[GreatBriton]

Two of the world's biggest footballing superpowers (and deadly, deadly rivals) clashed today in Geneva - with England playing their best football of 2005. Argentina, ranked 2nd in the world after World Champions Brazil, were confident they could beat an England team who, despite probably being the best team in Europe and who probably should have won last year's European Champions, have had a few bad results recently.

But England, 2-1 behind after the 87th minute, scored two goals in the last few minutes to stun their arch-enemies. It was supposed to be just a friendly - but there are never friendly games between these two nations.

Argentina are 2nd-favourites to win the 2006 World Cup. England are the 3rd favourites.
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Argentina 2 England 3




By FRANK PRAVERMAN

WHISPER it quietly ... England CAN win the World Cup.

As they draw a close on the international season, Sven Goran Eriksson's men can look forward to next year's World Cup finals with eager anticipation.

And if they perform in Germany as they did against Argentina, there really is a chance England could lift the trophy.

Make no mistake, this WAS NOT a friendly.

Both teams wanted to stamp their authority on each other before the summer tournament.

That is not to mention the history between the sides.

And this lived up to all expectation.

On show were two players who will surely light up the championships.

We already know about Wayne Rooney who was at his blockbusting best.

But the Argies also have an ace up their sleeve in Juan Riquelme.

And let us not forget Michael Owen.

He loves playing the South Americans after marking his arrival on the international scene with his stunner in 1998.

His late, late double reminded them just how dangerous he is.

There was more to this spectacular than just them, though.

Paul Robinson was immense between the posts while Rio Ferdinand proved Eriksson right with a rock-solid display in the centre of defence - ahead of Sol Campbell who was dropped to the bench.

Yet Rooney was the catalyst for everything England tried.

In the first half he scored a goal, hit the post and scared the life out of Argentina.

After the break he pulled an incredible save out of the remarkable Roberto Abbondanzieri with an audacious chip.

And get this - he even kept his temper under wraps despite plenty of provocation!

Rooney produced a world class display to keep England on level terms in the first half.

The Manchester United ace sidefooted home David Beckham's flick-on in the 39th minute of a pulsating match in Geneva.

Five minutes earlier Argentina had taken the lead through Chelsea star Hernan Crespo.

Amazingly, Rooney was involved in that goal as well.

His only poor touch of the opening period saw Rooney concede possession to Argentina's own genius Juan Riquelme.

He found Maxi Rodriguez who beat Wayne Bridge far too easily to square for Crespo to bundle in.

But both sides could have had a handful of goals as they went hell for leather from the kick-off.

Forget this is officially a friendly, the history between the teams ensured a rollercoaster ride.

And they delivered with a display that was full of blood 'n thunder tackles, stunning shots and brilliant defending.

Michael Owen thought he had scored on seven minutes only for an offside flag to rule out his header.

Referee Philippe Leuba then cancelled out another effort for pushing as Crespo forced Rio Ferdinand to nick one past his own keeper.

Argentina went onto dominate for the next 20 minutes as Paul Robinson produced some incredible saves from Riquelme, carlos Tevez and Rodriguez.

But then the England midfield of Ledley King, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard began to get a grip.

Rooney crashed an effort against the woodwork before Gerrard's 30-yard stunner was fingertipped round the post by Roberto Abbondanzieri.

Lampard also glanced a header agonisingly wide from Beckham's corner as Sven Goran Eriksson's men turned the screw.

The Swedish coach obviously thought the rusty Bridge was to blame for Argentina's opener and opted to swap him for West Ham's Paul Konchesky at the interval


thesun.co.uk

[xerxes]

Damn I wish I could have watched that game.

[GreatBriton]

It has been a good weekend for English and British sport.

Yesterday -

Football....England 3-2 Argentina
Rugby Union....England 26-16 Australia
Rugby League....Great Britain 38-12 New Zealand

And the England cricket are doing very well in Pakistan -

Latest score
1st innings
Pakistan - 274 all out
England - 212 for 2.
(England are currently batting and should well surpass Pakistan's 1st innings total and build up a healthy lead for the start of the 2nd innings)

[GreatBriton]

Quote:

Damn I wish I could have watched that game.

