England
Factsheet:
Euro 2012 Group D: 11-06-12: France – England, 15-06-12: Sweden – England, 19-06-12:
England - Ukraine
FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 6
Previous European Championship Appearances: 1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004
Qualifying record: 8+5=3-0 17-5
Interesting facts: England has already been led by three different managers this year –
Fabio Capello, Stuart Pearce, and Roy Hodgson.
All of the 23-squad members represent the domestic
Premier League.
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After successfully sending the two non-English
managers home, The Football Association hired an Englishman Roy Hodgson to lead
the English team at the Euro 2012. He only had 2 months to research the playing
style of Capello's England, choose a new captain and, of course, gather a
23-man squad and prepare it to the competition.
Hodgson’s appointment became a shock decision for the
FA, as the whole England was almost sure about Harry Redknapp’s candidacy. Roy
has a huge managerial experience behind his shoulders. He has been doing this
since 1976. He has already worked with 3 other national teams before.
The Group D includes pretty equal contestants. Each
and every win could become crucial in the allocation of quarterfinal tickets. Taking
into consideration the confident qualification results, the Englishmen are
going to be one of the favorites to win the 2012 European Championship. It is
going to be a little intrigue to watch John Terry after being degraded and
Steven Gerard after being promoted to a new role.
Statistics against France: 28+16=4-8 66-35*
The match we remember: The two teams played their
opening Euro 2004 Group B match against each other, putting together a
thrilling performance with an exciting drama in the end. Despite a missed
penalty by David Beckham, the Englishmen were in front thanks to Frank Lampard’s
goal, when a sudden Zinedine Zidane brace deep inside the injury time rewarded
the defending European Champions fully deserved 3 points.
The match we remember: England has never won a
single competitive match against the Swedes. The teams played their last group
fixture at the European Championship 20 years ago, where the Englanders exited
the tournament after a 1-2 defeat.
Statistics against Ukraine: 4+3=0-1 7-2
The match we remember: A lot of talk out of nothing as England “intentionally” loses to Ukraine
to throw Croatia out of World Cup 2010 qualification as vengeance for the Euro
2008 qualification, where the already qualified Balkan side let England out
winning over them in their last match.
Two profiles:
Joe Hart: Not demonstrating Wayne Rooney as one of the main English profiles is
because he will miss the first two matches of his team. This means that the
tough task to overcome the group hurdle is lying on other heroes' shoulders.
One of them is the newly-crowned English champion Joe Hart. The English clubs
traditionally have great goalkeepers, but theses goalkeepers are rarely
Englishmen. It has been a long decade for England to look for a quality number
1 after David Seaman retired from international football.
The 25-year old goalkeeper
has been with Manchester City before and after it received loads of Eastern
investments. However, this season Hart can be proud of his reliable performance
like never before. He achieved 35 Premier League clean sheets in the past two
seasons, making unbelievable saves and saving points for his team.
He was in the national team
reserve for a few years, but nobody doubts his place within the starting eleven
now. So if England is lucky enough to go further in the tournament, the Southern
heavyweights Casillas and Buffon are going to have a strong competitor this
summer. An interesting fact: Hart was backed by his teammates to be awarded the
captain's armband when John Terry was forced to give it away. Roy Hodgson had
some other views on this issue, but I am sure the armband is eventually going
to come to Hart sooner rather than later.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: This young talent has become an interesting
national team candidate during the past season. He was acquired by Arsenal,
where he had an inspiring season, participating in 26 games and scoring 4 goals
in different tournaments. The Ox has been praised by various experts, while recognition
by Arsene Wenger means a lot in the European football these days.
His senior international
debut took place a couple of weeks before the Euro 2012. Previously he was a
permanent member of English youth national teams of various age groups. Roy
Hodgson has found the 18 year old Oxlade-Chamberlain’s physical abilities and
pace useful for his team’s Euro 2012 campaign. For us it is just another chance
to discover one of the future stars of the English football.
My prediction:
The English Chelsea had bigger problems when they got
a new manager in the middle of the season and managed to win the Champions
League for the first time in the history. This has to become the main example
for England national team to follow. And, of course, this will add some more confidence
for the Chelsea representatives John Terry and Ashley Cole. During the recent
friendly matches the Three Lions showed a mature defensive play. They are going
to be a difficult side to score against.
The English team has gone through a lot of troubles
the past 4 months. First the captain JohnTerry was forced to give the captaincy
away, then their world-class manager Fabio Capello had to resign, afterwards
Roy Hodgson had to leave stars like Darren Bent, Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard
and Garry Cahill at home because of injuries. Adding the absence of Rio
Ferdinand, who doesn’t participate in the tournament due to some non-football
reasons, and Wayne Rooney, who is suspended for the first two matches of the
tournament, Roy Hodgson has received a much more difficult task than he was
presented when being offered the position less than two months ago.
The fact that the coach didn’t have enough time to get
acquainted to the team is obvious. This is going to be the biggest issue for
Englishmen at this Euro. Besides, Hodgson is not famous for being a winner. His
trophy hall is only filled with several Scandinavian championship trophies and
a 1997 UEFA Cup. Hodgson’s figure is of a much more aristocratic style in
comparison with Harry Redknapp. This could become a problem within the squad,
given that some English players are famous for their disrespect to authorities
and have passion to take the charge in the dressing room. So many problems
could make the team gather around the common goal, but their motivation should
not take them further than the stage of quarterfinals.
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* 6+2=3-1 7-7: played 6, won 2, tied 3, lost 1,
scored 7, conceded 7
Playing For England (John Hemmingham's England Band - Euro 2012)
Playing For England (John Hemmingham's England Band - Euro 2012)
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