Clunky Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 England/Sweden should be entertaining. don't count on it !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 England/Sweden should be entertaining. don't count on it !! as Larsson got rid of his rasta hairdo ages ago, Crouch will need to think up something else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 England/Sweden should be entertaining. don't count on it !! as Larsson got rid of his rasta hairdo ages ago, Crouch will need to think up something else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Fortunately (whether you're an England fan, or just a fan of fair play), Crouch won't be starting. Sven's going with Rooney and Owen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Germany looking good at 2 - 0 (HT). So a Sweden win is looking like it'll set up England v Germany... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcoliv Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 probably it's gonna be Germany x Sweden and England x Equador on the next round. i'm very happy that the german team is doing well on the competition. i was always confident they would be ready at the right moment for the competition. Marcus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 I'd imagine you're right - I don't really fancy the Swedes at all this time around - although England do have a pretty poor record against them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted June 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 I'm very disappointed with Ecuador's game today. Not because I really cared who won, but they just played like crap, and I didn't expect this match to be so boring. Germany looked fine, so it's no knock against them. Ecuador came out like they wanted to fall behind (maybe it would have been better for Klose's defender to step toward him on that first goal?). Then, they go into some kind of macho keep-away style, with no intelligent attack and a lot of cheap shots after they lost the ball. Oh well, I guess I should have watched the meaningless Poland/CR match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swinging Swede Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 I have no idea how the match will go, although I fear the worst. Sweden has played well, I think, but has been unable to score goals. England has perhaps not played so well, but has scored goals at least, which is what the game is about. What's clear after the match earlier today however is that both teams will want to win the group, to avoid meeting Germany - and Argentina in the quarterfinal. Sweden can not only think about winning though. If they lose and Trinidad & Tobago beats Paraguay, T&T could actually qualify instead of Sweden! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Well. England played OK in the first half (with a truly great goal from Joe Cole) but once again they totally flunked it in the second half. Crouch and Lampard seemed to lose it completely and the defence against the set pieces was appalling. News of Michael Owen is not good. He gets a scan tomorrow and chances are he will miss the rest of the tournament. Still, they manage to avoid the Germans in the next round.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 True - England were poor. Owen doesn't look good. At the risk of being insensitive, however, it may have solved a problem for Sven - he now has a decent excuse to drop the guy...But obviously I wish Owen well, it looked really nasty, and you don't wish it on anyone. Great goal from Cole, as you say! p.s. the villain of the piece for me? The utterly useless Beckham IMHO. I counted 1 good cross... p.p.s. [...and perhaps I'm being a little harsh here, given that Owen's injury so early rather changed things] WTF did he take Walcott if he's not going to blood him in the group stages? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 (edited) WTF did he take Walcott if he's not going to blood him in the group stages? That decision is now turning out to be somewhat regrettable ! He may have well have brought along a stuffed cat if all he's going to do is leave him on the bench. Edited June 20, 2006 by sidewinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 the Swedish were better organised, both in their defense and their attacks. The English seemed to force all their powers on either left or right flank and leave the other unoccupied. So we got an English attack fenced off, ball drops on the other side, Sweden in posession. The Swedish, however, had another guy waiting for the ball in the other corner on such occasions, so we got these multiple wave attacks from them; banging from left and right. If only they had been more effective in the finishing! Amazing how they hit the bar on three occasions. Also amazing how Beckham (and the entire English team) made the same mistake when the corner came from the other side mere minutes after the Swedish goal. WTF? With the Swedish treading down and shifting gears, the English were obviously not able to follow the higher pace with the defense wildly kicking balls out. Then again, the Swedish were not able to keep up the pressure and we all saw what happened when their attention momentarily lapsed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Absolutely. Although I guess a stuffed cat would be marginally harder to injure in training, and would make defenders feel good about themselves. Poor Jermaine Defoe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 p.s. the villain of the piece for me? The utterly useless Beckham IMHO. I counted 1 good cross... Red, judging from this and previous comments, it is obviously hard for you to be objective whan it comes to Beckham. For me, he has been one of the better English players so far. Without him, we may well have drawn all three games. Anyway, England are gradually improving and did what they had to do against Sweden to ensure first place. The real action starts now, and I expect them to move into a higher gear (or maybe I am just being hopelessly optimistic). