May 9, 2002

3:53 AM

England squad Goalkeepers: David Seaman, David James, Nigel Martyn, Defenders: Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Gareth Southgate, Wes Brown, Danny Mills, Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, Martin Keown, Midfielders: David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Kieron Dyer, Nicky Butt, Owen Hargreaves, Joe Cole, Strikers: Michael Owen, Emile Heskey, Teddy Sheringham, Robbie Fowler, Darius Vassell Well?
posted by Cobbler (41 comments total)

YES! Thanks. But this is news really. Maybe try out sportfilter for this sort of thing. It's not affiliated with MeFi in any way (apart from using the same code) but has a very similar crowd.

p.s. Teddy Sherringham is past it, Danny Mills isn't there yet and poor old Robbie Fowler...
posted by nedrichards at 4:05 AM on May 9, 2002

all at once! wow... we cant loose!
but no cameo for Steve McManaman
posted by monkeyJuice at 4:06 AM on May 9, 2002

Fifth place. Behind France, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal, in that order. Possibly sixth, if Spain get their act together. Sorry chaps ;-)
posted by dagny at 4:09 AM on May 9, 2002

ned, mate. get real. every bloke in england has been waiting for this news for ages. it wil be THE talking point in lunch rooms, pubs and on television for the next 4 weeks. and you canlt say we don't see news on these pages. sheesh.

ps - Sheringham is a bit of a donkey, but I think he is good for the team. a bit of level headedness amongst the youth.

I predict Vassell as the hero and this to be launchpad for Owen Hargreaves into the premiership.
posted by Frasermoo at 4:09 AM on May 9, 2002

Dagny:
Where do you watch your football? The Netherlands are not in the world cup, they didn't qualify. And to list your top five and not include Argentina you must either rate England's chances as exceptionally high (we meet in the first round group stage) and/or know about as much about world football as I do about American Football.
posted by niceness at 4:16 AM on May 9, 2002

Arrrrrrrrrrr-gen-tina! Arrrrrrrrrrr-gen-tina! Arrrrrrrrrrr-gen-tina! Arrrrrrrrrrr-gen-tina!

Sorry, just practising annoying my cow-orkers.
posted by vbfg at 4:33 AM on May 9, 2002

"In thee cup for Totting-ham."

Now I'm practising being Ossie Ardeles.
posted by vbfg at 4:37 AM on May 9, 2002

I'm not too happy about Mills going. He is a thug and a liability. Saying that, he'll probably end up becoming a hero of sorts and my views will change. Ah, the wonders of The World Cup !
posted by Frasermoo at 4:40 AM on May 9, 2002

I hope Ireland get to play England. We'll give them a solid thrashing :-)

I reckon it might happen too, I think Ireland have a good chance of qualifying from their group - Germany are not what they used to be, Saudi Arabia will probably be fairly easy...the only problem should be Cameroon, who, as African champions will be tough.
posted by tomcosgrave at 4:44 AM on May 9, 2002

My worry is that Mills will walk straight into the first eleven, even though he's unproven and, as Frasermoo suggests, of suspect temperament. With Gary Neville injured and four centre-backs in the squad, there's no other logical replacement unless Hargreaves slots into that position like he's done recently for Bayern Munich. Left-side of midfield looks a little thin as well - Dyer can play there, but who else?
posted by Cobbler at 4:45 AM on May 9, 2002

I think we should all get fully behind all of the team......except Mills.

If ever there was a hate figure... He's a thug and a liability but most of all he's just thick, you can cover for stupidity in the Premiership but local yokels are found out on the big stage. Still at least it gives us someone to fall on if we can't cut it against the Argies.
posted by niceness at 4:51 AM on May 9, 2002

I doubt Eriksson would put Mills straight into the first eleven - other England managers might possibly have done it but not him. I can see him going with Hargreaves for that position though, if only because his temperament and Continental European footballing influences seem to suit Sven's own thinking better.
posted by CatherineB at 4:53 AM on May 9, 2002

Also being talked about on sportsfilter. And yes frasermoo, I've been interested. :-) Just wanted to make a point that although the England football squad is extremely important we don't want to make a habit of every other teams squad getting the same coverage...

The fact that the mighty Macca has been left out saddens my heart. Figo, Zidane, Raul, McMannaman. It just sounds so right!
posted by nedrichards at 5:19 AM on May 9, 2002

I would just like to point out that my earlier comment referring to 'every bloke', naturally covers women who follow the england squad (Beckham) as well.

naturally.
posted by Frasermoo at 5:24 AM on May 9, 2002

Sportfilter is 404 for me...I never knew this existed...so please god, tell me its just busy/down....and not my company firewall keeping me away!
posted by mattr at 5:34 AM on May 9, 2002

vbfg: You're just jealous because the rugby league world cup consists of Australia, New Zealand and England...
posted by salmacis at 5:35 AM on May 9, 2002

Just to give Ned an assist...

