The US are already lagging behind their rivals in World Cup qualifying. Their defenders in particular will need to improve at a venue where they are winlessIf there was any consolation for USA after the 2-1 defeat to Mexico on Friday night ended the 15-year sequence of 2-0 wins in Columbus, it might have been that no record lasts forever. And as the team move on to their next World Cup qualifier in San Jose on Tuesday night, they could really do with doing what no US team has ever done in 10 games — win in Costa Rica.To anyone who finds that 0-8-2 record in Costa Rica puzzling, given that the US beat Costa Rica 4-0 in the Copa...
Gareth Southgate seems on course to land the England job, Wales slip up, Republic of Ireland must stifle Gareth Bale and Spain warm up for WembleyCurrently there are no outstanding teams in international football. In part this is down to concentration of money in the club game, which has led to the world’s best players converging at fewer clubs than ever before. But to look at the winners of the last World Cup and European Championship, and to look at the South American giants, is to look at a fallow period across the board. Which is to say that it has never been easier to succeed, which is to say that England stand on the verge of opportunity. Though they...
After almost four years in office Strachan has provided no tangible progress and it is time for Scotland to seek better leadership elsewhereScotland’s followers are in danger of wanting to stop the world before leaping off. In what has curiously grown as a theory relating to the country’s troubled international set-up, some would have us believe the identity of manager is irrelevant because of the pitiful resources he has at his disposal. Shoulders shrug as bad results accumulate.This does a disservice to what Scotland can call upon. It also offers tacit admission of one of Gordon Strachan’s most glaring failings: not maximising what he has at his disposal. Nations who have achieved far more than Scotland in recent times would...
Giving England an identity will be Gareth Southgate’s big challenge as full-time manager, Gordon Strachan’s future looks bleak and Lallana’s quality was keyForget the reality that the scoreline felt rather deceptive at times, with this far from pristine. The Football Association has a formal process still to undertake, which will now include the input of Howard Wilkinson, but the appointment of Gareth Southgate on a permanent basis is surely a formality. England head into the winter lull clear at the top of this group, unbeaten now in 33 qualifying games, with the interim manager having taken seven points from three matches. Even a humiliating defeat by Spain in Tuesday’s friendly is unlikely to damage his chances of being offered the...
The interim manager will now surely be appointed on a permanent basis but while England finished well against Scotland there were the usual deficienciesOver to you then, Gareth. On a cold, still night in north London England’s players pulled themselves up to their full height and produced a display that was enough first to see off a limited Scotland team and second to ensure, in all probability, that England’s temp-to-perm manager can now take the job on as permanent a basis as these things ever get.For England there was always a degree of additional self-inflicted tension about this World Cup qualifier. Having lost two managers in three months, they had the chance here to lose another by all-but declaring Southgate’s...