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England are in the World Cup Final 2010
Posted by kb on 4 March 2010 - 2:55pm.
What's your line up? (Assume all those injured are available).
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My line-up
Haggerty F
Haggerty R
Tomkins
Noble
Carrick
Dobson
Dewhurst
Crapper
McIntyre
Treadmore
Davitt
I've always ...
.. loved scrap
More information needed.
Am I Brazil, Spain, Argentina or Holland?
My team
Green
Cole / Ferdinand / Brown / Johnson
Barry / Carrick / Milner / Gerrard
Rooney / Crouch
Manager: Me
Substitutes: Greaves, Bonetti, Linneker, Pearce, Robson
Best boy: Beckham
Water carrier: Pickles (also the most likely from this lot to actually get his paws on the cup)
This lot would win the cup
Crowther
Beany
Valparaiso
backwards7
Hepworth
Ellen
Rimmer
Lunaman
Retro Man
Lewry (assuming he has a British passport)
Star player: Underpants
Subs - The rest of the Massive
Thanks for the inclusion
I don't have a British passport, but I don't need actually one to play for England. As a child born abroad to British parents, I qualify for all the home nations - including Wales, even though I've no Welsh heritage at all. Them's the rules.
Star Player
and Captain. Obviously.
Do I have to do the wives in a particular order, or...?
Same old Underpants
Always cheating. Etc.
Let me tell you a story...
Once upon a time I was playing football in a school team on a freezing cold winter's day. I must have been around 9 years old. My enjoyment of playing was practically nil as none of the other kids would pass the ball to me as I was so utterly rubbish. This particular game shall live forever in my memory. My side won a penalty and our teacher insisted that I take it as I never got to do anything. I didn't want to, but 'Sir' was adamant. So I ran up to kick the ball, slipped on some mud, fell over the ball without properly connecting with it and in doing so knocked it with my foot so it was in play... and the opposing team took it up the other end and scored the winning goal. My teammates showed their appreciation for my efforts with acts of aggression and verbal intimidation. I went home wanting to die.
Are you sure you want me in your team, flattered though I am to be mentioned?!
You are
Charlie Brown and I claim my £5!
Funny you should say that...
as on Valentine's Day this year I watched Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown. It's a classic.
That's a beautifully told story...
...you can go in goal...
I've said it before...
if there was a Word football top with 'Valparaiso' across the shoulders and a reversed '7' underneath it, I'd buy a box of 'em.
Hey
You've put me in midfield (as Rimmer - I now sport a Brazilian like single monicker since the amnesty). I need to play upfront as midfield requires too much running around. I'm more used to short bursts of intense action followed by an apology. Which makes me a forward in anyone's books.
with form like that
I'm surprised you score at all.
Every now and then one or
Every now and then one or two would bounce in off but on the whole you're on the money.
Mine
Green
Johnson
King
Upson
A Cole
Milner
Lampard
Barry
Gerrard
Rooney
Crouch
Walcott and Lennon to come off the bench with 20 mins to go if we're losing.
That defence!
Johnson can't defend, King is crocked and could only play every other game at best, Upson is average, and Cole won't be match fit!
On the other hand, Ferdinand has hardly played this year, Terry is overrated (shouts a lot, which makes him a leader of men apparently), and there is hardly anyone else with international experience at left back.
Mmm ... problem!
You're right
... but the question did say assuming everyone was fit, I think.
Defence, including keeper, is a real problem, particularly as the old first choice pairing is looking very very vulnerable at the mo. For me, King and Woodgate are probably the best 2 english centre halves (i'm not spurs), but neither is fit. anyone else is unproven and i don't particularly rate upson, but who else? lescott? wes brown??? maybe it's not too late for jakielka to get a few games and establish himself?
Mine would be
a box set of 'The Sopranos';
a nice shiraz; and
some nibbles.
