photo by philosophyfootball

• by Hiten Mandalia, writing from West London

England produced a fantastic defensive display against Spain, to win 1-0 at Wembley over the World and European champions. That result has given Capello, the rest of the squad and the nation a new sense of belief and confidence, but what did we learn?

England just about got a couple of shots on target, they couldn’t manage to get six or seven successive passes together and they had to get at least ten players behind the ball, especially in the second half. It goes to show how reliant England were on set pieces against the World champions.

However, England didn’t have their strongest team playing at Wembley, yet they managed to produce a 1-0 victory. That goes to show that England has a strong in-depth squad, and that any player who played last night, can be called upon whenever needed.

In the absence of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, Phil Jagielka and Lescott both had great games. Their defending was quality, especially as they had to face the likes of Villa, Iniesta, Xavi, Torres and Silva. Johnson had a solid game at right back, but it’s beyond me why Capello didn’t choose Richards in the squad. I believe he should have started last night as he’s been playing really well for Man City.

Phil Jones had a fantastic game in midfield. He had lots of space in the centre of midfield on a few occasions, but he chose the wrong pass more often than he did the right pass. We did learn that Jones can play well in that midfield position, despite his strongest position being in central defence. Frank Lampard had a good game, scoring the winner, and that’s proved the doubters wrong. Just when people were thinking if Lampard’s international career was over, he goes out, puts in a performance and scores the winner against Spain. That’s a strong enough message to send out to the doubters.

Darren Bent was struggling alone up front, but I don’t blame him. It was difficult for the supply to reach him, as England kept losing the ball every time they regained it. I don’t think he’s good enough to be in the England squad for Euro 2012, but last night was just an experiment. However, Danny Welbeck looked promising and is certainly a hot prospect for the future.

So what did we learn?

England can play ugly and get a win. They didn’t play their strongest starting eleven, yet were still victorious. It just goes to show England’s depth in their squad.

The players that were missing from yesterday were Terry, Richards, Ferdinand, Smalling, Cleverly, Gerrard, Wilshere, Young, Rooney and Defoe. Add them to the list that played against Spain and I believe England can go far in Euro 2012.

In order for them to do that, they need to stick together, play for each other and all the egos have to go.

Since the world cup, Spain have lost 4-0 against Argentina, they’ve lost against Portugal and Italy. It’s possible for them to be beaten, but at the end of the day, the only statistic that counts is the score line. Spain can dominate possession, have more shot, less tackles etc, but if the score line is against them, than all the hard work goes undone.

Capello has a bunch of players who are all willing to play for England, but he has to find out his main starting eleven before Euro 2012. The upcoming friendlies are important, so it’s important he gives everyone a chance to prove their worth. I hope he doesn’t pick players on reputation, but on merit. He needs to choose players who deserve to be there instead of picking players just because of names.

It may have only been a friendly, but this defeat may have hurt Spain, but nonetheless, it has boosted England’s confidence and morale.

The reality is that they can beat the best if they put their mind to it, but how will they cope in major tournaments and under immense pressure?

[photo by Philosophy Football]

• by Adam Huntington, writing from Dundee, Scotland

One week on from the astounding Champions League final, Wembley was full again, this time for England's qualifying match against Switzerland. Unable to get it on Sky or ESPN, I was forced to sit through ITV's coverage. Their entire pre-match build up focussed on the England players, their ability, and of course, the obligatory mention of how they ply their trade in the best league in the world. There was a time when the Premier League was the best league around, but that has long since passed us by. This was proved in England's latest game.

