England

Why England vs Belarus is Actually Quite Exciting

Weirdly, I’m kind of excited for England vs Belarus. Neither team has anything to play for, but with Rooney and Gerrard out injured (or as The Fiver put it yesterday: “Wayne Rooney has pulled out of the game against Belarus at Wembley with a severe case of having his wages paid by ... [read]

Ukraine 1-0 England Highlights: Blame it on Rio

Apologies for the predictable headline. But Mr. Ferdinand’s moment of Sunday league defending madness, which led to Robert Green’s sending off and should have led to Ukraine’s first goal (poor Shevchenko put the pen wide) seems to have more or less cost us this game.
As I say seems to, because I didn’t watch. Due to the fact that this game ... [read]

To get a World Cup you need Beckham. Also Goody Bags.

So FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has come out and had a bit of a pop at our attempt to hold the World Cup. He said that not only was the bid lightweight, but he was really impressed by Australia, who gave him a goody bag with Australia ... [read]

Why Fabio Capello Should Not Have Dropped Ben Foster

Turns out that if you do this…

…and then let Kenwyne Jones beat you in the air like this…

… while Fabio Capello watches from the stands … then you get dropped from the England squad. Fabio Capello has named his England squad to face Ukraine and Belarus, and Ben Foster is not in it.
(more…)
... [read]

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 ... [read]

England 5-1 Croatia: Goals and Highlights

For those who weren’t lucky enough to see it live, or for those who did but want to watch it again. Or even for those who want to see what it looked like on Croatian TV (I’m assuming HR2 is Croatian).
Happy days.
... [read]

England vs Croatia OpenThread

It’s the big one. England vs Croatia, and a win means we’ll be at World Cup 2010. A draw wouldn’t be the end of the world, but would be perfect to get it done this evening so we can all start getting excited about South Africa.
No LiveBlog I’m afraid, as England WCB ... [read]

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 ... [read]

What’s the Secret Weakness That Slaven Bilić Has Spotted in the England Team?

It’s England vs Croatia on Wednesday. A win and we qualify for the World Cup. Simple as that, and definitely do-able.
But Croatia coach Slaven Bilić seems to think he’s spotted a weakness in the England team:
“They have some advantages but they are also missing something from their game,” he said.
“They are ... [read]