Tonight's Football

[Worthy4England]

Having considered your post from many angles, I'm still at fcuk 'em.

Qualified by playing a "home" play-off against a war torn nation.

[BWFC_Insane]

Having considered your post from many angles, I'm still at fcuk 'em.

Qualified by playing a "home" play-off against a war torn nation.

Qualified to go out in the group stages. Great achievement but we will thump them.

[TANGODANCER]

Having considered your post from many angles, I'm still at fcuk 'em.

Qualified by playing a "home" play-off against a war torn nation.

Qualified to go out in the group stages. Great achievement but we will thump them.

Not playing like we did against Hungary, we won't. I'm a lifetime England fan, but Germany will smash us (next game) unless we make some changes.

[Bruce Rioja]

Also an England Wales game much more exciting than one against Ukraine.

They'll be bloody insufferable if they beat us.

All of a sudden, all these Welsh types who ordinarily couldn't give two hoots about football will be on the phone singing Men of Harlech.

[Worthy4England]

Also an England Wales game much more exciting than one against Ukraine.

They'll be bloody insufferable if they beat us.

All of a sudden, all these Welsh types who ordinarily couldn't give two hoots about football will be on the phone singing Men of Harlech.

About the only upside is the first time they've qualified since black and white tellys were a thing and The Purple People Eater was top of the charts, is that it's in Qatar where drinking in public is a crime. Some might get beheaded.

[TANGODANCER]

1966 and all that. Not the Normans, but the Germans tonight as we invade Munich. Quite a few unfamiliar names in the German side (and probably ours) and we'll really have to be a fair bit better than when we lost to Hungary last game. If Shaw isn't injured
Id expect to see him in at left back with Harry Maguire going more central. Bowen is a new boy and Sterling should come back in as may Stones and Henderson.

Come on you Three Lions...

[boltonboris]

If he plays an experimental, or defensive side against these and loses, there'll be a few people calling for his head

It's incredible that he's the most successful manager in most of our lifetimes, but yet still doesn't really inspire much confidence. Perhaps we're just scared

[TANGODANCER]

Records will read 1-1 draw in Germany, but it was the Germans that impressed. Classy football and surprised they haven't won any yet. Three draws. We had our chances but they always looked the more dangerous.. Glad Kane scored, he works hard enough but is a bit off the boil. Same with Sterling. Grealish again the difference for us. Football isn't only played with the feet anymore. Muller gets on my wick with his moaning and appealing for everything. Okay, he a top striker, but....and I have never liked Neur but he made a couple of top saves tonight.

Oh, and Kyle Walker managed to take a throw in in less then a minute. Record.

[Worthy4England]

Aye. Second best tonight...but we'll take an away point.

[boltonboris]

I thought we created some great, clear-cut chances. Despite being a disjointed performance, we had enough to win the game twice over

[Worthy4England]

If you're going to fix matches, at least have a good go at it!

South African clubs banned for life after two games see 41 own goals scored with results of 33-1 and 59-1

South African fourth-tier sides Matiyasi FC, Shivulani Dangerous Tigers, Kotoko Happy Boys and Nsami Mighty Birds have been banned for life after being found guilty of fixing matches. Tigers and Matiyasi were fighting for the top position to gain promotion; the former claimed a 33-1 win over Happy Boys as Matiyasi defeated Mighty Birds 59-1.

This obviously caught the attention of administrators and investigations were done, with the clubs found guilty.

What happened in the South African fourth division?

"Our investigation found Matiyasi and Nsami wanted to stop Shivulani, who at the time were leading with a three-point gap and a goal difference of 16, from topping the league so they agreed on fixing the match to prevent this from happening," Vincent Ramphago, who is the president of the Mopani region, told BBC Sport Africa.

"After hearing Matiyasi were leading 22-0 at half-time, Shivulani colluded to have Kotoko Happy Boys remove players from the field. The players who came off said they were tired, leaving their team with only seven players.

"In the Matiyasi game meanwhile, the referee gave players red cards so that ended up with seven players.

