England vs Croatia Match Thread: Wed 9th Sept

I do not know if this should be the Match thread or my grip with England thread! But here it is. Started off as a match tread and… well I got on my high horse.

England vs Croatia

Wednesday at Wembley Stadium, London.

World Cup 2010 Qualifying Game

Ok, if we win this game we, England, will qualify for the 2010 World Cup to be held in South Africa. This will be the quickest qualification for England for quite some time. Something that we should be proud of, but as “we*” see ourselves as the “best*” team in the world is this actually quite sad. Sad in many ways, most of all is that it has taken an Italian, to guide the same group of players that so many has failed to “manage”.

I, of course being English, will support England as a team, but to be honest there are only 3 players I will be supporting. Gerrard, Johnson, and Crouch, if he plays. (Really wish he was still one of ours). The rest of the team I could not be bothered about, and in fact, take some pleasure in seeing them fail. Rooney in particularly, runs around like a headless chicken, kicking anything that moves but can do no wrong, Why? Why is this person so popular, foul mouthed, gives no respect to referees, kicks the opposition, ill educated, cheats on his girl friend, and yet is adored. But I digress.

Again this game will be on ITV so we can expect the usual crass commentary,  with all the clichés you can stomach, the high pitched voice as a player aims a shot and the excuse as they miss. The half empty seats around the half way line as the chosen few who have been given or can afford these seats, but can not be bothered to get back to their seats in time. Why, oh why did they go back to Wembley?, it was far more interesting when they toured the cities of England, but then they settled on Old Trafford for, not the atmosphere, but the money from the large stadium. May be the food (prawn sandwiches) was of a better quality, I do not know. So now the crowd is made up of the English Bull Dog Brigade, and not the people of Birmingham, Newcastle, Merseyside, and all the peripheral metropolis’ who could afford to venture to an England International. Is this why we can not be bothered or care about England FC, is this why players retire early from their national team, as it is in fact not England FC, but London FC?

So England vs Croatia, last time we were taught a lesson, this time the circumstances are completely different, so we should win. We still do not have a World class Goal keeper, but for some reason we are undefeated. I guess we will start with the same 11 that started on Saturday, although Heskey did nothing for me. And why, in the second half, did Rooney go wide when Defoe came on? Who is the Striker their?

Here are my feelings for this game:
Hope we win,
Will watch the game, probably with the sound off,
Hope none of Liverpool’s players get injured.

* The Press and Southerners

Nice one Red Puppy, was about to start a match thread of my own.

The England squad looks to be settled and flying high on confidence with the same group of players that struggled last qualification campaign. As for us the Cro's we will definetly be weakened by the loss of Modric alot of pressure will be placed on Kranjcar who was ever creative against Belarus last night. It will be a difficult task to do the same against a strong England midfield. Some talking points for me a tad controversial the Croatian camp has highlighted the so called conspiracy theory behind injuring key players playing in the PL. First it was Eduardo with that horrific tackle from Taylor and then Modric last week in which there seemed to be no malice in the challange. Another talking point is the ridicolous red card given to Corluka last night, a second yellow for apparent time wasting which was an absolutely disgraceful decision.

That aside I am well up for this one and I think that we are not as strong as we were last time we left the English at home in November 2007 and will be happy with the one point and absolutely over the moon if we got the 3 although it is very unlikely. However I will pray and hope to see more images like this;

U BOJ U BOJ ZA NAROD SVOJ!!!

You want to see Gerrard deflated! How dare you!

We only need a point from this game don't we? Even if we don't get it we can get it from the other games remaining right?

Might aswell get it over and done with now though, I shall be looking forward. At least it has some meaning to it unlike the friendly game yesterday.

Yes sorry Stevie love you lad but I love my country a tad more.

 Perhaps England will win. I hope Rooney will dive and get a penalty again, and then people will see "what a honest player" he is  :

Perhaps England will win. I hope Rooney will dive and get a penalty again, and then people will see "what a honest player" he is  :

Only dive? Huh ... that idiot will do anything to win a game. He will start to kick and stamp on everyone opposition players when loosing. Just watch. Hope the croats breaks both his legs or arms, or both better. Not that i'd like to sound cruel, but high time someone boss him around, he has been bossing the opposition far too much and those idiots in black is just half deaf, dumb and blind. But tell the croats to take it easy on Stevie.

Haha I don't think many people on here would be complaining if that happened.

Time's kick off anyone?

Looking forward to this game actually. When we won at their place it was the first England game I had really enjoyed for a while. Same again please.

Looking forward to this game actually. When we won at their place it was the first England game I had really enjoyed for a while. Same again please.

I was looking forward to Saturdays game. I wish you luck in your enjoyment.

I was looking forward to Saturdays game. I wish you luck in your enjoyment.

Haha! At least this one has some meaning though. Should be more enjoyable than Saturday.

Croatian Fans EURO 2008

Fast forward to 5 minutes fecking brilliant.I know a few lads who are travelling  from Croatia to the match.

What would you have to do now in order to qualify?

Is it neccessary for you to win tonight?

Ideally a win would put us in pole position for second.

Draw would be ok,providing Ukraine does not beat you guys.

Loss would  put the Ukranian's in pole position  as  they have a game in hand against Andorra  :

So basically are you hoping for a second place position but with as many points as possible.

I'm not entirely sure how it works actually. I know that all of the team's in first place go through to the WC but then there isn't enough places for all of the second placed teams is there? Does it go on how many points the second placed teams got?

The format has changed used to be group winners in automatically and the 2 second  places  with the highest amounts of points qualifying directly.Now all second place teams are put in  a hat and drawn against each other to play  off on a home and away basis.

I think first place  is  well  out of our reach  it  would mean you guys need to lose all your  games very unlikely.

Ahh I see.

Bet there's some pretty tough fixtures though in terms of second place finishers.

I was looking forward to Saturdays game. I wish you luck in your enjoyment.

You were looking forward to an international friendly? Oh dear! Think there is more to look forward to in this one - decent oppostion, competitive game, revenge for the Wembley defeat in Euro 2008 qualification and.....the chance to confirm our place at the World Cup!!

Hope Stevie and Johnson don't play

Hope Stevie and Johnson don't play

Speak for yourself.

I'll be watching . . because well it's football to watch during the drought and because I want to support Gerrard and Johnson  Let's hope they come through the match ok, ready to go on Saturday 

Time's kick off anyone?

8pm.

Think Croatia will win 2-1.

I'm predicting another 3-2 to Croatia.

Lescott to score an own goal in stoppage time.

Some sensible predictions there :