England B national football team

Infobox National football team
Name = England B
Badge =
FIFA Trigramme =
Nickname = The Three Lions
Association = The Football Association
Confederation =
Coach = flagicon|Italy Fabio Capello
Asst Manager = flagicon|Italy Italo Galbiati
Most caps =
Top scorer =
Home Stadium = N/A

Overall Record = P - 640 W - 475 D - 258 L - 161
pattern_la1=_eng07|pattern_b1=_eng07|pattern_ra1=_eng07
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First game = fb|Switzerland B 0 - 0 England B flagicon|England (Geneva, Switzerland; 21 February 1947)
Largest win = fb|Singapore 0 - 8 England B flagicon|England (Singapore City, Singapore; 18 June 1978)
Largest loss = fb|France Espoirs 7 - 1 England flagicon|England (Le Havre, France; 22 May 1952)

England B is a secondary football team run occasionally as support for the England national football team. At times they have played other nation's full teams; they have also played matches against 'B' teams from other football associations. Since the team's first use in 1947, there have been 54 official [http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2006/04/Belarus_stadium_confirmed.htm 'B' International at Reading] The Football Association; 06 April 2006; Accessed 14 February 2007 ] and 3 unofficial [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/MatchRsl/MatchRslTmB.html England's B Team Matches] englandfootballonline.com; 26 May 2006; Accessed 26 May 2006 ] B team matches (as of May 2007).

History

Walter Winterbottom first proposed B team matches as a way of bringing players through into the national side (the Under 21 team, the current stepping stone to the national team, did not exist until 1976 [ [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/MatchRsl/MatchRslTmU21.html England's Under 21 Matches] englandfootballonline.com; 8 October 2006; Accessed 14 February 2007 ] ). ] He organised the first recorded game held under the name of 'England B', which was played in Geneva on February 21 1947 against Switzerland B team. ] The match finished 0-0. The games proved useful as an introduction to the national team and the first official England B team game came in 1949 in a 4-0 victory over Finland ]

The frequency of the games depends almost entirely upon the head coach of the England squad. ] For example, there were no B team internationals under Sir Alf Ramsey or Don Revie; indeed there were none between 1957 and 1978. Ron Greenwood reintroduced them ] and Sir Bobby Robson used them regularly - there were nine B team internationals in 1989 and 1990. This period saw the likes of Paul Gascoigne enter the England team via the B squad ]

Sven-Göran Eriksson arranged just one B team match during his time in charge, held on May 25 2006 against Belarus as a World Cup warm-up game. England lost 2-1, with a goal from Jermaine Jenas. Theo Walcott debuted for England B as the youngest player for them, but as it was a B international, this does not count towards official records, and had to wait until the 3-1 friendly victory against Hungary to break the official record, aged 17 years and 75 days.

Steve McClaren's only match with the B team was against the Albania full side on 25 May 2007 at Burnley's Turf Moor ground, which they won 3-1, [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6670865.stm|title=England B 3-1 Albania|date=2007-05-26|accessdate=2007-05-26|work=BBC Sport] as preparation for England's Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia on 6 June 2007. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6619553.stm|title=England B to face Albania match|work=BBC Sport|date=3 May 2007|accessdate=6 May|accessyear=2007] The squad included a recovering Michael Owen, who captained the side, as well as several uncapped players, including Everton defender, Joleon Lescott.cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6670865.stm|title=Owen is given England B captaincy|date=2007-05-24|accessdate=2007-05-25|work=BBC Sport]

Attendance

Attendances and opponents have varied widely, with some games against first teams (the last of which was in 2007 against Albania), Olympics teams and other B team squads. The most recent game against Albania had an attendance of 22,500 at Turf Moor. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6670865.stm England B 3-1 Albania] BBC Sport; 25 May 2007; accessed 26 May 2007 ] Prior to the two high attendances for the games in 2006 and 2007, the previous time that the B team had played in front of more than 20,000 people was in 1978 in a match in Singapore, against their national team, when 40,000 people attended. ]

