Only a few days remain before England plays their first 2010 World Cup qualifying match against Andorra at the Estadio Olímpico de Montjuïc in Barcelona, Spain. No matter what England does, they cannot win.
England’s 2007 match against Andorra continues to be a dark cloud that hangs over the heads of the England football team. Playing against a bunch of amateurs, England were held goalless until the 54th minute when Steven Gerrard scored. No wonder the players and then manager Steve McClaren experienced a verbal tirade of abuse in one of the darkest days of English football.
Luckily for England, many football fans won’t be able to see England this time against Andorra on television. In the United Kingdom, the match is only on Setanta Sports. In the United States, the match is viewable on pay-per-view television for $25 or at your local pub that carries Setanta (don’t be surprised to be charged a $20 cover charge just to watch the game).
England are in a no-win situation against Andorra. Everyone expects them to win so anything less than that will be a massive tragedy. Even if they win, they have to win comfortably otherwise they’ll be mocked by England football fans. The best that England can hope for is to score a quick goal to take the pressure off and then hope they follow that up with plenty more.
I’m not sure why, but many England fans have a deep seeded desire to see their national team fail. It gives them something to moan about. Many fans will be hoping that England gets unstuck in Andorra but scrapes by with a win. It makes life more interesting and less predictable, and allows fans to project their venom against characters. Steve McClaren being a perfect example.
The England team that beat Andorra 3-0 in March 2007 isn’t that different than the one that’ll line up under Fabio Capello this Saturday. The inclusion of Jimmy Bullard in the England squad is a breath of fresh air, and I feel he’ll be able to make the same type of impact that Owen Hargreaves made when he entered the England fold.
What are your thoughts about Jimmy Bullard being called up to the England squad, and the way that England fans treat their national team? Share your opinion by clicking the comments link below.
deep-seated vs. deep-seeded
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001815.html
…England cound indeed “win” if they win comfortably. Are you saying a 4-0 or 5-0 result wouldn’t satisy all the critics?
Dave M,
Thanks for the info about deep-seated. I had no idea about that. Much appreciated.
Even if England won 4-0 or 5-0, there would be many pundits and fans that would be unsatisfied with the result. England would need to score in the double digits for people to say that “England are back.”
Cheers,
The Gaffer
The truth is that goal difference rarely comes into it, especially these days when (I think) head-to-head counts more than goal difference. Trouncing Andorra last time around wouldn’t have made an ounce of difference.
A win is a win. More goals are nice, but the three points are what matters.