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 p.s. the villain of the piece for me? The utterly useless Beckham IMHO. I counted 1 good cross... Red, judging from this and previous comments, it is obviously hard for you to be objective whan it comes to Beckham. For me, he has been one of the better English players so far. Without him, we may well have drawn all three games. Trust me, not as hard as it was to be objective when he was playing for United I should say, I don't actually dislike him particularly, but I genuinely think he's been poor for us. There's a fair bit of debate over here as to whether he should be dropped (of course, Sven wouldn't dare). A few things: 1) I believe he hasn't scored from a set piece for 4 years 2) He only really plays well for England when he's got (his mate, so it's understandable to some degree) Gary Neville down the right with him. 3) His long ball game is part of the reason for England's midfield looking so ineffective, despite being choc-full of seriously talented players. He simply passes over the top of them. 4) His positioning is awful...watch him against Ecuador - he'll constantly drift into the middle, leaving huge holes down the right in midfield. Now, I can't deny that in the past, he has given stunning performances for England. That game against Greece 4 years ago (where he got the last gasp free kick) was lost without him, and there are other examples. However, none from the recent past. Granted that his crossing is superior to Lennon's, as is his dead ball delivery (obviously), but apart from that, I don't think he has anything to offer. Need an inspirational captain? John Terry, nailed on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Let me backtrack slightly. Thinking about it, calling him the villain was a little harsh. I stand by my view that he was inept, but I don't think he was significantly more inept than a number of others. I thought Ashley Cole was poor; likewise Robinson, Crouch, Rooney, and Lampard. I though Hargreaves didn't do too badly; Joe Cole was IMHO excellent. Terry and Campbell were OK, though nothing more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted June 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 One of the announcers here in the U.S. (I think it was Balboa) criticized Beckham during the Sweden match, and I was already thinking about it myself. Certainly no villain, but not much in the way of contributions lately. Contrasting his play with someone like Joe Cole, and it's that much worse. Perhaps he's getting too conservative in his old age? Mexico and Portugal have a pretty inspired contest going (currently 2-0 Portugal at halftime). Can't wait for Australia/Netherlands later on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 I'm very disappointed with Ecuador's game today. Not because I really cared who won, but they just played like crap, and I didn't expect this match to be so boring. Germany looked fine, so it's no knock against them. Ecuador came out like they wanted to fall behind (maybe it would have been better for Klose's defender to step toward him on that first goal?). Then, they go into some kind of macho keep-away style, with no intelligent attack and a lot of cheap shots after they lost the ball. Oh well, I guess I should have watched the meaningless Poland/CR match. You forgot that the coach gave a rest to 6 of the best players of Eucuador. Smart decision, their goal was to qualify and they did it. I bet the next match will be a totally different story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 I'm very disappointed with Ecuador's game today. Not because I really cared who won, but they just played like crap, and I didn't expect this match to be so boring. Germany looked fine, so it's no knock against them. Ecuador came out like they wanted to fall behind (maybe it would have been better for Klose's defender to step toward him on that first goal?). Then, they go into some kind of macho keep-away style, with no intelligent attack and a lot of cheap shots after they lost the ball. Oh well, I guess I should have watched the meaningless Poland/CR match. You forgot that the coach gave a rest to 6 of the best players of Eucuador. Smart decision, their goal was to qualify and they did it. I bet the next match will be a totally different story. You would so but their manager said he was very unhappy with their performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 That was shocking! The US played like the team from the first game with simialr results. Few chances and fewer finishes. Absolutely no creativity in attack. Long ball after long ball hoping McBride can get on the end of one, without support up top as well. Still should've won. Stupid error by Reyna and a crazy decision by the ref to give a penalty. Finally scored though. Demsey buried that one. Good assist from Beasley. I think the next step in the US development is to bring in a European coach and lets start working on some offense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 I only got to see the last 15 minutes and I only saw long shot after long shot instead of trying to work it up. Also no ball possession, etc. That kick by Donovan on the set piece near the end of the game. Sheesh, not even close to the Ghana goal. I know this smacks of desperation. But on some of the set pieces, I might have sent Keller up. What do you have to lose? I believe Ghana has to pay Brasil so it will be a short stay. Looks like the Czechs really missed Koller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Wood Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 I don't see any improvement in the US team when they play the World Cup. They have yet to find a way to elevate their game in the biggest of tournaments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted June 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 The U.S.A.: Too conservative- another 4-5-1 with McBride all alone (and I mean that literally) up top; very few forward runs (with or without the ball) by the attacking midfielders. When did they bring Eddie Johnson in? 60th minute or so? He probably should have played 90 minutes, and when they're down 2-1 in a must-win situation, they don't even bring him on at the beginning of the second half. Insanity. They completely wasted the first 30 minutes of the game, just kicking the ball around like it was a practice session. Our most veteran field player, our captain, our on-field general gives the ball away with nobody behind him except Keller, and Ghana scores. Even before that, I already doubted that we'd mount any kind of attack (let alone win the game), but that was the clincher for me. I almost turned it off. Terrible PK call by Markus Merk, and that only made things worse, but it's pretty unlikely we were going to score the all-important second goal anyway. The goal we got in this game (and in this tournament ) was the result of a mistake similar to Reyna's by a Ghana defender. Once again we lacked energy, vision/teamwork, aggressiveness, skill, and intelligence. I'm embarassed and somewhat disgusted. The referees are too involved in the games at this point in terms of handing out cards. There have been far too many cards given and fouls called in response to players diving (the PK call today being a glaring example). I'd like to see more cards for the divers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 Well done to Australia in what appeared to be a bad tempered match with some rather interesting decisions by the ref. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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