englandtilidie

All the football writers and commentators have predicted a victory at the Euros 2012 for Germany, Spain, Holland, for France or for Italy. Not one of the experts, not a single journalist on a national newspaper has come out and stated the obvious – England can win the tournament.

Yesterday Stuart Downing told the press that they do not fear France. Why should they ? France are not Brasil or Argentina. And then Joe Hart stated that as professional footballers they are in the tournament to get results and win. Then Rooney talking to Alan Shearer seems calmly confident about winning “there’s no reason why not.”

The writers for the national press are always looking for the negative, for the downside – the scandal and the bad news, the reason for defeat. Those who really know their football know that “there’s no reason why not”, that we have as many talented players as any other country, that we are in it to win it and that there is no reason to fear France.

The tournament starts today, the games start coming thick and fast and England wait until Monday to play. It is wet and windy in London but the outlook for the weekend is better. Now England are at the Euros, our finest professional footballers are representing their country, and the great game begins.

You heard it here, there is no reason why not, there is no reason to doubt that
England are winning the Euros in 2012, that football will be coming home.

Prepare to celebrate.

Come on England – Winning the Euros in 2012

Cahill Out.

England centre-back Gary Cahill will not be going to the Euros.

Cahill broke his jaw playing against Belgium.

Hodgson has called up Martin Kelly aged 22 who has made just over a total of 40 appearances forLiverpoolover 2 seasons .  Well why not ?

Englandhave a core functionality and shape in the squad and good players can slot in. Knowing the way a tournament can rip a team up with suspensions and injuries there any member of the squad may find themselves called onto the pitch.  This of course includes Kelly as well as 19 year old Butland the 3^rd keeper.

England will fly out hoping that some young players can come to the fore and grab some of the English glory on offer.  Welbeck, Ashley Young, Carroll, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott have a platform.  With Rooney and Gerrard pulling the strings it can go well.

The planners at UEFA have sent England so far out East it is barely reachable for England supporters.  They have added in the vindictive suspension of Rooney which means he will not be available until the last group game when he will be way off match fit. They will be picking interesting officials for us. There seems to a run of injuries.

All good signs really.

The whole footballing world will be watching the Euros and they will have the privilege of seeing the professional footballers from England represent this country with their skill, speed and athleticism.

We watch them every week, they are plenty good enough.

Come On England, Winning the Euros in 2012.

A relaxed and friendly Wembley welcomed a talented Belgium team and ten thousand of their magnificent supporters. After 36 minutes Ashley Young put Danny Welbeck through for a classy chipped finish and England played out the rest of the game for an effective 1-0 win. Hodgson said he was pleased with the “defensive shape”.

It was not an entertaining display. Parker and Gerrard both worked hard in the midfield defensive hub and Cahill and Terry and then Lescott looked solid. Rooney got almost 30 minutes and looked like he needed it. Oxlade-Chamberlain got some international experience. It was all worthy and dull.

Winning a friendly at Wembley means nothing but losing, or drawing a game like this would have dented confidence. A job well done sees England now preparing for their game against France with competence, if nothing else, in place.

The Premiership is an international league drawing the players in the world to top 20 English football clubs. The England players play against the best in the world every week. The uber talent of the big Spanish, Italian and German have a lot of soft games.
Hodgson has loads of options with players who have all made the grade in the toughest league of all.

If England can get points on the board early in the group stages, if they can get their noses ahead against France their position will strengthen immeasurably. If England can show real quality up front there are no worries.

The German press are happily enjoying the apparent struggles of the England team. From here it looks like something is taking shape. Building from the back there is an emerging platform for all the young talent to shine going forward.

It will be great to see how this lot perform when the heat is on and when the intensity of the tournament comes alive. Parker is in the habit of conceding free kicks in his own half and a an injured keeper and one sent off would leave the England back four in front if a 19 year old between the sticks. Losing an injury prone Steven Gerrard at any point would be tough.

But its looking good.

Come On England – Winning the Euros in 2012.

A thigh strain means that Frank Lampard will not play for England in the Euros.

It was Lampard who “equalised” to make it 2-2 forEngland against Germany in the 2010 World Cup.  When that goal was disallowed for being only 2 metres over the line he then smashed a free kick against the bar. Inevitably England will miss him.

When Germany broke with speed and power there were no young legs in midfield capable of doing the hard fast yards. Barry, who is also out, was one spectator as the Germans swarmed forward and around the stationary John Terry.  Jordan Henderson is being called up and perhaps the vitality of youth will be an asset to the 30 plus year old engines of Parker and Gerrard.

Perhaps also there will be a clarity of direction without the seniority of Lampard confusing the issues and perhaps we will see Phil Jones in midfield as soon as Parker is injured or suspended.  The excellent Welbeck is still not fit.

More England flags are appearing everyday and the first game againstFranceis only just over a week away.  Every game is a tough game and one bad result will heap the pressure on the new England manager and his squad with the disaster of an early exit looming.

A cold rational eye could take a look at the job in hand and say there should be nothing to fear in Englands group.  But football is not like that, Uefa are always keen to get rid of the English, the Ukraine will be playing in an inferno of home support, and Swedens professionals know our every strength and weakness.  A short while ago France were World and European Champions.

This is a strong powerful England team. After the first ninety minutes things will look different.

Come OnEngland.  Winning the Euros in 2012.

Londoners lie around the city parks and green spaces under a scorching late May sun. Outside the city the countryside is full of bursting green hedgerows and now lush woodlands. Cricketers adorn village pitches and lanes are suddenly full of horseboxes and horse trials. The white sails of yachts speck our coasts.

In Oslo, Norway, the national team England, are playing Norway. After nine minutes Carroll flicks the ball to Ashley Young who shapes to pass to Gerrard but instead ducks inside the defender and puts the ball inside the far post.

