World Cup: Already Regretting My England Pick

Saw this little nugget today. On reading the headline, I was intrigued at the possibility that Sven Goran-Eriksson had actually devised something clever and unorthodox. It turns out that the idea is unorthodox and inane.

England have had some trouble making penalty kicks when it counts in recent past. Actually, with the exception of Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney, they've had trouble doing everything when it counts in recent past. Penalty kicks are just one of many problems. So Sven decides to have them practice PKs by telling their keeper where they are going to hit it, theoretically making the shot more difficult than it will be in a game situation.

I think its counter-productive. It's too late now to do anything but routine penalty kick practice. Insituting this crazy scheme now would have been like Jim Boeheim telling the '03 Orangemen to work on their free throws on the eve of the National Championship. It's just going to get in their heads. (I wouldn't at all be surprised if you told me Roy Williams did just that to Kansas ahead of that game. It'd be just like him.)

But if there was one thing worse than the PK practice drill, its the insinuation towards the bottom of the article that Peter Crouch is England's third-string PK taker. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, or everyone else is or something. Why isn't there more made of the fact that Peter Crouch sucks at everything except heading the ball?

My new England prediction: England loses in their first game of the knockout stage. Crouch scores 12 goals in 4 games and wins the golden boot.