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World Cup: England to win

It has been 44 years of hurt, but South Africa 2010 will see England finally win the World Cup. No, you did not misread that, England will be champions and remember where you read it first. If England fail to win it this time around, they will not likely to lift the trophy anytime soon – and they can be certain of that.

There is ever the problem with England when it comes to such tournaments – the constitutional high expectations that the country must win and should win anything and everything, which is then subsequently followed by the traditional quarterfinals exit, then followed by the even more traditional "
England will win it all next time"
routine.

Campaign leader and manager Fabio Capello has been given a job which on the surface any manager would die for – to steer a side packed with some of the best talent in the world, including Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, John Terry, Jamie Carragher, Frank Lampard, and Ashley Cole, just to name a few. This is a powerful but aging England generation and if it fails to deliver now, it is difficult to imagine the successors accomplishing any better any time soon.

Arguably, England’s best in recent memory was in 1990, when the titanic side managed by Sir Bobby Robson should have been crowned world champions but bowed out on penalties to their traditional foe Germany despite outclassing them on the pitch.

England systematically underperformed in every World Cup and European Championship since then, with the exception of 1996, when England outclassed Germany in the semi-final (again) only for Paul Gascoigne to miss-kick the ball from the goal-line and lose on penalties (again).

Is it because the Three Lions have become too predictable, hoofing forward and in disarray? Is it because of the sheer volume of strength-sapping Premiership and domestic cups matches that leave players with nothing in the tank by June? Is it because of bad luck, poor tactics or poor referring and the "
hand of God"
that have denied England time and again their "
God-given right"
to win the World Cup? Perhaps it is all of the above.

England’s weaknesses this time around are also legion: David James, who is arguably the worst England keeper in decades and is one of the less talented in the tournament. England’s curse is to have great keepers coming in pairs, wondering what to do with them, as was the case with Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence (later David Seaman and Chris Woods), or have sweet Fanny Adams in goal.

The defence was weakened by the departure of Rio Ferdinand through injury, although Steven Gerrard assuming the captaincy is a plus as he is better at marshalling a side than Rio or John Terry put together.

Another weakness is Wayne Rooney’s temper – the lad is a ballistic missile with an extremely short fuse. Alex Ferguson managed it, but would Fabio Capello cope with his temper?

Under Sven Goran Eriksson, England were predictably boring, while under Steve McLaren they were simply hopeless. There is a ray of hope, an air of clinical efficiency and ruthlessness about England under Capello, as the Three Lions qualifying campaign showed (nine wins in 10 matches).

So, England fans must not worry in these last days before the tournament, always a time (helped by the influence of many lagers) when the philosophic side of football fans prevails. It is that unmistakable "
stay positive"
, "
cheerfulness in the face of adversity"
and "
stiff upper lip – bulldog spirit"
attitude that sets the English well apart from the pack.

As recently noted in the Irish Times, consider the following scenario: when England perform impressively before a World Cup in a friendly match, this translates into expectations that England will win the World Cup. And when England perform poorly, this stipulates that, once again, England will win the World Cup. Conclusion: England will win the World Cup.

So there you have it ladies and gents. Football is coming home and so is that oddly shaped Jules Rimet trophy.

Lets face it, the Dutch won’t win it, and neither will the Germans – not this time. Portugal will not reach the final, unless they meet England on the way and beat them in penalties. And Spain, who are arguably the best side in the tournament by a mile – somehow do not appeal to me as world champions.

So against all odds, and contrary to all logic, I am backing England to stop Argentina and prevent Diego Maradona from running around Buenos Aires naked. England must, for the sake of humanity, stop Maradona at all cost.

Alternatively, my hopes will be on the side of whoever transpires as this tournament’s "
surprise package"
. North Korea versus New Zealand, anyone?

and italy are out, cannot believe that, this world cup is becoming a no hopers dream world cup and one of them might just win the cup.

tonyb60 wrote:

The world cup has turned out like WW2!! The French have surrendered early, the USA arrive at the last minute and we are left to fight the Germans!!

Well put Tony and you too starlite I think we will all be in for a surprise :Shocked:

Oh well out we go.

No good crying over spilt milk they were just not good enough.

Time for a change at the top...... and back to a British manager... Martin o'Neil or Harry Redknapp ? surely 2 strong contenders ?

[size=85:3v1xaqwi]novinite 27 June 2010

World Cup: Germany Eliminates England 4:1

The German national football team scored an historic 4:1 win over age-old rivals England in World Cup 2010's third match in the round of 16 Sunday.

Miroslav Klose opened for the Germans in the 20th minute, only to be followed by Lukas Podolski in the 32th. The English team committed many errors in defense but were mobilized and exerted pressure on the Germans after their second goal.

This resulted in a goal scored by Matt Upson in the 37th minute. Just after that Frank Lampart managed to get the ball past the German goal line, but that failed to be acknowledged in what some see as a scandalous decision on the part of Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda.

The second half was marked with total domination on the part of the German team. Thomas Mueller in the 67th and 70th made the English defeat a humiliating one.

The Germans meet the winner of Sunday's later match between Argentina and Mexico on June 3 in the World Cup's quarter-finals.

oh, england, you were outplayed by a young german team who had the speed, the expertise and the guts to give it a go, you were outplayed by style and speed and the ability to control the ball. you are safe in your home teams but at international level, you falter and dont work together, england has a different style to international football and if you dont adapt to the changes needed, your out. defence was not good tonight, look at the others, 3 to 1, they had alll the space they needed, no one was next to them and in defence you need to be next to them. didnt happen, let them have the room and you paid the price. will await the next world cup in 4 years time.

tonyb60 wrote:

No good crying over spilt milk they were just not good enough.

Very true Tony. They were totally outclassed by the German side.

Ah well, that's England, Italy and France already out

Its not football anymore its a joke and as someone said earlier its all about money not sport

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I take it that this is a comedy of errors

Spain Win 2010 World Cup in South Africa

Spain have beaten the Netherlands 1:0 in the 2010 World Cup final after 120 minutes on the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.

After a scoreless draw in the regular time, the Spanish and the Dutch went into a 30-minute extra time.

The only goal was scored by Spain's Iniesta in the 116th minute after Netherlands' back Heitinga received a red card in the 110th minute.

Thus, Spain have become the eighth team to ever win a World Cup tournament, and the first European team to do so outside of Europe.

Spain are also the second team to win a World Cup after winning the European Cup before that (in 2008 in Austria and Switzerland). The only team to have done so until now was Germany.

The Spainish are the first ever team to win the World Cup after losing their opening game in the tournament. In South Africa, Spain lost its starting match against Switzerland 0:1.

starlite wrote:

oh, england, you were outplayed by a young german team who had the speed, the expertise and the guts to give it a go, you were outplayed by style and speed and the ability to control the ball. you are safe in your home teams but at international level, you falter and dont work together, england has a different style to international football and if you dont adapt to the changes needed, your out. defence was not good tonight, look at the others, 3 to 1, they had alll the space they needed, no one was next to them and in defence you need to be next to them. didnt happen, let them have the room and you paid the price. will await the next world cup in 4 years time.

In the mean time I understand that England have organised a friendly against Iceland before the next cup. If they win, further games will be played against Sainsbury, Waitrose, Tesco &
Morrisons

It has been announced that England will play a friendly against Iceland. If they WIN the FA have agreed to organise further matches against Adsa, Tesco,
Sainsbury's and Morrisons. Just about par for the course