England: I Believe In You

I started this blog about 5-6 weeks ago now. Every time I write on it I get extremely excited about the World Cup. Today I have been looking up England pictures because I am currently making a video to put on here, of great moments and some bad ones too. It is the moments that have defined English football and moments that live in the memory whether good or bad.

While I have been doing this I just keep thinking about that moment in 25 days time when the whistle goes and the tournament begins. My excitement level seems to continue to rise and I don't know how this is possible because at the moment it is pretty much all I am thinking about day and night.

The reason for this post is because I started thinking realistically about our chances this summer. This is what I come up with.

I believe...we have the best manager (Capello) for the job
I believe...the manager has transformed us from a team of great individual players to a great team that can play together
I believe...all of the players have ultimate respect for Capello
I believe...all the players now know that nobody automatically gets picked, the team is picked on form and form alone, not reputation
I believe...Capello is assisted by a great backroom team
I believe...we have a team full of world-class players
I believe...we have a team that has more passion, determination and pride than any other nation
I believe...when the players put on the shirt with the three lions on it means something to them
I believe...that we can win a penalty shoot-out
I believe...we have the best fans in the world
I believe...we can win
I believe...our time has come

I believe all of this things and think every nation will not want to face us. I will be posting the video one day this week when I am happy with the final product.

England Carlsberg Advert and Another Video

I saw this Carlsberg advert promoting England for the World Cup during the Fulham and Athletico Madrid Europa League final and I absolutely love it so thought I would post it on here. It shows a lot of famous faces and every time I watch it I get pumped up and it makes me believe we can win it this summer.
Here it is.




Here's another video I found as well just promoting England for the World Cup and I thought it was really well done.

Capello Announces 30-Man Provisional Squad

So Fabio Capello has announced the 30 players that will battle it out for the 23 spots to go to South Africa. England will be in Austria for a week long training camp and also play against Mexico and Japan before Capello announces the final 23 on June 1st. There wasn't too many surprises in this squad and it is probably fair to say that every player has a chance of going. Here is Capello's 30:

Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.

Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.

Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips

Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.

Capello now has the unenviable task of having to shatter 7 players dream and tell them they will have to stay at home. I think them 7 players will be:
Dawson
Warnock
Huddlestone
Parker
Barry (I don't think he will recover from injury in time)
Johnson
Bent

I just hope he makes the right decision and there are no regrets when we kick-off against USA on June 12th.

Provisional 30-Man Squad Announced Tomorrow

Firstly the premiership ended yesterday with Chelsea winning the league in style beating Wigan 8-0 (I am delighted). It was a season of twists, turns and surprises. There were more surprising results than usual and for the first time in many seasons a new team broke into the top four. Tottenham finished 4th with the other so-called top four team, Liverpool, finishing 7th.

Now away from the premiership. England's provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup will be announced tomorrow. Now the excitement really starts to build. The selected 30 will go to a training camp in Austria before the final 23-man squad will be announced on June 1st. Seeing as the 30 are announced tomorrow I thought I would pick the 30 man that I would select if I was the manager. So here it is:

Goalkeepers: 4
Robert Green
David James
Paul Robinson
Joe Hart

Defenders: 10
John Terry
Rio Ferdinand
Michael Dawson
Ledley King
Sol Campbell
Ashley Cole
Glen Johnson
Leighton Baines
Gary Neville
Phil Jakielka

Midfielders: 11
Frank Lampard
Steven Gerrard
Gareth Barry
James Milner
Aaron Lennon
Joe Cole
Adam Johnson
Tom Huddlestone
Shaun Wright-Phillips
Theo Walcott
Michael Carrick

Forwards: 5
Wayne Rooney
Peter Crouch
Jermain Defoe
Bobby Zamora
Emile Heskey

Spurs English Players Make A Point

Tottenham beat Man City 1-0 last night to secure that coveted final Champions League spot for next season. More importantly than that though, was the performances from the English players for Spurs.

