[Football] England vs Ecuador
 

Seems to be a pretty boring match so far.



Anyways as a Scot i'm in a bit of a quandry. Do i want England to get beaten and thus sent home early or do i want them to win this game but get knocked out at a later date? If England get knocked out now it means that for the next few weeks all the coverage is gonna be about how unlucky England were. How they were robbed. However, if they continue to advance all the coverage is gonna be about is how this is England's year. How they're gonna win it.

On reflection i think i'd rather England got knocked out today. For a start it would mean less smug-gittedness from Gary "shades of '66" Linekear. It would also mean that the quota of gay constant speculation about injuries to players would decrease and the news would actually be about, well, news.

Now that my moan is over, comment on the game as you see fit (i suspect that there will be very little posting during the game as all those who really care about it, ie England fans, will be out drinking and watching the game).

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

Commie.

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

I think I aged a year in that first half.

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

You're not a real ingerlander if you're not in a pub laggering it up whilst watching your team take on Ecuador!

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

It was the graduation ball last night and after it we thought we'd head up Arthur's Seat for sunrise. Bed at 7 plus several grain/grape drink combinations have me bed-bound. I'm getting old =(((

It's certainly not helping my staying awake =(

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Actually, thinking about it, have ANY of the England games so far been exciting (/entertaining/interesting)?

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

You're getting gay is what you're getting.

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

*dang*

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how dare a scot talk about football with the team you got :p

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Well we won.

So first round's on you Dace?

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

well, not this time, but im pretty sure they are going to get knocked out in the next game (unless they can play a hell of a lot better and were just holding back so far).

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"Frank's a big game player, he'll come good."

(from the BBC commentary ... can't remember who said it ... i think it was either Wright or Shearer)

So a semi-final at the world cup doesn't count as a "big game" then?!

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It wasnt even the quarters today. Lampard is playing shit at the moment though. Carrick and Hargreaves both did well :up:.

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Was that last sentance sarcastic, because other than ashley cole, no england player gave anything better than a dire performance.

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awww shucks i made a stupid

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Were you happy with that performance? England seem to pose very, very little threat attacking wise.

An own goal won England their first game.

The second game was goaless until the 83rd minute when Crouch scored by fouling. A midfielder scored your second.

Again you had to rely on your midfielders to scrape a draw against Sweden (admitidly the Joe Cole goal was impressive).

And then you have today's game *shakes head*



My greatest worry is that Holland get through to the next round. Holland vs England will be a clash so momenteously boring that i fear that if i watch it i'll actually will myself to die.

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

Hopefully Holland will win tonight as (besides I want them to go through ofcourse) I'm really looking forwart to an England vs Holland quarter final :)

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

fixed

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

hargreaves did well, obvioulsy he isn't as good as g.neville but is like a talented version of p.neville, beckham played crap but made it good. I never realised how much michael owen did for england in terms of being the goaltrigger, rooney played his heart out but if was blatantly clear there was a pointy bit missing at the front, attacking midfielders only reallly score from rebounds or when the defence is distracted by the forwards, i don't think they ever play successfully trying to do what the forwards do, gerrard lampard and cole were constantly trying to run into the box and link up with rooney, it was a nice try but you could tell there was something missing it all felt a bit odd.

Lampard had been shite, this was his chance to proove hes the best midfielder in the primership, despite his fifa ranking i've always thought gerrard better, and gerrard tends to stay back to cover while lampard charges in, but hes still shit :( iirc hes had the most shots at goal of anyone in the WC?

i think i fell asleep for a bit in the second half it was that boring, if i were neutral id be hoping england got knocked out early in order to have something worth watching

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

You won your first game by scoring the only goal in the match against a team Argentina got 6 past.

A free-kick opened your scoring in the second game. You scored two goals though so WAHEY \o/

The clash of the titans resulted in no winners. The teams may have drawn but every person watching the game "lost".



Tell me again how Holland vs England would be a good game?

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

i got drunk enough it all kinda passed me by.

home now though... hmm...

Ecuador were shit - except for that A.Cole deflection they were no threat all game.

England weren't that bad - except we had no forwards. No suprise really when you play no forwards :rolleyes:
Carrick did well, Hargreaves did ok, Beckham did ok. Lampard wasn't good... I was actually hoping Crouch would come on - that would have scared the shit out of the tiny ecaudorians.
meh. we're through. We'd better play better in the next round or portugal/holland are gonna mullar us :(

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

Germany - Argentina should be a good game. I'll be looking forward to that.

As for England's performance, we tend to struggle against mediocre teams. I think we'll give Portugal / Holland something to worry about when the time comes. Not that I'm saying we'll win mind you...

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yes, lets hope so, and lets also hope they score more than one goal, because I invested 15€ in that.

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I hope you didn't need that money to buy food because i'm not very confident you'll be seeing it again.

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We got rid of berti
these things take time

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"You gotta be in it to win it."

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Whilst England is getting the results...

Unless they step up a gear they are going to be found out by quality opposition.

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I started with 3€ (Bonus for sending an SMS and signing up) and now I'm at 50-60€, so no, I dont need that money for anything, but sports bets are really fun \o/

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It's part of Sven's masterplan.