The game started well for the English, controlling it competently for the first 20 minutes or so, then they just seemed to fade away. Ashley Cole was subbed thirty minutes in after picking up a suspected ankle injury, which possibly unsettled England, because almost immediately, the Swiss scored. Barnetta's freekick, dangerously whipped into the box, left Ferdinand jumping under the ball and Hart with no chance. No more than three minutes later Barnetta had scored again, from another free kick. From a wide left position, he smashed the ball through a ludicrously flimsy wall and into the net at Hart's near post. 2-0 down, England had a figurative mountain to climb. Fortunately for them, Jack Wilshere was playing, the only Englishman with some drive and determination in the first half. On the thirty seventh minute, Wilshere went on a powerful run that ended in a penalty, with his Arsenal teammate Djourou bringing him down unfairly. Lampard stepped up and duly dispatched, but score remained 2-1 at half time. Ashley Young came on after the break and instantaneously brightened up their attacking play, scoring in all of six minutes. With the score now level, most would have thought that the English would go on and take the game to the Swiss. It just never happened. They were decidedly lackluster up front, unable to capitalise on a nightmarish performance from Johann Djourou and the unfit Senderos, who had only played three games this season. They found themselves fruitlessly chasing the ball for long periods, with Inler and Dzemaili doing a very efficient job of keeping the ball from them, specifically in the closing stages. The English can blame the result on a combination of fatigue and bad luck if they want, but the sole reason England didn't win is because they're not as good as their fans are led to believe.

The English media play an unmistakably large part in masking how average their team is, creating a cloud of confidence which envelopes and deludes the fans. Andy Townsend, who played for Ireland, but clearly wants to be English, is a particularly bad offender. His refusal to acknowledge that the Swiss were actually the better team was infuriating on Saturday. Adrian Chiles managed to patronise the visitors seven seconds after the final whistle blew, saying; "They were actually not bad them boys." with an embarrassed grin on his face. The problem is that this happens with almost every England game, newspapers and pundits give fans this overconfidence in their players, and then when they inevitably don't play to expectation, uproar ensues. Poor excuses are dug up; "the players were tired", "it's the manager's fault for playing conservatively at home". Most fans seem to swallow this down, and suddenly scapegoat Capello's in crisis, when in reality Capello's doing the best he can with the players available. It's not Capello's fault that Darren Bent missed an absolute sitter which would have won the game, thus preventing the excuses and accusations from the papers. There's a small number of fans who get defensive, and claim that their opponents were actually a good team. Unfortunately this doesn't apply to Switzerland, who are, like England, an average team. Scott Parker, the man who captained the Premier League's worst team, started, possibly just because of how much praise he'd received from the media. Parker's a good player and was inspired for West Ham this season, but he's simply not good enough to play internationally. With the exception of Wilshere and Young, the entire England team are nowhere near good enough to mount a serious challenge in the coming European Championships. Ferdinand is really showing his age, Terry's movement is getting poor, and Glen Johnson is a full back who can't defend. Lampard looks firmly past his best and Milner only played half the season for his club.

England's next game is a friendly against the Dutch in August. By then, the disappointment from this game will have died out and the papers will call that game a chance to prove to the world just how good England are, by taking on, and hopefully beating, last years World Cup finalists. Based on Saturdays performance, they'll be lucky to score. I'd like to see the national papers adopt a much more honest opinion, starting with the admission that England are just not that good a side. This is undeniably true when it comes to tournament football, with the exception of Italia '90 and England '96, two tournaments that resulted in semi final finishes. Concentration deserts them and they fizzle out with a whimper. The media usually blame their exit on a refereeing decision (latest World Cup) or one player (Beckham at France '98) when in truth, their exit is simply down to their average ability coupled with their inability to play in tournaments. Nothing else. Being Scottish, I've not exactly got a high horse to sit on, but at least the Scottish media isn't ignorant to the fact that we're not as good as a lot of other countries, and that's the reason we don't win games. It's high time the English media adopted the same attitude, because the national team's latest performances have enforced just how average they really are, leaving fans frustrated and melancholily nostalgic.

[photo by michael kjaer]

• by Tim Conlon, writing from Cooper City, FL

What if I told you that one of the top 2 greatest soccer players of all times was born with no legs? For centuries many kinfolk have been trying to figure exactly what the famous Nostradamus was talking about when he said, “A man that no one will give a chance, will become soccer royalty.” Is it possible that we are witnessing this man in our lifetime? I’ll leave that decision to you.

