England v Russia ?

[Lachmann]

Euro is in my country next year and I`m disappointed that england team will not qualify

Fact is that Russia will win in israel because they feed them with some money so it will be a fixed game...

[bonovox]

Lets face it this group was one of the easiest. Its not like scotlands group wth three WC 1/4 finalists, we had teams that we're supposed to wipe the floor with!

Like one guy said though, at least it'll be a hype-free summer of 2008.

Scotlands group is a breeze and i can't believe how they are making such hard work of it! I mean 2-0 to Georgia whats that all about! France and Italy will still go through from this group even though the Jocks beat France twice. The quality teams were all in Englands group. I mean Croatia and Russia are definetly teams that are going all the way.....aren't they!

[bonovox]

did you see greece beating turkey away from home last night .
man they are the real deal and could go all the way in this final as well .

you are right , england needs a 2 - 0 victory or a three goal difference if croatia scores one , if croatia fails to collect a point in macedonia .
as for israel it remains to see how focused they will be against russia , normaly they would have a great chance of at least a draw at home , but with nothing to play for there is a risk they play their b team and end up losing 0 - 5 .

Nah can't see greece winning the Euros again, Germany this time. They have ****ed through qualifying and look like they are going to throw their remaining games so they don't get top seeded, they gave the Czechs the points the other night for that reason. As for motivation for the Israel team, yeah they have nothing to play for BUT did Georgia have anything to play for when they beat Scotland the other night? It will be interesting cos the Russians have a terrible away record where ever they go.

[BB Mac]

Originally Posted by bonovox
'Scotlands group is a breeze'

LOL yeah right what you been drinking?
mind you we are above the 'World cup
champions' in the group so you could
say it is a breeze in a sense so far lol

i agree though Bono man we wont make it
but in football u never know at least
we have a so called cup final as to say

roll on 17th nov win or lose we still party hard

[scrappydoo]

Think bono was jokin'

BTW even if Russia only draw with israel, whos to say that england will beat croatia!

[grumpyy]

Hiddink

At half time we were still confident because we had already shown in the first half that when you put England under a lot of pressure they drop back, a bit like a handball team to their own area.

“We noticed they were panicking and could not get over the ball, could not control, and you felt that at any moment the game could change.

“I was very happy to see how England set up their defence with (Joleon) Lescott on the left of three central defenders because we had two mobile strikers and forced Joe Cole to play left full back so we could often get two against one on that side.

“I think most of the time you have to look at your own team and see where you can improve in certain situations. It was a must-win game for us and we also had to take some risks. That’s why we brought on some more attackers in the second half.”

Hiddink admitted that the foul by Rooney which produced Russia’s equalising penalty occurred “a few centimetres” outside the area but insisted: “Let’s be honest we scored a very legal goal which would have made it 1-1 at Wembley but it was not allowed. I think the balance is even.”

And on the controversial plastic pitch he explained: “Our other pitch was just a mud pitch and we could not play on it but, of course, I am in favour of natural grass as well.”

Hiddink refused to take it for granted that Russia are virtually through to the finals. He said: “We still have to win in Israel and if you look at their results they have the ability to surprise.

“So we are not specific favourites but having put England down in Moscow we are very determined to take this second step.”

[bonovox]

Yeah I was joking about Scotlands group being a breeze but I can't see them beating Italy. I think they threw the chance away this week losing to Georgia. Hiddinks comments are interesting, especially the bit about England couldn't control the ball.....errr nothing new there then. I have been reading Venables opinion that England have made good progress under McClaren and sacking him would throw all that good work away. England have made absolutely no progress since the last World Cup and I honestly believe had Ericksson been in charge England would have qualified already. Thats not to say he's the right man for the job as he failed to deliver in all the Finals tournaments he qualified for but he never once failed to get us there! McClaren has as much idea as Graham Taylor back in 1993, another guy that should NEVER been made England manager....but even he got us qualified for the 1992 Euro Champs. McClarens not even gonna achieve that!

[grumpyy]

Ball control

A journalist's observation after witnessing England and Arsenal train recently

Wenger invited the media to watch his squad train on Monday and they are a joy to observe. They play with such pace, pass with so much precision — so superior to the England internationals who borrow their training ground during the build-up to internationals at Wembley.