I was amazed that they kept Ronaldo on the other day. They were 3-0 behind and down to 10 men, what was the point on keeping him on the pitch? Would only make his injury worse and could miss winnable matches against the USA and Ghana. On the England front. I find it really surprising that the media are shocked by the revelation that players sometimes want to miss England duty. Doesn't take a genius to work it out, I mean how many 'slight' knocks have the likes of Gerrard and Lampard had over the years that see them miss matches (usually friendlies it must be said) only to appear for their clubs on the weekend. What I would quite like to see regarding England is for Hodgson to have a core group that he plans to take to the Euros in two years and more or less sticks with it. Too often we see someone like Henderson, have a dip in form so isn't in the squad, let alone the team for a year and a half, only to become a starter at the next tournament. That can't help the players. Similarly it would mean that other players for instance Adam Johnson need to perform for more than a month to get inclusion in the squad.
"I mean how many 'slight' knocks have the likes of Gerrard and Lampard had over the years that see them miss matches (usually friendlies it must be said) only to appear for their clubs on the weekend." If the England managers had said you're going to have to play at least N games (N > the max number of games in the qualifying stages) prior to a tournament, that would make things interesting.
I was confident Bentaleb would have a good world cup and great to see Algeria claim a win. Sherwood will be at home feeling proud as he gave Bentaleb his chance and amid all the cheap shots from supporters telling him to drop Bentaleb, he stuck by the player and gave him a good run of games, and I believe he will be proved right and Bentaleb will become an important player.
More soccerguy... Goaltender makes the hand denial with his legs as Dempsey gets the shot from a cute angle.*#equalizationontheway
On the bright side, Zorro has punished Ronaldo for his dastardly diving and preening. http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/6/22/1403428386822/85c432e3-cbdc-4d64-9f9a-1ef13f8bcbfe-460x276.jpeg
RWAB, USA really are a jammy bunch of yanks! Well done, gutted for Ghana as luck hasn't been on there side but Portugal where there for the taking and I knew who ever won the first match between Ghana & USA would be in with a great chance of beating Portugal as they are out of sorts!
This keeps the dream alive for Ghana, although goes down to goal difference but at least we should see two great matches to end the group and Ghana have something to play for.
USA were at 16/1 after Portugal scored. I took them at 11/1 before half time. My fiver has gone to a better place than my raggedy, old wallet but it still hurts
Klinsmann (possibly doing a Keegan), emotional after the game and saying USA will get a result and will go through.