One nil to England and that is all it took to come away with a useful victory and a mishap avoided. Probably it could have been better but the test period is ramped up with a game at a sold out Wembley against a talented Belgium in a weeks time. Nine days later they play France in the Ukraine.

There is something in the air about this Euro 2012 football championship. There is something about having an Englishman in charge and a scouser as Captain and somehow a strange balance around it all.

They might be pushing the Olympics down the publics throats, they might be hyping this years Royal celebration but soon the country will only be flying flags for football, the game we love, the game that is played by every community in the nation.

There is nothing else that brings us all together, in England or across the world.

Football the beautiful game.

Come On England – Winning the Euros 2012.

England followers will get a first sight of Andy Carroll leading the line when the team take on Norway in Oslo. In Norway they tradiotionally play the game with a robust directness and enjoy victories over England with relish. It should be a good game and already England fans will be gathering in the streets of Oslo. There will be drinking and merriment.

Every year the people of Norway send a Christmas tree to England, for Trafalgar Square, as token of the comradeship between two peoples who fought fascism in Europe, As footballers from England plan for the Euros 2012 the Foreign Office suggest black and asian people from this country should act with caution when visiting the Ukraine. As Hodgson said – it is very “sad”.

In England football has educated society about racism and progressed. Nothing is perfect but the FA and footballing bodies have tried to meet the challenge. The primitive scenes of racist baiting in the Bernebau and other national stadiums has seen Blatter and the pathetic mob at UEFA do nothing.

England are playing their group games at the furthest point east in the Ukraine, the greatest distance possible to travel for any fans. Rooney is banned and now the appalling Blatter has opened his gob again to call Chelsea’s victory over Bayern a “tragedy” – because they won – on penalties. The bias is clear.

So what ? It is a long hard road but it is only football and not the battles that spilled the acres of blood in a war against the creed that one nation, one man, is any better than another. But in another way it is the same.

When England play football all the young men out there are all ours. It is all one nation under the sun and something that we have fought for, something more precious than any trophy, the thing that won us the war against fascism and keeps us defeating racism. It is our total victory. It is what we are, and what we call our football clubs. United.

Come On, England – winning the Euros in 2012 .

The first heat of summer has hit London and a trip through the suburbs finds the first flag of St George draped across a bungalow roof. In a petrol station the first England car paraphernalia has shown its tatty head.

The players were in Manchester for their first training session and on Saturday the pre -tournament friendlies start with an expedition to Norway. Hodgson dutifully mutters something about looking at some other players. The easy thing to do would be to win the game convincingly.

There is another week of the phoney war before a sold out Wembley sends off the team with a fixture against Belgium. Eight days later the action starts with the game against France.

Slowly football fans across the country will be aligning their schedules, making plans for the England games, meeting up with friends and family and arguing over selection and tactics. It is still weeks away but the beast is beginning to stir. The passion is alive and stirring.

There is nothing like following England, nothing to compare with being an England fan and nothing greater than the pursuit of the first tournament victory since 1966.

Goalkeepers – Joe Hart, Robert Green, John Ruddy.

Defenders – Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, Joleon Lescott, John Terry.

Midfielders – Gareth Barry, Stewart Downing, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young.

Strikers – Andy Carroll, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck.

Standby – Jack Butland, Phil Jagielka, Jordan Henderson, Adam Johnson, Daniel Sturridge

Saturday 26th May 2012 19.45 Norway vs England, Oslo, Norway.
Saturday 2nd June 2012 1945 England vs Belgium, Wembley,

Euros 2012

Monday 11th June England vs France. Donetsk.

Friday 15th June England vs Sweden, Kiev.

Tuesday 19th June England vs Ukraine. Donetsk.

Winning the Euros in 2012 – Come On, England

When Muller finally fluked a goal against Chelsea after 83 minutes the stage was set for a tableau of German triumphalism – the mortal dread of Mollers Prussian strut at Wembley in 1996 was in  the air. Then Didier Drogba, the finest African footballer to bejewel the English league, rammed home a header of exquisite power and precision to bulge the back of the Munich net and set up the finale.

In the 1966 we thanked a Russian linesman and in Munich  it was Dutchman Arjen Robben who melted in the pressure cooker and fired a poor penalty in extra time. Cech was there, and was there again, for a goalkeeping performance of technical perfection in the shoot out.

Cech touched 3 out of the 5 penalties, saved one, and forced Schweinsteiger wide onto the post to give Chelsea their chance for glory. Drogba sent the Bayern keeper sprawling left as the ball went right – and a new name from London, England was on the trophy.

The deed was done and another English club had anointed European football with the privilege of watching the players from this Premier league beat all of Europes best. The great clubs of Spain, Italy and Germany all lost to the Blues from west London.  The spirit from the battle of Old Trafford in 1970 , of Real Madrid in Athens in 1971 was there in the determination and resistance and pride of a team of professional players all drawn to the home nation of football.

Lampard showed a rare leadership before the game, his spoken memory of defeat, focusing on the desire for victory, to above all win.  Him and Ashley Cole didn’t flinch from their penalty destiny – all lessons for the international campaign.

There was no need for Terry to overdo the celebration and it was predictable that Hodgson would find something to say and that the media would find a stupid story –this time their obsession was/is with whether Di Matteo gets work. It seems that the senior players at Chelsea know whats what, hence Ryan  “do  a job” Bertrand getting the starting place he deserved.

England have more winners on board now, a small dedicated squad – with no transfer window – and a manager who won’t upset the newspapers.  There are many difficulties ahead, but they are also club champions of Europe.

Where now the doom-mongers and defeatists ?

Winning the Euros in 2012 – COME ON, England.