Matip's potential Cameroon call up.

[niallers]

I know the Cameroon manager is trying to get him to play but it looks like matip doesn't want to. However,isn't there a rule that states if a player is called for international duty, he must attend, even if he's retired or says he doesn't want to play, and if he refuses to go, he'll be banned from club football for the duration of said international period.

Now, let's hope the Cameroon boss doesn't stoop that low but what if it happens? I don't want to think what we'd be like without him for a sustained period.

[Paulie Dangerously]

They can fuck off

[Lee909]

As soon as FIFA try invoking that on a player for a month the club will have them over the coals with CAS. You cant force a man to play international football if he doesnt want to

[Josef Svejk]

Martin O'Neill has been bugging me for months about this issue.

 

I've retired, Martin. And I'm fat, old, and useless.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City and Spurs have denied sending Christmas cards with cheques to the Cameroon manager. 

[Bjornebye]

That's all we'd fucking need with Mané off as well.

[niallers]

Didn't ribery get threatened with a call up when he retired few years back?

[Grinch]

A month of Lovren and Lucas would leave us chasing a top four spot and that's certainly no exaggeration

[Russ Atmosphere]

Sakho would be getting a new partner in the noddy league if this ever happened.

 

Anyway the bad news for Lovren/Lucas partnership fans is that Matip has returned to training.

[TheHowieLama]

Just makes me hate him more.

[niallers]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2746822/Franck-Ribery-serve-three-match-ban-refuses-play-France-says-UEFA-president-Michel-Platini.html

 

Says in here from 2014 bout when ribery decide to retire. Platini said that it's the international coaches decision on who gets picked and any player selected faces a ban simple he not turn up.

[TheHowieLama]

Nothing a serious international manager wants in his team more than a fella he has to force to turn up for training.

[Reckoner]

I think Klopp has commented on this in the past, to the tune of Matip wasn't brought up in Cameroon and is going to be a squad player, probably, so he's expecting ( gentle gentle pressure) him not to go.

Mane will go though yeah.

[Adebisi]

Taking a player who doesn't want to be there is like spitting in the face of the ones that do. Dude wasn't even born in Cameroon ffs leave him be. 

Slow news day methinks. Gotta get those clicks and traffic somehow.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I wouldn't mind Mane picking up a slight injury before they meet up, as long as it only keeps him out for a few weeks. 

[Strontium]

Have they tried hosting the tournament at a reasonable time of year like everyone else?

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Have they tried hosting the tournament at a reasonable time of year like everyone else?

Oh, you!

 

Nearly had me, then.

[Torvald Utne]

That's bullshit, I have an Irish grandparent apparently but fuck playing for Ireland, you can't make me do that shit.

[amli]

I know the Cameroon manager is trying to get him to play but it looks like matip doesn't want to.

Take '27 year old' E'too instead then.

[Hades]

Have they tried hosting the tournament at a reasonable time of year like everyone else?

The world should revolve around your spoilt life shouldn't it?

[Ne Moe Imya]

If I were president of FIFA with unlimited power I'd insist that international football should only be played once every 4 years for the World Cup.  

 

Actually, I'd bin that off as well because it's just a marketing machine for FIFA but there might be too much protest so I'd let them keep that one tournament.   Have, say, a maximum of 6 qualifying games, don't care how you arrange them or pick the teams that qualify but a hard limit of 6 games and then the finals.

[Chairman Meow]

If I were president of FIFA with unlimited power I'd insist that international football was scrapped completely as it's fucking shit 99.9% of the time. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

If I were president of FIFA with unfettered power I'd be shagging loads of beautiful women whilst Ne Moe and Chevs sorted out the menial work. My only stipulation would be that the Mancs, Everton and Chelsea would have to play their club football in the lower leagues of Kyrgyzstan.  

[Ne Moe Imya]

This might be a "but I don't know any Trump voters personally so I don't understand how he was elected" moment but I genuinely don't know anyone who likes international football.

 

About 98% of the people I've spoken with about it hate it with a passion.  The other 2% don't really care.  Where is the market for these games?  I have a very hard time understanding why we have to pause actual league seasons for meaningless games no one wants to watch every two months!

[Guest Pistonbroke]

This might be a "but I don't know any Trump voters personally so I don't understand how he was elected" moment but I genuinely don't know anyone who likes international football.

 

About 98% of the people I've spoken with about it hate it with a passion.  The other 2% don't really care.  Where is the market for these games?  I have a very hard time understanding why we have to pause actual league seasons for meaningless games no one wants to watch every two months!

 

I'm in the middle, I used to enjoy the main competitions but they are being bloated for TV revenue and the qualifying is never ending with meaningless friendlies thrown in for good measure. 

 

They need to overhaul the whole thing and have Pre-qualifying groups like the CL/EL before having smaller qualifying groups to decide who makes the finals. The finals should only be a last 32/16 affair with straight knock out competition over a period of 2-3 weeks. International friendlies should be binned off apart from the two summers when there isn't any International competitions. All players should be given a rest period once a year with a forced winter break probably the best outcome.