Thetownend.com

Does anyone really believe we can win the world cup, in all honesty?  We still look tactically destitute to me.

yep we're going to win it.

I think we're gonna win it twice

We could, yeah. Not sure we will, but i am certain that it's a possibility

yes.

Its possible, just not particulally likley.

Greece won the euros, as did Denmark and we have a better side than both of them at the respective times.

The french won it in '98 with Stephane Guivarch up front (admittidly the rest of their side was pretty handy though)

 No....and I haven't since 1970.

 Having said that we could have won it in 90....despite having a bit of a rag tag side, and the players making up the tactics for Boby Robson on the hoof.

 So I suppose its possible we could win it this time.....just I don't believe it.

It's possible, i think weve got the best possible squad at the moment to win it.

Of course I believe we can win it, we've one of the strongest squads going, unfortunately we have a manager that isn't really cut out for international management, so we'll just have to wait and see.

If we play to our strengths and use the impact subs we have to good effect then I see no reason why the players shouldn't come home with their heads held high and that's really the point isn't it.  

If Brazil dominate the WC and win it then fair play, but if we come close with the players having given their all then I'll be happy.

  I think Sven's tenure will in retrospect be seen as something of a golden era....

  If you think he's not cut out for it, wait for MacClaren.  :?

I know, I'm not looking forward to to MacClaren really, he wasn't the right man for the job, but then again no-one was - no-one that wanted it at least.

we've not got a hope. i can see us going out in the group stages in typically inept fashion.

we've got some great players but they're unable to play as a unit, greece won euro 2004 because they were a solid side. we're not.

we're a rag-tag bunch of misfits, average players and the odd world-class player with greater expectations than perhaps any other nation.

despite all that, i'd say we'd stand a chance if rooney wasn't injured.

anyone could its gonna come down to a lot of luck and refereeing decisions .. which rarely go our way

Germany were fucking terrible last time out but made the final.  Anything can happen, especially as the top 8 countries tend to be much of a muchness.  it usually comes down to nerve (and that is usually through penalties).  I say get them on the training field night and day taking penalties until it's second nature, even if you can't recreate the pressure.

We always seem to look off the pace in friendlies, remember us looking terrible pre 2002 finals.  But the game against Argentina shows we can raise the level of play and history shows we have only gone out on penalties or against the Winners! in the past few attempts

2002 - Brazil beat us - we were exhausted after the first half and simply couldn't walk, let alone run, Brazil go on to win
1998 - Argies - pens despite Campbell winning the game
1994 - decided not to go
1990 - Germany on pens after we think it's Rugby
1986 - Argies 2-1 with a clear handball, Argies go on to win
1982 - never lost a game in a wierd league system

It's not like we get knocked out with ease at the WC.

So even if we think our performances are abject, it only takes a few moments of inspiration in a tournament to get the edge and a bit of luck with the draw like Germany last time might help!

 When you say we, didn't think the Republic qualified.

I'm sure were going out in the knock-out stages to Ze Germans.

That said I can see the horrific possibility of being edged out by Paraguay on GD in the group stage being a reality as well.  They've made the 2nd round in the last two world cups and have a talented side that will be eager to make a bright start to the competition.

Sweden as well are always up for a bit of Sven beating as is always the worry of a repeat of the Northern Ireland sham against T&T who will be looking to prove a point against England.

I want us to win, but i just cant see it happening. Sven is struggling on plan A so fuck knows about plan B. Weve got a lot of untried players in the squad ,but there again it might work in our favour .We should win the group, T&T were pretty average against the sheep shaggers,Sweden will bore the rest of the group to death , and Paraguay shouldnt hold any great danger. You watch this come back and haunt me ! :wink:

Depends who "we" are.  We have no chance.

I do think that England have a decent chance, but there are better sides going.

i think we've got the best squad of players going to the world cup, but as someone else has said, they don't seem to work well as a team. sven is too scared to drop certain players as well so even if we're chasing a game he will stick with the likes of beckham & owen and take off players like joe cole, who has proved in the last few games he's ace & keeps creating right up to the final minute (crouch's goal last night & the 90th minute winner against uruguay)

if we're going to do well in this tournament sven needs to get them playing in the 'premiership' way (eg fast & direct) rather than sitting back on 1-0 leads, which has seen us fail in the past. english teams are ace aginst foreign opposition when they go at them like that, they don't know how to deal with it coz they are used to the slower continental style.

on paper, we're good enough to win it. but i reckon we'll go out in the quarter-finals, either after extra time or on penalties

i follow whichever country is doing best

depends if Rooney plays....

 Having dual nationality is ace...I shall doubtless play my Brazilian card at some stage..and stick Reginaldo on the back of my Brazil shirt.

Abso-fecking-lutely agree with this fella

I'd have to agree also.....

I personally think we can, the media seems to overhype the team and then over criticise when they don't make the grade.

We should play brave, look to attack teams and try not to get stuck in a passive game. The problem with playing friendlies against teams like Hungary is that they often sit players behind the ball, looking to get any result against a team with an overhyped reputation. This simply wouldn't happen with most teams in the world cup. England themselves do not play full throttle in friendlies anyway.

However, we're only going to win by being brave and attacking teams (even if it's Brazil). If we play too passivly (like Italy and ourselves under Sven) often do then we'll get caught out.

NO!

The fact that Eriksson STILL doesn't know what his best X1 is does not give me confidence.Lampard and Gerrard together still doesn't work one game before the tournament,he doesn't fancy Carrick so the holding role is still unsorted -both Carragher and Hargreaves looked lost last night.Owen-our one PROVEN world class player looked desperately out of sorts last night and if Robinson gets injured we're knackered.So,no.

if we play beckham in the roaming position like roony would of done, and stick lennon on the left. if we do this then we will win. also  stick crouch up front instead of owen, as he is our most prolific striker at the moment.

Man for man, player for player the ONLY team better than us on PAPER is Brazil. We will easily passy the group the stages with 3 wins out of 3 in my opinion. Whilst we are more than a match for anybody else, we are at a physcological disadvantage when it comes to penalties or having goals disallowed because thats what we fear the most.

How is Owen our one proven world class player? :?

We're certainly capable of winning the world cup, only Brazil have as many world class players and talent right through the team but chances are we won't, probably going out on penalties or something.

If Rooney was fully fit we'd definitely win it though.

our most consistent player recently has been joe cole.where would you suggest we play him if we did that then

Can't see it as we seem unable to control games against good teams, even Hungary gave us a bit of a lesson in passing the first half last night.  Doesn't really matter how good the individuals are if we can't conduct the pace.

He's the only one who's done the business in 4 tournaments