Just like the game against Romania in World up 1998, against the portuguese and the romanians in euro 2000, we once again ignorantly failed to appreciate the technical brilliance of the opposition. Remember the Croatians are far from walk overs when it comes to playing in big competitions. They did’nt come third in the 1998 World Cup for nothing, where they managed to tear Germany apart 3-0 and almost knock France out in the semis (a match to which this day I think Croatia should have won). I completely agree with Roy Keanes comments when he said the England players Ego tends to get the better of them. In addition to this every single manager we have had since 1998 has made very little change to the actual squad and has insisted on playing 4-4-2. This has created a lack of flexibility to adapt our players in different positions. This is one of the reasons why the FA originally wanted Scholari or Hiddink as their manager. In addition to this our dependance on foreign players has resulted in a decline in home grown players. When Dennis Berkhamp first came to our country he saw our youth system and laughed because in other countries the youth is developed at an incredibly early age (7 – 10 year olds are already in the system in countries like Holland).

Further more our dependance on individual players has also created tensions and arguments in the England camp and affected performance. Why does every manager seem to depend on Micheal Owen or Steven Gerrard or David Beckham even when these players are performing poorly. For example can you honestly choose Micheal Owen, a player who has been plagued with injuries yet gets a place in the squad because he got a goal against some minnnows in a friendly, over Andy Johnson who has been a consistent peformer in the prenier league during his time with Wigan and Everton and is clearly the best striker that we have? In addition to this the England managers seem to think that all the players playing for teams below the premiership are rubbish. This is not true and I would go as far as to say that out championship divisions are good enough to rival teams in europeam leagues such as Seria A nd the Bundesliga. The only reason these players are ignored is down to the money factor.

Dont always think that soccer players go all out to make the fans or supporters happy always. Take a good example yesterday. If you ever want to bet a soccer match between Macedonia vs Croatia who will you take? Will you take Macedonia and put your money on them? Most would not. Most people will take Croatia. Outcome? 2-0 Macedonia!

I like conspiracy theories as much as the next guy, but this one really takes the cake.

If you really watch Brazil vs France in World Cup 2006, you can see that, Roberto Carlos was way off position when Henry scores. What was Carlos doing when they kick the free kick? He was Pulling his SOCKS!