World Cup 2010

[hangsaboot]

Start the engines taxiing for take off . FABIO CAPELLO is going back HOME, to ITALY ..

in both world cup games , ALL the england players performance was under par.
they are all aware of this , and are not making any exscuses.

the fact that the selected players , are only given two hours notice
before they play ,, is ridiculous .
they need to have two days notice , to put their minds in brain mode .
and be prepared both phically and mentally , for the game ..

the high tie , does not have the ability to gel and embrace the team .
i use maradona , as an example , of what a caring and dynamic leader can achieve ,
his and the teams , national pride is very apparent ...
where,s capelllo national pride ,, none for a british team

with his facial growls he should be put in a zoo, you know where ??
ITALY asap.

[Galee]

the fact that the selected players , are only given two hours notice
before they play ,, is ridiculous .
they need to have two days notice , to put their minds in brain mode .
and be prepared both phically and mentally , for the game ..

We were talking about this yesterday. He announces the team just before they leave for the stadium, say it takes 30 minutes to get there, then the players need a warm up, so when exactly, does he give a team talk to the selected players so they know how and where he expects them to play.
The only reason it's worked before is because of the poor teams England played in the qualifiers. Capello is getting 6 million a year to ruin the confidence of the players.

[pienmash]

I totaly agree Capello does not have an ounce of national pride for England and i thought twas a mistake to appoint him BUT who the hell else was there non foreign ?? .
I wont have one decent word said for "hand of god"Maradona hes a cheat a convicted druggie shorter and fatter than me !! how he had the brass balls to appeal for fair play and refs to protect Messi made me vomit the fella in his day was adam good football player his honour and character is barrel bottom a cocky cokeheed i hope he has an Eric Morcambe on the touchline !!

[Zidane]

as likely....as me starting for England tonight.

Bob,
On the evidence of last night you would be worth a place in the England line up.....in fact,they could probably build the team around you !
Got up at 1.20am here after 2 hours kip and after watching a stunning comeback by the USA from two goals down.In fact they were unlucky not to win with the disallowed goal.Slovenia,quick and skilful in attack but cynical in midfield and,especially,defence.
But England.....clueless,woeful,dire,dreadful......thats probably an understatement.We were lucky Algerias strikers are about the same standard as Darlingtons !
James.....did OK,but the guys almost 40 and never a world class keeper.
Johnson....caught in possession too often,defensively poor.
Carragher....a good player in his time but this season at Liverpool has shown his pace has gone...exposed at this level.
Terry....not bad,did OK but nothing special.
Cole....One of the better players.Good attacking option down the left and defensively sound.
Barry....first game back since injury so did as well as could be expected.
Lennon....was he playing ? I only noticed a contribution from him seconds before he was substituted.
Lampard....again not bad but not the driving influence in midfield for England as he is for Chelsea.
Gerrard.....absolutely wasted on the left of midfield.should be either on the right or playing just behind a lone striker.
Heskey....tries hard,without achieving anything,but was absolutely crap in Euro 2004 which should have been the end of his international career.Could do a good job with Scunthorpe United,though. :-"
Rooney.....nothing like the player he was before his ankle injury sustained against Bayern Munich.Very poor.
Substitutes.....Crouch and Defoe....not on long enough to make an impact.Neither are world class strikers though Crouch has a decent scoring record at international level.

So Slovenia is a must win game.Not very hopeful of achieving this.Surely Joe Cole and Dawson will come into the reckoning.
But not all bad news.The Germans lost despite Vidics crazy attempt to hand them an equaliser....another player who has gone down the nick in the last year or so.

[pienmash]

I totaly agree Capello does not have an ounce of national pride for England and i thought twas a mistake to appoint him BUT who the hell else was there non foreign ?? .
I wont have one decent word said for "hand of god"Maradona hes a cheat a convicted druggie shorter and fatter than me !! how he had the brass balls to appeal for fair play and refs to protect Messi made me vomit the fella in his day was adam good football player his honour and character is barrel bottom a cocky cokeheed i hope he has an Eric Morcambe on the touchline !!

SORRY I FORGOT MY GRAN HATES MARADONA AS WELL HER PET NAME FOR HIM IS DWARF ARGIE CHEATING ASSHOLE USAULLY HER TEETH FLY OUT WHEN SHE SHOUTS IT

[pienmash]

Scunthorpe dont need Heskey besides hes simply not good enuff to get in the scunny 1st team

[hangsaboot]

SORRY I FORGOT MY GRAN HATES MARADONA AS WELL HER PET NAME FOR HIM IS DWARF ARGIE CHEATING ASSHOLE USAULLY HER TEETH FLY OUT WHEN SHE SHOUTS IT[/quote]

thanks for the feed back piemash , please give our regards to your gran .

