[gazzae]

Can't wait for the match tonight!

Becks shows his bottle
England is not a one-man show. Not content to show up Northern Ireland on the glamour-puss stakes, they trotted out their sensationally high-paid manager so he could not tell everyone his tactics.

"I think we're going to play better," Sven Goran Eriksson's impressive footballing brain revealed. "I'm sure about that."

To his credit, while he struggled to name any member of England's cricket team, Sven was able to reel off the names of at least four of tonight's minnow opponents - Quinn, Healy, Gillespie and Elliott, whom he described as "a good left foot". No one has explained Northern Ireland slang to him. Obviously.

Ah yes, Northern Ireland. English reporters weren't too bothered about who would be at the other end of the pitch tonight, but Messrs Beckham and Eriksson at least had the grace to talk about their opponents seriously.

Beckham said he'd be happy to see old Manchester United teammates David Healy and Keith Gillespie. Healy may be Northern Ireland's best chance for a goal, but nevertheless Beckham said he was "glad he's fit, because I've played with him at Manchester United and trained with him week in and week out and he's a great guy and a great player." At the end of the day today, that should be obvious.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...p?story=660416