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Following our massacre of Croatia last night (5-1, if you are one of the few people in England who didn't see it) we have now secured a place in the World Cup next year - regardless of how the next two games go. For the first time in 4 years we will have flags hanging out of windows, draped from car, milk floats, office windows, cranes, and everywhere else. Makes me very proud to be English! Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were to win next year - the first time in 44 years. What do people think our chances are?

England have a good chance of winning. So do Brazil, Italy, Germany, Spain, Holland and others. If you support the theory of 'preferential attachment' then arguably teams like Brazil and Italy have a better chance than England because they've done it more often, although Italy's is an ageing squad. Most of Brazil's players play in Europe and so they'll be less affected by the 'winter' tournament.

You have to say they have a good chance but there are other countries that have great prospects and there is always the 'dark horse' of the hosts or a surprise team who tend not to win it but who eliminate fancied teams.

Dumbed down version of the Union Flag? Sacriledge. I'd like the Union Flag got rid of and the Unitted Kingdom broken up. We don't get a chance to feel proud of our country very often but when we qualify for the big international tournaments and all the flags are out it makes me feel proud. I feel a bond with my other 51 million country folk.

Dont we always start off Really badly,then get it togther and progress through,and ultimately go out to penalties? I understand the offside rule and enjoy footie,but cant fathom why we ALWAYS underperform? !party! !wink! x

[quote]I thought you'd be into that flag-waving nonsense Max.[/quote]

And I just knew you'd be against it.

[quote]When it all started in 1998 I found it rather threatening, a sort of dumbed-down version of the Union Flag[/quote]

Threatening? How? And how is the flag of St George a 'dumbed down' version of the Union flag? Can you explain what you mean?

[quote]Those little kids with their faces painted with the St Georges cross, scowling at passers by who were clearly not football fans was yet another example of mass-response brain-washing.[/quote]

The Brazilians have been face-painting for football matches for years and people praised them for bringing colour to the game. Now when England do it it's brain-washing and threatening. What about the Swedes that turn up in Viking hats, Scots that wear kilts and Dutch that turn up with orange wigs?

I'm not one for face-painting and novelty head-gear either, btw, I just don't think waving a St George flag or painting your hair & face are things that need criticising. If you want to criticise England fans then pick up on something that you'd have a good point on........booing other national anthems for instance.

Here are some football fans, Keith. I hope they don't scare you too much!

[img]http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2008/ ... 00x377.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.goethals.us/nonsense/images/ ... -dutch.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.german-info.com/images/germa ... orypic.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.uefa.com/multimediafiles/pho ... square.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.javno.com/slike/slike_3/r1/g ... 069697.jpg[/img]

[img]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/4 ... _getty.jpg[/img]

[img]http://api.ning.com/files/Tmycmes9D1AtP ... ans300.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/ ... 70x322.jpg[/img]

[img]http://genevalunch.com/wp-content/tp/un ... ijavec.jpg[/img]

[img]http://images.smh.com.au/2008/11/13/270 ... -420x0.jpg[/img]

[img]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/4 ... ans416.jpg[/img]

[img]http://images.chron.com/content/news/ph ... razil1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/07/ ... 70x296.jpg[/img]

[img]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/4 ... 03.jpg[img]

[img]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/4 ... 16_afp.jpg[/img]

[img]http://dermothardy.com/pictures/paris1.JPG[/img]

[img]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/mult ... 39157c.jpg[/img]

[img]http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/200551 ... 5F36F39932[/img]

Yeah. The England fans look a lot more threatening with those St Georges, don't they! Doh!

Sam. Great photos. Our fans are much less 'theatrical' than the others!

max_tranmere wrote:

> What do people think our chances are?

Same as always - out in the quarter-finals (on penalties of course).

They looked pretty ropey against Slovenia on Saturday, only managing a win because of a (very) dubious penalty decision. They looked a little more organised last night, but against a very sub-standard Croatia.

Sarah sweetie, I can think of a much better (and more interesting) ball game we could play together.

D'you mean untainted by gay-ness Max ? lol