Firstly big Peter Crouch put in one of his best performances of the season. He scored the winner, looked dangerous, won pretty much every header and showed again that he has great technical ability especially for a player of his size. His strike partner Jermain Defoe also put in a good shift up front. They are a good partnership and compliment each other very well. Both should definitely be on the plane to South Africa.

It was another partnership that caught the eye as well. Ledley King and Michael Dawson both looked solid again. They kept City's attacking threats largely at bay and both looked very impressive. Dawson should be going but there are bigger questions about King. He can only train once a week the day before a game and can only play once a week. Can you really take a player like that to such an intense tournament? I don't think so, I think four centre-backs should be Terry, Ferdinand, Dawson and Upson.

Here's quite an old video of Crouch but it shows how good he is and that he can score all different types of goals.

Gerrard Struggling

I've been very surprised this year that not many people have been too critical of Steven Gerrard. This has to be his worst season yet. In past seasons he has inspired Liverpool, often winning games by himself and constantly raising the bar. This year he has been very poor. I think he may have gone a bit stale at Liverpool and it could be time for him to move. He knows he is going to play every week and he is always picked for England. If I was Capello I would be seriously considering his position in the England team. Yes, He is a one of the best in the world when he is on top of his game but we have rarely seen that this season and its been extremely rare that we have seen that for England. His performances this year was summed up by the amazing back pass against Chelsea this weekend right into Drogba's path that put Chelsea on their way to a 2-0 victory.

Good news for everyone but Spain. Torres is a major doubt to be ready for the start of the World Cup. The downside is that he is expected to be fit for when the tournament really gets going after the group stages. As well as that Spain do have one of the easiest groups. There are also rumors that Xavi may not be fit. He has a tear in his calf but he is playing through it for Barcelona, hopefully he will tear it even more so he can't play. I say that as purely an England fan because as a football fan he is one of my favorite players to watch.

Here's quite a funny Pepsi commercial starring some of the big names that will be playing this summer.

Penutimate Weekend In The Premiership

Seeing as there is so much on the line this weekend in the Premiership, I thought I would do my predictions for this weekends games.
Here they are:

Saturday's Games:
Birmingham 3-0 Burnley
Man City 2-1 Aston Villa
Portsmouth 2-2 Wolves
Stoke 1-1 Everton
Tottenham 4-0 Bolton

Sunday's Games:
Fulham 1-2 West Ham
Liverpool 1-3 Chelsea
Sunderland 1-2 Man United

Monday's Games:
Blackburn 1-1 Arsenal
Wigan 2-1 Hull

Enjoy the weekend.

Lampard Will Be Key

Throughout this blog I've not really had any post that has focused on just one player. Building up to the World Cup now, I am going to occasionally pick a player who I think will be vital for England if we are going to be victorious this summer. The first player I'm going to focus on is Frank Lampard.

Lampard has consistently been one of Chelsea's best players since he joined in 2001. One of Lampard's biggest qualities is his ability to keep going and wanting to improve. He played in 164 consecutive Premier League games setting a new record along the way. In the modern era that is an astonishing record when you think of how quickly the games come around and how managers at top clubs rotate their players. It shows how highly thought of Lampard is and how he takes proper care of himself.

Lampard is one of the best goalscoring midfielders in the world. His record speaks for itself. This season he has scored 20 in the Premiership. That is more than Torres and Defoe, 2 of the best forwards in the league. All managers want a 20-goal a year forward. So to have that from a midfielder is extremely beneficial to Chelsea. He consistently scores goals as he has scored 20 goals or more every season since the 04/05 season. He can score all types of goals too which makes him so dangerous. As well as his goalscoring he creates chances. Last season he created more than double the amount of chances than any other player in the league.

He has often been recognized for his performances with awards and rightly so. These include coming 2nd in the world player of the year and European player of the year award, England player of the year twice, Chelsea player of the year 3 times, UEFA club midfielder of the year, FIFpro World XI, and was player of the decade according to official statistics to name a few.

