England - Portugal (Quarter-final)

Frisko

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England were terrible again, deserved to go out. That's not saying that Portugal were any better.

Gerrard and especially Lampard have been a disaster and the key to England's failure. Sven and Rooney will get all the blame but I don't think they deserve it, the formation was constructed to give Gerrard and Lampard freedom and the chance to support Rooney, get near the goal and score. They failed miserably. They also managed to miss the penalty, gee what a disaster for them.

Who knows what's gonna happen now, Portugal and France are very solid, they both have a big chance to get to the final. Vamos Figo!
 

Frisko

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Beckham has just resigned as England captain, he will still play for the NT but not as captain.
 

Shafs

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Im glad England are out, never won a penalty shoot out thats just pathetic, bringing on Jamie Carragher was a crack up as he missed a penalty and Rooney got what he deserved.

Who's the villan in the english press?
 

Pi

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This was the worst game of the quarter-finals, badly played from both sides. In the first half the teams seemed, at times, that they weren't even trying to do something. Anyone could see that the goals would be out of this game.

Sven plays an attack with only Rooney? They didn't go far, the Portuguese defenders were on him all the time, their attack "improved" when Crouch came in. And Scolari plays Pauleta? If there's an off form player in this World Cup it's Pauleta, then with one more player he keeps a very tired Figo in and he sends Viana before he sends Postiga (or Nuno Gomes).

I don't know about the penalty of Nuno Valente it's kind of tough to say but I would agree either way so I'm thankful for the referee mot calling it. About the red card, I recognize that Rooney was in a lot of pressure, maybe even being fouled, but the guy deliberately stepped in the "low area" of Carvalho and it was painfull even to whatch.

Then Portugal entered in the Mexico mentality, "we have one more player we will win", and they stopped running, it wouldn't be a scandal if England had gotten a goal. Scolari MUST correct this.

Then on the penalty shoot-out, Portugal had a hero called Ricardo and we had more luck. Well done, England great spirit, but only after losing Rooney.

Portugal must concentrate on France now and hopefully with Deco and Costinha we can improve our Ball management and attacking plays.
 

cozzi

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Shafs said:
Im glad England are out, never won a penalty shoot out thats just pathetic, bringing on Jamie Carragher was a crack up as he missed a penalty and Rooney got what he deserved.

Who's the villan in the english press?
The main villan is erickson. I'm so pleased hes gone now. Please dont blame Rooney he is a very special player. Ericksons tactics have been boring, we should be the best team to watch.

Becks quit as captain too, and i cant see him playing for England agian. I felt sorry for him in the press conference - he was almost in tears. I liked Beckham, he was always a man of the people, and although he is not a great england player, he was always there when we needed someone to stand up and be counted.

In England there is just despare. I'm so upset now, we deserved to go through. Pi, I had a good opinion of your boys before this match, but now i have lost all respect for them. Maniche rolling on the ground holding his face, then as soon as we kick the ball out hes back on his feet. This needs to be eliminated from football ASAP. Ronaldo is a complete discrace to the game too.
 

Pi

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cozzi said:
Pi, I had a good opinion of your boys before this match, but now i have lost all respect for them. Maniche rolling on the ground holding his face, then as soon as we kick the ball out hes back on his feet. This needs to be eliminated from football ASAP. Ronaldo is a complete discrace to the game too.
I agree that dissimulate players should be booked, they are a disgrace for football and I'm sad that some Portuguese players do this.
 
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Zamat

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J zanetti said:
England never looked winning it from the start of the tournament by playing a crappy game after another. So I’m glad seeing them packing their stuff and going home.

Same here! They were clueless throughout the whole tournament, which is a crime with the players available. Tough luck guys! :D
 

Pajo

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UhUhOleguer said:
I pray that Ronaldo joins real!!!


And why is that?
 
J

Jimmy

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Right, I have refrained myself from commenting England in this tournament, because I simply don't want to jinx anything. Being a foreigner living in this country, has given me a lot of insights of the English culture when it comes to football. Especially, since I work with sportjournalists who only talks about football.

England are the best in the world
There's no doubt that the English believe they had a chance of winning the World Cup. When I first joined in the discussions regarding who would win the WC, I wasn't even aware of that the English even believed they stood a chance. So when I talked about their chances I said stuff like: "England won't win that's for sure."
I didn't get in trouble for being direct and not subtle, at least. They saw themselves as favourites in every game. BBC's experts claimed already before the game that they should beat Portugal because they have better players.
I truely loved walking around in this country and see all the flags and nationalism. Being a Swede, where we aren't even allowed to show the Swedish flag in public places, it warmed my heart.

