2004....yes we had Lahm, Poldi etc. But we also had Ziege, Wörns, Ernst, Freier....a lot of cr@p. The game against Latvia, that was the biggest dissapointment our NT ever provided for me.
Möller? Never said that he wasn't a great player. So were Klinsmann,Völler,Häßler and all the other champions of 1990. I just wanted to say that we didn't have to many good youngsters in the 90ies.

Well, maybe thats true. It was pretty much all about Deisler, and noone else. But having oldies in your team/or having youngsters doesn`t mean anything in those competitions. Except that, all those players, the great ones, like Möller, Hässler etc. lost motivation after 1996.

But you can`t call Wörns crappy. He was a candidate even for the 2006 WC. I mean, in 2004 he was really neccessary. Well, on Freier and Ernst I agree, Ziege,..he is an oldie, he does good to the team. You know, sometimes it`s better to have one 30-and-something year old Ziege who does great for the team outside the pitch then an 18/19 year old troublemaker. The age factor isn`t decisive in such competiotions.

In 2000, Ribbecks Germany played their worst football I ever watched live on a big tournament. They won 1996 in a great manner, they were really good in 1998 till Croatia came by in the quaters and Wörns made that stupid tackle that sent him off, 2002 Rudi amazed everyone introduceing a compact German side with Kahn, Ballack and Klose as their leaders. Then came the dissapointment in 2004. But Klinsi made a great job in 2006 and I hope Jogi can go all the way. If he does the same conditioning Klinsi did with Germany before the WC, the chances are pretty good..

I forgot that we also had the 33yo Freddy Bobic as striker in 2004. Ziege? I can still remember everyone complaining about his nominations. Still, it was enough not to loose against the Dutch 2000? Let's better not talk about that...
2002 was OK, but as you said...the team was playing very compact, but their football wasn't fun to watch. And without Kahn on top of his game (after that tornament I was convinced that there could never have been a better goalie) we wouldn't have even reached the Quarterfinals...

Fun or not fun to watch you still reached a World Cup final, Kahn was good but to get to a final most of your players have to be on top of their game outfield and in goal.

Well, the Azzurri may be really hosed now. Cannavaro was hurt in training today in Madrid. He's a major doubt for the Madrid derby tomorrow and there's a question as to whether he'll be able to play vs. France. Maybe Sandro will change his mind for the one game at least?

I think Italy are in a much worse situation than England. They are in huge trouble right now.

Come on Alessandro! Show them who's the best and retire like you should!!!!

C'mon Sandro, The Nazionale needs you

ya i'll be very pissed if he doesnt come to help us with these two games... come on 2 games isnt gonna kill him.

DB

Who blames them, they are the reigning world champs ... What more can they achieve


Not an alibi, I know ... But they definitely don't have it worse than England, I mean they have a solid team, but lack motivation IMO

The blame goes on Donadoni. Its a shame, really. I was disgusted with the loss against Hungary. After does 2 upcoming matches it will be addio to Roberto.

It was always gonna be a difficult job for anyone taking over from a world cup winning coach

IMO being the reigning champions is always more of a handicap than it benefits a team. Every champion tends to satisfaction and overestimation. This is what just happens to Italy.

Basically, that was what I was saying

No it wasn`t allways. Remember France 1998 and then back 2000?

Diffuclties after winning the WC appear, I know, but Italy has a much more serious problem. They got a unready coach without any perspect of getting better soon enough.

Although Donadoni isn't as experienced as Lippi, but neither is Domenech for that matter.

The problem here is, who would replace a world cup winning coach ?! It is bigger pressure than you think and many coaches would be thrown into the furnace had they failed ...

I know, but Donadoni seems to be the worst choice,..

Well then...go on


But do you remember Frances performance in '02?
Anyway, I think Italys problem (or Dons Problem?) is that there are almost no good young players to put some pressure on the oldies. Who's there to replace someone like Canna or even Matrix after Nesta retired? And Italys attack lacks creativity after Tottis retirement.

The poor Azzurri; they're dropping like flies. Luca Toni just scored a very nice goal in Bayern's game and pulled up immediately thereafter with a thigh injury. He was subbed out and went straight to the dressing room.

No chance, they have a good team, we have a good player (Stevie G)

Pippo and Alessandro to the rescue!

I think some people are starting to beleive the media's criticism of us!

We've kept 6 cleen sheets in qualfying, in only 7 games! We were the better side against Brazil, the better side against Germany. Unlucky not to win both. Italy are playing poorly as it is, that's without their whole defense retired/injured. I hate to say it, but Scotland WILL beat Italy in qualifying, which will pretty much put them out of it. That's just my opinion though, it may happen, it may not.

No offense, but u seem to be offended easily Kurt ... It is just ppl's opinions, and from what I have seen of the English NT, it has always been this way .. They have this good enough team to win, but are always knocked out.

Has nothing to do with the media ... It has everything to do with what the English national team lacks!

As I stated earlier a goal keeper is vital for England to reach the latter stages of competitions !!

Nah, I'm not offended. As you said, I'm just putting my opinion over as a response to someone elses. We do lack a goalkeeper, and a true striker. Owen and Rooney aren't that real in the box guy we need. We miss the likes of Shearer/Sheringham/Fowler big time.

Your team lack nothing... except for mentality! And the English media are really damaging the national team in my view... if they didn't crown you champions before even the competition begins you would focus on taking one step at a time!!

