:foc:

LOL anyone watch the buildup to the Ireland game? The commentators are in the stadium, went silent for the Irish anthem, then talked about the team lineups over the Israeli anthem :|

Steve Claridge is still the worst colour commentator alive, sorry RBF/Wengerland

dafgsdgfds 1-0 to the Irish after 4'

Clinton 'to be sure' Morrison

Ogen's probably drunk

Claridge makes me laugh in a bad way. He's already tried twice to make the other guy sound stupid.

Yeah Carson :(

2 GOALS IN 2 MINUTES BY KAPSIS AND VRYZAS GIVE HELLAS A 1-2 HALF TIME LEAD

YES FUCKING YES

Other progress scores:

Turkey (boooooo) 2-0 Albania (34 mins gone)

Romania 0-1 Holland (34 gone)

Israel 0-1 Ireland (44 gone)

Poland 6-0 Azerbaijan (77 gone)

Croatia 2-0 Iceland (77 gone)

Good going Cole et al today pretty competent performance from all involved - Cole being the best.

Lets just not go proclaiming Cole as the answer to the left hand problem until he plays against some higher class opposition though. I can see the press jumping all over him when all he did in essence was to get the better of a right back who hasn't played a game for Soton this season.

GOAAAAAAALLLLLLL

GIANNAKOPOULOS MAKES IT 1-3

WOOOOOOOOOOO

Poland 8 - 0
Azerbaijan R
T Frankowski 12
A Hadzhiev o.g. 16
K Kosowski 40
T Frankowski 62
T Frankowski 66
J Krzynowek 72
M Saganowski 85
M Saganowski 89

Fucking hell

Czech Republic won :D

Azerbaijan :(.

Fulltime - Group 8

Bulgaria 0-3 Sweden

Croatia 3-0 Iceland

20 more minutes for Greece to hold on for a VERY important away win.

OLEEEEEEEEEEEE

FULLTIME 1-3 WIN TO GREECE

This takes us to 11 points still 3 points behind leaders Ukraine with both countries having played 6 games each

If tonight's other progress results stay the same Turkey and Denmark will both win and go to 9 points each, 2 behind Hellas...so a very tight group, making the Albanian game on Wednesday just as important as tonight's game

Equaliser for Israel on 89'

O'Brien jumped out of the way, the tit.

Damn. Still, not a bad point for Ireland by any stretch, just gutting to concede in the last minute after Israel didn't offer much.

Got beat 2-0 by Italy but a way better performance than I have seen in a while (only win against Holland and draw against Spain compare in the Vogts era). Played well, better organisation and unlucky to lose to a wicked second Pirlo free kick. First one was shite though and Rab Douglas should be dropped indefinately now.

Miller :(

Yeah he should have scored when he had the one on one (I was screaming for the lob). He usually was out numbered 3 to 1 on long balls so not really his fault. He didn't do too bad. Never had much other options though.

Not a good point at all really we're supposed to battle it out with France and the Swiss for the spots teams like Isreal should be on the lower tier and be 6 points for the 3 of us. Isreal were fucking wank anyway we just didn't go for the kill. Good goal by them but they did nothing all match.

england 2 - asurba fogin team nil thats my predict 4 next game, was it jus me or did it seem weird seeing away team sing home teams national antham??

i dont think joe cole played that good tonight, he scored one an made one apart from that his other 88 mins wernt tha good, id say average IMO. gerrad, i didnt even know he was playing until he got took off!

next game i say drop beckham, put joe cole on natural right side & give downing a chance on left, what have they got to lose?

credit to rooney 4 stayin on his feet 4 third goao!

i went for piss jus after half time, england hit post then scored in that time the twats!!

austrilia are like boro, schawzer has no challangers so if he fucks up has noone to replace him.
i so love boro to resign mark crossley as he is worthy of a startin place defo over knob we have in goal & would say deserves a run for fulham!

Doink, are you sure you watched the game. Did you see the way Joey Cole held up the ball, the balls he played, the balls he played. I swear you were watching a different game.
I agree with dropping Beckham for the next game, Sven said that his back was playing up again. So U'm not sure if he'lll start.

