Maybe it was inevitable. An accident waiting to happen. A collision course they couldnt avoid.
Well, whatever it was, theres no getting away from it - Germany v England, Sunday 3pm
Everyone knows the history between the 2 nations both on and off the playing field, so i wont bore you with tired old cliches, which you will see spread all over the media, thats something i will go into in a bit. Yes, the fixture does bring up stirring memories, but thats all they are now for these 2 current squads. Sure the past will be slightly on thier minds - dare i say more so the English than the Germans, because we still have to live with more often than not defeats. If you want to go back than look no further than the last time we met, a 2-1 win for us in Berlin.
The media have gone way over the top in my opinion, in thier quest to ensure we will win on penalties. OK thats a good thing because we dont want another heartbreaking loss on what is the ultimate test of a professional footballer can hit the target from 12 yards ( i know the pressure......) or not. We should instead be pushing and encouraging our Lions to win the game in 90 minutes which we are very capable of. Doesnt the whole "win on penalties" idea just a bit negative, and if it sinks into the players mentality over the next day it could be a case of "dont worry, weve practised for it, we'll be ok". Win the game in normal time and move on.
Its easy to say of course, and some have said already that the Germans are there for the taking, young, inexperienced, but the flip side of that is they will be hungry, and maybe they dont want to go home just yet either. It would laso be easy to highlight certian plyers in thier team to stop, but at this stage anything could happen at any time from anyone, so the team should be judged as a unit. They are quick going forward and have looked a threat, with lots of support from midfield, so its key we win that battle. It will be a hrd fought, keenly contested area of the pitch that whoever wins could well win through.
So what of our side, can we stay with the same players and go with what we know, now that we seem to have relaxed and found a winning formula? Why not,. The available agian King and Carragher, although very sure abd steady, should take a back seat again to Upson who had a very assured game next to Terry at the centre. The midfield looked tight, although still not 100% about Gerrard on the left, especially as i said before, its the midfield battle we need to lock down.
I honestly believe that we will have enough to get through this game in normal time, it may not be easy and we will be pushed all the way, but look forward to a quarter-final against potentially another old foe and more hype and memories dragged up......
Until next time, enjoy Korea edging out Uruguay, and Ghana losing on penalties to the USA
Saturday 26 June 2010
Monday 21 June 2010
The Usual Suspects
Having just seen the Portugese demolish a spirited North Korean side its time to catch-up on all things non-England thats happened over the last few days.
Ive already gone over Groups A and B in a previous post , so straight onto Group C and you know my sentiments on the Slovenis game so who will go through with us? Im going for a shock and say that Algeria - with a balanced Defence and an attack tat has to get a goal sometime will ruin the good work USA have done so far, and leave them ranting about the dissallowed goal that would have seen them beat Slovenia in that comeback.
Group D is also close to call, could the impossible happen here and the Germans go out, well with the best African team in tournament so far only needing a point it could become reality, and then a scramble between Serbia and Australia to see who goes through in 2nd, the fixture list couldnt be any better for this one.
So matchups for last 16 - England v Serbia and Germany v Algeria
Group E and F then - the Dutch are the most consistent team before and now during this World Cup and will have no trouble topping the group, so it leaves 2nd place to play for and the Danes should have enough to go past the Japanese. The South Americans seem most at ease in this World Cup and Paraguay have proven themselves to be well organised and with pace going forward will always score goals, thats why they will end the fairytale of the All Whites - even with ex-AFC Wimbledon hero Smeltz - question is will Italy manage to hold off Slovakia? Lose and they will be going home (sound familiar?)
Last 16 games form here - Holland v Italy, Paraguay v Denmark
With 2 games to go in the second phase of group games, anything is but predictable though. Imagine this, and it is all very possible - France, England, Germany, Italy and Spain could all be going home by the end of the week.
Until next time..........
Ive already gone over Groups A and B in a previous post , so straight onto Group C and you know my sentiments on the Slovenis game so who will go through with us? Im going for a shock and say that Algeria - with a balanced Defence and an attack tat has to get a goal sometime will ruin the good work USA have done so far, and leave them ranting about the dissallowed goal that would have seen them beat Slovenia in that comeback.
Group D is also close to call, could the impossible happen here and the Germans go out, well with the best African team in tournament so far only needing a point it could become reality, and then a scramble between Serbia and Australia to see who goes through in 2nd, the fixture list couldnt be any better for this one.
So matchups for last 16 - England v Serbia and Germany v Algeria
Group E and F then - the Dutch are the most consistent team before and now during this World Cup and will have no trouble topping the group, so it leaves 2nd place to play for and the Danes should have enough to go past the Japanese. The South Americans seem most at ease in this World Cup and Paraguay have proven themselves to be well organised and with pace going forward will always score goals, thats why they will end the fairytale of the All Whites - even with ex-AFC Wimbledon hero Smeltz - question is will Italy manage to hold off Slovakia? Lose and they will be going home (sound familiar?)
