England vs Croatia: Why Revenge is a Silly Idea

Apologies for the relative lack of coverage on England WCB this week. To be honest I’ve been mostly frustrated by what I see as pointless pointless debates.

The mini-campaign to have Jermain Defoe start up front instead of Emile Heskey struck me as idiotic, and had me wondering whether to blame the media for fanning the flames, or the general public for even considering the possibility. Final nail in the coffin was when I heard a bloke on Talksport say “Dee-Foe-Ay” should definitely start because “he knows where the goal is”. Come on England fans, we’re better than that aren’t we? And we finally have an England team that works as a unit, and Emile Heskey is a huge part of that.

Similarly, the talk of England taking “revenge” for Croatia beating us in 2007 seems a little silly. Croatia didn’t cheat us or wrong us during Euro 2008 qualification. They just beat us, because that was what they needed to do to qualify. Beating Croatia tonight won’t retroactively qualify us for Euro 2008.

But it will send us to World Cup 2010, and that’s all that matters.