I Swear I'll Act Enthused: Part II (World Cup 2002 - the build up)

Member Name: Tcraze84

Product:	World Cup 2002 - the build up
Date:	08/10/01 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Potentially really, really good

Disadvantages: Probably only really, really good if you come from Argentina and your name's Gabriel Batistuta.

You saw it, didn't you? You saw the hopes of an overly-optimistic footballing nation resting, yesterday, on a performance that was, in all honesty, pathetic. You saw the deft touches from Manchester United maestro Paul Scholes go, time and time again, uncharacteristically astray. You saw £18m worth of defender in Rio Ferdinand struggle with the, er, attacking force of Greece's Demis Nikolaidis. You winced as you witnessed our country's brightest prospect, Steven Gerrard, struggle without reward in the centre of the park. And then, please, tell me that you saw David Beckham's 93rd minute freekick. Tell me you did, because you'll be seeing it again a few times, regardless. And yeah, football is only played over ninety minutes, but I'm afraid to say that England needed all the time they could get yesterday, against a footballing nation that had only ever scored once before against them. You saw it. You screamed. You swore you'd never eat another kebab again. But everything turned out OK. Sort of.

In case you haven't heard, 'twas 2-2. England. Greece. We couldn't beat them. On that performance, we wouldn't have beaten Stoke City on a rainy Wednesday evening. Away. Sorry: I'm saying 'we' far too often. It's not us, as a nation. It's them, as a team. England. En-ger-land, sorry. But y'know, it just doesn't matter. Our national team have made it to the World Cup finals next Summer, in Japan and Korea. Glamorous, maybe. Sucky, yes. You might relish the prospect of watching our lads take on the might of, er, Senegal, but the world's a funny place, and we'll all have to be waking up, early, to stand any chance of watching our team next year. Not so brilliant now, eh? Oh, but it is. Because England have made it to the World Cup. The World Cup needs England. Remember 1994? There was no England. And it sucked, almost as much as our team at the time. But now, with renewed vigour and Keegan-es
que optimism, everybody thinks 'we' can win next year. You do, don't you? And we can. But we won't, I don't believe. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me that England won't underperform and give away an early goal, and play as scrappily in the Greece game yesterday. Tell me that England will play the flowing, majestic game they played in Munich on September 1st. Please. If you think England are going to win next year, you're wrong. Probably. Obviously, I hope I'm wrong; really, really. But, no. There's just too much wrong with our own team - and not enough wrong with some of the potential opponents in the Finals for me to be proved wrong, I fear.

Let me get this straight. I love England, I do. I'm as patriotic as the next guy, but I'm realistic. Too many people get carried away. Too many jump to conclusions after a 5-1 drubbing of the (under-strength) Germans. I'm a patriot; but I'm a realist.

You know the words. Vindaloo, Vindaloo (x2), na, na. We're En-ger-land. We're gonna score one more than yooouuuu. (Well, actually, none, but we only needed to scrape a draw anyway, ta muchly).

But if things carry on as they are, there'll be no World Cup come June anyway. But, that aside, England are a good team, on paper at least. They are, they really, really are. But paper sucks. It's what happens when you get 11 guys from across the country, stick 'em in a white (and an ickle bit of red) shirt and put them in front of 70,000 screaming fans that counts. Key word: potential. It's important, but it's also a nasty, nasty word, because so much concentrates on what might be, not what's going to happen. Right? Yeah. You look at Sven Goran Eriksson's England squad, statistically, and you'd be forgiven for smirking. You look at the rest of the English Bright Young Things currently parading around Premiership grounds - or hobbling around on crutches - and you could smile,
and hope, yet further still. English football has young talent, and young talent in abundance. I'd say there's better potential squads elsewhere, but y'know, it's still pretty good. Nothing's perfect though, unfortunately.

Reasons why England won't win the World Cup. There's a few, 'fraid to say. Firstly - and it's always the most obvious that have to start these lists - the dire goalkeeping situation at present. If the, ahem, power of Greece can turn in two goals against our side, imagine what the likes of Argentina and France can do. Obviously, I'm not dumb enough to consider that (a) the defence plays a massive part in holding clean sheets, and (b) that everybody, bar captain David Beckham and, yes, goalkeeper Nigel Martyn, played appallingly yesterday. They did. But you say to me potential, and I think Michael Owen, Steven (sorry, 'Stevie') Gerrard and Joe Cole. I see no goalkeepers good enough to win us the World Cup, based on current ability or otherwise. Let's clear this up. The Finals aren't very far away; there is no time to look at the latest 17-year old shot-stopper and put him in contention for the substitute's bench. "We've" got about seven or eight months before the Finals. Potential counts for little in that time, I'm afraid. World Cup 2006, or Euro 2004, maybe, but right now, England needs the finished article, and it needs it now. And that's the major problem. First-choice 'keeper, Arsenal's David Seaman is on the wrong side of 37 and has lost both fitness and agility through the years - a far cry from the hero we saw in Euro '96; whilst back-up Nigel Martyn is neither consistent enough, or indeed, imposing enough to walk into the role of the last line of defence. If we were still talking potential, I'd say to you: Paul Robinson. But we're not, and he's not ready. Neither's Richard Wright - no matter how hyped he is, or how good he
apparently is. I don't see the fascination, and if Wright's in contention for the No.1 jersey come Summer, then we all have bigger problems than previously expected. And that, dear friends, leaves us with David 'Calamity' James (West Ham). Currently third-choice, currently injured. Not a nice combination. But, with James now approaching the prime years of his career, the ex-Watford and Liverpool man may be just who England are looking for. He won't be, of course, and we'll have to rely on Seaman to keep England in the game(s). 'Tis true.

