EURO 2004 COUNTDOWN
Won't it be refreshing to get down to serious football action on Wednesday night after a week of newspaper diatribe on everything football from whether David Beckham will be learning Catalan, Spanish or even Italian, to the eve-of-clash verbal bashing of David James. Then, there's always the continued hype surrounding a certain Wayne Rooney, of course.
I was particularly interested in the comments of England's World Cup winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks who has been quoted as saying he didn't think the West Ham keeper 'is the right man for the job' before adding: "He's okay on his line and is a good shot-stopper but he's a nightmare when he comes off his line."
All I can say is, having known David for something like a dozen years, that I reckon his response would be something along the lines of 'Gordon is entitled to his opinion but the only opinion I have to satisfy is that of the man who picks the team, and my own'. Say no more.
Back to the game against Slovakia and, after the niceties of friendlies against South Africa and Serbia-Montenegro, there are valuable Euro 2004 qualifying points at stake at the Riverside on Wednesday night and with the Turks going back to the top of the group at the weekend, courtesy of a narrow 1-0 win over Slovakia, England must win to regain pole position ahead of their crucial visit to Turkey later in the year.
Most of the debate in the media has centred on the campaign to select Rooney as Michael Owen's partner in spearheading the England attack. Sven's team will not be announced until later on Wednesday but it's a very badly kept secret that the Everton striker will be unleashed on Slovakia because the only thing better than having a speed merchant in your attack is, to have two.
Besides, Sven, like all of us over here who have seen the 17-year-old Goodison sensation play, knows that, internationally, Wayne is still very much an unknown quantity. Not that other national teams don't know what he can do but it is so early in his international career that teams have not yet worked out how to cope with his extraordinary talents.
Slovakia are not as good a side as Turkey and the Turks couldn't cope with the youngster, on his full debut, so I don't hold out much hope of the Slovaks preventing Rooney from becoming the youngest scorer in England's 131-year international history.
The last two of years of that long history have been bereft of an international goal for Paul Scholes. But, despite a prolific scoring record for his club in last season's championship triumph the gem in England's 'diamond' formation is confident of ending that drought soon. He says: "The diamond formation allows me to get forward more, which is what I like to do."
The Manchester United midfielder also added, in what might be considered an early warning for Slovakia: "If I'm not scoring I'm not happy. It's been a long time since I've scored for England - two years. You do think about it because in my mind I'm a goalscorer.
"I may not be a striker but I see myself as a goalscorer. That's what people expect of me and that's what I'm always looking to do. The manager has kept faith with me even though the goals haven't been going in of late. It's great to know he has got that confidence in me and it would be nice to repay that confidence with a goal. To get one on Wednesday would be great."
One player who didn't have to wait long for a goal is Slovakia's Szilard Nemeth, who will be playing, literally, on his home pitch. The Boro striker, who scored in his country's 2-1 home defeat by England feels that his country can upset England. He says: "We were disappointed not to beat England in Bratislava because we played very well. Our strength is that we play as a team. If we are going to beat England we have to play as a team."
However Nemeth, having had first hand experience, has warned his fellow Slovak players, of the threat posed by the strike pair of Owen and Rooney. Nemeth says: "Michael Owen is the player we fear the most and Rooney is a great player. I saw him play against Turkey and I was very impressed."
Southgate, Scholes and one or two others aside, it is essentially a young England team but Sven's not worried about them handling the situation and says: "Maybe there is a lack of experience - but for the future it's very good. It doesn't worry me. We have some players out but I don't want to talk about them today. I'm confident we will do a very good job tomorrow."
Nothing less than three points will be good enough for England if they are to keep the pressure on group leaders Turkey, but Sven is not expecting an easy ride from the Slovaks and he says: "They are a fighting team who never give up and create chances. Physically they are strong and they seem to be in good shape - so I expect a difficult game.
"I think Slovakia played very well against Turkey on Saturday - especially in the second half. They deserved to draw the game and it was a good performance from them. Some games 20 years ago were easy - take Turkey for example. Where do you go now and find an easy game? Greece won in Spain which would not have happened 20 years ago."
