5 of the best England vs. Wales meetings

November 16th 1966: England 5 – 1 Wales

Jack and Bobby Charlton became the last siblings to score for England in a single game as the World Champions thrashed their neighbours in an emphatic 5-1 victory. World Cup final, hat trick hero Geoff Hurst had put England 2-0 up before Wales pulled one back, however the Charlton brothers struck either side of an own goal to complete the convincing victory.

May 31st 1977: England 0 – 1 Wales

This famous Welsh victory marks their first, and so far, only win at Wembley Stadium. England’s most-capped player, Peter Shilton brought Leighton James down in the box and gave him the opportunity to covert the resultant penalty to the delight of the travelling fans. The result was quite a shock for an England side sporting the likes of Phil Neal, Emlyn Hughes and Kevin Keegan. Fabio Capello will be glad Wales didn’t double that win tally at Wembley last Tuesday.

May 17th 1980: Wales 4 – 1 England

The ironically named Mike England got off to a flyer in his eight-year spell as the Welsh national manager as his side stunned Ron Greenwood’s England team, who had taken the lead early on, by cruising to a 4-1 triumph. Leighton James yet again returned to haunt England with one of the goals whilst it was a day to forget for Liverpool legend Phil Thompson as his comical own-goal completed the embarrassing defeat in the friendly at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.

May 2nd 1984: Wales 1 – 0 England

England’s next visit to the Racecourse Ground was just as fruitless as the previous as an impressive Welsh side boasting the likes of Joey Jones, Neville Southall and Ian Rush battled their way to a 1-0 success with debutant Mark Hughes netting the only goal of the tie in the 17th minute. Wales held on for the rest of the game, against a relatively inexperienced England team led by Bobby Robson, to win the match which proved to be the final Wales and England meeting in a Home Nations Championship.

October 9th 2004: England 2 – 0 Wales

An attacking Sven Goran-Eriksson England team, featuring a front three of Jermain Defoe, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney comfortably overcame a worryingly weak Wales side, this time managed by Mark Hughes. Rio Ferdinand was recalled following his eight-month ban for missing a drugs test and Frank Lampard gave England the lead inside the first five minutes at the Millenium Stadium, but in typically spectacular style it was David Beckham who stole the headlines. In the second half his stunning, trademark curling strike from outside the area flew past goalkeeper Paul Jones to secure the victory. Beckham’s reckless booking was also later revealed to have been a deliberate stunt to earn him a suspension in a game he would’ve missed through injury anyway, sparking outrage amongst some of football’s leading bodies.

West Ham vs. Chelsea Preview

At this moment in time it’s very difficult to be a happy West Ham United supporter. It’s difficult to determine whether the recent transfer window can be deemed a stable success or an uninspiring, gutless failure. And it’s difficult to be optimistic with regards to gaining anything at all from today’s game against our frighteningly powerful and convincing champion neighbours, Chelsea.
Whether the transfer window slamming shut on that fateful evening proves to be an upward path for the better, or a slippery slope to the championship, one thing remains certain; it will be an evening of great significance for the future of the club. Whilst we held onto the talismanic figure of Scott Parker, much to the delight of David Sullivan’s ego, along with our, once, vibrant English core of Robert Green, Matthew Upson and Carlton Cole, we have received nothing in terms of the ‘David Beckham’s, ‘Thierry Henry’s or ‘Ronaldinho’s whose monstrous reputations were conveniently linked to our club at peak season ticket selling periods. Perhaps David Sullivan and his partner in crime, David Gold, should realise that, like themselves, West Ham fans are not idiots. Our persistent season ticket purchases are not in the wake of outlandish, fabricated rumours but unquestionable loyalty and the desire to see our commitment matched on the pitch.
Perhaps in the days of FA Cup finals, Carlos Tevez and Eggert Magnusson, we may have lost touch with reality and been drawn in by the exaggerated claims of Champions League dreams, but after recent seasons, our expectations have been sent crashing down to earth with such imbalanced periods of mediocrity or turbulence. Our support has become so cynical that even in the honourable situation of our player being called up for international duty, we’d bet good money on an injury being sustained. Or even if we destroyed Chelsea by six goals today, a loss at Stoke the following week would be a distinct possibility. The one thing we ask for is commitment. Even if we lose today by a comfortable amount of goals, if I see some display of passion I will the leave the stadium a much happier Hammer than when I entered. If I see, even one hard, meaningful challenge on Frank Lampard by anyone but Scott Parker or Mark Noble, or even something as little as Carlton Cole viciously shrug off John Terry as he advances in on goal, I will take some salvation and attempt to accept we have the foundations to remain in this incredibly competitive division, but at the moment I am struggling to see the passion we need to survive. There is an absolute lack of fight which was evident in our last great escape or even the eventual relegation in 2003.
David Sullivan has even conceded that some want-away foreign employees ‘couldn’t be bothered’ to play for us during the trading season in the expectancy of a move, but as these haven’t materialised, I hope he is right in saying they have no choice but to now pull up their socks and battle for the team, I don’t care whether that is to keep West Ham in the Premiership or to cement their place in the shop window, but it is in the best interests of the likes of Valon Behrami, who have flirted with brilliance but never quite achieved it, to make a name for themselves. Whether Avram Grant has the physical drive to fire these players up to do so, is debatable.
I was disappointed with the appointment of the dour Grant. His uninspiring nature and, in my opinion; inexperience did not make him the standout contender for the role of the Mr. Fresh the owners wished for. Although he has seemingly achieved some success in England, this was all handed to him on a plate and he has, effectively, created nothing of his own. But now we are stuck with him. We mustn’t take the lead of the ridiculously predictable, lazy ‘News Of The World’ story that he has ‘3 games to save his job’, as they attempt to destabilise us and foreseeably jump on the bandwagon of our failure. This is Grant’s chance to create his own dynasty and we must get behind him.
We could all see that this would be a difficult start to the season and although it’s disappointing; being pointless at this stage was always a possibility. It seems ridiculous that three games in to the campaign you are all subject to a worried, relegation-threatened article, but it is likelihood we’ve all accepted many a time, only to be proved wrong and reminded why we love football so much. This is a long season, and now we’ve selected a 25 man-squad, we are without the playing staff uncertainty previously suffered and are given the stability needed to mount some kind of form. So let’s enjoy today, there is no pressure for us to get anything from the game, it’s a London derby and who knows? We can be a funny old team.

