Will the unthinkable (to them) happen England this weekend?

Kold

It's funny because I still hear about that time Ireland qualified for the WC a few years back and England didn't. Oh and the time Ireland were beating England at Croke Park. It's simply underdog syndrome.

If England qualify, they'll have deserved it. Simple as that. Plus, wouldn't it be a boring championship if none of the British Isles teams were in it?

fortuneg

Kold wrote: »

Plus, wouldn't it be a boring championship if none of the British Isles teams were in it?

No, why would it be?

Imagine how peaceful it would be to turn on the BBC or Sky and not have the English media hype machine in overdrive thinking the team are world beaters for qualifying against the odds.

Guy:Incognito

fortuneg wrote: »

No, why would it be?

Imagine how peaceful it would be to turn on the BBC or Sky and not have the English media hype machine in overdrive thinking the team are world beaters for qualifying against the odds.

So should they go with the Ireland/FAI approach of "ah sure it's great we got there.lets go on the piss and have a good holiday". Other countries turn up to these things hoping to win it. Even the lesser countries can, with the right attitude (Greece anyone).

fortuneg

Stekelly wrote: »

So should they go with the Ireland/FAI approach of "ah sure it's great we got there.lets go on the piss and have a good holiday". Other countries turn up to these things hoping to win it. Even the lesser countries can, with the right attitude (Greece anyone).

How do the failures of the Irish team have anything to do with the English media completely overhyping their team?

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Melion

The reason the british media hype their team is because simply put, on paper they have one of the strongest teams in world football. They have 7-8 world class players in their starting XI, maybe even more. They go into every tournament as one of the favourites because they have one of the strongest squads.

I cant stand people who bang on about the english media but still watch the premiership, read the english papers and watch sky sports.

Bubs101

7-8 world class players????????

Names?

Melion

Bubs101 wrote: »

7-8 world class players????????

Names?

Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham, Owen, Rooney

astrofool

Rooney
Gerrard
Lampard
Ferdinand
Neville
Owen
A. Cole
Terry
Hargreaves

They'd walk into most club's first teams.

mike65

Nah they're all Crap. Give MaClaren the Irish squad and they'd win everything.

Mike.

fortuneg

Melion wrote: »

I cant stand people who bang on about the english media but still watch the premiership, read the english papers and watch sky sports.

Why?
Whats wrong with following an English team on Sky Sports (pretty much the only channel you can watch them on) and knowing how good these players actually are then being fed up with how over hyped they actually are?

Nunu

Melion wrote: »

Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham, Owen, Rooney

Christ, I never thought I'd read that. I can't believe you of all people finally admit that Ferdinand is a world class defender:eek::D

Unearthly

Give it time, It's only a matter of time before Dunphy says he is sh!t again and people in Ireland take it as the gospel truth

event

Melion wrote: »

Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Gerrard, beckham, Owen, Rooney

:rolleyes:

gosplan

I'm only going to comment on Owen as being world class.

He's not actually.

end comment...



Nah but seriously. His record of goal scoring at Liverpool is only marginally better then Robbie Keane's at spurs....and it was at Liverpool.

He was rather good when he was younger but was so severly hyped that they just can't let it go. I actually can't remember the last time he had a good season but suspect it was somewhere around 2001.

If he's world class and would walk into any team then why the hell is he at Newcastle?

PHB

Em, because his career took a wrong turn? At Real Madrid he was absolutely fantastic, unreal. However the coach didn't like him for some reason despite him scoring pretty much every time he came on.
He went to Newcastle because none of the top 4 would pay the money for him cause he was too expensive, and Newcastle were willing to do it. Fergie's interest in him is well known, but he didn't want to spend that much on him as Real were asking for crazy money. He joined Newcastle because he wanted to get fit for the World Cup.
He is a top class player, there's no doubt about that in my mind, and I can't stand the guy.

PDN

PHB wrote: »

Em, because his career took a wrong turn? At Real Madrid he was absolutely fantastic, unreal. However the coach didn't like him for some reason despite him scoring pretty much every time he came on.
He went to Newcastle because none of the top 4 would pay the money for him cause he was too expensive, and Newcastle were willing to do it. Fergie's interest in him is well known, but he didn't want to spend that much on him as Real were asking for crazy money. He joined Newcastle because he wanted to get fit for the World Cup.
He is a top class player, there's no doubt about that in my mind, and I can't stand the guy.

He joined Newcastle because none of the top 4 are going to spend millions on a player who spends more time on the treatment table than on the pitch.

Fratton Fred

PHB wrote: »

Em, because his career took a wrong turn? At Real Madrid he was absolutely fantastic, unreal. However the coach didn't like him for some reason despite him scoring pretty much every time he came on.
He went to Newcastle because none of the top 4 would pay the money for him cause he was too expensive, and Newcastle were willing to do it. Fergie's interest in him is well known, but he didn't want to spend that much on him as Real were asking for crazy money. He joined Newcastle because he wanted to get fit for the World Cup.
He is a top class player, there's no doubt about that in my mind, and I can't stand the guy.

personally I can't see what there is to dislike about the guy. I'd agree with the rest though, he seemed to score every time he came on for Real, yet was never in the stating line up for some reason.

if it wasn't for his terrible injury record Owen would probably be challenging Charlton's record as top goal scorer for England by now.

