I completely agree. Rooney dazzled me at the Euro 04, and was actually one of the reasons I fell in love with football. I was about 10 at the time and it blew my mind that someone so young could do something so lovely. Rooney really convinced me what a great sport this was, I suppose Bolton Offside has him to thank. I really hope he has a great tournament.

Posted from  United States

Some good points all round – but defenders don’t last as long as they used to – top strikers today are just too fast and mobile. But it depends a great deal of course on what sort of defender (central in particular) you are – if you rely largely on how well you read the game, like John Terry, you can go on a long time. But I have to disagree about Carragher – he was a great player, but top quality opposition has found him out time and again this season. He has lost both pace and vision it seems. England’s problem is that they have a large number of quite good centre backs, but after Rio and Terry, no-one really stands out. If Woodgate can stay fit and get plenty of playing time, he might step up

Posted from  United States

Thanks Michel-Olivier, I’d never heard of Lewis Holtby, but just looked him up after reading your comment. Seems like a very similar situation to Hunt in that he could theoretically play for England, but is Germany born and raised and so – very understandably – prefers to represent Germany.

Holtby Wiki link here, if anyone’s interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Holtby

Features this great quote: “My father was born in England and was an Everton fan since the age of five. He immediately infected me with the Everton virus!”

Well with all things considered it’s perfectly plausible for Warner’s wife to have thought the bag was a birthday present. After all it was presented at her birthday dinner! Also the FIFA executive committee does not meet every day so the two week delayed response is entirely reasonable.

There is no doubt however that if Warner hadn’t been caught with the bag he would have kept it to England’s advantage.

The only problem is that there is a subtle, but significant difference in impersonally handing out gifts at a convention (what Australia did) and personally giving gifts to the wives of the 23 member executive committee. Indeed, one can be construed as benefits of the job and the other more as outright bribery.

It’s really this subtlety in presentation and organization that England lacks in their 2018 bid and indeed this can very much cost the bid if the vote comes down to the wire.

Although I really prefer England over any other venue for 2018 especially Australia, there is a lot still to be learned by the English FA lest they want a repeat of the 2006 bid.

Is it not totally unreasonable to question why all the delegates had “wives”, ie why they were all men. I recoil at the lack of females in administrative positions in football, it is, at best, unfortunate.

Posted from  Australia

So rather than being a talented footballer who shanked a vital penalty, Chris Waddle is actually an altruist who sacrificed his own international reputation for the sake of the German people’s happiness. I definitely like that explanation better.

Although I really rate Crouch, I’d start Defoe before him, I think Defoe and Rooney work better together. It is a tough decision though, and I don’t think Crouch is a bad option at all.
Johnson’s dropped out due to injury (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8353751.stm) so my new back four would probably look like
Brown Terry Upson Bridge
(as a Bolton fan I would like to put Cahill in instead of Upson, but Upson is probably the better player, and Bolton’s too unfashionable to actually have an England international)
Other than that I think it looks good

Posted from  United States

Would have loved to have seen Joe Cole out left, minus Gerrard, but C’est le vie.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Great article Rob. I am glad you posted this here because right now there isn’t a place for it in the Germany blog.

I’m genuinely terrified. Apparently no Terry now as well http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/13/john-terry-england-brazil

Posted from  United Kingdom

I’d put Bent up front. Score goals? Yes he can!

great article, still remember that night like it was yesterday, to all the current England players, look at Gazza’s attitude and passion in that game and take note – with 11 Gazzas on the pitch we will storm South Africa.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Wow. Losing Terry is not good. So I suppose it’s Lescott and Upson in central defence?

I’m hearing that there’s still hope for John Terry. Suppose we’ll know more closer to gametime.

I worry about our lack of depth too, and it has me more than a little worried about tomorrow. But part of me is hoping that maybe we’re deeper than we realize and that at least a couple of players will step up and prove themselves against Brazil.

At least we didn’t get hammered. AND I got a reference in the Liveblog. So its not all bad.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Rooney was utter dogshit tonight. Disgrace.

Posted from  United Kingdom

The Spurs rejects were also a waste of space. Don’t forget this was not the greatest Brazil team but they played a lot better as a team.

Posted from  United Kingdom

I definitely disagree, he didn’t get any service. He didn’t shine but it wasn’t his fault.

Posted from  United States

I’d love for us to go into this World Cup draw with some confidence, and not be scared about who we end up playing. Bring on the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Australia and Ivory Coast! We’ll play all of them.

England in pot 1????? Get out of here, that spot is Holland’s.

Russia is out. Some good news there, I don’t think Slovenia can be too bad…(not to jinx)

I really liked the bag!The purple make it look more sophisticated and elegant.

hi…nice blog…really…why don’t we exchange links? visit mine and let me know if you are interested in it
Riccardo
Sport City-Calcio
http://sportcity-ricio.blogspot.com

Posted from  Italy