It was a fantastic game. Both teams very attack-minded and desperate to win.

Both teams had a goal disallowed each - so if the ref allowed both of the goals it would have finished 4-3.

Argentina went 1-0 ahead against the run of play in the 35th minute with England having had most of the best chances, but Wayne Rooney, definetely the best player on the park, equalised just 4 minutes later.

It stayed 1-1 at half time. Argentina scored again in the second half - Argentin 2-1 England. It stayed 2-1 until as late as the 87th minute - until Michael Owen scored twice for England.


I was also surprised to learn that Argentina have NEVER beaten England in a friendly game, and still couldn't beat them yesterday despite being in the lead with just a few minutes remaining.

And out of the 13 competitive games between the two teams, England have won 5, Argentina have won 2, and there have been 6 draws.

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It’s 54 years since England and Argentina first met on a football pitch. Since then virtually every match has been shrouded in controversy. AOL Sport gets under the skin of one of the fiercest football rivalries.


1951: England 2-1 Argentina
The first encounter between the two nations formed part of the Festival of Britain celebrations and was a relatively good-natured affair. Stan Motensen and Jackie Milburn scored the vital goals that saw England triumph 2-1 and there were few signs of the controversy that would later mark this tie.




England 1966: Argentina 0-1 England
The first serious signs of tension first appeared during their World Cup quarter-final in 1966.

Argentine skipper Antonio Rattin was sent off after disputing virtually every decision made by the referee. The game then rapidly descended into chaos when Rattin refused to leave the pitch. It took over 10 minutes before he finally gave in and walked slowly to the changing rooms, amid a cocophony of boos ringing around Wembley.

At the end of the match Sir Alf Ramsey prevented George Cohen from swapping shirts with Perfumo and after the game attacked the Argentine team, calling them ‘animals’.



1974: England 2-2 Argentina
Eight years later, the late Emilyn Hughes was at the centre of the controversy. At the end of the first half, Hughes had a skirmish as the teams left the Wembley pitch.

Later with England heading for a 2-1 victory, Hughes was punished when Argentine referee gave a questionable penalty for a foul on Mario Kempes. Kempes stepped up and earned Argentina a controversial draw.





1977: Argentina 1-1 England
During this encounter in the late Seventies, England’s Trevor Cherry lost his front teeth after some impromptu dental work by Argentina's Daniel Bertoni. Bertoni, who played alongside Maradona at Napoli, went on to score the equaliser and apparently still boasts the scar on his knuckles.





Mexico 1986: Argentina 2-1 England
The most controversial and famous of all the England-Argentina tussles, this World Cup quarter-final will always be remembered for one man – Maradona – and his two goals.

The first meeting since the Falkland’s War, this already tense encounter was made worse when Maradona rose above Peter Shilton to score his infamous Hand of God goal. He then went on to win the game with one of the best individual goals the world has ever seen.





France 1998: England 2 Argentina 2 (Argentina won 4-3 on penalties)

More than a decade after Maradona’s controversial ‘pick-pocketing’ of the English, the two sides were once again drawn together in the last 16 of the World Cup. Again there were fireworks.

Argentina took the lead through Batistuta before Shearer levelled. Michael Owen then announced his arrival on the world stage with a wonder goal to give England the lead.

Things seemed to be going England’s way until David Beckham lost his head and saw red for flicking a leg at Diego Simeone. Argentina pulled level and right at the death Sol Campbell saw his late goal ruled out after being adjudged to have fouled the keeper.

The game eventually went to penalties but misses from Paul Ince and David Batty proved costly. England once again left feeling robbed and were mocked by Argentine players outside the stadium.





Japan 2002: England 1-0 Argentina
This World Cup group match lacked the edge of World Cup knock-out football and as a result the excitement and controversy of previous encounters was also missing.

