England and USA negotiating May friendly

[Neko Bazu]

web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080304&content_id=141741&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp

The Football Association are close to sealing an agreement for a friendly between England and the USA at Wembley on May 28.

It is understood that talks with US soccer chiefs have reached an advanced stage and that the match is highly likely to take place.

The FA are also expected to play a friendly in the Caribbean against Trinidad and Tobago in early June.

A friendly against the USA would inevitably lead to hopes that David Beckham would play for England in order to boost interest in the match in the States.

If Beckham is not picked by England manager Fabio Capello for the friendly against France in Paris later this month then the May date would be the next opportunity for the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder to win his 100th cap.

Capello said recently that Beckham would be part of his plans if he is match fit and playing well.

The France game takes place before the start of the Major League Soccer season so Beckham will only have had pre-season matches under his belt.

The last time England played the USA was in a friendly in Chicago in May 2005.

Kieran Richardson, now at Sunderland, scored both goals for England and Clint Dempsey, currently playing for Fulham, netted for the home side.

[Teesside White]

was quite a good match that, was it really that long ago though??


its always good to put 1 over on the silly yanks

[Neko Bazu]

The yanks have improved a fair bit since that match, IMO - should be an interesting game; their international players are undoubtedly far more enthusiastic than ours have been of late. Hopefully, we'll get to see Freddy Adu play too - I must say I'm curious!

[CmonYouSpurs]

do we really want to be embarrassed

[MRMILLWALL]

cmonyouspurs said:

do we really want to be embarrassed

Why not were good at it. ;D

[Neko Bazu]

cmonyouspurs said:

do we really want to be embarrassed

In all fairness, I think this is the sort of team we need to play for now. We shouldn't just roll them over (see McClown's friendly with Jamaica), but at the same time they're hardly a minnow. Beating them shouldn't be too much to ask, but at the same time it should give the squad a little more confidence (as opposed to, "Oh well, that was expected.")

Besides which, I rather fancy they may surprise us early on, which'll hopefully kick the players into gear!

[CmonYouSpurs]

mrmillwall said:

cmonyouspurs said:

do we really want to be embarrassed

Why not were good at it. ;D

that we are ;D

[officergroyman]

cmonyouspurs said:

do we really want to be embarrassed

would it really be an embarrassment if FIFAs 11th ranked team lost to FIFAs 26th ranked team. ;D


FIFA Top 50!!

Ranking Team Pts

1 Argentina 1518
2 Brazil 1502
3 Italy 1484
4 Spain 1352
5 Germany 1281
6 Czech Republic 1244
7 France 1223
8 Portugal 1191
9 Netherlands 1179
10 Greece 1142
11 England 1133
12 Croatia 1096
13 Romania 1060
14 Ghana 990
14 Scotland 990
16 Mexico 970
17 Cameroon 967
18 Turkey 927
19 Bulgaria 919
20 Poland 903
21 Colombia 899
22 Russia 890
23 Israel 878
24 Côte d'Ivoire 877
24 Sweden 877
26 USA 852
27 Paraguay 849
28 Norway 830
29 Egypt 825
30 Uruguay 820
31 Serbia 818
32 Ukraine 805
33 Denmark 795
34 Northern Ireland 754
35 Japan 747
36 Republic of Ireland 703
37 Finland 682
38 Australia 663
39 Iran 656
40 Chile 654
41 Korea Republic 647
41 Switzerland 647
43 Senegal 636
43 Belgium 636
45 Nigeria 631
46 Mali 619
47 Guinea 611
48 Morocco 605
49 Moldova 602
50 Saudi Arabia 601
50 Honduras 601

[Neko Bazu]

I'm surprised the US are that low and Mexico that high, actually - based on recent competitions (the last 3-4 years), the US are far superior to the Mexicans. I think they've beaten them something like 10 from 12 times?

Being in CONCACAF does your global standing no favours, I suppose

[CmonYouSpurs]

officergroyman said:

cmonyouspurs said:

do we really want to be embarrassed

would it really be an embarrassment if FIFAs 11th ranked team lost to FIFAs 26th ranked team. ;D

i just meant of putting an England team out again with all those overpaid hopeless numpties

[jazzy]

we are going to have loads of friendly s now to make up lost Euro 2008 cash.

