I agre - and if England run the all Blacks as close as they did last week, or even win, then that wil be ignored too.
.............sturridge ..rooney................................sterling ......................barkley .............henderson......gerrard baines............................... .......Milner ................jagielka........cahill ........................hart With with the Ox, Lallna, Wilshere and Shaw providing quality attacking cover from the bench. Milner, Lampard and even Welbeck if necessary too, not too shabby. However, center defense with Smalling and Jones in back up is worrying really. Doubt we'll see the line up I'd like though.
As a matter of interest, have England ever failed to qualify from the first group stage in a World Cup?
I have a feeling that I might not see that much of this World Cup. The England game starts at midnight here and I just hope that there will be repeats at a reasonable hour. Of course if it was WFC that would be a different matter.
BBC are showing highlights each morning if you can catch them in France - guess the French stations will have highlights too. Are the French confident of doing well - hammered Lloyd's lot last week. Probably depends if they manage to stick together and avoid facing Argentina in the 2nd round.
I must say I'm loving the vibe coming out of the England camp. Mr Hodgson clearly understands the great privilege of representing one's country (any country not just England). At long last the squad seem to be buying nto that role and seem to be a lot happier, relaxed and, blow me, genuinely excited about it than we have witnessed in recent tournaments with the sullen, insular attitude seen in south Afirca and germany. Obviously they now have to perform (personally I'd be delighted if we made the quarters) but it is a really refreshing change to see players genuinely enthused about an opportunity that any of us would die for.
yeah that's true enough - but i think i'd honestly take some decent performances with the players looking like they were happy to be there. Shows how low we've sunk i suppose!
If England reach the final competition they have always passed the first group stage and been knocked out in the next rounds.
From a Latvian friend: England are 28/1 to win the World Cup. For those who don't understand betting, this means if you put 10 pounds on England to win, you lose 10 pounds
A bit predicable really. Croatia tight and workmanlike Brazil expansive and at times lacking in precision An own goal against the run of play...great ball in.. Sign up that Croatian wide man! The crowd grow tense Some very rough play at times by the Brazilians Brazil equalize as all expected A very questionable penalty for Brazil Croatia penalized in the box at the other end when they might have had a goal And then that exquisite crosser of the ball breaks through the middle this time and scores the third ...and the fairy tale continues and no doubt the civil authorities breathe a sigh of relief...
I thought Neymar should of been sent off while Croatia were ahead. Brazil should not of had a penalty. And I thought the Croatia disallowed goal should of stood for a fair challenge on the keeper. The ref won the game for the hosts.
