Soccerati.net - The World Cup

It was too convenient for Steve McLaren to please the media by cutting off David Beckham and placing Lampard and Gerrard in the starting XI.

The England fans were delighted because they wanted to see changes after their country’s exit in FIFA World Cup 2006 and the brave moves made by Steve made him popular to deliver them to the promised land.

The fantasy is over and more than England fans care to admit, Steve’s decision backfired against them as they move closer to elimination.

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Romario scored his 999th goal with Vasco de Gama against Flamengo in their 3-0 win at Maracana stadium.

Romario’s goal came on the 79th minute and was supposed to score his 1000th goal on the 87th count if not for the heroic save of Flamengos goalkeeper.

Good for Romario as he only needs one goal for a historic; not so good because he wished he could score that goal at Maracana. His next game would be against Americano at Sao Januario stadium on Wednesday.

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Gary Neville is itching to play for England in their qualifier for Uefa Euro 2008; but his injury prevents him from helping this teamates avoid disqualification for Uefa Euro more 14 months from now.

He believes that Israel is going to be a tough team to beat and the hopes of England rests on the shoulders of Wayne Rooney and John Terry. Anything can happen and it is not a remote possibility that England may not qualify no matter how unacceptable that may be.

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Why is Jamie Carragher rallying the players for their Saturday’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel in Tel Aviv?

Jamie says that the England players should play in the same fashion as they did during the Champions League this season. He stress the importance of winning against Israel especially after their sub-par performance with Macedonia and Croatia in October.

I second the motion that England players can thrive under pressure and one of Jamie’s example was their (Liverpool) comeback against Barcelona despite being in Europe.

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The heart of Owen Hargreaves has completely moved from Bayern Munich to Manchester United.

His value rose after his superb performance in FIFA World Cup 2006 as the midfielder of England.

Manchester United never stopped courting the midfielder placing a lot of value in him.

Manchester made it clear to the 26-year old star that he is the final piece to Manchester United’s driving force.

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Zheng-Zhi made sure Charlton kept their hopes alive in the Premiership by taking care of business.

The Chinese international captain made his people and Charlton proud by scoring a 54th minute headed goal. 34 minutes later the midfielder won a penalty that saw Jerome Thomas netting the ball.

Their 2-0 win against Newcastle is very important as they try to hold on to Premiership.

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The tandem of Ronaldo and Rooney gets better everytime they step on the pitch. Individually, Rooney seems to have finally learned the offside rule while Ronaldo learned the horizontal movement and passing skills.

On a combined note, Ronaldo and Rooney are dancing the tango together ensuring better chemistry as time goes by.

Rooney’s second goal against Bolton Wanderers (includes video)

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The never ending saga between Ronaldo, Real Madrid and Barcelona has more buzz than reality into it.

Manchester United has a lock on the 21-year-old superstar until 2010 and I have no doubt they would exercise that right with full force. Cristiano Ronaldo is being courted by Real Madrid for the longest time; but as good as it sounds, the once dominant club has more failure than success on it. Cristiano Ronaldo would not have any patience on a club as chaotic as Real Madrid.

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Arsene Wenger earlier accused France of misusing Thierry Henry that led to the superstar strikers fatigue and condition.

Wenger points out

I feel Henry has been badly managed by France.

It was a friendly, so why did they need to play him in the whole game? And he has played every friendly since, when he was already on his knees.

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Lionel Messi is powering Argentina to the next FIFA World Cup; as such, Argentina has rocketed to the number one World Rankings.

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