In the Nation's Interest... (England National Football Team)

Member Name: litefoot

Product:	England National Football Team
Date:	02/04/03 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: World class of Owen, Rooney's promise, Scholes back to his best?

Disadvantages: Sven will go if England lose, We'll all feel down

UPDATE: I wrote this review 10 hours before the England match, it's now a day later and we brilliantly won 2 - 0. Oh me of little faith. I'll be updating again properly, but for now, here's the original review, which is almost amusing.


Before I start let me say that I'm not an expert in club football and I love to watch it at the international level, but apologies if you spot any mistakes in the following review. I'd welcome any corrections!

It's the big crunch game for English international football this evening, England v. Turkey, and I would imagine that there are many feelings of uneasiness sweeping the country. This was signposted last Saturday when England played Liechtenstein.

England has a population of 50 million - Liechtenstein, 32 000. England has world class players who perform at all levels of football - Liechtenstein had mostly part timers. But somehow England on Saturday looked frail and were at times outplayed by their counterparts.

The question is - why?

More of that later. Our main concern now is Turkey, a team who has improved in leaps and bounds in recent years, and who also finished third in the World Cup.

At the moment, in our group, Turkey are first and England second. Turkey have won all their games; England have won all theirs, except for the disappointing 2 - 2 draw against Macedonia last year. England have a better chance of automatic qualification for Euro 2004 if they win this game. A draw would do for Turkey but they'd be happier with a win.

Hence the importance of tonight's game. David Beckham has stated that this is the most important match they've played since their World Cup battle against Brazil last year, and he's right. So what chances do we have of winning?

Which players will Eriksson use, and what formation will use them to their best abilities? The Daily Telegraph this morning pointed out the following possible
formation, which sounds a good one:

--------------------------------------James--- -------------------------------- ------
----------------------------------(West Ham)---------------------------------------


--------G Neville-------Ferdinand----------Campbell--------- -Bridge------------
------(Man United)---(Man United)--------(Arsenal)---------(So'ton)----- -------

--------------------------------------Butt---- -------------------------------- -----
---------------------------------(Man United)---------------------------------------

--------------------Beckham------------------- ---Gerrard---------------------- ---
------------------(Man United)-------------------(Liverpool)------------- ----------

------------------------------------Scholes--- -------------------------------- -------
---------------------------------(Man United)---------------------------------------


-------------------------Owen----------------- Heskey-------------------------- ----
----------------------(Liverpool)------------( Liverpool)---------------------- ------


The important players for England tonight:

Michael Owen (Attack) - a world class player in every sense of the word. Ever since his debut in World Cup 98 (and that great goal against Argentina) he's been of massive benefit to England. Despite a slight loss of form at Liverpool earlier this season, he now seems to be back on track, and he will be our best hope of beating Turkey tonight.

David Beckham (Midfield) - this little known player seems to be the inspiration that the other players look up to in every game they play. He's also rescued the team a few times from embarrassment. His trademark free kick goal from just outside the box was at work in the Liechtenstein game and let's hope for more of that.

Campbell (Defence) - the rock that the English defence is built on, his presence was sorely missed again
st Liectenstein as our defence looked vulnerable.

Scholes (Midfield) - Scholes has been particularly disappointing of late. His lack of goals in many matches suggest either a loss of form or his presence on field is not being utilised to the best of his abilities. However, if the above formation is used that could all change. Scholes is at his best at the head of midfield and it could end his recent goal drought for England.

Then of course there is the whole 'who will partner Owen' issue. Some say Heskey, as he has the experience and power but his goal scoring record tells against him. Others say Rooney, who at only 17 years old has barely any experience, but does have the youth, energy, and goals that England just might need. I suspect Eriksson will start with Heskey and finish with Rooney. If Rooney scores this evening he will break Michael Owen's record of youngest goal scorer in the history of the England team.

Sven Goran Erikkson's decisions for tonight's play could be crucial, both for England's hopes and his own job. It's a shame that, if England lose the game, he will be unfairly made scapegoat and lose his job. His superiors should look elsewhere to deal with - and indeed fix - the problem. Whether or not the problem is that England don't get enough time to work together, I don't know. Yes, a lot of football is played at club level, but is this the reason why England can never perform as a whole (as in the Liechtenstein game)? Look, for example, at Wales, which has a great record: it's won every game in it's group, and the team includes various Premiership players such as Bellamy of Newcastle United and Giggs of Manchester United who also play a heavy amount of club football. Yet on the night they can still perform well at an international level. Then of course there's Denmark and France, also with Premiership players, who won by miles in their respective games. On the other hand, th
e same cannot be said of Holland and Germany who only obtained draws against countries who were considered weaker.

Perhaps we just don't have enough quality players? This I would disagree with, as most of the England team play for high profile clubs who can be found at the top of the Premiership table. Most notably Manchester United, who make up half the England team in the above formation. Having said that, at one point in the Liechtenstein game, 3 of England's 4
midfield were Manchester United players but somehow weren't able to perform as well as they had at club level.

With everything happening that's happening at the moment, a victory for England would be brilliant, a superb coup for Eriksson and a breather from the criticism heaped upon our international football of late. Such a feeling hasn't really been had since our 3 - 0 drubbing of Denmark in the World Cup last year when the flags were out and practically everyone in the street had a smile on their face. Let's hope that England can pull a rabbit out of a hat.

My prediction? As much as I'd love to see England win, we haven't got a hope against Turkey's record. They'll win 2 - 1. But five stars for excitement level!

Televised Games
---------------

England v. Turkey BBC1/Sky Sports 1/Radio 5 (MW 693/909) 7:30pm

Scotland v. Lithuania BBC1 Scotland 7pm

Rep Ireland v Albania Sky Sports 1 5pm

Other games tonight:

Slovenia v. Cyprus (Group 1)
Israel v. France (Group 1)

Luxembourg v. Norway (Group 2)
Denmark v. Bosnia (Group 2)

Czech Republic v. Austria (Group 3)
Moldova v. Holland (Group 3)

Poland vs. San Marino (Group 4)
Hungary v. Sweden (Group 4)

N. Ireland vs. Greece (Group 6)
Spain vs. Armenia (Group 6)

Slovakia v. Liechtenstein (Group 7)

Estonia v. Bulgaria (Group 8)
Croatia v. Andorra (Group 8)

>Georgia v. Switzerland (Group 10)

Wales vs. Serbia was due for transmission on BBC1 Wales this evening but has been cancelled due to the recent troubles in Serbia.

I'll update this review later,as it's going to be somewhat out of date in about ten hours or so. And thank you to all the non sports fans for reaching the end of this review, much appreciated. :)

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