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November 25 WelcomeWelcome to my on-line diary where, thanks to MSN, I'll be keeping you up to date with my news of life at Newcastle United and England as we prepare for the World Cup finals in Germany next summer. Everyone in England is getting very excited about our chances after we beat Argentina 3-2 in Zurich recently, but to I'm not the kind of person to get carried away with our results - whether they're good or bad. The reason for that is that although it was, of course, fantastic to beat Argentina and much as games against them are always special, I'm not convinced that result makes a huge difference for next summer. The same goes for disappointing results, like the one against Denmark or Northern Ireland. Losing to Northern Ireland was not good but in terms of our chances of winning the World Cup it probably only made half a percent difference. And likewise beating Argentina perhaps makes 1% difference the other way. It boosts our confidence but it doesn't truly alter our chances. I'm not going to get over excited when we win and I'm not going to get depressed when we lose. The England team is full confidence. We know we've got a good team; we don't need to read newspaper reports about great victories over Argentina to realise that, and reports destroying us for losing to Northern Ireland don't faze us. I would rate our chances alongside five or six other teams. Most people have Brazil down as favourites and I would agree with that. They're probably out in front but then there are a number of teams with very little between them and we're amongst those teams - England, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Holland, Spain, and the Czech Republic. We'll go there thinking we can win it; England fans can rest assured of that. Ronaldinho and the Madrid derbyIt's a privilege to be sharing this website with a player like Ronaldinho. I played against him while I was in Spain with Real Madrid and of course I watched him play against my former club on television last weekend - when he scored two fantastic goals. Everyone talks about his tricks but even without them he would be an excellent footballer - the sheer pace and strength of him is amazing and so often gets overlooked by people. Add the tricks, the skills and the vision in as well and he's almost unplayable on his day - as Real Madrid found out! It's not just about Ronaldinho, though: Barcelona did very well as a team, I'm a big fan of Samuel Eto'o, who I think is a fantastic striker, and Xavi Hernández in midfield, plus they have some great players coming through - the Argentinian Leo Messi, who's only 18, looks a fantastic prospect; it's a shame he didn’t play against England. Barcelona are playing some of the best football in Europe at the moment and Ronaldinho is awesome - so good, in fact, that even the Madrid fans gave him an ovation, which was incredible to see. Real had a number of players coming back from injury and it was a tough time to get Barça. Then again, the way Barça and Ronaldinho are playing at the moment ... |
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