However, after the agonies of 1986 and 1998, it was a sweet victory for England. It was also a much happier occasion for Beckham, who scored the only goal from the penalty spot and exorcised the demons of 1998.



2005: Argentina 2-3 England

Michael scored two goals for England in the last 3 minutes to stun the Argies.

[GreatBriton]

Owen strikes late as England hit best form since Portugal

Argentina 2 - 3 England

Paul Wilson at the Stade de Geneve
Sunday November 13, 2005
The Guardian


Friendly? You could have fooled me. The latest instalment of Anglo-Argentine rivalry contained none of the rancour that has attended these meetings over the years, and was bigger on incident and excitement than the whole of England's qualifying campaign.


If all England friendlies were this good Sven-Goran Eriksson would have been made Mayor of London by now. And if Wayne Rooney can play this well against the big names in Germany next year we can all start looking forward to an entertaining World Cup.


It might be too early to predict a successful tournament, since the game was 87 minutes old by the time Michael Owen rescued a draw and at least three minutes older by the time he turned it into an unlikely win, but if confidence is important this result will do England no harm at all.
'That is what these World Cup warm-up games are for,' Owen said afterwards. 'It meant a lot to both sides. You could see that. When they scored their players and fans were going mad as well.'

Even at 2-1 down England had put in a hugely impressive performance in what was easily their best display since returning from Portugal last summer. Argentina thought they had done enough to win. England, and Owen in particular, proved them quite wrong.

Eriksson described his match-winning hero as 'maybe the best goalscorer in the world', while his counterpart Jose Pekerman was more impressed by Rooney. 'He's very dangerous and aggressive - a key player. I always knew that England was a tough team with very good players. They will play a key role at the World Cup.'

Whether they will play that role with the formation that started this game remains open to question. Ledley King recovered from his knee injury in time to stake a claim for the holding midfield position in a safety-first line-up, and a bigger surprise was Wayne Bridge's inclusion at left-back in prefernce to Phil Neville. Bridge soon discovered he would need to be up to speed when Juan Roman Riquelme went past him in the fifth minute to bring the first save of the match from Paul Robinson, who made many more in a game that featured 30 attempts at goal. England countered through Steven Gerrard and Rooney, the latter finding Owen with a delicately chipped cross, only for the striker's accurate header to be ruled out by the offside flag.

Argentina upped the tempo and the early part of the game resembled the torrid last moments of England's rearguard action in Sapporo three years ago, with Robinson making saves from Carlos Tevez and Maximiliano Rodriguez in quick succession and John Terry standing firm to block a shot from Rodriguez when the goalkeeper was stranded off his line. Hernan Crespo had the ball in the net from a free-kick in the 12th minute, but the Swiss referee upheld English complaints that he had used his arm.

When the game settled down after a breathless 20 minutes, England found themselves playing deeper than they would have liked, with Gerrard and Frank Lampard operating almost level with King, and Rooney having to drop back well into his own half to pick up the ball.

England grew in confidence and on the half-hour were unlucky not to open the scoring. Gerrard halted an Argentine advance with a timely interception, and played Rooney into the space behind the defence. Rooney controlled the ball and beat Roberto Abbondanzieri almost without breaking his stride, but what appeared to be a goalbound shot rebounded off the post.

Just as England appeared to be gaining control Argentina struck, with Rooney guilty of losing the ball to Esteban Cambiasso just across the halfway line. Riquelme and Tevez swiftly transferred it to the right, where England were weakest. Rodriguez beat Bridge to cross, Rio Ferdinand fluffed his attempted clearance and Crespo scored from close range.

Three minutes later England were level. Argentina failed to clear their lines, David Beckham jumped to contest a loose ball and won, and Rooney did the rest. Facing goal from 10 yards out, Rooney advanced to bang the ball past Abbondanzieri, looking as if he, too, wanted to announce his arrival on the world stage with a goal against Argentina.

Paul Konchesky came on for the labouring Bridge at half-time and was soon feeling the pressure. When Riquelme drifted over a 53rd-minute free-kick for Ayala at the far post, it fell to England's substitute to contest the ball with the Argentine defender. He failed, and Roberto Ayala's header back across goal was forced over the line by Samuel.

