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Don't Believe The Hype
I have to admit I am more than a little concerned about the hype which will be poured on our youngsters should we become European U-21 champions tonight. Think about it - suddenly we will have a new 'Golden Generation' who will sweep us to glory in the forthcoming World Cup and European Championship, and with the cream of the European crop of youngsters at our disposal, surely nothing will be able to stop the juggernaut of England!
Sadly, the U-21 semi-final showed that an inability to keep hold of the ball will - as usual - be our downfall, just as it was for the gutsy USA team in the second half last night. A win tonight would be great to give us and our national team something to celebrate, but let's not kid ourselves that any of our Championship-quality youngsters are going to develop into world beaters.
Jamie Bedwell, Cheltenhamshire
Big-Ups To Psycho Though...
Although I am probably one of mailers FK (disillusioned West Ham) spoke of on Friday, I agree with his sentiments. One of the stories that has clearly been ignored by us as a collective has been the success of the England U21 side. The lads have played excellent football, against very good sides and have deservedly to reach the final against the Germans. The step up from U21 level to the full international side is a massive leap and most of them probably won't make it but I hope they earn themselves the glory their performances have warranted.
I think Stuart Pearce deserves a great deal of praise, when he left Man City he seemed a broken man but he has thrown himself into the international set-up with great enthusiasm and delivered sides that have been able to compete with the best at U-21 tournaments. He seems to be learning from the Don, transferring the hard work and professionalism seen in the senior set up to the young lions. The pressure of international football is far removed from that of club football, so whenever the day comes when the Don decides to pass control of the family over Psycho seems increasingly able to take up the task. I don't think a perceived lack of club experience should hinder him, an England man through and through and evidently able to inspire his ranks on the international stage. And beating the Germans at any level in football is never a bad thing!
Parmjeet ('Glad its Psycho, Not the Donkey') Dayal
This World Cup Could Suit England
Having just watched the final of the Confederations Cup, I have a good feeling that next year could be very good for England.
Brazil barely beat the USA, I reckon, because the Brazilians just didn't fancy it. The weather was bitterly cold, and the pitch was abysmal for an international tournament. Can you see the Spanish or Argentinians or any of the other technical teams playing well on that? Again Spain lost to the USA mainly because they couldn't play their game. Okay, this was partly down to the U.S stopping them but the pitch was so bad they couldn't get the ball moving around.
If there is an team in the world who are capable of playing in these temperatures and on s***e pitches it's England. We do it every single season year in, year out. One thing we can do better than a lot of the other more favoured countries is adapt to these conditions. I can't see Spain adapting, they only know how to play one way.
A lot of the other countries that share our climate like Germany or Holland may be our closest rivals and of them Germany are a pale shadow.
Steve H
The Confederations Cup: A Summary
So, the BBC's coverage of the Confederations Cup is over and I thought I would try and sum up the feeling it has left me in 10 lovely shortish, bullet points.
1) Those vuvuzelas are truly painful and made me totally indifferent to watching. Would love to imagine our blessed World Cup will not be ruined by this but it looks bleak.
2) Will the stadiums be full next summer?
3) Are the BBC trying to test our patience with Garth Crooks and Mark Bright. Seriously, these guys are such w*****s. Bright's surmising of the tournament was "Spain and Brazil poor. England have nothing to fear" - quite unbelievable.
4) Gabby Logan is quite lovely and a pretty good presenter for B grade matches (England v Australia for example)
5) I really want to see South Africa beaten. I think it's those bloody horns that makes me feel such a coldness for this nation.
6) The U.S are a lovely bunch of lads.
7) How will a winter World Cup affect the standard of play? Quite positively it would seem.
8) Brazil are a bit of a disgrace to the name Brazil.
9) Jonathan Pearce is bad but not as bad a old Motty.
10) I wonder if we will have the genius of Desailly on the phone next summer...
So, in short, decent football but just a lack of interest at all levels. Maybe it's getting old but my enthusiasm for the World Cup has never been lower. I truly hope that the Africans can pull out of the bag but even if they do then Bright, Crooks, Dixon, Pearce et al will do their best to annoy us all into switching over to ITV with Townsend and Earle...oh wait a minute...