Every team prepares to counter Lampard's pot-shots from 40 yards and us having no pace going forward and then when we need it, we change to the formation Sven has been meaning to play all along:

Robbo

Hargreaves Terry Ferdinand Cole

Beckham Carrick Gerrard

Lennon Cole

Rooney

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

score some ****ing goals you stupid dutchies!

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

the christmas tree formation \o/
tbh, it'd probably work. Lennon looks good every time he comes on - better than Downing, imo. I'd almost prefer him to Lampard, in a way. Lampard gets in positions but as has been mentioned he can't seem to score. Even Gerrard has got a couple, even if he's hit most into the top row.

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Whoever gets through this game wont have any players left to play against us :D.

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I wouldn't bet that another player isn't set off.

Seriously, the amount of people on either side that will be on yellows, or suspended...

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It's the first match of the knockout stages

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Red cards dude.

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Rooney's not a target man so it's meant to be more like a Ducth 4-3-3. If we'd have brought Defoe, Bent or any other half-useful striker it'd probably be different.

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and the issue with that is?

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Anyone hate Rio's constant 'ARGH! I've been passed the ball! Quick! Bang it up the pitch - it worked once against Jamaica.'

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That Sven won't actually play like this :(

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England will be ok. Terry can't have three bad games in a row, and ferdinand is doing ok - plus be it neville, carragher, or hargreaves, there have been no problems from the flanks. With the more defensive formations being employed by Sven (Please note there are differences between a 4-5-1 and a 4-3-3), england are a very tough team to score against.

Beckham's free kicks + Rooney + Gerrard = enough goals somewhere along the line. There is every possibility that England could "do a Greece" - be awful, but not concede any goals in the knockout stages and bore everyone into submission. But you'd take it, you flag waving royalist pricks :(

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And if by some miracle Scotland even qualified for the World Cup, you'd take it too.

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hell ****ing yeah i would, its jealousy, not judgement you're hearing.

Also if Scotland made it to the world cup our fans wouldnt smash in stuff and sing "one world cup and two world wars" to a country that has won more world cups than them (and football > politics, clearly). We're generally well liked abroad, which is funny considering what assholes we are domestically.

Also, dont rule us out getting somewhere soon. We have some good players coming through now. Certainly better than some england squad members; jenas, bridge, downing etc.

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Your average football fan will use anything he can to try to give himself an advantage over the opposition. England v Germany = wars.

As for the love for Scotland (and Ireland) abroad, as an Englishman it pisses me off. America's full of immigrants who left the UK due to oppression, and now it's hilarious to hate the English by proxy. Just look at how fashionable it is to claim to have Irish roots. I was flicking around on the TV mid-afternoon the other day and found some shitty film on about this wonderful Scottish guy who takes in an American child. You never, ever see the English portrayed well in American cinema - Braveheart, Michael Collins, The Patriot, and so on. Oh and in America, British = English :mad:.


An off-topic rant, but it's a rant so you should be proud...


Good to hear, perhaps it's time to bring back the Home Internationals.

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

Well the problem with Scotland is that it's full of Scots.

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

I would enjoy the home internationals - every 2 years, on the odd years, in the summer when theres no World Cup and no European Championships (lol every year for scotland lol :(). Seems a perfect time just to play 3 or 4 games, mid june when theres no congestion. Scotland and Wales want to bring it back, Northern Ireland have expressed vague interest, but England arent game (unsuprisingly as they have the least to game and most fixture congestion). But last i saw there was some talk of Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland saying "fine, we'll invite the republic instead" and its doubtful whether england would like a home internationals competition to exist without them.

I think one of the reasons you are portrayed so negatively abroad is because you dont give people an awful lot to like about you. Scotland / Ireland especially have persecution complexes, and rightly or wrongly, persecution is romantic. Whats romantic about being england? England gave the world concentration camps, thatcher, and the spice girls.

Most people resent the line between Britishness and Englishness too. Neither is particularly attractive to me. Whats romantic about being English if you arent english?

Re: [Football] England vs Ecuador
 

One thing they said before the Ecuador match - England played the least amount of matches in the year before the world cup - 9 I think.
In contrast Ecuador played the most - 27!

We certainly need to play a lot more internationals in order to build the team and actually work out some formations...

Home internationals would help.

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A lot of them really do though. Half the country left during or after the famine and as roman catholics we bred like rabbits!

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My point was more about it now being a fashion statement, as opposed to questioning its fact. Nevertheless, I'm sure you would agree that due to the sheer number of Americans who claim to be of Irish descent, there must be some proportion who are either lying or deceiving themselves.

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Something like 2 million Irish people emigrated to the USA over a period of a decade or so about one hundred and fifty years ago. I think something like forty million americans claim irish ancestry today. Given the obvious inter-breeding with non-Irish ethnic groups, in fact huge numbers of people merely claim one irish grandparent or something, are the numbers that hard to believe? Also immigration from Ireland continued as ireland was a shithole for a long time. Plus we rock and you suck!

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I'm not sure about the level of inter-breeding - I'd say it was far more common at the time of first immigration (say, 1845 to 1920) for each ethnic group to keep to itself, even if the Irish were going at it like bunnies. Nevertheless, the timings do probably fit the population increases.

Besides, fashion statement, etc. What was the score in the football again?