World Cup South Africa 2010

[vectorboro]

Please post all your comments about England and the World Cup on this thread please.

This will be set up as a sticky for the full duration of the tournament.

[CStephenson01]

ill be happy with semi finals, i think that would be considered an sucess. i don't think defoe should play at the world cup and i also don't think Green should be our number one.

[thepassenger]

I'd rather see Defoe there than Heskey... and only a World Cup win will please me!

[ladyspite]

weeee AJ is on. 1 million

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ohh my, he dident fall down when they pulled his shirt? He matured? :-P

[vectorboro]

Could it be that Capello is confident that Johnson can do a job for England hence why he didnt give him 45 minutes tonight? The press seem to think he has impressed the manager that much that he has booked his seat on the flight already.

Nice that we get an extra £1 million now though.

I'd be very happy if we got to the Semi's.We must take Crouch as he causes most defences so many problems with his height.

I thought Capello took a big risk in playing Rooney tonight considering the problems with the pitch.

Not a great performance but the result was nice and we looked better in the 2nd half.

[sgtpepper]

Totally amazed that in such a short period of time a lad left us and picked up all that skill and became a target for the England manager.
Who by the way would'nt give him a second glance when he played for Boro.
Obviously the kid as grown an extra foot or City have performed some kind of surgery on him.

Someone please tell me what the difference is that makes Andy Townsend wet his nappy when the kid walks on the pitch has to when he played for the Boro.

Yes he's tricky and yes he will oneday be a good England player.
But at present he is too young and green.England need players that will attack and defend.
Tonight you saw that he can trick his way into the opposition box and was unlucky not to get a penalty.
But the downside was at the other end,he panics and has no direction when defending.
7/10 come back in 2 years time for the Europeans.

[thepassenger]

Have to agree, I would go more for experience. If he does go I can't see him starting, more likely he would come on 15 mins from time if we're chasing the game.

Great to see him in an England shirt though... and of course there's that extra mil

[wilf_manny_on]

(24-05-2010 09:26 PM)sgtpepper Wrote:  Totally amazed that in such a short period of time a lad left us and picked up all that skill and became a target for the England manager.
Who by the way would'nt give him a second glance when he played for Boro.
Obviously the kid as grown an extra foot or City have performed some kind of surgery on him.

Someone please tell me what the difference is that makes Andy Townsend wet his nappy when the kid walks on the pitch has to when he played for the Boro.

Yes he's tricky and yes he will oneday be a good England player.
But at present he is too young and green.England need players that will attack and defend.
Tonight you saw that he can trick his way into the opposition box and was unlucky not to get a penalty.
But the downside was at the other end,he panics and has no direction when defending.
7/10 come back in 2 years time for the Europeans.

i think the difference is that he has been doing what he did for the boro in the top flight. My question would be why didnt he get more of a run in the season when we went down? what did we have to lose? He;s in the england squad now, and the lad who took his place that season is'nt. Further to that Johnson has been doing the biz on the right wing for citeh. I cant even remember which numpty we had on the right when we went down!!

[AussieBoroFan]

Scott McDonald gets the axe from Aussie World Cup squad!

http://www.smh.com.au/world-cup-2010/wor...utostart=1

[sgtpepper]

OK last nights post may have sounded a bit harsh on Jinky.
Don't get me wrong I think you all know I have been a strong believer in Boro's youth policy over the years and we have had some starlets.
My beef is with the hierachy and this belief that a player needs to be playing in the top flight to have England recognition.
And the praise that Townsend was heaping on him was just more irritation for me.
I never listened to the final summary from gormless Gareth so I cannot comment on that idiot.
Perhaps if these lads were to get recognised earlier they wouldn't be to eager to move away from their home towns.
Then clubs like Boro could build on that.
............
In saying that I will not go against my first post when I say he is still very green and learning.
If he was the only one out there then perhaps I would say take him along for emergencies like has already been said perhaps put him on the last 20mins if we need a speedy winger.
But we will already be carrying learners for that position.
Lennon/Wallcott who by the looks of things are well on their way to being part of the England squad.
So that in mind I say let Jinky wait another few years he may be better for it.
Well impressed with the two keepers,thought Ledley King had a very good match.Thought Gerrard showed that his position in that deeper role is where he really belongs.
Cannot understand why Carrick is in the squad for me he has been off the boil all season.His distribution is atrocious.

A quick rundown on players from last nights game that played.
R. Green..........Good first half.
G. Johnson.......Excellent game.
R. Ferdinand.....Good first half.
L. King.............Excellent game.
L. Baines.........Not impressed,needs to fetch his club game into play.
M. Carrick.........Baffled by his selection,doesn't give anything to the team.
J. Milner..........Excellent game,would love to see him play in right mid for a complete match,sometimes I feel he doesn't command enough.
T. Walcott......Still learning but with every game he looks better.
S. Gerrard.......Excellent second half,played to far forward the first half and was out of the game for me.Should always play deeper and should really be Captain although I am proud that Rio is.
P. Crouch.......One of the first names on my team sheet,where ever he is goals are.You gotta love him.
W. Rooney.....Picks himself,a true lion,was just warming up last night will come good on the day.
E. Heskey......Good target man and if you want to play the long ball he is perfect for that game.
I have never seen Capello play the long ball game in competitions.?
D. James.....Should be there Mr reliable and ever present.
M. Upson.....A fair weather player,if things are going good he plays well.
S. Wright-Phillips....Would select him before Lennon and Wallcott.
S. Parker........Why is his name in the squad.Mind in saying that he is better than Carrick.
J. Carragher....Good call but I feel this high altitude weather may take its toll on the older lads.
J. Defoe........Mr busy body,he has become a feeder off of the others of late.Before he could make the play.
A. Lennon...Still learning,doubts on his fitness for me.Would have taken Downing or Young in his place.
S. Warnock....Would like to see him play in the next game.
M. Dawson.....There are better out there than this fella.
T. Huddlestone....Not really international quality for me.
A. Johnson.......Needs more time.
J. Hart.....Very good second half commands well and for me a long term England keeper.