The Mail Bag
All Quiet On The Western Front
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Although massively patriotic, I am not a great lover of the International game and not only miss the weekly football outings but the banter on ToffeeWeb after the game.
Have spent my weekend watching crap TV (even watched that great British hope Andy Murray win) and was wondering what other peoples feeling where on the international games... Are we glad we do not have a team full of Internationals who could get injured or poached as they are in the shop window? If Internationals are so important why doesn't Sky run them?
Having endured a summer of no football for the season to start only to falter to internationals... should there be a longer International break to cram more games in to stop interference in our games, the list of questions could go on and on.
Or am I just bored because because three weeks into the start of the season we have a break?
Ralph Basnett, Posted 07/09/2008 at 23:34:54
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One thing that surprised me is the fact that three of our new signings were all in action for their national side this weekend, happily not playing against England.
That’s gotta be some sort of positive news right?
That’s gotta be some sort of positive news right?
I enjoyed the Aussie boyz beating the Dutch on their on turf, their 2nd loss on home soil in 13 years, even if it was a friendly. It was especially sweeter with the RS?s Kuyt and Babbel in the team!!! LOL
Go Socceroos!!! & Everton of course ; )
Go Socceroos!!! & Everton of course ; )
I?m not sure that playing for England is important to many of the England squad especially those playing in the champions league. For others, though, playing international football is the hightlight of their career. Ian Dowie and Maik Taylor are examples.
As for Everton, I?m happy to see any of our players play for their country. I am old fashioned enough to see it as an honour for the club and as a means to raise the Everton profile.
Well, Andy, just to illustrate how important playing for England is to them (or at least those in the squad who actually played)...the population of Andorra is around 70,000. Yep, that’s right, the best team - made up, incidentally, of fellas all earning between 50-100,000+ quid a week - in the most popular sport in a country of around 70 million souls managed to put...wait for it...2 whole goals past a team of amateurs from a place with the population of, what, Walton? It beggars belief, really. Compare that, as Anj, points out, to the Socceroos’ efforts: a team from a country where you don’t mention in polite society that you follow ’soccer’ puts it over the 4th ranked team in the world - and without Timmy!
I think the break has come at a good time. It limits the potential damage with how we are playing at the mo....
Just hope Moyes has taken this time to bang a few heads together and come up with somekind plan to steady our shaky start.
Hopefully it’s back to the training ground for those not on international duty and an opportunity to start afresh for Stoke.
For those injured, it buys them a little more time to get back to fitness.
The likes of Cahill will have no doubt benefitted from getting in two weeks training with the first team and people like Pienaar will feel the season and squad isn’t progressing without him.
Both are vital to a flowing midfield.
Just hope Moyes has taken this time to bang a few heads together and come up with somekind plan to steady our shaky start.
Hopefully it’s back to the training ground for those not on international duty and an opportunity to start afresh for Stoke.
For those injured, it buys them a little more time to get back to fitness.
The likes of Cahill will have no doubt benefitted from getting in two weeks training with the first team and people like Pienaar will feel the season and squad isn’t progressing without him.
Both are vital to a flowing midfield.
Just to broaden the discussion a bit, I noted that RS Carragher caused some mild controversy by declaring his club over country allegiance in his recent book. Probably a lot of people on here might agree with him to an extent.
Is it just my impression or is England the only country where many fans & players put club before country? Maybe that’s one of the reasons why they perpetually under perform? There are a few others but I won’t go there!
I know its a hard decision, especially when supporting a team like Everton, but I’ll declare my colours and say that your country should come first (just about). Apart from nationalism, family ties and the honour of playing at that level, the thing I like about international football is that it is a much more level playing field than the EPL. Rich countries can’t go a buy up all the best players (like the Big 4 n EPL). Players generally don’t get paid exorbitant amounts to play, certainly compared to club salaries but they it gladdens my heart that they will travel half way round the world to play. The public obviously still love it as the World Cup is still the biggest sporting event on the planet. Personally, I think that is one of the things that could save us from a breakaway European SuperLeague (ie the fact that FIFA still control the WC & Intl football and that players want to play for their countries).
