Earlier this week, Jose Mourinho spoke of his dislike for international friendlies. To him, they only make sense in the build-up to a big international tournament. The Man Utd manager believes qualifiers mixed with friendlies do not make sense - he would not be alone in that respect.
In an interview with ESPN Brazil, Mourinho has spoken further of his animosity for aspects of international football.
Mourinho thinks the European qualifier system is a 'joke'. The South American system - one which sees 10 teams fight it out for four places, plus a playoff place against a team from another confederation - is far superior according to the Portuguese.
The European qualifiers make me angry. The South American qualifiers excite me. I enjoy football taken seriously, not for fun.
In the South American qualifiers, football is serious, there are a lot of good teams, on similar levels. Even those who aren't as strong as the others find some way to create difficulties.
In Europe, the qualifiers are a joke. We qualify and who doesn't goes straight to the playoffs, where there is a brutal difference between the teams. In South America, the qualification stage is a true competition that lasts two years.