Wayne Rooney
He is treated as a God in this country. I've never seen a player who hasn't scored a single play-goal for two years or something for England, to be rated this much. He's considered the second-best player in the world. While I said comments like: "I find Leo Messi to be a bigger talent"
With Rooney's red card yesterday (which I personally found extremely harsh), it'll be interesting to see if they will give him the same treatment as they did with Beckham.

Sven-Goran Eriksson
Was never even given a decent chance to work in peace. Everything he did was wrong, and everything he didn't. It woudn't have mattered if they had won the WC, he still would be crap as a coach and it would all be the players' achievement. BBC's first comment after the game was that Eriksson lost them the game. Not Rooney's red card, but Eriksson.


England lacked the offensive force all along to be able to become a champion. The English failed to realise that, and put Rooney on one of the highest pedistals that I have seen. He could make the difference, he would win them the WC, and in the end it was him that failed everyone. Don't get me wrong, I think Rooney is a fantastic player and will become one of the best in the world. However, he's not there yet. He's still a fantastic talent, but not a superstar.

I've truely enjoyed these months with the English football and see how this country thinks of their team.
 

cozzi

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Pi said:
I agree that dissimulate players should be booked, they are a disgrace for football and I'm sad that some Portuguese players do this.
Thank you for your honesty Pi. You should be very proud of what you wrote there, and you are a credit to your country. Well done.

Jimmy - i enjoyed reading your posts very much and i admit every word you speak is true. Thanks for writing this things about England.

We do have the best team in the world - there is no doubt about this. Our super stars - Lamps, Terry, Gerrard, Rooney, Coles, etc are the best in the world. We should have won the WC no question about it.

Now SGE is a complete farse in my opinion and i have absolutely no respect for this man what so ever. Like i said we have the best players in the world, yet he could not find a way of making them all play well together in the same team. He makes absured squad selections. At the time i was pleased Walcott was in the squad cos i dont think Bent can hack it at the highest level. But to not even play him makes me so angry. We have strikers like Defoe, Harewood, Ashdon, and Heskey who would have done well. Also he destroyes Crouchs confidence. Jimmy, you live in england and you know that Crouch was the most inform striker in the world, but he droppes him for an injured midget Owen for the Sweeden game. It does not make sense.

Another thing that annoys me about him is his lack of passion. When we play i want to see passion and a bit of ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH! but he did not do this! The most annimated he gets is when he stands up to take his jacket off! This is why he is unpopular with English. No PASSION

Wayne Rooney is a very very special player. Our hopes are with this lad for the future and i will be amazed if anyone in England critizes him. But i think your wrong Jimmy - he deserved this red card. Stamping on bollocks is wrong for me, but he will be back, I promise.

Thanks Pi, and Jim you both write good things!
 
J

Jimmy

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I wouldn't go as far as to say Crouch was the most in form in the world. ;) That's yet another one of those overstatements. :D

But indeed, he should have played. But you see, this is the dilemma that Eriksson faced in every single game England plays. Remove a midfielder (Hargreaves, who btw was brilliant in the WC and only received crap from media and the public) and play with two strikers BUT having to demote Gerrard to defensive midfielder. That was the dilemma. "Do I want to make Gerrard be one of the best players in the world, or should I use two strikers?"

Being a self-proclaimed hater of the one-striker system, I wouldn't have chosen Eriksson's system. However, I can see how he reason. It has been the duo Lampard-Gerrard in the 4-4-2 that has never worked, which has caused so that England tried different ways. It would have been easier for Eriksson all along if Lampard was injured in the tournament. Usually a fantastic player, but was a waste in this tournament. Then Eriksson could have fielded a more balanced midfield, and play with two strikers. Now he was left with a very difficult choice to make, and let's be honest here, regardless of his choice he would have received crap for it.
 

Kato

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Frisko said:
Gerrard and especially Lampard have been a disaster and the key to England's failure. Sven and Rooney will get all the blame but I don't think they deserve it, the formation was constructed to give Gerrard and Lampard freedom and the chance to support Rooney, get near the goal and score. They failed miserably. They also managed to miss the penalty, gee what a disaster for them.

Frisko u really talk some utter shit sometimes..

How anybody can say that Sven doesn't deserve blame in all of this?

He picked the fkin squad to go to the tournament, took Theo, yet wouldn't play him - no blame there?

