no it's called consistency and very few national sides possessed that. Germany is the best example of it.
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Laughable hype by Alan Hansen (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter Chxta
- Start date
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I don't know how you can say that Martin...England beat Argentina at "crunch time" in 2002, and probably should have beaten France at "crunch time" at Euro 2004 if it was not for the magical Zidane. Stating Germany is a better footballing nation than England really does not make any sense to me right now...clearly one is superior.
This hyping is not unusual for the English before any major tournament. But IMO I think this time they really have something to base it on. If I would come up with a list of the best teams on paper for this WC England would come third, after Brazil and Argentina. Germany has the homefield advantage which could never be taken lightly, but on paper England has a better team. As for france, I wouldnt place any bets on them, we all saw how they struggled in their qualifiying champaign. Zidane is not getting any younger and he is only human, I don't think that he will help them getting far.
Chxta have you nothing better to do? I mean seriously - whats your problem? You pick out comments from all sections of the media and use them to basically slag off england or an english player or somethingor other to do with english football. Can't you for once come up with some original material?
And how in god's name are we worse than germany?
And how in god's name are we worse than germany?
That is a question nobody has seemed to answer in this thread...when you look the players both sides have to choose from, the coaches leading them towards Germany, and the recent record against each other, England clearly is the better team at the moment. I also have no clue how you can say France and Holland and are better than England, especially France who struggled to even qualify.
Yeah, the only teams personally I think you can actually put ahead of England right now are Brazil and Argentina. I'm still rating Argentina as better because on paper and in a crunch game I'd back them to beat us. Brazil are that good going forward they could probably still beat us, even given their defensive deficiencies.
Other than that you have the likes of Holland, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and Germany... all decent sides but I don't see how you can really rank them above us.
Other than that you have the likes of Holland, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and Germany... all decent sides but I don't see how you can really rank them above us.
I would put England behind Brazil and Argentina as well, and right next to the Azzurri at the moment. Holland, Portugal, France, and to a lesser extent Germany all hover slightly below the top four in my honest opinion. Of course this really doesn't matter in the long run so this is not really a mandatory discussion..
England has a nice team on paper with big names and great players.
While I doubt Rooney would walk into Brazil ATM when likes of Kaka, Ronaldinho, Adriano, and co. playing, there is no doubt that he is phenomenal talent. However, one should be careful in extrapolating potential into actual performance. Injuries, work ethics, team environment (Antonio did you hear me?
) all matters and these are things which we fans cannot observe. Hence, Rooney for Maradona is premature to me.
Anyway, I find this listing top 5 teams in the world rather pointless.
Teams beside Brazil are so evenly matched that the ones that do better in the tournament will be the one which have appropriate balance in the side and on a good form going into the match.
In this respect, England still has a lot to improve. Having watched them play against Argentina, Austria and Polan, I don't believe the England has enough balance to win the whole thing.
The left side is simply awful, and neither Lampard nor Gerrard is good at protecting the defence. Also, the team lacks genuine playmaker who can dictate the tempo of the match, which is why England is so boring to watch.
And Sven should seriously think hard about using Rio. He is easily the most overpriced player in the world and overrated I would like to add!
Anyway, beside those issues I can why English have high hopes for their team.
While I doubt Rooney would walk into Brazil ATM when likes of Kaka, Ronaldinho, Adriano, and co. playing, there is no doubt that he is phenomenal talent. However, one should be careful in extrapolating potential into actual performance. Injuries, work ethics, team environment (Antonio did you hear me?
) all matters and these are things which we fans cannot observe. Hence, Rooney for Maradona is premature to me.Anyway, I find this listing top 5 teams in the world rather pointless.
Teams beside Brazil are so evenly matched that the ones that do better in the tournament will be the one which have appropriate balance in the side and on a good form going into the match.
In this respect, England still has a lot to improve. Having watched them play against Argentina, Austria and Polan, I don't believe the England has enough balance to win the whole thing.
The left side is simply awful, and neither Lampard nor Gerrard is good at protecting the defence. Also, the team lacks genuine playmaker who can dictate the tempo of the match, which is why England is so boring to watch.
And Sven should seriously think hard about using Rio. He is easily the most overpriced player in the world and overrated I would like to add!
Anyway, beside those issues I can why English have high hopes for their team.
England will play Brazil in the final of Germany 2006, mark my words! We have a hold over the Argies, and none of the European teams are anything special. If we hit form and that idiot Sven picks our best players in their natural positions, we'll beat just about everyone. Individually we are better than most teams going to the WC, it's just about getting them to perform as a team.