The Ecuador Match: First Thoughts

big egos,big wages,big on hype. football is now just a big advertising meduim to sell anything and everything. the actual game seems to be secondary. the best midfield in the world, dont make me laugh.talk is cheap as we constantly see on the back of our papers. when will they deliver.

Agree with a lot of what you say but Rooney played out of his socks for a man who should not b match fit. Agree Lennon shows flair and should be on from start in next match. I think this was the best of our games so far but we really need to step it up since we could only score from a set piece and Lampard & Gerrard’s last touch were pitiful…

I agree, lucky it wasn’t Germany!

We’re in trouble if that is all we could toady. England will have to step up play if they want to get past the next match. Lets go England……

I thought we played the second half faily well. Ronney is improving match-by-match too.

Nothing near spectacular yet (apart from Beckham’s goal) but yet again we have won, yet again there have been a lot of good touches, and yet again people have nothing positive to say…that is poor form in itself if you ask me.

I predict another two wins to reach the final, no doubt with continual sniping and jealousy whatever the results… but then who cares!

Well I didn’t think it was anything like as ugly as previous performances… but both Gerrard’s and Lampard’s final pass was woeful today. Should have been 3 or 4 easily…

Surely they have to get that final ball right at some point… I mean there ARE days when Chelsea, manchester United, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal all win and play well… just not when they are in the same team at the moment.

Shawn, I get the feeling you won’t be happy until England are out of the competition and on the plane home. Admit it, that’s what you really want. Then you can piss and moan about how our team sucks and you knew all along.

We’ve just dug out another win and are through to the quarter finals. At least allow your self a couple of hours of happiness before you start whining.

Shawn, are you English or American btw?

D, I’m with you mate. Who will care how we got there if we reach the final?

How many times have we watched an average looking German team scrape through a competition on lucky goals against the run of play? Well maybe its our turn, maybe things are just swinging our way when it really matters.

I think you are being overly harsh.
Yes it might have only been 1-0 but never at any stage did it look like it would go any other way.
It was the first time trying out the formation so it wasn’t likely to be perfect.
I agree that it could have been better and we probably would have lost to a better team (or a team that were fighting like mexico did).

However i see a couple of major promising steps:

1. Towards the later stages of the match Rooney really seem to come alive. His confidence and fitness was back and he looked like a player that would happily take on any defence that came his way.

2. We didn’t do our usual ‘clinging on’ for the last 30 minutes.

3. There was more passing play and long balls tended to be played more tactically rather than in desperation/hope (although there were still too many long balls played).

4. We have a very able holding passer of the ball in Carrick.

5. Beckham, despite his still far from perfect performance, can still blast them in from set peices!

I thought Lennon again showed that he possibly deserves a place in the starting lineup (possibly instead of Lampard who has really failed to impress in any of our games so far).
Gerrard did not play his best, although he made some promissing runs, but i would still put all my faith in him in the next game.
The defence looked a bit uneasy at times but i think they eventually settled down, ashley cole palyed brilliantly.

I’m not sure you are right at all about Walcott. He’s never really been tested for country or club. It would be too much of a risk to put a player of that inexperience on in a vital match. Owen may have been a similar age when he played for us in ‘98 but he had proved himself at liverpool.

Binary: I hope England continue on, I truly do, but you have to have Sven-colored spectacles on to see the glass as mostly full.

On paper, England have as much talent as all but perhaps one or two teams (Brazil, Spain, maybe Italy), but too much of that talent is at home, too much of it is being misused by Sven, and too much of it isn’t showing up in the matches.

This has been a fortunate tournament so far. Four matches in and England haven’t faced a quality opponent yet. And they’ve squeaked by with only 6 goals, only one of which has been scored from inside the box on the strength of passing and movement.

I’m a pessimist, but, then, there’s a lot to be pessimistic about.

D: I’m an American, but an ardent fan of the English leagues. Can’t abide the MLS and never watch it. But hardly a weekend goes by that I don’t watch three or four matches from the UK.

Tim: I think you and I are in exact agreement on Walcott. He shouldn’t be there if he can’t be used; Jermaine Defoe, Darren Bent, Andy Johnson, or even Emile Heskey deserved a ticket to Germany ahead of him. Why sacrifice a roster spot to somebody who can’t contribute to a close match????

Shawn – right, you will understand the difference then between supporting a foregin team (no matter how closely you follow them) and supporting your national side.

I have no problem in admitting i am more interested in our team winning matches than how prettily we do it. And I’m gonna be willing them on every match (hopefully along with the rest of the country!).

I’m not even a massive football fan at club level, but with the World Cup, European championships you can’t avoid it ha ha. especially over here.

Shawn,
American or not, you did made a fair assessment of the game.

