England World Cup discussion

[Stuttgart88]

So we all know that Carragher isn't a passer of a ball and hence not a natural candidate for holding midfielder.

But does anyone think Sven may have been giving him pitch time in this position just in case they need to man-mark Ronaldiho or Kaka if they come up against Brazil, or Riquelme if Argentina? Or would that be too much like planning ahead?

[liam88]

...who of ye exiles will be supporting England?

I'm going to go for it again; I may not have a drop of English blood in my body but as neither Ireland or Burma (or the Vatican!) are in the World cup, I've grown up in England and the vast majoirty of my mates are English I'm going to go for it

No shame at all -I've got some great memories of congas through Guildford when England beat Denmark and if it's between that and being the grumpy one who supports nobody I know which one I'll rather be!

sooooo who do you think you are kidding, Jurgen Klinsmann

[DmanDmythDledge]

So we all know that Carragher isn't a passer of a ball and hence not a natural candidate for holding midfielder.

But does anyone think Sven may have been giving him pitch time in this position just in case they need to man-mark Ronaldiho or Kaka if they come up against Brazil, or Riquelme if Argentina? Or would that be too much like planning ahead?

Defensively he seems very good in that position but if they were to adapt that they would probably resort to using the long ball and there would be no target man, unless Crouch starts ahead of Owen in that formation, which he won't. Nonsense.

[DmanDmythDledge]

England 2-0 against Jamaica. Good work by Crouch and Owen to set up Lampard for the first goal. Second was a Beckham free kick from the left, headed in by Terry I think.

EDIT: It was og.

[DmanDmythDledge]

I think it's a good ploy by Ericcson to use two differentt formations in the build up friendlies. It will keep Paraguay guessing. Also, as Ericcson said himself, they need to have a few options available to them depending who they get in the knock out rounds.

[DmanDmythDledge]

3-0, England cruising. From a corner(Stuttgart you were right) Crouch shoots, defender makes mess of clearence and sends ball backwards into his own goal. The robot celebration makes a re-appearance!

Owen scores as I write. Lovely through ball by Ferdinand, Jamaica try to play offside, keeper comes 25 yards out to try and challenge Owen, takes it round him, scores into empty net.

Terry and Cole are off, Campbell and Bridge on. Terry was a precaution but Cole was limping slightly I think.

[DmanDmythDledge]

I will be supporting England. I always have and I always will, except where Ireland are playing of course.

[TheOwl]

England for the World Cup? Well maybe but...
There is that nagging doubt about Wayne Rooney's foot
Will he be sharp enough come the big day?
Will he be fit enough even to play?

Because although they have Gerrard, have Lampard, and Cole
Without their magician there's still a big hole
Even if they get some goals from Michael Owen
I still fear they will be cursing that metatarsal bone

Because losing your play-maker is an almighty blow
Imagine Brazil without Ronaldinho?
And you need immense skills when the big games come round
And in Owen Hargreaves such skills can't be found

So without Wayne Rooney; England haven't a chance
Against the likes Brazil, Argentina, or France
Because although with Wayne Rooney, for England I could vouch
They haven't a hope, if they're relying on Crouch

From http://www.thesportingglobe.com/england.htm

[Pauro 76]

If England win the World Cup, well it'd rude not to join in the party. Doubt its gonna happen though!

[oconghc2]

nah im not gonna support england - and im gettiing annoyed with some of the talk on the radio etc saying that the irish should support england! (can understand the irish in england supporting them maybe - because a lot of your mates are english and you're bound to have some affinity.

Me though - dont like the english team so I wont support them - as I wont be supporting the Swiss and a few other teams- cause i dont like them!!

Put it this way - you wouldnt see a bohs fan supporting rovers! (I understand that internationals are slightly different).

All this said - england being beaten in semis would be nice!

[Stuttgart88]

Great post Liam and fair play. But I won't be cheering them on. Ever since I was 7 or 8 I just couldn't believe their attitude, except notably from Barry Davies. I feel like I'm being a crank at times, as I love living in London, love so many things about English life & culture and more than anything, am married to an English girl (albeit with Irish grandparentage!!).

However, as an unashamed bleeding heart liberal leftie I just can't relate to all the WW2 references such as the Jurgen Klinsmann/ Dad's Army jibe you cited above. Can't they ever just drop it? Totally tasteless and ignorant (not you Liam as I know you meant it in jest, but the relentless general anti-German theme makes me cringe). And even during the party atmosphere at OT today all I could hear was "English till I die..." which has clear far right / racist overtones in my mind yet constantly gets brushed under the carpet. Cranky to the extreme maybe but that's what I think.

There was a great article in The Guardian recently about the assymetry in the German / English supporter relationship. If I can find it when I get back to work on Monday I'll add it to this post. For me, Germany over England as I'd love to see the media (including 80% of the respectable media choke on its jingoism. I have a bad feeling that it'll be me choking on my crankiness in the end though. Come on rest of the world, save me from my worst nightmare!

[DmanDmythDledge]

They haven't a hope, if they're relying on Crouch

Ye he was rubbish today.

