by David on July 30, 2011
England were given a tricky World Cup qualifying group as they will face Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, and San Marino in Group H as they bid to qualify for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.
Scotland and Wales were drawn together in Group A, and will play Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Northern Ireland are up against Portugal, Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan and Luxembourg in Group F. The Republic of Ireland were drawn against Germany, Sweden, Austria, Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan in Group C.
There was just one Premiership game being played on Sunday as Roberto Matteo’s West Bromwich Albion travelled to Ewood Park to pit their wits against the new management team at Blackburn. The Indian owners of Rovers are standing firmly behind their man since Allardyce’s departure and Kean didn’t do his cause any harm today. After a poor run of form Albion turned up in the North-West boosted by a win over Blackburn’s neighbours Blackpool last time out. But the Baggies’ revival was short-lived as Rovers looked good in a 2-0 home win.
Now we are well in to the second-half of the 2010/2011 season, who are this terms top performers racking up the points in various fantasy leagues, and putting themselves in the running for the EPL team of the year? Maybe surprisingly, as the debate rages about the influx of foreign players in to the EPL, many homegrown British and Irish players are proving that if you are good enough, you can still claim a place in the top English sides.
Joe Hart
by David on December 2, 2010
Six months ago England were odds on favourites to win the 2018 World Cup, yet they could only manage two votes from the FIFA executive committee and went out in the first round. The English press are already calling the vote a “Humiliation for England”.
2018 VOTING
1st round: England 2 (eliminated), Netherlands-Belgium 4; Spain-Portugal 7; Russia 9
2nd round: Netherlands-Belgium 2; Spain-Portugal 7; Russia 13 (Russia obtain absolute majority)
To put England’s two votes in perspective, the England bid chairman Geoff Thompson was one of the executive committee members choosing hosts for 2018 and 2022, which means that England attracted only one other supporter despite intense lobbying efforts by Prince William, Prime Minister David Cameron and David Beckham
by David on December 2, 2010
In two major upsets, FIFA has awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. It will be the first time that either of these two countries have hosted a World Cup.
Both countries have major obstacles to overcome. Russia had multiple time zones, poor infrastructure and a lot of new stadiums that need to be build.
Qatar is a really small country, 1.5 million people, and the temperatures during the World Cup are expected to be over 110 degrees during the games. In addition no stadium would be more than an hour apart, which could be a logistical nightmare.
England seem to get a new squad every game under Fabio Capello these days with further new caps taking to the field against France this evening. Sunderland‘s Jordan Henderson and Newcastle‘s Andy Carroll have both travelled down from the North-East of England and start for their country against the French at Wembley. Carroll is set to lead the line up-front with Henderson partnering a Capello favourite Gareth Barry in midfield. Theo Walcott who is yet to nail down his place gets another start under Don Fabio and will hope he can push on and make one of the England 1-11 shirts his own for the foreseeasble future. There is a lot of young English talent on the scene now, and this friendly gives England a chance to run the rule over a few more.
As Laurent Blanc’s new look French side reach English shores, are there any future stars of the Premier League amongst them? The French league is probably the largest of the European leagues to suffer from losing home grown talent to English football since the inception of the EPL.
There are many good players that are plying their trade in Ligue 1, but the crème de la crème of French football currently play away from home. Less than half of the 2010 World Cup squad played on home soil and the majority of those players played for just two league clubs in Bordeaux and Lyon. Marseilles and Toulouse were also represented in the 23.
On a day which saw Europe’s golfers win back the Ryder Cup from the team from across the pond, it begs the question as to whether the US will ever have a football team capable of beating Europe’s elite?
You have to give credit to the current USA soccer squad. They have improved year on year, and have had some impressive results. So much so that they actually went in to this Summer’s World Cup as dark horses. When the US hosted the World Cup back in 1994 they were considered to be the whipping boys. And even then to be fair they held their heads high in that tournament.
Can anybody make up their mind? Media sources around Great Britain spent 10 months leading up to the World Cup placing Fabio Capello on pedal stall next to greats such as Bobby Charlton, Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson. The way the media portrayed the brilliant Italian was such that all players, management, fans and optimists believed that England had the right man to steer England to world glory….. and then England met Germany.
England began their journey to The European Championships by destroying a feeble Bulgaria at Wembley this evening. From start to finish England dominated and they went a little way in restoring a reputation, torn apart by a dismal World Cup campaign.
Jermaine Defoe scored a quality hat trick, with his third goal especially noteworthy. Adam Johnson, from the multi cultural Manchester City scored England’s fourth and sets up nicely the tricky tie against Switzerland on Tuesday evening.
Certain areas of Englands game were impressive tonight. Time after time Gerrard, Barry, Dawson and Milner intercepted Bulgaria’s attempts at attacking England springing quick counter attacks instead, something Capello tried to implement in South Africa.
