England and the World Cup

By tuckeratlarge
in The Sporting Arena

 Share

Recommended Posts

Veteran

tuckeratlarge

Posted
Posted

First of all I would like to state here and now I am not a fan or follower of Football (Soccer my US friends) As I am an ex-Leeds United supporter from my youth. I no-longer bother with it, basically if it hasn't got an engine it isn't a real sport - notable exceptions being Womens Tennis and Beach Volleyball :whistle: )

Anyway my point. Wayne Rooney buggers his foot and everybody says England are now not going to win the world cup - as if they were going to with him - what about the other players. Owen can still score goals, as can Beckham and the others. Even the defenders can. So why so important to have Rooney?

Also, why do they pick the same 15 or so players every bleeding time? The F.A. states that in the premiership alone there are 40% English players. So...

If we say there are an average of 15 top-notch players per team, and 20 teams thats 300 players. 40% of 300 is 120. So we have 'at least' 120 English top-notch (they must be they play premiership footie) players to choose from. Surely with that talent pool they can come up with more than the usual suspects. And that doesn't even cover those players who choose to play overseas.

So from at least 130 odd players, England can no longer win because one player has a broken foot.

Discuss...

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/458537-england-and-the-world-cup/
Share on other sites
Grand Master

Lingwo

Posted
Posted

As you said you're not a follower so you wouldn't understand how essential Rooney is. Like Alan Hanson said with Rooney we had a great chance of winning it but now we only have a chance. With Rooney you know he will play at 100% and he is one of the best strikers England has, he also can defend well. The other england players are good but don't have the presence Rooney has on a pitch, he can make something out of nothing alot like Henry does. They both just bring a squad together.

Also we have the same kind of squad all the time because they're the best in the country at that time.

Grand Master

Martyn

Posted
Posted

You made some fair points. What you dont understand is that Rooney brings a lot more to England than most other players. Rooney is aggressive, strong, quick and pure firepower, a combination which most defenders on the opposite team find impossible to defend against.

At Euro 2004 Rooney was inspirational to England, leading from the front he is able to spring other players into life. It is important to have characters like Rooney on the pitch who can turn a match around in seconds. He does occassionally get a lot of stick for his attidude, espeically his aggresiveness but it is part of his game (and dont forget he was a boxing champion which probably fueled his aggression).

As for your second point about there being "at least 120 top notch players who can play for England", you must understand that if you want to win something you have to play your best players. As there are only 11 starting places for England there is no way there will be 120 players in the squad, their maybe 120 players in the National Pool but not in the squad.

You overestimate the ammount of world class talent who can play in a World Cup for their nation. If you imagine all the people in the UK who are eligible to play for England, there must be millions, but only eleven make it simply because they are the best. Similarly only 11 make it into the team out of those 120 you mentioned instead of using squad rotation. For example you would mostly always play Steven Gerrard rather than Jimmy Bullard, as you would play Ashley Cole above Leighton Baines, in the future that may change though.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to the World Cup this summer. The likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Adriano all in one team is a great one! So many great matches to come :D

  • 2 weeks later...
Proficient

Super8 and Tab

Posted
Posted

Peter Crouch is ur only fit striker and we all know how much he sucks. But i think Owen will recover in time, where there is Owen there is hope.

if i was sven this would be my team'

-------------------Owen--------Defoe-----------

J.Cole----- Gerrard------L.King----------the kid from tottenham

A.Cole------Terry----------Dawson--------Ugly Neville

Explorer

Jambon

Posted
Posted
Peter Crouch is ur only fit striker and we all know how much he sucks. But i think Owen will recover in time, where there is Owen there is hope.

if i was sven this would be my team'

-------------------Owen--------Defoe-----------

J.Cole----- Gerrard------L.King----------the kid from tottenham

A.Cole------Terry----------Dawson--------Ugly Neville

King over Lampard? Never.

Leave Defoe behind for Rooney and I'd gamble on Walcott too over Defoe.

My teeam:

Robinson

Neville Ferdinand Terry A.Cole

J.Cole Gerrad Lampard Beckham

Owen Walcott

Also, who's gonna win the Champions League tonight, can Arsenal do it?

Probably won't..

Proficient

Super8 and Tab

Posted
Posted

King over Lampard? Never.

Leave Defoe behind for Rooney and I'd gamble on Walcott too over Defoe.

My teeam:

Robinson

Neville Ferdinand Terry A.Cole

J.Cole Gerrad Lampard Beckham

Owen Walcott

Also, who's gonna win the Champions League tonight, can Arsenal do it?

