Common Card Market Pitfalls to Watch Out For in Major Tournaments
I don’t usually comment too much on the “market” side of cards and stickers - It’s not really my thing, and there’s people out there that are way better than it than I am.
And to be honest, for me - I find it a lot more fun to write about the sport, and my collection than the card market.
However, I’m pretty bloody time-poor this week with everything life-wise and work-wise and whatnot. So I thought I’d use this opportunity to point out some simple pitfalls around judging players in international tournaments - and that reflects the whole buying and selling part of the hobby.
(FYI - due to time constraints, I’m basically going to type the last word and hit publish - so apologies if there’s any typos)
The Teams are Worse (Usually)
Let me start by saying I absolutely love international soccer - For me, it’s really the only pure form of professional soccer that’s left. Club soccer is a money making marketing machine first, and a sport second.
To be fair, international tournaments aren’t far off - but at least players stay representing their country and don’t get dragged into year long transfer sagas to sell papers.
But… (there’s always a but)
Generally - the sides in international tournaments are worse than club sides.
For starters, the very best international sides like France, Italy, England, Belgium etc… may have absolutely stacked squads. Way better than the vast majority of club sides.
The only thing is, they don’t have time to be as good as they can be. International teams only really have a few mini-camps every few months to work on tactics with players from a range of clubs that don’t play in similar ways - and that’s best case scenario.
Often, mangers are blooding other players for friendlies, or some guys are missing international dates with injuries etc..
International managers can only do so much.
And, you’re kind of left with whatever your country has on offer - it’s not like you can go out and say “okay, I need to sign a player that’s really good at x and y”. You need to hope that you have someone that can do that that’s eligible to play for you, or you need to change your system.
What you end up with - is a collection of players that aren’t as good as they could be if they had enough time to work on things.
Because of that, a lot of international sides play a more defensive style, as it’s easier to implement in a short amount of time as opposed to a fluid attacking style.
So the very best teams generally aren’t as good as they could be.
On top of that, the worse teams in international tournaments are way worse than those in the top leagues.
North Macedonia and Finland have fought the good fight in this tournament, but they’d get fucking destroyed in the Premier League.
There just aren’t many games you play in the top leagues against sides as poor as the worst teams in international tournaments - Hell, you only play Newcastle twice a season.
Players Can Take on Bigger Roles than They Would for their Clubs
This piggy-backs off my last point.
Because the general quality of international sides is worse than the best leagues, it means that players can play in a role that can really highlight a skillset they might have that doesn’t get shown much at club level.
I kind of touched on this in my last article.
Gareth Bale dropped deep and played like an old fashioned playmaker (more on that later on) and was basically firing through balls across the field to runners. It’s no surprise that he and the only other top quality Welsh player, Ramsey, are both on seven through passes this tournament, which is equal second overall.
The only thing is - no club side would build a team around this Gareth Bale.
Basically, any club that can afford the wages for a player like Bale can afford someone better - or use a better system than funnel the ball into a playmaker and hoping. The clubs that could use a player like that can’t afford him.
And in Bale’s situation, even if they could work out something with wages - he’d be a loan signing, and no club would build their team around an injury-prone, nearly 32-year-old loanee.
Georginio Wijnaldum is another. Against North Macedonia, he was basically the complete midfielder. Playing almost like a 10 and a general creative hub for the side - collecting the ball on the turn from deep and carrying the ball into attack - tackling like a 6…. He was absolutely outstanding. One of the best performances I’ve seen from a midfielder.
Cool, now he just needs to play sides the quality of North Macedonia every week.
(I’m not going to make a joke about joining PSG here)
Xherdan Shaqiri is another one - I swear I forgot he existed until I saw the first Swiss game. And he’s good! He just chose to be a squad player at Liverpool.
Think about all the guys that are on the outside looking in at club level, that get to the international stage and become the guy for their country. Or the players that play a more tactically disciplined style for club level because the standard of opposition is so much better.
There are More Individual Playmakers at International Level
Okay, I haven’t done the analytical deep dive on this that I probably should, but I’ve done enough to know I’m in the ballpark here.
Again, this piggybacks on a part of my first point.
