The Official *England's Journey to Brazil 2014* Thread

[Duty281]

First topic message reminder :

"There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England."
Sir Winston Churchill

Yes, it's nearly that time. Time for England to begin their Qualifying Campaign for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Those promising, encouraging, and brave displays witnessed during Euro 2012 will have to be built on as the long road to Brazil starts. Along the way, they will play in London, Podgorica, Kiev, Warsaw, Chisinau and Serravale. The aim is simply to top the group and make it to Brazil with a minimum of fuss.

"Ask any man what nationality he would prefer to be, and ninety nine out of a hundred will tell you that they would prefer to be Englishmen."
Cecil John Rhodes

England have been drawn in Group H with Montengro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova and San Marino. I don't even need to be insanely optimistic this time round. England will top that group. Moldova and San Marino will be the whipping boys. Montengro, Ukraine and Poland will only prove a challenge in their own ground. Wembley will be deemed a fortress.

"Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first place in the lottery of life."
Cecil John Rhodes

The fixture list for those Qualifiers is the following:

Moldova v England (7th September 2012)
England v Ukraine (11th September 2012)
England v San Marino (12th October 2012)
Poland v England (16th October 2012)
San Marino v England (22nd March 2013)
Montenegro v England (26th March 2013)
England v Moldova (6th September 2013)
Ukraine v England (10th September 2013)
England v Montenegro (11th October 2013)
England v Poland (15th October 2013)

Lovely, simple, finishing with a Wembley double-header. I predict we'll get 28 out of 30 points, perhaps getting a draw in either Warsaw or Kiev.

"Follow your spirit; and upon this charge,
Cry "God for Harry! England and Saint George"."
William Shakespeare

Of course, while England's fate will be defined by those 10 games, the ever important International Friendly will hone the team against more quality opposition. The friendlies currently scheduled are:

Italy v England (15th August 2012)
Sweden v England (14th November 2012)
England v Scotland (14th August 2013)

So let's get the England train rolling, starting on Wednesday, build up momentum before landing in Brazil in nearly 2 years time. Come on England!

“The English are so filled with their own greatness and have won so many big victories that they have come to believe they cannot lose. In battle they are the most confident nation in the world."
Unknown

[NickisBHAFC]

England 0-0 Montenegro.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Tom Cleverley is out of these two games.

ENGLAND REJOICES!!!  

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Sky Sports News ‏@SkySportsNews
Sky Sources England team: Hart; Walker, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines; Gerrard, Lampard; Townsend, Rooney, Welbeck; Sturridge #SSN

[guildfordbat]

England 0-0 Montenegro.  

Surely that's to be expected 4 hours before kick off!  

[mystiroakey]

3-0 england
2-1 for wales and NI
germany 1-0 Ireland 0

[guildfordbat]

Sky Sports News ‏@SkySportsNews
Sky Sources England team: Hart; Walker, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines; Gerrard, Lampard; Townsend, Rooney, Welbeck; Sturridge #SSN

Thanks, Olly. Townsend might be a bit of a surprise but I reckon that's probably the best eleven we can go with tonight.

[mystiroakey]

Its not just a really attacking team, its also a Form team!

every player, bar the goalie is in form!

[Duty281]

"I was irritated in Montenegro with Savicevic, who suggested to me 'English players don't care about the shirt, they just care about themselves, where we Montenegrins throw ourselves into everything'. A complete load of rubbish. But as we played badly in the second half and they got a 1-1 I had to swallow it.

But he might change his opinion after watching our players swarm all over them on Friday."

Roy Hodgson sticks it to Montenegro....after England run out 4-1 winners.

[Duty281]

Ashley Cole is out of the Poland game.

To be honest, I don't think he would have played anyway.

[Guest]

dont get why Sterling has been called up...no point.

[Duty281]

Roy Hodgson mentions that Andros Townsend suffered a "knock" against Montenegro when asked about team selection for tomorrow. Might be a bit of worry if he's out, with one of Milner and Sterling likely to replace him.

[mystiroakey]

What!!

No way dude! Not the new English Messiah!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

That would explain why Sterling was called up from the U21's

[mystiroakey]

sterling is in good enough form to trouble poland. Fingers crossed milner only plays as the defensive cover option if he plays. We certainly dont need two.

Same setup as last time please Hodgson!

[Duty281]

The lovely British media are all circling like vultures it seems. If England fail tomorrow, they have their headline. It appears the media are focusing on England v Poland, the 73 vintage, rather than the 89 vintage - where England got the result required to make the 1990 World Cup. But hey, the media love to focus on failure, especially if it's English failure.

