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How Seriously Should England Take the Ukraine Game?

I’ve deliberately avoided all the post World Cup qualification hooplah. Mostly because the usual questions: “Can we win it this time?” etc, make me want to stab myself in the leg with a pencil. And anyone who uses the phrase “Can England win it? Yes. Will they win it? No.” should be reminded that
a) It’s not clever or original if a thousand other people have already said it first, and
b) You deserve to be stabbed in the leg with a pencil.

So, moving on from that little outburst, it’s worth remembering that we still have one two World Cup qualifiers to play, against Ukraine. In Ukraine. On October 10th. And against Belarus at Wembley on the 14th. And there’s actually quite a lot riding on that Ukraine game.

Not for us of course. We’re already through. But Croatia pretty much need us to go to the Ukraine and get a result, if they have any chance of holding onto second place in Group 6 and a World Cup 2010 playoff spot.

So should we field a full side to try and win in Dnepropetrovsk? Or should we pick eleven pub players for a laugh and see what happens? I favour somewhere inbetween.

The games vs Ukraine will be our final competitive encounter before World Cup 2010. Think about that for a second. … We might not need a result, but Ukraine definitely will. And we won’t face opposition who need a result again until the first group game in South Africa.

So I say we field a near full strength team, but with a couple of fringe players given a chance to play alongside the first teamers. Maybe switch Carlton Cole for Emile Heskey and see how he plays with Rooney for 90 minutes. See if either James Milner or Ashley Young can cut in Gerrard’s position, or give Mark Noble a go in centre mid. Maybe give Wayne Bridge a game at left back or give Gary Cahill his debut at centre back. If we’re feeling really crazy, we could give Fabio Capello the night off an let Stuart Pearce manage the senior team.

Actually, scratch that last one. But I’d love to see any of the other ideas given a try, so that we make an honest effort to beat Ukraine (which is only fair to Croatia since they let us spank them 9-2 on aggregate) while giving some of our fringe players a chance to show what they can do. Against Belarus it may not matter so much, as they can no longer take second. So maybe then we can let Pearce manage.

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Comments
By Ebrahim | September 22nd, 2009 at 2:40 am
Top

Haven’t we also got Belarus to play too?? That makes it TWO competitive games left.

I reckon it would be totally wrong to field a weakened side, and it will do the players some good to get to know each other some more so i say play the best team possible (and make the maximum three subs).

Posted from United Kingdom United Kingdom

By Daryl | September 22nd, 2009 at 9:26 am
Top

You’re right Ebrahim, we also play Belarus at Wembley on October 14th. Will update the post to reflect that now.

By Daryl | September 22nd, 2009 at 9:32 am
Top

Looks like the Belarus game will be unimportant, in that we’re already qualified and they can no longer qualify.

So I agree with you now Ebrahim, we should definitely field our strongest team vs Ukraine (because that game has implications for both Ukraine and Croatia). But I’d be in favour of mixing it up a little vs Belarus.

By Seth | September 22nd, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Top

“a) It’s not clever or original if a thousand other people have already said it first, and
b) You deserve to be stabbed in the leg with a pencil.”

lolol

By irish hottie | September 23rd, 2009 at 4:03 am
Top

england are crap, they will be dominated by ireland when we make it to the world cup and are drawn with them in group b along with ghana and nth korea.

By Daryl | September 23rd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Top

That’s a very specific prediction irish hottie.

By Ebrahim | September 24th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Top

That might happen, irish hottie. If only “Ireland” was actually a country

Posted from United Kingdom United Kingdom

By Ukrainian | October 12th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Top

Ukraine – England 1:0
Where is your god now?

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