Kurt,..

..are you sure thats it? Just a keeper and a striker? Do you wanna say England has a good defender? Ohhhhhh,..

It`s not the media. It`s not Eriksson and not McClaren either. It is the team in whole. They lack of stability, the lack of quality, the lack of tacticall intelligence, they lack of many things,..

Once I had a discussion with my friends about our Croatian national team. We talked about beating big teams, and I`ve said we won agaist Italy, Germany, France, Holland. Only not against England. And England is the only euro-team Croatia never will win in a competetive match. And I was partly ashemed when my prediction turend to be false.
Surely, England cannot be measured by Croatia, and this match is only "a drop of water in the sea", but,...England has been to long filled with wrong psihological signs. On the one side, they are full of that looser mentality for about 20 years! That leaves a deadly trail. Combined with the not entirely correct self-assurance of many players and their too often arrogant attitude and fanatic pressure, its a black hole. So my suggestion - lets keep McClaren, and scout around to find for the next EC or WC two world class psychologists..

Hmm.

I still believe all England need is a goalkeeper and a striker. And these are our main problems along with the manager, and the media. McLaren has the same England team that only lost 4 games in 5 years under the management of Sven (2 of which being shoot-outs) so how come he is faring so poorly with the same team?

The mentality of the players is one thing, they don't seem to know how to win a big game at International level. I have no problem with our defense, I'd say it's possibly the best part of our team. Defensively we are one of the best in the World.

Gary Neville - John Terry - Ashley Cole are all World class for me. Unfortunately Neville is injured way too often. All we need is an upgrade on Rio as a centre back. We have Micah Richards, Michael Dawson and Ledley King to fit that spot in a few years, so we're fine for me at the back.

People look at England like they do referee's in some sense. If they have a good game, nobody says anything or praises them. When they have a bad game, they get huge criticism. We are very hard to beat in a competitive match, especially in 90 minutes. Only Croatia, France and Brazil have done it in the last 6 years if I'm correct? So I don't think it's exactly panic time yet. If we lose to Russia/Israel THAT is when we should panic.

You are very hard to beat but in the end you're always beaten (in the finals)... it's just your mentality that's bad in my opinion and that's what you should try and change. Of course you also need a world-class goalie but even if you find him, without the right spirit you won't go far... Spain has a great goalie too but they also have the same mentality and they are not very successful, are they?

That is very true.

But what Spain gain with Casillas, they do lose with their average defenders. We'll just have to wait and see how England/Spain do in the Euro's.

ya but then look what happened when they tried to defend their title besides it was the first time the world champs went on to win the euro cup as well.

chiellini, pazzini, montolivo, AQUILANI, de rossi, curci, amelia, pasquale... just to name a few. the prob i think is that their not quite ready to take over. maybe after euro 08(or maybe they'll get their chance then)

France coach Raymond Domenech has been suspended for one match after being found in breach of UEFA's disciplinary regulations.

Fine and ban
Domenech has been handed one touchline ban for his side's UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifier against Italy on 8 September as well as being fined CHF10,000 (€6,000) for bringing football into disrepute. Domenech has three days to appeal the UEFA Control and Disciplinary board decision which comes following inappropriate remarks made in an interview to the French newspaper Le Parisien.


Vive la France.

If you ask me, WC 2002 isn`t the measure for anything. Senegal, Turkey, South Korea, bla, bla, bla,..too much for my stomach.

But past things and historical courses of events don`t give Donadoni much of an excuse. With or without Totti, he has the potential to win Hungary.

k obviously thats a terrible result but in the end it was a friendly and will nothing if they result which is what matters. even if they beat hungry if they went on to lose against france he would be under the same amount of pressure. u'd swear one big teams have never had a bad result against a small team.

Exactly, look at England losing to Germany last week

I hate that c*nt.

I don't even aknowledge that tournement even existed. It was a complete fix in my view, for Korea at least, the games they won against Italy and Spain had the worst refereeing EVER, and that includes this years EPL refs.

How nobody looked into match-fixing for that still bothers me.

The guys that are supposed to make an investigation are the same that fixed those matches...

I thought the Germans were supposed to have the bragging rights now

All of that fixing, and still lose to Turkey.

Korea did not even have the fitness level to go that far!

One?

Italy - Croatia 0:2
Italy - Lithuania 1:1
France - Italy 3:1
Faroe Islands - Italy 1:2
Hungary - Italy 3:1

He won 5/9 matches. Still over 50%. And yes, as soon as his rating reaches this limit, he should be sacked. That means probably after France.

Seems like Beckham gonna miss the two upcoming England games.

Yep.

-------------------- Robinson -------------------------

Richards ---- Ferdinand ---- Terry ---- Ashley Cole

Wright Phillips - Hargreaves - Gerrard - Joe Cole

---------------- Owen ---- Crouch -------------------

James/Bridge/Shorey/Carrick/Lampard/Bent/Johnson as subs. Should be more than enough for 6 points.

Should be, but it won't

I think you and Russia will come looking for a draw to be honest. Which will definetly benefit us, you'll invite pressure which will eventually pay off for us. I think we'll beat you both 2-0.

It's Italy you should be worrying about.

Macedonia was also looking for draw and they got... a draw in England. With England form I'm sure they won't win both games.

Actually, I want Ukraine to qualify.