The highest attendances for England B games were in a series of matches against the Netherlands and Netherlands B in the 1950s, when the Olympisch Stadion in Amsterdam saw three matches with an attendance of 60,000. ] The highest attendance at home for the B team was 43,068 at St James' Park, Newcastle, again against the Netherlands on February 22, 1950. ]

Popularity and use

The games are generally seen as being a way of bringing younger or more inexperienced players into the national team set up, without giving them a full cap. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1016253.stm Taylor wants return of B team] BBC Sport; 10 November 2006; Accessed 14 February 2007 ] They may often be held before World Cups or other tournaments to give second choice players, injured players or possible choices an opportunity to have a full game to either keep their fitness or play their way into the first team. ]

However, some fans and footballers see the games as slightly pointless, as indicated by the low attendances of the games during the 1980s and 1990s, when as few as 4,000 fans would watch home games. When Chris Sutton was picked for England B before the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he refused to play for the team, claiming that it was a waste of time and that he should have been picked for the first team. [ [http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/sutton.htm Chris Sutton biography] ex-canaries.co.uk; Whitlam, Steve; 12 October 2006; Accessed 16 May 2006 ] This boycott, however, ended Sutton's chances of ever playing for the full national team again. Furthermore, Matt Le Tissier, who scored a hat-trick for the England B team against Russia B in that match failed to make the 1998 FIFA World Cup squad. ] On the other hand, Darren Anderton successfully returned to the first team squad via the B team after recovering from injury in 1998, whilst other players such as Paul Gascoigne have been brought to the full team via the Bs. ]

In 2006, the England B team game was seen as being useful for giving a glimpse of potential future England players. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/5017260.stm World Cup scouting for England] BBC Sport; McKenzie, Andrew; 26 May 2006; Accessed 14 February 2007 ] In particular, it proved useful for Aaron Lennon and Peter Crouch to stake their claims for places in the 2006 FIFA World Cup squad. ] Furthermore, it provided match practice for Michael Owen and Sol Campbell, who were both returning from injury. Overall, 12 players from the 2006 B team squad [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/5011312.stm Skipper Owen to start for England] BBC Sport; 24 May 2006; Accessed 14 February 2007 ] eventually made it to the final World Cup squad. [ [http://www.thefa.com/WorldCup2006/England/TheSquad/ England's World Cup Squad] The FA; 2006; Accessed 14 February 2007 ] That said, an injury picked up in the game prevented goalkeeper Robert Green from playing at the World Cup [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/5018328.stm Keeper Green set to miss finals] BBC Sport; 25 May 2006; Accessed 14 February 2007 ] and of the twelve players in both squads, five were established players with over 25 caps.

tatistics

Historical Statistics

* Highest attendance - 60 000 v Netherlands and Netherlands B (3 times) at Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam
* Highest home attendance - 43 608 v Netherlands at St James' Park, Newcastle, February 22 1950
* Biggest victory - 8-0 v Singapore, June 18 1978 at National Stadium, Singapore
* Heaviest defeat - 1-7 v France espoirs, May 22 1952, Le Havre

Overall match record:
* Played 57, Won 37, Drawn 10, Lost 9, Abandoned 1
** Versus national teams: P19 W15 D2 L2
** Versus national B teams: P26 W22 D8 L7 A1
** Versus others: P2 W1 D0 L1

Recent results

*flagicon|England England B 3 - 1 fb|Albania at Turf Moor, Burnley, May 25, 2007

*flagicon|England England B 1 - 2 fb|Belarus at Madejski Stadium, Reading, Berkshire, May 25, 2006

Fixtures

Most Recent Squad

The most recent England B team squad was selected for a game against Albania on 25 May 2007. The squad, with the players' number of full England caps and clubs as on the date of the game , consisted of:

;Goalkeepers

;Strikers

References

External links

* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-b-intres-det.html Details of all matches up to 1998 on www.rsssf.com]