World Cup 06

[kev316]

Some shock results!

Albania 2 - 1 Greece

Austria 2 - 2 England

Azerbaijan 1 - 1 Wales

Belgium 1 - 1 Lithuania

Croatia 3 - 0 Hungary

Denmark 1 - 1 Ukraine

Estonia 4 - 0 Luxembourg

Finland 3 - 0 Andorra

France 0 - 0 Israel

Iceland 1 - 3 Bulgaria

Italy 2 - 1 Norway

Latvia 0 - 2 Portugal

Malta 0 - 7 Sweden

N Ireland 0 - 3 Poland

Romania 2 - 1 Macedonia

Russia 1 - 1 Slovakia

San Marino 0 - 3 Serbia & Montenegro

Slovenia 3 - 0 Moldova

Switzerland 6 - 0 Faroe Islands

Turkey 1 - 1 Georgia

Rep of Ireland 3 - 0 Cyprus

[Dreamer7]

Poor England, they lost their 2-0 lead. =/

[muffins]

I thought Wales should have beaten Azerbaijan. I know they've improved since we last played them about 18 months ago but still... :/ However, we did not deserve to win that match, we were not good at all so in a way I'm relieved we got a point. I really hope we beat Northern Ireland on Wednesday or I'll start to get really worried. I know we haven't been in a World Cup since 1958 but I still have hope at the start of every campaign hehe! It seems goalkeeping errors cost both England and Wales. James made a bit of an error and should have hung on to the ball and Paul Jones should not be beaten from however many yards out it was(36 I think). Everyone said he should have saved it. It was well struck but he probably should have had it covered. However, goalkeepers aren't machines and they make mistakes, it's going to happen. Strikers make mistakes but it's usually less noticeable and not talked about as much. Strikers will miss when they should have scored and goalkeepers, defenders will miss-time tackles occasionally and goalkeepers will let goals in when they're not expected to. Robert Earnshaw nearly saved the day for Wales in the dying second when he had a chance to score near the goal from a low diving header. It was a decent save from the keeper but looking back Earnshaw should have headed it more to the side rather than straight ahead. Hindsight's a great thing and it's easy for me to be an armchair critic but that's my opinion. I know I am not very good at football lol. I still love little Earnie and maybe if he'd come on a bit earlier rather than with 3 minutes to go he may have had another chance and taken it. Ah well, what's done is done and it can't be changed. I just hope for a better performance and result on Wednesday.

Oh, one good thing. Well done to the Republic of Ireland for beating Cyprus and to Scotland for drawing with Spain 1-1 until the stadium lights went out in the 59th minute lol!

[db44]

And just furthering the belief that Greece was given Euro '04?

Meanwhile, the U.S. bowls over El Savador. :D

[muffins]

What do you mean, Greece given Euro 2004?

[Dreamer7]

England are weak against set-pieces, hopefully they can win today! People should stop blaming so much on Beckham, it is not a one man team. I thought Ireland has always been good but somehow they failed to qualify for the previous WC and Euro. Northern Ireland is a whole different story. ;)

[muffins]

Argh! My nerves are totally shot. Wales don't half put you through it. We should have won again 9 men. We had 10 men. I'm a bit tired so I'll talk about it some other time but Wales drew 2-2 with Northern Ireland after we were 2-0 down. Here are all the other international results.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/results/default.stm

[Dreamer7]

What happened during the Wales v Northern match to have 3 players sent off? I have to go watch the highlights later. Pretty tight group.

[muffins]

