Those comments prove Giovinco was never seriously considered from the moment he left Italy. His call up for the qualifiers vs. Azerbaijan and Norway wasn't for Conte to have a look, it was a "let's get this over with". He played well and basically won them the Norway game, then never gets another call up.
It's old school thinking. And Italy has always had a particularly strong bias for players playing in their domestic league. Their loss.
You don't take youngsters to a major tourney unless you already know how good they are for the national team. That's what friendlies and qualifier games are for. It's too late just couple of weeks before the tourney starts to look at youngsters who you don't quite know how good they are for the senior national team.Originally Posted by TFC Tifoso
Giovinco will be 32 in 2018. Hardly the age to exclude him, though likely his last chance at playing for a major tourney.
If you're a soccer player and you don't want to play in WC or a major tourney for your country, why are you playing soccer...
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
ACTUALLY, they just prove Conte has...ahem....differing opinions depending upon his moods.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/KHeneage/status/735108358705930241
So, if Giovinco wants a shot at WC 2018, he'll ask for a transfer back to Europe.
If he's content with making big bucks and playing in MLS, he'll stay and basically retire from national team.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
Conte is gone after this tournament.
More likely Seba will wait to see who takes over.
Hey The MLS is our league and I love being at BMO Field week in, week out during the season. Having attended games at a few of the world's biggest club's home stadiums I would be be silly to say the MLS is a top flight league but that matters dick all to me, TFC is my team and the Red bleeds from my heart. I am sure Seba is disappointed by not being selected but I hope this feeds him even more to score at the rate he has been with the Reds and not put him in a funk. To be honest I really do not have the knowledge or insight into Italian football to truely have a feel for Conte's decsion. #COYR
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
well said.its our team and our league and i love it and it will get better.
btw Italy lost to a concacaf team Costa Rica in the last world cup.not exactly world beaters lately.
Last edited by reggie; 05-24-2016 at 11:23 AM.
Just looking at the mids and forwards from the preliminary 30, there are 7 players who have literally never played a minute for Italy in a major tournament (or 8....can't remember off the top of my head of Bonaventura was on the WC 14 team).....and imo, yes you don't know what they have to offer as an international....friendlies v Azerbaijan don't count to me.....had it been the case, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation about Giovinco now.....
Euro Cup has been a trophy that Italy doesn't get too up in arms about either way.....they are proud when the team does well in the tourney, but doesn't go crazy if the don't.....in Italy its all about the World Cup......and that will be Giovinco's last chance....
It has little to do with players WANTING to represent Italy or not......as I mentioned in an earlier post it's a team in transition with A LOT of new faces, so its more of a case of who can take over from the old guard (De Rossi, Montolivo, etc....guys who are/were set in stone players and are getting past it now)....
not necessarily the case.....
this is closer to the way it will play out I feel.....
Last edited by TFC Tifoso; 05-24-2016 at 11:25 AM.
I can't see another Italian manager going to look at players outside of Europe.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
FWIW,
Seba was supposed to be available to the media today but there was no translator; he will speak to the media tomorrow.
I trust at least one of the media will ask the hard question... if all fails, there's always Totera lol
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
Totera will already have contacted Seba's agent by now and have an exclusive interview lined up for later this week - seeing as he had him on last week.
http://www.football-italia.net/84852...pirlo%E2%80%99
Conte says in this article that playing in a lower league has consequences on skill level, basically.
I'd say that's some BS......based on the comments he made around the time Giovinco was coming to TFC, its becoming clearer that Conte really just says what happens to come into his head on that particular day....thinking more about it, Giovinco was even down the pecking order at Juve when him and Conte were both there.....regardless of the fact that the Azzurri is a team that should be introducing some new players for this tourney, perhaps there's other issues between them also.....
Last edited by TFC Tifoso; 05-24-2016 at 02:32 PM.
Oso knows his pain?
lol...maybe.....I mean reading the wording of the article (even though I hate to draw conclusions from these types of things), Conte mentions about "speaking to Andrea" about it, but nothing about Giovinco....or even to say "I spoke to Andrea and Sebastian blah blah blah".....
Conte is doing Hio a favour in the end. Making the last spot on a 23 roster means your are going to have a great view of the games. You might not even be dressed. That would have really sucked to miss Gio and then watch him sit as sub for the whole Euro period. Conte is as likely to have thought once he is down to his final subs..might as well take someone who is not missing anything than GIo who is playing competitive games.
I suspect the original plan was to call Giovinco and leave Pirlo behind, although theyy didn't want to insult/offend
Pirlo, so they played the " No MLS allowed" card and left them both off. This was probably aa last minute decision from Conte
who could find no other solution.
http://www.espnfc.co.uk/team/italy/1...not-surprising
Good article.
yeah, same. i took it as IMNT views MLS is county level soccer and your not in top shape playing that competition
The MLS has to establish a proper club competition and play against top European teams with some frequency in real competitive matches. The first step is to start dominating the CONCACaF tournament. Then bring in the South American teams for an all America competitor to the Chamions League. That level of ambition is what it will take.
In the early days of TFC, I used to write all kinds of posts about how MLS could take on the big Euro leagues if it had the right vision and was willing to spend.
Our Leiweke experiment changed my view of that. Our domestic market just isn't ready. When Toronto vs Seattle, with 40M in payroll, drew a total of 600K in North America for Defoe's debut two years ago (which is a quarter of what a random EPL game gets), that tells you that people just aren't buying the improvement of the product.