but the mighty midget , is good for the argentina national squad .
the frkng high tie , is only good for taking any drive / enthusiasm
out of the english team ..
it annoys me , the armchair critics on TV ,, gary linnekar , graham chiles , hanson ,keegan etc
do not open their paid mouths , and say , WHO , is the big problem

[BobHelm]

Well, sadly as it turns out, I did not have to stay up late to watch the game - kick off was 7:30.
Don't really know what to say about England. I don't think I have ever watched a game before where only the goalkeeper looked worthy of his place.
The complete defence started off playing like frightened deer caught in the headlights. We were playing Algeria not Argentina. Their attack should not have worried many defences playing in the Rymer league let alone 'world class' defenders.
Then the midfield struggled to put more than 2 passes together without losing the ball. Totally mystifying how Gerard & Lampard played just so badly together. Lennon has forgotten why he looked good for Spurs - push & run, frighten the life out of defenders with pure pace. I don't think he would have beaten Jon's Gran for pace last night.
Then the attack - well I think there was one. Worst game I have ever seen Rooney play since he came to Old Trafford. He has put me in despair with his rashness on ocassions, but, as others have already said, he just looked plain uninterested last night. Even if he didn't score in a game (like against USA) he was always providing good chances for others. I cannot remember 1 last night.
I have no idea what to do about it though....Heskey in or out... to be replaced by whom???
Crouch??? So we can totally ignore the midfield and hoof it up the pitch from defence??
Defoe??? A poor striker towards the end of the last Premier season. Has never really done it for England & shown not a hint that he has refound his early season form.
Rooney on his own with Gerrard??? Maybe - not something tried yet & cannot produce a worse result than last night that is for sure!! However I think Roon might need a talking to from Sir Alex if England are going to progress as Capello has certainly not managed to improve the effectiveness of the team since the first game.
A 2-2 draw with Slovenia and USA drawing 0-0 sees the table going to a 'lottery' draw to see who progresses.....not that England look like scoring 1, let alone 2!!
On the bright side Germany also had their come upance....The were actually unfortunate enogh to meet a very fussy referee & to say the sending off was harsh is putting it mildly...Serbia are going to be a tough team to beat & I suspect that whoever does beat them will be nursing more than a few injuries after the match.....Potentially the next England oponents if they manage to get out of the mess they are currently in. I, for one, would not put a penny on the current England team standing a snow balls chance in hell against either the Germans or the Serbs....

[arjay]

Thank you for that assessment Bob. I got up at 1.30am to watch it ,and after wondered why. I didn't know what to make of it or the solution and was looking forward to see what you would say.

To me it looked like none of them "gel'd" together, - i.e. there seemed to be little understanding between the players. The midfield lost the ball too often. I felt that Heskey shouldn't have been there, and probably not Rooney either last night. Sean Wright Phillips looked good, but football is not my forte and I'm no judge. So I don't know where we go from here

[BobHelm]

I don't think anyone knows what to make of it RJ - football experts or not.
Papers are not exactly 'supportive' of our unbeaten side (just to put a different slant on it )
At least the next (& possibly LAST) England involvement in the WC is at a reasonable watching time for Thailand.
Like many, after the easy qualification games, I was rather lulled into a false hope about the England team. While I never actually thought they could win it (or deserved to) I did expect them to advance out of a VERY easy group & put up some sort of spirited display against the better teams in the competition.
A great pity....

[cryptic]

They are still playing this tournament, and it goes for another......3 weeks. Can't they just pick the longest straw and be done with it.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Well, England was dismal beyond belief.

They need someone in the middle like Paul Scholes, who can set people up, and can score too. Wouldn't he be better than Heskey, or the whole lot up front?

[fallenlocks]

[quote="Tilokarat"]Well, England was dismal beyond belief.

i thought peter crouch , should have been brought on earlier in both games .
his eventual arrival , was so dismasll , for a player i have high regard for ..
the big question is WHY , THIS LOSS OF PERFORMANCE .

the african teams , are paid in comparrison, peanuts to the rooney, gerrards etc .
howevever , their effort and performance . and hunger for winning , is second to none .

an african team deserve to win the world cup.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Why is an African team more deserving than an Asian, South American or European team? Their performances to date do not support that view unless Ghana somehow overcomes the odds and wins it. Besides, I have Ghana in a poll on one of the Udon forums. This is owing to the analysis Khun Helm gave during the African Cup, and the fact that the Gold Coast (Ghana) used to be a British colony.

[pienmash]

Based on Englands last dismal performances i think i would be better to replace the whole side with the current world beating Scunthorpe Utd side who are all English except the goalkeeper - no probs - just come off the phone to my gran and she will take care between the sticks , still at 97 a "well fit bird" athetically anyway (to coin OTs phrase ) would do a better job than the present choice and looks great in a skimpy footy kit especialy in a chilly breeze - nipples like scammal wheel nuts .

chz jon ..... i should be the next England manager !!