Is it just my impression or is England the only country where many fans & players put club before country? Maybe that’s one of the reasons why they perpetually under perform? There are a few others but I won’t go there!
I know its a hard decision, especially when supporting a team like Everton, but I’ll declare my colours and say that your country should come first (just about). Apart from nationalism, family ties and the honour of playing at that level, the thing I like about international football is that it is a much more level playing field than the EPL. Rich countries can’t go a buy up all the best players (like the Big 4 n EPL). Players generally don’t get paid exorbitant amounts to play, certainly compared to club salaries but they it gladdens my heart that they will travel half way round the world to play. The public obviously still love it as the World Cup is still the biggest sporting event on the planet. Personally, I think that is one of the things that could save us from a breakaway European SuperLeague (ie the fact that FIFA still control the WC & Intl football and that players want to play for their countries).
I agree with you Ciaran but on the other hand i find it hard to blame the players for putting their club first a lot of the time. There?s so much pressure involved with England these days, and if they have one bad game they start getting booed by Sun-reading morons for months. They even don?t have to have a bad game, remember Owen Hargreaves? Before he got in the side, he was getting booed for absolutely no reason, other than perhaps being unfamiliar! Sometimes, when I look at it from the players perspective, i think it must be an absolute fucking nightmare playing for England.
After the poor pre-season, two losses at home and the transfer window stress (and not including David Moyes contract and the Kirkby debacle) I actually enjoyed the international break when none of the results or team selection and injuries really mattered. I couldn’t have cared less whether the England palyers perfomed in Andorra or whether Scotland got off to a good start (or not) for qualification! Also with the takeover of Manchester City and the resignations of Curbishly and Keegan, it took our problems out of the spotlight for a little while ! So apart from the usual uncertainty that we have, it’s not all doom and gloom :0)
As we are Evertonians, its always club 1st, country 2nd.
Ask yourself, would you prefer Everton to be league champions (tanking the shyte home and away en route), or England to win the world cup?? Gotta be Everton everytime..
Ask yourself, would you prefer Everton to be league champions (tanking the shyte home and away en route), or England to win the world cup?? Gotta be Everton everytime..
Joeynkoo Ludden wrote "As we are Evertonians, its always club 1st, country 2nd. Ask yourself, would you prefer Everton to be league champions (tanking the shyte home and away en route), or England to win the world cup?? Gotta be Everton everytime"
One of my early football memories is Everton winning the FA Cup and England winning the World Cup in 1966 and then a World Cup winning star (Alan Ball) choosing to sign for us. Ah, those were the days........
Joeynkoo, I?d rather have Everton win the championship than Northern Ireland QUALIFY for the World Cup. Believe me that?s dedication, because if any of my mates were to read this, I?m a dead man!
Call me cynical, unpatriotic, unBritish, parochial, etc., etc., but I regard Eng-er-lund as just another London club, with a primary support base in the South. (somewhat like LFC). I cannot get interested in what happens to them except that occasionally I’ll watch to see Rooney humiliate himself. Whenever we have had players in the squad they have been influenced to their detriment by the scum around them, like Gerard, who has had a dire influence over Rooney.
Has our season actually started yet? Not judging by the dross served up so far.
Having been to a few Engurland games the majority of fans are supporters from lower division teams who get to watch and cheer on the big boys. I’ve a mate who supports Tranmere and he absolutely loves England FC.
Having been to a few Engurland games the majority of fans are supporters from lower division teams who get to watch and cheer on the big boys. I’ve a mate who supports Tranmere and he absolutely loves England FC.
I’d rather Everton win a meanlingless League cup 3rd round tie after extra time against Doncaster than England win the World cup. I hate watching England, not only is the football crap bt you get all the hangers on who know nothing abot the game who only surface a few times a year, think it’s cool to drink pints of stella at 11 am and are rolling about starting fights by tea time. When England beat Germany 5-1 I was the only person watching it swearing at every goal cos they were scored by Liverpool players. Didn’t cheer a single one and didn’t celebrate the victory.
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1 Posted 08/09/2008 at 07:58:01
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