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Are Friendlies Really Worthless?

July 27th, 2009 | By: Julian | 22 Comments »

It’s no surprise that a lot of people don’t like friendlies. We’ve heard a ton of arguments against having friendlies- hell, whole articles have been written recently about their pointlessness. And I’m not just talking international friendlies here, which I know club managers hate. But friendlies in general are seemingly loathed, even between clubs.

I’m not so sure that friendly matches are as bad as they’re made out to be, though. I mean, look at our current situation. It’s the middle of summer; our beloved Azzurri are coming off a horrible tournament; and we’re all going through club withdrawal (I haven’t had a case of Roma-itis this bad since… well, last summer). So at the very least, friendlies during the off season give us a chance to watch our players play. It’s especially helpful for international teams, which play much less often than clubs.

Sure, there’s always a risk that players are going to get injured; there’s always the argument that no one takes friendlies seriously. But the first one is a moot point because a player can get injured doing nearly anything, from crossing the street to just trying to get in shape (Re: Samir Nasri). Hell, ask Alberto Aquilani, who seems to get injured every time he steps on grass. And the second counter-argument against friendlies is merely a perspective; they’re as serious as everyone takes them. So maybe if we all took them a little more seriously, people would care. Plus, it’s not like we don’t see friendlies played with the intensity of a real game; many World Football Challenge matches looked more like a real game than a quote-unquote “friendly” is supposed to.

And finally- and most importantly- it’s a chance for us fans to see the sport we love so much. What could be wrong with that?

Tags: Alberto Aquilani, friendlies, Group E, Nasri

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Comments

By mike de robbio | July 27th, 2009 at 8:36 pm

it’s a great chance for managers to try out something new. new players, new formations, experiment a bit. You got to admit, that friendly Italy played against northern ireland recently, with foggia and d’agostino etc was the best italy have played for a very long time! It’s just a shame Lippi experimented so brilliantly in the friendly and then went back to his old boring choices at the confeds.

Posted from Australia

By Ben | July 28th, 2009 at 3:36 pm

http://eurodream2010.blogspot.com/

I feel your pain bro. Check out my blog and we can show what true fans there are in Europe.

By CarlosT | July 29th, 2009 at 3:09 pm

They’re definitely not worthless. I don’t think any manager would be happy with a preseason that didn’t include some friendlies to test players and concepts. Otherwise you’d have to spend the first few rounds of the season figuring out what your approach should be and that could mean valuable points down the drain.

Posted from United States

By John Silver | July 31st, 2009 at 10:06 am

My top 20 of Italian players is finally complete. You can find it online at http://www.footballitaliano.co.uk/default.aspx
Discuss.

Posted from France

By MAD | July 31st, 2009 at 10:19 pm

Just read the list from above.

Don’t waste your time…

By alessio | July 31st, 2009 at 10:56 pm

As outrageously biased as I am, I don’t see how ADP makes it in a top 20 list.

Posted from United States

By Aquismaia | August 1st, 2009 at 12:41 pm

poor Aquilani, one day he’ll be fixed

Posted from Greece

By Aquismaia | August 1st, 2009 at 12:43 pm

I think Paolo Rossi was better than ADP, no?

Posted from Greece

By Transalpino_in_Madrid | August 2nd, 2009 at 4:21 am

Hi, iam paolo , a first time blogger in these forums. I appreciate the efforts shown by Julian in posting relevent things.Iam aghast and petrified at the declining standards of serie A as well as our national team.
The top reasons why Azzurri was a great force in the world football??
We had a great home based legion of players ( i mean, always, 95% of our squad composition was from serie A based clubs)..it all seems to be changing now..Take the example of Milan, it is ridiculous that they r hell bent on signing useless foreign players when there is a great chance to replace the likes of Maldini, Pippo, Kaka , Seedorf and other ageing stars with the likes of Cigarini, Aquafresca and many other juniors who can definately make a quality leap required to fit into the senior squad..Giovinco is a great talent, i saw him playing against madrid the day before yesterday, he ran rings around Metzelder and pepe and sadly but surely, with the arrival of Diego, he will be reduced to bench!!Now, i hear that milan is getting itself disgraced more and more and is hell bent on selling the last playmaker extraordinaire, Andrea Pirlo to Chelsea!!Inter, instead of promoting balotelli and aquafresca has signed milito and e´too!!!Gone r the days when the big clubs of Italy had italian players(strikers, midfielders, defenders9 making the crux of the team..just remember the likes of Vieri, Signori, Mancini, Pippo, Del Piero, Vialli, Ravanelli, casiraghi, Zola and all those midfielders from di livio to Dibiaggio and all the defenders playing for top 4 club..now a days, sadly, Inter has all foreign based strikers/midfielders and defenders, so too Juventus is reliant on Amauri, Diego, Melo, Sissoko..Milan is finished, it is a crapp club..It is in tatters, it is on the wy to become the Leeds United of Italia, i wont be surprised(iam not joking) if Milan were to get relegated this season..Roma is selling its prized aquistion Aquilani to Liverpool!!
Italian football is in tatters..