[BobHelm]

I think Ghana will go farthest of the African teams in the contest. BUT I would have been amazed if any of the African teams would have progressed very far in the competition. Ghana looked a little lucky with their 1-1 draw with Australia. A penalty for handball was a correct decision but a sending off seemed a little harsh as I am not sure how much it was ball to hand. Cameroons are the first out of the contest I see.
Holland won without being impressive but are the first side to qualify for the next round. Winning while looking an average side is the way to go at the start of these contests!! I don't think anyone will be able to accuse them of peaking to early BUT they are getting the results. With the way Spain & Brazil have started the Dutch management must be delighted - certainly dark horses for the overall prize. Robbin has not even started a game (due to injury) yet & I think they have quite a well balanced side for later on in the contest.
As an aside I see that Mr. Anelka has been sent home by the French for his remarks to (& about) Mr. Domenech after being subed in their last game.....& people think the England side have problems...

[Zidane]

Result of the day.....little New Zealands 1-1 draw against holders Italy ! =D>
Up to now,looking at potential winners its got to be a South American team (Brazil,Argentina,Uruguay,Paraguay,Chile) as none of them has lost a game yet.
Quite possibly none of the African teams could go through (South Africa,Algeria,Nigeria,Cameroon).Ghana will have to get at least a draw against Gemany and Ivory Coast beat North Korea,whilst hoping Brazil thump Portugal....looking dodgy for the Africans,I reckon.
For Europe,Holland has been the best so far.They will have to play better than they did against Japan but still have Robben and Elia in reserve.....just a bit worried about their full backs....Van Bronkhurst,in particular,is getting on a bit and never been great defensively.
But,of course,after Wednesday when England thrash Slovenia 6-0 and Rooney scores a hat trick all this talk about World Champions will be irrelevant.....well,theres no harm in dreaming ! :-"

[BobHelm]

Yes the World Champions (Italy) in the same situation as England - 2 games, 2 draws. Italy were LUCKY to get the penalty they scored from, OK, a bit of shirt pulling by the defender but the Italian forward went down like he had been tasered (once the ball had bypassed him that was) - why was I not surprised The New Zealand defence all had match winning performances - the gollie was outstanding & was certainly my man of the match.
Brazil looked very good on occassions. Quick & clean passing swiftly moving the ball goalwards, not quite sure what Dunga thought of that. Maybe not Brazil of Pele's time but dismissed Ivory Coast pretty comprehensively. Kaka was sent off near the end in what was a pretty disgraceful fall to the ground by Abdelkader Keita. As he was shown a second yellow (rather than a straight red) Kaka cannot appeal the decision. My own thought are that FIFA should ban Keita for taking part in any form of football for at least a year. I won't hold my breath to see it happen though.
The result leaves the way clear for Portugal to make an easy progress with a win against Korea today, however I do not expect them to be push overs as they showed against Brazil!!
Paraguay easily moved past Slovakia and a draw or better against New Zealand will see them qualify.
Italy are left with a must win game against Slovakia in much the same way England are.
On the French front......video of Evra going ape against 1 of the coaching staff is all over the news in UK. The players refused to train yesterday as a defiance against the sending home of Anelka. Domenech read out a statement from the players critising the FFA over their handling of the matter. I was rather confused as to whether he was supporting the players stance or not... The complete affair is certainly another massive mess of the FFA own making. I gather that part of the players dismay is that no one from the FFA talked to either Anelka or Domenech but made their decision based completely on French newspaper reports!!
The England camp is not much better though....
Terry made a statement to the press yesterday that has gone down particulary badly with the British Media. I did not hear it (yet) but the accusations made against him are basically that he is positioning himself for a return to being captain by under mining Capello's position & making demands on him in the 'players' name. The press are making much of the fact that his stance is NOT actually supported by the other players.....I guess it will all blow over with a serious win on Wednesday. BUT expect sparkes to fly if the worse happens in that game....

[BobHelm]

If anyone wants to watch the Terry statement...here it is...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 750303.stm

I am not sure if it works outside the UK though!! Sadly I can't hear it - I am in an internet cafe & to say it is noisy is putting it mildly...

Bit more from the BBC....

The Bishop of Croydon, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, has written a prayer for the England team after their "remarkably aimless" performance against Algeria. It consists of only two words: "oh" and "God".

[jackspratt]

Yes the World Champions (Italy) in the same situation as England - 2 games, 2 draws. Italy were LUCKY to get the penalty they scored from, OK, a bit of shirt pulling by the defender but the Italian forward went down like he had been tasered (once the ball had bypassed him that was) - why was I not surprised

Yes, well the "mighty" Azzura are not exactly without form when it comes to taking gigantic dives when they are playing teams from the Antipodes.

Unfortunately, whether or not it is officially sanctioned (ie pre-determined) by FIFA, it is certainly another blight on the name of high level international sport.

As an Aussie rules supporter, I would not give you 2 bob (not Helm ) for the entire box and dice that makes up the "world game".