June 20th : England v Sweden

[horsa]

Let it begin

[CB..]

we haven't managed to beat Sweden since 1968..(was surprised to read to day)..so should be a good indication of how things are going to turn out--we don't have to beat them to day--but :hmm:

[Sulikate]

My bet is on England.

[horsa]

hmmmmm .:hmm: ... England have got to lose this dysfunctional look they seem to have aquired. I'm hoping the "resting" of Crouch proves to be a blessing in disguise.

[joea]

And hop! Second goal for England. I am kind of neutral but England is playing well.

[CB..]

my goodness me...snatching defeat from the jaws of victory yet again lol

[Frenssen]

The Swedes showed some great morale and made a great comeback after their embarrasing 1st half. They left too much space between midfield and defence and the English could shoot unchallenged.
Sweden showed that they are hard to beat and they can threaten the Germans on Saturday.

[CB..]

Originally Posted by Frenssen

The Swedes showed some great morale and made a great comeback after their embarrasing 1st half. They left too much space between midfield and defence and the English could shoot unchallenged.
Sweden showed that they are hard to beat and they can threaten the Germans on Saturday.

it's ironic that England would have had a far better chance of beating Germany than Sweden ..go Sweden..

[horsa]

I've seen enough now to know England will not win the World Cup.

[goldorak]

Originally Posted by horsa

I've seen enough now to know England will not win the World Cup.

You're wrong on this issue, England has a very very strong team albeit sometimes the defense just stands still (and don't get me started on Robinson).
This has to be corrected, and if it is well they sure have a chance at getting the Rimet cup.

[horsa]

You're wrong on this issue,

I wish I could believe this , but when Germany effortlessly brush Sweden aside at the weekend it’ll put this match in perspective.

To win a major competition like the World Cup you need substantially most ( if not quite all ) of the following :-

• A team that knows its “shape” and is playing fluidly with confidence
• A manager who commands authority and belief.
• More than average Luck
• The ability to win at least some penalty shoot outs

So how does England measure up ?

• Neither Rooney or Owen are fully match fit. Lampard has yet to hit the net despite the fact that he does it regularly for his club team. Gerrard is not playing in his preferred position. Beckam is not the most inspirational captain.
• England must be the only team being coached/managed by someone who has already been sacked
• Owen finally gets to play with someone (Rooney) who might feed him some decent balls and promptly twists his knee in the first minute.
• England have been eliminated from four major tournaments on penalty shootouts. They have only once been successful in all competitive penalty shootouts ( against Spain) . At the last count, (I believe) they don’t even practice it.

Need we talk about the second goal conceded that was basically from a throw in ball. ?

That apart, they have several world class players that most teams would kill for, who furthermore are( in theory) at the peak of their playing careers.
.

[CB..]

i think the real problem with the English Football team is ideally illustrated by the Sweden game---we haven't beat Sweden since 1968...Sweden are not a highly talented football team-(in terms we could apply say to Argentina or Brazil or even England)-no one has ever had to play Sweden in world cup final...(AFAIK??)

but they do

play as a team
give 110% effort 110% of the time

and beat or hold England to a draw 100% of the time

the problem with the English team is that that they expect a round of applause just for putting their boots on..and they get it as well--which only makes it worse--

[Dan D]

As mentioned earlier, I have bet on England to win the world cup.
My reasons were these and they still are:
1) It is a so-called golden generation of footballers.
2) Frank Lampard is a "killer" and he probably makes the difference.
3) If they make it, it would be a well-deserved compensation for all the misfortune in the last 40 years. Players and fans are longing for the title.
4) I like English football somehow.

I am optimistic that the English team will show its true colours from now on in the knockout games.

[CB..]

Originally Posted by Dan D

If they make it, it would be a well-deserved compensation for all the misfortune in the last 40 years.

don't get me wrong i want England to win---but i think inadvertantly you've hit on the knub of the attitude issue the England players and fans have...we are subject to exactly the same rules and regulations as every other team--there is a LOT of iffy decisions that can throw you out of the cup but they can allso take you thru to win at the same time---there is a certain amount of pure luck involved regarding ref decisions on penaltys dodgy goals, sendings off etc etc but basically no team deserves to win because they didn't win it last time round...if they need two goals to win and one is dissallowed then they have to make sure they score three to make sure--haveing said that it's still pretty dissapointing how often we have gone out on "complicated" ref decisions and shoot outs--

but it's allmost what makes the Cup so fascinating---you just can't take anything for granted

[horsa]

it would be a well-deserved compensation for all the misfortune in the last 40 years.

Good grief, I thought this was just an English winge . You mean other nationalities actually believe this as well.

the English team will show its true colours from now on in the knockout games.

They wouldn't be the first team to play indifferently at the start and then come good in the final stages. Actually, thinking back to 1966 (sigh!) they didn't have a particularly good game till the semi-finals. Their opening game was a goaless draw against Uruguay and they managed only 1-0 against a ten man Argentinian team in the quarters. I think all their matches were won by a single goal margin except ,of course, the final ( and we now know one of them should not have been a goal .. the infamous "did it cross the line" controversy) .... speaking of which that Russian linesman was the sort of luck that seems to have been lacking in England's games for many a long year. ..... the story goes he wasn't really looking, was asked by the ref if England's goal had crossed the line, reflected briefly on the 20 million Russian dead in WW2 and decided in favour of England.

Didn't Germany start with a defeat in 1974 and then go on to win. ?