Problem #2. Defence. Yesterday, it sucked. Badly. Don't look for any major changes come Japan & Korea, though. You can put money on the back four consisting of four from this list: Gary Neville, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Wes Brown, Martin Keown. And then, maybe, Phil Neville, Chris Powell, Danny Mills, Gareth Southgate, Jonathan Woodgate and Jamie Carragher. It's a sad state of affairs though, when Ferdinand, all £18m of him, struggles to command, and mark around his penalty area, and Martin Keown looks as shaky as he did against Derby just last week. Maybe it was just a bad day, a freak performance. I just don't know. But there's no easy solution, no obvious central replacements - or wingbacks, come to that. Suffer. Agonise. Put all your hopes on t'boy Owen. Because he'll win the games for us, not the current back four. Uh uh. 'Potential' sucks even more when there's no real up-and-coming contenders, either.

You look at the squad on paper. You look at the section entitled 'Midfield'. You smile. But, on closer inspections, the smile fades; quickly. We all know about David Beckham. Best player in the world? Nah. Best England player? Quite possibly. Forget it, forget him, forget Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes. That's 3, of 4 that will almost definitely start for England for the forseeable future, at least. Then there's P
roblem #3. Left midfield. McManaman's been tried, but he's a right-winger. It doesn't add up, it doesn't work. Nick Barmby can't even get a game for Liverpool, and the jury's still out on his effectiveness anyway. So who else? Two words. Joe. Cole. The West Ham starlet, hailed as The Next Big Thing since he was just 17, lights up the England Under-21s, and has made it publicly known that he'd relish the left wing opportunity. Potential. Yeah, but just do it. He will work. Believe me. Or, if the FA were to stop being so petty, and give the national side a real chance, offer Eriksson the services of Leeds United's creative mastermind, Lee Bowyer. Yeah. Who else? There's not many. Michael Carrick rawks, but he's pretty much just Steven Gerrard MkII, so that's not a realistic option when the Liverpool man's fit. Then you've got injury-prone Kieron Dyer - classy, skilful and creative, but constantly on the sidelines; and Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves. Potential, but nothing, y'know, outstanding yet. Bowyer. Go onnn. Problem solved? Nah. It's never that easy. So cue paper, cue attackers. Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Emile Heskey, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham. Hmm. Paper says yeah, I beg to differ. Paper says club form's good. There's no denying that. But England, and the international scene is different, and as good as messrs Cole and Fowler are for both Manchester United and Liverpool respectively, neither convince me whilst wearing the Three Lions. Too many clichés in this, isn't there? But, that said, there's no crisis up front. Owen's a dead-cert starter for at least another eight years, and I can only see the role of striking partner falling at the feet of Liverpool team-mates Emile Heskey and Robbie Fowler, in order of preference. Kevin Phillips? Nup. Owen. Heskey. Live with it, and hope.

So, you see, England won't win the World Cup. Please, oh please, let me be wrong.
But here's Part Two of Why England Won't Win The World Cup. Ahem.

Qualifying stages. 'Tis a strange one, and there's already been a few surprises. Firstly, there'll be no Holland next year - thankfully - so that's one threat ruled out already. Second major surprise lay with Poland and their cruise-control trip to qualfication, whilst third option was with African er, giants, Senegal, who qualified alongside the likes of Nigeria and South Africa. England meanwhile, head off to Asia with European rivals Croatia, Poland (as mentioned), Russia, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Italy, along with the as-yet-undecided playoff qualifiers. Of course, France qualified by thrashing Brazil in the Final of 1998, ensuring an automatic route to Japan and Korea, and indeed, probably remain the major contenders from the European qualifiers. I wouldn't go as far as saying they've improved since the World Cup-winning squad of three years ago, but it's not far off. Zinedine Zidane's already-sensational career was only galvanised yet further with his record-breaking move to Real Madrid in the Summer, whilst the likes of Fabien Barthez and Thierry Henry seem to be ever-improving. And whilst the retirement, internationally or otherwise, of both Laurent Blanc and Didier Deschamps may have hurt France, they do however have more than enough strength in depth.

As always, elsewhere in the UEFA contingent, Italy and Spain will be worth keeping a keen eye on, with names such as Raul, Gaizka Mendieta, Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero all coming up as the 'Usual Suspects'-type threats. Also worth a flutter may be the proclaimed 'Brazil of Europe' - Portugal, who have earned much respect for their flowing, rhythmic play, with contributions from the likes of midfield maestros Luis Figo and Manuel Rui Costa, of Real Madrid and AC Milan fame, respectively.

But the smart money would have to be on one of the S
outh American nations for glory next Summer. Brazil, with all current problems aside, still have a veritable wealth of talent at their disposal - Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Giovane Elber, to name but three. But my money are on the hot favourites, Argentina. A nation much riled for their controversial win over England last time around, Batistuta and Co. will be out to go the whole way this time, mark my words. You say potential, you think England. Don't. Think Argentina. You know it makes sense. Not content with having arguably the best current side, anywhere, the Argentine youth make the likes of Carrick, DeFoe and yes, Cole, look pale in comparison. A few names for you: Aimar, Riquelme, Saviola. Ah yes. Saviola. If the likes of Gabriel Batistuta, Juan Veron and Claudio Lopéz don't scare opposition defences, the £25m Barcelona wünderkind will. Combining electric Owen-style pace with deadly accuracy in his finishing, Javier Saviola, ex-River Plate, has been hailed as the new Diego Maradona more times than you could possibly ever imagine.

And that's about it. Argentina will win, I'm sure of that. But England, England. At best, I'd say semi-finals. And that's at their absolute, flowing best. But that'd be good, really, really good, considering we always usually lose to Romania, anyway. Just get ready for the nightmare 6am kick-offs and you'll be fine, 'k?

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