Some Thoughts

Domestic and international football are two distinct domains of football, but I notice an interesting parallel between the two - both of them were once contested by many very talented teams, yet now, in my opinion, are dominated by just three. At club level, Europe has three teams who I think are currently the best by some way - Real Madrid, Manchester United and Barcelona. Internationally, the top three are Holland, Germany and Spain.

Looking even closer, these three teams seem to correspond with each other in playing style. Real Madrid and Holland both play physical football with an emphasis on defensive discipline, while still being able to attack with flair. Manchester United and Germany play attacking football at a high, urgent tempo and neither are afraid to invest in youth. The sentence "Never write off _" can be completed with either of these teams. The similarities between Barcelona and Spain are obvious; sharing many of the same players, they play possession football, keeping the ball for long periods and pressing the opponents hard when they don't have it.

Looking beyond these things, I begin to feel pessimistic about modern football. International football has been dying on its feet for years (for many reasons) and the quality of football has been declining, at least since 2002 in my opinion (albeit it revived briefly during the world cup of 2006). England aren't ranked 4th because they're particularly good; it's because the rest of the teams aren't particularly great either. France, though talented, haven't looked good in years, and Italy, a side I've always liked, have not aged gracefully, and I find it difficult to see them resurrecting themselves for quite some time. It's not necessarily a question of talent; nobody disputes that Portugal and Argentina have talented players, but the way they play does little to optimise their abilities. The fact that Brazil are no longer a fearsome team is something I find a little saddening - they used to be so great to watch.

Similarly, in the Champions' League, it's very difficult to see any side outside the three mentioned winning it (Inter Milan and Real Madrid basically swapped places when Mourinho went between them). There used to be a time when quite a few very well-organised sides could win it (in 1998/99, there were three potential winners in Utd's group alone), but with the fall of Serie A (AC and Inter Milan have won the Champions' League in recent years, but both fell apart the following year), the perennial lightweightedness of the French Ligue 1 and the inconsistency of German teams (Bayern and Schalke are perfect examples of this) means that getting to the semi-finals is no longer a large achievement (this isn't to say that semi-finalists generally aren't good teams, however).

On one hand, it's great to see Utd consistently do well in Europe, but looking at the bigger picture, it's lamentable that people now expect Utd to comfortably beat the likes of AC Milan and Juventus - even Utd's last two semi-final opponents put up token resistance! What it's led to is a less competitive Europe, with few teams having the quality to win it and fans pedestalising those who do. It's no wonder people are so obsessed with Barcelona - very few teams have good defences, and this year, those that did either got their tactics horribly wrong (United) or were on the receiving end of a Busquets Special (Real Madrid).

It may seem odd that I (a Utd fan) want better competition in Europe. Think of it this way; as far as international football is concerned, I'm a neutral (Ireland haven't been at a tournament in almost a decade). When I watch World Cups and European Championships, I want to see great teams. It makes the event much more epic, raises the excitement and makes you feel like you've really witnessed something great. Similarly, playing the AC Milan team of 2007 in the semi-final is much more thrilling than playing Schalke 04 - yes, we lost that one, but it makes it much more meaningful when you do win. It's the reason that even though Inter Milan and Barcelona have won trebles, Utd's one in 1999 is the one everybody knows - because it was done at a time when Utd's opponents for the Champions' League and Premiership titles were of a very high standard. Had Utd beaten City and Barcelona (let's say Hargreaves never got injured and remained his 2008 self), people would remember Utd winning a mediocre Premier League and a Europe with only a few good teams.