Thread: Congratulations England.

England 5 Croatia 1

Well done to the boys on reaching world cup finals.

Even better the Jocks missed out again.

Originally Posted by mrben

Even better the Jocks missed out again

Well said that man.

Originally Posted by mrben

Even better the Jocks missed out again.

For a newcomer to the board, I think you'll go far

Greened!

England 5-1 Croatia


England secured qualification for next summer's World Cup in South Africa in the most emphatic style as they thrashed Croatia at Wembley.
The goalless stalemate between Belarus and Ukraine left England needing only a draw to confirm their place in South Africa - but they emphasised their progress under Capello with an outstanding display to record an eighth successive win of a flawless qualifying campaign.
Croatia ended England's hopes of reaching Euro 2008 under Capello's predecessor Steve McClaren by winning at Wembley, but there was never any chance of a repeat in an encounter that was totally one-sided from the opening exchanges.
England have taken huge strides forward under Capello since that rain-soaked night in November 2007 and the end of the McClaren reign, while Croatia are a pale shadow of the side Slaven Bilic brought to Wembley for their previous visit.


And the gulf in class between the two teams was immediately obvious - even accounting for the absence of Croatia's gifted playmaker Luka Modric.


England continued to create chances and only Croatia keeper Vedran Runje's defiance stopped them adding further goals before the interval.
Lampard got his second just before the hour when he headed in Glen Johnson's excellent cross and Gerrard grabbed a double of his own in similar fashion from Wayne Rooney's lofted cross seven minutes later.



Arsenal striker Eduardo - jeered constantly by the Wembley crowd as the fall-out from his alleged dive against Celtic continues - grabbed a goal back for Croatia from close range with 18 minutes left, but to even label it a form of consolation would be generous in the extreme.


Rooney deservedly got on the scoresheet himself when he took advantage of a wild sliced clearance from the unfortunate Runje to score.


After the early goals from Lampard and Gerrard, Emile Heskey - preferred to Jermain Defoe - could have boosted his own confidence with a goal, but he was twice denied by Runje when clean through.
These were minor blots on England's landscape and Heskey was given a thumping greeting of thanks from Capello when he was eventually replaced by Defoe after Lampard scored his second.
The swift double strike from Lampard and Gerrard snuffed out any hopes of a Croatia recovery, and even the muted celebrations of their colourful travelling support after Eduardo's strike were swiftly snuffed out when Rooney scored England's fifth.
Even hard-to-please Capello cracked smiles in his technical area, while Bilic cut a miserable figure yards away as the scene of one of his greatest triumphs turned into a nightmare.


And if England needed any further boost to the optimism that will travel with them to South Africa, the manner and scale of this victory will provide it.
England have scored 31 goals and conceded only five in a qualifying campaign that has done much to erase the bitter memories of the failure to reach Euro 2008.
A group that was initially regarded as potentially dangerous has been expertly and convincingly negotiated, with barely any hazards to block England's smooth progress.
Capello has rebuilt the confidence and morale of a squad shattered after that experience, and while qualification for South Africa is only the first phase of the Italian's mission, England will go to the World Cup with serious aspirations of making a major impact.

BBC

Well done etc but dont get too carried away. Too many times we've had this crippling mountain of expectation from the press only to be totally average when it comes to the crunch.

We're still on the first rung of the ladder.

Originally Posted by melvbot

Well done etc but dont get too carried away.

Can still laugh at the sweatties though. Suppose they'll be right behind their second third and fourth teams - Germany, Argentina and France.

Yes congatulations and to beat any European side, especially 5-1 is a good team effort.

I still feel they lack something up front though, maybe height but they have a superb midfield (probably one of the best in the world) and they should do well if they can refrain from the past internal fighting and personality clashes.

WHAT A SHAME.

This thread's about success, not failure




Back on topic

Originally Posted by Spin

This thread's about success, not failure

So true. WELL DONE HOLLAND

What d'ya call a Scot at the world cup finals?

Dunno?

referee

Agree with Melvbot. We did a poor team over as we should have done. We still have defensive frailties and when we are up against the likes of Spain, Brazil and portugal, we will struggle.
Well done Capello.

Capello is the first "right" choice of manager since they didn't chose Brian Clough.

I like him, I like him a lot.... but if he was English, he would have never got the job.

Still... even the best managers can't do anything about penalty shoot outs.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

I still feel they lack something up front though, maybe height

I see you know less about football than you do about Union. England are the highest scoring team in Europe. Two of our strikers (Crouch 6 ft 7 in or 2.01 m & Heskey 1.88 m or 6 ft 2 in) are not exactly short, are they?

But they all look smaller on the telly except for Crouch.

I reckon LT has been hypnotised by the likes of Lennon. Walcott and Wright-Phillips.

If anyone can teach Glenn Johnson to play full back properly, he might be useful one day.

Originally Posted by chassamui

But they all look smaller on the telly except for Crouch.

I've only got a small tele, and Crouch is so tall i've never seen his head.

Originally Posted by chassamui

If anyone can teach Glenn Johnson to play full back properly, he might be useful one day.

Right sided attacking midfielder. He can't tackle, and suffers from acute sinus problems when he's deep in his own half.

Originally Posted by withnallstoke

He can't tackle, and suffers from acute sinus problems when he's deep in his own half.

Too deep for me mate.

Crouch suffers from the popularity of wide screen TV.

Can't remember the last time we beat Brazil, but we have an excellent chance to do it this November. A convincing victory over them would really get the pulses racing.

Gerrard is six foot plus and Cloughie is six foot under

Edit; excellent little film about ole big mouth is 'The Damned United'

Originally Posted by pompeybloke

What d'ya call a Scot at the world cup finals?

Lost.

^ hee hee chortle..

fourth official...referee's ambitious