Posted from Spain

By gio | August 2nd, 2009 at 5:29 pm

we know who you are.

Posted from United States

By Rahul | August 2nd, 2009 at 6:13 pm

OK, sounds like 9 champs league (that is what I think the original name was). Who cares anyways?
As to the post, I think friendlies are just warm up games – easy for losing teams to find an excuse – but in truth, I believe at least for national teams they are a bit more important than say for club teams because national teams play together very rarely. (Julian’s point).
In Italy’s case, the performances in the friendlies before the Confed Cup were a true reflection of the performance in the real tournament itself. And yes, I don’t buy the argument that the Confed Cup is worthless. When you are playing for your country, each competitive game counts.

Posted from Germany

By Marco | August 3rd, 2009 at 8:04 am

Yep Friendlies are really worthless. While Delpiero took a pathetic penalty yesterday Aston Villa beat Juventus. You could see on their faces they wanted it more. Juventus in general was being led the chooch delpiero.

Judging by that performance Lippi should be picking up for the upcoming world cup qualifier while he continues to leave cassano at home.

and No, Friendlies are very important, they are opportunities for us to try out new things, new players, new formations. That is NOT the case with the Azzurri, with one exception. Why don’t we start having blogs about D’Agostini, Pazzini, Cassano, and other Italians who have come of age, and SHOULD be immediate fixtures on the starting lineup of this national team, yet lippi chooses to leave them at home.

I completely understand leaving Giovinco, Balotelli etc at home until they mature, but D’Agostini and Cassano are at their primes.

By Jackson | August 3rd, 2009 at 4:24 pm

By Transalpino_in_Madrid from Spain.
Pig is back

Posted from United States

By 9 champs leagues Milan target | August 4th, 2009 at 5:02 am

edited-Julian

Posted from Spain

By Chris | August 4th, 2009 at 7:25 am

9 Champs – Oh my god, you are right! Thanks for enlightening me with your anthropological and geo-political insight, gleaned from Hollywood soundbites and genocide-101 handbooks. Please find another website. You’re not only vile, but now quite tedious too.

Posted from United Kingdom

By mike de robbio | August 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pm

This blog has lost it’s way! WE NEED SOME ARTICLES!

Posted from Australia

By KJ | August 4th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

9 League Champs, using movie lines to make a historical argument? Who is the monkey now?

Forza Palermo

Posted from United States

By gio | August 4th, 2009 at 10:02 pm

friendlies are important for coaches to be able to see how their players are playing, for the players to get fit and game-ready, and it is great for the fans to be able to see their teams play after the summer hiatus.

Posted from United States

By gio | August 4th, 2009 at 10:06 pm

hey asshole, you think you are so smart but you can’t even hide your dumb-ass identity from a stupid Sicilian (even though i am Napolitano) … dumb fuck.

Posted from United States

By Julian | August 4th, 2009 at 10:10 pm

Guys this blog is updated just about as often as most blogs on the network. It’s summer, news is zilch and no games are played, so when we can’t think of editorials, you guys can feel free to post stuff here.

We’ll be back once stuff actually happens, but until then, there’s really nothing doing.

By jackie | August 5th, 2009 at 1:06 am

To: Transalpino_in_Madrid / 9 champs leagues Milan target
http://www.beginningwithi.com/images/signs/BuonaPasquaalternativa.jpg

By mikederob | August 5th, 2009 at 7:10 pm

how do we post stuff? you mean just comments?

Posted from Australia

Comments are closed