Cris Freddi looks at how Glenn Hoddle's predecessors have coped with the press
The rough ride Glenn Hoddle’s been getting from the fourth estate isn’t unusual (every other England manager had it) but the timing of it is. Most of the others were granted the luxury of a honeymoon period.
England's World Cup form over the years has been patchy, as Cris Freddi analyses
Statistics probably aren’t lies or damned lies in this case. England’s first four appearances in the finals ended with a record of three wins and six defeats in 14 matches. They never really looked the equal of the tournament’s best teams – and it began to look as if the only way they were going to win the pesky thing was to stage it.
Cris Freddi continues his series building up to the World Cup finals with a look at Scotland's record in the tournament
Sorry, there’s no getting away from it. Scotland’s record in the World Cup finals is dead poor, we all know that. Only four wins in 20 matches, two of them against Zaire and New Zealand. But the most humiliating thing is that nothing better has ever been expected of them. Except once, and that ended in the biggest let-down of all. Despite regular wins over England, they haven’t been a world force for 60 years.
Brazil may always have a reputation for fancy flicks and tricks, but Cris Freddi believes they have added a more physical element to their play in recent generations
Throughout their World Cup history Brazil have been torn between their traditional image of ‘the beautiful game’ and a compulsive need to match the Europeans at getting stuck in. It is surprising to discover which of the two has come out on to.
It's been a long time since Austria had a national team worth shouting about, but Mark Brownlow believes the country are looking forward to the World Cup
Until recently, your typical Austrian fan would approach an upcoming international fixture with an air of subdued pessimism. Strong opponents were “too good for us”, while weaker opponents might always turn out to be “another Faroes”. About halfway through the World Cup qualification, as Austria’s chances grew rosier with each passing game, the sweeper in my Sunday league team whispered to me confidentially: “I hope we don’t qualify – we’ll only embarrass ourselves."