On a serious note though after today's performance I think that Crouch can make a name for himself at this World Cup. A lot of defences will find it difficult to cope with a player like him. And he can score despite what people say.

[FarBeag]

dmandmythdledge. You appear to be a big supporter and I think you would be extremely disappointed if England did not take the cup home.I think they will go a long way, maybe semi final but they won’t win it. What are your views?

[DmanDmythDledge]

It's an interesting situation. A team of world class players but they just can't seem to pull it off on the big occassions.

England have the best team they have had in a long time. All the ingredients are there for success. By the looks of things in the friendlies Ericcson has imporoved on the substitution front. But can he do it under real pressure? He will be trying harder than he ever did to make sure that he doesn't go down as a failure- England's best group of players since 1966 trophyless? Now that wouldn't go down well amongst media or fans.

England have proved that they can beat the minnows of world football easily enough but the question remains can Ericcson move up a gear tactically agaisnt the likes of Brazil. A big question mark hangs over the Gerrard/Lampard partnership. If they can find a way to work with each other their partnership can be a catalyst for success.

Overall, they have the players to win the World Cup but it will come down to performances on the day. The players and coach will be more motivated than ever- it could be Beckham's last chance to get his hands on silverware, same with Ericcson. It is the best chance they have had since 1990. They have proved they can beat Argentina and they will probably be their opponents in the final. However Brazil will be the opstacle in their way. Brazil are beatable- their defence will be obviously weak down their flanks.

I think England's chances in this World Cup all boil down to Ericcson's tactical decisions. He will have learned from his past mistakes. I think this will be the year that England will do it.

[geysir]

There's definetly a case for the offside and I must admit I haven't seen the goal in a year or two. I did remeber Terry appearing to be in an offside position but honestly can't remember if he strayed after Campbell made contact with his head or not so I'll take your word on it as the images aren't that conclusive.
However I do know for certain that linesman's flag never went up and I'm not surprised at that as the penalty box was so crowded for the incident and any offside was marginal in a split second.

Either way I suppose my real issue is with the conscious deciscion the referree made and not the honest one he missed. There was no foul on the goalkeeper in my eyes and I'll never view that type of incident as a foul. It was a very soft descision to give to the home team. To give that type of foul everytime would effectively rule challenging for a header anywhere out on the field in my opinion. I would definetly feel hard done by if that had been us in that scenario.

I have been avoiding the world cup forum until I had nothing better to do. That disallowed goal right or wrong was a happy enough memory.
The ref in a recent enough interview stated that he gave the penalty for Terry's foul on the keeper.
http://www.swissnews.ch/site1.php
"Meier still believes he made the right call.... “It wasn’t Campbell who made the foul. It was John Terry.” Aside from die-hard fans and the press that encouraged them, most agree. “A lot of people only look at Campbell,” he continues. “And they say, ‘what’s the problem, what foul?’ Some broadcasters purposely didn’t show what Terry was doing. He used his arm to hold down Ricardo (the goalkeeper) by the shoulder. Right afterwards Terry was looking at me and his face said 100 per cent, he knew exactly what he’d done.”
That would have been a foul anywhere."

[shakermaker1982]

I live in England and would simply have to leave my home and work for 4 weeks if they won the bloody thing.

The people on the whole are sound but it's just the hooligan element and arrogant press that make me cheer on every team they ever play.

[FarBeag]

I also live in London and married to an English woman. Thank God she is not into football though. My nine year old son although supports Ireland will be supporting them unfortunately but as much as I dislike it, he is born here; goes to school here and all his friends are English. Maybe in time he will change I hope.


According to many England supporters here England has already won it. I for one will not be able to relax and enjoy the WC until they are knocked out.The narrow minded and arrogant English media make me sick.I have never wanted England to win anything and I am surely not going to start now.

[nlgbbbblth]

The people on the whole are sound but it's just the hooligan element and arrogant press that make me cheer on every team they ever play.

Living in England means it's practically impossible to avoid the arrogant and jingoistic media.

However in Ireland we have no excuse. A familiar reason given by Irish people for not supporting England is 'we'll never hear the end of it'. That's not a valid reason as we can easily avoid the English media. Perversely it's usually the same moronic sheep that buy the Sun and Mirror over here that complain about the English press. Why buy it if that's the case? Why not buy the Irish Times?

[Gather round]

The Irish Times buys sports, news and some other coverage from English papers (mainly the Guardian). It can be hard to ignore their media.

I hope England don't win the World Cup as said media will go ape****, otherwise I don't really mind how they do overall. I'd support them as the underdog against Brazil, Germany and maybe France and Italy.

[nlgbbbblth]

The Irish Times buys sports, news and some other coverage from English papers (mainly the Guardian). It can be hard to ignore their media.

Yes you are correct. Most of the Irish Times football reporting says 'The Guardian Service' underneath the column.

However The Guardian's style of reporting is relatively restrained and not very jingoistic. The red-top tabloids and The Daily Mail / Express are the biggest offenders in this regard - yet these are the papers that sell lots of copies over here.