Not that a draw will be enough tomorrow. England need to win to get through to the World Cup, the grandest stage of all sport (at least until 2022, where it'll be a running joke). I think I'd be right in saying that England will not be top seeds for the tournament should they get there, so may have a fellow footballing superpower alongside them in the groups. Not that that would be a bad thing; imagine Brazil-England as the first game to start the World Cup! And England usually do better at a tournament if a big country is named alongside them in the group.

A draw or loss tomorrow will see England put in the play-offs, as long as they finish as one of the 8 best second-placed teams. The play-offs will be seeded again. The chance of playing Portugal or France over two legs for a place in the World Cup finals remains - imagine the tension!

I don't think that'll be needed though. 3-1 England tomorrow I reckon.

There may be a fear factor around Wembley tomorrow, though.

And that's just Roy Keane's beard...

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Week 1 of international break we had the media hounding Wilshere for saying "Only English should play for England"

Week 2 of international break we have the the media moaning that they'll be too many Poles in Wembley tomorrow.

I hate the media

[Duty281]

Over a million Polish live in this country (thank you Tony Blair), so there's bound to be quite a few going to Wem-ber-lee to see their team play. Similar to Scotland and Ireland, I suppose.

[Guest]

Who cares how many Polish fans are there. If anything, their going to me more lively, loud & passionate towards their team playing, than the majority of bores I see in the England sections most games at Wembley. What difference is it going to make on the pitch? It's getting embarrassing if we or the media are suggesting that we should be worried now because it will give Poland a lift how many there are. 500, 18,000 or flying over a million from Warsaw....we should be beating this garbage side with ease. If we don't then we don't deserve to be in Brazil & Roy should be removed.

[mystiroakey]

the media, fans and posters can never strike a balance can they. Its we should beat this rubbish side , or we are scared of poland..

But john you are right. although they are not rubbish. If we cannot beat them we dont deserve to be anywhere near brazil. Yes there will be the odd team on a level with poland(the usa, aus- whatever comes out of those lame fifa regions!!)- but we need to allways target a quarter at the least- we are not there to make up the numbers, we are there to make up the top 8 numbers though and give some half decent team 120 mins of agony followed by ecstasy after beating us on pens!


We know our Role- If you dont get us to them quarters hodgson - you have failed and we must beat poland - with relative ease!

[Duty281]

Who cares how many Polish fans are there. If anything, their going to me more lively, loud & passionate towards their team playing, than the majority of bores I see in the England sections most games at Wembley. What difference is it going to make on the pitch? It's getting embarrassing if we or the media are suggesting that we should be worried now because it will give Poland a lift how many there are. 500, 18,000 or flying over a million from Warsaw....we should be beating this garbage side with ease. If we don't then we don't deserve to be in Brazil & Roy should be removed.

Wouldn't say Poland are a rubbish side...like Mysti says, on a par perhaps with the USA and Australia.

A team England should, and will, beat, but certainly not rubbish.

Of course, I can see what you're doing. Anything less than a 9/10 performance from England tomorrow and you'll be calling England "rubbish" and "awful" and remarking on how lucky we will be to be in Brazil. And if we do churn out an amazing performance, Poland will be "rubbish" and it's expected of England.

Get behind the team John. We're only 8 games from glory...

[Guest]

Yeah, Poland aren't rubbish but their certainly not very good, hence their position in the group....behind Montenegro. The Dortmund trio aside, it's woeful. Lewandowski is a 1 in 3 man @ International level, we should not be scared.

I'm fully behind England, just that it's getting to the point where we need to be beating these sides with ease & in style. The WC is just next summer, we can't be 'just happy' with qualifying and winning 1-0. This side needs to start performing & gelling in preparation for Brazil.

[Riggs]

I'm confident that England will beat Poland.

England have done well and are starting to weld nicely together.
With the youth on display I doubt we'll face much high level of competition from Poland.

Sure they'll give it a go but I see an England win.
Psychologically it's ours for the taking, there's more reason to go forth without the cockiness.
Our determination will make it harder for the polish so they'll have to pull off some sort of magic trick to beat England.

I look forward to an exciting match.

[mystiroakey]

England haven't lost* a competitive match since that infamous game v Germany in 2010.. So yes it would be a minor miracle if they beat us!!(that isn't our concern though as a draw will be a virtual loss as our draw with italy was also a loss!)

We have had 9 draws for only 12 wins in 21 games!! 

Tomorrow is not a day for a draw.. Start with aggression again as we did V Monte and we should be ok!