Its bad enough watching England in a real game let alone a friendly.

All I hope is that we play a young team in correct positions for as long as possible, not waste a game by having musical positions and a million subs.
or giving players a game just to give them a cap..

we need to move on fast and get a good young team sorted or just give up on international football.

[CmonYouSpurs]

jazzy said:

All I hope is that we play a young team in correct positions for as long as possible, not waste a game by having musical positions and a million subs.

we need to move on fast and get a good young team sorted or just give up on international football.

yep promote most of the U21's, give them a chance. Get rid of Gerrard,Lampard, Owen, Ferdinand,Terry, A Cole, Beckham, even Rooney is shit in an England shit. They have all had too many chances, kick them out and start anew.

[jazzy]

cmonyouspurs said:

jazzy said:

All I hope is that we play a young team in correct positions for as long as possible, not waste a game by having musical positions and a million subs.

we need to move on fast and get a good young team sorted or just give up on international football.

yep promote most of the U21's, give them a chance. Get rid of Gerrard,Lampard, Owen, Ferdinand,Terry, A Cole, Beckham, even Rooney is shit in an England shit. They have all had too many chances, kick them out and start anew.

if the next big competition is the world cup, we must look to that and how old players will be then.

id get rid of anyone over 25 tbh.

[Neko Bazu]

Can't say as I advocate dropping Owen completely Leave him out until he gets back into form, certainly, but there's no doubt whatsoever in my mind that he can still do a job for us once he's fit.

The world cup, he's certainly good for, and I wouldn't rule him out of the next Euros either, as long as he can adjust his game (could do with watching a lot of videos of how Sheringham played - wasn't the fastest, but...)

[CmonYouSpurs]

agree Jazzy.

all those players i listed still perform for their clubs but they are not international players, as they have proved over and over again

[Neko Bazu]

cmonyouspurs said:

agree Jazzy.

all those players i listed still perform for their clubs but they are not international players, as they have proved over and over again

Owen's not an international? He's our 3rd or 4th highest goalscorer of all time!

Say what you like about the way he plays, his injuries or whatever, but you can't deny the fact that he's constantly done the business for us.

[CmonYouSpurs]

neko said:

cmonyouspurs said:

agree Jazzy.

all those players i listed still perform for their clubs but they are not international players, as they have proved over and over again

Owen's not an international? He's our 3rd or 4th highest goalscorer of all time!

Say what you like about the way he plays, his injuries or whatever, but you can't deny the fact that he's constantly done the business for us.

not done it recently, and in fact he is the only one who is playing shit for is club as well

[Neko Bazu]

cmonyouspurs said:

neko said:

Owen's not an international? He's our 3rd or 4th highest goalscorer of all time!

Say what you like about the way he plays, his injuries or whatever, but you can't deny the fact that he's constantly done the business for us.

not done it recently, and in fact he is the only one who is playing shit for is club as well

He's played 8 games since coming back from that World Cup injury and scored four goals - at international level, that's hardly a shite return, is it?

Given the showers of shit the team as a whole have been producing, I'd almost go as far as to nod approvingly at that stat!

[CmonYouSpurs]

hes had his chances in the last world cups and Euros. We have won nothing Neko. Get 'em all out.

[Neko Bazu]

cmonyouspurs said:

hes had his chances in the last world cups and Euros. We have won nothing Neko. Get 'em all out.

He's hardly expected to carry the entire bloody team, is he? He was injured for the Portugal game at the last World Cup, and we were forced into penalties by a farce of a decision by Urs Meiers at Euro 04 - we should've won that game before then (and, incidentally, Owen scored in that game and scored his penalty in the shoot-outs too!)

The fact remains that he averages a goal every two games through his entire international career, and is still averaging that now. That's a record that any international would kill for - it's the same as Ronaldo (of Brazil), and is better than the likes of Roberto Baggio, Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Bobby Charlton, Thierry Henry and Christian Vieri managed at international level. He still does the business in the England shirt, so why drop our best goalscorer?

Like I said, tell him to prove his form and fitness at Newcastle, and if he's still doing the business he can keep his place, IMO. He's one of the few fuckers that looks like he gives a crap in England games.