Perhaps with three centre-halfs in the side, England ought to be better at defending aerial set pieces, but once Argentina were in the lead again the holding midfielder was deemed surplus to requirements and King made way for Joe Cole. Argentina withdrew into their own half to protect their lead and took off Crespo.

Lampard shot wide, not for the first time, when he might have scored, and with Rooney less menacing and Owen almost invisible England rarely looked like finding a way through again until the frantic closing minutes. Even when Ayala had to come off, Argentina held firm, and it seemed the closest Owen and England would get was in forcing a sharp save from Abbondanzieri when the striker tried to reach a rebound from a long-range Beckham free-kick.

Then Rooney came again, producing a superb chip four minutes from time that the keeper only just managed to keep out, and a cross from which Beckham could only head straight at the same pair of gloves. With three minutes remaining Gerrard hoisted a high ball from the right and found Owen at the far post. England were already celebrating - a draw was enough - but Owen saved the best till the very last, jumping across Peter Crouch in stoppage time to thump Cole's cross past Abbondanzieri's outstretched hand to secure a victory that will inevitably lead to the talking-up of England's prospects next summer.

'We know we've got a chance [in Germany]. No more than that and no less than that,' Owen said. 'Other teams have got a chance, too, but these results help us, they give us confidence. Tonight it could have gone either way. It showed that there is not much between the top teams in the world.'

Argentina Abbondanzieri; Ayala (Coloccini 75), Sorin, Zanetti, Demichelis; Samuel, Riquelme, Tevez, Rodriguez; Cambiasso, Crespo (Saviola 70). Subs not used Franco, Placente, Milito, Gonzalez, Cruz, Battaglia.

Booked Samuel, Rodriguez.

England Robinson; Young (Crouch 81), Ferdinand, Terry, Bridge (Konchesky ht); Beckham, King (Cole 59), Lampard, Gerrard; Rooney, Owen. Subs not used Green, James, P Neville, Campbell, Carrick, Jenas, Wright-Phillips, Smith, Defoe. Booked Young, Lampard, Cole.

Referee P Leuba (Switzerland) - strict.
The big dates for England

Friday 9 December: World Cup draw (Leipzig)

Wednesday 1 March: Friendly match (tba)

Friday 26 May: World Cup squad announcement deadline

Wed May 31 - Sun June 5: Two friendlies; dates, opponents tba

Friday 9 June: World Cup opening game (Final: Sunday 9 July)

[Toro]

Northern Ireland 1 Maginificent England 0

England will maybe get to the quarter-finals then roll over and die like they always go.

[GreatBriton]

We'll certainly progress further than the United States, who only manage to qualify for World Cups because they have to play minnows.

Since beating Argentina, England are now the 2nd favourites, after Brazil, to win the World Cup. Argentina are now 3rd favourites.

However, only ONCE has any South American team won the World Cup in Europe - that was when Brazil won it in 1958 in Sweden. So that's more good news for example - because neither Brazil or Argentina will win it!

And Diego Maradona recently said that England are the European team witht he best chance of winning the World Cup.

[GreatBriton]

Fire him! "All English are poofs", said Argentina players, who included Crespo who gets paid millions by...........English Champions Chelsea.

13 November 2005

AMAZING GAY TAUNT OF CRESPO BOYS

By Andy Dunn In Geneva

HATE-FILLED Argentine players arrived for last night's game here screaming an anti-English song while banging manically on coach windows.

And according to one Spanish-speaking onlooker, the chant translated roughly as..."All English are poofs."

I witnessed the astonishing scene as the Argentina team bus arrived at the ground a couple of hours before kick-off.

The picturesque venue was almost deserted when the coach rolled up but the peace was disturbed by the raucous singing and window-hammering of the Argy players, including Chelsea's Hernan Crespo (above).

Even after the coach had come to a halt the squad - dressed in blue-and-white tracksuits - stayed on board, jumping up and down and repeating a chant that apparently dates back to 1953.