He has been capped by England 77 times and scored 20 goals. If England are to be successful this summer we need goals to come from everywhere, we can't just rely on Rooney and the other forwards. Lampard has not always performed well for England like he does for Chelsea, but, that can be said of a lot of players and he has received some harsh criticism. He is always dangerous though, and is as cool as they come from the penalty spot. He had scored more than 20 straight and not missed in 3 years till he missed on this season.

I think Lampard will have a big World Cup and will be one of the players of the tournament.
Here's a video highlighting his qualities. My 3 favorite moments from this video in no order:
-Seeing his range of passing and how he creates so many chances by having great awareness.
-His goal against Bayern Munich where he turns 360 degrees and finishes with his weaker left foot was a great goal.
-His goal against Barcelona which was incredibly cheeky to be shooting from basically on the touchline and took an unbelievable amount of skill to chip the keeper from there.

Rooney Player of the Year

Wayne Rooney was last night named PFA player of the year. He has had a great season and thoroughly deserved the award. He is injured at the moment but has promised that he will be fully fit for the World Cup and believes he may even be fit for Man United's last game against Stoke. It is good to see for English football, as often a foreigner has won the award over the last few years.

James Milner won the PFA young player of the year and again it is thoroughly deserved. He will surely be going to the World Cup after the season he has had and there hasn't been too many times this season when you can say he had a bad game. He picked up the award after scoring the winning penalty for Villa against Birmingham.

Frank Lampard may be hitting form at just the right time for England. As captain against Stoke Chelsea won 7-0. Lampard scored a brace and one of them was a sublime finish controlling the ball into the net with the outside of his boot from a cross. He also scored another penalty. It can only be good for England that at the moment we have players scoring penalties as our record in major tournaments when it comes to penalties is shocking at best In the same game Ashley Cole made his return and played a full 90. He was a little rusty as to be expected but has another 3 Chelsea games before Capello names his squad and I'm sure Capello would have been relieved to see him come through the game unscathed.

Harry Redknapp has been saying Capello should take Ledley King to South Africa. There's no arguing that King is a very good defender. But, with his injury history it makes it difficult to take someone like him to a tournament that is so intense and there is always game just around the corner. King can only play one game a week and only trains the day before a game, in that case how could he possibly be in the squad. It is too much of a risk. You would be better off taking his team mate Michael Dawson who has been in good form all year.

When it comes to that centre half position though I would really consider taking Sol Campbell. He has great experience, can always step in and do a good job and forwards rarely get the better of him. He is getting on but you need that calming influence and someone who has experience at this level during these tournaments. Plus, at all the major tournaments he has played for England in, he has always been one of our best players.

Seeing as Rooney and Milner both won awards last night it seems only right that I post videos of them.
Here's a good video of a Rooney compilation.



I couldn't find a Milner compilation so instead I just chose to post one of the many screamers he has scored this season. Enjoy.

Days flying By

So my prediction for Liverpool against West Ham couldn't have been further from the truth. West Ham were absolutely shocking and made it easy for Liverpool. Gerrard looked decent, Green had no help from the defense in front of him and Upson was playing by himself in the back four.

James Milner's performances have certainly caught the eye this year. Rumors today speculate that Man City are going to be making a big bid for him in the summer. He has had a great year but I dont think moving will help him or his international credentials. He plays every week at Villa in his new natural centre midfield position. If he moves to one of the bigger clubs I could see him being shoved out wide and not starting every game.

Although there is no English interest in the Champions League anymore, the Inter Milan and Barcelona tie today was interestign viewing with many players from that game to go to the World Cup. Barcelona went ahead and you would have expected them to go on from there. Milan though, under Mourinho, came back to win 3-1 and well deserved. Barcelona have a lot to do in the second leg and will have no Puyol as he will be suspended. He has been poor lately and will be playing for Spain in the summer. We saw that Messi is human as he was never really involved in the game. Xavi though continues to find passes that seem impossible and it is a scary thought that Torres and David Villa will be running on to them passes for Spain.

