The West Ham Connection In The England World Cup Team

West Ham have always prided themselves as the club which won England the 1966 World Cup. Of course, Martin Peters, Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst were heroes on that night. They were also West Ham United players as well. This year's World Cup, England also have a significant West Ham and ex-West Ham flavour to it. Players like Rob Green, David James, Matthew Upson, Rio Ferdinand, Carlton Cole and Jermain Defoe have all been mainstays of the new Capello regime.

Danny Murphy recently touted his Fulham clubmate, Paul Konchesky for the vacant England left back slot. I think Konchesky has been playing very well this season.

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Steven Gerrard Is The Best Midfielder In England

Suffering the embarassment of playing in the Europa League for the first time since winning the UEFA Cup, Liverpool went to Romania to face Unirea Urziceni for a place in the last 16. The Reds duly beat the Romanian champions 3-1 but not without an early goal scare by Unirea. Steven Gerrard scored a goalpoacher type goal and became the highest scoring Englishman in Europe since Alan Shearer. Shearer's record of 32 goals in Europe now belongs to Liverpool's great captain, Steven Gerrard who now has 33 goals to date.

Here's a look back at some of the crucial Gerrard goals over his European adventure with Liverpool.

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The Double and The Dramatic Late Winner - Goals From West Ham's Victories Over Manchester United

The last time West Ham was embroiled in a relegation struggle was in 2006/2007. It was also the season where the transfer controversy of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano dominated the headlines. As it were, Carlitos played an influential part in securing Premiership survival that season. His enthusiastic, energetic and tireless workrate earned him the affection of the West Ham fans.

This season has been no less stressful and frustrating but with two wins on the trot, it may be that the Hammers have turned the corner finally. But now, with confidence sky-high, is it a bad time to face the current champions in their backyard?

We should be facing a nervous United, still missing their experienced centrebacks of Ferdinand and Vidic. Without these two, United seemed a soft touch in central defence, a weakness fully exploited by Everton on their excellent 3-1 win over the Red Devils.

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A Great Weekend For Hammer Fans - Are West Ham On Their Way To Safety?

After a thumping 3-0 win over Hull City, the confidence and morale of the entire West Ham squad must be sky high. Zola was actually smiling during the post-match interview, looking very much a relieved man. And he should be, after all, West Ham have achieved their first back-to-back victory since the 2009/2010 season started. Looking clean shaven and relaxed for a change, he spoke about how confidence is finally flowing into the team and how the talismanic Alessandro Diamanti is so important to the Hammer's survival cause. Maybe Zola has found that Tevez-like personality in the livewire Italian.

Two successive wins at home have moved West Ham up to 13th place now and they are now four points away from the bottom three. This will ease the worries and consequently relieve the anxiety of the players as they approach Tuesday's match against the wounded Manchester United at Old Trafford. Regardless of the Red Devils troubles, they are still amazing at home and will want to keep pace with Chelsea.

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West Ham United v. Hull City Preview And Matchup

After a much needed home win against Birmingham, West Ham start again this weekend with another "winnable" match against Hull City. In fact, it's more than just a "winnable" match, Saturday's encounter with Hull is really a must-win crucial match for West Ham. Considering that it's a trip to Old Trafford after this, successive wins will instill a whole lot of confidence among the players.

Hull's decent run of form dipped against Blackburn recently and have won only once in their last 12 matches. Further to this, the Tigers have not won in 18 away matches. West Ham must be motivated and hungry enough to ensure that this wretched run of theirs will continue. Form guide suggests that there is little to separate these two teams, each having picked up six points from their last six matches. Hence, West Ham having home advantage should give them the edge in this basement battle.

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Same Old Story At Burnley For West Ham, How Long Before Zola Gets The Sack?

A McCarthy goal line clearance, a shuddering Stanislas free kick against the crossbar, a stoppage time Mido header against the post, a Scott Parker save by the Beast and a disallowed Cole goal. Hammer fans will rue their team's luck when they look back at this match.

However, West Ham fans must be sick to the stomach watching the many times that poor defending has undermine the Irons season. West Ham have still not been able to turn supposedly "winnable" matches into actual victories and this must be a concern to Zola.

If we can't defend decently, then we should put more emphasis on our newly acquired attacking strengths. West Ham need to win matches badly, and we still looked incapable of doing so. Honestly, it is hard to see where the next win will come from as confidence seemed low and the pressure is starting to show on the players.

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Now The Season Really Begins For West Ham, Burnley Beware!

From having no fit senior striker to five available strikers in the space of one week has got to be the most talked about Premier League transfer story of the January 2010 window. Gianfranco Zola must be extremely excited going into this weekend's Burnley encounter at Turf Moor. The bolstered attacking muscle will be expected to inspire the Hammers to only their second away win of this season's Premiership season.

West Ham have a great record at Burnley, having last lost some 32 years ago. They have a chance to achieve their only double of the season, and will be fired up to grab the win to ignite their season. This match have come at an opportune time as Burnley, having lost the influential Owen Coyle, is out of form and sliding despairingly down the table.

An open flowing game should be expected as both teams will be out to secure a vital victory.

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Will Mido Be More Zlatan Ibrahimovich Or Tomas Brolin For West Ham?

Continuing with the third and final segment of my look at the three sensational West Ham signings from the January 2010 transfer window....Mido. This loan signing is probably the hardest for fans like myself to build an opinion on.

On his day, Hammer fans can be treated to some sublime skills, but also, as is evident in the 10 clubs that he has been at, Mido can be frustratingly lazy and disinterested on the pitch. I hope that his motivation to get a  Premier League club next year, the big, burly Egyptian forward will knuckle down and produce the magical skills that he is capable of.

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What West Ham Fans Don't Know About Benni McCarthy

The long awaited signing of South Africa record goal scorer, Benedict Saul McCarthy finally took place on the final day of transfer window deadline. A move that brought a thumbs-up from former Hammer, Tony Cottee who is thrilled at the prospect of a Cole-McCarthy partnership. Cottee said this, “Carlton Cole is a very good player and I would like to see somebody alongside him. A good old fashioned partnership.” 

Looking at his goalscoring record, Benni McCarthy typically plays well in his first season at any club. He finished as the Portuguese League topscorer with 20 goals in his first season at Porto, amassed 18 goals at Blackburn in his first season and now...we hope that his displays in West Ham colours will be so spectacular that it will rival Tevez' contribution in that Great Escape.

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Six Facts Worth Knowing About West Ham's Araujo Ilan

Before you say the only Ilan I know is of the Lotus kind, Ilan Araujo Dall'Igna is a former Brazilian international and an extremely skilful footballer. I doubt if anyone have heard of him before the signing and though it looks like a gamble from Zola, it could be a potentially influential signing as well.

All I know is that I am standing behind and supporting the club as I believe West Ham need their supporters behind them and cheer them to relegation safety. Nevertheless, as with all fans, I dug up six facts worth knowing about this 29-year old Brazilian footballer who is well-respected among the St Etienne faithfuls.

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