Fans already suffer injuries in South Africa; why they should never have got the world cup and England must host the 2018 tournament

Worrying news from South Africa’s warm-up game consists of 14 fans being injured in another crowd crushing incident. Suggestions of another potential tragedy, reminiscent of the Hillsborough disaster will soon rise to the surface of the media and yet again South Africa’s ability to host a successful, and most importantly, safe world cup is yet again cast in doubt.
Terrorist attacks are a distinct possibility in this particular world cup and following the attack on Togo’s team bus during the African Cup Of Nations recently, it appears it’s not only the fans who are in danger. Fans are being advised on where not to go during hours of darkness due to car theft and shootings; clearly this world cup has the potential to be an absolute disaster.
Admittedly it’s refreshing for an African nation to host the world cup, and if you had to choose one it would have to be South Africa. They’re certainly the more developed country of the continent and have experience in hosting sporting events from the 1995 rugby world cup and the 2003 cricket world cup but the football world cup is on a whole different level and FIFA have taken a major gamble in allowing it to be held in a politically unstable, economically weak, third world country.
I’m sure the tournament will help to bring in large amounts of money for South Africa to develop into a prosperous region, but remarkably slow ticket sales in terms of a tournament as distinguished as the world cup due to inflated prices will certainly be worrying the organisers. Before their bid was successful, the country was in absolutely no position, in terms of hotels, roads, airports and most importantly stadiums to host an event of the FIFA World Cup’s monstrous nature and so billions of dollars have been pumped into the country making this the most expensive world cup to date.
The harsh reality of this glamorous tournament is, it could destroy the profile of South Africa as a tourist attraction rather than raise it if some form of disaster did take place (and that is certainly not out of the question). And, as the sporting world gracefully drifts on with another world cup under it’s belt it could leave the country further crippled in financial mess. This inconsiderate risk taken by FIFA may pay off for South Africa, and hopefully it does, but it’s one that should not be taken again and that’s why England should defiantly be considered for the next world cup.
London could probably get away with hosting a world cup as a city, let alone the entire nation. With glamorous stadiums such as Wembley, Old Trafford and the Emirates already in place, the tournament would be of minimal cost to the country in comparison to it’s predecessors and has the potential to be one of the best ever.
Although the slanderous antics of Lord Triesman have hindered England’s chances I’m sure that FIFA president, Sepp Blatter will look beyond this fault and see how England is perfect as a host nation. Blatter has previously indicated he considers England as “the motherland of football” and suggested that World Cup 2018 will return to a European country. Along with this advantage England have the benefit of the prestigious face of David Beckham heading the campaign as well as the international appeal of our Premier League, it’s certainly a substantial offer and we have a great chance of winning the bid. Crowd-violence is unjustly, still associated with this country and the disgrace of the F.A. cup clash between West Ham and Millwall may have worsened England’s argument, but, if an appropriate degree of research is employed into England, the outsider will surely realise that hooliganism is practically non-existent in British football and is certainly a lesser threat to the tournament in comparison to South Africa’s general crime rate.
Russia, Holland and Spain are worthy opponents to England amongst other Asian countries but it must be obvious to everyone that England is defiantly a better option than South Africa ever was. With the infrastructure firmly in place, our country is waiting for an opportunity like this to help rebuild it’s economy, carry it out of recession and solidify England’s position amongst the elite in the world of football.