If England do meet Spain, then they are going to have to be on top of their game. It's a scary thought how much quality they have and then to top it off they have cover in every position. It is going to take either a special performance to beat Spain or a lot of luck.

It would be nice if this man didn't recover in time for the World Cup, his meant to be back in less than a month now, but I'm sure there would be a lot of non-Spainards very happy if he didn't make it.

Players State Their Case

Well, it certainly showed to be an interesting weekend in the Premiership. The title race was blown wide open again and 4th place once again switched hands.

It was a perfect weekend for Man United. They beat rivals Man City 1-0 with Tottenham beating Chelsea 2-1 closing the gap at the top to just 1 point with 3 games remaining and Wigan beating Arsenal 3-2 ending Arsenal's title challenge. Worryingly for Capello Rio Ferdinand was once again not fit and his fitness must be giving Capello some headaches as he has suffered all year. The World Cup is an intense month with games coming thick and fast and Ferdinand needs to prove he will be able to cope with that.

Capello then made it to White Hart Lane for the derby between Spurs and Chelsea and would have had mixed feelings with what he saw. Michael Dawson had Didier Drogba in his pocket the whole game showing that he could do a job for England and I would definitely take him in front of Lescott. Jermaine Defoe scored a penalty but missed a glorious opportunity when one-on-one with Petr Cech. John Terry was sent off for pure stupidity and certainly Capello would not have been impressed. Terry gave away a first-half penalty, was then booked for a tackle on Defoe and with Chelsea 2-0 down fighting to get back into the game he inexplicably chopped down Gareth Bale to get his second booking. It was utter madness and indiscipline from the Chelsea captain. Frank Lampard scored and tried to make things happen but struggled and Joe Cole wasted the chance to impress being subbed at half-time after a disappointing performance.

David James played well in goal for Portsmouth and saved a penalty. He is still fighting with Rob Green and Joe Hart for the number 1 shirt. They surely have to be the 3 keepers on the plane and the only thing for Capello to decide is who he is going to trust in goal.

Darren Bent scored again. He just keeps scoring in a poor Sunderland side. Working against Bent though, is that when he has had his chance to play for England he has been poor.

Liverpool against West Ham is the last game to wrap up the weekend’s football and will see a few England players on display. I fancy West Ham may get a draw especially after the news that Torres will miss the rest of the season.

I saw this and thought it was quite funny.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/top10s/2927639/Top-10-football-superstitions.html

Massive Weekend In The Premiership

This weekend is absolutely crucial for many England players with many key games taking place. At the top we have the Manchester Derby, with United now 4 points behind Chelsea they have to win every game to stand a chance of winning the league. They face a very tough game away at Manchester City though who have been in very good form and need to keep winning to be sure of finishing 4th and getting that elusive Champions League spot. With it being a derby adds an extra spice to it and it will be interesting to see Tevez and Neville face off again after what happened in the Carling Cup.

Another derby sees Chelsea play at Tottenham. Spurs will be full of confidence after beating Arsenal and will hope to put a dent in Chelsea's title bid. Spurs also need to win to keep the pressure up on Man City who are 1 point in front of them in the fight for 4th.

These two games alone will see many of the probable England squad including: Neville, Ferdinand, Carrick, Rooney, Richards, Wright-Phillips, Barry, Bridge (If he changes his mind about retiring), Terry, A Cole (back from injury will be on the bench), Lampard, J Cole, King, Huddlestone, and Defoe as well as many other top international players who will be at the World Cup.

I will be watching both games and will be posting again over the weekend to give my reviews on the games and players. It has the potential to be an amazing weekend of football.

How about this for your full debut in a North London derby, in one of the biggest games of the season. What a strike.

Great England Moments Part 1

So there is just 57 days till the greatest tournament on earth kicks off and I cannot wait. As my excitement is growing I thought it would be a good time to reflect on some of England's greatest moments and this is of course only one place to start: 1966.



