Oh, Franck.

By: Martha | October 9th, 2007

Hot. Either Scotland’s Daily Record is perpetrating an elaborate “we interviewed Franck Ribery!” scam, or the latest French genius (who wasn’t so genius-y against the Azzurri) is talking a whole lot of smack about Italy and their chances of qualification for Euro 2008. According to the (alleged) exclusive interview, Ribery is quite sure the teams advancing to the finals out of Group B will be Scotland and France, leaving Italy “at home watching the tournament on TV next summer.” Damn, Franck, that hurts!

It’s too bad he wait until after his team were done playing Italy to let his true feelings show, huh? Ahead of the San Siro match, he was confident, as you would expect from any footballer, but also carefully respectful. Not no longer, clearly.

While it’s true that France have a run-in — Faroe Islands, Lithuania, Ukraine — that should leave them with nine points, the point is less Ribery’s confidence in his own team than his assurance that Scotland will beat Italy at home, thus allowing France to leapfrog the Azzurri into second place and and a spot in the Euros. The nerve of him! Erm, well, actually … Scotland have been on great form and seem to be playing with a ton of confidence, while Italy have been injury-prone, out of sorts, and erratic. Hmm. Maybe he’s not talking smack as much as describing the situation as those outside of Italy see it?

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Category: Azzurri, Rumors & News, Serie A

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Linda

Depends on where you're from, I guess. I couldn't give a damn about the Euros, but that's because I support Argentina. It's fair enough for the Europeans to care about it. Obvious, no? (But that presumes that everybody keeps in mind that the world =/= Europe. :D)
Marco

I guess we're gonna have to agree to disagree. Chris, I'm not even gonna touch your baseball argument, apples and oranges.

Kevin, you may call Euro 2004 a fluke for Greece, hell you might even throw in Denmark's Euro 1992 for good measure... so what? It's still a competition with the top TOP teams in the World, not just Europe. You take the first round rejects of the tournament (those not making it past the group stage), and you put them against the best teams of the CONCACAF, CAF and CONMEBOL regions: tell me the UEFA teams wouldn't atomize them (Brazil and Argentina excepted).

Let's be honest, nowadays no self-respecting soccer player gives a rat's ass about winning the UEFA Cup (I'm talking since the European Cups format change... post-2000 era). Not so for the Euro.
kevin

Milan are champions of Europe...Sevilla, uhh, UEFA Cup winners??
kevin

Like it or not, the stars are earned in the WC, not Euro..

While Euro may hold some prestige and bragging rights, it is still peanuts in the whole scheme of things...Greece won Euro04, so what? The only reason I remember is because it was such a fluke..I can't even remember who played them in the final..

SO I think it is a fair comparison to CL and UEFA Cup..
Greg

less than the World Cup. You can argue that the talent level and concentration is higher in the Euro, certainly. However, the analogy of Euro is to the WC as the UEFA Cup is to the Champions League is way off, to me. However, unlike 75% of the commenters that have unfortunately found their way to a number of these blogs, I respect your opinions regarding how you feel about it and think you're all just swell individuals capable of forming rather intelligent arguments. In spite of the fact that I'm right and you're wrong ;-).
Greg

But aren't the Euro and World Cup both international tournaments? Or are you considering the Euro a regional tournament, in which case, that region is massive. Semantics aside, athletes tend to want to be compared against the best in the world. Keeping with your baseball analogy, you think an athlete wants to win the World Baseball Classic (international) more than the World Series (regional/national)? There's no definitive, clear cut answer here. Yes, the Euro is
chris

Ask any athlete who has competed in a national/regional tournament versus an international one - Int'l >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Regional. Period.

Take it first hand. No comparison, regardless of statistics or quality of opponents. The National League blows this year. Do you really think the Sox or Indians care just as much about winning the ALCS as the World Series? Start thinking like an athlete, not a fan.
Ian

I have to agree with Marco. Winning the Euro is a huge deal, because of all the quality spread out around Europe. Granted, South America adds a great element to the World Cup. That being said, there is a lot of UEFA Cup bashing lately, mostly by clubs that are either virtually guaranteed a Champions League spot by the ridiculous four-team format of the top three leagues, or by clubs that have already been kicked out of the UC and now claim to not care about it. Greg had the right idea. Teams like Celtic talk about the UEFA Cup as if it's meaningless, but they didn't feel that way a few years back when they were in reach of taking it home. Sevilla certainly doesn't feel that way.
Marco

Funny you guys should say that, Kevin and Chris, because the Euro usually contains a higher concentration of the World's top teams that the World Cup does.

Let's face it, in terms of national teams, Europe is where the best soccer is played. You can add Brazil and Argentina to the lot, but everyone else will never be a serious contender for the World Champions title. In the FIFA World Rankings (and I can't believe I'm actually quoting them), more than half the teams in the Top50 are from the UEFA region.

Sure, nothing compares to the prestige of the World Cup, but winning the Euro is a very close second, and in no way holds the Champions League-UEFA Cup comparison. Let's not mix towels and rags please.
Greg

Every tournament or cup competition is second-rate until your favorite club/country wins it or is hotly contesting for it. World Cup? Bah, it's got nothing on the U19 County Butter Eating Championship!
chris

Nope, me too. It's the international UEFA Cup. Nice warm up for the big one.
Martha

Just you, I think, Kevin. I was in Portugal for the tournament in 2004 and the country was going absolutely mad over it. And Donadoni will be gone if Italy don't qualify -- who gets fired for going out of the UEFA Cup?
kevin

Is it just me, or is Euro the equivilent of the UEFA cup?
Marco

And the psychological warfare resumes...
Ian

It was interesting to read ... That's certainly a result I would like to see, but it's nowhere near safe yet. Scotland still has a tricky match against Ukraine this weekend, and it's those mid-table matches that we have a history of blowing. But I expect it all to come down to November 17th at Hampden. Hopefully, we'll win our next two and only need a draw, because regardless of form, NEEDING a win against Italy is not a good situation to be in.