36 replies to this topic

[Charles.C]

Dear All.

France are looking good though! my money is on them.

Mine too if there is a feminine competition. Vivre la difference.

Capello's team is rapidly disappearing into thin air. Now he's lost Owen as well.

Rgds / Charles.C

[Tony-C]

Capello's team is rapidly disappearing into thin air. Now he's lost Owen as well.

Rgds / Charles.C

Charles it seems your expertise does not extend to football. Owen hasn't been in an England squad let alone played for England for 2 years.

Rooney, Heskey, Crouch, Dafoe, Agbonlahor, Cole and Bent would all be going to S. Africa before Owen

Regards,

Tony

[Chac]

Hi Simon,

That's the big difference we have high expectation and low results whereas you have low expectation but high results

Oh trust me, the German in generall don't have low expectation. Anything worser than at least semi-final would be a disaster. It's just me having low expectation, but maybe I'm just realistic, judging on the last games I've watched we simply wouldn't deserve it to get far.
(Ok, I've totally missed the last game against Argentinia. In wintersportseason football has only a minor importance to me, in fact it's just a replacement in the summer for the missing wintersport Luckily there are summer competions in skijumping otherwise I wouldn't know how to "survive" till the start of the winter)

Back in the summer of 1990 the sun was shining I was young and full of Joie de vivre; it was the World Cup in Italy. England had the best song in the world “Three lions on me shirt…” – we had Gazza. Ok he cried a lot but he was our Maradonna. We beat Cameroon coming from behind twice; Belgium in the quarter final and we played the Germans in the semi final. We thrashed you for 90 minutes and through extra time, but again lost out on penalties. I think it was because your players had better mullets than us (apart from Chris waddle).

Or maybe it's just because we have the better keepers. England is not famous for having the world best keepers in their team.
Just hope not all of our keepers throw themselves in front of a train....

BTW: It's just more fun to watch our girls play football. They play with full enthusiasm a whole game long. And they don't stop pushing forward even when they're leading.

[Simon]

Hi Simon,

Oh trust me, the German in generall don't have low expectation. Anything worser than at least semi-final would be a disaster. It's just me having low expectation, but maybe I'm just realistic, judging on the last games I've watched we simply wouldn't deserve it to get far.
(Ok, I've totally missed the last game against Argentinia. In wintersportseason football has only a minor importance to me, in fact it's just a replacement in the summer for the missing wintersport Luckily there are summer competions in skijumping otherwise I wouldn't know how to "survive" till the start of the winter)

I noticed from your avatar that you are a winter sports lover; I must say I really enjoyed the Winter Olympics in Vancouver - even though us Brits are total rubbish. Our biggest hope was curling (what a weird game) and we failed at that, although we did get a gold in the "Womens Hurtling down an ice sheet on a dustbin lid at 200 kph".

At least this summer you have a great replacement. The world cup is going to be great and watching Rooney last night we should win it easily.

BTW: It's just more fun to watch our girls play football. They play with full enthusiasm a whole game long. And they don't stop pushing forward even when they're leading.

and...

[Charles.C]

Dear Tony,

Charles it seems your expertise does not extend to football. Owen hasn't been in an England squad let alone played for England for 2 years.

Ahem. Yr criticisms wound me.

My predictions –

Rooney – Unfortunately will be a marked man and will lose his temper early on (shades of Gazza) (though I sincerely hope not)

Heskey – clumsy , good at shooting at the goalkeeper, antique

Crouch - naturally unlucky, great at just missing, a tall version of Andy Cole.

Defoe – can be absolutely brilliant or invisible, wild card

Agbonlahor – quick (like the early Michael Owen) but tends to hang on to the ball too long IMO. A potential because nobody knows him much.

Cole – Unlucky name. Hopefully more lucky than Andy (although he was great with Dwight Yorke). Maybe.

Bent – Another antique and another good misser.

What, no Theo ? although he does seem injury prone. Lennon – at least he’s still young.

And the defence ?? Looking a little ponderous these days ? We shall soon know.