By far the greatest moment in England's history winning the World Cup on home soil in 1966. Seeing Bobby Moore lifting the trophy in that picture makes me tingle even though I was not born till 21 years later. Geoff Hurst still holds the record of being the only man to ever score a hat-trick in a World Cup final and it was a team filled with legends. The XI from that day who won the Jules Rimet trophy were: Banks, Cohen, Wilson, Charlton (Jack), Moore (C), Ball, Stiles, Charlton (Bobby), Peters, Hunt and Hurst. It is every England players dream to write themselves into history like these players have done and it is every England fan's dream that it will happen in South Africa.

The 1970 World Cup in Mexico saw one of the best saves ever seen from Gordon Banks off a Pele header. It is still astonishing to understand how he managed to save it and get it up and over the bar. England eventually lost to West Germany 3-2 after extra time in the quarter-finals although there was Banks and a few other England players were ill with food and there has always been a strong opinion that there food in the hotel was spiked.
Here is a link for that save.




The 1986 World Cup is forever remembered for two moments, unfortunately they both involve England. Firstly the greatest player of the time Maradona out jumped Shilton in goal for England and then used his hand to knock the ball in. None of the officials saw it and let it stand. That goal is forever now known as the 'Hand of God'. Then Maradona showed his real quality, picking the ball up on the halfway line and taking on most of the England team before scoring. England lost 2-1 to Argentina and exited the competition in a very bitter mood.

The 1990 World Cup we came so close yet still so far. Our best performance since winning it. Beaten by the Germans on penalties in the semi-finals. This being one of the most famous pictures in England's history of Gazza's tears after we lost. Being beaten on penalties would be become a returning theme.

As the World Cup continues to get closer I will do another Great England Moments looking at the last 3 World Cups and what went wrong.

Mixed Week For England Players

Last week saw one of the greatest individual performances I've ever seen by a certain Lionel Messi again as he just continues to put in remarkable performances. He scored all 4 of Barcelona's goals as they thrashed Arsenal 4-1 to reach the semi-final of the Champions League. His 1st and 3rd goals were something special. The first he smashed the ball into the top corner from 20 yards and the 3rd after racing through he had the audacity to chip the keeper completing his hat-trick in just the first half. He then scored again last night against Real Madrid to take his tally to 40 for the season. He is certainly the best in the world right now and is a player England would have to pay very close attention to should we meet Argentina.

England fans were delighted to see the unexpected return of Wayne Rooney a lot sooner than expected. He played 60 odd minutes last week in the defeat to Bayern Munich which ended all English teams competing in the Champions League this year. He went off with a knock on the same ankle after being the victim of a lot of special attention from the German side. It is nothing to serious although he did miss yesterday’s game against Blackburn he will be fine.

Another great bit of good news for England fans is that Ashley Cole will be ready to play before the end of the month meaning he will be able to play 3 or 4 games before Capello announces his squad. It will ease some stress from him and means he will no longer have to worry about the whole Wayne Bridge fiasco. Bridge should never be selected for England again I believe, he turned his back on his country.

John Terry showed there are no friends in soccer when Chelsea played Aston Villa on Saturday. He has been heavily criticized by Villa manager Martin O'Neill and John Carew for his tackle on fellow England teammate James Milner. Milner has a very good chance of starting in June with the performances he has been putting in and that right midfield spot is wide open. Theo Walcott, Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips are all other options but I don't think Walcott's good enough, his final ball is very poor 90% of the time and his first touch is shocking. Lennon has been injured since Christmas and it’s still doubtful if he will be back in time. Wright-Phillips is too hit and miss still, his either very good or very bad. For me I think I would start Milner he has really impressed this year and he has matured and improved.

I know this is meant to be a blog focusing on England but I had to post this video of Messi’s 4 goals. It also shows how Walcott has a poor final ball as he got really lucky with the poor ball that he played across for the Arsenal goal. It was an easy pass and he very nearly messed it up.

Fringe Players Make Their Mark

Joe Cole, Bobby Zamora, Darren Bent, and Peter Crouch made have all given Fabio Capello even more of a headache after the last course of matches.