Last 16 games form here - Holland v Italy, Paraguay v Denmark
With 2 games to go in the second phase of group games, anything is but predictable though. Imagine this, and it is all very possible - France, England, Germany, Italy and Spain could all be going home by the end of the week.
Until next time..........
Sunday 20 June 2010
When The Dust Has Settled
This is England.
Do we really expect any more than what we currentlyhave on our hands right now?
Some will clearly say we are not good enough, i say ok you may be right, BUT , and this is the important thing, we are still in it and a win on Wednesday afternoon and we will probably top the group. Wasnt that always the aim??
Therss no getting away from how the team has played, especially Friday evening, the lack of the real basics was shocking at times, finding a team mate with a 10 yard pass seemed beyond us. Im not suggesting that when we go through it will all be forgotten, but all of a sudden momentum will be on our side and we can look forward instead of back.
So who and how will we do it on Wednesday? Well, Capello needs to clearly change his way of thinking, clearly he knows this having hinted in a post-match interview after Algeria. Will he go all out and go 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 we wait and see. A team meeting should have taken place by now where all senior players stand up and say "were not good enough at the moment but know we are better than this so lets go out and prove it, but Gaffer we can help you help us". Gerrard will clearly have to do the bulk of the talking and he is capable, he doesnt need to talk down to Capello, just suggest a few tweaks that will benefit his side, after all his job could be on the line and he needs support from his cast.
Personally i would go 4-5-1. James did enoughto suggest that this is his World Cup hurrah, Cole and Johnson are proving to be the only constant threat going forward and are solid enough at the back, in the centre Terry and Dawson, who after missing out on the original squad now finds himself in a position of saviour. Barry, Lampard, Gerrard, will create the triangular middle, Lennon and (hopefully) Joe Cole will provide the wing threat, with the much maligned Rooney up front.
I wasnt going to single out anybody for thier actions on Friday, but Rooney is who he is and we cant change that. He said what he did off the cuff, if he was French he may have been sent home but we need that fire from him, he will stop the booing by reapying the fans with a fine display of controlled agression against Solvenia.
Be prepared - England will win on Wednesday and we can look forward to more fun and games - it may not do much good for your nerves. but your pride wont take a bashing.
Do we really expect any more than what we currentlyhave on our hands right now?
Some will clearly say we are not good enough, i say ok you may be right, BUT , and this is the important thing, we are still in it and a win on Wednesday afternoon and we will probably top the group. Wasnt that always the aim??
Therss no getting away from how the team has played, especially Friday evening, the lack of the real basics was shocking at times, finding a team mate with a 10 yard pass seemed beyond us. Im not suggesting that when we go through it will all be forgotten, but all of a sudden momentum will be on our side and we can look forward instead of back.
So who and how will we do it on Wednesday? Well, Capello needs to clearly change his way of thinking, clearly he knows this having hinted in a post-match interview after Algeria. Will he go all out and go 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 we wait and see. A team meeting should have taken place by now where all senior players stand up and say "were not good enough at the moment but know we are better than this so lets go out and prove it, but Gaffer we can help you help us". Gerrard will clearly have to do the bulk of the talking and he is capable, he doesnt need to talk down to Capello, just suggest a few tweaks that will benefit his side, after all his job could be on the line and he needs support from his cast.
Personally i would go 4-5-1. James did enoughto suggest that this is his World Cup hurrah, Cole and Johnson are proving to be the only constant threat going forward and are solid enough at the back, in the centre Terry and Dawson, who after missing out on the original squad now finds himself in a position of saviour. Barry, Lampard, Gerrard, will create the triangular middle, Lennon and (hopefully) Joe Cole will provide the wing threat, with the much maligned Rooney up front.
I wasnt going to single out anybody for thier actions on Friday, but Rooney is who he is and we cant change that. He said what he did off the cuff, if he was French he may have been sent home but we need that fire from him, he will stop the booing by reapying the fans with a fine display of controlled agression against Solvenia.
Be prepared - England will win on Wednesday and we can look forward to more fun and games - it may not do much good for your nerves. but your pride wont take a bashing.
Thursday 17 June 2010
Second Times THe Charm
It had to happen.
The 2010 World Cup has woken up.
After a cagey first round of games which lets face can largely be forgotten and most have, the tournament has reached a stage where teams cant afford to be frightened if they are - they could find themselves on a very long trip home. No longer will we see nervousness from the players, they will leave that to the fans as we bite our nails down and pull our hair out ( whats left of it).
