Ashburton Grove Gooners

That was very good from England, and Scotland did well too.

Theo was obviously the main man... three excellently taken goals, but Rooney was also fantastic. Wasn't sure of Capello, still think he should have brought another striker [Owen] but he got the tactics spot on. Once again Theo will get lots of attention... he's still going to be inconsistent at times but think he's secured his place in the England squad. That game was England playing as a team... hope to see more of it... Gerrard is going to struggle to get back in that side now.

What a fine day of WC Qualifying. Not only does Theo score a hat trick for England but Bendtner scores for Denmark and the US beats Trinidad and Tobago handsomely 3-0. The last was a wonderful game with the US in full attack mode for once.

Onyewu has raised his game by several measures and had a great assist and a brilliant assist for which I will try to find a link. I mean it was sensational, took out 2 players and it was all ball. Love the Gooch!! Great atmosphere at the game.

against T&T.......................my pub team could beat that mob

Brazil and Argies both didn't win. Brazil drew 0-0 against Bolivia the weakest team in SA... farce. People think the England fans are fickle... bloomin hell Brazil fans were cheering the opposition come the end of the game...

brazilian fans are twats and thats a fact

They weren't too impressive, but they were missing their 2 main players, Kenwynne Jones through injury and Dwight Yorke through Roy Keane's being a twat. Could your pub team have qualified for 2006 WC because T&T did? Just saying....

The point is that the US looked so much better against them than, for example, against Cuba last week, a much weaker team. They were imaginative and skillful in attack and ruthless in defense. Please let me have my one moment of happiness here!

The thing about World Cups is that there are always two or three teams who are utterly shit and turn out to be cannon fodder for the other teams. That's why, in terms of average quality of the teams present, the European Championships is harder to win.

Am I the only one who thinks that was a really shit performance? Croatia started well and the better. But for some bad luck and decent defending, Croatia would have led early on. Theo's first, though well taken, was very lucky and only came about due to poor defending and goalkeeping. Croatia were the better side in the first half, imo, and England got lucky. The red card was debatable at best. This is meant to be a contact sport, yet as soon as the ref saw blood, out came the red. The player clearly had his eyes on the ball, so there was no intent there. When you jump for a header, you need to use your arms for leverage, which explains why his arms were up - Joe Cole's arms were also raised. No excessive force was used and no attempt was made to strike Cole. I, personally, would have given a yellow card. But then I would also have given Heskey a penalty in the first half. After the red card, England were a little more comfortable. But Croatia still managed to carve England open and score a goal which will be even more disappointing for David James everytime he sees it. Capello still has a lot of work to do. Yes 4-1 is an impressive scoreline, but the performance didn't warrant it. Everyone needs to realise that, or this will prove to be exactly like the aftermath of the 5-1 win in Munich (which was also a poor performance against an even worse Germany); the team being heralded the Golden Generation which ultimately fails to even get to a stage where it can compete for a bronze medal at the worst.

Can't agree. How many clear-cut chances did Croatia have in the first half if they controlled? I remember one half-chance by Corluka from a poorly defended corner and that was it. Only a good save from the goalie stopped us going in 2-0 at half time from Walcott. Deserved the lead at half time... kept the ball well and actually looked like scoring.

The sending off... It was a tough one, but Croatia were thugs the whole game that Simunic [sp] should have gone anyways... Thing is he took a running jump and led with his arm... that is dangerous play and although it could have been a yellow too, but suppose it is a judgement call. Harsh to use that as reasoning, bearing in mind we had a perfectly fine goal disallowed a strong penalty appeal turned down, and their goal was potentially a foul on Terry in the build up. Hardly call it carve England open... they showed very little thread all game... Lucky I think it just wrong, can't even agree a little bit.

England closed down well all game and played some nice stuff... they actually had decent options on the wings that could score goals and create, and players looked like they wanted to be playing. This was a strong Croatia team [although they could have been stronger] with a fantastic record at home, and we broke that and deservedly so. Iirc you don't like the England team much... no offence but I think that has clouded your judgement... because that was poles apart from a really shit performance [for that see us v Fulham or England v Czechs] There were some things to work on... Cole could have played better, I'm still not convinced with David James bit of a clown in goal and Terry should never pass it more than 10 yards... but there were so many positives to take away from the game. Although we have to remember it is just one game that needs to be built on, but Capello seems to be addressing key weakness areas with England that have been neglected for years.

cant stand international football any more, club football is where its at

i'v ebeen saying that for years. world cups, euros only good for passing the summer months away

C'mon. The World Cup is great. All those countries in the same place. Fans dressed in colors. The pagentry, the passion, seeing all the top players over 3 weeks. I enjoy the summer competitions.

Club football is much better, I will admit, but in the midst of the WC or the Euros, I will be enjoying myself.

I myself prefer Euro's over WC anytime ... much more competitive teams in Euro than in the WC ... but even then its just cause some football is better than no football at all ... during the rest of the time its taking Arsenal to glory on PES ...

The Euros aren't always as great as they were this year though. I guess I prefer the WC because it lasts longer.

Cuntley Cunt, eh? What a cunt...