We knew he was'nt going....CREATIVE response
Mar 17th 2010, 4:44 pm
#16
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,434
Re: We knew he was'nt going....CREATIVE response
The maximum England will reach is the quarter finals...As usual...
Mar 18th 2010, 5:12 am
#17
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 13,553
Re: We knew he was'nt going....CREATIVE response
You have to look at the draw.
Let's assume England win Group C. They will meet the runners-up of D (Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana - a very wide open group) for a place in the QFs. Winning that would bring them up against (possibly) France, who should win Group A.
An England v France QF is wide open, the French being nowhere near their best of a few years ago. Winning that brings a semi-final against the Groups E and G progressors (which means Holland or Brazil).
That might be the end of it.
But this is certainly a better England team - with perhaps their shrewdest ever coach - than many of recent years. They were (IIRC) the top scorers in qualifying (apart from Brazil, who played 18 games to get there, compared to England's ten), and will fear nobody.
Rooney's best partner by a mile is Heskey for all the work he does to leave his partner with better opportunities (think back to Germany 1, England 5 in 2002 qualifying, when Owen's hat-trick was a direct result of Heskey's presence). Crouch is the off-the-bench man, who will score 3 or 4 in the tournament, while if Defoe can be relied on to turn up at international level like he can in the Premier, he'll be striker number 4. In any case, he probably will be chosen).
Don't write them off too soon.
And Beckham? Of course he would have been picked. Capello knows the difference between class and form.
Let's assume England win Group C. They will meet the runners-up of D (Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana - a very wide open group) for a place in the QFs. Winning that would bring them up against (possibly) France, who should win Group A.
An England v France QF is wide open, the French being nowhere near their best of a few years ago. Winning that brings a semi-final against the Groups E and G progressors (which means Holland or Brazil).
That might be the end of it.
But this is certainly a better England team - with perhaps their shrewdest ever coach - than many of recent years. They were (IIRC) the top scorers in qualifying (apart from Brazil, who played 18 games to get there, compared to England's ten), and will fear nobody.
Rooney's best partner by a mile is Heskey for all the work he does to leave his partner with better opportunities (think back to Germany 1, England 5 in 2002 qualifying, when Owen's hat-trick was a direct result of Heskey's presence). Crouch is the off-the-bench man, who will score 3 or 4 in the tournament, while if Defoe can be relied on to turn up at international level like he can in the Premier, he'll be striker number 4. In any case, he probably will be chosen).
Don't write them off too soon.
And Beckham? Of course he would have been picked. Capello knows the difference between class and form.