The South Africans have only themselves to blame if they do bow out fronm thier own ( or is it Africas) World Cup,, They want to entertain and please the crowd that cheer them on , perhaps a basic lesson on how not to be naive inthis environment wouldnt go amiss. Still they have a shot, thanks to the hapless French who in the space of a decade have shown how far you can fall from being World Beaters to - well just plain beaten. It is all to play for in Group A, but i can quite easily see a draw between Uruguay and Mexico to start up conspiracy theories, but then again the 2 teams going home can only look in the mirror and see that they just got it wrong.
Group B is a real dogfight, and the worst team in it could still find a passage through to the last 16. Nigeria, after 2 defeats can see the light at the end of a long tunnell but a victory over the South Koreans coupled with a loss by Greece against the imposing Argentinians, should be enough. The greeks though will fancy going through, a tight defence will have to be really stingy though if they are to get anything from Maradonas mob, at times it looked too easy against Korea, and maybe it was, but they have a certain 'meaness' that Herr Klinsmann referred to.
Matchups from these Groups in last 16?
I expect to see Argentina v Mexico and Uruguay v South Korea
Oh, a small matter of some Lions roaring in 24 hours. Should be fun......
The 2010 World Cup has woken up.
After a cagey first round of games which lets face can largely be forgotten and most have, the tournament has reached a stage where teams cant afford to be frightened if they are - they could find themselves on a very long trip home. No longer will we see nervousness from the players, they will leave that to the fans as we bite our nails down and pull our hair out ( whats left of it).
The South Africans have only themselves to blame if they do bow out fronm thier own ( or is it Africas) World Cup,, They want to entertain and please the crowd that cheer them on , perhaps a basic lesson on how not to be naive inthis environment wouldnt go amiss. Still they have a shot, thanks to the hapless French who in the space of a decade have shown how far you can fall from being World Beaters to - well just plain beaten. It is all to play for in Group A, but i can quite easily see a draw between Uruguay and Mexico to start up conspiracy theories, but then again the 2 teams going home can only look in the mirror and see that they just got it wrong.
Group B is a real dogfight, and the worst team in it could still find a passage through to the last 16. Nigeria, after 2 defeats can see the light at the end of a long tunnell but a victory over the South Koreans coupled with a loss by Greece against the imposing Argentinians, should be enough. The greeks though will fancy going through, a tight defence will have to be really stingy though if they are to get anything from Maradonas mob, at times it looked too easy against Korea, and maybe it was, but they have a certain 'meaness' that Herr Klinsmann referred to.
Matchups from these Groups in last 16?
I expect to see Argentina v Mexico and Uruguay v South Korea
Oh, a small matter of some Lions roaring in 24 hours. Should be fun......
Monday 14 June 2010
In good company
Has it really been only 4 days ?
This World Cup seems to have gone on for about a month already - but hyen again i suppose if you include all the hype and hoopla i guess it has.
Has it all been worth the wait then? Well not yet, but im sure once everyone has played agme we will see some momentum shifts in playing and the players start to show thier real identities. So who has been th pick of he bunch so far? Well for me the Argentians looked to be the most accomplished outfit so far, and the South Koreans even looked a good team, a heady mix of pace and enthusiasm for the game, after al they are no longer just also rans in this contest anymore. The Dutch today looked useful and you know they were playing with plenty more left in the tank. Italy always start slow and so proved again tonight, but having played thier most difficult group opponent already they will find themselves through with relative ease, therefore leaving themselves fresh for more important things in the weeks to come.
Now i have deliberately missed out the Germans because i think we should let them bask in the glory of thier 4-0 win over the Australians who looked like it was thier first taste of action like this instead of a team that has told us time and again that they are big boys now and should be respected!!
We will soon see the Spaniards and just how they react to the pressure of being tournament favourites ( i dont count Brazil above them as every World Cup they are installed as favourites just because once upon a time they has Pele and Zico play for them ).
For me the highlight on Tuesday will be at lunchtime when a certain ex-AFC Wimvledon striker Shane Smeltz will be fronting the attack for New Zealand, wouldnt it be great if the minnows could actually be the shock team? No ? OK just me then
Until next time.........
This World Cup seems to have gone on for about a month already - but hyen again i suppose if you include all the hype and hoopla i guess it has.
Has it all been worth the wait then? Well not yet, but im sure once everyone has played agme we will see some momentum shifts in playing and the players start to show thier real identities. So who has been th pick of he bunch so far? Well for me the Argentians looked to be the most accomplished outfit so far, and the South Koreans even looked a good team, a heady mix of pace and enthusiasm for the game, after al they are no longer just also rans in this contest anymore. The Dutch today looked useful and you know they were playing with plenty more left in the tank. Italy always start slow and so proved again tonight, but having played thier most difficult group opponent already they will find themselves through with relative ease, therefore leaving themselves fresh for more important things in the weeks to come.