Ryan (we won't even make it again and I will be forced to be a bit like Andy Murray, anyone but the Engerland) Allan, Scotchland
US Ignorance Is Bliss
For everyone here laughing at the USA for being very excited about beating Spain the other day, two things:
1. It really was a big deal. If England had beaten a nearly full-strength Spain 2-0 in any sort of non-friendly, you can bet all of the papers would have been absolutely creaming themselves over the goalscorers, the manager, the keeper, the defence, and the brand of energy drink used. The USA doing it, with a third, maybe a quarter, of the talent of the English side? Pretty amazing.
2. However, if that same England team blew a 2-0 lead in the final of that same tournament, no matter how unimportant, no matter how good the opponent, they would have been absolutely slaughtered in the papers the next morning. The keeper and defence would have been lambasted as incompetent, the manager certifiably stupid, and the orange slices at half not kept at the correct temperature.
Learnings? There are some negatives about the press coverage in the USA of the US team - mainly they don't really understand the game as the English press do. But there are some positives as well - the USA papers aren't so incredibly jaded and self-loathing that they appear to detest their own team at every poor result. I'd say, the US national team should enjoy the somewhat ignorant coverage while they can.
Mark (hope the WC is that entertaining) Champion
Cole Not Downing Please, Harry
Yesterday's gossip collumn featured two bits which caught my eye:
'Jose Bosingwa and Joe Cole could be on their way out of the club - the latter presumably to Tottenham.'
and
'Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is making a cut-price £8million bid to sign Stewart Downing.'
I honestly believe the only bit of business we need to do this summer is bring in a left winger, assuming we then put Modric in the middle running the show, where he should be. While Cole's not a natural left winger, he's a fantastic player who I've hoped would come our way every transfer window he's seemed vaugely unsettled. Downing's decent enough on his day but generally average at best, and frequently zero dimensional. He's the kind of player we've seemed keen on for the last ten years - potentially promising but rarely making good on that and not of the quality to get us higher up the league (I know all we'll do next season is push for Europa, but even that's going to be tough).
If they are actually our options, it's a no-brainer. But I think we all know which one we'll actually go for. At least you get used to it.
Will Donovan
Fed Up With Carlos
For the past two years, I have been a huge supporter and vehement defender of Carlos Tevez. Such a down-to-earth, honest player, who always gives 100% and seems like hed give his life for whatever club he is playing for. He had professed his love for United (I believe he wrote a song about this for his band back in Argentina), and seemed the antithesis to Ronaldo, who while a brilliant player, was a disgusting, cheating, disloyal c***! I loved them both for what they gave us on the pitch, but Carlos seemed like such a decent bloke!
However, I am now thoroughly fed up with Tevez, and am glad this idiot will be playing his football elsewhere next season!
Don't get me wrong, I'd still love to have both of them for what they can offer on the pitch; I'm not one of those fans who suddenly realise a player was crap when theyve left the club. Ronaldo will be very hard to replace, but he was a knob, didnt want to be here anymore (thus disrupting the dressing room), and we got a world-record price for him. I cannot complain too much that he is gone, as long as we sign the players to make up for the shortfall.
But with Tevez it was different; I loved this guy for his work ethic, how he sweated and bled for the TEAM, not for himself, and seemed to genuinely love the club and fans. I defended him and even criticised Fergie for not playing him near enough this past season. But some of the rubbish he has supposedly come out with since the end of the season is just making him look like a big baby, and quickly making me lose all that respect and sympathy I did have for him.
Firstly, he says that United offered him a contract too late? I believe he was already under contract until July 1st, and United had a concrete figure already agreed. All they had to do was say the word, offer Carlos his contract, and the deal was done. Even if this was on June 30th, it was within their rights. However, why would they pay this money any time before they needed to? He was under contract until July, and the rest was already in place. Had we agreed to pay the 25m, signed him up, and he then had a career-threatening injury, United would have looked like right idiots.
Tevez claims to love the club and the fans so much, but he cannot wait for United to just offer him the contract in their own time, even though he was reassured that they would do? And now he claims that he knew it was over when we signed Berba last season, and didnt feel supported? While I didnt back the signing, we did need more firepower, so anyone was better than no one. But Carlos, this hugely loyal man, who claims to have 'given his life for the Manchester United shirt, is not willing to stay and fight for his place? Wow, youre such a loyal man you are Carlos! One season with a bit of competition, and you scarper
As I said, I did originally sympathise with his calls for more first-team football, and had said that I couldn't blame him for looking elsewhere for next season as it didnt look like United were willing to offer him a deal. But now we have offered it, and he is giving such ridiculous excuses as to why he wont/cant sign. If he were the loyal player he makes out, hed take the rough with the smooth, sign up and fight for his place again next season. And this time, hed score more than 5 league goals and show Fergie that he was worth the money (he isn't worth 35m though) and worth being started in more games.
