The March International Break

alderz

I completely agree that Rice is a better captain than both of them. The only current internationals I think you could argue would be as suitable captains as Rice are Conor Coady, Jordan Henderson and James Ward-Prowse and even they are debatable.

I just also think that Southgate has his squad seniority hierarchy, and that's where the captain has come from. I'm pretty sure I've heard Rice talk about the 'leadership group', as something that he isn't a part of. I think the leadership group is Kane, Sterling, Henderson, Coady and Maguire.

steve

Thing is Rice will still be playing for England when Maguire and Stearling will be long gone for one reason or another so make Rice captain now ready for the next 10-14 years

thornburyiron

Why on earth would Coady be part of the “leadership” group. He hardly gets a game for England.

whupathman

Rice seems to be barking out instructions and controlling the match, Sterling just being a striker, getting goals and assists but not leading

OutcastLondoner

Maybe it’s also just a bit of recognition for Sterling. He’s led in his own way for England, been a crucial part of the team’s advance under Southgate. It doesn’t really mean much who captains tonight.

And we’ve all heard the stuff before about how the captain isn’t the only leader - not even the most visible one. Rice can still lead without the armband. Remember when everyone thought Parker was our captain.

OldCastleSwift

Soucek scores for the Czech Republic against Wales.

whupathman

we seem worse with Kane on

OldCastleSwift

Rice getting 90+ minutes in his legs 🙄

Hopefully won't affect his game on Sunday.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

I’ve watched 87 minutes of this and only just realised Haller was on the pitch.

OldCastleSwift

whupathman said:

we seem worse with Kane on

He's not at all bothered about this game. Just spent his time jogging around the pitch.

steve

Not to bothered myself

whupathman

such a dull match

OldCastleSwift

OldCastleSwift said:

Rice getting 90+ minutes in his legs 🙄

Hopefully won't affect his game on Sunday.

And I've just seen that in the space of two weeks Soucek has played 90 minutes twice and 120 minutes twice.

whupathman

3-0 that will do

alderz

thornburyiron said:

Why on earth would Coady be part of the “leadership” group. He hardly gets a game for England.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/england-squad-international-news-conor-coady-gareth-southgate-b1067793.html

thornburyiron

Alderz my question is the same. He was made part of the” leadership” group after a couple of games but why.

claretandbluesky

My only wish was that Rice never got injured in this farce of a fixture which does nothing but inconvenience players, of whom many have very important matches coming up for their clubs, ourselves included. There is a resistance to a winter break but they find time for this nonsense. Lets get him back home now and let him lead us in the big matches to come.

I am not surprised Southgate went for seniority for Captain as I don't rate him as a manager and one of the reasons is I don't think he is big enough to make big calls. Kane is hardly worth his place in most games competitive games I watch for England lately but he won't drop him as it's Kane. I think it's clear to anyone Rice would be an active Captain where as Stirling just wearing the armband, but because he is young Southgate wouldn't have the courage to take that decision.

OutcastLondoner

Maybe Rice needs to earn the armband by showing he can lead, whether he has it or not, like he did at West Ham. Remember he hasn't shown the same levels (performance and confidence) at England as long as he has at West Ham. I think he was quite cautious for England at first and only really grew into himself during the Euros.

There will be a massive amount of pressure on him if he's given the armband early. Let him show beyond doubt that he's earned it.

ASLEFshrugged

Egypt have lodged an official complaint to FIFA, CAF, etc. accusing Senegal fans of throwing items at the team during the warm up, attacking the team buses and shining laser pens on Mo Salah's face during the the penalty shootout (he missed)

The head of the Senegal FA (also Vice President of CAF) said he didn't see anything

IronHerb

Hmmm.

PrestonHammer

Don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry.

PrestonHammer

Someone on the radio said, "They are just showing how passionate they are". If we had done something like that we'd be called hooligans.

ASLEFshrugged

PrestonHammer said:

Someone on the radio said, "They are just showing how passionate they are". If we had done something like that we'd be called hooligans.

According to BBc the head of Senegal FA said "In my opinion, I didn't see during this game something that could be considered as chauvinism because the Senegalese are known to be very welcoming".

Of course the question is who exactly thinks the Senegalese are known to be "very welcoming"? Probably the Senegalese...

At which point I'm going to recommend "Fake History" by Otto English, an excellent book on how nations create myths about themselves and other general misconceptions

claretandbluesky

A certain kind of patriotism must prevent objective reflection, It ask's you to suspend such a thing and just accept your country is good because it's your country. It is often the case that those most able and willing to suspend objective reasoning will be the most patriotic. Whilst I find nothing wrong with patriotism in its softer forms, in as much as it celebrates the best of what a nations people stand for and value, it can quickly become nationalism, which will harness ignorance and use it to politically shape the landscape.

PrestonHammer

The game I was talking about was the Ghana v Nigeria match, where the losing teams supporters caused mayhem.

OutcastLondoner

It doesn't justify the Senegal fans side of things but there's little sympathy in Africa for Egypt given how often their fans have done the same. It obviously needs to be clamped down on but overruling the result might be unfair.