Easy and pretty play ends in a header by Balotelli. Haha and Sturridge almost repeats his earlier reply.
We (England) look like we have another goal in us - we’ve been close quite a few times, so a deflection the right side of the post is possible, but the more the game goes on and our back four get tired we’ll let the Italians in for their third. Not sure what Barkley will add though.
If I am Italy, I would concentrate on keeping England out of the penalty area. They are going to keep throwing themselves on the floor trying to get a penalty and eventually, one might look enough like one that the ref could give it.
I assume Lallana has a red boot on his right foot and a light blue one on his left foot so as he can use the names of the colours to remind him which one goes on which foot.
Well, just like most other major tournaments, as soon as England come up against a big power nation, they lose. This game rather petered out. England looked decent enough on the counter for a bit but Italy shut the game down very effectively. Just so much more controlled and technically capable. Last 25 mins were just England being desperate and reverting to type - long shots, poor crosses and attempted miracle passes. Disappointing. Hopefully, England can come back on Thursday v Uruguay.
If Costa Rica and Italy draw on Thursday, the loser of the game between Uruguay and England (if there is one) will be eliminated before even playing their final match.
Actually, the Italy v CR game is on Friday by the looks of things.
I was quite impressed by England tonight - not being a natural supporter - bags of youthful talent in the side etc. But when Italy scored their second and closed up, well, there’s not much that even a great side can do about that,
Is it just me, or does Andrea Pirlo look like The Hound from Game of Thrones?
Can England justify starting Rooney any more?
I just finished watching the game on TIVO. Strange game. Somewhere around the 75th minute England started kicking it around like a bunch of six year old girls. It was 50/50 that they would whiff the ball entirely. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like Rooney’s corner kick before.
I was impressed by Sterling, he abused the Italy left side defense all game.
Slow start to Japan and Ivory Coast. Japan is playing kind of nervously.
Woah! Honda with a beautiful left footed shot.
Consider me a biased England supporter but I think a draw would have been a fairer reflection of the game. England were disappointing near the end, but at many other points they seemed the better team. That’s not always how football works, of course. And Italy certainly earned a win.
We didn’t see much diving, especially considering, well… Italy. That was nice.
Nice goal from Honda, too.
The Himnio Nacional de la Republica de Colombia has eleven freaking verses! I assure you the crowd is not singing the whole thing unless they are going for a solid fifteen to twenty minutes. This Youtube version only goes through two verses, sung CHORUS, Verse 1, CHORUS, Verse 2, CHORUS. That runs just over four minutes.
At sporting events it is traditionally sung as:
CHORUS
Verse 1
CHORUS
I didn’t get to watch the video from today’s match but I would bet they played the music only for CHORUS, Verse 1 and left out the Chorus repeat. With about 60,000 Colombians in attendance, the crowd simply carried on.
I have no idea about Chile or Brazil and their national songs.
Crazy strong shot by the Ivorian, good save by the keeper. The game is opening up and Japan is playing with more confidence.
Zonal Marking is a good site for tactical analysis of the games and teams.
I liked Rooney on the left wing in this match. I’d say yes, they can justify starting him in the future.
On the TV there was a shot of these Japanese fans or that had the same weird costumes:
w(°ｏ°)w
Drogba comes in and Japan…
Two quick goals to order!
I do wish he’d stop saying “coat-dee-voire”.