All This and Swill Too
England's final Group match against Sweden takes place tonight, a point guaranteeing both teams qualification to play Germany or Ecuador who meet this afternoon. After the matches against Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago, the nation expects better performances. Lars Lagerback, the Swedish coach, has however poo-poohed the notion that it will be an open, attacking match by commenting, "We will try to stick to our way of playing, defend as much as we can". Great. Ninety minutes of England's aimless passing with the Swedes strung across the pitch in their own half. Exactly what we needed to hear. Although in fairness, his job is to get his country out of the Group, into the knockout phase where who knows what will happen.
It is well - documented that England have not beaten the Swedes since 1968, the eleven games since then have contained four Swedish victories although only one of those games was competitive. Of those matches, England have failed to find the net in six of them and only scored more than one goal on one occasion, Elland Road in 1995 during a 3 - 3 draw in the build up to Euro 96, rescuing a two - goal deficit.
England will hopefully be improved by the return of Rooney, which may kickstart the teams campaign in terms of passing, and also Owen's World Cup as he cannot complain about the long-ball game with Crouch absent. Or hopefully he won't be able to anyway. Gerrard is likely to be missing due to a yellow card; those received in Group Phase are rescinded for the start of the knockout stages. It is interesting that he is considered more important to the team, and publicly acknowledged as such by Eriksson, than Fat Frank is. Lampard has been the most consistent club player in midfield positions over the past three years yet still does not have the impact for England in terms of inspiring play. Nor is he perceived as being a matchwinner in the way that Gerrard is.
Assuming a draw as the likely outcome, England should face Ecuador who I expect to lose quite badly to Germany.
Yesterdays's matches confirmed that Group G is going to the wire with the Swiss putting pressure on the French. A three goal victory is now their minimum requirement to qualify and that assumes that the other match ends in a no scoring draw. If it finishes 2 - 2 or higher the French could be in deep doo - doo given the vagaries of the Head to Head criterian being used ahead of simple Goal Difference as the primary driver for Qualifying. Spain in the end won comfortably against Tunisia having spent an hour chasing an equaliser. Rumours abound that they are to rest their first XI in the final match which for some reason people think will upset FIFA. Why? They have already won the Group by virtue of beating Ukraine 4 - 0 so cannot be topped. Let them do it if they want to. Surely that is the point of a Squad system otherwise FIFA should lay down a regulation that states "Your first XI must be named before the tournament begins and can only be changed for suspension or injury. Any injuries will be adjudicated by the FIFA Medical Team and they decide if the player is fit for a match or not".
Arsenal are being heavily linked with numerous players. Javier Saviola is the latest but Barca apparently do not want to sell to Arsenal, Dirk Kuijt may be on his way to Ashburton Grove, Anfield, St James Park or staying put at Fejenoord depending on which line of the articles you read whilst Amo Diana is on his way here if he doesn't go to another Italian club. Michael Carrick is going to move a couple of miles across North London but this could be via The Disneydome if the Tiny Tots decide to sell for around £20m. But all of this is irrelevant as Le Boss is off to Real Madrid as one of the prospective Presidential candidates said he is and they never lie, do they?
Todays Tunes are from Swill and the Swaggerband, erstwhile lead singer of The Men They Couldn't Hang, Odgers and Simmonds and Liberty Cage. Check out the various myspace pages for TMTCH, Liberty Cage and Swill & The Swaggerband, not to mention TMTCH's website. Also, check out his new album Elvis Lives Here, available on Irregular Records. These are from his gig at Stripes in Brentford on 26th May 2006.
Marjory and Johnny
Pieces Of Paradise
Ready To Blow
It is well - documented that England have not beaten the Swedes since 1968, the eleven games since then have contained four Swedish victories although only one of those games was competitive. Of those matches, England have failed to find the net in six of them and only scored more than one goal on one occasion, Elland Road in 1995 during a 3 - 3 draw in the build up to Euro 96, rescuing a two - goal deficit.
England will hopefully be improved by the return of Rooney, which may kickstart the teams campaign in terms of passing, and also Owen's World Cup as he cannot complain about the long-ball game with Crouch absent. Or hopefully he won't be able to anyway. Gerrard is likely to be missing due to a yellow card; those received in Group Phase are rescinded for the start of the knockout stages. It is interesting that he is considered more important to the team, and publicly acknowledged as such by Eriksson, than Fat Frank is. Lampard has been the most consistent club player in midfield positions over the past three years yet still does not have the impact for England in terms of inspiring play. Nor is he perceived as being a matchwinner in the way that Gerrard is.
Assuming a draw as the likely outcome, England should face Ecuador who I expect to lose quite badly to Germany.
Yesterdays's matches confirmed that Group G is going to the wire with the Swiss putting pressure on the French. A three goal victory is now their minimum requirement to qualify and that assumes that the other match ends in a no scoring draw. If it finishes 2 - 2 or higher the French could be in deep doo - doo given the vagaries of the Head to Head criterian being used ahead of simple Goal Difference as the primary driver for Qualifying. Spain in the end won comfortably against Tunisia having spent an hour chasing an equaliser. Rumours abound that they are to rest their first XI in the final match which for some reason people think will upset FIFA. Why? They have already won the Group by virtue of beating Ukraine 4 - 0 so cannot be topped. Let them do it if they want to. Surely that is the point of a Squad system otherwise FIFA should lay down a regulation that states "Your first XI must be named before the tournament begins and can only be changed for suspension or injury. Any injuries will be adjudicated by the FIFA Medical Team and they decide if the player is fit for a match or not".
Arsenal are being heavily linked with numerous players. Javier Saviola is the latest but Barca apparently do not want to sell to Arsenal, Dirk Kuijt may be on his way to Ashburton Grove, Anfield, St James Park or staying put at Fejenoord depending on which line of the articles you read whilst Amo Diana is on his way here if he doesn't go to another Italian club. Michael Carrick is going to move a couple of miles across North London but this could be via The Disneydome if the Tiny Tots decide to sell for around £20m. But all of this is irrelevant as Le Boss is off to Real Madrid as one of the prospective Presidential candidates said he is and they never lie, do they?
Todays Tunes are from Swill and the Swaggerband, erstwhile lead singer of The Men They Couldn't Hang, Odgers and Simmonds and Liberty Cage. Check out the various myspace pages for TMTCH, Liberty Cage and Swill & The Swaggerband, not to mention TMTCH's website. Also, check out his new album Elvis Lives Here, available on Irregular Records. These are from his gig at Stripes in Brentford on 26th May 2006.
Marjory and Johnny
Pieces Of Paradise
Ready To Blow
posted by Yogi's Warrior at 3:57 am
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