chucku said:
wilf789 - What matters more? England vs Italy (world cup) or Chelsea vs AC Milan (champions cup, club play)? Where is competition the fiercest, the caliber of play higher? Between all star teams with limited preparation that play each other every few years or long standing rivals who not only have thoroughly scouted the opposition but also have a wealth of experience against their regular opponents.
Well it depends. People who go to watch their club team play every week, with season tickets and travelling to away games all over the country, may well say that they'd rather their club won the Champions League than England win the World Cup. When you see the same players and fans week-in-week-out for a whole season, you have a lot more invested in them.
All those club fans clearly love football so much that they'll be just as devoted to England, but in a slightly different way. It's nice actually that fierce season-rival fans can become one under the national team.
The calibre is probably higher in the club teams. E.g. if Barcelona or Man United played Spain or England, the formers would be favourite to win. Playing with the same people every day is clearly much more beneficial than playing a few times a year, and then only proper games every 2 or 4 years.
On another note, just got back watching the game in Amstedam. We were in Museum Square, which had approximately 150,000 people there, probably the biggest crowd I've ever been in, and the atmosphere was absolutely incredible. Obviously after they lost it was heart-breaking, especially with that many people there. Being English we expected riots and fights to kick off, but nothing happened as far as I'm aware. It's not like Amsterdam doesn't have adequate facilities in which to drown your sorrows!
