QuoteWayne Rooney equals Bobby Charlton's England goalscoring record with an early penalty against San Marino.
You'd imagine he'll go on to break it as well.
If only we had a forward capable of scoring 50 international goals
I thought the Faroes were looking good for at least a draw, they were in control but had a player sent off for an act of stupidity on the hour mark, then the air just fizzled out of their hopes. There was a good crowd and atmosphere.
Wayne Rooney equals Bobby Charlton's England goalscoring record with an early penalty against San Marino.
You'd imagine he'll go on to break it as well.
If only we had a forward capable of scoring 50 international goals
2-0 England; an own goal.
Apparently the 49th own goal scored "for" England - so it also draws level at the top of the goalscoring charts.
Slovenia had 2nd place wrapped up with an excellent first 60 minutes, but somehow contrived to let the Swiss claw their way back into the game and grab the winner in added time after a bad mistake followed by a fortunate deflection into the path of a swiss player. Not all is lost for Katanec's Slovenia, if they manage to finish on the same points as the Swiss, their head to head is better.
Overall the slovenian legend (as a player) Katanec, has a remarkable record since he took over Sovenia about 18 months ago when they were on the ropes.
That's England through so - 1st team to secure qualification.
It's safe to say 'Own Goal' will have the last laugh.Originally Posted by pineapple stu
There was a pretty good reason Van Gaal replaced him with Krul at the end of the World Cup q/final with Costa Rica I guess. I'd say he still regrets having used all his substitutions in the semi. There was some mad stat about Cilessen and penalties at the time, it couldn't have been that he's never saved one, could it?
It's an absolutely true stat and not a mad by being just a nearly true stat
However, he dived the correct way which could possibly make him 70% better than our Shay.
What undone the Netherlands was that they are slavishly playing the game the Ajax way, they were so slow in the build up that even Eidur had time to leisurly stroll (express speed for him) into taking up a defensive position outside the box.
Blind started out with 4 defenders against Iceland's lone striker and then replaced his own striker when one of his defenders was sent off.
Once Robben went off after 25 minutes their chances of winning the game diminished.
And when the game had to be won, Holland never give it a lash, throw caution to the wind, i.e. if bringing on Van Persie could be called throwing caution to the wind.
Sounds a bit like the way Manchester United are playing at the moment, and Van Gaal's Netherlands were like that for a lot of the World Cup also, well after the group stage anyway.
Just found this in relation to Cillessen's penalty record. He has actually broken his duck this season with a save in the Europa League. Unfortunately the stats don't include shoot-outs so they could be far worse if he was involved in a couple at club level, which I think he may have been. I read somewhere that Krul had only saved two out of his last twenty before the WC also.
It was a sight to see the Dutch management team hordes and assorted extras at the game, all kitted out in same suits, sitting in neat rows, just as if they were members of the old soviet politburo at a Moscow parade, motionless, miserable, stiff necked and humourless.
Netherlands are away to Turkey this afternoon, in an attempt to salvage a play-off spot.
Turkey are a point behind, their style of play doesn't suit the Dutch, if their goalie manages to control his jitters, they might pull ahead and consign Netherlands to suffer the ignominy of 4th place.
remaining games for the play off hopefuls
Czech Rep v Turkey
Turkey v Iceland
Kaz v Netherlands
Netherlands v Czech Rep
Bad to worse for the Netherlands, losing 2-0 in Turkey while the Czechs lead by the same score in Latvia. I'd nearly take them in a playoffs at this rate!
Israel ultra defensive and holding Wales at half time in Cardiff. Nothing one big moment from Bale won't fix!
Last edited by DeLorean; 06/09/2015 at 4:57 PM.
Hazard's late winner means Wales have to wait a little longer.
Congrats to Iceland and Czechs who qualify despite Iceland only drawing at home to Kazakhstan.
Last edited by osarusan; 06/09/2015 at 8:52 PM.
Turkey need to beat 2 already qualified teams in Iceland and Czech Republic to knock out the Dutch.
Wales are as good as there, despite a late Belgium Goal.
Amazing Result and turnaround in Group H with Norway beating Croatia 2-0 after getting a 5-1 drubbing from them last March. Norway now 2nd, Croatia 3rd.
Some tough teams going to be in these playoffs - Turkey/Netherlands - Norway/Croatia - Russia/Sweden - Ukraine - Bosnia could yet scrape in.
I think that scoreline Croatia 5 Norway 1 in March was an anomaly, rather than it was a huge surprise that Norway turned it around so emphatically at home. Somehow Norway managed to retire Drillo at the end of the last qual campaign. It was easier to get rid of Rasputin than it was Drillo, the coach from last century. They have a very good coach now and a vibrant young team.
The game in Reykjavik wasn't that much of a football spectacle but rather it was an event which had rhythm. Iceland could have lost it and still would have been 1/10000 to finish in the top 2. But the party was scheduled, the nation awaited and the team didn't Welsh out on their side of the deal. They wanted to party as well and it all took off in the town square between the players and the fans after the game.
For Lagerback this is the icing on his cake, to bring this team through the front door, top of the group to a Finals and even surpassing the targets which he set out in first press conference. He has proved himself to be one of the most outstanding and astute coaches in the game today. More importantly he is a gentleman and a coach.
Massive late goal for Northern Ireland down to 10 men against Hungary. 1-1 Draw.
And a late goal for Portugal is well in Albania to reverse the result in Lisbon. Albania still a point behind Denmark with a game in hand.
Sweden v Austria so far has the makings of an interesting game this evening, early penalty converted to put Austria one up.
Congratulations to Northern Ireland on qualification. Delighted for Michael O' Neill.
Seconded. I don't share the hate for them and it's an incredible achievement regardless of the quality of their group.
Thanks all
Would be funny as fcuk if three teams qualified from our group, what?
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