Ecuador showed they still have a long way to go. We can beat middle of the road teams, but we cannot beat the bigger teams, even if they play like crap.

England has great players but they do not play like a team…much like Real Madrid.
I will be surprised if England can get passed the next round.

D: I hear you, but on the subject of supporting a national side I am at best an agnostic. I look at the US men, for instance, and all I see are flaws; I neer once thought the team would do anything in Germany. Worse for me is the thought of being amid a sea of US fans chanting and waving flags. Particularly nowadays, in my view, flags — all of ‘em — seem symbols of a world view I can’t share.

I understand, however, that people raised to cheer for a national side can be entirely caught up in its fortunes. And I don’t begrudge anyone getting behind their team. (I myself have been known to shock soccer moms in my cheering for the US women’s side…)

But I see my role here as more observer/critic than jingoist or cheerleader. I know it seems more the latter than the former lately (though you’ll note my words of praise today for Lennon’s vitality and a whole post to celebrate Beckham’s shot). But when England produces good play — and the last truly good performance I saw was the friendly against Hungary — then I’m happy and eager to say so.

I think we could beat a Decoless, Ronaldoless, and possibly figoless (if fifa intervene) cautious (due to whole team having yellows!) Portugal.

But we’ll lose to brazil!

Analysis is important, but it ain’t everything. There are other elements such as belief, faith, courage and hope… otherwise England would have just packed their bags and gone home!

There’s no point in taking a defeatist attitude, you need to believe in the possibility of success. However, if you’re not English, then I can see how any support depends upon previous and current form – but how can you predict the future?

Unless you’re using this crystal ball I have right here… yes… I clearly see Beckham raising the cup! ha ha

D: I make you this promise: If England pass Brazil to the final and then win it, I will plaster “I Was Wrong” all over this blog!

He he he, this crystal ball is at least 300% accurate, unfortunately for you, Shawn… prepare to grovel!

There has been a lot of criticism directed at England. The team certainly hasn’t been convincing up to this point, so much of the criticism is warranted. On the other hand, it is also clear that some people, English or otherwise, love to dogpile on the team. Not long ago, everyone was talking up Holland and now their done, beaten by a Portugual team that to my mind looks beatable itself, particularly missing a key player like Deco. Even a trendy pick like Argentina showed its vulnerabilities Saturday night. Where does that leave England? Into the quarter finals without having played anything close to its best form. Sure, England may be put to the sword against Portugal and if not that team then very likely Brazil in the semis but football can produce surprises. Just ask Gerrard about the Champions’ League last year.

ONCE AGAIN ENGLAND GET THROUGH BY PLAYING TOTAL SHITE..!!
ONCE THEY MEET A DECENT TEAM THEN THE REST OF THE WORLD WILL SEE THAT SO FAR THEY HAVE JUST BEEN VERY VERY VERY LUCKY..!!
ARGENTINA ON THE WAY TO THE FINAL…BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME..!!

well it htink it’s about time to give u all the benefit of someone who knows what they are talking about.

Ever since rooney has played for England it has been 4-5-1… not 4-4-2… he is simply NOT a striker, he is so much more. It’s like asking if Ronaldinho is a forward… well? um… no… err… yes!

The reason Sven took only 4 strikers is because he KNEW all along that he was going to have a fit Rooney, and that he can play up front on his own, as a ’supporting striker’ or as an attacking midfielder. Of England’s three number eights Roo can play anywhere, Gerrard can play nearly anywhere, and Lamps can play… well, number 8.

Anyway, I really don’t see it as 4-5-1… it’s just the W formation to me… think bout it

Today Lamps and Gerrard passed badly… and other than a bit of shoddy closing down on the edge of our box those are the only 2 bad points.

England WILL score well made goals inside the area… the longer it goes without them the more likely they are to happen, especially with Roo as up for it as he was.

I mean, if Stevie G and Frankie had been able to pass today it would have been 4 or 5 nil…

good… why waste golas on Ecuador… put ‘em past Portugal, Brazil and Spain et al.

A safe, workmanlike performance with Ecuador only having one decent chance. We all know England does not play that well against middle of the road teams. Bring on Portugal, who did not look impressive to me today. I feel a 2-0 England win coming on.

Dean

Shawn, mate, you are so American. And reading these notes confirms it. You have no IDEA of the shit we have to put up with. Frankly if we play dire football and win the world cup I’ll be happy. We killed the game, we got lucky, so what? If you’re going to pretend to be an England fan you might as well try.

For the sake of the football itself, I hope England gets knocked out of the tournament in the next stage. It’s already a shame that a side playing such ugly football is going to reach the quarter-finals, supposedly involving only top-teams. It puzzles me that the FA has not realized yet that there is something terribly wrong with our playing style (too much long passes and set-pieces dependent!!)…

Tedy or is it Teddy Thomas are u too frightened to put your real name on here?

