12/03/24
October 12, 2006
Euro 2008 tables are looking interesting: and a little strange. Scotland ahead of France and Italy being the big surprise so far. And in the England game, you have to feel sorry for Robinson as a result of that bounce (youtube)
A Scottish buddy of mine that lives in Shanghai is home visiting his family and was at the Scotland-France match. It was crazy when Scotland scored. (youtube)
posted by geekyguy at 05:51 AM on October 12, 2006
Poor Robinson. As the announcer points out, the divot was from his own goal kicks though. Guess he'll be replacing his divots and doing some pitch maintenance next match. At least we can get back to club football now :)
posted by scully at 05:59 AM on October 12, 2006
Anyone else find themselves chuckling at what was on the advertising hoarding as the ball went into the net past Robinson? That Scotland video is fantastic - the very essence of YouTube (aside from the 1.6 billion dollars of course).
posted by JJ at 06:18 AM on October 12, 2006
It did make me smile JJ. If only England had been playing Kazakhstan, then it would have been perfect.
posted by Fence at 08:37 AM on October 12, 2006
Bleeding England first team wasters. Thank God for the U21s, or at least Theo Walcott (youtube).
posted by squealy at 08:47 AM on October 12, 2006
He's quite quick that wee fella, innit? Nice to see the "50 yard through ball to the flying forward" theory is being espoused throughout the England set-up. One of these years, it might even win them something. Or not.
posted by JJ at 11:04 AM on October 12, 2006
Nice to see the "50 yard through ball to the flying forward" theory is being espoused throughout the England set-up. If that doesn't work, they can always continue to have Frank Lampard take shots from 30 yards out. He might make it one of these days if he takes enough of them.
posted by psmealey at 12:15 PM on October 12, 2006
FSC of course didn't have the England match but I did see Iceland-Sweden yesterday. The first two goals, within two minutes of each other, were pretty tasty. Especially the 45 yard blistering free kick from Kim Kallstrom (YouTube, about 45 seconds in). Good thing the teams wore different color jerseys though because otherwise it would have been impossible to sort all the blondes out. Heck, Iceland had three guys with the same last name--but not related--in the starting XI. Eidur Gudjohnsen was impressive for the home side but couldn't get decent supply near the goal, Sweden's defense was too tough to get through. I really do wonder why Liverpool didn't try and get him rather than Kuyt or Bellamy.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:58 PM on October 12, 2006
FSC of course didn't have the England match but I did see Iceland-Sweden yesterday. I noticed that too. What is this programming craziness? They gave us German v San Marino, England v Andorra, France v Faeroe Islands (eek), and 3 days of repeats of Denmark v. Ulster , but no Scotland v France? Where's the justice?
posted by psmealey at 02:11 PM on October 12, 2006
One of these years, it might even win them something. One more thing than your boys will ever win JJ. And anyway, what's wrong with a pinpoint 50 yard diagonal ball from left back to lightning-fast centre-forward? It certainly had the Germans scuppered.
posted by squealy at 02:18 PM on October 12, 2006
squealy, it seems McClaren is getting a lot of the blame for this one. Is that because of the formation change?
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 02:58 PM on October 12, 2006
Yep tex mainly. They never looked happy playing 3-5-2, the defence was shambolic and we normally rely on a fairly solid defensive performance. Ironically, the only England player to have a good game was Paul Robinson who has ended up the scapegoat in our media for the bobbled second goal despite saving us on numerous occasions during the game.
posted by squealy at 06:00 PM on October 12, 2006
The other bit about the 3-5-2 that I didn't understand, not having seen the game or any discussion in the reporting, is that McLaren still had Terry, Ferdinand, Carragher and Cole in the starting team. Which one played midfield, and why? I mean, why not put in five true midfielders?
