The hype about England

[lionheart]

We spent the last few minutes against a very poor team kicking the ball into the corner and playing for time when we knew we'd probably need another goal to finish top.

Not really true as it was in umpteenth minute of stoppage time that the USA scored, some time after the final whistle had been blown in England's game. In hindsight, bumbling Robert Green cost us the chance of an easier route against Ghana and then Uruguay to reach the semi-finals, where Brazil would have knocked us out.

 

[C_T_I_D]

Yes they won the match, but given the group they should have strolled it. They still play boring football.

 

[royle]

Does anyone remember 1990?

Group stage,two draws and sneaked a 1-0 in the final game against Egypt. (Hardly world class opposition)

Last 16 . outplayed by Belgium,sneaked a last minute David Platt goal in extra time.
Quarter finals. Outplayed by Cameroon. Won with 2 penalties from Lineker.
Semi Finals : Germany. We actually played well,unlucky to go out on penalties.

So 6 games,we played well in only 1,but got to the semis and were a couple of fingertips away from the final. (Shilton seemed to guess the right way every time but could never quite reach the ball)

The point is,we are no better or worse this year up till now,so instead of moaning and groaning,expecting us to play like world beaters every game,be thankful we made it through the group stage (France are already home) and look forward to what could hopefully be a good world cup for England.

Yes we have a harder run in because of finishing second,but are Germany really better than us? Are Argentina that good? Yeah they have a good forward line,but defensively?

Its knockout football,anything can happen,the winning team doesn't always start well,or even play well (Italy 4 years ago) What matters is winning and progressing,so far we have done that.

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

We spent the last few minutes against a very poor team kicking the ball into the corner and playing for time when we knew we'd probably need another goal to finish top.

Not really true as it was in umpteenth minute of stoppage time that the USA scored, some time after the final whistle had been blown in England's game. In hindsight, bumbling Robert Green cost us the chance of an easier route against Ghana and then Uruguay to reach the semi-finals, where Brazil would have knocked us out.

It's absolutely true. We knew that the more goals we scored the more likely we were to finish top. We scored 1 and we must have known that that might not be enough. Sure enough, it wasn't

It doesnt matter if you win by 1 or 10

A win is a win

Erm yes it does. That's why we finished 2nd and not first and now face a much tougher route to the final

 

[samharris]

Not really true as it was in umpteenth minute of stoppage time that the USA scored, some time after the final whistle had been blown in England's game. In hindsight, bumbling Robert Green cost us the chance of an easier route against Ghana and then Uruguay to reach the semi-finals, where Brazil would have knocked us out.

It's absolutely true. We knew that the more goals we scored the more likely we were to finish top. We scored 1 and we must have known that that might not be enough. Sure enough, it wasn't

It doesnt matter if you win by 1 or 10

A win is a win

Erm yes it does. That's why we finished 2nd and not first and now face a much tougher route to the final

To be perfectly honest with you I'd rather have Germany than Ghana..

 

[Challenger1978]

god there are some miserable bastards about. yes we have been poor so and we only beat slovenia 1-0. who gives a fuck we got through!

if you dont think we have got a chance on sunday, dont watch it. id bet every penny i have that you will be though. get behind them.

sometimes i think a minority want us to fail.

I certainly don't want us to fail and I was delighted we won last night. But I can also recognise and comment on a poor performance, even in victory.

There are people calling it a vintage performance and saying we were brilliant. We weren't; we scraped through.

We needed to win and we won. That's all we did. I don't understand why the performance itself needs to be blown out of all proportion. The fact that some people are wetting their knickers over last night's game is a damning indictment of how shockingly shit we were in the previous two games.

But, as you say, I will be fully behind them on Sunday. To say I don't think they'll win does not preclude me wanting them to.

In no way am i certain that we will beat Germany in fact im very worried about the game. Honestly though i can see England doing far better against the likes of Germany though. Just for the simple fact that the Germans will come at us and not sit back with 10 men behind the ball defending like fuck which is what we've come up against in the group stages.

 

[levets]

Two quotes from the usually-sensible Martin Samuel left me scratching my head:

A slate has been wiped clean now that England have turned in their best performance at a World Cup since beating Denmark 3-0 in a second-round match in 2002.

Bigger games, greater tests lie ahead, of course, but England played really well yesterday.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2010/article-1289054/WORLD-CUP-2010-Martin-Samuel-John-Terry-puts-body-line-England-book-Germany-showdown.html#ixzz0rkzi0ter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldc ... z0rkzi0ter</a>

I personally thought it was a poor performance. An improvement on the previous two games, yes, but that really isn't saying anything. The second half, in particular, was shite. England have a complete inability to hold onto the ball for any longer than 30 seconds at a time, and for that reason they will get beat the minute they come up against anything even closely resembling quality. The frequency at which they give the ball away is alarming.

The frequency at which they give the ball away is alarming.
===============
Gareth Barry in particular yesterday!

 

[PaulPowerShower]

Portugal
Brazil
Germany
Spain
Argentina
Italy

All decent sides - It doesnt really matter which you play does it??

 

[Deleted member 14625]

There are too many people too eager to big up or slate anything to do with England because they are brain washed by the stupid bastard media!

England haven't played no-mark countires! USA are just 5 places below us in the world rankings and have reached the quarters of the WC numerous times and finished ahead of Mexico in qualifying, who have looked impressive so far in the WC. Algeria beat the 3 time African Nations winners Egypt (who are obviously a good team) over two legs to get to the WC, they were very fast and fit, they were well organised, and they made it very difficult for us - they are better than people think. And Slovenia may only have a population of 2.8million, but as a previous poster said they beat Euro'08 semi-finalists Russia over the two legs to get to the WC, and they were also very well organised and had some good players.
And England, where not very attractive or effective, were not actually that bad. Bar one GK blunder and we'd be one of very few teams who would have conceded no goals in the group stage.

But then we weren't that good yesterday. We just played well and did what we should have done. The manager picked pretty much the right team.

Germany are well organised, they have nice movement, they keep the ball well and create some chances. But they aren't as good as the media have made out. England are easily capable of beating them, they have nothing to be fearful of at all. And if we get through, Argentina, who have some great attacking options, are easy to get at and are up against a very good defence with us!

 

[levets]

It's absolutely true. We knew that the more goals we scored the more likely we were to finish top. We scored 1 and we must have known that that might not be enough. Sure enough, it wasn't



Erm yes it does. That's why we finished 2nd and not first and now face a much tougher route to the final

To be perfectly honest with you I'd rather have Germany than Ghana..

me too...