BTW, the headline for that Guardian article was Brilliant England swat Croatia aside to seal World Cup passage"[/b]

Blimey, mr bj. You don't half labour a pint. Sensationalist press adjectives aside.

But it was your link to an article. That article agreed with me, that England were brilliant

Do you not think that I read the article first, before providing the link ? If so, then you should credit me with having posted an opinion by someone carried away by the occasion and writing OTT adjectives.

England were not brilliant.I reserve those praises to the Brasil of 1970 and the Hungary team with Puskas, Kocsis and Bozsik (which I just remember), all probably before that journalist was born. So, to be fair, he has little by which to compare and he's free to use all the journalistic license at his disposal. But that isn't the same thing as having an objective appraisal. Albeit tempered by more objective comments about the present Croatia team ...

I give up HH. You've worn me down. I surrender. The White flag is up. I commit Hari Kari

The current England team look like the West Ham under 15's of a decade (or so) ago.

If they could've stayed together West Ham might be the current Champions League Champions

The current England team look like the West Ham under 15's of a decade (or so) ago.

If they could've stayed together West Ham might be the current Champions League Champions

Hmm. Lampard, Defoe (16), Cole, Carrick, Rio -- to name but a few. So perhaps if the likes of Tevez, Benayoun, etc, etc, etc. were added to the youth academy players, then perhaps that's not such a completely wild call.

But as a cockney, i.e. being born well within the West Ham manor, I would have thought you'd have some sympathy with the OP's sentiments.

PostScript

I know that Terry joined Chelsea's youth set up at 14, but I think that he was also on West Ham's books as a boy.