World Football Thread XVIII: The Beckham has Landed

[Krill]

We can but hope

[LordShiva]

Croatia up 2-0 in 15 mins

[Asmodean]

England have in the meantime managed the equalizer, but Croatia have now gone ahead 3-2

Come on England

[Asmodean]

Unless Andorra can produce a miracle in the last minutes, Engerland are out now

[Asmodean]

Final whistle in Andorra. Russia win, and England are out

[OneFootInTheGrave]

well we didn't need the win to go through, as Israel has already done it for us. but it is always nice to win, especially against England at Wembley



I am sure that Russians were happy with our performance

[Locutus]

The Germans f*cked us once again and this time they didn't even play us

All they had to do was beat Malta -- kinda hard not to even if you try -- and then if we'd just lose to Belarus Germany would be top seeds in the draw next week. Instead they drew and now we're on top, meaning we avoid Greece, Austria and Switzerland in the draw, the three weakest teams on Euro 2008 They should stop giving top seeds to crappy teams already

Worst case scenario for us is now Italy, Germany, France --- talk about a group of death Even the best case scenarios (Sweden, Romania, Turkey/Russia) are looking pretty bleak, considering we lost one game to Romania in the qualifiers and should've lost the other one too (0-0).

Seedings for the draw:

Group 1: Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Netherlands
Group 2: Croatia, Italy, Czech Republic, Sweden
Group 3: Romania, Germany, Portugal, Spain
Group 4: Poland, France, Turkey, Russia

(Who the hell did Croatia bribe to become the 2nd best ranked team overall? )

[MOBIUS]

Hey it was Wales Germany played! Get it right!

And we fielded probably our weakest team in decades - Simon Davies was our best available player...

[OneFootInTheGrave]

well since last Euro, we lost precisely twice... once against Brazil in the World Cup 1:0, and 5 days ago against Macedonia in the mud, I guess the seeds must be very close, as if we did not top the group today we would have been in group 3... (so if we lost against England by more than 2:0)...

this way that we beat them we are second (and Germans are in group 3 -- if they won they would top you?!?) so I guess all top 5 teams at least are 1-2 goals away between groups 1-3...

For us it is good not to be first of course, like you, but a pity we don't get Italians (our regular customers) in the group stages... other than that there will be one group of death, and for sure Netherlands will be in it .. From the other three, one will be very tough with three excellent teams, and two relatively predictable... so we at least have 50:50 chance of getting a decent group...

will see, will be interesting.

Well from group 2 you probably want Sweden, from Group 3???? Spain always had a bad record on major competitions... Group 4, you want to avoid the French of course... and the Poles are very good too... Overall very tough no matter what way you make it, but who gets Austria gets the bonus

Austria, Sweden, Spain and Turkey is probably the easiest group possible, and that one is not particularly easy either.

[Maquiladora]

Mixed feelings here, I wanted England to be there as it's **** watching a summer tournament without your team at least play group games, but then again McJoke will now HAVE to go, and the England regulars received a massive wakeup call (if they hadn't already), which will hopefully lead to a big shakeup at the FA too... and hopefully we will get a decent coach this time.

Well done to Russia who did deserve it more than us, certainly more than the table shows as well in fact.

[notyoueither]

Is it remotely possible that the English simply suck at football ATM?

I mean, after a while you can't just blame the management of the national team. You have to question the quality of the players being offered up and the entire system, don't you?

[Maquiladora]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Is it remotely possible that the English simply suck at football ATM?

I mean, after a while you can't just blame the management of the national team. You have to question the quality of the players being offered up and the entire system, don't you?

The players do lack the greater technical abilities of the best continental European teams and S. Americans, but they still have world class abilities in other areas, and certainly enough to see them through a relatively easy qualifying group, with the right coaching, tactics and attitude.

You can blame the players for their attitude for England, but how often do you see the likes of Gerrard turn up like that for Liverpool. Sure the England players have less time together to gel in tactics, understanding etc but McClaren made matters worse with his constant changing of tactics and selections thinking he's another Sven.

[CerberusIV]

Football is a team game - it's years since England had a manager who put out a team rather than a bunch of individual players hyped by the media.

Actually the only manager who seems able to defy this fact about it being a team game is Rafa. Maybe he should manage England (and then we can have a manager at Anfield who gets them playing as a team again).

[Harovan]

Press ticker says, McClaren has been fired.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Maquiladora
... world class ...

Until people stop using this phrase, whatever it actually means, in connection with England players, delusions will persist.

Until more youngsters are taught the basics of technique and passing & movement, instead of "lumping it up to the big fella", this country will continue to produce insufficiently skillful players to compete at the highest level.

McClaren is far from being a great manager, but there's only so much anyone can do with over-hyped, over-rated and over-paid players. You can't, as they say, polish a turd.