He could have taken Bent or Defoe and played them next to Rooney after the Owen disaster or just played Crouch. Rooney has always said he prefers a partner but didn't mind being alone. Though both him and Sven knew that he'd be a hell lot more effective with a second striker next to him.

Though because Sven can't manage to utilise both Gerrard and Lampard in a 4-man midfield, we have to play a 4-5-1..

Gerrard was hardly horrible all tournament, at least he hit the back of the net!

We've got a bunch of good players, yet had a coach who just couldn't work out how to use them all at once :rolleyes:

Though obviously in the land of blind he is a hero..

Ah well, time for a few years of "english-sven" - same shit, diff smell. Looks like we're going to waste some of the most talented players this country have ever had, thanks to idiot coaches.

Sven hasn't done all bad, but he can hardly be called a success, any of the great coaches would have utilised this team and got the results.

Feel for the long-servers, Beckham may not be the best we've got but he has got heart.. And lastly the fans are fkin gutted, gotta love the way the country is during a tournament, even though the team played utter shit :D
 

ciocare79

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The one player that shined for England was Gerrard. He played great every game. Now he should take becky's spot as captain and lead england to some success
 

Wallace

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I don't understand why Sven didn't take a more promising striker or a striker with more experience to come to Germany. They had Walcott, and they don't use him? Then why bother bringing him to Germany?

And Crouch? This guy scores every 100th strike he strikes, he missed dozens of opporunities, how can he make it to the World Cup squad? :p

Lampard & Gerrard, they are so successful in club levels, Gerrard didn't do as badly as Lampard did, Lampard scored 0 goals out of the 30ish attempts, I think that's pretty bad for a class player like him. Don't understand why Sven is so persistent in using them, after the group stage, wouldn't he notice those two doesn't actually work?

I think Beckham was the best for England, if it wasn't for his free kicks, England would be flying home before reaching last 8.
:confused:
 

ciocare79

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And Crouch? This guy scores every 100th strike he strikes, he missed dozens of opporunities, how can he make it to the World Cup squad? :p

Are you talking about Crouch or Inzaghi? :p
 

minterke

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I agree with Sasuke on Beckham. I think he made this England team look better than they really were with his set pieces. Let's think about it:

First game he curled the ball from a set piece which took a deflection and went in. England wins 1-0.

Second game he landed a ball straight to Crouch's head and then Gerrard double their lead. England win 2-0.

Third game Joe Cole scores a wonder strike.

Round of 16, Beckham scores on a free kick.

QFinals Beckham is injured and England can't find the back of the net.

Give the man the credit he deserves for playing in this NT. The English media might have overrated him as a youngster, but don't let it take away what a good player he was.

Oh well England, I guess your supporters are used to it by now. See you in 2008 where you'll hopefully meet Portugal again.
 

shahz_nerazzurri

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Guys, needless to say I have been partying my life out now, for 2 days in a row, but I wont go in to the discussion about the game.
I would just say that I am absloutely shocked at the treatement C.Ronaldo is getting. He only was speaking to the ref, players do that all the time, but still he is getting all that crap from english media, fans and even ex-footballers, and managers of other english club teams. While Looney, the idiot who felt no shame in pushing his club teammate, isnt even criticised for this particular incident.
Now fans, are saying that they hope Looney kicks Ronaldo's ass when they meet again, like Looney owns ManU, and Ronaldo is just a third-wolder begging to play for them. Frankly speaking, If I was C.Ronaldo, I would spit on the face of ManU and England, and take the first flight available to Madrid. I hope he would do that, if he has any self-respect.
 

Choppin Onions

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SVE should've went with Spurs duo of Lennon and Carrick. I'm not a huge fan of the deep playmakers like Carrick, Pirlo, Xabi Alosno etc. but I do know Carrick has talent and can create with the best of them. Lennon is a speedy and tricky little bastard. Enough said.

McClaren needs to decide between Lampard or Gerrard (I'd go with Stevie G myself) and end the horrid experiment that is Gerrard-Lampard. Revert back to a 4-4-2 (flat or diamond would work) and partner Rooney with anyone but Crouch and you're set.
 

snake

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10 years of FIF
---------------Robbo--------------
Hargreaves-Terry(c)-Rio-Ashlee:lol:
---------------Carrick------------
------Lampard------Gerrard------
Rooney-----------------------Joey
---------------Owen---------------

That lineup will do some decent work.
 

minterke

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Carrick? Have you not seen the performances Hargreaves has given this WC?
 
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