[nasisillmatic]

This whole England haven't lost a competitive game since Germany in 2010 is crap. We lost to Italy. Whether that was during the 90 mins or on pens, we still lost.

Pens are part of the game. You just can't go around saying they don't really count as defeat because they do.

[Duty281]

England 0-0 Italy.

Looks like a draw to me.

[nasisillmatic]

Which team went to the semis and which team went home.

When we drew 3-3 with Milan in 2005 was the cup shared?

[mystiroakey]

nallistic lets put it another way then if you cant work out how we rank games(and i put a star on it just so you could understand the point made and mentioned it was a loss in brackets!!!!- yet you still bring it up!!). Which tells me you are only here to argue over discuss!!


If england draw today is it a win or a draw?

By your logic it has to be a loss- right?

[mystiroakey]

or another one.

Say belgium lose tonight . Is that really a loss!!!

No of course it isn't- its dead rubber to them as they have qualified- IT may be ranked as a competitive game , but it isn't a COMPETITIVE GAME.

If they win it will go down as a competitive win, if they lose it will go down as a competitive loss. But the truth its just a glorified friendly!

[nasisillmatic]

But England didn't lose a qualifier or dead rubber against Italy, they lost a quarter final game.

Of course if Belgium lose it wouldn't really matter as they have already qualified, but trying to say that if you get beat on pens in a quarter final doesn't count is wrong.

I'm not just hear to argue, I'm simply pointing out fact from fiction.

[Stella]

Penalties are part of the same game, so our 0-0 with Italy is really a loss, as we did lose the match, just not in 90 mins.

[mystiroakey]

But England didn't lose a qualifier or dead rubber against Italy, they lost a quarter final game.

Of course if Belgium lose it wouldn't really matter as they have already qualified, but trying to say that if you get beat on pens in a quarter final doesn't count is wrong.

I'm not just hear to argue, I'm simply pointing out fact from fiction.

What fact were you trying to make that wasn't  covered initially?

[Duty281]

England didn't lose a football game, they lost a penalty shoot-out after drawing a football game. Football is a team game, penalty shoot-outs are individual contests.

I don't say England's record at Euro 96 was: Won 3, drew 1, lost 1.

I say it was won 2 and drew 3.

[mystiroakey]

Also you have to apply logic to the scenario. There is no extra time or pens in qualification..Basing previous competitive form should clearly only be based on 90 mins(nothing else) because its relative to what is coming up.


Which as i stated doesn't look great- but if they win in 90 mins as I stated it would be a miracle(based on form)

[mystiroakey]

btw I have backed wales at 17/1 against belgium!!!

Fingers crossed they dont care and ramsey has a blinder!!

COME ON YOU WALES

[nasisillmatic]

That England haven't lost a competitive game since 2010.

People are obsessed with losses these days. It isn't the end of the world to admit to losing a game.

I'd rather win one and lose one, than draw two.

[Stella]

England didn't lose a football game, they lost a penalty shoot-out after drawing a football game. Football is a team game, penalty shoot-outs are individual contests.

I don't say England's record at Euro 96 was: Won 3, drew 1, lost 1.

I say it was won 2 and drew 3.

We still lost the match duty.

[mystiroakey]

Which i had already mentioned so again what fact did you bring up that wasn't already?

Please understand the point made and apply logic.. This isn't some ladi dah "oh look no one can beat england" BS..

It was a point about form in 90mins and that a draw is an effective loss today.. ANd that we have had a lot of draws within the last 21 games, but it would be a miracle if Poland beat us-

[Scrumpy]

17/1 I like the sound of that.

[Stella]

17-1........that could be the score  

[nasisillmatic]

I apologize Mystiroakey I didn't read the last part of your original post were you stated the loss.

I know see your point and agree.

[mystiroakey]

No probs dude! ta

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

How is Zaha starting ahead of Redmond for the U21's.

Redderz is on flames

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Ok he's just set up the first one after good work down the wing. I'll be quiet

[mystiroakey]

because he is awesome olly!!

It sounds like he is going to be loaned to newcastle in the window!!

[mystiroakey]

I can't believe we almost bought ince but then wouldn't pay 8m!!

[mystiroakey]

Berihano is quality- what a finish and great assist by zaha

[Dolphin Ziggler]

RAVEL!

[mystiroakey]

Our lads are loving it out there- Great goal by reveal.. 

Lithuania are making us look like brazil!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

RAVEL!

He's certainly on #flames

[mystiroakey]

ANd thats 5!

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