Friendlies

[Lorric]

They also got beat 3-0 by Croatia U23 on Tuesday.

For comparison, when South Africa were being criticised for being weak hosts in 2010 (which turned out accurate), their last bunch of friendlies included them BEATING Denmark.

South Africa 2010 was a much better team than this Qatar.
South Africa had qualified for 2 World Cups before on merit. Qatar hadn't come even close. Yeah I know, they won the Asian Cup, well so did Iraq in 2007. Miraculous runs happen.

Nah. South Africa 2010 couldn't even qualify for the AFCON. Qatar are Asian champions and qualified easily for the next Asian Cup and also got to the semis of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

[Firnen]

For comparison, when South Africa were being criticised for being weak hosts in 2010 (which turned out accurate), their last bunch of friendlies included them BEATING Denmark.

South Africa 2010 was a much better team than this Qatar.
South Africa had qualified for 2 World Cups before on merit. Qatar hadn't come even close. Yeah I know, they won the Asian Cup, well so did Iraq in 2007. Miraculous runs happen.

Nah. South Africa 2010 couldn't even qualify for the AFCON. Qatar are Asian champions and qualified easily for the next Asian Cup and also got to the semis of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Asian Cup was a fluke, the Gold Cup is just weak.
Their entire team plays in the local league, they are simply not good. Same with Saudi Arabia. Neither of them will get a win in the World Cup.

[Lorric]

South Africa 2010 was a much better team than this Qatar.
South Africa had qualified for 2 World Cups before on merit. Qatar hadn't come even close. Yeah I know, they won the Asian Cup, well so did Iraq in 2007. Miraculous runs happen.

Nah. South Africa 2010 couldn't even qualify for the AFCON. Qatar are Asian champions and qualified easily for the next Asian Cup and also got to the semis of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Asian Cup was a fluke, the Gold Cup is just weak.
Their entire team plays in the local league, they are simply not good. Same with Saudi Arabia. Neither of them will get a win in the World Cup.

Wasn't a fluke. I watched. They were the best team there. They won every game by being the better team.

[Firnen]

Nah. South Africa 2010 couldn't even qualify for the AFCON. Qatar are Asian champions and qualified easily for the next Asian Cup and also got to the semis of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Asian Cup was a fluke, the Gold Cup is just weak.
Their entire team plays in the local league, they are simply not good. Same with Saudi Arabia. Neither of them will get a win in the World Cup.

Wasn't a fluke. I watched. They were the best team there. They won every game by being the better team.

Then perhaps doping. Or a rare form for the tournament.

[Lorric]

Asian Cup was a fluke, the Gold Cup is just weak.
Their entire team plays in the local league, they are simply not good. Same with Saudi Arabia. Neither of them will get a win in the World Cup.

Wasn't a fluke. I watched. They were the best team there. They won every game by being the better team.

Then perhaps doping. Or a rare form for the tournament.

They do well when it's a competitive fixture. Maybe they'll get demolished at the World Cup, but they've done far better in competitive matches than friendlies.

[Lorric]

Iran beat Uruguay 1-0. An unwelcome result, but hopefully one which will help England take them seriously.

On the other hand, Japan beat the US 2-0.

[Lorric]

Iran drew 1-1 with Senegal. They've had a good window, we need to be ready for them.

USA not so good. 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia.

[Lorric]

Qatar managed to get a decent result before the World Cup in a 2-2 draw with Chile. But UAE, the Asian playoff team, lost 0-4 to Venezuela. Teams worse than UAE from Asia will be in the 2026 World Cup while Venezuela probably won't be.

[Michael S Collins]

Qatar managed to get a decent result before the World Cup in a 2-2 draw with Chile. But UAE, the Asian playoff team, lost 0-4 to Venezuela. Teams worse than UAE from Asia will be in the 2026 World Cup while Venezuela probably won't be.

A decent result, or a sign of the Chilean decline?

Peru got KO'd by a weak Australian side, the CONEMBOL 10 might be a bit top heavy in quality at this present time.

[Lorric]

Qatar managed to get a decent result before the World Cup in a 2-2 draw with Chile. But UAE, the Asian playoff team, lost 0-4 to Venezuela. Teams worse than UAE from Asia will be in the 2026 World Cup while Venezuela probably won't be.

A decent result, or a sign of the Chilean decline?

Peru got KO'd by a weak Australian side, the CONEMBOL 10 might be a bit top heavy in quality at this present time.

Well the top heavy part is the top 2. 32 matches between them against the rest and 0 losses. We'll find out more at the World Cup if the other two that qualified have got weak or Brazil and Argentina have got strong.

[Meister Ether]

With the 2024 Euro qualifiers groups and schedules known, let's look at possible opponents for the German NT.
I'd like to see only 4- 6 European opponents - leaving room to visit other continents and/or inviting teams from around the world for the remainig 2-3 windows.

