England v Ecuador (Spoilers)

[Felonius_Monk]

[k3nt]

If you're going to put "spoilers" in the title, please post the result as well. I mean score and who scored and when and all that. If it's going to be spoiled, might as well spoil it all the way. Plus that way I can just come to this site for all my world cup results needs....

I was in England for the 1998 World Cup, the only time I've been out of the states at that crazy time of year. The enthusiasm was really infectious. So now the US is out time to root for y'all.

YAY ENGLAND!!!! (Whatever the final score was.)

[mike_m235]

Two things I thought while watching this game. First, at about 55 minutes I was thinking to myself...I don't see the big deal about #7. He's not very fast, he doesn't seem to be distributing the ball...he's over-rated. Then he hit that kick. Wow.

Second -- wasn't Rooney supposed to be out of shape? He sure did a good job of faking it, then, when he took those guys on one vs. one in about the 80th minute and created some chances. Sure, he was walking a lot near the end of the game, but he still looked pretty fit to me.

[Felonius_Monk]

Rooney is one of the best 3 or 4 players in the world, which is probably why he looks so dangerous when he's unfit. And yeah, he's still not 100% and I don't think he will be this world cup.

K3nt, england won 1-0 in an otherwise fairly mediocre game thanks to a pretty brilliant beckham free kick. About 25 yards out, into the near post, the keeper did EVERYTHING to keep it out but it basically shaved a coat of paint off the post (at pace) on its way in. Beckham had a pretty hopeless game otherwise, but, in a 1-0 win, if you make the "1", then I guess you won the game.....

Holland and Portugal don't look so great. I figure england have a 50/50 against either of these.

COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRING IT HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stoneburg]

[Felonius_Monk]

[excession]

[NorthView]

Even without Deco and Ronaldo, Portugal will represent a step up in terms of quality. Really, any decent opponents would've punished us severely during that awful first half display.

Eriksson needs to get tough with some of his underperforming superstars. Lampard should be dropped: he's been clearly out of form all tournament, is having trouble making even the simplest of passes accurately, and frequently wastes possession with hopeless long range shots. Terry needs an almighty bollocking: his defensive slips are becoming a regular feature of England games, and with our current inability to score from open play a single defensive error could see us going home.

For someone who's only 70% fit Rooney performed very well in a role he probably doesn't relish too much, and hopefully he'll be even sharper by Saturday. As always, he represents our best chance of progression.

[SideSwipe]

On paper, we had probably the best 5 midfield going. But as usual with Sven's tactics, we bypassed this midfield and just HOOFED the ball from the keeper or back 4 and hoped it landed at Rooney's feet. Absolutely pointless.

Lampard was consistent yet again. Chocolate tea-pot comes to mind.

Beckham, apart from his goal, all of a sudden cannot beat the first man with his corners and free kicks. I wanted him subbed at half-time, thanks god he wasn't. But he's still useless for 89 minutes and 40 seconds of a game.

The 4-5-1 was a nice try, but it didn't work. Go back to Sven's favoured 4-4-2 and drop Lampard so Gerrard doesn't have to cover his lazy ass no more. Then let Gerrard run through on balls played upto Rooney and Crouch and we'll hammer Portugal. No Deco, no Costinha and hopefully no Figo, if he gets suspended for his headbut, and it looks a lot better for us now.

[Felonius_Monk]

I'm really hoping they can censure figo after the game, but I'm not sure how they're doing it now, rules-wise. It may be that the ref needs to mention it in his report or something, which (given he didn't apparently deem it worse than a yellow card) might not happen. But hopefully....

Seems there's a good chance Ronaldo might be struggling too. No Ronaldo, Deco, Figo or Costinha and we'd be big favourites I think. Just missing maybe Deco (who's not been great so far) and Costinha will be a blow but not a massive one I think.