gato_busta wrote:The problem is you are generalizing teams in South America to basicaly Brazil and Argentina. As for why some friendlies are played in Europe it's because they are played against European teams which rarely, if ever, come to South America. For example, why would Argentina play Paraguay in France? Why would Peru play Brazil in England? We would'nt even be able to enjoy these games since they would probably be aired early in the morning. To do so would be to deprive people of watching their national team, not to mention to deprive players of visiting their homes.
At the end of the day, it really depends on each player if they want to play for their national team. Most players want to play in their countries, front of their fans and family. At least thats what I think, especially if players don't complain about playing friendlies at home.
I'm not generalising, I gave those two teams as examples of teams who play friendlies in Europe as a vast preponderance of their respective squads are based in Europe, combined with the commercial aspect of friendlies in Europe and the corresponding fanbase - this point is relevant to Argentina and Brazil but not teams such as Peru. This is a fact, even by the words of the respective FA's of each nation. It is not the sole reason, but it is often a significant point in favour of playing freindlies in Europe, it makes sense. African teams also do this, as do Australia on occasions.
I have no problem with Mascherano or any other South American player going to play in qualifiers in South America, it's just one of those things. However (not in this instance), to travel so far just for a friendly, in which he may not even play - this scenario has happened in the past I believe - seems absurd. It does not benefit the player, the national team in the long term, or the club.
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