@Chac, England always lacked goalkeepers?! Try watching the save by Gordon Banks in 1970. One of the greatest of all time. ( http://en.wikipedia....ki/Gordon_Banks ) However you did have one of the best goalscorers / goalpoachers that I’ve ever seen ( http://en.wikipedia....iki/Gerd_Müller )

Rgds / Charles.C

[Tony-C]

Dear Tony,

Ahem. Yr criticisms wound me.

My predictions –

Rooney – Unfortunately will be a marked man and will lose his temper early on (shades of Gazza) (though I sincerely hope not)

Heskey – clumsy , good at shooting at the goalkeeper, antique

Crouch - naturally unlucky, great at just missing, a tall version of Andy Cole.

Defoe – can be absolutely brilliant or invisible, wild card

Agbonlahor – quick (like the early Michael Owen) but tends to hang on to the ball too long IMO. A potential because nobody knows him much.

Cole – Unlucky name. Hopefully more lucky than Andy (although he was great with Dwight Yorke). Maybe.

Bent – Another antique and another good misser.

What, no Theo ? although he does seem injury prone. Lennon – at least he’s still young.

And the defence ?? Looking a little ponderous these days ? We shall soon know.


@Chac, England always lacked goalkeepers?! Try watching the save by Gordon Banks in 1970. One of the greatest of all time. ( http://en.wikipedia....ki/Gordon_Banks ) However you did have one of the best goalscorers / goalpoachers that I’ve ever seen ( http://en.wikipedia....iki/Gerd_Müller )

Rgds / Charles.C

Sorry if that was offensive Charles:

My optimistic predictions:

Rooney: Destined for greatness

Heskey: Bulldozer, rattles defences, couldn't hit a barn door

Crouch: Scores every time he puts on the shirt, playing substitute with Beckham

Dafoe: Reserve

Agbonlahor: Frightening pace, potential starter

Cole: Be lucky to be on the plane

Bent: Watching on the TV

Walcott: Will benefit from being in the last world cup squad, scares defenders and scores goals. A starter if fit.

Capella may consider playing Rooney on his own and pushing Gerrard forward removing the need for so many strikers in the squad.

Shilton, Clemence and Seaman (Apart from the obvious fluke from Ronaldhino) weren't too bad either.

Regards,

Tony

[Simon]

I heard on talk sport radio this morning that England are 11/2 to win the world cup and Rooney is 12/1 to be England's leading goal scorer. If that's true I know where the value is - off to the bookies...

[Tony-C]

I heard on talk sport radio this morning that England are 11/2 to win the world cup and Rooney is 12/1 to be England's leading goal scorer. If that's true I know where the value is - off to the bookies...

I think I would rather put my money on the offer of Spain at 4/1 and a refund if England win plus Torres @12/1

[cazyncymru]

Dear All.


Mine too if there is a feminine competition. Vivre la difference.

Capello's team is rapidly disappearing into thin air. Now he's lost Owen as well.

Rgds / Charles.C

UMM im still on Rugby Charles!

[cazyncymru]

As an aside, is Vanessa Perroncel the England team Mascot??????

[Charles.C]

Dear Caz,

Nice OT. I wondered what her name was. 790,000 links on google but sadly only one includes rugby !
http://www.asylum.co...-vs-toni-poole/
(predictably the article is quite boring although some of the other celebrity partners rated below are more interesting, eg No.5, which introduced a new acronym to me - NSFW)

Actually looks like "Becks" may have the nod for the mascot -
http://uk.eurosport....ascot-role.html

Really bad luck for DB. I saw a few nice quotes of his in another link -

I always wanted to be a hairdresser.

At home things are hard. For instance, my curtains are never open, I get no privacy at all. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw daylight in my house.

I think the most important goal I scored in Spain was the first one because people were wary about me coming over to Spain as a player - they thought I was just there to sell shirts.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0065743/bio

Rgds / Charles.C

[Simon]

I think I would rather put my money on the offer of Spain at 4/1 and a refund if England win plus Torres @12/1

Rooney is 11/4 to be top England goal scorer and not 12/1 as I heard. Rooney is 10/1 to be the overall competition top goal scorer. Does not look so good now.

Imperial Commander each way in the Gold Cup @ 15/2.

Regards,
Simon