posted by billsaysthis at 06:47 PM on October 12, 2006
I mean, why not put in five true midfielders? Because he dropped Becks like a bad habit :P
posted by scully at 08:38 PM on October 12, 2006
Also because he has few options on the left. Cole was playing in the left wing back/midfield role. It was either him or Downing. The '50 yard through ball', or more correctly, 'get it forward fast' was perfected for England when Michael Owen was younger, fitter, and faster. It generally relied on the opposing defence being pretty hopeless, too (remember Brazil's Lucio in the 2002 QF, showing all the ball control of a tree stump?). Other than that, Sven had no Plan B. However McLaren doesn't even look like he has a Plan A.
posted by owlhouse at 10:00 PM on October 12, 2006
Yes, Cashley Cole was playing at left-wing/wingback as England don't have a lot of other options in that position. Downing has been very disappointing in his recent appearances and the only other plausible option, Gareth Barry at Villa is also a left-back and I don't think even made the squad. Of course this will all be sorted out when Joe Cole returns from injury soon. Gotta agree about the Plan A thing though. The papers here are saying McLaren only has three more Euro qualifiers to save his job.
posted by squealy at 02:58 AM on October 13, 2006
That'd be Denmark V Northern Ireland, not Denmark V Ulster, Ulster has an extra three counties that Northern Ireland doesn't.
posted by Fence at 03:07 AM on October 13, 2006
One more thing than your boys will ever win JJ. You're only as good as your last result, squealy. There's plenty wrong with that tactic, especially if the pinpoint passer has an off night, or all the flying machines you play up front have hamstrings made of glass.
posted by JJ at 04:20 AM on October 13, 2006
The papers here are saying McLaren only has three more Euro qualifiers to save his job. Holy crap what a terrible job. For a country that hasn't won much of anything in my lifetime (born 1967), they certainly do have high expectations of their national team. I think McLaren will figure something out eventually; he's got so much talent to work with there that England will qualify. He just needs to undo a bit of the damage that SGE did. Getting rid of Beckham was, on balance, a good thing, because it sent a message that there would no longer be any sacred cows. For too long, England coaches made personnel decisions based on ego, and public relations, rather than trying to put the best possible team on the pitch, in the right situation. Obviously, he needs a bit more time to work it out, but I think he's on the right track. Thanks for the correction JJ. I had always thought the two were synonymous.
posted by psmealey at 04:54 AM on October 13, 2006
Wasn't my correction, psmealey, but it's good that you know the difference. Took me a long time as a child to get my head around that whole thing. I suppose it didn't help having Ian Paisley on the TV every night chanting "Ulster is British! Ulster says no!" 
Neither of his comments were true. No part of Ulster is British, and not everyone in Ulster did in fact say no.
posted by JJ at 06:54 AM on October 13, 2006
For a country that hasn't won much of anything in my lifetime (born 1967), they certainly do have high expectations of their national team. Rarely met expectations at that. But then again they do have some quality players, so I'd think they could do better. And I'd agree that McClaren needs more time, but that isn't really what the footballing world seems to be about. I was the one with the correction about NI not being Ulster. It is one of my pet projects to save Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal (Ulster counties not in NI) from the clutches Northern Ireland ;)
posted by Fence at 08:18 AM on October 13, 2006
Sorry, Fence. Meant to give you credit on that. Just another reminder not to post at 5:00am.
posted by psmealey at 09:49 AM on October 13, 2006
*clutch clutch*
posted by JJ at 11:22 AM on October 13, 2006
away with you and your ebil clutches. Away, I says.
posted by Fence at 10:45 AM on October 14, 2006
One fun thing about Iceland-Sweden was that Fox took the Iceland video feed so I got to see the very pretty, and different, Icelandic script.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:28 AM on October 15, 2006
The divot wasn't from Robinson's kicks, it was the Croatian keeper in the first half.
posted by walrus at 07:30 PM on October 16, 2006
And we may not have won, but I was delighted with our draw with the Czechs. So it wasn't a classic performance, and Ireland could have done with the extra points from the win, but such a turn around from Sat. Also nice to see the supporters getting behind the team, giving Stan a round of applause before the match had even started.