Goal? What goal?It’s a headline that is nowt to be proud about! England have again worn a familiar path, and that is an early path home from a tournament that the team were universally tipped to do well in.
The headlines tomorrow will read that England lost 4-1, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Any self-respecting football fan should be able to tell that a team that are chasing the game will have a different tactical setup to a team that isn’t chasing the game, and that was the story of the game for me.
After England found themselves 2-0 down, Matthew Upson managed to cut the deficit and give England fans a glimmer of hope and suggest that perhaps the game wasn’t quite over yet. That was until a legitimate goal was ruled out for England. Frank Lampard shot from the edge of the area only to see his shot rebound off the crossbar and bounce behind the line, yet despite the eyes of the world seeming to indicate that a legitimate goal was scored, the Uruguayan linesman, Mauricio Espinosa, managed to miss the fact that the ball had bounced some two feet behind the line. What a fecking joke! (more…)
Free State Stadium - BloemfonteinThe build up has been going on for days now, ever since both teams were confirmed as being opponents in the last-16 of the World Cup in fact.
But it is nearly time for England fans to put that behind them and for the team to get down to the business of, hopefully, eliminating the Germans out of the World Cup this afternoon.
There are no second chances, there are no replays, this is it, and only one team can go through to the quarter-final stage of the competition. As ever, this is the place where everyone can come together and piss and moan about events in the World Cup, a place to share the joy, pain, thrills and spills and, most importantly, to have a bit of banter inbetween, all in the interests of fun and merriment of course. (more…)
Jermaine Defoe - Goal hero for England.In a tense match played out in Port Elizabeth this afternoon, it was England who emerged the victors against Slovenia and secured their place in the knockout stages of the World Cup in South Africa.
The final score was 1-0 to England with Jermaine Defoe (as pictured) being the goal hero on this occasion. He popped up in the penalty area to slot home a James Milner cross on 23 minutes to send the England fans into raptures. But the result only formed part of the story as the England team knew they needed to not only win the game, but to also put on a performance to appease the critics who have been queueing up to take a swipe at England since the tournament started. The England players gave that much sought after performance, and although the scoreline may not reflect the way game played out, the winning margin could and probably should have been greater than just the one goal. (more…)
Simply not good enough.The picture has now become crystal clear with regards to what we must do to ensure we scrape through the group stage and into the knockout rounds of the World Cup.
To put it blunty, England must win their remaining game against current group leaders Slovenia to progrees to the next stage of the tournament, and judging by the insipid performance on offer against Algeria last night, that looks like it could be far far away from being a formality.
I apologise in advance if this turns into a bit of a rant, but aside from a few shots at goal and a couple of brief glimpses of quality from England, there really wasn’t too much to talk about. In fact the only highlight we have really is that there weren’t any, not ones to savour anyway. In fact arguably two of the biggest talking points happened after the game had finished, but I will go into that a bit later on in the article. (more…)
Come on England!The second game of England’s World Cup campaign gets underway soon where we get the chance to pit our collective wits against Algeria in Cape Town.
A win is a must if England are to ensure that their path through to the knockout stages stays in firmly in their own hands as the competition begins to show signs of hotting up at long last.
As ever, this is the place to come together and piss and moan about the England game, and at least it offers us a welcome change from pissing and moaning about Newcastle, for the time being anyway.
After a disappointing start to their campaign against the USA, the England team know that they eyes of the nation will be on them and that the press will be sharpening their knives in anticipation of another potential slip-up.
For a bit of background on the match you can take a look at my World Cup match preview here should you choose to, or alternatively you can join in the fun and banter straight away by leaving your thoughts below. (more…)