@Korgutt Thanks for the overview, I just condensed it a bit.

Code: Select all

#	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
-------------------------------------------------------------
1-Mar	GEO	ROI	UKR	LAT	ALB	EST	HUN
2-Mar	CYP	GRE	NMD	ARM	FAR	BEL	LIT
-------------------------------------------------------------
3-Jun	-	-	-	-	POL	SWE	SRB
4-Jun	-	-	-	-	CZE	AZE	MON
-------------------------------------------------------------
5-Sep	NOR	GIB	MLT	WAL	MDA	AUT	BUL
6-Sep	SCO	FRA	ENG	TRK	CZE	AZE	HUN
-------------------------------------------------------------
7-Oct	GEO	GIB	ENG	WAL	MDA	SWE	MON
8-Oct	SCO	FRA	NMD	ARM	ALB	EST	BUL
-------------------------------------------------------------
9-Nov	NOR	GRE	UKR	TRK	FAR	BEL	SRB
10-Nov	CYP	ROI	MLT	LAT	POL	AUT	LIT

Timeline by most recent match against each possible team:

Code: Select all

team	year	comp	result	location
---------------------------------------------------------------
MDA	1999	Euro-Q	6-1	Leverkusen
ALB	2001	WC-Q	0-2	Tirana
BUL	2002	-/-	2-2	Sofia
MON*	2003	-/-	1-0	Bremen *as Serbia and Montenegro
CYP	2007	Euro-Q	4-0	Hanover
WAL	2009	WC-Q	0-2	Cardiff
MLT	2010	-/-	3-0	Aachen
BEL	2011	Euro-Q	3-1	Düsseldorf
GRE	2012	Euro-QF	4-2	Gdańsk
FAR	2013	WC-Q	0-3	Tórshavn
GIB	2015	Euro-Q	0-7	São João da Venda
SCO	2015	Euro-Q	2-3	Glasgow
ROI	2015	Euro-Q	1-0	Dublin
GEO	2015	Euro-Q	2-1	Leipzig
POL	2016	Euro-GS	0-0	Sain-Denis
NOR	2017	WC-Q	6-0	Stuttgart
AZE	2017	WC-Q	5-1	Kaiserslautern
AUT	2018	-/-	2-1	Klagenfurt
SWE	2018	WC-GS	2-1	Sochi
EST	2019	Euro-Q	0-3	Tallinn
SRB	2019	-/-	1-1	Wolfsburg
TRK	2020	-/-	3-3	Cologne
CZE	2020	-/-	1-0	Leipzig
UKR	2020	NL-GS	3-1	Leipzig
FRA	2021	Euro-SF	0-1	Munich
NMD	2021	WC-Q	0-4	Skopje
ARM	2021	WC-Q	1-4	Yerevan
HUN	2022	NL-GS	0-1	Leipzig
ENG	2022	NL-GS	3-3	London

Considering the dates, I'd like to see these matches:
- June: hosting Poland (most time passed) + going to Montenegro (cause there hasn't been a match yet technically)
- November: going to Belgium (quality name long overdue) + hosting Austria (a derby one can't refuse)
For the other windows, DFB should use the opportunity to get good opponents from other confederations. I'd give priority to CONCACAF (esp. WC hosts) and CAF/AFC - New Zealand would also be rather new as the only match was at 1999 Confed Cup in Mexico (2-0 for Germany).
If there were only European opponents:
- March: Albania + Belgium (and Turkey instead in November to spice it up for fans)
- September: Norway + Scotland (both not too recently)
- October: Wales + Bulgaria (last matches over a decade ago)
Looking further, the March 2024 window could be used to test against teams then qualified - also preferably some ones faced not too recently.

[Korgutt]

You are welcome @Meister Ether .

[AnelZ]

The match between Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, planned for 19.11.2022 in St. Petersburg, won't be played. As of now, from our FA it is said that the match is "postponed".

[amenina]

Scotland to play England in 150th Anniversary Heritage Match

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/scotl ... ?rid=13925

The latest chapter in the oldest rivalry in world football will be written next year, as Scotland take on England in a special 150th Anniversary Heritage Match to mark the first meeting between the two sides in 1872.

Hampden Park will play host to the head-to-head on Tuesday, 12 September (7.45pm kick-off) as part of the year-long calendar of events from the Scottish FA to celebrate the history of the association.

The original contest is recognised by FIFA as football’s first-ever international match, as 4000 supporters packed into the West of Scotland Cricket Club in Glasgow.

[Korgutt]

Norwegian squad for the matches against Republic of Ireland 17th november and Finland 20th november.
https://twitter.com/nff_landslag/status ... ZbKQ7bhMDg