Unknown Soldier

The lack of a thread for this on here doesn't surprise me given the lack of national enthusiasm for England's chances. In fact I can never remember a time when English football fans were so downcast over England's chances. I've been actively following football since the 1980s and this is the first tournament that I can say, where the media hasn't overestimated our chances, even when England had poor teams in the past, there was still the media hype surrounding them. For the first time, maybe the media will actually be more realistic about the team.

So what can we expect from Roy Hodgson's team, first off I'd say he's actually a good choice, but how can he get the best out of his very mediocre team? There has been the usual rumblings over squad selection, but lets look at who has been left out, the likes of injury prone Ferdinand, gangly Crouch and Adam Johnson just one of the many average wingers that we have. I mean are these players and others left out any better than the 23 selected?

A breakdown of the team will reveal that Hart is probably the best keeper that England have had in many a year, but the back four in front of him? Can Cahill and Terry hit it off? Lampard and Gerrard playing together and how imprtant will Parker be with his injury scare? Up front Rooney is the teams best player but he's missing the first two matches.

The one plus point for England is that they can qualify from their group, the France match is vital, as France player for player are the best team in the group, the Sweden match is dstined to be a draw as it usually is and Ukraine will be an unknown quantity. If England beat either France or Ukraine and draw with Sweden they will qualify on 4 points, but I'd say the quarters is the best they can hope for.

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Sneer

Our starting eleven isn't that bad. Of course Terry and Cahill can hit it off, they're clubmates and each possesses qualities the other lacks. We have one of the world's best left-backs in the shape of Cole, and with Hart in goal, the only defensive concern is right-back. I don't like Glen Johnson.

I'd like to see Oxlade-Chamberlain given a start in the tournament itself; he's an unknown quantity for many of the teams and his youthful exuberance will give us a real attacking zest. With Ashley Young's guile and Walcott's pace (if he decides to show up in form), then we've got options going forward. Throw in Parker and one of Lampard or Gerrard (it'll be the latter) and we've got the experience to get out of the group stages. Wilshere's a miss, he's a player that can really pull the strings in the middle.

As for the strikers... Eh. I'd start with Welbeck and Defoe. Jermaine has a decent goalscoring record for us, whilst Welbeck's just the better option when placed up against Carroll.

Including Downing in the squad is ludicrous; yeah, he has a left foot - but the guy's USELESS. Take Lennon or Sturridge or ANYBODY other than him.

As for my expectations... Yeah, I'd go with the quarter finals. We aren't as good as the three favourites, but we're in amongst that group of three or four teams that could, with luck on their side, crawl into the semis. I don't see us making that big an impact with the likes of Downing and Carroll providing our attacking threat.

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Dvorak

Our performences in the Euro's has almost always been abysmal, even at the best of times, so I am not too optimistic about this one!

Although I would have taken Micah Richards, the defence looks ok.

I would have taken Adam Johnson. Ok, he hasn't played all that much, but then neither has Milner. I think A. Johnson is a good player.

I would have taken Carrick and dumped Downing to add more balance (and quality) to the squad.

With the loss of Wilshire, my main concern is the lack of creativity in the centre of midfield. If I were in charge, I would certainly play Ashley Young in the centre with Gerrard and Parker holding.

Goofle

Whilst England do have a completely average squad, they at least do one thing reasonably well - defend. Chelsea showed that a defensive team can ride their luck and win games.

I predict England will score four goals and probably lose in the first knockout rounds.

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Yac

Anyone got trolled by this bbc piece about how if you're a minority you won't come back from Euro 2012 alive ? Because that's what it is - trolling.
Take an issue, show only the most drastic pictures, show only one side, fail to show the real scope of the issue and you'll be able to turn anything into anything. Tabloid journalism at it's finest.

Unknown Soldier

The UK press is always looking for a juicy story, with the team's limitations clearly known they're looking to do some Eastern European bashing! That aside though, there is an issue with racial minorities of colour being abused at football matches in a number of Eastern European countries, its been going on for years. This though is not exclusive to Eastern Europe and also occurs here in Western Europe, the difference is though, that here in Western Europe, the government, the police and the football clubs have made it a priority to curb this kind of racism in general (some countries are better than others) In Eastern Europe there is no such effort being made, there may be some efforts being made somewhere but its seldom done.

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Yac

I'm not saying the problem isn't there - but it's scale is much, much smaller than the bbc would like everybody to think. I dare to say, actual racism in Poland (I can't speak for all of easter europe, and I won't) is a much smaller problem than in western Europe. And if someone states that tagging a wall with a slur is an indication of everybody being racist, I just have to question the logic behind it.
I've been to league matches in Poland, I've been to the national team matches - without a minimum of street smarts you might get attacked regardless of the color of your skin or ethnicity, but I hope that the vast majority of people are smart enough to know e.g. not to provoke that big, tatooed, drunk guy yelling crap at everybody. Situations that could, potentially, get you in trouble with the locals would get anyone in trouble, white, black or polka dotted.
If anything, you're more in danger of getting a ticket from the Police
Yac.

Unknown Soldier

They're not linking just the casual football hooligan with these racist attacks, but the neo-nazi thugs that single out people of ethnic minorities, they did make it clear that this type of hooligan was far more dominant in the Ukraine than it was in Poland.

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Yac

Yes, I agree they make it clear - unfortunately I don't notice this distinction among those commenting on this issue.
I have several non white friends that live in Poland, none of them has ever been targeted or had to suffer more than a random insult from a random, usually drunk, stranger.
I have to stress I don't know how this works in the Ukraine, from what I see on tv it looks like a nightmare ... but then again I can see similar things about Poland and I know they're not true. Makes one wonder.
Yac.

Unknown Soldier

Like anywhere it depends on where you live, if you live in a stable socio-economic environment then these things are not really an issue, if you live in a deprived area then you're more likely to witness these kind of crimes. The Ukraine based on what I know, is well below Poland on a socio-economic level and for that reason will probably suffer from the stuff we're talking about. Another issue concerning the Ukraine that has also been documented by the media, is the situation of the street kids in the Ukraine that live in terrible conditions.

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