Thought I'd start a football blog, we might keep this going until 2010.....England doing well....did not see the match or even the goals....I'd like Michael owen back in the squad though....and I think Peter Crouch would make a very good substitute...remember against Argentina in Geneva a few years ago....with Michael Owen and some very good movements on and off the ball...they caused havoc.....did see Scotland's missed chance....that could be very costly losing those 2 points !.

Wales have decided to give this one a miss.

In the days of Ian Rush they came ever so close to qualifying and they really need some talented youngsters to come through...I think that the Gunners have one Welsh teenager that looks promising, (can't remember his name)...

"Wales have decided to give this one a miss." ... What again? -):

Oh tell me about it rf , I was there when that useless prat Bodin missed the pen against Romania that would have sent us through to the '94 finals.

Stan , we believe that summers are for cricket :-)

Ramsey is his name rf and I honestly believe he can go on and be a better player than Giggs , he is exceptional. Arsenal paid Cardiff 5 million for him and he had only played 17 Championship games , he's only 18.

child trafficking - I'm off to phone Platini and the other cronies

Must mention Ryan Giggs...what a fantastic player, if only he had gone with England instead of Wales....the number of trophies he has won is incredible !.....imagine a team with Waddle, Gasgoigne, Wright and Giggs....sounds good...ehh !.

Must add Matt le Tissier to that list..... so many good players...shame that that lot did not form a good team....probably too much of the crappy high ball into the penalty area style of play being forced upon them by certain managers....anyway the future for the England team looks great....I think they will make the semis at the very least next year (as long as there are no shouts : oh ! we are going to win the world cup....), shame about the England women team..they came up against a formidable German side , but they have done well to get to the final.

You've been sucked in by all the hype - I am England through and through, but we don't have a strike force. As usual the media has hyped a good qualifying run up, and the punters have bought it.

The semis will be our limit, and were we to reach them, an excellent achievement.

Less than a year to wait, and I hope I'm wrong

It would be not bad to get as far as there : In the quarter final there might be a big boy waiting that's why it is vital that we must win our group and not do what we did in 2002 and that is to come second (ahh ! that game against Nigeria..one or two goal scoring chances missed there !) being then forced to bump into the Brazilians when we should have gone another route and met the Turks and then the Brazilians in the semi final and played in the evening which would have suited our players better...anyway back to 2010 and that would mean a crack at getting to the final...how wonderful that would be !, (shades of 1990)....it looks like we could be joined by the Republic of Ireland who I think missed out on a fantastic opportunity of getting to the 2002 final and would probably have lost the final to Brazil but what a shame that there was trouble in the irish camp with Keane walking out...sad that !

i didnt know wales played football.

Don't have a strike force, behave.

Talking about Arsenal : well beaten at the weekend...no English players that's their big.. big problem...the lot they have at the moment will one day play brilliantly the next time falter and let in plenty of goals : you need a backbone of homegrown footballers to stabilise the ship.

i think adebayor needs a good kicking

He's forgotten that he was worshipped by the Arsenal fans.....he's bitter about something that's for sure.

u r racist required field.....why shouldnt the best players plaY for a team like arsenal

yeah bitter...180k per week.......poor diddums

What are you talking about marni ?.....sometimes I wonder ?....Arsenal have a great attack but the defense is wobbly and English or players from these Isles would bring some stability to the side and grit when it matters...it is my belief that there are by far too many foreign players in the Gunners formation...

they don't - take a look at the league table, and it most certainly ain't the gooners at the top

Talking of shorting : I don't know what the value of the Arsenal stock is ...perhaps 5000 a share..something like that on plus I think....but it looks like a short : the marking by the Arsenal defenders was atrocious last weekend....they will slip back in the league, and unless there is a reaction, not even qualifying for europe will be possible...anything like that and down... down ...the value of the stock will go !.