International sides don’t have the time/energy to work out fluid attacking systems and styles in international tournaments, and sometimes they might only have one or two really top level players.
So, they’re far more likely to “hand the keys” over to someone to be the main creative outlet for a team.
Again, this is the Bale situation - but there’s plenty of others too.
Think about how many really top sides play with a 10 who is the main creative outlet.
Manchester United with Bruno… You could maybe say Messi still… KDB doesn’t do it like that for Manchester City anymore, but he definitely does for Belgium at times.
It inflates players to be a much bigger player than they are week to week at club level. Clubs are far more likely to want to develop attacking systems that rely on multiple players and interchanges between players.
It’s a more effective way of playing and creates better ways to win throughout a long season - In international tournaments, you only need to win seven or eight games… not a full 38 game season.
This Goes Both Ways Too….
All the points I’ve made so far have kind of implied that players perform better for international sides than club sides - but that isn’t always the case.
You could be a very good player in a team that’s stacked in a certain position and miss out on game time completely - cue England talk.
You could be overlooked because the manager doesn’t need anyone with your attributes.
Or, you could play for Dortmund in Germany, with obviously isn’t included on your manager’s cable TV subscription.
Or, you could be hindered by the fact that it’s hard to create an attacking style at international level.
A lot has been said about Harry Kane’s lack of goals so far (I’m writing this before their third game). but just look where he’s getting the ball (image supplied the theanalyst.com).
Kane is receiving the ball extremely deep. Hard to score when you’re getting the ball around the halfway line.
That does create a lot of space for wide players - and Kane’s movement has been solid from what I’ve seen so far - I will admit that I haven’t re-watched the England games looking for it though.
But it isn’t ideal. Basically, as the team is playing right now - he’s not being put in a position to succeed. Which is strange, because he’s their best player.
International Managers are Usually Worse
I won’t spend too much time here. It kind of blends into all of my points, but is also on an island as it’s own thing.
The biggest clubs in the world have the biggest budgets and attract the best managers.
Luis Enrique and Roberto Mancini are basically gods of international management - and what do you think is the best club gig they’d walk into?
Maybe a good gig in their home country - but…. meh, maybe not.
Also, managers usually fucking live for the sport and want to be involved on the training ground every day. That just doesn’t happen with international management.
That’s also why I think Hansi Flick could be brilliant for Germany.
International Tournaments are Far Better at Creating Flops Rather Than Legends
Let me reel off a few names for you…
El Hadji Diouf
Oleg Salenko
Eduardo Vargas
Florin Raducioiu
David Odonkor
Kleberson
Daniel Amokachi
Denilson
Salif Diao
What do these blokes have in common?
Yep, they were all signed to bigger teams off the back of World Cups and flopped hard.
And that’s just the guys that moved clubs, think about all those like Joel Campbell, Guillermo Ochoa, and others that didn’t move but still received a lot of hype after performances in big tournaments.
Because of all the things I’ve mentioned in this article, and the fact that it’s a super small sample size - some players look like absolute gods in tournaments that are average at best.
This could be some confirmation bias coming in, but there’s so many more players that look great at tournaments that fizzle out compared to players that make a name for themselves at a World Cup out of nowhere and end up dominating the sport.
The Players that Do Well…. It’s Forgotten About Quickly
I wasn’t going to include this point because it’s only really a half-thought… but I don’t have an editor to keep me in my box, so….
I don’t know if it’s a consequence of the modern media landscape and the constant 24-hour “news” cycle, but players need to constantly perform these days.
There’s no ‘having an iconic moment’ and resting on that. The media and thoughts around the game are very “what have you done for me lately”.
Kylian Mbappe isn’t a top player because he had a good World Cup - he’s one of the best around because he performs constantly for his club side - and the France performances add to that - not the other way around.
Granted, this could change down the line, as I definitely believe that performances in big international tournaments (more in World Cups than Euros in my opinion) are revered and remembered decades later compared to club matches.
What Does This Mean for Cards?
At the end of the day, I’m not going to tell you what to buy and what not to buy - you’re an adult and can make your own choices.
But I believe everything I said in this newsletter to be true when it comes to judging players in international tournaments.
Do with that what you will.
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