The gist of the chant questions Englishmen's sexuality!

One Argentine onlooker said: "It is a song that goes back a long way. It is part of our folklore and is a tradition every time we play England."

The Argentina team famously taunted England from their team bus after winning on penalties in St Etienne at the 1998 World Cup. That outraged the England squad who returned the favour when they won 1-0 in Sapporo at World Cup 2002 (And we silenced them again last night).

And the animosity has clearly not lessened - even though this game was billed as a friendly.

Crespo - facing Chelsea team-mates John Terry and Frank Lampard - was among the more boisterous in the party.

In contrast, England arrived in sombre mood.

There was further controversy when Argentina fans were made to take down a banner which referred to the General Belgrano incident.

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13 November 2005

YOU CAN RULE WORLD, SAYS GUTTED CRESPO, ARGENTINA AND CHELSEA HERO

HERNAN CRESPO said England are good enough to win the World Cup after seeing them clinch a dramatic victory over his Argentina side.

Michael Owen's two late headers stunned Crespo & Co in Geneva, and left the Chelsea striker singing England's praises.

He declared: "I was impressed by everybody in the England team. And when I saw Joe Cole coming on as a substitute I realised how many great players England have. They played their best and it was a good match.

"England are good enough to win the World Cup, not just for this game but because they have the players. They are one of the favourites to win the World Cup."

Crespo insists Argentina also have the potential to succeed in Germany next year, but says England stunned them in Switzerland.

He said: "Nobody wants to lose this kind of friendly but we are so proud with our performance, we played very well.

"We didn't deserve to lose. A draw would have been the best result but when you play against a great team you must be careful in the last minutes."
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thepeople.co.uk

[Toro]

GreatBriton wrote:

We'll certainly progress further than the United States, who only manage to qualify for World Cups because they have to play minnows.

Since beating Argentina, England are now the 2nd favourites, after Brazil, to win the World Cup. Argentina are now 3rd favourites.

However, only ONCE has any South American team won the World Cup in Europe - that was when Brazil won it in 1958 in Sweden. So that's more good news for example - because neither Brazil or Argentina will win it!

And Diego Maradona recently said that England are the European team witht he best chance of winning the World Cup.

I certainly hope England gets further than the US. Not setting the bar very high, are you?

A European team is going to win it I'd think, but it ain't gonna be England. I dont think England has the temperment. All you need to know about England was that disgraceful performance against Brazil in Japan during the last tournament. After Ronaldhino was sent off, England didn't get a single shot on goal during the last 25 minutes of the match against a weak defense. Then Beckham said it was "Okay to lose to Brazil." Could you imagine Roy Keane saying that? They just bloody rolled over and died.

And I'm an England supporter.

[xerxes]

If any of the European teams make it, it will be either Italy or Holland. Both teams have owned in the qualifying tages.

[Toro]

Saturday's result

Holland 1-3 Italy.

Holland aren't as flamboyant as they have in the past but may be a better team. Van Basten has them playing well.

Italy is a legitamite threat. So is Germany. I'd also suggest Spain and the Czechs.

Brazil is still the best side in the world.

[xerxes]

Holland weren't good in that game, but that was the first game they lost since van Basten took over. They were also trying out a bunch of younger players while Italy weren't.

Germany won't be a threat. The Czechs and the Spaniards can't be counted out either, you're right in that.

[Toro]

Germany's always a threat and will get to the semis at least.

I'd also throw in Argentina and Portugal into the mix.

[xerxes]

I don't know about the Germans. I saw them play in the Confederations Cup this summer and they were not impressive in the least.

Personally, I would love to see an England v Argentina final. It will porbably be Brazil and some victim though.

[Toro]

xerxes wrote:

I don't know about the Germans. I saw them play in the Confederations Cup this summer and they were not impressive in the least.

Right. And they still got to the semi-finals. They got to the finals of 2002 with a very ordinary team. That's why you don't ever count out the Germans, especially when they are playing on their home soil.