World Cup 2010 Thread

[Farmer Reil]

Just rowing seems about right. Rugby Union? lol

Yeah, I mean we only beat Australia by a point. You absolutely smashed th... oh, wait. You destroyed the All Blacks tho... oh, nope. But at least you beat the Barbarians by a much wider margin than w... no, you lost that one too, didn't you?

On a marginally more footie related note, it's amazingly entertaining how worked up my gran is about the result. Considering this is a woman who for fully twenty minutes, despite numerous reminders, supported the "ones what're in white", and hummed the German anthem because she recognised the tune.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Farmer Reil

[The Quasi Juice]

I really think either Gerrard or Lampard needs to be dropped from the first eleven or just out of the squad altogether, they just don't work well together.

Hart

Johnson Terry Fuck Knows (Upson is shite) Cole

Barry ???

Milner Gerrard Young

Rooney

========

4-2-3-1, Holland style.

[LUKIE]

Anyone over the age of 28, get rid. Fuck it, if we're gonna be that poor we may as well just start again.

So Lampard, who actually played rather well, should be gotten rid of, but Rooney, who was practically a joke, should be kept on.

I do not understand this.

Fair enough Lampard won't make it to the next World Cup, as he will be 36... Your logic just doesn't make much sense in a short term scheme of things.

[Farmer Reil]

Lampard played well in one game. Fair enough, the most important one, but still only one game.

For the other three, he was even worse than Rooney.

[GoN_]

Now on a more serious note, I can't believe England underperformed as much as they did. I truly thought they could win this year, before the cup started, but they were just so bad... You had one of the best coaches of the last 20 years, a good group of players, an easy group, and you were even worse than four years ago where you seemed to have no idea of what you were doing. Even if Capello stays, whoever's responsible for the national squad will have to think very well how to rebuild this team, because at this pace you may fail to qualify to the Euro 2012. Switzerland and Montenegro are not easy opponents.

[ravenjuice]

they are, just not for us.

[sahyder1]

Would be happier for Ghana if it werent for all that slow playing and laying around.

It happens in every sport. Why wouldn't you go on the defensive late in a game to protect a lead?

I love that one of the first things the ESPN crew referenced was that it's shocking that we lost to a club with a smaller population again. Can we drop that talking point already? It doesn't matter if we have ~300 million people if we only field 7 players against the other team's 11

It was still a game they should have won. What ESPN's post game coverage started with is really the least of our worries. It was still a game that the US should have won.

And Donovan continues to look impressive. I don't get all the hate towards him.

Because he's American and can actually play soccer? I've never understood the hate towards him either. Yes, he was cocky as a young player but he has represented US Soccer very well as the spokesman for the game here.

how in the blue hell is Donovan a prick ? In now way is Donovan like Cahill in that matter.

All I hear from the guy is whining going back to when Beckham joined Galaxy, seriously, I have not heard one positive thing come out of that guys mouth with ouut him then going on to whine about a decision or another player. The guy is like a 14 year old little girl when you put a microphone infront of his face, he whines and it sounds like someone has hurt his precious little feelings.

I had no problems with anything he did during the Beckham/Donovan stuff. Beckham was being paid a ridiculous amount by MLS but he was giving no where close to a 100% to MLS. Donovan called him out on it. I have far more respect for Donovan as a team leader to have called him out on the crap when it was well deserved rather then staying quiet about it just because it was David Beckham.

So England how does it feel to be fucked over by a Ref?

At least we still made it here

I think he was referring to the England supporters in here who were knocking the US fans after the Slovenia game for supposedly acting like "only US gets screwed".

Continuously giving up early goals ended up coming back to haunt the US. Is it a disappointing finish? Absolutely. Is it the end of US Soccer? Absolutely not.

As for me the healing process started with this destruction of England today.

Goal reviews will definitely make their way into FIFA events very soon. It is ridiculous not to use the technology that is available to us. MLB has been the same for a long time and they have finally started to give in too. Get the damn calls right.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Just back from watching at at the local English bar (including some Yanks who snuck in there to cheer against England...then they wonder why the world hates them so much).

We did ok. Especially for the middle 40 minutes. Still can't believe the goal that never was....The bar erupted in elation and then total shock. The defence was terrible. Just terrible. Slow. Johnson was utterly outplayed and outclassed and outpaced.

rockbox can say what he wants but Johnson isn't fast enough of defensively skilled enough for the England defence.