My fav chant of the game '"Are you Scotland in disguise" :lol:

France drew 0-0 though so you didn't concede ground, and considering they, Israel and the Swiss all have to play you at home I'd say you're favourites to qualify right now.

We're in a good position but it could have been better Isreal are weak you need 6 points off them teams.

Come on Mr Up, you need to recognise the talent of Joey Cole. He is both footed, and the way he can cut inside when near the edge of the area and do some damage is great, think about his part in Lampard's goal for Chelsea Vs Barcelona, now think of Cole doing that on his stronger footed. I cannot wait.

Fucking hell, Doink's right about Schwarzer too :'(.

Stupid Bosnich :mad:

Schwarzer = MASSIVE FUCKING WORRY :-\

I forgot to mention, LMMFAO when one of the Iraq subs came on with his name on the back of his shirt "ALI. G". The entire pub just exploded with the "A-LI G! A-LI G! A-LI G!" chant for a few minutes :rofl:

i stand by what i said about joe cole. IMO while wright-phillips is out id try him on the right!

i wont say he hasnt got talent coz he has & he is starting to cut out the show boating which is improving his whole game

I swear I just do not understand why so many English people want rid of David Beckham. Okay he didn't have good Euro 2004 but neither did a few others. Shawn Wright-Phillips is a good player but he ain't in Beckham's league.

Hey I said he was man of match :roll:

But to me he did nothing that I wouldn't really expect of him now - he's been great for you this season. Dominating Chris Baird when Northern Island have nothing going the other way (and he had Ashley Cole behind him anyway) is nothing to shout from the rooftops about. Its akin to people jizzing over Keiron Dyer on his international debut when we beat Leichenstein 6-0. Dyer played well but it was against some farmer or something. Yeah Cole did well but is he gonna do well against the likes of Cafu, Thuram and all the better right backs in the world? I'm not convinced YET.

IMO he isnt as good as he was & i think this is because he wants to play more central so is neglecting the right hand side a bit. not in a way where hes not doing his job but i remember when he was playing for man u hed be out on the wing sending in inch perfect crosses for the forwards to get onto. he doesnt seem to do that as much now.

Im not saying wright-phillips is going to do that either but i think on current form he deserves a go when hes fit again.

i remember a few years back when beckham fell out with fergie & was put on the bench for i think a champions league game. Man u were losing & he put beckham on and he responded to being dropped by going out to prove a point that he is stil worthy of a game by scoring 2 and making a third.

to show him hes not the only option we've got may make him raise his game that bit more!

Joe Cole both footed? He seemed to be favouring his right to me. He had a good game, Kieron Dyer looked lively as well. I'd consider playing him for at least a half on Wednesday.

Alright you explained it better there, I do agree with you, he was always going to look the goods Vs Barcelona as he was up against peices of shit like Van Bronckhort and then Sylvinho :rofl:, but yeah he does need prove himself against other teams, and he hopefully will do some this season :cool:

And Mackem, goals like Portmouth away and Barcelona at home show his talent with his left foot, he does skill with both feet too.

Here's hoping hes the goods though at this level though Dazz :y: Definitely the front runner for the left wing position.

And although I do think Cole favours his right as Mackem said I would also say he's way more able with his left foot than most right footed players and really can produce the goods with it on occasion as Dazz said.

WOOOOOOOO FOR SITTING ON THE FENCE :cool:

Beckham's been in decline as a player since that free kick against Greece. And that's about the last worthwhile thing he did for England.

He needs to be given a kick up the ass and shown that *nobody* is an automatic pick, maybe then he'll wake up and play as he used to.

He is still miles better than SWP.

But he's not playing like it

He's not miles better anyway, the only attribute he has over SWP is passing anyway, and Lampard and Gerrard aren't exactly bad at that.

Beckham's no longer a natural winger so have him compete for a place in the centre. In the short time Dyer was on you could see the benefit of having a winger running on the outside through him setting up Lampard and Owen, both of whom should have scored really.