Where have i said that italy's result was fine? you just finished saying that italy are useless so i'm pointing out that england just had an equally embarrassing result a gainst a nation of 80 000, theres more people that live in my district than in that country.

please show me the criticism that england is currently receiving.

"Theo Walcott hit a stunning hat-trick as England thrashed Croatia in a World Cup qualifying tie in Zagreb."

"England avenged its two losses to Croatia in Euro 2008 qualifying by winning easily in Zagreb."

"Walcott Hattrick As England Crush Croatia"

"Reborn England storm Croatia fortress"

"Wonder Walcott"

sounds like major criticisms

I think he's talking about this board

And Italy, renowned for their awesome defense, kept a clean sheet against Cyprus, yeah? I never said our result against Andorra was good, but its funny how people get on the defensive about Italy-Cyprus so quickly.


Could you please tell me which one of those headlines isn't true?

Oh, and where's the criticism? Do me a favour, and go over the last few pages and quote all the posts that are giving priase and credit for England victory tonight that aren't posted by Tennie, since she she's to have been the only one so far. It will be interesting to see how many posts you come out with, I don't think it will be many.

what one or two people?

myself i have nothing against england, from what i saw they they played very well and deserved the win.

i just find it funny that kurt is complaining about england getting picked on when he does the same with italy.

One note on the Portugal result - I do like the Portuguese NT

what one or two people?

myself i have nothing against england, from what i saw they they played very well and deserved the win.

i just find it funny that kurt is complaining about england getting picked on when he does the same with italy.

BBC
goal
tsn
yahoo
foxsports
rds (french media)
etc.

Kurt, I think part of that is because this is an AC Milan board and by default I think that many of the boardmembers are also Italy fans. If this were a MU board then it'd probably be the other way around.

For what it's worth, the Italian press isn't tripping over itself to praise the Azzurri. Stuff like 'better than Cyrpus, but it could hardly have been worse', 'nervous victory', etc are more the order of the day.

What? I was criticise Italy when they deserve it, like at the Euro's, did I criticise them at the World Cup? Nope.


Erm.... I said people on the forum. What exactly do you expect these news sources to say? "England cheat their way to victory", "Croatia unfortunate to lose"?

Do you still not see the difference? Italy beat two fairly poor nations, a team of ametuers, and a team that lost to Ireland at the weekend. So I don't think I'm being too outrageous to say that Italy should've won these two games? England faced a team of ameutuers, so we should have won that, but we also faced the 5th ranked team in the World in a stadium they've never lost in. I think it's fair to say our games overall were harder, and our results overall were better. Do you think this is fair to say or not? yet England are geting less praise and more criticism than Italy. THAT is my point.

Same, some of the football they played in the Euro's was great to watch and I'm not just talking about the #7. The 2nd opening game against Turkey was a brilliant game.

They just need a forward an out and out goal scorer in my mind.

I look forward to you knocking us out on penalties in 2010

And Shevchenko scored again for Ukraine!

You could also argue this is an English board and there are more English members, than Italians.

I get what you're saying, but what do you expect? Italy beat Georgia, England have a very good result away from home. I don't think I'm being too out of order in saying that we deserve these headlines.

@Tennie: Quim is a very good keeper. I don't think the 3 goals were his fault. The first goal was Nani's and Bosingwa's fault, the 2nd it was the entire team (set-piece), and the 3rd one was a deflected shot.

English language does not mean English culture.

The first goal was Nani's and Bosingwa's fault,

For what its worth - I didn see any of the games today, nor any highlights as yet, and I didn read any of the previous post (as I am just feeling too lazy today) but from what I just heard Gourcuff played really well for France today in his first start ever!
And Shevchenko scored again for Ukraine!

WooHoo!

Be good to hear from you on him. I personally think he's a tad overrated and wonder why he's at United, maybe the lure of possibly having the next Ronaldo keeps him there, I don't know.

Is he actually any good for the NT and do you rate him?

Well, the "Sack Dunga" articles will probably start appearing in O Globo tomorrow.

GOAL PERU! Last kick of the game!

Peru 1-1 Argentina.

Good! I hate Argentina's team...

You're in my camp then! Welcome to the party. I never liked the Argies too much either. At least not the current bunch, only a select few I think are good players (and good human beings). The rest are, um, let's not go there, shall we?

Oh, very overrated. Guys like Cambiasso and company. The only worthy players I personally watched play and liked were Maradonna, Batistuta, Ayala, Zanetti (even though he's a loser like the teams he play in), and finally Messi. That's just about it. While I'm the first one to admit they've got some talent in them. But it's just their upbringing in the shadow of Brazil which kills them. The only reason they won the World Cups was because of Maradonna. I still remember their team celebrating a Copa America final a couple of years back when there were still some time left. Adriano scored, and ended their party. Everyone was complaining to the referee that he didn't blow the whistle on time. And then the last 3-0 drubbing from Brazil's B-side. Oh, my!

Overrated aside, it's their attitude which ticks me off big time. They just can't accept defeat. Which for a team of their stature is just meh. Gotta get low before you touch the high. Learn to lose if you want to win, that's my motto!

yoann played really gud for france i read on goal here is what they wrote
Yoann Gourcuff 8: The pick of the French side. Despite only having played around a minute of international football previously, the young AC Milan midfielder, who is on loan at Bordeaux, commanded the match and was instrumental in France's best moves.

