IN MY BEST TEAM I wanted Latin flair, youth and some left-footed players.
Torres, Sagnol and Cannavaro picked themselves, as did Makelele.
Lucio shaded Thuram, Appiah edged out Ze Roberto.
1.Lehmann (Germany)
2.Sagnol (France)
6.Lucio (Brazil)
5.Cannavaro (Italy)
3.Heinze (Argentina)
7.Maxi Rodriguez (Argentina)
4.Makelele (France)
8. Appiah (Ghana)
11.Pirlo (Italy)
10.Robinho (Brazil)
9.Torres (Spain)
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BEST COACH : Lippi, by far.
BEST KIDS : Messi and Fabregas, two mates.
BEST MATCHES : Argentina 2 Mexico 1 and Germany 0 Italy 2 AET.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS : How long have you got ?
Guus Hiddink didn’t use Aussie subs to attack ten Italians in normal time.
Jose Pekerman took off Riquelme and didn’t use Messi against Germany.
Carlos Alberto Parreira too weak to drop ancient stars who could no longer run.
ERIKSSON IN ONE WORD : con-man.
Make no mistake, that was us.
What we saw was England. Our bunch of Premiership highlights heroes, plus the admirable Hargreaves, who is a beacon of hope.
Germany 2006 showed what we are and what we have : a rich, incompetent FA, a clueless coach, dim WAGS, and a timid, compliant media who reported and screened Sven’s drivel for almost six years.
That was us in Frankfurt, in Nuremberg, in Cologne, in Stuttgart, in Gelsenkirchen, in Baden-Baden. That is where we are. That is where we will always be.That is our country and this is our football.
And it ain’t gonna change. It ain’t gonna improve. Because it’s our culture.This team perfectly represents the wider English culture we have created and the footballers we have created.
Our stupid, dumbed-down, media-saturated culture of envy and hate, of build-’em-up-and-knock-’em-down, is based on personalities, not on core values of integrity, honesty, teamwork and sportsmanship.
There are no senior people with gravitas, imagination or stamina, only salesmen, spinners, compromisers and cowards.
Our wider English culture creates the bubble our BSkyB highlights heroes inhabit.
So we can never have a good manager. Guus Hiddink has never divorced and our vicious tabloids would tear his lovely girlfriend to pieces. He knows that and Elizabeth knows that. His sons, who get on very well with Elizabeth, also know that.
Big Phil Scolari now knows that too.
A good manager would be crazy to come here.