FOOTBALL: MORE UPSETS IN EUROPE

Croatia 2-0 England
Poland 2-1 Portugal

Are they considered upsets anymore? Hmmm, or is it all the Europe teams are starting to play almost at the same level? It is interesting to see how much longer McClaren will last as England's coach. What a big joke! 5 defenders?!!! Incredible! I was expecting England to lose but just by a goal. Anything more is ridiculous, no matter how freak the goal is. No excuses, Croatia have 3 starting line-up players not able to play so it does not matter if Gerrard is not playing.

An article taken from http://www.goal.com:

The preponderance of foreign players in the English top flight has, not surprisingly, again been cited as the root of the malaise at national level. It has been argued that England's so-called world-class players look good each week in the Premiership because they are playing alongside imports who genuinely are world class. This is seen on the one hand as the reason why Team England looks distinctly ordinary, and unlikely to improve dramatically in the medium-term unless restrictions are placed on the number of foreigners allowed per club; and on the other as the reason why Premiership football is among the most exciting and entertaining league football around.

Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock this week spelled out the choice facing English football: restrict the number of foreign players for the long-term benefit of the English national team and accept that this will dilute the quality and lessen the flair and attraction of the Premiership; or leave things as they are and watch the Premiership go from strength to strength while England remain light years from winning a European championship or World Cup.

The majority of club fans would probably opt for the former: strong, foreign-influenced league football. And that's what they'll be hoping to see this weekend as the Ronaldos, Drogbas, Alonsos, Henrys, Petrovs, Cahills, Kanus and their ilk strut their stuff up and down the country.

Graham Lister

Let's look at the World Player of the Year nominees. Who do you think deserve it?

Forwards:
Adriano (Inter Milan, Brazil),
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona, Cameroon),
Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast),
Ronaldinho (Barcelona, Brazil),
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, England),
Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, Ukraine),
Thierry Henry (Arsenal, France),
Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen, Germany.

Midfielders:
Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany),
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal),
Deco (Barcelona, Portugal),
Michael Essien (Chelsea, Ghana),
Luis Figo (Inter Milan, Portugal),
Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan, Italy),
Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil),
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England),
Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England),
Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan, Italy),
Franck Ribery (Marseille, France),
Juan Román Riquelme (Villarreal, Argentina),
Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal, Czech Republic),
Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan, France),
Zinedine Zidane (retired, France).

Defenders:
Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid, Italy),
Philippe Lahm (Bayern Munich, Germany),
Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan, Italy),
Lilian Thuram (Barcelona, France).

Goalkeepers:
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy),
Petr Cech (Chelsea, Czech Republic),
Jens Lehmann (Arsenal, Germany).

Some players on the list are a big joke. I don't know what they deserved to be on the list. Based on the whole of last season's performance and World Cup as well, my vote goes to Captain Fabio Cannavaro!