England Qualifiers

Next Sat (28^th March) England play at Wembley against Slovakia in a friendly match. This game is obviously being played in preparation for the World cup qualifier against Ukraine the following Wednesday. I expect England to win both games . During the Slovakia match you have my full permission to fall asleep, especially during the second half. If you decide to watch the game down the pub then make sure you get pissed so that the game will pass quicker.

I think that the World cup game against Ukraine will be hard. I predict a narrow 2-1 win for England. This I feel will set England up for finishing the job in terms of qualification. Ukraine are unbeaten so far but have played one game less than England. England are five points ahead of Croatia who they of course thumped 4-1 away which will always be remembered as the match that Theo Walcott came of age. This was England’s best result since they beat Germany 5-1 away under the “Boiled Egg one“. (Sven-Goran Eriksson). Fabio Capello needs a lot of praise for this turn around in England’s fortunes. The press god love ‘em have failed to dig up any dirt on him which has left him to get on with the job in hand after the massive cock up of not qualifying for Euro 2008.

Are nearest and dearest are not the Scotland of old. Gone are the days when quality players of the likes of Dalglish, Souness, Gemmil and Hansen etc would wear a Scotland shirt. There appears to be no household names in the recent years representing Scotland. This is a shame.

Scotland play Holland away in Amsterdam on the same day that England take on Slovakia in their friendly. I’m afraid I can’t see Scotland coming away with anything from this fixture. They did really well in their last Euro Qualifying group by taking Italy to the last game and being unlucky to lose to a late goal at Hampden Park. Scotland are second in their group by five points to Holland. I can’t see them overtaking Holland for poll position come the end of fixtures. This is a big shame as I would love England to play Scotland in South Africa and of course beat them…

Poor old Wales. They have not got to a major finals since Sweden in 1958. They have come close a couple of times since then and have Scotland to blame for a couple of failures in 1978 & 1986 when dubious penalties knocked them out. They are at home to Finland on the 28^th and this is a game they have to win as they are behind Germany (four points) and Russia (goal difference). I don’t think they will win or qualify as they are in too difficult a group. This is constantly their problem. The good news is that they have players coming through. England found this out when they played Wales in an U21 two Legs playoff which England only just won 5-4 on aggregate. Stuart Pearce said that he thought this was the strongest they have been for some time at this level. There is hope..

Both Irelands should be one team but that is another story. The Republic (known as Eire hereafter) are neck and neck with Italy for qualifying. All the other teams are well out of the running even at this stage of group games. Eire are at home to Bulgaria on the 28^th. They should win this game. The crunch games for Eire are home and away against Italy. The away game is on the following Wednesday after the Bulgaria game. This will go a long way to shaping their chances of reaching South Africa. Italy are due for their luck to run out & so I am going to predict a draw and Eire winning the return in Dublin thus qualifying.

Northern Ireland are in a much more competitive group . They are on seven points in second place only two points behind leaders Slovakia who England play of course in their friendly next sat. The problem is that there are three other teams behind them only on goal difference. They play one of these teams (Poland) at home next Saturday. I think this game will be a draw which in itself is not a bad result. I’m afraid that this group will be too hard for Northern Ireland. Maybe they could merge with their southern Rivals, no. oh well only an idea..

Doug Martin

March 2009