Anyone else think England may struggle?

We know Fabio is a top manager, he’s never failed which leaves us with a great deal of hope. But with great players like Rooney and Gerrard at our disposal you’d think we’d be dead certs for the world cup. Sadly tonigh’ts game against Brazil showed up the failngs in the squad. There is no replacement for players like the aforementioned but the squad is reaaly quite mediocre when these players are out. Although the manager is a future legend, and he has improved England no end, the players have to take responsibility. We can’t see victory in South Africa unless all the top guys stay fit, which the past has told us, probably isn’t going to happen.

“Still going out there though and whoever plays and whatever happens the team will get our support. Afterall you’ve got to have some pride in the shirt.

Wayne Rooney captained Fabio Capello’s largely second-string side in Doha but not even he could inspire his England team-mates, none of whom furthered their prospects of making the final cut for the World Cup squad.
Brazil cantered to the win on neutral territory in Qatar, with Luis Fabiano even missing a second-half penalty as England failed to provide their front men with any decent service whatsoever.
Neither keeper was properly tested in a first half that offered little in the way of goalmouth action.
Michel Bastos dragged a drive from the left-hand corner of the box narrowly wide of the far post, while Felipe Melo and Kaka worked Ben Foster with efforts from outside the box that were both fielded comfortably by the England stopper.
Julio Cesar at the other end was a virtual spectator for the opening period, having only to watch long-range efforts from Rooney and James Milner drift over the bar.
Foster was beaten within 90 seconds of the restart as Nilmar nodded Brazil in front. Elano was afforded the space to flight over an inch-perfect delivery from the inside-right channel for the Villarreal striker, who escaped the attentions of Matthew Upson to direct a free header across Foster into the bottom corner of the England net.
Luis Fabiano wasted a wonderful opportunity to double Brazil’s lead when he smashed a 55th-minute penalty over the bar.
Nilmar nipped in to intercept Wes Brown’s casual attempt at guiding the ball back to Foster, tempting the England keeper into a diving stop at the feet of the Brazil goalscorer. The Manchester United stopper was shown a yellow card that could easily have been red for hauling down Nilmar, but Luis Fabiano let England off the hook by sidefooting his spot-kick well over.
Milner volleyed Shaun Wright-Phillips’ cross over the Brazil bar midway through the second period while Rooney finally worked Cesar with a low drive, moments after Lucio had strolled forward to smash a 25-yard drive against the England post.
Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch both came off the bench as England sought a way back into the game, but neither of the Spurs strikers were given a sniff of goal, with the ease of Brazil’s victory giving Capello plenty to think about.”

Ireland down but not out… yet.

Can’t help but think that Ireland are going to stuggle in France this week after a tough game in Dublin. I wish them well although I must admit that France have some big names that would be a miss in South Africa.

Nicolas Anelka’s goal saw France beat Republic of Ireland 1-0 in their World Cup play-off first leg.

The Chelsea forward’s strike with 18 minutes remaining gave Raymond Domenech’s side a crucial victory and a precious away goal ahead of Wednesday’s second leg in Paris.

Neither side dominated a fast and ferocious encounter at Croke Park, but France made the most of their limited oppotunities, while Liam Lawrence, John O’Shea and Glenn Whelan wasted the hosts’ best openings.

Lawrence was given the nod ahead of Aiden McGeady to shore up the right flank for the Republic, and it was the Stoke midfielder who came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half on 27 minutes.

Andre-Pierre Gignac had already seen a goal for France rightly ruled out for offside before Robbie Keane got in behind the visitors’ back four. Hugo Lloris blocked the skipper’s progress but the ball fell into the path of Lawrence, who saw his close-range volley deflected agonisingly wide of the target by Patrice Evra.

The threat of Anelka and Thierry Henry was being well nullified by the Irish backline, however the Barcelona striker did manage to get a shot off six minutes before the break, but Shay Given remained untested as the French skipper pulled his effort well wide of the target.

John O’Shea made a mess of a good chance to open the scoring six minutes after the break, when the Manchester United defender failed to turn home Richard Dunne’s knock-down from Damien Duff’s corner, while at the other end, Lassana Diarra saw his 25-yard volley whistle past Given’s left-hand post.

Given was again relieved when the referee waved away French appeals for a penalty when Evra tumbled over the Irish keeper’s challenge midway through the second period, but French pressure paid when they took the lead fortuitously with 18 minutes remaining.

Anelka collected the ball outside the box and seeing the opportunity to get a shot off, the Chelsea striker fired an attempt towards goal. The original effort alone probably would not have beaten Given, but a huge deflection off Sean St Ledger saw the Ireland stopper reduced to the role of spectator as the ball found the net via the post.

Kevin Kilbane’s poor backpass handed France a wonderful opportunity to double their lead, but with the goal gaping after Given had denied Anelka, Gignac horribly sliced the rebound out for a throw-in.

The best opportunity for an equaliser came and went with four minutes remaining. Substitute Leon Best and Keane combined to present Glenn Whelan with a close range oppotunity but the Stoke midfielder was denied by a brilliant save by Lloris as the French held on for a crucial victory.

Afterwards captain Keane refused to give up on the nation’s World Cup dream.

“We have to be confident for Wednesday and believe we can win the game. There’s no question we can do it on Wednesday,” he told Sky Sports.

“We’ve been to big teams like Italy and got results, so we know we can. It’s not going to be easy but we have to believe.”

France’s Henry also stressed the tie is not over yet.

“We have seen the Irish are a difficult team to beat and they didn’t lose a game in the whole qualifying so what we did today is nice,” he said.

“There are still 90 minutes to go so it will be a tough game for us in Paris.”

Fresh new Tees for the oohten.

Checkout these fresh new tees at http://www.soccercasuals.co.uk of 2010. You local heroes past and present never looked so good. Go get them now and look out for the champions league and world cup tees coming in Easter.