MLS' problem isn't the growth of the game, that's happening. It's that most of that growth is accruing to the big Euro leagues on TV.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Quality isn't even the endgame. Of course we need the top quality to woo NA sports fans but it's the appearance of the league after it equals others. We'll never have the storied nostalgia that's elsewhere but look how fickle NA sports fans are with the accepted best of the sports here. They tune in for playoffs of 4 or 5 sports never committing to a season. Watching foreign games every so often is the NA equivalent to playoffs until MLS is considered top 4 or even best in the world.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
What's "proper"?
And where would we fit the America's playoffs in the already packed CCL schedule? What you're proposing would mean teams here would have to outspend Mexico to win CCL and then adding a step to face elimination BEFORE they get to compete in the Club World Cup? Why?
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
Unfortunately that is the case. Your skill level directly correlates to what is around you. There's a case for Gio to be picked ahead of Zaza, Eder and Immobile, based on performance and numbers. Let's be realistic though, most Serie A strikers would come over and score considerably more than they do in their domestic league, so it's a bit of a false economy.
Pirlo rightly was nowhere near the squad. He isn't at that level anymore and wouldn't even make a 40 man roster. That has nothing to do with him playing in the MLS.
Still, a blow for Gio. I don't think it will effect his performance here, or his desire to stay. It's hard to imagine that he thought playing in this league would do anything at all to enhance his chances of playing for his country. if anything, when he came over he was further down the pecking order.
That's way off. Liga MX pulls in close to 2.4m viewers for the big derbys but not the EPL.
Most-Watched Live Premier League Matches in U.S. History
NBC Sports Group has televised 12 of the 15 most-watched live Premier League matches in U.S. television history, including four this past season. The top 15:
Date Match Network Viewers 11/22/14 Arsenal-Man United NBC 1.41 million 2/5/12 Chelsea-Man United FOX 1.38 million 1/31/15 Chelsea-Man City NBC 1.35 million 10/26/14 Man United-Chelsea NBC 1.29 million 1/22/12 Man United-Arsenal FOX 1.26 million 9/12/15 Man United-Liverpool NBC 1.25 million 2/8/14 Cardiff-Swansea City NBC 1.24 million 1/23/16 West Ham-Man City NBC 1.16 million 3/20/16 Man City-Man United NBC 1.16 million 10/24/15 Arsenal-Everton NBC 1.15 million 4/12/15 Man United-Man City NBCSN 1.13 million 1/11/14 Man United-Swansea City NBC 1.10 million 11/7/15 Stoke City-Chelsea NBC 1.07 million 2/22/14 Crystal Palace-Man United NBC 1.06 million 4/30/12 Man City-Man United ESPN 1.03 million
NBC Sports Group averaged 514,000 viewers per match window – up 7% from last season’s average (479,000). Last season’s figure was up 9% from the then-record average in NBC Sports Group’s debut Premier League season (438,000 in 2013-14)
http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/20...league-season/
The 2.4M was a complete 1 off, and ended up with a bigger TV audience than all the NHL Playoffs too. MX's average is lower than the EPL and MLS.
Chivas v America regularly draws massive viewers.
2016
2015The first leg of the Liga MX playoff between Chivas and Club América last Thursday was the most-viewed club soccer match in US cable history.
The match was televised live on Univision Deportes to an audience of 1.4 million total viewers. The 0-0 draw was also delivered the most streams and minutes watched of any Liga MX game in Univision history, for the regular season or playoffs.
The second leg, which Club América won 2-1 against Chivas, was watched by 2.7 million total viewers on Sunday night, which aired on Univision and was simulcast on Univision Deportes. The viewership was the best for any Liga MX playoff match since the 2014 Apertura Final on Univision.
2014
- The El Súper Clásico match on Univision Network, with Chivas de la Guadalajara vs. Club América, delivered an average audience of 3.0 million Total Viewers 2+, 1.7 million Adults 18-49 and 862,000 young Adults 18-34 on April 26, the most-viewed regular season club soccer match in the U.S. in over 5 years.
Liga MX averages more viewers than EPL and MLS
- On Sunday, March 30, El Súper Clásico match on Univision Networks reached 4.1 million Total Viewers, making it the most-viewed club soccer match on any network in 2014.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer...501-story.htmlThe English Premier League is the most-watched sports league in the world. But in the U.S., it isn't even the most-viewed soccer league.
Mexico's Liga MX is averaging more than 1.1 million viewers on the Univision-owned UniMas Spanish-language network, an audience 19% larger than NBC averages for its weekly EPL telecasts. And that's a success built largely on time and loyalty, two advantages Univision's Mexican soccer coverage has over NBC and the EPL.
My point was more that it's a one off game, as opposed to consistent viewing figures. EPL figures in north america went up 25% this season, the largest growth of any market. Infact, on march 5th, NBC pulled in 13.8m viewers over it's 8 broadcasted games.
The relevance to TFC, and the topic of international football though is apparent. MLS has very little market share over in Europe. (Although i'm in England at the moment and have caught a few games on). Until that increases, it's always going to be harder for foreign players to make their national teams. The first step though, as the English and Mexican leagues figures show, is to dominate the marketshare % in North America.
Seba talking to the media today.
Edit: Aaaa missed Molinaro was there.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/JohnMolinaro/status/735511851866427393
&
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/JohnMolinaro/status/735513032814645248
Last edited by OgtheDim; 05-25-2016 at 11:54 AM.
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