England always come second says Beenhakker.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
National head coach Leo Beenhakker taunted England a little more than two weeks before the both teams meet in Nuremberg by suggesting that they are always overrated going into major tournaments and have flopped at all since 1966. Whether they can come better in 2006 is another question.
Beenhakker made the bold statements as he addressed members of the media following the Wales match in Graz on Saturday. Most of the journalists were from the United Kingdom and Beenhakker reminded them that they were not the only team to consider going into the tournament, adding that T&T’s first concern were the Swedes on June 10.
“They always have fantastic players. England are one of the favourites for the World Cup because of the talents they have but they have to show it. England have fantastic players, one of the strongest leagues in the world and a population of 50 million. These guys should be prepared for everything but they never win. All I see with my eyes wide open is a team that doesn't perform when it comes to the World Cup and the European Championships,” Beenhakker said.
When asked how T&T would now prepare for England, the Dutchman replied: “You are talking about England? Everything is centred around England and our finals begin against Sweden and we have 14 days to go and we have two games to play before that. By the time we play against Sweden we will be better than today and if that is good enough I don’t know at this stage but once again we will be very well prepared. We play England in our second game and by that time we will know what we have to do.”
He also dealt with questions as to whether T&T were merely satisfied with qualification based on the reaction of fans back home and if in fact their aim was to even earn a point at the World Cup.
“Our idea is to win the first match and the second match and then go on. Any professional works in the same way. They prepare for the next match and I have spoken about the difference between training games and the real games. A team does not travel to Germany with the idea that we are going to lose a match. We know exactly where we are and we have our feet on the ground. We understand our situation that we are the smallest nation ever participating and that we play great players and so but you are going to tell me that as coach, or as a staff, a squad they go to Germany with the idea of oh we don’t have to win anything there and what are we going to do there? We have the same ambitions, courage and hope of all the teams, that’s the way we think of and that’s the way we work or else we stay home and watch TV or send Wales,” he said, causing much laughter from the audience at the post match conference.
The UK media also saw three easy points in the bag for England on June 15.
“Trinidad are left embarrassed by Earnshaw's strike” was the headline in The Observer. “Trinidad and Tobago are considered the least troublesome opponents that England will face in the group stages of the World Cup, which is presumably why Sven-Goran Eriksson, a man who will normally accept an invitation to an international game as swiftly as a call to take tea with Roman Abramovich, saw no reason to swap his Regents Park home for the tiny UPC Arena here in Graz,” the Telegraph stated even though the paper went on to add that T&T would have earned the respect of the English spy at the Stadium.
Looking back at the performance against Wales, Beenhakker spoke of good impressions of defender Cyd Gray and added that he could always depend on striker Stern John to make use of chances when they came his way. He also gave a good pat on the back to young midfielder Densill Theobald when he made his way off in the second half. And veteran midfielder Russell Latapy was ever so proud of the Falkirk player, saying “He’s doing well at the moment. He has all the ingredients and he’s making things work with a bit of maturity at this time and it’s good for him. He wants to peak at the right time and we all want to.”
Theobald himself took a little time to smile about it as he went through the one hour session on Sunday morning at the Thermen Arena in Bad Radkersburg.
“I felt good but the result was far from what you saw in the game. I want to make a bigger impact though because I think once I can settle in with the rest of the attacking line up and do what the coach wants me to then we can create some more chances. Right now we are all trying to fit things together and make it work out there,” he told TTFF Media.
Glasgow Rangers Marvin Andrews was back on the training pitch after being taken off early by Beenhakker due to some discomfort in his knee but it appears all will be better for him in the next few days. Midfielder Silvio Spann also resume some outfield leg work today and is progressing at this stage.
