put "" there.

 

[jmsc]

what's the BNP's stance on this?

f*** that, it wasn't England playing last night, so many darkies it woznt tru!

 

[The Spanish]

I like Lawrenson's idea. Put all these shit teams (Andorra, Faroe Islands, San Marino, Armenia, Lichtenstein etc) together in one group.

Let them play against each other, so at least they get the chance to occasionally play a competitive game.

Then let the winner of the group play a 2 leg playoff against one of the other group runners up (where they WILL come up against proper strong opposition) for a place in the finals.

I mean, in other parts of the world that's what happens, CONCACAF, for example where you get shit footie like Canada v Costa Rica, they get a competitive game but will never progress much further.

Says the man who elected to play for the ROI to get a cap when they were f***ing dreadful, when he could have quite possibly (and quite deservedly) got to play for England.

 

[The Spanish]

As The Guardian pointed out this morning ... Andorra is a member of the United Nations.

... which is more than can be said for England.

A vote among FIFA members to ban Andorra could easily lead to a vote to ban "pseudo nations" like Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England.

Best we shut up.

What an idiotic post. Two of the constituent nations of the UK invented international football. Without that parochialism we may well not be having this debate.

 

[Nottseagull]

Yes, that's why I put "" there.

Didn't you put that there to tell us it's supposed to be funny?

 

[Pavilionaire]

This subject can be over-analysed, but the plain, simple truth with Andorra is they behaved beforehand like an Under-10 boys team playing a match at Withdean, taking photos like starstruck schoolboys.

As for the match they never had any intention to attack, they defended in large numbers and seemed to have 2 principal aims: to keep the score in single figures and to get as many England players booked as possible.

How can they have learned anything constructive to make themselves a better side? Was the purpose of the exercise a glorified training session where the manager gets the whole team to defend?

UEFA need to rethink this, because there is not one example of noticeable improvement in any of these minnows in 20 odd years.

 

[Paxton Dazo]

Didn't you put that there to tell us it's supposed to be funny?

Nope, I put it there because I thought it was quite amusing.

 

[The Spanish]

This subject can be over-analysed, but the plain, simple truth with Andorra is they behaved beforehand like an Under-10 boys team playing a match at Withdean, taking photos like starstruck schoolboys.

As for the match they never had any intention to attack, they defended in large numbers and seemed to have 2 principal aims: to keep the score in single figures and to get as many England players booked as possible.

How can they have learned anything constructive to make themselves a better side? Was the purpose of the exercise a glorified training session where the manager gets the whole team to defend?

UEFA need to rethink this, because there is not one example of noticeable improvement in any of these minnows in 20 odd years.

Yeah why dont we just make England play Spain France Italy and Germany every game. That would be a laugh, and we could see what Defoe and Fat Frank were really made of.


Do any of you really follow England. Take these moments, you know we will be in the 1/4 finals in S Africa and get ironed out by one of them or the South Americans. Take the pleasures, banning Andorra will not get us any further against any of the above.

 

[drew]

As The Guardian pointed out this morning ... Andorra is a member of the United Nations.

... which is more than can be said for England.

A vote among FIFA members to ban Andorra could easily lead to a vote to ban "pseudo nations" like Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England.

Best we shut up.

England are part of the UK which is a leading member of the UN so that part of your arguement appears irrelevant. As for the second part, I think if you read all the posts, you will see that most suggest a pre-qualifying tournament rather than a ban.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Nobody's saying they should be banned.

In the greatest and oldest knockout football trophy, the FA Cup, the top teams enter the competition in Round 3. The present system has worked for many years and no one has seriously suggested the big boys should enter the comp in Round 1.

I'm sure Steyning Town would love to play Man Utd and "learn" from the experience but in order to do so they'd quite rightly have to win a few matches to earn the right.

And what is the point of San Marino playing in Bologna or Andorra playing in Barcelona? It's a farce.

 

[The Spanish]

Nobody's saying they should be banned.

In the greatest and oldest knockout football trophy, the FA Cup, the top teams enter the competition in Round 3. The present system has worked for many years and no one has seriously suggested the big boys should enter the comp in Round 1.

I'm sure Steyning Town would love to play Man Utd and "learn" from the experience but in order to do so they'd quite rightly have to win a few matches to earn the right.

And what is the point of San Marino playing in Bologna or Andorra playing in Barcelona? It's a farce.

I saw plenty of people turn up at east brighton park when whitehawk came within a whisper of getting to the first round proper. everyone had a blinding time and gave the club a real shot in the arm. but you are right perhaps we should just pick the best team now give them a trophy without playing a match and we could all save ourselves a lot of grief and heartache.

perhaps as england fans we could all just ask Uefa or FIfa to just say before any tournaments "well done lads lets just say you got to the quarters and lost on penalties heres your medals lets not worry about competing" and save a lot of hassle. because thats whats going to happen.

Does no one like football on this site?

 

[Pavilionaire]

I don't understand your point Spanish.

Horsham got to the 2nd Round of the FA Cup and played Swansea in Horsham and were unlucky to lose. They got there by winning a few preliminary rounds and, arguably, by coming through those rounds they were more focused and united than they would have been had they met them in their very first match in the competition.

All of this is a good thing. Had Horsham drawn Man Utd in the very first round the game would probably have been played at Selhurst and Man Utd would have won 6 or 7-NIL.

Look how Ireland have progressed as a cricket side by playing against their peers, then being allowed into the bigger competitions after they've honed their game.