Sopranos
G - Tony Soprano (captain)
D - Ralphie Cifaretto (like a little terrier)
D - Bobby Baccalieri (a bit slow but good in the wall)
D - Big Pussy Bonpensiero (ditto)
D - Paulie Walnuts (bites yer' legs)
M - Furio Giunta (italian flair)
M - Christopher Moltisanti (unpredictable but gets results)
M - Tony Blundetto
M - Silvio Dante (cool head)
F - Benny Fazio
F - Artie Bucco
Manager - Hesh
Good team sheet.
Not sure Bucco is a finisher, though.
Here's mine
Green
Johnson
Ferdinand
Terry
A Cole
Milner
Carrick
Barry
Gerrard
Rooney
Crouch
Agree about Walcott and Lennon.
Count me out
I'll be supporting A.B.E. (anyone but England).
Bitter Scot.
The bestest Jock team ever!
Weir
Young
Sharp
Good
&
Speedie.
Ure
Rough
Auld
Bauld
Gray
&
Duff.
Read it...you know it makes sense!
I bet Capello has taught the team the Italian word 'furbo'...
a necessary ingredient when it comes to achieving sporting success.
http://www.blogfromitaly.com/interesting-italian-word-furbo/
Spain, Italy, Germany
As long as England go out ASAP I can then start to enjoy the world cup
Steve
(A SCOT WHO WASNT ALIVE IN 66 BUT IS SICK TO THE BACK TEETH OF IT)
Scotch Missed
I work closely with a Scottish chap who is very firmly in the A.B.E. camp. This annoys me because I like it when Scotland qualify and want them to do well. Yet he "detests" the English and would "love it" if they get knocked out early. And this isn't banter, or good-natured joshing - this is deeply felt.
He utterly hates it when English fans keep referring to 1966. Or when they get their hopes up over an approaching World Cup.
So what I meant to do? I'll tell you - I thread in references to the 1966 tournament whenever I can, the more irrelevant the better. I will ask him who he thinks should be playing for England when we get to the final. It is very entertaining to *see* his blood boil.
If he was more relaxed about things, I probably wouldn't bother - but it's just so darned entertaining I can't help myself.
Paddy's dilemma
As an Irishman, I find myself torn here. On the one hand, the pleasure in seeing England fall flat is perennial. On the other, the longer they stay in it, the longer the anticipation of their demise lasts: the air goes out of it a bit when England lose. So, a defeat on penalties in the quarter-finals is just about right really: preferably to an outsider that the Daily Mail et al have patronised hopelessly in the lead-up.
It's pathetic
I'm Scottish but of course I'll be supporting England this summer. The "anyone but England" Scots should get a life, it's as simple as that.
I'm 100% English
(well, 75% if we're splitting hairs) and, of course, I want England to win the World Cup, but I almost get some sort of pleasure in seeing us perform so dismally because, well, we deserve it.
We get hyped up so much it's ridiculous, the team get arrogant and play as if its their God-given right to beat any team lower than them in the rankings and, without trying to generalise, to a man, the England team all appear to be deeply unpleasant people.
and of course
the sooner we get knocked out of these things the less time the fans have to reinforce our international reputation as knobs of the highest order.
Last time round in Frankfurt, I shared a tram carriage with a mob signing 'Ten German bombers' and 'No Surrender' to frightened mothers and toddlers on their way to the shops. Funny how one man's expression of national pride fills another with shame.
The media
The newspapers, phone-ins and pundits are miles more interesting after an England defeat, that's for sure.
There is something about not winning a WC/Euros tourno that is highly appealing, and yet (as someone above pointed out) the tournament goes flat after the ignominious exit.
A Conundrum
I am English. I want England to do well at the World Cup. If any one of the home nations were there I would want them to do well. While working in Edinburgh I expressed this view to a Scottish friend. They could not understand or believe it. The negativity is deeply ingrained in your average Scotland supporter.Is it not time that the Scots moved on from the chip on the shoulder?
