England v Uraquay

[penelope2]

Well that's it then 'done and dusted'. England boys off on their holidays early after another abject performance. Despite all the media hype we were rubbish. And Rooney's great goal, it was a tap in for chr**t sake. Pity they didn't wear the English shirt with more passion, but there again with the money they earn they obviously don't give a ***. Pathetic!!!!!

[ludwig]

// I've only ever watched football when England are playing in the World Cup (about 5 games, then;-)). They were a mess. Only about three players (including goalie) seemed to make any effort. //

If you'd seen more England performances pixie, you'd realise this wasn't all that bad. The new young players did well, just not quite well enough.
Rooney also did well in his first world cup when he was young and didn't care, before all the *** hype and expectation crushed his spirit and destroyed his confidence. Sadly the same will probably happen to Sterling etc and in 4 years time they won't be able to touch the ball without falling over.

[pixie373]

That's fair enough, Ludwig. I do remember Paul Gascoigne playing in a World Cup- and he seemed in a completely different league to most of these. They didn't seem to have any passion. A quick burst after their goal and lost it again.

[Jeza]

A comment from a mere woman fan of the beautiful game.

If the Premier League concentrated on bringing and nurturing young ENGLISH players through the ranks and not spending millions on foreign players then maybe England would stand a better chance against foreign competition.

[pixie373]

Well yes, wasn't the goal scorer from Uruguay a Liverpool player?? Hope they don't take him back. What a farce.

[jim360]

Yeah I... I think they'll want to keep him.

[pixie373]

No loyalty. Makes no sense, jim..... I think they should change football back to a sport, instead of a business.

[jim360]

Then again, isn't sport about seeing the best people perform? If these happen to be largely foreigners that says just as much about the grassroots of the game as it does about the business side of football, if not more.

[pixie373]

No, it isn't about seeing the best people perform. It's actually about enjoyment- and, imo, is for "playing" not"watching". Lol. If he is playing for an English team, he should be playing for England- not Uruguay. It's ridiculous.

[pixie373]

Needs to be one way or the other, divebuddy. Either Liverpool players have to come from Liverpool, or England players can come from any English team. It is the worst of both worlds as it is.

[RandyMarsh]

there may be lots more money in football these days but the game is still played by men who fell in love with it as boys and want to win like the boys who played it before them did, we are just not good enough sadly. not one of those guys wanted to lose.

[jim360]

It's not ridiculous, Pixie, and thinking that ruling foreign players out of the Premier League will fix anything is, frankly, utter nonsense. If you play against nobodies you learn nothing and you don't develop a strong squad. And if you play against brilliant players and still don't develop a strong squad, then that's because the players you have to choose from aren't good enough.

[pixie373]

I definitely wouldn't keep foreign players out of premier league teams. Equally, i would let them then play for England, too.

[jim360]

That would backfire spectacularly, I tihnk, if it turned out that, say, "England" win the World Cup at least, with a team filled with non-English players. What would be the point?

[pixie373]

Similar to Liverpool not having only Liverpudlian players i suspect. No difference.

[jim360]

The difference is that the principle of the World Cup is that it is nation v. nation. The club championships at the highest level haven't had that principle for years and years and years. You can't even pin it down to the big business aspect of football -- it predates even that. Club football is about who can build up the best team. Nothing to do with where the players come from.

The solution, if there is one, is to train better English players, not to destroy the current Premier League (which, in turn, would lead to the end of our competition in European football and for that matter would not help to develop a brilliant football team because there would be no drive to improve). And, in the meantime, to stop having sour grapes and accept that, at the moment, other teams are better than we are.

[RandyMarsh]

football is about entertainment, the best players entertain, take them out of our leagues and we are poorer for it. Cricket has restrictred the number of foreign players and it did not turn us into world champions.

[jim360]

In fact, I just checked. The very first football league featured 13 English teams but four of the best players were Scottish in origin. There has never been an exclusive link between the club you play for and where you live. Ever.