borin borin England (and other Euro2004 related musings)

Yeah, good wins for the Republic, Wales and Scotland - it's important to remember that Iceland are ahead of Scotland in the world rankings, so beating them counts as giant killing.

Denmark 3 2-1-0 9-4 7p
Norway 3 2-1-0 5-2 7p
Romania 4 2-0-2 12-6 6p
B&H 2 0-0-2 0-5 0p
Luxemb 2 0-0-2 0-9 0p

Fixtures until all team have same number of matches:

B&H - Luxembourg (goalless at half time)
Luxembourg - Norway
Denmark - B&H

Most likely outcome then: Norway and Denmark at 10p, with Romania starting to trail at 6... Yeah, I can live with that.

Shocks of the day: Germany's draw with Lithuania and Russia's defeat by Albania putting Ireland back in contention for the play-offs

good result though, especially with all the injuries we had. poor me had to work through the game and relied in txt msg updates from friends :-( Im supposed to be working through the albania game too. maybe i'll call in sick ;-) switzerland and russia have both dropped points against albania, so i think with the momentum we've got going under kerr, we're not just in contention for a play-off place, we could still top the group. its possible that georgia will be docked a point or two, as well.

(robin did i see you get on the dart at sandycove on friday night?)

and yeah,it probably was me in sandycove,at about half seven?

(yeah, prob about half7)

yeah that must have been me,i didn't see you...

the ireland game was depressing indeed. my new-found optimism was a little misplaced: there's still work to be done. plus points: duff was good whenever he got the ball (not often), carr was v.good in the 2nd half and given was great in goal. o'shea still hasn't taken to the international game...

i still think we can squeak 2nd place, with the next 3 games at home and all (and switz and russia have dropped points to the minnows too). but that was quite a depressing come-down.

3 cheers for rooney all the same.

Other than that, quality all the way - Beckham and Owen were slightly off, though, but the defence was fantastic, James had a bizarrely solid game (and that save... perfect)... and Turkey were good too. It's shown that when England get their shit together they CAN be as good as they look on paper. A bit more consistency, and look out Wales...

Gerrard was top as well, even if he WAS playing out of position. Actually, on the basis of last night, I'd drop Scholesy for a while and experiment with playing Butt and Gerrard together in central midfield with Gerrard in a more attacking role.

I think Vassell is wasted on Villa.

and who the chuff let those fans on the pitch?

Meanwhile, Jeffers notched his 13th U21 goal in as many appearances. Heskey will simply be squeezed out of the squad at this rate.

Is Ilhan Mansiz cuter now he's had his hair cut or not? Me and the missus couldn't decide.

Kilbane was truly awful, I know the guy gets so much abuse but he was just dreadful, O'Shea was running past him most of the time because he obviously could see passing to him was a bad idea. Robbie Keane looked unfit, a bit distracted maybe with the events of last week. Albania looked pretty good really. We'll be lucky to get through I feel.

England were very good yes. Rooney excellent first half though was knackered during the second I felt, gave away the ball several times, but definitely looks like him and Owen could be a good partnership. Vassel looked good aswell, great strength to set up the corner which eventually led to the goal.

Bridge definitely a better option than Cole, being a more traditional style of full back, I'm unsure Cole suits England really. Becks was poor, alot of bad corners and crosses.

as for England, the result was certainly more satisfying than the performance itself - good but not great, but maybe i'm too harsh and cynical there. definitely the best save David James will ever make. but i also witnessed the worst pass David Beckham will ever make, and i couldnt believe he fluffed that shot in front of goal early on in the game. pretty lucky with the penalty it seemed to me. and the mystery of Vassell's talismanic quality in and England shirt remains! Turkey were surprisingly poor i thought, but a great result nonetheless

eh? that doesn't make any... OH the wink! I see what you did there, very good Matt. ;o)

and did you see Beckham making kissy faces late on? hilarious

How many cards were actually brandished last night? It seemed surprisingly few, given how frought the whole thing was. There might have been a few dodgy decisions, but the ref kept things under control pretty well. It could have been very ugly.

i thought he said "fucX you, you fucXing pussy, fucXing prick kiss kiss kissssssssss" Brilliant

And did you see Tugay being Dragged off - so funny, nothing quite as enjoyable as watching the Turks get beat.

After that, I went off England. I have rarely been so little satisfied by such a result.

ireland squeaked a win, but it was a truly awful performance. such an incredible lack of creativity in that side, the best way of getting goals for us seems to be to bring on Gary Docherty and lump long balls up to him! keane and duff (possibly absent for the Georgia game :-( ...) are still great when they get going, though, and carr's a bit of an animal at right back. bring on georgia, i suppose, and let's hope for a similar result but a better performance. maybe give reid a shot down the right wing if he's fit enough?

thoughts on england? i'd say they'll win comfortably on wednesday. good result for vogts against his home country today, as well.

I'm also beginning to think that Gerrard, major tournaments or no major tournaments, is turning into England's most consistently good performer - retrospectively, nowhere was his absence more gapingly obvious than in the Brazil game.

I watched Saturday's in a bar in Malta and it was the weirest football-watching experience of my life. Crammed in with hundreds of people, most of whom had probably never set foot in England in their lives, all in England shirts, some draped with flags, going fucking mental for every England chance, singing "we love you England, we do!", jumping on chairs when Gerrard went down in the area and putting heads in hands when Beckham missed. Then Vindaloo played out very loudly indeed straight on the final whistle, with everyone singing along really loudly, dancing with pints aloft, beer splashing everywhere, like we'd walked into an advert for Carling or something. You could spot the English people a mile off - they were the ones looking happily nonplussed. A foreign country where they love the English... weird.

what a man.

The tunnel fracas seems a bit of a nasty business (or perhaps the general grainy chaos of the Turkish telly pix reminded me too much of a Carlton CCTV-heavy "When Binge-Drinkers Go Mental" special) - I wonder if Collina's report will lead to further UEFA action?

Tunnel fracas: Would not be at all surprised if Heskey was incensed by a racist slur cast his way by one of the Turkish players and this was the cause. Strong allegation i know but it's happened before.

as for Wales, another great and deserved result. it would be agony for them to lose or score draw now

i actually feel a bit sorry for the Turks. it must've been a bit tough for them after the nightmare in Istanbul that same morning...but even before that i think a Latvia upset was on the cards - are Latvia the new Slovenia? will Turkey go the way of Sweden and Croatia in failing to qualify for the subsequent European tournament after coming third in the prior World Cup?

Spain and Croatia must both feel very nervous as well - can you handle the excitement at this stage?

"Plucky little run", heh. How condescending.

wales have a much better chance. russia won 4/4 home games in the group stage, scoring a lot of goals each time. i decided before saturday's game that a 1-0 defeat for wales would be a decent result. to get a draw was excellent, and i think they're favourites now. russia haven't won an away match in this qualifying campaign, they're there for the taking.

I think I read somewhere that Italy aren't top seeded, so the concept of a Group of Death with France AND Italy in it are pretty strong.

My girlfriend said, "is it a play-off game for Euro 2004?" I pulled a spazzy face and she said "Oh no it can't be, Ireland didn't make the play-offs"

I pulled a spazzier face and she said, "oh, right, Canada."