World Cup

the germany game was a blow out but the poland game was awesome. Ecuador kicked ass.

Germany's defense was disappointing. Their keeper sucked too. I can't believe they tried to use an offside trap at an international level. Otherwise, they had good control, and that last goal by Frings was amazing. That, along with Lahm's goal, are real pretty goals.

Poland came out very sloppy, and never really gained momentum. Ecuador didn't really show too much dominance, but it got a pair of goals. I don't think either team can measure up to playing in the final.

Out of the 7 goals scored so far, I've only seen that one with the offside trap. Nice goal though.

The thing about Germany is that they always have a bad start. No matter whether they win, lose or draw, they have terrible starts. But once you get into the knockout stages, they really become good.

And Argentina are in a horrible group. The Netherlands can be absolutely amazing when they get into their stride. You've heard of Total Football, right? And there's the second rule of the World Cup (only broken twice, last year being the second time) - no team, no matter how good, or how talented, can put up with a journey acorss a major ocean. Which unfortunately means all the South American countries, and USA.

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I don't care how badly we play tomorrow - I just can't wait to see us play. If anyone IS watching, then look out for:

Gerrard
Crouch
and maybe Walcott.

- Gerrard should be playing up front with Lampard, with Carrick holding the fort behind the two.
- Crouch is... well, he's 6 foot 7. Looks like a gangly owd fool, plays pretty damn well. And if he scores, look out for his "robot dance".
- Walcott is our wildcard. 17 y/o. Never been tried at Premiership level, never mind International. Yet he's rumoured to have terrific pace and a knack for getting into tight spaces. But, he's no Rooney.

Then there's the obligatory Owen running, Beckham crossing, and Sven sat on the bench looking mildly interested... jumping up and clapping sedately if we do something right.


Don'tcha just love that? When people start talking about their football team in the "we" sense?

I'll be up at 8 AM sharp to watch them take on Paraguay. Paraguay were the runners-up at the 2004 Olympics, although there were 2 red cards issued to their team. I'm guessing that's because they were playing their South American rival Argentina. I hope that England at least makes it to the semi's.

You and 60 million other people.

I'd like to see this "Donivan" fella play. From what I've read, he's quick down the wing and has got a pretty good pace. Apparently your whole team is quick. But what's up with your keeper? Ain't he got some kind of back injury?

Even so, he's solid. You will be amazed at Donovan's play though.

If he's as good as I've been hearing, then he should be an interesting guy to play against... that is if we meet up in the Quarters, Semi's or even the Finals.

To quote directly from a little World Cup thingy I picked up from a Newspaper:

How do you beat them [USA]? Catch them on the counter-attack. The domestic Major League Soccer is slow in comparison to the Premiership and less technical than Serie A or La Liga. High tempo, high quality football could unsettle them.

Now I don't really watch Premiership matches all that much, but let me tell you - they can be as slow and as boring as wathing paint dry. If that's the case, and if the American Leagues are slower, then I shudder to think what you have to put up with.

Once again, it'd be interesting to see how you handle the Czech's. 5.00pm on Monday, I'm gonna be watching.

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EDIT: Right, 10 minutes before the match.

Watch out for Beckham's crosses, Terry on set-pieces, and Owen and Crouch up front.

And I'm off again.

COME ON ENG-ER-LAND!!

I'm sorry, but Landon Who?! I watched the whole game, and he did sweet F.A.

First impressions of the American team:

- Defence. Defence. Defence. You'd be safer putting a fence up around the box than relying on the defence you've got. The Czech defence was good. They managed to stop you having any major chances... but the number of times they broke through yours. Rosicky's second goal was because of that. Granted, all three defenders nearly got there, but he should never have got into that position.
- Defence again - in the box when there were corners and free kicks, your men lost their targets easily. Then again, it is very hard to mark at a time like that.
- Third point of defence -- pet peeve. Onyewu. I don't like him one bit.

Good point about your defence -- first part of the second half it really was awful. But around the 65 minute mark, it started to improve a lot.

In fact, that seems to be the main thing I thought was bad about your side. The Defence.

It's hard to push against the Czech's - if you somehow manage to get through their midfield, then you've got their defence to deal with. And if you notice, when they closed a man down to tackle, a lot of te time it was two Czech's to the one guy.

Reyna's shot on target in the 27th minute was a scrocher. He was really unlucky for it to hit the post - he had Cech beaten completely. The same with Johnson's chance in the 70th minute. He had the power, he had Cech beaten, he just missed by a snail's whisker.

In the last 10 minutes you really picked up the pace. You probed the Czech defence much more, with one or two real chances - you even managed to break through! But I think McBride as a lone striker was a bit silly. He was relied on too much, the poor guy.

Sorry to be so negative... I started watching the match thinking you'd win, if only by 1 goal to nil. It really disappointed me, but I did see some great football in the Czech side.

You've got a hard group, with hard matches - especially in Italy and Czech Republic. Methinks if the defence problem was solved, and Donovan had chance to show off his blistering pace, you'd win.

And let me say, you have boring fans. Sure, they dress up, but where was the "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chant? You'll never beat the Europeans fan-wise.

Altogether - could've been worse. Johnson, for me, was your man of the match. And the Czech's are hard opponents. At least the match kept me well and turly occupied for the full 90 minutes. Watching Australia v. Japan got kind of boring in the end, because they just kept on doing the same over and over and over again. That wasn't the case with this match.

I look forward to your match against Italy.

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EDIT: Just seen Gang'a reply.

We did play terrible. Especially in the second half. Hopefully on Thursday, when it's cooler, we'll play better. And there's news that Rooney might play, which is a great thing.