Probably won't..

i chose king over delfection king lampard so that king does all the defensive job and gerard is given a free role. anything lampard does gerrard does better.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • VS Code 1.123 introduces massive upgrades for persistent AI developer workflows

      By zikalify · Posted

      VS Code 1.123 introduces massive upgrades for persistent AI developer workflows by Paul Hill Microsoft has just released Visual Studio Code 1.123 alongside its annual developer conference, Build 2026. This release, as always, has a heavy focus on advanced AI agent integration and making the built-in browser more robust. Notably, this update brings big sync changes that keep your AI agents persistent across sessions. With this update, VS Code now supports cross-machine syncing for chat histories, touched files, repository contexts, and related PRs via GitHub accounts, tying users even more into Microsoft’s developer ecosystem. This update also introduces the new /chronicle command that allows you to query past sessions using natural language, generate instant standup reports, and get personal productivity insights. Microsoft has also made some improvements to network-dependent operations, it explains: “When a terminal command that is run by a local agent requires access to domains that are not configured as allowed domains, the command is automatically retried inside the sandbox with unrestricted network access. After that, if it still fails, it falls back to unsandboxed execution. This allows network-dependent operations such as git fetch to finish, while keeping filesystem protections in place.” Microsoft has not stopped there; in this update, it also allows developers to drag, drop, and pin multiple agent sessions side-by-side for easy code comparisons in real-time. It also introduces the Research Agent, accessible via /research. This is a read-only, depth-optimized tool that gets data from the web, local codebase, and GitHub to give you a Markdown report on complex APIs or unfamiliar code. Now, let’s talk about the integrated browser and some security enhancements. VS Code 1.123 features enhanced screenshot capture tools that allow for targeted Area Screenshots and Full Page Screenshots to send layout context instantly to AI chat. The address bar has also been revamped, supporting favorite pages and tab management. Finally, on the security front, this update introduces a safety-first two-hour delay on third-party extension auto-updates to safeguard against compromised or buggy releases. This release is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. If you have VS Code, keep an eye out for the update availability notification. If you still don’t have VS Code, you can get it here.
    • New Surface Pro with Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 leaks ahead of announcement

      By dirtyvu · Posted

      I'm hoping with the Surface Pro 12, I can use either USB-C for my Xreal One Pro glasses. With my Surface Pro 11 OLED X Elite, I have to plug them into the top port. The bottom port will power it, but nothing shows on the screen. Maybe it's my setting. When I plug in the glasses, I have it output only to the glasses. So maybe I need to turn on both displays with it in the top port, then switch the glasses to the bottom port and set it to output only to the glasses. And then hopefully Windows remembers the settings for either the top port and bottom port (one of the awesome features of Windows where it remembers the exact configuration when plugging in external monitors.
    • New Surface Pro with Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 leaks ahead of announcement

      By +samw61 · Posted

      Forgive my ignorance, but the only difference I see here is that a USB-A is now a USB-C, so there are two of them. For the modern age (and I'd argue since 2020), most products would now come with USB-C as an option, if not the default. Display, charging, devices, etc on TWO connectors, sometimes all combined! So having 2 of those powerful ports is great for something this size! Meanwhile my Surface Pro (5) has a single USB-A port which I cannot even get display out to, instead relying on some Surface Connect dock which I don't have. That is a poor experience, not to mention expensive and not compatible with other devices. Thank God USB-C is mainstream!
    • New Surface Pro with Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 leaks ahead of announcement

      By dirtyvu · Posted

      wow. that color finally comes to Surface Pro. was always a little jelly when a friend had the sandstone Surface Laptop. I wonder how different this dune is from the sandstone. I'll be getting the dune version. always thought black and platinum were a little boring. I'll still have access to my blue Surface Pro 11 as it'll be a hand-me-down.
    • Apple MacBook Neo is a blessing for Windows users, here's why

      By +samw61 · Posted

      Looks a very subjective aren't they!? I like its simple design. I love the way Apple designs their products with function over form, minimalization, and simplicity over cluttered complex designs. Many, not all, of their products follow this trend, and the device becomes a tool rather than dominating the space. I do not however like their OS. I have never bought a Apple product, and while I'd consider the Neo for my wife, I am hoping there are better alternatives out there when her failing MacBook Pro 2017 finally stops. Fischer-Price is famously plastic, garish, and poorly made. Basically you're describing the Window Laptops the Neo competes against! This is how product design should be, and what Apple have often followed in recent years: https://tenprinciples.design/

  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      B2Proxy earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Year In
      MadMung0 earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      jefred earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Apprentice
      JoeyNeo went up a rank
      Apprentice
    • Week One Done
      oliviaexpo earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      482
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      227
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      70
    4. 4
      FloatingFatMan
      58
    5. 5
      Nick H.
      54
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!