IronWillGiroud wrote:england blows and always so over hyped, they're an average team and have been floating around in the mediocre pool for a long time now,

disagree. the team is not overhyped. no one in england, nor the manager hodgson, expects them to go far as the old "golden generation" who never won anything has basically been phased out, except for gerrard.

they are actually better than some think, and play with more pace and attacking football than the past with their young talents like sterling, sturridge, barkley, lallana and oxlade-chamberlin. welbeck is okay to me.

sterling showed his potential again yesterday as he did with liverpool this past season.

if anyone on their team is overhyped it's rooney. other than that one cross he stunk it up and had to be switched with welbeck because he was getting killed on his side of the pitch by the italian winger.

unbelievable he just got a huge contract with man u.

england will be interesting next world cup, i think, and they did fairly well yesterday if you ask me. the heat was hurting them more than italy because like lebron they relied more on their athleticism, so in the heat players got more cramps, and then they had to try to come back late which is even harder in that weather i think.

they'll make it out of their group since uruguay choked against costa rica.

gunsnewing wrote:England good tacticians. Good defense and effort. Not not very skilled. Lack foot speed.

Similar to USA

Outclassed against the best teams in the world

Like Italy

can't say i agree.

normally england are slower, but their front three yesterday are all very quick.

not skilled? hardly. the u.s. is less skilled by a country mile across the team.

their team is not filled with those in the midfield that will "nutmeg" anyone, but they are good with the ball still.

PresIke wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:England good tacticians. Good defense and effort. Not not very skilled. Lack foot speed.

Similar to USA

Outclassed against the best teams in the world

Like Italy

can't say i agree.

normally england are slower, but their front three yesterday are all very quick.

not skilled? hardly. the u.s. is less skilled by a country mile across the team.

their team is not filled with those in the midfield that will "nutmeg" anyone, but they are good with the ball still.

Watched the game. Rooney looked like his World Cup drought is inside his head, looked very tentative at times. He did set up a nice goal though.

GustavBahler wrote:

PresIke wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:England good tacticians. Good defense and effort. Not not very skilled. Lack foot speed.

Similar to USA

Outclassed against the best teams in the world

Like Italy

can't say i agree.

normally england are slower, but their front three yesterday are all very quick.

not skilled? hardly. the u.s. is less skilled by a country mile across the team.

their team is not filled with those in the midfield that will "nutmeg" anyone, but they are good with the ball still.

Watched the game. Rooney looked like his World Cup drought is inside his head, looked very tentative at times. He did set up a nice goal though.

he has not done anything on the international stage, and his performance and man united has also dropped off.

he's starting to become the new fernando torres if he doesn't start to get back to his old self, at least while he was at united and younger. he's not that old so it's possible, but i dunno. as a city fan i can't say i want him to return to form though :)

PresIke wrote:really happy to see ivory coast win.

once drogba came on they woke up.

i love yaya toure (i am a manchester city fan) but you can see how because he isn't with other players of his passing ability, first touch, off the ball movement, he is not quite as effective.

he is like the lebron james of soccer.

when he is running, dribbling with the ball down the pitch he can be practically unstoppable. i hope folks get to see one of those runs because they are awesome to watch. he sort of had one late where he fell down when the japanese defender tried to make a tackle that was not a foul, as i recall.

I was listening on radio. It seemed like Toure was all over the field as his name kept being mentioned. Great player. I really like the Ivory Coast team. Picked them over japan

markvmc wrote:England won't come out of their group.

hmm...not so sure about that. uruguay did not look good against weak costa rica.

the england-uruguay game will probably decide it, yet if england beats costa rica (likely) uruguay better hope they don't lose to italy.

markvmc wrote:I don't think England will win either game. Italy are pretty sure to go through, and a draw vs. England may well be enough for Costa Rica. Suarez will start vs. England, and even on one leg he'll up Uruguay's game.

messi did get that vintage messi goal, which i was able to see, but before that sounds like he didn't play too well, looking hesitant and nervous, being indecisive and making bad passes.

they mentioned how he had no goals in the last world cup but took a lot of shots, while today he was trying to be somewhere in between, until he took that strike.

was that kun aguero who made a poor shot that he tried to say deflected? that is very out of character of him as a city fan who sees every one of his games. he rarely is off target and generally not too far off from messi, talent wise...mostly held back this year by muscle injuries this season, and he still scored quite a bit. he can create too and will never dive or pretend, which should satisfy american fans who hate that. argentina's attack is easily the best...really...just sick, with di maria and bringing in higuain off the bench! actually zabaleta can be a good attacker as a fullback with overlapping runs to the wingers creating scoring chances, which he does well at city. he is a player american fans should like to as he is gritty as hell and plays his azz off the entire game.

the early game was fun to watch too. switzerland has more talent than they normally have, at least those i am familiar with. ecuador has some good players too, but a tough loss to take. how will they do recorving?