Sadly, it seems he is listening too much to that smarmy, pathetic, parasitic tapeworm Kia Joorabchian, and will probably go to City as they have such a special project. I hope he enjoys his time on the bench at Eastlands next season instead of Old Trafford, where he could be competing with Robinho, Eto and Santa Cruz for a starting place. Nice one Carlos! But thanks for two great years anyway!
Nathan Phipps, Manchester
Will Tevez Play For Citeh?
If, as seems likely, Carlos Tevez ends up at Manchester City, then is he actually going to play? His understandable desire for a first-team place has driven him away from Old Trafford, but he doesn't seem to have taken on board that City have just spent £17m on Roque Santa Cruz, already have Robinho, seem to be buying Samuel Eto'o and Craig Bellamy is Hughesy's favourite person in the whole wide world.
Presumably, Eto'o and Robinho would be the first choice, which again leaves Carlos sitting on the bench. In which case, he's being paid 75% more to sit on the bench, which is still better than a poke in the eye. But having taken being sub really badly at United, it does seem an odd decision.
Of course, it could be that he'll just play all the away games, seen as Robinho can't be arsed?
Joe Mann, ManYoo
Bring Back Flamini
Would I be the only Arsenal fan to entertain the thought of having Flamini included in a swap plus cash deal?
I don't think I will be alone, though the pressure on the little Frenchman to perform as he used to would be immense.
Matt Wright, Gunner in Aus
Team Not Individual Salary Caps Please
I think it is time to file Daniel (sensible not hysterical) MacAskill under Point, Missed. Whilst I agree with him that the best of the best should earn salaries commensurate with what they bring in. It is just annoying when the less good, or perma-crocks get stupid salaries.
I digress; the real point that was being made was that of having a team salary cap; which is a really good idea as that it prevents one club from hogging all the best players. If clubs were told you could only have a first-team squad of 25 players which could only be paid a maximum of £5m per season (random figure) then the likes of Perez, Ahramovich et al would be stopped from running round the world buying everyone they want. Football may become more balanced because the best are shared out. Leagues across the world may become more balanced...But you probably would never see a frontline like the Barca one again.
However I do believe that the chances of this happening are much like getting turkeys voting for Christmas. As there would be some kind of F1 argument that you see at the moment with all the top clubs saying we own football and we should be allowed to spend what we want!
Paul 'it would work and be good for football' Rhodes
Celtic: Little Club
With reports in the media declaring that Hull and Celtic are in a two-way fight for the little known Marc-Antoine Fortune and former SPL chiefs stating that the league has no market outside Scotland, can we finally all agree that the Old Firm clubs are neither big clubs or big attractions?
If the unthinkable were ever to happen and they were to find themselves in the English leagues, then they would be no more successful than clubs like Newcastle or Middlesborough.
Tony, London
Clash Of The Codes
I must tell you this.
Last week on the ABC national radio phone in programme 'Australia Talks Back' they discussed whether football (Soccer) was beginning to threaten the established Australian football codes (Rugby and Australian Rules).
Plenty of people phoned in to say how much they enjoyed football and how the national team was lifting the game's profile and how the A-League is improving every year and drawing healthy crowds. However a few fans of the other codes phoned in to bag soccer. No surprises there.
One particular man from Melbourne phoned in to say that he would like to see a game of Soccer and Aussie Rules played between the best English Premier League footballers and the best Australian Rules Footballers. He modestly admitted that in soccer the EPL team would probably win 2-1 or maybe 3-1, but by the end of the first quarter of the Aussie Rules game no soccer player would be left standing.
This is obviously because Aussie Rules players are supreme athletes who would easily adapt to playing soccer at the very highest level, and EPL players are a bunch of sissies who would 'fold' when confronted with the physical demands of Aussie Rules.
The worst thing is, he wasn't winding anyone up, he honestly believed in what he was saying, and you would not have to look too hard to find a lot of people who would earnestly agree with him.
That's what you have to put up with, when you're a football fan in Australia.
Andrew (Gold Coast)
