In today’s Times, Tony Cascarino condemns Steve McClaren in terms so damning it’s a wonder the man isn’t the latest incarnation of Satan. He defends England’s players, the English youth coaching system, foreign players in the Premier League, and lays the blame for England’s failure to qualify, in its entirity, at McClaren’s feet. He makes [...]

I’m feeling a bit better about things now after a horrible day of blind fury. So let’s step back and try to assess, rationally, what went wrong. And what went right. And to be positive, I’ll start with that. The Good:
Peter Crouch: Literally the only man on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes who [...]

First up: Croatia.
Croatia:
Goalkeeper: Stipe Pletikosa, a regular in the Croatian national team and the first-choice goalkeeper since the 2002 World Cup (although he was injured for much of Euro 2004). Hasn’t made many mistakes since his Under-21s days.
Defence: On the right, Manchester City’s summer signing Vedran Corluka will turn out for Croatia. He’s 6′4″, athletic [...]

Steve McClaren still won’t reveal his starting 11 for tomorrow’s match against Croatia, but that isn’t going to stop me speculating.
Goalkeeper: The Times is reporting that Paul Robinson has performed abysmally in training, which probably means Scott Carson will get his first competitive start for England. The Guardian has the same story, but goes further [...]

Football365.com columnist John Nicholson thinks that the FA should create a new Championship team – England FC – made up entirely of young English players, to serve as a means of training young players outside of the usual system. Is it genius or just batshit?

Hello all – I’m the new guy. My name is Matthew and I’ll be taking over the England coverage here on WorldCupBlog.org. I’m a soon-to-be postgrad at England’s University of Sheffield, although I’m currently in Perú and will be in Belgium for much of December. Elsewhere on the Web, I’m the Leeds United blogger over [...]

Scott Parker took the man of the match award (MVP to Americans) in the cracking Newcastle vs Everton game yesterday, with Steve McClaren watching from the stands.
Parker was ingnored by Sven, and so far by Steve, but in this sort of form and with Owen Hargreaves (very, very) injured, he’s got to be due a [...]

I’ve had fun, I’ve learned, I’ve been entertained and I’ve also been appalled, but it was all part of a journey that was, for me at least, a blast.
Thanks to loyal readers and new internet friends. Thanks to Bob and the gang for hosting and inviting me aboard. Thanks to an English squad [...]

My deeply subjective ratings of individual players throughout the tournament (1-10 scale, with 10 being tops):
DAVID BECKHAM — Absent for long stretches and absolutely vital for key moments of 3 of the 5 matches; 5.5 overall, 7.5 for set pieces
WAYNE ROONEY — Never found his pace, never figured out a way around in the 4-5-1 [...]

A night’s sleep and a clear, bright day, and so to the autopsy.
Yesterday’s match was a battle of wills between two teams afraid to lose. Both sides featured egoistic foreign coaches, both had superstar players who’d grown up together and were likely participating in their final World Cup tournament, both had some hot young [...]