That conundrum
Leaving aside all the immensely tedious (in a sporting context at least) historical and political issues between the various countries of the British Isles, isn't the fact that the Scots, Irish and Welsh revel in English defeat simply a reflection of England's status as the big dog in our neighbourhood? Do the Canadians cheer for the Americans? Ever met a Kiwi who was sad at an Aussie sporting defeat?
Indeed.
I expect this topic to be aired weekly from now until June. As I've pointed out on here before, let me know when City fans cheer on United in Europe (thinking about it - perhaps an outdated analogy now, given the fact that City are the richest club in the world!), or Spurs fans do the same with Arsenal. After all, surely they should put aside petty local rivalries and cheer on their fellow Mancunians / North Londoners?
I realise that Darren Fletcher (when asked about this recently) took the ever so mature, laudable approach of saying he wanted England to do well. I must admit though, that part of me prefers the stance of a Man U Scot of an earlier era, Denis Law, who says of that golden, rarely seen since day in 1066, sorry 1966: 'I didn't watch it - I was on the golf course that day'.
It's called local rivalry. It isn't big and it isn't clever and that's why we love it ;-)
In my case...
1992 Cup Winners Cup and 1999 European Cup Final. My Dad is a Red, I support City. Although subsequent events have hardened my attitude a little...
That is so refreshing.
I'm an English-born child of expatriate Scots and the sheer bitterness of the Scots against the English never fails to amaze me.And please don't bring up ancient history, 98% of people of whatever descent were not in the decision making classes when it happened.
and the other 2%
didn't have anything to do with it either.
Not every single one of us feels that way
As a jock, I see a lot of this. I don't practise it myself. I was in a meeting in Manchester during Euro 2004 when the city was festooned with England flags - St George's cross was flying from every car and the air was febrile. My English colleagues rattled through all the agenda items, abandoning their usual need to go through the pre-history of each issue, almost as if we had an aim of finishing early. So instead of me sprinting out at 5:30 to get a taxi to the airport, we were all wrapped up by 2pm, and then they were going to the pub to watch the England game. One of them asked me, with a hint of mischief, "how do you feel, as a Jock, seeing all this Englishness around?" he was quite surprised when I said " I think it's quite nice you can be proud of being English. Doesn't bother me at all ".
We all know...
...that people are the same wherever you go,
there is good and bad in everyone,
and we learn to live,
learn to give each other what we need to survive,
together alive....
*holds mobile phone aloft*
:-)
aye, right
But also I spend so much time in England (I guess 50% of my working time over the last 10 years) that if I couldn't live & let live, I would be the cartoon chippy jock. Like the engineer I met in Bristol, on a project, who sounded as if he had arrived that morning from Kilwinning. He asked me conspiratorially "How do you get on with them ?".
Meaning "The English".
I played dumb, but found out in later conversation that this William Wallace had been living in a wee village south of Exeter for 29 years, his wife was a local lass, and they had 2 grown-up daughters. But he still had fire in his belly for hating them.
How could he look at his face in the shaving mirror in the morning ?
It is all this
"golden generation" bollocks that gets my goat. Golden in that they get paid more than anybody else nothing else. The fear this time is that they at last have decent manager who might actually do something.
And on the subject , I wouldn't have been supporting the Irish if they had qualified. Why do Sky give them a bigger billing than Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland these days? They are a foreign country.
-
-
Back to the football
I know this won't be the team but this is fantasy football right, injuries permitting
Hart
Johnson
Terry
Ferdinand
Cole
Wright Phillips
Lampard
Barry
Gerrard
Crouch
Rooney
Bearing in mind the absolute rule
That to get in the final and win the thing, there needs to be three Hammers in the line up. Joking aside, it could happen.
Green,Upson and Cole(C)
(Although Cole would presumeably have to come off the bench.
Add to that a squad lined with ex hammers
Ferdinand, Lampard, Cole(J,) Carrick, Defoe, James,
What could possibly go wrong?
