International Football - Page 2

How many 'international caps' does everybody have? Saw this asked on another forum site. Just the four for me, sadly.

Scotland 2-0 Austria (Gallacher x2) Celtic Park 2/4/97
Scotland 2-0 Moldova (Dailly, McFadden) Hampden Park 4/6/05
Scotland 1-1 Italy (Miller) Hampden Park 3/9/05
Scotland 1-3 Switzerland (Miller) Hampden Park 1/3/06

quote Will

N.Ireland game is on Sky Sports for all the other (2) N.Irish folk. Incase you didn't know.

good to be part of such a select group

dont think im going to get to see it... heading over the liverpool on saturday.. be sure to check it out after tho

Two for me, and I don't intend to gain another one on English soil for a very long time.

I have only been to one, it was Scotland 1-1 Finland at Easter Road when i was about 9. Been to quite a few international rugby matches tho...

Ok, let us look at our team. Sven, a manager who walked the group stages every time and has a brilliant career as club manager, got us to the last 8 every time yet was condemned as failure rather then a level of consistency with a bunch of overrated players. We have no great keeper to choose from, our defence is having a bad patch (3 of our 4 first choice are off form), our midfield has been so toothless that the manager has had to recall David Beckham to add some threat to the team and our strike force, we only have one scorer who is injured too often to be counted on to fire us all the way. Till this year, thank you Pearce for the brilliant job you did, we had a very poor record in youth cups over the last ten years, maybe just maybe, we are not that good?

Now let us have a look at the group, Andorra is easy enough but we only managed to score down the centre in our home win when they had a player down. Maybe we should kick Israel to pieces in the hope we can rectify that trick since we are not good enough to score against Andorra down the centre unless that happens? Though to be fair, England did battle through and win the away game with goals down the centre. Estonia can be formidable on their but thanks to Beckham, we brushed them aside, again little down the centre.

Then it gets tricky. Macedonia have good passers, will work hard and have record of getting upsets but then losing to the smaller teams so why this match was viewed as easy (unless we are better then Holland), with the element of hindsight, was foolish. We scrapped a somewhat fortunate 1-0 win away and then got held at home though we probably played better in that match then the win.

Russia, large country, decent league, brilliant manager, they will be fighting to go into Euro 2008, we would be foolish to underestimate them. Israel failed to qualify for the world cup after narrowly falling behind France and Switzerland, both who did themselves proud there, they have a respected keeper, a strong defence marshalled by a Chelsea cb, a Liverpool playmaker and promising strikers. Yes we dominated against them but failed to carve upon the 11 men they put behind the ball with out first choice midfield, if they do that again then we should get a point, though with our defence that isn't guaranteed, but will we get 3?

Then there is Croatia, a side that has never lost at home, not once so we were expected to beat them, after all a team with a good manager, strong defence, nearly always at the world cup, and who has never been beaten at home is such a winnable game. Now getting outplayed the way we did was shocking but hey, we are not that good a team.

We are not a big team, we have got to the final once and the semi's twice, we have failed to qualify as recently as 1994, we were inept in 2000. So why, when shorn of Lampard and Beckham is it not worrying if Gerrard doesn't play? Our options are Carrick and the solid Barry if Gerrard doesn't play. Does hardly going to set Israel quaking in their boots, Carrick has a great range of passing I'll give him that but can he use it to be a threat? I don't think so, not at the moment anyway.

Sorry, needed to get that off my chest.


This message was edited by Magic Hat on Sep 06 2007.

Australia play Argentina on Tuesday night, I think. Should be a good game, especially for Australia to test themselves against one of the worlds best again.

Northern Ireland vs. Latvia on Saturday and I cannot wait. It's the best chance we've had in ages to qualify for a major tournament - a real chance this time, not just an outside one - and rest assured I'll be doing my best to get to the Euros should we qualify. Gotta support the Norn Iron lads if they get in.

I'd say we should beat Latvia about 2-1, both Healy goals I'd say. It's gonna be tough and it's gonna be scrappy, but I think we can pull it off. Iceland will be similar although of course there's going to be that 0-3 on the lads minds when they're playing - hopefully we can compensate for that with a brilliant display away to Iceland. If we win these next two matches then I'd say we're well on our way to qualifying.

quote Audacity

How many 'international caps' does everybody have? Saw this asked on another forum site. Just the four for me, sadly.

Ive been to quite a few, went quite a bit to the old Wembley when i was younger would have to check the programmes to see which ones exactly, then since thats closed ive been too Old Trafford x3 (Leichtenstein, N.Ireland, Austria), City Of Manchester (Iceland), Anfield (Uruguay), New Wembley x2 (Brazil, Germany).

Im going on Saturday & Wednesday, plsu ive got tickets booked for the Estonia game and ill also be going to the Croatia home game.

Would love to get out for the Euro's next year, ill defo be looking into it.