International Friendlies Discussion

[manutd.]

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

Italy 3 - Portugal 1
Bulgaria 1 - 0 Northern Ireland
Wales 3 - Norway 0
England 2 - Switzerland 1
Spain 1 - 0 France 0
Jamaica 1 - Costa Rica 1
Brazil 1 - Republic of Ireland 0
Germany 3 - Austria 0
Croatia 0 - Holland 3 *
Czech 0 - Poland 2
Greece 2 - Finland 1
Denmark 2 - Slovenia 1
Israel 1 - 0 Romania
Turkey 0 - Sweden 0
Hungary 1 - Slovakia 1
Cyprus 1 - Ukraine 1
Macedonia 1 - Serbia 1

* A good win for Holland, I hope they do well in the Euro!

[lilmaniac]

mexico 2 - united states 2

[^_^]

United States 3** :booty:

[sputnik]

austria 0

[samatar]

Italy did well against Portugal 3-1.

world champs a big chance in euro.

[Adi]

Only got to see the first half of the US - Mexico game and it was great. Mexico came out and played better in the first 20 minutes but the US held them off, then scored off some nice breaks. Altidore is going to develop into a great player. I hope he gets the chance to go to Europe. I think he can flourish in any league, especially the Premiership.

Can't believe Holland beat Croatia 3-0. Thought that one would be closer.

Germany took care of business as expected against Austria.

Italy scored some rubbish goals against Portugal so the 3-1 score seems a bit too much. Didn't see anything from Ronaldo in the highlights. The Italians always seem to shut him down.

Nice win for Spain against France. That's a big confidence booster for them. Henry should have tied it with a header in the end though. We all know how poor his heading is though.

England also got a big win over Switzerland. The Swiss are probably one of the most under-rated teams around. They do well but are always overlooked. This is a bigger win for England than most think. Great dribbling to set up the first goal by Joe Cole.

Poland beat the Czech Republic on the road 2-0. Poland is another team people overlook. During the World Cup, Germany got no credit for beating them. Poland is a good team and should never be taken easily. They should make it out of the group stage this summer.

Israel beat Romania 1-0. That's a bit of a shocker to me because I thought Romania was looking damn good over the past year. I think they have a chance to come out of the group of death at the EUROs. Israel isn't bad but Romania seems to be on a roll.

Serbia drew Macedonia. That's just not good enough from the Serbs. Oh well, you won't hear me complaining about that one. For all I care, they can lose every game 6-0 like they did to Argentina in the past World Cup.

[manutd.]

England's back 4 had a little trouble, but Capello should straighten that out easily, cause after all, he's Italian, and they play defensively, so he should have some understanding of how to fix this up.

Germany will do really well in the EUROs, they've got a strong team at the moment.

I've always loved the Portugal v Italy matches, cause in Canada there are so many of them that despise eachother, it's a great atmosphere. Yeah, Ronaldo had a couple chances here and there but he was shut down pretty good. Good to see Nani get some playing time.

That's really good for Spain, and especially Holland, that's really good for them, especially since their group is so damn hard.

Can't wait for more England friendlies to see how Capello works out things.

[Adi]

England's back 4 had a little trouble, but Capello should straighten that out easily, cause after all, he's Italian, and they play defensively, so he should have some understanding of how to fix this up.

He used 4 completely different defenders compared to the last game England played. To be fair, there were lots of injuries to the English defense when they played Croatia. I still think that Capello has a lot of tweaking to do with the defense, especially when all players are fit. They should be solid defensively when everything is set in stone.

Also, he's playing a 4-1-4-1 formation. That extra defensive mid in front of the defense will help out a lot.

[manutd.]

Yeah I know, I can only imagine Neville, Terry, Ferdinand, and Ashley Cole all playing.. that would be a hell of a defence line. With that back 4 you wouldn't even need a defensive midfield. I wonder if James is starting every game and if they'll ever bring back Robinson or call up Schmeichel.

[Adi]

I think England should start using Micah Richards on the right side. Heck, they can even using him in the defensive mid position. Neville is getting old and he's had some big injuries as of late. I think it's time to move away from him.

[manutd.]

To be honest, there are tons of people that can make the England squad, and I think Capello will try different people and different strategies until he finds one that fits. He's made some changes, and I think he'll call back Beckham. England will be fine, it just takes time and different variations. Capello will save the day. 

[sputnik]

he said he only called off beckham because he wasnt match fit, although he'd been training with arsenal. he said basically when beckham's ready if theres no1 better than him he will reevaluate whether he can be in the squad.