On a cold winter day in 1979, December 14th to be exact, in the English town of Chester a very special baby was born. I say special because this baby was born with no legs, and this baby's name was Michael Owen. In his early life Michael's parents believed that he was just going to be another disabled child that they would have to assist for their entire lives. Then one day while Michael's parents were having a party, he crawled out the front door to the local carpenter and said, “Sir, can you please make me some legs." This may seem normal to some people but Michael was only 4 months old. From that moment on Michael began playing the sport that he called soccer.

Many scholars debate on who officially coined the term soccer,  but all of us gurus know Michael came up with it in 1982 when he said what is now England's most famous line, “Soccer the game of men, the game of greatness, the game of me”. Most would expect Michael to have had trouble in his beginning stages of learning how to use his legs but no, from the second that carpenter made Michael that wooden pair of legs he started running and playing soccer, and he played damn good. Michael was so good that at one point while playing school yard soccer the principal would actually punish him if he didn’t play against the other kids with just one leg. This was something players around the world would come to wish had never happened because now Michael could beat all his competition with just one leg attached.

I could bore you with how Michael won the 1993 NCAA Heisman Trophy even though he never played a down of football in his life, or how he was the first person to celebrate by using a fist pump, seen used by Tiger Woods or even his days at Liverpool, but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to tell you about his time at Newcastle United where I first started covering him. I realized there was something very special about this man when using Newcastle in FIFA on Xbox. Michael could out-run every person on the pitch and sometimes if you knew the right buttons to push in the game he would actually take one of his legs off and swing it at the ball as if he were playing croquet. This game and this alone was the reason Michael Owen is now a part of Manchester United. Before he left Newcastle the people were so grateful for his time that his number 10 was retired throughout the entire city, I mean literally even in children’s school.

Follow Tim on Twitter @TConlon2

• by Sabrina Blanks, writing from Charlotte, NC

The British. The French. A grouping of abassadors of many countries in a foreign land. An element of heated revolt in one faction. Self-destructive tactics abound. A hundred days' reform. All leading up to China declaring war on Western Imperialist powers. That's right, the Boxer Rebellion of the early 20th century. But, sure, it could have been the 2010 World Cup. And in a similar fashion to the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, some high-ranking leaders of the rebellion were punished, luckily, with being fired or game bans and not execution.

The upcoming friendly, Wednesday, November 17th at Wembley, is more notable for the most part for players who are not included in each squad. According to recent form, France looks to be the stronger side, having won the last 3 of their 4 international qualifiers since the World Cup. England, also plagued with an injury-ridden squad, have won 2 and drawn 1 of their 3 post-World Cup international qualifiers.

Thank you England for giving us another opportunity to control our own destiny when we play Algeria next wednesday. Take a look at the rest of the scenarios that could see any one of the Group C teams moving on to the next round via [ESPN Soccernet.com]

Posted by ESPN Stats & Information

USA advances with:
(a) Win versus Algeria on Wednesday
(b) Tie and Slovenia-England tie IF England does not outscore USA by 2+ goals
(c) Tie and England loss

Slovenia advances with:
(a) Win or tie versus England
(b) Loss AND USA tie vs Algeria
(c) Loss and Algeria win as long as Algeria doesn't make up tiebreakers*

England advances with:
(a) Win versus Slovenia
(b) Tie AND USA-Algeria tie AND outscore USA by 3 goals

Algeria advances with:
(a) Win versus USA AND Slovenia win/tie versus England
(b) Win versus USA AND Slovenia loss versus England AND makes up tiebreakers on Slovenia 

(Only way both USA and England advance is if both win.)

USA - England game re-created using Legos. This is great! Hahaha

Video Caption:
The U.S. MNT give some feedback on their play against England following their first game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.