Just seen O'Neill's Rep of Ireland squad - is the bloke stuck in the past? Kevin Doyle, Andy Reid, Sean St Ledger, Paul Green - but no McShane, Quinniesta or Meyler?
Ribery is nowhere near Messi or Ronaldo in terms of best player imo. England game reminded me of Barnsley in April. The early goal really ****ed England. A few disappointing defensive performances, particularly that second goal, but those further up the pitch were just chased and harried out of the game. Need more from people like Rooney in games like that. I don't like writing anyone off early but Rodriguez seemed a bit pointless all game. Townsend is looking more and more like a vital England player. France are hilarious underperformers.
He also has 8 goals in 4 champions league games this season, and managed 42 goals from the wing for United in 2008 http://messivsronaldo.net/ this site presents the stats well
I can't believe I'm saying this because I hate the diving, winking twat, but that's unfair on Ronaldo. I believe Messi is a better player than him - but I still recognise that if Ronaldo had spent the past four years at Barcelona and Messi at Real, Ronaldo would have won more trophies than Messi. As great as Messi is - he's also had a better team around him.
It's not really a surprise it favours Messi, it was made by his brother who tweeted that and a picture of Messi sat with a load of the trophies and awards he's won.
Maybe you're right, they seem to have a team full of 'big name' players but who achieve nothing consistently. Considering the hysteria and scandal that it's perceived as when the England team get perform pretty much average on a pretty much consistent basis, you have to wonder how the country would cope if we failed as badly as France do on such a regular basis.
While i broadly agree, as its the English press who spread so much **** about England. France have won once and come runner up once out of the last 4 tournaments.
Iceland are 4 years away from reaching a World Cup. Whilst I'd love to see them qualify, I think theyve blown it, they needed to get a result at home.
Dunno, 0-0 with ten men isn't a bad effort. If they can frustrate Croatia we might see a shock. France are boned.
To be fair, if you swapped the teams they play for then you'd probably sway all the accolade as well.
I'm not ready to rule anyone out yet - although it looks good for Ukraine and Greece. Sweden v Portugal is on the proverbial knife-edge - I would LUV it if Sweden went through courtesy of the Winker missng a penalty - perhaps by diving before reaching the ball. If you fancy backing an underdog, Sweden look easily the best value with bookies, bearing in mind the current scorelines... France: 2/1 Sweden: 11/4! Iceland: 100/30 Romania: 9/2