The correct name is sportsfilter.com, not sportfilter.

Here's the correct link to the sportsfilter conversation mentioned previously.
posted by thatweirdguy2 at 5:45 AM on May 9, 2002

The fact that the mighty Macca has been left out saddens my heart. Figo, Zidane, Raul, McMannaman. It just sounds so right!

This is sarcasm, it must be. The Ringo Starr of football - when you are surrounded by the world's best then your cameo perfomances should look good.

Like all good professional scousers he thinks more of himself than the team which goes down well at Real but is not England. Beckham/McManaman - contrast and compare.
posted by niceness at 5:52 AM on May 9, 2002

niceness: Sorry, I thought it was time for the European Cup this year, not the World Cup... Oops! Anyway, I don't think Argentina will do as well as their roster might suggest. They'll surely be in the top 5, but I still believe France will win with almost absolute certainty. France is more of a team, while Argentina is a collection of awesome players (note the not-very-good relationship between Crespo and Batistuta, for instance)
posted by dagny at 6:03 AM on May 9, 2002

One reason why this would be a legitimate post is that the news was first released on the net, which is unusual. Apparently the reason the announcement was delayed was that the FA couldn't get their site working properly.

On a more serious note, he should've taken Carragher or McManaman rather than Brown, and Hargreaves at right-back sounds about right.
posted by Gaz at 6:03 AM on May 9, 2002

I still think Paul Ince kicks some serious ass
posted by matteo at 6:32 AM on May 9, 2002

brown looks more like euro 2004 material to me - carragher is crocked apparently :/

mills will start, and he'll do fine - he has the pace swen likes and he'll hopefully learn a thing or two from beckham's f**k up last time...

as far as predictions go, france still look very hard to beat
posted by sawks at 6:33 AM on May 9, 2002

oh and as far as left midfield goes, i can picture a. cole pushed up with bridge at left back, also hargreaves (who didn't do so well, mind) and j. cole (who did) have both played there for england this season
posted by sawks at 6:51 AM on May 9, 2002

but I still believe France will win with almost absolute certainty

I'd go with you there Dagny - anybody who doesn't think France will win it is either Argentinian, a wishful thinker or have faith in Frank Leboeuf's utter mediocrity. It pains me to say it but the stifling, cynical, Liverpool-like Italians are worth an each-way bet (although I haven't got to the stage where I'm poring over my table to see how the fixtures pan out.....yet).
posted by niceness at 6:58 AM on May 9, 2002

Hey this question may not be quite on topic here, but I am going to be in Saitama, Japan on June 2nd. Does anyone know what the chances of my being able to get tickets to the England-Sweden match on that day? I have long since missed the lottery, but are their scalpers and such? Or are there extra or cancelled tickets available? Can anyone with World Cup experience tell me what my chances are?
posted by donkeymon at 7:17 AM on May 9, 2002

Niceness, Dagny, how can you use the word certainty in relation to football? Be an armchair pundit if you want, but realise that nothing's ever certain in the World Cup. I'll just be happy if the Brazilians go out in the first round, them and their smug, inventive football.
posted by Summer at 7:29 AM on May 9, 2002

I think that this team has an excellent chance of winning the World Cup. In 2006. With so many promising young players (Cole, Hargreaves, Vassel; hell Owen and Gerrard, too) it seems to me that this is a proving ground and training ground as much as the real thing.

Also, assuming that England come 2nd in their group (most likely scenario, according to the odds), they'll most likely end up playing France. As well, the heat and humidity in East Asia will be more to the liking of the Argentinians, Italians and the like.

I think you still have to go with France. And I'm sure that any England-Arg game will end up in heartbreak for the English once again.
posted by sauril at 7:30 AM on May 9, 2002

vbfg: You're just jealous because the rugby league world cup consists of Australia, New Zealand and England...

You forgot Lebanon. That these guys are all second-generation Lebanese living in Sydney is by-the-by. Oh yeah, Papua New Guinea. You forgot Papua New Guinea too. There are 700 languages, as many different tribes and only one sport in PNG. Those guys have their heads screwed on.

Answer this and stay fashionable! You can't, can you? Ha!

It's GB by the way. OK they got split up into England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland last time. They're still GB though.

