Oh right, there's Euro 2008 qualifying matches...

Apologies for the lack of posting on my end, but another international break combined with utter silliness at work has brought us to this point.

That, and I just can’t get ginned up over England’s Euro 2008 qualifying matches, even though Saturday’s game against Israel is as make or break as one can get at this stage of qualifying. If England lose, they’ll probably sit in 4th place, possibly 5th, in the group with nearly half the games played and games still to come against all who would sit ahead of them (Russia twice).

Maybe it’s the fact England’s just as boring under McClaren as under Eriksson, but even less effective. Maybe it’s because based on past performances in the group, England probably doesn’t deserve to qualify.

My guess though is it’s because this is yet another stage in the squandering of an incredible generation of talent, and it’s getting really tiresome.

Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand, Carragher, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Owen. These are “world class” players who play for some of the best clubs in the world, let alone England. You can even argue there are more names worth of being on that list. Why the hell can they not perform as a team??? And I don’t mean to be glib, but if you can name 4 Israeli players without looking up a team sheet, you’re more informed than I am. And Israel should probably be favored, even if they didn’t have home advantage, simply based on England’s form.

I understand the injuries. I understand that there’s an adjustment to a new manager, although that grace period is fading and the fact remains there’s been little change in style except for the absolutely abysmal attempt at 3-5-2. What I do not understand is no matter how well these players know each other, no matter how many times the exact starting line-up goes out, or how many younger players get a brief look in, the team has gotten no better. We’ve had the same “Gerrard v Lampard or both” debate going on for years now!

Of course, I’ll still await the result with interest; supporting the English team is what brought me to Liverpool and started my descent into being a huge football nerd. And I’ll be awaiting the result because I’m certainly not spending $20 to watch England flail through the match on pay-per-view. The alcohol that can be bought with that money will probably amuse me far more.