This one's for you Jack (England National Football Team)

Name: rabidsquirrel

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	England National Football Team
Date:	07/10/01 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Owen, Beckham, porn star

Disadvantages: The rest of the team

But if you don't like football, then I can't help you I'm afraid.

I'm not a footy fanatic either, mind you. I like the game, but it's a healthy liking, not like some people who seem to spend their whole lives talking about it.

But I've noticed one thing about our national side (I live in England, by the way). They always make things difficult for themselves. They only just managed to reach the 2000 European Championships after a play-off with Scotland, which, technically speaking, Scotland should have won. The only reason England got through, I seem to remember, was due to a string of saves by David Seaman (porn star). They had a terrible start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, during which they played one of their worst games ever against Germany, which they lost 1-0. In this time, they lost a coach (Kevin Keegan), and then went several months before replacing him with (at that time, the disliked) Sven Goran Eriksson. Everyone began bitching about how a foreigner shouldn't have been appointed as England manager, but the nation's skepticism ended when England won their first match against Spain 3-0. I can see why the country was skeptical when Sven was appointed, but at the end of the day, there was no Englishman who was good (or stupid) enough for the job.

So yes, the country's initial reaction to Sven's appointment was one of anger, of disgust. Yes, you could say it was racism. But as England started getting the results they needed, that hate transformed into love (not from me, you understand, but from those fanatics who go into withdrawal symptoms during the summer, trembling and shaking, spending half their waking hours watching the clock, timing how long they will have to wait until the new footy season starts). Indeed, every game Sven was in charge of was a success, culminating in the 5-1 trouncing of the Germans a few weeks ago. Incidentally, Britain's racism was evident around this
time, as well. It's funny how a bit of competition can bring out the worst in people, but around the game in Munich, you could hear rather offensive comments about the Germans being made (in my area, at least), and I heard them being referred to as Nazis more than once. Not really constructive.

But this is getting away from the subject. Britain are masters of the suspense game - perhaps not deliberately, but more due to their sheer inconsistency. And this was demonstrated yesterday in spectacular fashion. Britain played more like Southend United than a highly respected national team in the first half. True, they had lost three of their best players through injury (David Seaman, Sol Campbell, and Michael Owen), but the quality of the remaining players should have been more than enough to see of the Greek threat. As John Motson kept saying through the match, England had never conceded a goal in open play against Greece before today. Today they managed to concede two - one in the first half, and the other in the second half, literally seconds after England had finally managed to equalise with a Teddy Sheringham header, who had only been on the pitch for about ten seconds before. England played better in the second half, but even then some of their passing was poor, to say the least. Nigel Martyn kept England from conceding even more goals on several occasions.

But this is one thing about the England team. While they've got their best players in action, they are much more confident, much more brave, and as a result are much better. But without their best players, they immediately lose all of this. I don't know whether it's because England is simply an average footballing side without Owen, Beckham, and Seaman or whether it's because they are in the wrong frame of mind for the match. Indeed, it could even have nothing to do with the loss of these players, and more to do with the fact that they believed that they could walk through t
he game, and still score a few goals. They were possibly too cocky for their own good, and this wasn't helped by certain people who kept making out that Greece were going to be a piece of cake to beat. Greece do have the capacity to cause upsets at times, and they are hugely underestimated.

Call me unpatriotic, but it does seem that if it wasn't for a few players, England would be a pretty average team. From yesterday's performance, it did seem that some of them almost didn't care if they won or lost, leaving David Beckham (as much as I think he's an idiot) to do everything. So long as they get their pay packets at the end of the match, eh? Greece deserved to win yesterday's match, and although it made quite exciting viewing, England need to play with far more conviction, consistency, confidence, and skill (I couldn't think of any more words beginning with c) if they want to progress in the competition next year.

But it's only a game.

Isn't it?

Summary: