Heads. Will. Roll.
By docj Posted in Soccer — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Look, I'm guessing that I'm all alone here at RSS with my soft-spot for metric football - but I don't think you even have to follow the sport very closely at all to know that this is going to be, well, news.
England's so-called golden generation sat dejected on the muddy field of Wembley Stadium, trying to drown out the celebratory cheers of Croatian fans.
That's right: needing only to draw Croatia - Croatia! - at home - in order to get out of the qualifying stages of the Euro 2008 tournament...
... they lost, 3-2.
Steve McClaren will almost certainly be sacked as England's manager - he deservs it, to my mind, with some spectacularly boneheaded decisions in the run-up and including this final humiliation.
But at the end of the day, much of the blame must be laid at the feet of the players - thought to be the best in a generation - who failed to get out of a somewhat weak qualifying group. They will finish third in the group behind winners Croatia and 2nd place Russia - level on points with Israel and ahead of Macedonia, Estonia and Andorra (that's right, Andorra - with a population roughly that of Lawrence, MA - has an international soccer team).
It's going to be an ugly year in the birthplace of modern football.
As a fan of the Gunners for going-on 6-years now, you can only imagine the sort of fun I'm having watching the lads this year.
Then again, maybe you can't (Spurs, right?)
( smile )
Only kidding - Happy Thanksgiving!
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Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.
Yeah
by hoyasaxa
Not a bad year to be you on that front. Arsenal looking phenomenal, Spurs in the relegation zone.
Liverpool just need to gain some consistency, and a bit of a killer instinct at home. Been ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal, and only come away with draws.
Hopefully Agger, Torres and Alonso come back fit and they can string together some wins. A favorable next couple of games before having to go to Old Trafford in three weeks.
Oh, and they've got to figure out how to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League. Need two more wins there, and I think they need to beat Marsaille by two goals. That'd be embarrassing.
“I think we are the team to beat in the NL East -- finally.” - Jimmy "MVP" Rollins, 1/23/07
Not with your conclusions, I think McClaren is likely to get the boot, but with your assumption here that no one cares about soccer. Pej is a huge Chelsea fan, and will post about them from time to time. I root for the club whose lanky fourth striker contributed England's other goal.
“I think we are the team to beat in the NL East -- finally.” - Jimmy "MVP" Rollins, 1/23/07