Buy An England Shirt From Just £3.49!

Now is the perfect time to get supporting England, with the up-and-coming qualifiers on Saturday and Wednesday against Kazahkstan and Belarus - and with the news that Sports Direct are selling England home shirts from just £3.49!

You can get a shirt with Gerrard/Terry/Lampard/Rooney for just £5.49 - but be quick, as stock isn’t going to last forever, especially with England fans still buzzing after the 4-1 win against Croatia a few months back.

England Shirts For Sale At Sports World

Read More

Popularity: 1% [?]

Losing for your country should hurt more, shouldn’t it?

Kev Fylan blogged about England’s fear factor being the root cause of their continual failures but Jamie Carragher’s autobiography reveals another possible explanation when he admits that he just didn’t care enough about playing for the national team.

The Liverpool defender, who retired from international football principally because he got fed up with playing out of position, said:

“Representing your country is the ultimate honour, especially in the World Cup. Not to me. Whenever I returned home from disappointing England experiences one unshakeable, overriding thought pushed itself to the forefront of my mind, no matter how much the rest of the nation mourned: ‘At least it wasn’t Liverpool.’

“I confess: defeats wearing an England shirt never hurt me in the same way as losing with my club. I wasn’t uncaring or indifferent, I simply didn’t put England’s fortunes at the top of my priority list. Losing felt like a disappointment rather than a calamity.”

For most England fans such an outlook may be hard to understand but for backers of Croatia, who England face on Wednesday, it will be beyond comprehension.

As a young nation, Croatian fans and players are among the loudest and proudest in the game. They don’t need to kiss the badge to show what it means to them.

As with the All Blacks in rugby, merely wearing the shirt says it all.

There are many in the England set-up who hold the opposite view to Carragher — just look at David Beckham’s continued involvement.

But is it possible that there are other players out there among the pampered millionaires for whom representing their country is something of a chore?

Funnily enough, Croatia’s victory at Wembley in the final Euro 2008 qualifier, which ended England’s chances, might well have been avoided if Carragher had decided not to throw his toys out of the pram. With a defensive injury crisis England had to use Sol Campbell and Joleon Lescott at centre back, and were badly exposed.

PHOTO: Portugal’s Ricardo Pereira saves from Jamie Carragher during England’s penalty shootout defeat in the 2006 World Cup quarter-final in Gelsenkirchen July 1, 2006. REUTERS/Jose Manuel Ribeiro

Go to Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

English football needs a Kevin Pietersen

England play Croatia on Wednesday and you know what? It won’t be a surprise, or a disgrace, if they lose.

Why? Because Croatia are a technically gifted, cleverly organised, highly motivated international team, who beat England twice to reach Euro 2008 and outplayed Germany when they got there.

I also half expect it to happen simply because England are so terrified of losing.

This fear of failure pervades the national team. It comes across in the insistence on tactical discipline and conservative team selection even against the weakest of opponents (think Joe Cole against Andorra) and the consistent failure of the team’s senior players to be their confident, inventive selves while on England duty.

For a while it was the same with the England cricket team but recently things have changed. Here’s what Kevin Pietersen said last month after taking over as captain:

“The recipe for success I’ve tried to use is to be confident and play without fear. To express yourself once you go over the white line and trust your instinct and your practice.

“That’s what I want my lads to do, to play without fear. International cricket can roll into a routine of train, play, train, play and I want the guys to get the passion back.

“I think fear has crept in a bit. The more you fear, the more you worry about stuff instead of being a clear-thinking person.”

How English football could do with someone like Pietersen — a player or coach who could inspire the team, help them shrug off their fear and let their talent shine through, accepting the fact that sometimes it’ s not going to come off and that, yes, you can lose to teams like Croatia, with no disgrace at all. 

There’s a piece in the Guardian today suggesting that winning ugly might do Fabio Capello’s England a lot of good right now.

I’d suggest that playing well and losing might not be such a problem either.

PHOTO: Joe Cole (L) shoots and scores during England’s World Cup qualifier against Andorra in Barcelona September 6, 2008 REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh

Go to Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

Capello back in the England spotlight

Fabio Capello’s less than spectacular start to life as England coach has been forgotten of late, as the back pages have been dominated by the petrodollars at Manchester City, the mysterious goings on at Newcastle, where Kevin Keegan has not been seen for three days, and Alan Curbishley’s sudden resignation as West Ham manager.

With World Cup qualifiers coming up against Andorra and Croatia Capello will soon have everyone’s attention again … and he is about to discover the size of the task that awaits him.

The Italian was given a tough time by England’s ruthless football writers after an unimpressive 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic last month, when most of the country’s eyes were focused on the battle for gold medals in Beijing.

Only a 10-0 victory against Andorra in Barcelona is likely to gain him plaudits in Sunday’s papers and should England suffer a third consecutive defeat by Croatia, the team that haunted their doomed attempt to qualify for Euro 2008, all hell will break loose.

The Italian has put his head squarely on the chopping block by choosing a squad without the country’s best striker, Michael Owen.

The four strikers he has selected, Wayne Rooney, Emile Heskey, Theo Walcott and Jermain Defoe, have managed just 24 goals between them for England. Owen has 40 on his own.

While Capello could select a bunch of park strikers to beat Andorra, not even considering Owen for the Croatia match, one that could determine the outcome of a tough but not daunting group, could come back to haunt the coach.

Sadly for England, just as the domestic game gets richer and richer, the cupboard looks increasingly bare at international level.

With Steven Gerrard injured there is a real possibility that Fulham’s Jimmy Bullard, an honest player but hardly one to set the pulse racing, could be called in to play a midfield role in Zagreb after his shock call-up.

In some ways that is a refreshing prospect.

With all the money sloshing around the Premier League, the idea that a bloke who learned the game playing non-league football in the Thames estuary can be England’s knight in shining armour restores a little faith in the beautiful game.

PHOTO: Fabio Capello attends an England training session in London Colney, August 18, 2008. REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh

Go to Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

Turkey ranked 13th in FIFA’s ranking

Turkey has climbed from 14th into 13th place in the latest world soccer ranking published by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA).

The first twenty teams in FIFA’s latest world ranking are as follows (previous position shown in brackets):
1. Spain (1) 1,557
2. Germany (3) 1,343
3. Italy (2) 1,320
4. Netherlands (5) 1,299
5. Croatia (7) 1,282
6. Brazil (4) 1,242
7. Argentina (6) 1,219
8. Czech Republic (8) 1,146
9. Portugal (9) 1,122
10. Russia (11) 1,023
11. Romania (12) 1,021
12. France (10) 1,012
13. TURKEY (14) 1,010
4. England (15) 1,003
15. Cameroon (13) 994
16. Scotland (16) 988
17. Bulgaria (17) 930
18. Greece (18) 896
19. Ghana (20) 892
20. Israel (21) 876

Go to Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

Next Page »