England, England: so many of your countrymen start out enthused; so many end up disappointed. Will this year be different? I was concerned that Wayne Rooney's suspension for two of the three group matches would be disatrous. The first game for which he'll be eligible is against Ukraine and depending on how well they do in the first two, his return may be critical to their advancing. Please share your thoughts as to who will start in his place. I believe it will be Danny Welbeck. I'm a little surprised by Daniel Sturridge's absence The ongoing debate over whether Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard can play together effectively has been mooted by Lampard's injury and the rest of the midfield offers speed (Theo Walcott), skill on the ball (Gerrard and Ashley Young) and Scott Parker anchoring the central midfield. I believe their defense is only slightly diminished by Gary Cahill's absence (I don't know much about Martin Kelly, his replacement) and Joe Hart should put an end to the goalkeeping horror show of WC 2010. France will clearly benefit from having a new coach who, unlike Raymond Domenech doesn't rely on astrology for team selection. Karim Benzema should be the lone striker with Florent Malouda, Franck Ribery and Samir Nasri also guiding the attack, Yohan Cabaye anchoring the midfield with Yann M'Vila. I'm not sure who will be in the back four, I'm guessing Phillippe Mexes, Laurent Koscielny Patrice Evra and perhaps Adil Rami. Hugo Lloris remains as the keeper. I have to plead ignorance on much of Sweden's lineup. I'm most familiar with Zlatan Ibrahimovic of course, but was surprised to see that Olof Mellberg is still playing in central defense at 34. Johan Elmander should pair well with Zlata, but any success for Sweden will depend on Zlata: if he does well he may be able to carry the team out of the group. Here's a stray thought: the next time the execrable Jim Rome decides to trash this sport, I hope he does so while interviewing Zlata. I'm half-Ukrainian, but I feel safe in saying that if they weren't co-host, Ukraine would have not been involved in this competition. They had a goal differential of zero in their last ten friendlies, losing by 4 goals to the Czech Republic and 3 to France. Andriy Shevchenko will start at forward at 35. I hear good things about Ruslan Rotan and Andriy Yarmolenko in midfield, but I have yet to see them play. Indeed, I have seen few of the Ukraine players in action, but I don't expect much from this group. Look to England and France to go through, although if Zlata plays well, Sweden may pose a threat.
June 07, 2012
England: so many of your countrymen start out enthused; so many end up disappointed
Which countries don't have enthused supporters who end up disappointed, Randy?
Posted by: Leeds man | June 08, 2012 at 07:40 PM
Few have faced as much continued disappointment as England, IMHO.
Every WC and Euro championship that I can remember (save 1994 and 2008 for obvious reasons), some UK media outlet is touting England's chances. I remember in 2006 the cover said "We Can Beat Brazil," but they couldn't beat another Portuguese speaking nation. The talk about their group in 2010 was to call it EASY (EnglandAlgeriaSloveniaYanks). The expectation level with England is always so high, but there are plenty of other countries where the expectation isn't as high.
In 2010, I hoped that the US would get out of its group, but I had no illusions that they would get past the quarterfinal had they beaten Ghana. The profound level of disappointment among my English friends is really astonishing to me given the Three Lions history.
To me the experience that summed this up the best happened in the Dominican Republic when my wife and I were on vacation. At our hotel, there was an Englishman with a tee shirt that said "Football: We Invented It." My Brazilian wife said "we perfected it." The level of offense and outrage on the man's face was completely disproportionate to the jesting nature of her comment.
I'm certainly not saying everyone's like that, but I've seen that sort of display fairly often.
Posted by: Randy Paul | June 08, 2012 at 10:30 PM
Yeah, I think we've been down this road before. Since I've lived in Canada for decades, I don't have as much exposure to British mass media. The things I read (Guardian, BBC, occasionally The Independent and Observer) have been far less sunny about England's status. That goes for the Brit friends I stay in touch with.
Posted by: Leeds man | June 09, 2012 at 12:20 PM
By the way, most of the English I know wouldn't have the gall to wear that t-shirt, and if they had, would have had a good laugh at your wife's response. Hardly deniable, is it? Brazil is the only country against which England has a truly dismal record (w3 l9 IIRC).
Posted by: Leeds man | June 09, 2012 at 12:52 PM
Well, the next day he had on a Manchester United jersey, so in my mind that explained everything.
Posted by: Randy Paul | June 09, 2012 at 01:10 PM