World Football Thread XVIII: The Beckham has Landed

[Krill]

Hello Croatia

Either England pull their act together or we become the laughing stock of Europe

[BeBMan]

We are in a group with Finland

[Maquiladora]

I know we just failed to qualify for the Euros but how is, Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra a "tough group"? Ukraine and Belarus are no Russia and Israel.

[Thedrin]

Russia and Israel have no where near as much talent as England (even after acknowledging that the talent of the English squad is frequently overestimated).

England's struggle to qualify is less to do with the quality of the opposition and more to do with the how poorly organised the team is.

There's nothing especially tough about the group from England's perspective but, until the team becomes well organised, they'll struggle to qualify from the majority of qualifying groups that they could find themselves in.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Thedrin
Allardyce .... would be my second choices.

Presumably you say that as an Irishmen wanting England to fail.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Krill
Either England pull their act together or we become the laughing stock of Europe

Bit late for that I suspect.

[CerberusIV]

You think England have a problem? The Republic of Ireland got Cyprus again! (Not to mention Italy - still, anything the Scots can do....).

[Thedrin]

I don't think we're in a particularly tough group. If the next manager can put together a team that can play well I see no reason why we won't get a top two finish. None of the teams will pose too great a threat to that possibility. But if there's no improvement in the team, you'll be right to fear Cyprus.

In short, I'm quite confident.

Unless O'Leary gets the job in which case I'll expect things to get worse before they get better.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Originally posted by Maquiladora
I know we just failed to qualify for the Euros but how is, Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra a "tough group"? Ukraine and Belarus are no Russia and Israel.

well for starters, we just beat you twice, so I guess this counts for something, and Ukraine is better than Russia, going by their recent record... despite of missing the Euro in the group with France, Italy and resurgent Scotts...

also Belarus have a young and good team + Hleb which is IMO around Israel in strenght (better than Macedonia), so if you think this is easy, good for you...

I think it is the hardest group of the all... firstly as England one of the best second tier teams (but I am glad we didn't get Romania or Poland, who are probably better than England right now). Ukraine is clearly the hardest third tier team (Denmark and Serbia would be tough too) + Belarus is one of the toughest 4th tier... a team who beat Holland is not to be underestimated

I think our group is the hardest, followed by group 7, than 1...

[Maquiladora]

Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave

well for starters, we just beat you twice, so I guess this counts for something, and Ukraine is better than Russia, going by their recent record... despite of missing the Euro in the group with France, Italy and resurgent Scotts...

also Belarus have a young and good team + Hleb which is IMO around Israel in strenght (better than Macedonia), so if you think this is easy, good for you...

I think it is the hardest group of the all... firstly as England one of the best second tier teams (but I am glad we didn't get Romania or Poland, who are probably better than England right now). Ukraine is clearly the hardest third tier team (Denmark and Serbia would be tough too) + Belarus is one of the toughest 4th tier... a team who beat Holland is not to be underestimated

I think our group is the hardest, followed by group 7, than 1...

Thedrin hit the nail on the head:

England's struggle to qualify is less to do with the quality of the opposition and more to do with the how poorly organised the team is.

What you beat was an unmotivated group of players thrown together by a tactically naive coach totally out of his depth. The question is, will England start playing to their potential under a new coach? I can only hope.

[Thedrin]

Maquiladora:
What you [Croatia, presumably] beat was an unmotivated group of players thrown together by a tactically naive coach totally out of his depth. The question is, will England start playing to their potential under a new coach? I can only hope.

I rate Croatia as one of the best international sides in Europe at the moment. England would need to improve a lot to finish an easy second, and improve a lot more on top of that to deserve the top spot (assuming Croatia don't disintegrate between now and then).

England might have the better players (though Owen gives the Croatians no where near as much credit as they deserve) but, as a team, the difference in quality is probably too large to expect England to win the group. You'd probably have to go back to Venables to find an England team as good.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

do I need to say anything else?

Group C

France

Holland

Italy

Romania

[LordShiva]

Well, we know how France feels about that

[Cort Haus]

It's ridiculous to have so many top sides in one group, thanks to the stupid seedings for the two home nations, at least one of which should be nowhere near the tournament.

[Cort Haus]

'Top-four' Tottenham lose again.

Sorry Maq.