Going to Germany
(The following post is by special request by someone who actually reads this blog. Other than me, of course. But then again I don’t really read my own blog, I just vent and type.)
So England are going to the World Cup in Germany next year after all. Well, they were already going since last Saturday, but last night they made qualification sweeter by beating Poland to top their group and hopefully improve their seeding when the tournament groups and fixtures are drawn. Better seeding means you get to avoid the big teams for as long as possible in the early stages, so barring any major disasters, they should be able to get through to the quarter-finals.
Well, whoopee. That gives me some added incentive to watch the World Cup, because frankly if England aren’t in it, my interest level decreases by about 85 percent and the only purpose I have of keeping tabs on things is just to know what’s what. Besides, it’s the most televised and publicised sports event in the world, so I’m bound to find out about what happens one way or another. So even if I try to tune out everything after England get dumped out, it’ll still be all over the papers and TV.
Hopefully England will be good enough so I won’t have to endure that possibility. Wishful thinking, I know. But if Greece proved anything during Euro 2004, it’s that even mediocre teams can grab the gold. And as crappy as England play on occasion, they’re not as mediocre as Greece, who didn’t even qualify for Germany. In fact, it’s a widely-held opinion that this group of players is the best England have had in ages, so it’s quite frustrating that they don’t do better against crappier teams. Apparently their performance improves when the heat is on, so there ought to be no more Northern Ireland-type foul-ups.
At the very least, Sven Goran Eriksson should have found out for sure what his best formation is (4-4-2, Beckham on the right, Gerrard behind Lampard in the middle), and hopefully he’ll spend the upcoming months and friendlies to figure out who the rest of his players will be. The first team seems to be settled on, so all that needs to be sorted out is the squad players. The constant inclusion of Jermaine Jenas has been puzzling. I still don’t know what the hell it is he does, be it for club or country, other than make sure there are 11 players of his team on the pitch. Bring on Danny Murphy - he might not actually get a game, but if he does I’m sure he’ll contribute way more than Useless Jenas. Anyway, whoever is in the squad come June, I’ll be watching with avid interest. Until they get eliminated, of course.
