WM Kader England

[CarolusMagnus]

bildeten beim 2:1-Erfolg von "England B" am Donnerstag gegen Weißrussland

War ich ärgstens besoffen, oder gings nicht 2:1 für Weißrussland aus?

[CarolusMagnus]

Tony Cottee has slammed Sven Goran Eriksson's decisions as "crazy" as England's World Cup preparations have taken another bizarre twist.

Hier der Artikel dazu:

*klick*

[Starostyak]

SGE hat immer noch die Option (wenn auch sehr unwahrscheinlich), auf ein 4-3-3 zu wechseln - die Spielerauswahl deutet wohl genau darauf hin. Mit Lennon, Downing, Joe Cole oder auch Rooney (wobei der natürlich, sollte er fit werden, mit Owen wohl einen Zweiersturm bilden wird) können einige Akteure auch die Flügelstürmer-Position spielen.

Könnte mich mit der Gerrard-als-hängende-Spitze Variante auch sehr anfreunden, seine Torgefährlichkeit ist für einen Mittelfeldspieler ja geradezu sensationell.

[CarolusMagnus]

Eine, meiner Meinung nach, gelungene Vorschau von WM-Kolumnist Martin Jol.

Hat zwar nichts mit dem Kader zu tun, aber ein eigener Thread zahlt sich auch nicht aus. Falls es woanders besser aufgehoben ist, bitte verschieben.

From Sunday Times:

"Shining stars to set World Cup alight

MARTIN JOL

This World Cup will feature a remarkable collection of attacking talents, many — but not all of them — from Brazil, who are the benchmark for others to reach

There are few surprises in football these days, but if one thing about World Cups has changed over the years it is this. Nearly 50 years ago, Europeans huddled round television sets for flickering glimpses of the new teenage king of the game. Before the 1958 tournament, Pele was a sensation only in South America, then suddenly the whole planet knew the name, the smile, the goals. Unless Theo Walcott turns out to be even better than in our wildest imaginings, nothing quite the same is going to happen in Germany.

Walcott, and my own Aaron Lennon, are perhaps as close as you have to unknown quantities at the 2006 tournament, but Lennon has been seen by global audiences playing in the Premiership and footage of Walcott’s debut for England B was beamed around Europe last week. Perhaps 80% of the players going to Germany are familiar because of worldwide television coverage of football. Even the major players from the African and Asian teams we know about; only Saudi Arabia are a mystery.

But none of this will make Germany 2006 less exciting. As we saw at Euro 2004 and in the last World Cup, the big teams cannot take any game for granted any more. And, just because players are already stars, it does not mean there is no suspense about what they are going to do.

Kaka was just a junior member of Brazil’s squad four years ago, but now he is a key part: what has this marvellous footballer got in store? It is Steven Gerrard’s first World Cup: can he impose his huge talent on the tournament? And the great players saying their farewells to the biggest stage, such as Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo — Ronaldo maybe: what have they got left? The first side to win the World Cup outside their own continent was Brazil, in 1958. They repeated the feat in 1994 and 2002 and remain the only country with this distinction.For me, they are favourites yet again. Their squad is unbelievably good. Don’t forget, in population and the number of footballers they have to choose from, Brazil is almost as big as Europe and they have more top players than any country.

They are so good in attack they might not even select Adriano and he is one of the best, if not the best, target men in the game. Okay, Adriano didn’t play so well for Inter Milan last season, but nobody plays well at Inter. Watching him at Real Madrid you might think Ronaldo is too heavy to be as great as he once was, but you watch: when he plays for Brazil again he will look like an Adonis. He did very little at club level in the run-up to 2002 and emerged as the player of the tournament.

Apart from Kaka, there is also Ronaldinho, the best footballer in the world. Brazil have sound players in midfield, with Gilberto Silva, Emerson and Ze Roberto; even their back-ups — Edmilson, Renato and Lyon’s Juninho Pernambucano, are of superb quality. People think defence is the Brazilians’ weak area — I’m not so sure when they have got men like Lucio, Cris, Luisiao, Roberto Carlos and Cafu around. Some say that Carlos and Cafu are too old.

If that’s how it looks, Carlos Alberto Parreira, who is a very shrewd coach, can bring in Cicinho on the right and Edmilson, who can play left-back.

Maybe somebody such as Cicinho is not the best of defenders, but if the whole centre of your team is crowded with good players who can control the game, you can spend more of your time as a full-back going forward. The Brazilians are superb at attacking without losing their defensive shape.

Italy are my second favourites. If I was betting, I would put money on it being a Brazil versus Italy final. Nobody in England appreciates the quality of Italy’s strikers. Their strength there is unbelievable. Filippo Inzaghi is doing well again and has a great international record. Milan’s Alberto Gilardino has great potential and Vincenzo Iaquinta is a big man who can play in the hole and work the channels, rather like Darren Bent.

And watch out for Luca Toni. Toni is a rare player, somebody who has turned himself into a world-class footballer in his late 20s. He is a goal machine. I spoke to Christian Vieri about joining Tottenham and he said: “I want to come to your club, but I have to play every week, even if I’m not scoring because I need to convince Marcello Lippi to take me to the World Cup.” I appreciated his honesty, but I don’t believe in giving players guarantees like that, so he signed for Monaco and played very well before being unlucky with injuries. Italy are so strong Vieri can’t even get into their squad, yet he was unstoppable — the world’s best striker two years ago.

With Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta, Gianluca Zambrotta and Fabio Grosso, and Gigi Buffon behind them in goal, Italy have the best defence in the tournament and in Roma’s Daniele De Rossi a midfielder who might start on the bench, but could emerge as one of the tournament’s stars. Andrea Pirlo is quality and Francesco Totti is a No 10 to potentially rival Kaka.

Italy have got the stars and the fighting qualities to go all the way and they don’t play the defensive catenaccio any more. They control games and score goals. I saw them against Holland and they won 3-0 — piece of cake. I saw them against Germany — 4-1, just as easy. The more I think about it, the more it puzzles me that everybody seems to forget about France. They didn’t do well at Euro 2004 and in the last World Cup because they played 4-4-2 in such a rigid fashion that it made Thierry Henry and Zidane look ordinary. Henry, Zidane and someone such as Vikash Dhorasoo need a bit of flexibility in the system and if France are more adventurous this time they will be very, very dangerous. Pound for pound, player for player, they are as strong on paper as Italy and Brazil. Premiership followers might ask how a team with Jean-Alain Boumsong at the back can have the potential to be world champions, but believe me, when Boumsong played for Auxerre he was fantastic and he usually plays well for France.

Argentina are the side who complete my list of the top four contenders. Villarreal went from nowhere to being one of the top club sides in Europe by building their play around Juan Roman Riquelme in midfield. Argentina have got some great defenders, such as Roberto Ayala and Walter Samuel. Lionel Messi has said he is not sure, because of his leg injury, if he will be able to play the full 90 minutes of any game and that saddens me as a coach because he is one of those players you look forward to watching — a little magician.

Brazil, Italy, France and Argentina are in a class of their own. England, with Germany, Spain, Holland and, perhaps, Portugal, are the outsiders, but each is capable, if their coaches get it right and they enjoy a bit of luck, of being world champions.

If there is one dark horse it is Ukraine. I don’t expect them to win the World Cup, but every tournament features one or two teams who go much further than anybody expected and Ukraine could enjoy the kind of run Turkey and South Korea had in 2002. Nobody knows how much strength they have. In western Europe all we think about is Andriy Shevchenko, but they also have Olexsandr Shovkovsky, a great keeper, Vladislav Vashchuk in defence, Serhii Federov, Andriy Voronin and their free kick expert, Ruslan Rotan. All are outstanding footballers, but we don’t know them all. Maybe it is because they’ve got difficult names. More seriously, the amount of money now available to Russian and Ukrainian clubs means that a lot of these players stay at home, whereas before they had to come to the west to earn big wages.

There is one other country I’d like to mention. Not too many, even in their own country, fancy their chances, but they have a player who is the best in the world at coming late from midfield to score from crosses, and no team in their position, except Japan, has ever failed to make at least the quarter-finals. Host nations have a remarkable record in World Cups and you would respect any team with Michael Ballack in their ranks. You don’t have to be an Englishman to know you should never write off the Germans."

[ante jazic]

ich weiß nicht, was es ist, aber vielleicht werde ich nur schön langsam nervös...aber je näher die wm kommt, desto mehr fürchte ich ein frühes ausscheiden...

[Gast _Michi_]

Schweinerei das da Defoe net einberufen worden ist!

aber hauptsache ein crouch und walcott einberufen...

bearbeitet 30. Mai 2006 von _Michi_

[ianrush]

Genau für das Abtropfen auf die Mittelfeldspieler, wie hier auf Cole, hat man einen Crouch. Dass er dann noch eiskalt abschliesst ist ein Bonus.

Crouch Tor

[themanwho]

Genau für das Abtropfen auf die Mittelfeldspieler, wie hier auf Cole, hat man einen Crouch. Dass er dann noch eiskalt abschliesst ist ein Bonus.

1085228[/snapback]

Der sensationelle Tanz danach quasi "the icing on the cake"

bearbeitet 31. Mai 2006 von themanwho

[pilsje van de tap]

Irgendwie mag ich den Crouch Peda. Der sensationelle Tanz nach seinem Tor hat mir ein ordendlich breites Grinsen aufs Gesicht gezaubert

Aber echt gute Leistung gestern von ihm, beim Tor hat er ja sogar ungewohnte Abschlussqualitäten gezeigt - so drängt man sich natürlich für einen Stammplatz auf.

[Mecki]

[ianrush]

Crouch übrigens heute mit seinen Toren Nummer 3 (abgefälscht) und Nummer 4 in den letzten 3 Starts. Das sind mehr Tore als Rooney seit der EM 2004.

Und dann noch mit einem Klassiker von einem verschossenen Elfer. lol

bearbeitet 3. Juni 2006 von ianrush

[JohnDoe]

Crouch übrigens heute mit seinen Toren Nummer 3 (abgefälscht) und Nummer 4 in den letzten 3 Starts. Das sind mehr Tore als Rooney seit der EM 2004. 

1087921[/snapback]

Und dazu einen Elfer ziemlich peinlich vergeben...

[OoK_PS]

Crouch übrigens heute mit seinen Toren Nummer 3 (abgefälscht) und Nummer 4 in den letzten 3 Starts. Das sind mehr Tore als Rooney seit der EM 2004. 

1087921[/snapback]

und einen elfer hat er souverän übers tor gesetzt.

[ianrush]

Und dazu einen Elfer ziemlich peinlich vergeben...

1087925[/snapback]

und einen elfer hat er souverän übers tor gesetzt.

1087927[/snapback]

Naja er machts wenigstens gleich mit Treffer Nummer 3 wett.

[Pezi]

Crouch muss gesetzt sein.

Let's dance!

bearbeitet 3. Juni 2006 von Pezi