England's USA Tour.

[Doc Sark]

Who saw the England Z-team beat the USA on Saturday. I thought the whole thing was a bit of a farce to be honest. Neither team had their best team out, and it's just an excuse for Sven to hand out the formally revered and treasured England caps, like jelly beans, to anyone who happens to be English, and fit at the time. It's a joke.

Dawson, Carrick, James, Brown, Knight and Young, have done absolutely nothing to warrant winning a cap for their country. Ridiculous. Why did they not wait another week for the first team to become available and do it properly. No wonder the American general public can't get into football, if we send a bunch of B-list players to go and represent one of the worlds most famous footballing nations.

I'd like to think the team we play against Colombia tomorrow will be of a higher standard than the one on Saturday. Still, it does highlight the gulf in class between USA and England in terms of strength in depth. I think their best 11 would have hammered the 11 we put out on Saturday.

[gokufusionss1]

I concur.

[NM]

Yes the game on Saturday was abit of a joke. Most of the players who were on that pitch don't have a chance of getting into the World Cup squad. The only player who had a decent game imo was Joe Cole other than that we were terrible. The only reason we won was because of the USA's poor finishing.

And when will Sven learn that Wes Brown can't play in centeral defence to save this life?

[Doc Sark]

I doubt he ever will. He reminds me of Gerard Houllier. At first he was great and everyone loved him, then he developed an undiagnosable mental illness that I am calling tacticallyineptaphelia, that compels him to play perfectly good players at incorrect positions to fulfil some form of sick sexual pleasure. God only knows how he utilises poor Nancy in the bedroom.... :rolleyes2

[Cuchulainn]

It was more important than you think, imo. He was blooding the youth. I thought it was a decent game tbh. Richardson impressed in the first half. It was experimental and you should never underestimate how important experimental games can be. Against Colombia should be a full strength team though, judge England on that performance. England DO need a new first choice keeper though, and fast.

[Psychotic]

I doubt he ever will. He reminds me of Gerard Houllier. At first he was great and everyone loved him, then he developed an undiagnosable mental illness that I am calling tacticallyineptaphelia, that compels him to play perfectly good players at incorrect positions to fulfil some form of sick sexual pleasure. God only knows how he utilises poor Nancy in the bedroom.... :rolleyes2

...:laugh: "sick sexual pleasure" I can just see Gerard Houllier yelling "OUI! I'll play Carragher at right back, oh-hoh-hoh-hoh! OUI! OUUUUUUUUI!"

Thanks for corrupting my mind, Doc.

Anyway, the good ol' Daily Mail had a feature relating to this, commenting on how some unlikely good England players were found from Summer games featuring the B-team, like Paul Scholes and Gary Neville. However, it did also point out the likes of Warren Barton and John Scales...

[Doc Sark]

I agree that Richardson impressed, but realistically, his first team opportunities are likely to be limited next season for Man Utd and his chances of actually making the World Cup squad are slim. The same can be said for nearly every player who played on Saturday. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for testing the youth, but two teams ranked in the FIFA top 10 should be putting on a display with their best elevens available. England caps mean nothing now, because nationality seems to be the only prerequisite for winning one.

I read that feature Psy. I hate the Daily Mail football coverage, Matt Lawton is an imbecile, but that article raised a good point. However, my arguement would be that those games were billed as England B fixtures, so in fairness, you knew what you were getting, these were supposedly England A fixtures, and the team should have been assembled accordingly.

[Kirobaito]

The sad part is that it was a joke to the English, because they were practically playing a JV squad. We, however, were not. Landon Donovan played, Eddie Johnson played, Claudio Reyna played, Brian McBride played, Eddie Pope played. I would have liked to have seen Tim Howard in goal instead of Kasey Keller, because chances are that's who will be in goal for the World Cup.

I'm a bit embarassed to be frank. I hope that Bruce Arena has these guys ready to play come Germany.

[tomamar04]

I thought it was FIFA law that all players can not pull out of internationals unless they have a very good reason.

[Doc Sark]

Well as some of the reasons included "My team just won trophy X, I'll be too hungover celebrating to play" it would appear that if that rule exists, it is one that is bent a lot.

I was disappointed not to see DaMarcus Beasley play in the USA game. I thought he was impressive at the World Cup. Was he injured?

[tomamar04]

Dunno, they may have rested him, as they have got World Cup qualification games coming up, and the USA's qualification to the world cup is not a probable as England's is.

[Doc Sark]

???? I'd say it's blatantly more probable. A couple of bad results for us means looking at the playoffs. The USA need only finish in the top 3 of a six team group to qualify. Seeing as the groups only major threats come from Costa Rica and Mexico, with Guatemala, Panama and Trinidad all far inferior, I would suggest that the USA qualifying for the World Cup on a regular basis is as certain as the sun rising in the morning, especially this year.

I accept that they have Costa Rica next, who are a decent side, and perhaps wanted to rest players but I don't think their chances of qualifying have ever come into question.

[tomamar04]

But we've only got N.Ireland, Wales away, and Austria and Poland at home. And the way England and Poland are dominating the group, whoever finishes second will get automatic qualification because the best runners up go through.

USA are 2nd in their group, with Mexico, and Costa Rica doing well also.

[Doc Sark]

Basically, if the USA don't qualify the world cup, I will start supporting Man Utd and convert to Buddhism. The chances of them not qualifying are so slim, Victoria Beckham is jealous of them.

[Kirobaito]

Yeah, I don't see any way that the USA won't qualify.

I suppose a possible reason that Beasley didn't play was that the MLS season is still going on. I don't know why he wouldn't play if McBride, Donovan, Johnson, etc. (those who play for MLS teams) played, but I suppose it's a possible reason. If he is injured, I certainly don't know about it.