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Post being replied to

Spain had some interesting situations lately by irish2003

I can't remember anything exactly like this, but Lopetegui was fired from a Spanish team that was crushing people (I think they were pegged in the tier just behind France and Germany) 2 days before the WC for agreeing to take the Real Madrid job after the tournament. Guys like Ramos/Busquets/Pique were certainly a bit fiery for their club teams and no love lost between Barca and Real, but IMO it also helped having a longtime captain like Casillas and a quiet gentleman like Iniesta to help smooth over any club tensions, and also a lot easier to play nicely when the team was dominating. In recent years, I am curious to see how Atletico's emergence - off hand, Koke, Saul, Rodri pre-transfer, Morata - will play out, as well as a pretty decent EPL contingent.

As for the EPL, I had assumed that the sheer amount of foreign stars and managers (Pep/City, Klopp/Liverpool, Ole/United, Emery/Arsenal, Poch/Spurs), with only Lampard as a domestic manager of a power team would help mitigate this vs. something like Munchen and the DFB, but completely agree on the MLS, especially since we don't seem to have a powerful coach either.

Edit: In France, PSG seems a class above where they could bully the national team like Bayern, but their star is also an easy pick for Les Bleus, and they have a decent contingent abroad. Most of Brasil and Argentina's stars are abroad; ditto Croatia & Portugal; Belgium seems like a pretty chill country that plays nice despite the language divisions (have heard great things about Kompany's leadership); and Italy may be the one other I can think of where a power team could bully its way, especially with some of the turmoil like Calciopoli.