If all are available
I would play a 4-2-2-1-1:
----------James----------
Johnson--Terry--Ferdinand--Cole
--Hargreaves----Barry-----
--Gerrard-------Lampard----
---------Rooney-----------
---------Crouch-----------
Width would be provided by Cole & Johnson with Hargreaves and Barry able to cover. Rooney allowed to go anywhere he wants. Gerrard and Lampard playing in their best positions. Crouch to do what he does.
Given Hargreaves is a major doubt I'd replace him with Milner, or (whisper it) Phil Neville, who is an excellent man-marker and a good reader of the game.
John Terry will not go to the World Cup
File this and quote it back to me in three months.
Apparently
his misdemeanours run thick and far. Even Super Frank is not supporting JT this time. Tip of iceberg I feel.
JT no WC show?
And on what info do you base this? Please share, Mr Green
Ive spoken to my lawyers and
Im afraid that...
How can I put this...
The News of the World are going to kill him, I believe within the month.
As i said,
quote this back me to me in June.
It's clear to me
and guess which team I have the least affection for;
Afro Davey James: Keeper
Red Gary Nev: Right Back
Bainesy: Left Back
Big Gay Sol: Centre Back
Riiiiiiiio: Centre Back
Lennon: Right Midfield
Milner: Left Midfield
Barry: Holding Midfield
Carrick: Centra Midfield (seems to understand the concept of passing to a man in the same colour shirt)
Stevie G: In the hole
Wazza: Centre forward
Becks, Crouchy, SWP off the bench.
The cup is ours.
I really don't get Carrick
He's a decent passer but generally sideways as far as I can tell. In yesterday's Guardian their football writers chose their squads and Richard Williams left him out completely. I agree with that.
On the other hand Kevin McCarra left out Beckham which I think would be mad.
Unfortunately for Beckham...
... he plays in our best position. Just look at all the magnificent midfielders we have:
Carrick, Hargreaves, Barry, Lampard, Gerrard, Milner, Lennon, Wright-Phillips, Walcott, Joe Cole.
There's no shame not to be picked against that lot. When you're 5 years older than any one of them, 10 years older than some. If he was an attacker, with his experience and ability, he'd get in. But here, I think not.
Beckham will go
And should.
In 2006 I was angry that he was even there - The Golden Generation and all that.
But... Wrighty/Lennon/Walcott are so similar we need summat different as an option on the right. he can play in the middle also and having 'been there' gives him 50% over the others.
Milner - mmmm
Carrick- average and too slow
Barry - ok.
Cole - dunno if hes done enough this season for fabio
Hargreaves - get fit and he is essential.
The silly anti-Englishness of childhood days has gone...
.. replaced by a simple appreciation that the London media agenda sets the tone for the whole of the United Klingon of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales) & Norn Irn ... so when the announcer says, "And the nation is agog tonight as England take on XXXXX in the quarter final," there is no appreciation that 5 million Scots, 3 million Welsh and 1.75 million Ulsterites are saying, in unison, "We are not in your fekkin nation, sunshine..."
This does create a reasonable objectivity (I hope) which means that England as a quarter final team is a reasonable view, England getting to the semis is a success, England as beaten finalists would be a major achievement ... and England winning the thing? One of the all-time triumphs of professional football south of the border ... Also insufferable (see "London media agenda" above) ...
Based on the record over the last 40 years, 1970-2010 (World Cup semis in 1990, Euro Champ semis in 1996 as the highlights), winning the World Cup with the current Brazil and Spain sides kicking about would be a minor miracle ... Not impossible but very very hard ...
Best of luck. You're better than Scotland, obviously, but I think Brazil or Spain will win the trophy this summer ...
If Peter Crouch didn't look so weird
If Peter Crouch didn't look so weird he'd be the first name on the team sheet.
He's always been seen as an oddball to 'chuck in the mix' every now and then. For England, Liverpool, Tottenham.
If he looked like Frank Lampard or Ashley Cole, like a normal person, he'd have twice as many caps.
He came up with the best modern footballer's quote too: Q: "What would you have been if you hadn't been a footballer?" Crouchy's A: "A virgin".