"When the teams had previously met in March, the scorelines were considerably more sober, with Matiyasi beating Mighty Birds 2-1 while Dangerous Tigers drew 2-2 with Happy Boys."

The administrator further said that many of the goals had not even been properly registered by match officials.

"We found the referee was just writing - 'player number 2 scored 10 goals, player number 5 scored 20 goals' and so on - but there were 41 own goals so how were they recording these?", he said.

[Bruce Rioja]

Hansie Cronje was an amateur.

[TANGODANCER]

Also an England Wales game much more exciting than one against Ukraine.

They'll be bloody insufferable if they beat us.

All of a sudden, all these Welsh types who ordinarily couldn't give two hoots about football will be on the phone singing Men of Harlech.

Ah, now then...if the Welsh have one redeeming feature it's their Male Voice choirs. I freely confess I love to hear them. England have brass bands, Scotland the bagpipes and Ireland their ceilidhs, but Wales can do it A-Cappella and still sound Heavenly. Sorry

[TANGODANCER]

Some nice football on display ( when we finally got transmission at half time) in the England v Kosovo U21s'. England won 5-0. A few decent young players out there, Archer, Aaron etc. Hope for the future.

[TANGODANCER]

0-0 with Italy. Decent game, new faces did well; Timori was a rock in defence and an intelligent one at that. M.O.T.M Grealish streets ahead of the rest in his thinking and anticipation. Not a Kane game unless he scores early and gets subbed later. As might be expected, a physical affair but good to see us doing our bit and not being bullied.

[TANGODANCER]

England under 21s' lost 1-2 to Slovenia.We simply couldn't dominate or break down a determined midfield and defence . Their first goal was a header scored by an England defender from a dodgy free kick decision by a seemingly pro Slovenia ref. Their second was a bullet header which, whilst good, should have been defended better. We only seemed to wake up i the last twenty minutes when we scored a good goal, and by then it was way too late. Another example of a determined physical side beating the fancy Dans.

[TANGODANCER]

England 0 Hungary 4. Not sure where Southgate's head is at at the moment. Totally outplayed by a far better team. Kane looks lost wandering around, half the players are newcomers and Saka just isn't up for this level. Ref a total pancake, sent Stones off for a blatant con ; not the first, by the Magyars.

Not sure where Grealish is? Bringing Harry Maguire on with five minutes to play and 3-0 down; what was that about? Damage limitation? Didn't matter, they scored again. 4-0 is embarrassing for a supposed good side. In short, we were rubbish. Unsurprisingly, we're bottom of our league , lost two, drawn 2, won none.

[Mar]

England 0 Hungary 4. Not sure where Southgate's head is at at the moment. Totally outplayed by a far better team. Kane looks lost wandering around, half the players are newcomers and Saka just isn't up for this level. Ref a total pancake, sent Stones off for a blatant con ; not the first, by the Magyars.

This ref was the one who reffed the CL final. Expected better from him but yet again we're left looking at refereeing decisions against Hungary in utter bemusement. Dodgy penalty first game against Hungary and dodgy yellow to send off Stones.

Saka was awful.

Southgate seems like he doesn't know how to change a match for the better. So many instances of chances to change games but no clear improvements made. When its not working, it continues to not work. Southgate needs some tactical help.

As much as we can turn around and say the players are tired after a long season, i'm fairly certain that we can make an argument for players staking their claim for a place in the World Cup.

Not sure where Grealish is? Bringing Harry Maguire on with five minutes to play and 3-0 down; what was that about? Damage limitation? Didn't matter, they scored again. 4-0 is embarrassing for a supposed good side. In short, we were rubbish. Unsurprisingly, we're bottom of our league , lost two, drawn 2, won none.

Maguire is a like for like sub after Stones got sent off for being on the pitch.

[Worthy4England]

That just looked like a makeshift XI...

[Bruce Rioja]

Regardless of the spin, these games are still ultimately friendlies. Training sessions. Exactly the games in which we find out who and what does and doesn't work.

I really couldn't give two hoots about the result.