Well it all started off with the match being played in a pretty hostile environment. I thought the atmosphere would be similar to the friendly against Scotland earlier this year but I was wrong. For starters, some Welsh fans booed while Northern Ireland were singing their national anthem. I wondered why they were doing this, it's totally stupid and wrong. My dad informed me it probably wasn't anything against Northern Ireland just the anthem they were singing(God Save The Queen)which is what England also use as their anthem. It still doesn't excuse it though. I don't think Northern Ireland like having God Save The Queen as their anthem either but they can't help it! I hate the booing of anthems under any circumstances anyway. So, they booed our anthem too but as there were more of us than them we managed to drown them out by singing. I can't really remember what order it happened in and if there were 2 sendings off before the first goal was scored or if it was the other way around. Anyway, Robbie Savage is badly tackled by a Northern Ireland player and the whole Welsh crowds starts shouting etc. and things hot up. It all happened a bit quick and I didn't really see it from where I was sitting but after seeing it on the TV later it looked like Robbie Savage turned around, grabbed the bloke who'd tackled him's shirt. He then turned round and went for Savage and Savage went backwards. Then I see Irish and Welsh shirts all running in. Credit to Mark Hughes' number 2, Mark Bowen, who came over to the touchline, called Bellamy over and told him to calm down. Then we saw an Irish player exit the field and then Savage. I think Robbie as a bit unlucky, maybe a yellow card for yanking the bloke's shirt after he'd tackled him but not a sending off. Perhaps the referee thought he would retaliate. So then the Welsh crowd is a bit dazed. To make matters worse James Collins slips and Northern Ireland score again. The two goals were all down my end and both times the scorers came over to the Welsh crowd and teased us a bit. I just ignored it but one stupid person threw a bottle on the pitch the first time and then I noticed Northern Ireland had a flare in their section of the crowd and I'm sure those are banned. After the second goal the scorer jumped and kicked over the corner flag on purpose. He got booked for that and then a few seconds later was sent off. I thought it was for arguing with the ref but apparently he made a rude gesture to the crowd. I didn't see it and afterwards Lawrie Sanchez(N.Ireland manager)said that's his goal celebration and it was directed at his family. I think he said it was just a fist pump. So now we are all dazed and confused! So, now we're 2-0 down but we're still singing. I'm amazed I didn't lose my voice, I sang and screamed so much. Then I started hearing people by us chanting 'Earnie, Earnie Earnie.' He was still on the bench. I joined in and so did everyone else until the whole stadium(minus the Irish)were singing it. Two minutes later guess who comes on? Earnie. The whole crowd cheers very loudly and seems to lift everyone. He makes an imminent impact although us being one man up helped. We just went for it from then until the end of the first half. John Hartson got us a goal back and we all feel like we're back in it. In the second half we have a couple of chances but Northern Ireland also scared us a few times. We then begin to be outsung by the amazing Northern Ireland fans. It has to be said, they were good. I started singing but no-one joined in. :( Then Earnie gets us level. Tjis goal was again down by my end and he comes over, does his trademark summersault celebration, and indicates for us to make more noise. At this point we're all going absolutely crazy and thinking we can win it. We almost did when Bellamy put a good ball into the box and all James Collins had to do was square it to Earnie and he would have had an easy tap in but Collins arrived a second too late and the ball went into the side netting. We had a couple of other chances and Northern Ireland even had a decent shout for a penalty after Danny Gabbidon fouled someone in the box. Gabbidon is usually such a class, cool-headed player but he had a bit of a nightmare last night. The match ends 2-2 and we all feel a bit confused. Glad we at least got a draw because it wasn't looking good an hour earlier but disappointed we couldn't beat 9 men. I've seen a few fans' comments and some said that Mark Hughes should go to Blackburn and that we've had enough of his decisions. To me, that's stupid. Mark Hughes has done more for Welsh football than most people. I know it's frustrating we only have 2 points from 2 games we wanted to get 6 points from but I don't go blaming Mark Hughes and asking him to go. It's easy to be an arm chair critic. Mark Hughes is now favourite to be the new Blackburn manager. :( If he must go I hope he can do the Wales job on a part-time basis like he used to. Oh, and Robbie Savage is seriously considering his international career. :( Ah well, it's only football. Worse things could happen. I saw pictures from the Beslan school siege yesterday and it definitely put things into perspective.

[kev316]

I watched the Wales & N. Ireland game. The England game was a bit boring

[muffins]

Wales may not have played greatly but there's one thing that the Wales game was not and that's boring. I should know, it felt like I'd been on a rollercoaster for an hour and a half afterwards!

[Dreamer7]

The next match between England and Wales will be interesting. Also what is the big fuss over the players not wanting to talk? Let the football do the talking. ;)

[Dreamer7]

Some scores from yesterday qualifiers

England 2-0 Wales - The first half was boring. Great goal by Beckham.
France 0-0 Ireland
Slovenia 1-0 Italy - Shocker.
Marcedonia 2-2 Holland - Another shocker.
Liechtenstein 2-2 Portugal - Yet another shocker.

[muffins]

I'd rather not talk about yesterday hehe. So, let's go with the positives! Well done to the nations who pulled off shocks and well done to the Republic of Ireland on getting a draw with France!

[db44]

The U.S. can do itself a great service with a win today. Beating Panama would make them untouchable, and in the grand scheme of football politics, it would mean they wouldn't have to call back the Yanks playing in Europe (or mess up the MLS Cup game).

[muffins]

So, John Toshack is Wales' new manager. I'm not surprised but when his name was first mentioned I wasn't totally thrilled. When he was a pundit for BBC Wales his comments about the football matches seemed a bit confused to me, plus I don't think some of the players liked him for some of his criticisms. However, he does have a decent managerial record, managing Swansea where he got them from the fourth division to the first, Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and some other European clubs. He's our manager now so I'm behind him and the team 100%. Good luck to them, cos we're gonna need it considering our poor position in the group!

[Dreamer7]

Did not see the England vs. Spain friendly but Ronney got some bad headlines for his poor sportsmanship.

[cyane]

Some scores from yesterday qualifiers

England 2-0 Wales - The first half was boring. Great goal by Beckham.
France 0-0 Ireland
Slovenia 1-0 Italy - Shocker.
Marcedonia 2-2 Holland - Another shocker.
Liechtenstein 2-2 Portugal - Yet another shocker.

Why shocker on the Portugal draw ? they are really not playing that much imo and i really think they wont give too much trouble at 2006 cup...unless Figo starts to play like he used to and Deco starts to play like Ronaldinho (Barcelona) lol :p he wishes :p

Now about France was Henry playing ?? well i really hope on this 2006 Cup they at least score a gol after getting eliminated :p lol

All Italy players are young right ? they still have a year to prepare...they need to qualify though..

Holland is not the same anymore...