I agree with Charles Shakespear

‘Frankly if we play dire football and win the world cup I’ll be happy. We killed the game, we got lucky, so what?

I would rather we win the cup this way than win it by cheating. So many teams are doing deliberate hand balls and when a player comes near them they roll around on the floor as if they have been stabbed. Pathetic. Argentina are the worst at this they constantly cheat, no Englishman would want to win this way.

Patrick you say ‘there is something wrong with ‘our’ football and that you hope we get knocked out. You are a Traitor!

I guess I am not so pessimistic about this team. They certainly were not flashy yesterday, but that doesn’t mean the quality is not there. I think you will see that the top 8 teams all have some weakness that can be attacked. I think that Sven’s controlled game probably has as much chance of being successful as any, especially given the pressure these guys are under. Look at how poorly Holland and Portugal reacted last night. I don’t think you will see England falling apart like that. I don’t like the 4-5-1, and, if it is supposed to be like a “W” formation, then it would be nice to see some support for Rooney. What it does do, I think, is create as many problems offensively for the opponents as it causes for us.

I am alarmed at the form of Paul Robinson. He will be giving his defenders nightmares with this latest jittery performance. He just doesnt command the area, seems indecisive and unable to communicate with the defence.

But we won.

We didnt play well, but it was an improvement from the previous game. Rooney was brilliant, and playing 90 minutes will have given his fitness and confidence a massive boost.

Carrick was very good as well.

But be badly need our shots to be on target against Portugal (especially Lampard), because we will have fewer chances against better teams thats for sure.

If that happens I think we will win as long as the defence and midfield are strong – they should be able to handle a weakened Portugal.

Then bring on Brasil (or Ghana).
I think if we reach the semi final we will be very hard to beat….I have a feeling we are watching something special happening.

Lampard to score the winner on Saturday anyone??

I can’t do with Ericksson’s managerial style, but you’ve got to give him his due: however patchy our play is, other teams just seem to under perform against us.

All the signs are there for a win against Portugal with Deco/Costinha suspended and possibly Ronaldo/Figo out. This is the game where Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney will prove their worth.

Believe!

Results (2nd Stage): England vs Ecuador

Beckham unloaded the shot on the 60th minute that gave him his first goal in three years for England and at the same time pushing his team to the quarter finals. Christian Mora dove for the ball a micro-second earlier as he was able to touch the ba…

I would like to see Lennon and Defoe on the field. There is just something missing up front. Yes I believe we will beat Portugal and go on to win the cup!

…gosh…what a hilarious match against ecuador !!! Again the boring england team has beaten an even worse team.
england:ecuador = pity:desperation
When will this stop ? Only when england goes home…

Being serious…who really thinks England beats Portugal ?? And if Portugal seems to be beatable…I don’t think England is the team to do it…not in its current shape…

Why do people keep calling us LUCKY!
Granted we havn’t played well, but we havn’t been lucky to get where we are…we just havn’t played a decent team yet.

Not playing a good team would be the lucky bit.

Look at Ivory Coast: Argentina, Holland, Serb/Montenegro, 4 goals, 3 solid performances, see ya next time…

In comparison, England has had it easy.

Shawn, seriously, is this your first WC supporting England?

In big compeitions we’ve always played poorly against supposedly crap teams and raised our game and performance levels against better sides. This is what usually happens to us and we scrape through to quarter finals. The only difference now is that we actually have a few decent players so we expected more. But now the problem isn’t the players, it’s the shite manager. So should we really expect things to be any different this time?

I can guarantee you will see a better performance for longer periods against Portugal – because it is Portugal and that’s how we’ll have to play. So all this bullshit about lucky wins and easy groups doesn’t mean a thing, it’s just a reaction to the media hype and jealousy over the premier league. And any true England fan will know deep down that this is how it always goes for us, we expect everything and just get enough.

Believe.

Agree with Binarybloke, we do have a quality side out on the pitch, i feel although our performance has been seen as lacking a good deal of it is too much negativity and poor media hype. There have been moment of quality which show what a great team we are. I think we are going to have a good test against Portual and hopefully without Figo we will have less trouble. But having a quality oppenent will make England shine. We do just have to believe, hope and have a bit of luck, its how England wins everything. Oh and i think it would be in Svens favour playing 4-4-2 with roo and len up front, they would bring some good fluid play linking up with harg and becks on the wings and hopefully lamps will actually be able to set up some good oppertunities for once instead of pisssing about with wasted shots….

GOOD LUCK ENGLAND!

FINALS ANYDAY!