I still can't believe it when at 4-1 Heskey came on. They gave up in the last 20 but to be honest there's no way back from 4-1 against the Germans who let one pass go astray all game.

The World Cup ended today. COME ON BRAZIL! If Brazil wins then nothing changes in the world - it's like stasis in the football world and let's get a new batch of lads together for 2014 when I'm a bloody old man.

[Dynamite]

A team is not just the best individuals. Why Hanson/Lawro/etc. can't just accept this is beyond me. The bit when they said England were the better team because they have better players had me going crazy even before a ball was kicked. It's no use saying Lampard scored 29 goals this season if he's going to be used in a system with just one midfielder besides him. He's always in a three-man midfield with Chelsea and it frees him to do what he does best. Just sticking the best players in a different team together and expecting them to do what they do on a weekly basis in teams built around them is stupid. If it means dropping Lampard or Gerrard then just do it. It's better to get 1 of them playing to their potential rather than both at 50%.

[The Quasi Juice]

I think some of the English players are slightly overrated anyway. Yes, some shine at their clubs but they are surrounded by non-English players who work to make sure that player shines.

[therockbox]

rockbox can say what he wants but Johnson isn't fast enough of defensively skilled enough for the England defence.

When you want to play with two attacking fullbacks, the team has to be set up to compensate for that.

You can't blame him for any of the goals today. The centre backs, especially Upson - who everyone knew would look like shite against a half decent attack - were awful, and Terry's inability to stick to his side of the defence meant that Johnson was continuously having to come across to cover the huge gap in the middle of our defence.

On top of that, and it's a common problem with England, whenever he does go forward we end up losing the ball, meaning he's 'caught out of position' when the Germans counter attacked. Ashley Cole's lucky Barry is left footed, because if he had Lampard 'covering' him he'd be just as exposed as Johnson.

[Hobo]

Accordingly this should be the lol, England thread too.

[GoN_]

A team is not just the best individuals. Why Hanson/Lawro/etc. can't just accept this is beyond me. The bit when they said England were the better team because they have better players had me going crazy even before a ball was kicked. It's no use saying Lampard scored 29 goals this season if he's going to be used in a system with just one midfielder besides him. He's always in a three-man midfield with Chelsea and it frees him to do what he does best. Just sticking the best players in a different team together and expecting them to do what they do on a weekly basis in teams built around them is stupid. If it means dropping Lampard or Gerrard then just do it. It's better to get 1 of them playing to their potential rather than both at 50%.

That happens hear to with Ronaldo. People expect Ronaldo to just start running and score two out of nowhere. When he doesn't people say it's his fault, that he doesn't play with as much desire as in the club he is, that he should go to the bench and stupid things like that.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

rockbox I'll give you that. Upson and Terry did nothing together. Cole had no support either. That second goal was Upson's fault. He ran SO FAR across that Johnson was forced to cover in the middle which freed up the wide man to score.

So now on here and the radio everyone is demanding full scale changes. Nothing will change, we'll get a new manager, maybe the odd new player will come up but nothing will change. We'll become like Italy. Abject.

I was nearly in tears. It would have been nice to see a few of our players looking a bit upset.

[Farmer Reil]

I dunno whether it was because I'm more of a rugby man now, or whether it was months of resignation to defeat and general pessimism, or what, but this is actually the least bothered I've been about England in an international competition. I think I'd have genuinely been more pissed off if Uruguay had gone out.

I'd have been pleased if we'd won, of course. But "meh" sums up the Eriksson/Capello era, really.

[Dont Fear The Reaper]

Taking a look at our younger English players, who can we confidently predict will be World Class in a few years time?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey.....Wait....

[therockbox]

Wilshere looks to be the best of an average bunch, and if Joe Hart gets away from Man City (or takes over from Given) fairly quickly the goalkeeping position is probably sorted for a good 10 years (another reason why he should've been #1 this tournament).

[probablyoliver]

Apparently all England matches are now only to be broadcast on GayTV due to the fact that 11 arseholes being hammered for 90 minutes is just too explicit for terrestrial.

[The Quasi Juice]

Taking a look at our younger English players, who can we confidently predict will be World Class in a few years time?

Hart, Young, Rodwell, Onouha (maybe), Wilshere (who knows), Shawcross....yeah....

Edited June 27, 2010 by The Quasi Juice