World Cup 2006

[Summers]

Ecuador who have beaten Argentina & Mexico.. they're not a poor side.

[fineintent]

Ecuador who have beaten Argentina & Mexico.. they're not a poor side.

[Summers]

I'm just saying, it wasn't the walkover SOME fans think it should have been. We should have beat them comfortably, and put in a good performance. We didn't play anywhere near as well as we can, that's obvious.

But Ecuador proved they can hang in there, against sides such as us.

[fineintent]

I'm just saying, it wasn't the walkover SOME fans think it should have been. We should have beat them comfortably, and put in a good performance. We didn't play anywhere near as well as we can, that's obvious.

But Ecuador proved they can hang in there, against sides such as us.

[Dan]

Reilly get's idiot of the topic award up to now >_>

[IAceI]

I just watched the highlights and Ecuador had like 5 chances to our 10,000.

My only gripe is we're lacking goals, we could have had so many more today but meh, I didn't watch all the match and 10 goals or 1 goal, a win is a win.

[fineintent]

Why can no English pundit say Kuyt's name properly?

They say Kite or Cout, when its pronounced Huyt.

[Dan]

I watched the highlights too and seen Beckham puking everywhere. Ugh.

To be honest people saying that he's shit, his defensive work has been excellent and he's basically gifted us two goals and scored one himself.

That's good work if you ask me.

[IAceI]

Why can no English pundit say Kuyt's name properly?

They say Kite or Cout, when its pronounced Huyt.

[Dan]

I say Kieyt

[fineintent]

You are Bo-a-teng, always believe in your soul, you've got the power to know...

And so forth.

[IAceI]

God, I don't think I can listen to Tylesdale and Pleat whine about the referee for a second time today - so I think I'll skip these highlights.

It's all very well the commentators looking at something from 10 different angles in slow motion before telling the referee, who gets one chance to see something happen, that they're rubbish.

[YI]

Portugal/Holland = match of the tournament. No doubt about it. So fucking entertaining.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Portugal/Holland = match of the tournament. No doubt about it. So fucking entertaining.

[Toe]

I want to see the Aussies elbow some of the Italian players right in the kisser.

[alldaws1]

And I'm not sure why Robinson looked so awesome before the World Cup yet has started to look pretty shakey at times when it most matters. Same with Terry, while I'm not saying he's played bad in anyway, he's just looked a little shakey at times which isn't like him.

Robinson's done fine, he's made the vital saves when we needed them. 3 clean sheets from 3 meaningful games.

Terry's done great throughout the tournament too, he must have done something right today to get man of the match

[Guest Ringo Mars]

Okay, quick things.

England played a lot better than they did in their previous games. That's not saying a lot. The players certainly do not seem to be playing at their best, but they win, so whatever. Certain players (ie John Terry) have been fucking up at least once a game and need to get their shit together. It's certainly not the shit-stained picture some of you are painting, but it's certainly not the rosy picture others are painting.

Ecuador, although a tactically admirable team, is not difficult opposition. Yes, they beat Brazil and Argentina. But they did so in Quito, where in both cases, key players on the teams (Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Riquelme, Crespo etc) suffered from heat exhaustion. "Ecuador beat Brazil and Argentina" is not an excuse for someone being tough opposition. Especially when they won ONE game away from Quito in WC qualifying. It's just like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Heat + Hostile environment = home win. A team of England's forte should have disposed of them with ease. England never looked like they were going to lose the game, but they never looked comfortable in control. That's the most important thing. England will strugle against Portugal, whether the other players play or not.

Portugal and Holland was insanely entertaining. It was also a huge farce. Valentin Ivanov should be shipped home. Forget about Graham Poll, this guy was horrendous. Portugal and Holland should be also be disciplined for turning the game into a farce. They dived around like bitches and complained the whole time. IMO, none of the red cards were merited, except maybe Costinha and were a result of massive cheating.

And yes, JP is right, Holland could have really used RVN. It honestly made no sense that Kuyt started ahead of him, and it made no sense when Vennegoor of Hesselink was brought in instead of him. He may not be nearly as good as he used to be, but he could have certainly applied the finish to certain crosses.

Edited June 26, 2006 by Ringo Mars

[Liam]

Reily, fer shame....never darken these doors again with thine posts >_>

One of these days, England football fans will realise that we aren't going to bang 5 goals past every team we face (like a lot of other good teams don't do, either), and just accept that a performance were we won, and didn't come under a great threat is actually pretty good, and definitely a stepping stone for what is to come.

I want someone to seriously break down the difference between Ballack and Lampard. Ballack has been a bit better for his side, but shots to goals wise, he has been just as bad. Yet, Lampard is zOMG SHITE and Ballack is the best player some people (the pundits, seemingly) have seen when he couldn't score (at the moment) to save his life. Anyone who actually thinks Lampards midfield work outside of his shooting is shit (.....Reily, weirdly enough >_>) is just being REALLY selective in how they judge it. Then again, Carrick was bad to you, so whatever....

Another thing I'd love some fans to realise is that no matter how good a team is, there are very few times a team goes through 90 minutes without getting threatened a few times. The fact that Ecuador occasionally broke through our lines semi-easily isn't overly indicative of much, aside from us being as fallable as any other team.

Oh, and Reily.....bringing up how good the Mexican team were, when they were only good against Argentina and sucked against Iran, Portugal and especially Angola, is really poor form. Aside from the Argentina match, they easily had a worse World Cup then we did, performance wise.

If England win, I still foresee people complaining, which is a sad state of affairs, somewhat.

EDIT: Just so people know, I'm not actually overly positive about how England played, I know we need to pick it up and that it will get a whole lot tougher damn soon, I'm just not into picking holes into what for the most part was a solid England performance. Luck-wise (aside from their shot off Cole onto the crossbar), we could have won by a lot more, but the main point is that we won.

Will we beat Portugal? Hmmm....I dunno. I'll admit that I'd think we'd beat Portugal more than I'd believe we'd beat Holland,so even without the sendings off, I think we'd stand a chance.

Edited June 26, 2006 by liamwannabe

[Liam]

This deserves a whole seperate post, but having looked at the odds at work, here is my tip.

Ghana are 17/2 to win in 90 minutes, and 7/1 to go through in general against Brazil. Seriously, Brazil may have a lot of talent, but they don't like teams that close them down and don't let them play, and Ghana won't. They have 11 players that'll give 100% for 90 minutes, and are worth a couple of quid for the upset IMO.

[The Quasi Juice]

Fucking hell that match against Portugal sucked. Yes it was entertaining but so freakin' nervewrecking (if that's a word). First Portugal have 10 players against our 11, we almost score a couple of times, then Figo fucking dives and Boulahrouz gets send off. All hell breaks loose with Heitinga not passing the ball followed by Deco's insane tackle. We almost score again with Kuyt but he sucked balls. IMO we deserved to make 1-1, it would have been even more entertaining if we scored.

But we did you English lads a favour with all the red cards and injuries. I hope England fuck Portugal up. Also, I think Holland would have defeated England but meh, it's over now.