Joe Cole scored an incredibly cheeky cruyff through the legs of a Man Utd defender in helping Chelsea to gain a vital 3 points at Old Trafford. He has only played 90 minutes twice this season but he got a rare opportunity to start the top of the table clash on Saturday. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands not only by scoring the skillful goal but his all round game was impressive. He worked hard, won the ball back, kept the ball and looked to make things happen. If he can get a few more starts before the end of the season and help Chelsea to win the title then he could make a late run to make the England squad.

Bobby Zamora continued his impressive season by bagging another goal against Wolfsburg in the Europa League. He is a handful for defenders as he is big, strong, quick and can score all different types of goals. With Capello liking to have a big man partnering Rooney up front Zamora is doing he all can to be that man. Heskey has been the preferred choice for Capello but he still doesn't score enough goals. Zamora is a very similar player to Heskey but is more of a threat.

Darren Bent and Peter Crouch faced off in the same game with Bent grabbing the headlines. Bent scored twice as his Sunderland beat Crouch's Tottenham 3-1. Bent though had a glorious opportunity to score hat-trick but missed 2 penalties with Gomes saving both of them. This was after Bent had already scored 1 penalty. He has now scored 23 times this season in what can be described as an average Sunderland team. Crouch on the other hand came on with 20 minutes to go and scored with his first touch. His size is something that defenders especially foreign defenders still have so much trouble coping with. He also has a goal ratio of 1 every 2 games for England. He is certainly going to the World Cup but could very well be starting with Rooney when England play their first game against USA on June 12th.

With teams having just 5 or 6 games left till the end of the season, players chances to impress are becoming less and less. Every game must be treated like the last game of the season and every mistake counts. Capello will know most of his squad by now and probably most of the starting 11 making every game crucial.

Here's some of Joe Cole's finest moments including the stunning volley against Sweden at the 2006 World Cup and embarrassing the Man Utd defense.

England Breathes Again

England can relax. The news every fan wanted to hear has been confirmed according to Sky Sports. Wayne Rooney will only be out for 2-4 weeks. The worse was feared last night when he left Munich on crutches, but a scan today has shown that it is only a sprained ankle meaning he should be back for the last few matches of the season. This is perfect for England as it gives him a few games to get his sharpness and match fitness back. Rooney is no doubt England's most important player scoring 33 goals for Manchester United this season and at times single-handedly winning them games. He is the second best player in the world right now only behind the unbelievable Messi. For England to have a realistic chance in the summer he has to be fit and firing.

Other good news on the injury front is that Jermain Defoe is set to return this weekend for Tottenham and Ashley Cole is back in light training for Chelsea. Hopefully Cole can get back in full training in the next 2-4 weeks and start playing before the end of the season and then we can forget about the whole Wayne Bridge saga. In my opinion he should never be picked again for England. We had no recognized left-backs for the last game and Bridge would certainly be the automatic choice with Cole injured. So to turn your back on your country is absolutely despicable especially when pictures then come out of him partying it up in Miami. I say never pick him again.

Tonight sees the best player in the world Lionel Messi play in England against Arsenal so we can get a close view of what England may have to deal with in South Africa. He has been out of this world the last few weeks including arguably the goal of the season, as well as 8 goals in 3 games including 2 hat-tricks and 25 goals in 25 league games for Barcelona. Maybe the best way to play against him is just to kick him every time he gets the ball. His so good though, sometimes you can't even get close enough to kick him. Perhaps the scariest thing about Messi is that he is still only 22, he is going to keep on getting better and is a few years away from his prime yet. He has every chance of going on to be the greatest player the game has ever seen.

Lastly, we all know David Beckham won't be going in the summer as a player, but, there has been a few rumors of him going with England in some capacity. I think Capello see's the benefit of having him there and I would definitely take him. His experience, professionalism and quality always shines through. Take him as a coach and let him work with whatever right-wingers Capello decides to take. It certainly will do no harm.

Here's a Rooney video playing for England to get you excitied.



Messi hat-trick including one of the goals of the season