Condemned Before They Fail

Howdy Folks,
Mark here.

I was suprised to see the sniping against the England U21's (should that be u23's?) this week.
It was perhaps accelerated by Gianfranco Zola's comments to the press, but it seems the resentment and disappointment is carrying over from the senior team.

People have been saying English players are not the equal to their counterparts, but take a look at this squad list:

GK: Ben Alnwick, Scott Carson, Joe Hart
Defenders: Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Anton Ferdinand, Justin Hoyte, Nedum Onuoha, Liam Rosenior, Steven Taylor, Peter Whittingham
Midfielders: Tom Huddlestone, James Milner, Mark Noble, Nigel Reo-Coker, Kieran Richardson, Wayne Routledge
Forwards: Matt Derbyshire, Leroy Lita, David Nugent, James Vaughan, Ashley Young

The squad would have been even stronger with the inclusion of Richards (injured) and Bentley (sleeping).
The outstanding players are there, they will surely make the step up to senior level - Carson, Noble, Derbyshire, Nugent (who already has) and Vaughan.

So what's the fuss? Well, they drew their first match 0-0 against the Czech Republic, primarily because Lita missed a penalty. Are the Czechs bad? No - just because we've only heard of a few of their players doesn't mean a draw wasn't a decent result.

Up tonight then for England is Italy, containing the likes of Pazzini (hat-trick against England in their 3-3 draw at Wembley) and the winger Alessandro Rosina as the standout players. The squad also includes Rossi, Padalino, Aquilani and Padoin. Tonights result is important for both teams (Italy lost 1-0 to Serbia in their first game) so I would say to tune in if you can.

A bad result for England will see the press jump on them again, and a victory will mark a 'new dawn' of hype and expectation - the papers tomorrow should be interesting...

Mark,
http://www.okeydokefootball.com

P.s. Podcast out early Friday morning