The B-Squad Match: The Aftermath

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England 1 BELARUS 2

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Even if it was a supposed B match, this was a terrible result. Belarus man, come on. England F team should beat them….hell, even Sunderland would give them a better game than this.

Go Australia!

OMG how was it a B SIDE — OWN PLAYED AND I THINK LAMPARD DID AS WELLLLLL … ENGLAND ARE JUST TRYING TO COVER UP THE FACT THAT THERE PUBBISH — There so lucky that they got an easy team, but who knwos if they keep playen liek this they will not make it to the last 16

Does this look like a B squad to you????? It was a part of their first team. Crouch, James, Owen, A. Cole, Walcott

It’s a B squad.

Lampard didn’t play.

Owen was having his first run-out since his injury.

Crouch may or may not start in the World Cup depending on Rooney’s fitness.

James and Walcott won’t get near first-team action in Germany.

(The fact that you’ve heard of those guys doesn’t make them superstars.)

Here’s the roster of players and subs:

“England (4-4-2) James (Green 45, Carson 50); Hargreaves, Carragher, Campbell, A Cole; Lennon, Jenas (J Cole 62), Hargreaves, Downing (Dawson 79); Crouch (Defoe 79), Owen (Walcott 62).

“Subs not used Bridge, P Neville, Johnson.”

Now, that said, it was a ridiculous loss (I didn’t see the match). Yes, one of Belarus’ goals came on the play that injured a keeper. But Belarus were also down to 10 men.

I don’t read much into it for Germany — other than Owen’s apparent fitness.

I do not think it matters much whether it was a B-squad or not. It was a friendly right before the Cup, in which coaches were concerned with things other than score. So, much as U.S. loss to Morocco should not be cause for panic for U.S. fans, neither should be this match for England fans.

If these losses do indicate anything, it is that on any given day, any team is capable of winning. Belarus does have some soccer tradition, albeit as a part of USSR.

omg just just face it .. endland will not win the cup this yr .. will go out in last 16

Marco — England might very well not make the knock-out stage. But last night wasn’t the measure of it. It has much more to do with the lack of scoring power up front than a meaningless training match against an opponent who won’t be in Germany. The friendlies against Hungary and Jamaica should be much more telling.

Shawn, You keep telling yourself that…and maybe you’ll start believing it.

No match is meaningless, especially 2 week before the start of the world cup.

Whatever, pallie. I’m not making any claims for England’s superiority — far from it. What I am saying is that a match that didn’t feature Lampard, Beckham, Gerrard, Joe Cole, Rio Ferdninand, Gary Neville, Michael Carrick or Paul Robinson is no test of the English squad’s readiness. That’s 7 likely first-team starters. How can you possibly judge a club without them? Watch the next two friendlies for a real assessment.

I hope they show better, because it would be a shame for my bet of England:Spain final to be wasted.

Now THAT’S a long shot!

It’s a great result…
We look bad and everybody is giving up on England

Which is great because with or without Rooney we still have a team that can more than do the business in Germany

That was posted from Germany actually..

Shawn: Actually Carrick and Joe Cole did play. The truth is that England had quite a strong side up, and should have done better.

However, England fans can console themselves with the fact that the likes of Gerrard, Lampard and Terry didn’t feature, and they are all capable of changing the outcome and the momentum of a match.

I think everyone is aware now that England’s problems lie up front. Sven Goran Eriksson really messed up with his choice of attackers. I don’t understand why Crouch is in the squad, let alone the first XI, while the likes of Defoe, Bent and Johnson haven’t been taken.

At the moment England have one injured attacker, another one who just recovered, one who has yet to play for the “A team” and another one who seems to have made it on the team for anything but his attacking abilities.

It would be sad to see a strong team suffer simply because they had nobody useful up front.

After all, very few teams can match the quality of the back four and the midfield of the current England team

[...] We’ve been having a lively debate over in another thread about whether the squad which lost to Belarus the other night represents England’s best. [...]

Akbar: Joe Cole yes (missed him on the sheet), Carrick no.

But otherwise we’re pretty much in agreement.

hey hey hey!!

I admit that Carrick and Hargreaves were shit with their sloppy passing, Downing was drowning, Cambpell wasnt spotting runs and Owen wasnt his best.. but still this wasnt their original team

The team is
Robinson
Neville
terry
Ferdinand
A.Cole (was playing)
Beckham
Lampard
Gerrard
J.Cole (played for 20 mins)
Owen ( played for one half)
Crouch (played for one half)

Nobody played the whole game except Ashley Cole!!!
watch the next two friendlies and u’ll see the difference between an A side and a B side!

1) NO WAY was this a proper England side. Please don’t fool yourselves that a side this poor is going to resemble in any way the side that plays in the World Cup. For one thing, Sven’s always experimenting with players he knows wouldn’t be in a starting line-up except in an emergency. For another, he can’t afford to be risking injuries to his best players (get well soon, Robert Green BTW).

2) England always have one or two awful results right before every major championship. It doesn’t prove anything.

3) Marco, when England get to the last 16 (what do you mean IF?), they’ll have Rooney back. I reckon that could make quite a difference.

4) Martin, this is no time to be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of Sunderland AFC. Suffice to say you’re being ridiculously pessimistic.

5) 95,000 watching Oz vs Greece? Was this (a) insane optimism, (b) a lot of family reunions, (c) an excuse for Greek fans to take a short holiday in Melbourne or (d) something the rest of the world should be taking notice of? (I think that ended up being a serious question).

[...] If these games ment nothing, no one would be playing them. The england blogger Shawn is a prime example. England Team B ????(with Owen, Lampard, Crouch, Walcott and James on the pitch) lost to a 10 man Belarus and he basically blew it off to ‘who cares’..If they would have won, I bet he would have been proclaiming their world superiority. And it’s not only him. I read the English media as well giving the same opinion. [...]

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England 4 Greece 0