# England through to World Cup! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 6, 2001, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-through-to-world-cup/85798 "2001-10-06T16:58:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-through-to-world-cup/85798/21 "2001-10-07T19:25:13Z")
Larsson scored for Sweden again today, that’s eight goals in ten qualifiers, not bad. Listening to the US-Jamaica game now (which seems only to be available on a Jamaican radio website and I keep losing the broadcast :mad: ), 1-1 in the second half. Getting nervous … ---
**Author:** ![Iguana\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@Iguana\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iguana_Boy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-through-to-world-cup/85798/22 "2001-10-07T22:54:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*So Iguana Boy, who’s your pick for next Scotland manager? \*\* I don’t really follow football enough to speak with any great authority, but your guess may well be right. It will be a pretty thankless task, whoever gets it! Perhaps we should follow England’s lead and look abroad. Maybe even to England. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RickQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@RickQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickQ)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-through-to-world-cup/85798/23 "2001-10-07T23:53:27Z")
A bit late, but my .02p **casdave** got it spot on. The passing was poor, we gave the ball away too easily, defended way too deep, movement was rubbish. If we had been playing a better team we would have lost. And deserved to. No one tried to beat anyone until Beckham went on the run that earned the free kick he scored from. But it was a great free kick. 🙂 I really think Beckham has come on and matured so much since he was made captain. I think he needs to motivate the other players with words as well as by example to do more, but I’m sure that will come to him. I think after the German result we were flattered a bit and people did not take Greece seriously enough. I hope we do well in the world cup, we have the talent to go far, if we perform. One thing which seemed clear to me was that without Owen we struggle to come up with another plan to break teams down. What do you all think? There were moments of skill and times when we broke through, but the basic plan has been to play a ball behind for a quick player (Owen) to run on to. It will be interesting to see how we perform in the friendlies too. How did the US do, **Ruadh** Rick ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-through-to-world-cup/85798/24 "2001-10-08T01:25:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Andy \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > > At this risk of upsetting people, I also think that, apart from the winner, Beckham was also massively below par… > > We must’ve been watching different games. I thought it was possibly, given the way the team was playing, one of his best ever performances. Their keeper was absolutely outstanding, catching everything in the air. He obviously doesn’t have a play station… \*\* I did give Beckham full credit for inspiration and effort – truly a captain’s performance – but the things you’d normally expect him to do, such as long passing and dead balls he didn’t perform the way he normally does (with two notable exceptions: the goal and the free kick into the side netting just before). Maybe his long passing was reduced by having no targets to aim for. Don’t worry, I wasn’t slagging him off. As far as the Scotland manager’s job is concerned, perhaps Alex Ferguson will it? I feel very sorry for Craig Brown. Scotland’s lack of success isn’t down to poor management, but a shortage of players with the right sort of experience. Not only Celtic and Rangers, but most Scottish Premier (and English Premier) clubs don’t pick Scots players the way they used to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-through-to-world-cup/85798.md?page=1)