Now i have deliberately missed out the Germans because i think we should let them bask in the glory of thier 4-0 win over the Australians who looked like it was thier first taste of action like this instead of a team that has told us time and again that they are big boys now and should be respected!!
We will soon see the Spaniards and just how they react to the pressure of being tournament favourites ( i dont count Brazil above them as every World Cup they are installed as favourites just because once upon a time they has Pele and Zico play for them ).
For me the highlight on Tuesday will be at lunchtime when a certain ex-AFC Wimvledon striker Shane Smeltz will be fronting the attack for New Zealand, wouldnt it be great if the minnows could actually be the shock team? No ? OK just me then
Until next time.........
Sunday 13 June 2010
Rub of the Green
When all the fuss dies down on this goalkeeping error, we should perhaps look a bit further into the display 'our boys' put on. Yes it was good - nothing more than that - and at times industrious because it had to be. A rousing pre-match huddle before the game meant the team knew what had to be done, maybe one should have taken place after the game to ask "how do we get it done.
Dont get me wrong, the start of this all sounds a bit negative, England showed that they are a solid unit, one that can battle and ask questions, and after all it was just the first game, and these tournaments are not won in the first 90 minutes of play.
Going through the side then and judging the players
GREEN - well he did bounce back with a good save in second half
JOHNSON - showed good ambition going forward, maybe he could be our real breakout star in the World Cup
COLE - you know what youre going to get from him and he was reliable
TERRY - at times doing the work of 2 men and didnt really put a foot wrong
KING - always had a question mark hanging over him fitness wise and seemed to be holding up, but has broken down again, could lose out completely if his replacement plays well
MILNER - Capello clearly rates him, but again maybe rushed back too quick following his virus
LAMPARD - had to to most of the sitting back, and was fiarly invisble for much f the game
GERRARD - great start to the game and was most lively outfield player
LENNON - you know he can do it , he knows he can do it, just lacking that final ball sometimes, deserves another run-out though.
ROONEY - you cant say he was marked out the game, but until the last 20 minutes didnt show any of the hype and hope
HESKEY - we can be proud of him - ok he missed a great one-on-one chance - but he did everthing that was probably asked of him.
SWP - really frustrating, has talent but runs down so many blind alleys and his inability to actually go past players is bemusing
CARRAGHER - rusty? out of form? out of touch internationally? well is he the answer on Friday?
CROUCH - won all the balls that he had launched at him but they fell approx 15 yards away from thier intended target
Much to ponder then for Mr.Capello, i have faith that he will see the changes that have to be made, enforced or otherwise, also that he will potentially realise that a system chnge may be needed. For sure you have players that are chomping on the bit on the bench.
Dont be too disheartened by the result - many a great success story in World Cups have been built on starts like these, indeed our own campaigns have gotten off to even worse openings. More on that later
Dont get me wrong, the start of this all sounds a bit negative, England showed that they are a solid unit, one that can battle and ask questions, and after all it was just the first game, and these tournaments are not won in the first 90 minutes of play.
Going through the side then and judging the players
GREEN - well he did bounce back with a good save in second half
JOHNSON - showed good ambition going forward, maybe he could be our real breakout star in the World Cup
COLE - you know what youre going to get from him and he was reliable
TERRY - at times doing the work of 2 men and didnt really put a foot wrong
KING - always had a question mark hanging over him fitness wise and seemed to be holding up, but has broken down again, could lose out completely if his replacement plays well
MILNER - Capello clearly rates him, but again maybe rushed back too quick following his virus
LAMPARD - had to to most of the sitting back, and was fiarly invisble for much f the game
GERRARD - great start to the game and was most lively outfield player
LENNON - you know he can do it , he knows he can do it, just lacking that final ball sometimes, deserves another run-out though.
ROONEY - you cant say he was marked out the game, but until the last 20 minutes didnt show any of the hype and hope
HESKEY - we can be proud of him - ok he missed a great one-on-one chance - but he did everthing that was probably asked of him.
SWP - really frustrating, has talent but runs down so many blind alleys and his inability to actually go past players is bemusing
CARRAGHER - rusty? out of form? out of touch internationally? well is he the answer on Friday?
CROUCH - won all the balls that he had launched at him but they fell approx 15 yards away from thier intended target
Much to ponder then for Mr.Capello, i have faith that he will see the changes that have to be made, enforced or otherwise, also that he will potentially realise that a system chnge may be needed. For sure you have players that are chomping on the bit on the bench.
Dont be too disheartened by the result - many a great success story in World Cups have been built on starts like these, indeed our own campaigns have gotten off to even worse openings. More on that later
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