Nunu

Owen is world class and will eclipse Bobby Charltons goalscoring record, despite his ongoing injury problems.

How the hell do people equate that having a run of nightmare injuries disqualies you from being considered world class

gustavo

Because not being able to play more than 5 games without getting injured makes of no use to man nor beast

estebancambias

England hides behind the ''lack team spirit' exuse.. They are overrated..end of.

kryogen

the result of the israel russia game was no suprise to me whatsoever, i hate the over rated english football media train more then alot of things on this planet! they never fail to scrape through by the skin of their ****ing teeth rant pretty much over.

i can only pray that croatia pull off a miracle and russia do the business, it would be perfect to see them blow it and bottle everything on the last day

mike65

Another hater, why the hate? Go and have a moan about your team!

Mike.

mike65

Robinson given the order of the boot, Carson starts tomorrows game.

Mike.

Kold

McClaren humbled into changing his undroppable policy I'd say.

ShiverinEskimo

Reports on the beeb saying it'll be SWP with Becks on the bench too...

county

i feel the game tonight will be a nervy one with a below par performance and england just scrapping through

Fratton Fred

county wrote: »

i feel the game tonight will be a nervy one with a below par performance and england just scrapping through

same as most other England games, which is why I find it very hard to get excited about them.

Kold

Either that or a 3 nil trouncing which allows McClaren to keep his job (don't want that either).

mike65

Someone (abroad) on a Guardian blog thread remarked about the apparent lack of excitment and passion for tonights game. Its true, there's a lurking feeling England should'nt be in a position to qualify and that MacClaren and the fools in the FA will be the only winner if the result is the "right" one.

Mike.

Chardee MacDennis

bbc saying team for tonight looks like this:

Carson
Richards Campbell Lescott Bridge
SWP Gerrard Barry Lampard Cole
Crouch

talk about playing for the draw...

PHB

Interesting. Happy Hargreaves isn't playing as I think he's still nursing back from injury, but balls from McClaren not to play him. Also dropping Beckham and Robinson is showing some skill.

They are lining up in a classic 4-5-1 with pacey skillful wingers who can beat people, a strong midfield (which I assume Lampard will be at the front of, Gerrard in between and Barry sitting deep)
Their defense really is hit by injrues, with their first choice all out Neville-Ferdinand-Terry-Cole
It's not a bad defense, but not great. Lacking in pace at the center, it's solid, but no better than Croatia's really.

It'll be an interesting game, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see England put in a fantastic performance tonight. I think they are using a system that suits their strengths. How Rooney and Owen fit in when they are fit again is another question, but for tonight they could be doing well.

mike65

My guardian blog entry wasn't so far off after all.

Richards-Campbell-Brown-Lescott

---

Hargreaves---Barry
Philips

---

Lampard

---

Cole

---

Crouch

Mike.

Chardee MacDennis

no robinson the bench either!

_blank_

If Crouch is going to be up front by himself, he'll need Beckham quality crosses.

IMO.

mike65

I expect it'll be knockdown to Gerrard/Lampard/Cole stuff.

Mike.

_blank_

Knockdowns to Cole?

This means relying on SWP to provide the crosses.

I think Bex is a much better crosser than SWP.

We'll see though.

I hope they do it, but I think if this is the set up then they are making it hard.

If Crouch has an absolute nightmare, it's going to mean 2 subs.

Peyton Manning

Anybody know if this is on BBC?

Fratton Fred

Archimedes wrote: »

Anybody know if this is on BBC?

it is, 7:30 coverage starts, 8:00 kick off.

Shame, the goes my excuse for going to the pub:(

Nunu

Didn't want to open a new thread on the games that matter tonight so i'll post here - seems the most relevant thread.

N. Irelands group has kicked off and Sweden are already 1-0 up against Latvia. Marcus Allback scored in the first minute.

mike65

It sounds like Wemberly is waterlogged and its raining quite heavily.

Mike.

_blank_

mike65 wrote: »

It sounds like Wemberly is waterlogged and its raining quite heavily.

It looks like that too, pics on SSN.

It's like a bog.

justfortherecor

Will it be playable? The bbc website seems to question the playability of the pitch

_blank_

It looks bad anyway.

And Bilic was giving out about it yesterday even.

I reckon the match will go ahead though.

Nunu

Sweden 1 Latvia 1 after 30 mins

Malta 0 norway 2 after 30 mins...Iversen with both

justfortherecor

Wait a minute, doesn't Wembley have a retractable roof?!

Bounty Hunter

justfortherecor wrote: »

Wait a minute, doesn't Wembley have a retractable roof?!

I thought that too but if it does they strangley didnt use it during the recent NFL game and huge downpour of rain that accopanied it which was one of the main reasons the pitch isnt in ideal shape.

whatawaster

crazily, it only extends to cover the seats.

justfortherecor

£800m and a half-assed attempt at a retractable roof?

Lads, sometimes the FA make our football authorities look the height of professionalism!

Chardee MacDennis

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

I thought that too but if it does they strangley didnt use it during the recent NFL game and huge downpour of rain that accopanied it which was one of the main reasons the pitch isnt in ideal shape.

from the Beeb

Approximately a million of you have texted in to ask why the Wembley roof isn't on. Well, that's because it's only partially retractable ie only the seats get covered, not the pitch. Bet they're regretting that now...