You guys have fun kicking the ball and chasing after it. I'll be watching too. :)
posted by vbfg at 7:57 AM on May 9, 2002

Still, I suppose it beats the gridiron world cup, won every year by the Unites States...
posted by salmacis at 8:31 AM on May 9, 2002

Sorry for the mucked up SpoFi link earlier on. And yews, correct detection of Macca related sarcasm! Now if David Seaman would only shave his ponytail off. I was standing behind him in the queue for the cash machine last month (he lives near me as the Arsenal training ground is down at London Colney) and the ponytail was keeping people back several feet away from him. A scary implement of war.

(and yes, I'm actually more interested in the Rugby Union world cup next year where England will 0wn 4LL!!1!!)
posted by nedrichards at 8:32 AM on May 9, 2002

I think England has a chance of making the semis this time. My spider senses are telling me Brazil, France, England, Spain. In that order. Argentina and Croatia close but no banana.

I can't wait for the cup. I'll be in front of the box every night til 5am watching the games. I don't care if it's France v. Senegal, I'm going to be watching every game.
posted by Kafkaesque at 8:52 AM on May 9, 2002

Summer, I think I'm one of the few Brazilians that are confident that we might have a chance to win. Maybe tha's because I'm gaucho and a Gremio fanatic just like Scolari (the coach of our national team and a former coach of Gremio).

People here in Brazil are really pissed that Scolary won't take Romario along with the team (yeay!!!). But if you take a look in our group (China, Turkey and Costa Rica), it will really be a milestone if we go down in the first round.

Allas, if you take sauril's remarks in account, there's a good chance that at least 3 favorite teams (England, France and Argentina) end up taking down themselves. I think this is also in favor of Brazil... So, I guess we have some good chances. If we can forget how we did in the qualifying tournament. And, BTW, Argentina kicked ass in the qualifying rounds, I'm sorry to say.
posted by rexgregbr at 8:56 AM on May 9, 2002

While I concur with the general grumbling about Mills' inclusion (he'll get sent off at least once), I'd also like to grumble about the inclusion of Wes Brown. Injured much of the season, not particularly impressive when he was fit, and very young to boot. What exactly is he bringing to the squad other than the ability to play fullback in a pinch?

And re: the lack of a true left-sided midfielder, I have to say Trevor Sinclair could have fit the bill nicely. Dyer can play there but he's really more comfortable in the centre; same with Cole. England's squad doesn't have much in the width department -- and width is what really counts (or so I'm told).

Plus, as a West Ham supporter, I would have loved to have seen Jermain Defoe given a crack at it -- I had visions of him doing a Michael Owen and catapulting to stardom. Maybe Vassell will do so instead (although he's not as clinical a finisher, IMO).
posted by alexfw at 9:24 AM on May 9, 2002

I have to agree with you about Defoe, alexfw. He always brought something exciting to the pitch when he was on.

Erikson still hasn't filled England's "problem position" on the left side, although I'm not sold on Sinclair there, either. Dyer or Cole will have to do. I think your purple and blue is showing :)

Sorry, Kafka, only one of England, Argentina or France will make it to the semis, they're in the same block.
posted by sauril at 9:32 AM on May 9, 2002

whoops. my mistake. My quarter-final fixtures were wrong...
posted by sauril at 9:35 AM on May 9, 2002

Boogers.

I guess I'll never make it as a handicapper.
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:46 AM on May 9, 2002

whoops. my mistake about the semis. My quarter-final fixtures were wrong...

A full sched can be found here
posted by sauril at 10:00 AM on May 9, 2002

only one of England, Argentina or France

My money's on the Argentinians sorry guys,
it's a very solidly built team, more than the English side (even tho Beckham, Gerrard, Owen are just terrific individually). Eriksson's a gentleman and a very good thinker of football strategy, I liked him a lot when he worked in Italy, but I doubt he's really a winner when it comes to a really tough single game

France cannot reasonably win 3 times in a row (World-Euro-World), I mean Zidane's cool but he's not Pele
posted by matteo at 11:05 AM on May 9, 2002

People tend to forget that when Eriksson took over, England was an outside bet even to finish second in the group. In that context, getting anything out of the World Cup is a bonus, and it's a great blooding for a young team that (you'd hope and expect) will be much stronger in 2004 and 2006. And yeah, my money's on Argentina too, but I suspect that the referees will play a bigger part than ever: a few suspensions could turn a great team into a fallible one, especially in the knockout stages.
posted by riviera at 5:36 PM on May 9, 2002

I could be wrong on this, but don't France's wins usually come against the odds? No one gave them a chance early in 96, yet history proved the pundits wrong.

England should know better than to send a very young player into the big tourneys... tsk tsk.
posted by clevershark at 7:40 PM on May 10, 2002

er, make that 98, not 96.
posted by clevershark at 7:40 PM on May 10, 2002