Forgive me if it's somewhat insensitive to pose the question so soon after England's crushing, humiliating loss to the Croatians; perhaps the gaping, agonizing wounds and abrasions have not yet healed, but I cannot help but wonder whom the bigsoccer public consider the superior soccer outfit between the two nations. Right now, I think it's a valid comparision. If we look at the following table, we'll see that they're both on the same number of points, and thus, pretty evenly-matched... ----------P-----W-----D-----L------GF---GA----PTS Croatia--12----9------2------1-----28------8------29 Russia---12----7------3------2-----18------7------24 England-12----7------2------3------24-----7------23 Israel-----12----7-----2------3------20------12----23 Perhaps, the slight edge should go to England, although after watching their bumbling error- prone debacle against the Croats, I'm not so sure. It's a tough choice... Bridge or Avi Strool? Rooney or Yossi Benayoun? Carson or Aouate? Defoe or Toto Tamuz? Lescott or Dedi Ben Dayan? The more I think about it, the more I have to side with the Israelis. What do you think?
haha, i love the israeli national team, but i dont think we are better than england just yet.. but by the time world cup 2010 qualifying is under way next year, we should be ready. WE have a bunch of young stars, Barda, ben sahar, gai assulin (hopefully he plays for us from barcelona youth), and a few others. this time israel will make world cup 2010
Who is better: Italy or Scotland? Looks like Italy has a slight edge as long as the referee is their 12th man.
Yup. Are you still bitter about the Battle of Santiago and Chile never winning anything of importance? Troll harder.
Since I'm in the mood and haven't posted on Bigsoccer for ages. I'll take your points seriously and answer as balanced as I can. You are correct, looking at that table the two teams are evenly matched. This is correct if your solely basing your argument on the JUST league standing. Looking at the above, England have scored 4 more goals and conceded 5 less. Giving them an advantage of nine goals over Israel. So yes, England has the slight edge. OK then, so first of all you give England the slight edge over Israel by looking at the league standings, which takes into account of 12 games. Then by just one game, England v Croatia, you side with the Israelis. Basing this on the fact that Defoe, Lescott, Carson, and Bridge are all England starters. First of all, McClaren (that is the former England coach btw) made a big mistake against Croatia, any other manager would has started with Robinson. Robinson should have started, and rightly so since he had kept 9 clean sheets in 11 games in the qualifying round. And of course Ashley Cole would have started over Bridge, Ferdinand or Terry would have started over Lescott, and Owen, Rooney, or Andy Johnson would have started over Defoe....(infact Defoe didn't even start the game against Croatia). You see, England were missing their entire back FIVE against Croatia. Robinson, G. Neville, Ferdinand, Terry, A. Cole. And that is why England were so diabolical at defending. Why is it important? 9 clean sheets in 11 games prior to the Croatia game. Conceding absolutely ZERO numbder of goals at Wembley. Add to the fact that Rooney, and Owen were missing. That's SEVEN key players that normally start for England didn't play. The critics say that England didn't look like a team. Well no wonder. Looking at Israel v England results head to head. Well, England drew in Israel and beat Israel at home 3-0. Whereas England took 4 points away from Israel, Israel took only 1 point. You see, you have to take into account a lot of things and not just one game and the reasons for them. Englands results -------------Home --- Away ---- Agg Israel ------ 3-0 -- 0-0 ------ 3-0 Andorra ----- 5-0 -- 3-0 ------ 8-0 Croatia ----- 2-3 -- 0-2 ------ 2-5 Estonia ----- 3-0 -- 3-0 ------ 6-0 Macedonia --- 0-0 -- 1-0 ------ 1-0 Russia ------ 3-0 -- 1-2 ------ 3-2 Israels results -------------Home -- Away ---- Agg England ----- 0-0 -- 0-3 ----- 0-3 Andorra ----- 4-1 -- 2-0 ----- 6-1 Croatia ----- 3-4 -- 0-1 ----- 3-5 Estonia ----- 4-0 -- 1-0 ----- 5-0 Macedonia --- 1-0 -- 2-1 ----- 3-1 Russia ------ 2-1 -- 1-1 ----- 3-2 Quickly looking at the above. *England scored more goals *England conceded less *England kept 9 clean sheets to Israels 5. *Aggregate score, only Croatia got the better of England. *Aggregate score, only Croatia and ENGLAND got the better of Israel. I'd say an England/Israel XI would include 3 Israeli players maximum, most probably two. Any proffesional coach in the world would agree with me. So, who is better? England or Israel? I'd say England.
Obviously England is a much better side in terms of quality. But what you do with that quality is a different story...
a little bit off topic but since this has been brought up by Pigs: I was wondering were the media and fans in England ripping McLarens for the GK change before the game? Because over here, it seems that it was accepted as a no-brainer because of Robinson recent performances.
Good post. You've changed my mind. I think England are probably on the same level as Israel and could give them a run for their money any day of the week.