World Cup Warm-ups

[treva]

May as well have a thread where we can talk about the whole host of friendlies this week, starting with the England game last night.

I was actually very impressed with our performance. Mexico are a very handy side and they move the ball quickly. They could be dark horses in this tournament.

Up top we looked very lively, and our small lads Defoe, Walcott and Lennon all looked very dangerous on the break. If the game hadn't been a friendly I think Mexico would have finished with 9 men.

At the back Ledley King was solid, even if not at his best. Great to see him on the scoresheet, he is a real presence in the box and is bound to get a few goals here and there.

There were no real scares in the second half, and that was down to the back four of Johnson, Carragher, King and Baines. Capello is going to have a tough decision of who to start against USA in the first game.

Crouch and Rooney looked tidy up front as well. Milner and Carrick were strong defensively, and Gerrard looked good in the role of linking midfield and attack.

Johnson's goal was a stonker, hopefully he can pull off a few more strikes like that in the World Cup itself.

Overall a very promising performance.

 

[Auwais]

Everyone was very ordinary barring Gerrard and Rio.

If they play like that against a top possession based side, they'll get *****.

 

[treva]

I disagree completely. No idea why everyone is bashing us. It was a solid performance against a good attacking team. We scored 3 times, what more does everybody want?

 

[thesweepmaster]

I actually thought it was a good win an all, Rooney didn't play very well and we beat a strong Mexico side who can be very dangerous... I can only see that being a good thing. The problem is the conditions will be much different in South Africa and that'll tell how good the side really is.

 

[Auwais]

If your criteria for a solid performance is an unconvincing win complete with a handball goal being allowed as well as having the opposition miss several chances, then it is.

Having said that, we were much more improved in the second half when Gerrard moved into the middle and gave us a bit more steel.

 

[thesweepmaster]

Personally, me being a West Brom,I should know that it doesn't matter about performance so long you win. If England can beat teams without performing then luck is on our side.

 

[Lee1981]

This is the problem so many disillusioned fans, we were so poor its embarassing, we were completely outplayed by an average but technically good side, it was like an away game look at the stats, alot of you will say "yeah but we still won 3-1" thats means jack ████.
Against a top side tonight we would of lost by a big margin, imagine what spain would do to us, at the end of the day the harsh reality is we are no where near as good as brasil or spain and the other big boys, even with my chelsea boys back it dont change that much.
Dont mean to sound like a moaning prick but come on just be realistic you guys, walcott is overated and offers no final product, gerrard is finished and anyway never plays well for us so no change in his performance, carrick the most negative one dimensional player in the country should never wear an england shirt again.
We miss hargreaves and dare i say it beckham aswell, all our team other than the front 2 of rooney and crouchy look nervous and fear getting the ball, no one wants to take charge, how often do you see xavi or iniesta not want to influence the game? i for one have never seen that happen, then throw in torres and villa, Exactly.....
If we get to the semi's it will a good result i have accepted now at 28 that i will never see us win a world cup, we are so far behind other nations its scary.

 

[treva]

I am not disillusioned, and I don't think we will get anywhere near winning the World Cup, I just don't think last night's performance was anywhere near as poor as you make it sound.

It was a far better performance than that against Brazil and then we only lost 2-0. We have a good chance of making it a fair way in this World Cup with the squad we have at the moment.

Still think either Brazil, Spain or France will win it.

 

[m_vaughan]

France? I only saw the first 45 minutes, and wasn't particularly impressed. Infact Mexico were playing the better passing game.

Did anyone see the Portugal Cape Verde game? It ended 0-0 but Portugal had some 100 shots, out of which Ronaldo had half.

 

[treva]

Yes France. I think they'll be the jammy bastards they are and make it a long way in the competition having cheated their way in. Wouldn't at all be surprised if they won it. Sometimes it's just the way sport works.

 

[blake]

Lee, can you get any sourer? Jesus man, lighten up. England are still one of the best teams in the world and yet you are acting like they are terrible, at least they will certainly make it out of their group and actually have a shot of winning the tournament. The way you are behaving it's like they are ranked 150th in the world and never try every match...

Be proud for your country. Right now all you are doing is telling everybody how bad they are but nobody wants to listen to a whiner, particularly when they come from a country that are far better than many that we support. Australia are going to find it very tough to progress but still I'm going to be supporting them 100%... why don't you just do the same and find some national pride?

 

[m_vaughan]

The bad thing about the world cup (or any knock out competition) is any team can win it.

 

[treva]

I don't really see that as a bad thing at all...

 

[JBlues08]

It makes competition like that interesting but sometimes, teams that do not deserve to win the competition ends up winning it. And that can be annoying.

 

[LongLegs?]

What happens in these friendlies are barely an indication of what'll happen in the World Cup. Rooney himself stated he was playing within himself and trying not to get injured.

France haven't picked Nasri or Benzema, moronic. Nasri has had a solid season, and while Benzema hasn't, you'd think he'd be a better choice than some of those guys in the probables like Gignac and Cisse.

I posted the Portugal - Cape Verde match in the group thread - that may be a reason for the Portuguese to be worried. They need a change of manager...Moutinho should be in the team as well.