England

World Cup: the inquest begins

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jeremy3


The morning after a bad England performance is usually a good time to be out of England, or at least out of reach of the papers. Jeremy Robson is out of England, but it doesn’t stop him entering rant mode. Never mind the controversy, he says, feel the lack of depth …

This year, I will be 50 years old and, for the first time in my life, I have been humiliated by my country.

Not let down, or disappointed, but humiliated. It’s as simple as that.

I didn’t expect England to win the World Cup, far from it. My expectations were not high. I wasn’t optimistic when I saw Capello’s squad and witnessed the preparations he was making while banking 6 million quid for the trouble.

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Germany 4, auf wiedersehen England

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england


Colin Randall watches another England dream fade …

At half time, we hoped the sense of injustice felt would impel England to victory after a calamitous error by match officials prevented a stirring fightback from 0-2 to 2-2. A bit like 1908 when, as every schoolboy should know, Sunderland were so enraged by an appalling penalty decision, which allowed Newcastle to go in 1-1 instead of 1-0 down, that we went on the score eight more in the second half.

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Hopeless, then hopeful, then mugged

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SOCCER-WORLD/Images: Rapidgamer

THIS POSTING NOW SUPERSEDED BY: Germany 4, auf wiedersehen England


We were hoping to feel able to use a less jubilant image of German fans at half time. And after a disastrous start it should have been possible as Lampard’s shot came down from the underside of the bar far enough into the goal to fit at least another ball between it and the line.

Incredibly, the ref and linesman must have been quietly humming Deutschland über alles to themselves; they imagined it no more a goal than Rooney’s earlier blast into row Z.

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England v Germany: a World Cup “Who Are You?”

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susanne

Finding a German fan to preview England v Germany for Salut! Sunderland was not as easy as you’d think. A bit like looking for someone from Stoke City. Even Thomas Hauser failed to respond. I was almost reduced to popping to the supermarket or beach a mile from me in the south of France: loads to be found there. In the nick of time, someone came back from a Facebook site called Deutschland/German/Allemagne, where Germany and England fans have been trading insults but perfectly nice people lurk too. So thanks to Susanne Dornheim, even if reading this introduction will have taken longer than it will to peruse her short, sharp replies …

Salut! Sunderland: England 4 West Germany 2. Germany 1 England 5. But lots of German wins, too. What is it to be this time?

I hope Germany will win I think we have a real chance

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World Cup Soapbox: dudes in pinstripes

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soapbox


Pete Sixsmith surfaces in his sea of exam papers waiting to be marked, fights the football-induced urge to drown himself in sleep and offers home, landlubber thoughts from, er, home …


It must be a sign of approaching pension entitlement age (mid 70s if the scoundrels running the country get their way), but I tend to fall asleep when I get home from work. Sit in the chair, cup of tea, toast, Guardian and zzzzzzzzz. Unfortunately, this also happens during the football.

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World Cup Soapbox: bring on the Germans – or maybe not

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soapbox

England v Germany. Not a sporting occasion that always brings out the best in Her Majesty’s Tabloid Press. Pete Sixsmith dreads a deluge of red-top Germanophobia, but also wonders whether our boys can throw off the sluggishness that threatens England’s progress …

Sitting here, I am surrounded by the efforts of 300+ young people in their recent GCSE History exam.

A number of the questions on that paper rake over Britain’s stormy relationship with Germany in the 20th Century, a relationship that is about to be tested again at Bloemfontein on Sunday.

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England 1 Slovenia 0: job done

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englandIt may or may not have been too convincing in the end, but the job in hand was to get a win, and that’s what England did when others, notably the French, haven’t been able to do so.

Salut! Sunderland expects a lot of SAFC fans to reflect on the identity of our scorer, Jermain Defoe, and wonder whether Darren Bent would have done as well with the cross (or, indeed, have made a mark in the earlier, unimpressive England games).

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England 1 Slovenia 0: doing OK, or so I’m told

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THIS POSTING HAS BEEN SUPERSEDED BY England 1 Slovenia 0: job done

Sod’s law prevails and if, like me, you are in France and don’t have Canal+, the usual option, TF1, is of no use since it is showing the unbelievably drab Algeria v USA game (0-0 five minutes into the second half).

Kurdistan Goals, or whichever of those iffy internet streams is prepared to give a picture from the England game, is doing so only sporadically, with two competing commentaries, one of them in English, but both ahead of the stuttering images.

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England, by any other name

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jeremy3

Jeremy Robson has already commented at another Salut! Sunderland post that France’s abject failure means Slovenia – maybe – couldn’t have chosen a worse time to face us, so great will be England’s fear of following France into the early departure lounge. But as this piece of whimsy shows he’s having it both ways, dreaming up a novel explanation in case we stumble again …

Everyone is puzzled about the poor form that England have shown thus far in the World Cup.

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