Yep!

It's not really congratulations Kurt and I are looking for though just a subtle they did quite well there in your minds. Instead of saying they just beat a team that no one's beat in there stadium before 4-1, a 19-year old just got a hat-trick but no he's overrated, I mean as I've just been told if it was Pato who got 3 tonight, well...
----------------------------------------------------------------------

This parts for zd guy: It's an example, I haven't done it because I hate Pato, it's because he's 19 as is Walcott and he plays for Milan, no need to reply in a huff...

That's nice to hear. as soon as he gains confidence, I will be the first one to want him back. I keep reminding myself the fact that Zidane was completely unknown for the world at 22. some players mature a bit late compared to others. maybe Yoann is one of them? one thing is sure, the talent is there.




There's a thin line between "overrated" and "not world class yet". I still think neither Pato nor Walcott, Bojan, etc are overrated. English is not my mother tongue maybe I have a wrong definition of overrated in my mind... I still think those who show such promise at such young age should be labeled anything but overrated!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

As for England I think this is Capello's magic. for some reasons players feel confident under him. now this 1-4 win against "Croatia" at their own stadium will boost England's confidence so much that it'll be hard to stop them from now on. England never lacked quality (not that much to fail to qualify for the Euros at least) it was just a psychological problem and Capello was the man for the job. good choice by three lions' football federation!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Brazil 0-0 Bolivia?

Oh god. someone sack Dunga

Is it possible to fail to qualify for the world cup?!?!? this is what? 2 draws and a loss?

That's nice to hear. as soon as he gains confidence, I will be the first one to want him back. I keep reminding myself the fact that Zidane was completely unknown for the world at 22. some players mature a bit late compared to others. maybe Yoann is one of them? one thing is sure, the talent is there.

There's a thin line between "overrated" and "not world class yet". I still think neither Pato nor Walcott, Bojan, etc are overrated. English is not my mother tongue maybe I have a wrong definition of overrated in my mind... I still think those who show such promise at such young age should be labeled anything but overrated!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

As for England I think this is Capello's magic. for some reasons players feel confident under him. now this 1-4 win against "Croatia" at their own stadium will boost England's confidence so much that it'll be hard to stop them from now on. England never lacked quality (not that much to fail to qualify for the Euros at least) it was just a psychological problem and Capello was the man for the job. good choice by three lions' football federation!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Brazil 0-0 Bolivia?

Oh god. someone sack Dunga

Is it possible to fail to qualify for the world cup?!?!? this is what? 2 draws and a loss?

dont worry at least in this case it isnt a co-ownership.

Brazil aren't doing too well, I think it's a bit close for comfort for them!

SOUTH AMERICAN QUALIFYING (after 8 games)
Paraguay 17
Brazil 13
Argentina 13

No, Brazil will qualify 99.99%. they're already level with the Argies at 2nd place, which is not bad at all. thing is, Dunga is small! Brazil needs a coach for 2010 WC... even the thought of Dunga as Brazil's coach in 2010 makes me giggle.



I hope there's not a right to buy either



Do you know how many games each team has to play?

i've checked, they've played around 1/3 of the toal games. everyone plays each other twice.

South American qualifying plays 18 games, The top 4 go straight into the World Cup, the 5th place team has a play off with somebody from the Asian regions I believe.

South American qualifying plays 18 games, The top 4 go straight into the World Cup, the 5th place team has a play off with somebody from the Asian regions I believe.

Uefa to expand Euro Championship

The European Championship is set to be expanded to feature 24 teams from 2016 instead of the current 16, according to Franz Beckenbauer.

A Uefa executive committee meeting on Thursday discussed the issue and will rubber-stamp the decision on Friday.

"Yes for sure it's going to be 24 teams," said Beckenbauer, who is vice-chairman of Uefa's development and technical assistance committee.

"The European Championships will not lose any quality by that."

Former German international Beckenbauer is not a Uefa executive committee member but is a European Fifa executive member who sits in on the meetings as a non-voting observer.

MIHIR BOSE BLOG
Nobody expects Uefa to just pull the plug on Poland and Ukraine hosting Euro 2012

The proposal to expand the competition was put forward by the Scottish Football Association and Football Association of Ireland last year.

The new format will mean fewer countries will have the capacity to host the tournament but it is believed the 53 member nations are unanimously in favour of the change.

"I think the expansion will be better for the game - more teams will have the chance of qualifying and the excitement of the groups will go on for longer," said Scottish FA chief executive Gordon Smith.

"It is disappointing in that it means we will not be able to stage the tournament in the future, and we recognise that will be the case.

"It was a trade-off between trying to stage it or open up the qualification process and we have decided to look at something that helps everybody."

Spain emerged victorious at Euro 2008 earlier this year at a tournament where there was no presence from the home nations.

The expanded version should mean it is easier for Scotland and other home nations to qualify but Smith added: "It will make it easier for other countries such as England who failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

"We didn't do it specifically for that purpose however."

BBC

I had noticed one thing though:
1978 Ingerland fail to qualify for World Cup
1982 Word Cup expanded to 24 teams

1994 Ingerland fail to qualify for World Cup
1998 Word Cup expanded to 32 teams

2008 Ingerland fail to qualify for European Championships
2016 European Championships expanded to 24 teams

The sport revolves around us.

What if Ingerland fail to qualify for the 2016 Euros (with all it's 24 spots and such)?