Hello ? Anyone out there…?
Pub ? Home ? Pub ? Home ?..It’s too fooking early to even make a decision.where to watch it.
Motty’s just been saying the Nigeria are going to play a 19 year old with four caps in goal and, I think, a couple of youngsters up front…head can’t decide if that’s good or bad. probably good.
WAKEY WAKEY London_Calling !!!
Another douse of cold water in the sink.
Three games from a theoretical World Cup Semi Final with Brazil. Okay.
Onwards !
Best of luck to the three lions!!!
<sigh> I’m taping it, cause gotta watch Argentina crash out of the tournament live…
Cheers, DS.
Does Motty keep calling their 'keeper Vincent Enema ? there’s a joke there somewhere about leaking at the back…I think I need more coffee.
Here I am living 15 minutes from the stadium by train, unable to get a ticket or a day off work. 
The fans wew out in force at all the pubs last night, showing that the English are not the horrible hooligans the press has reported they would be for the last 6 months. The Japanese fans on Sunday however… well, just ask the pwners of the sveral cars smashed during the celebrations in Roppongi or the police who arrested 100s of Japanese fans. Gambatte Engurando!
The Keeper’s name is Enyeama - I think Motty’s pronuciation may be half deliberate…
Grim
Half time. No idea what’s happened to the schools today but the rush hour and school run seem to have gone missing here sarf of the river…even the busses are empty.
Funny game so far. Open game, a few chances. I quite like the American referee although he’s not had a lot to do.
Osakadave – First game in your neck of the woods, I believe. Glad to hear the chpas are behaving themselves. Is it 94’F ?
grimpixie – Maybe, but how would you pronounce it ?
I’d like to watch more of this match but I have some paint drying…
En-Yeh-Ma 
How would you pronounce it?
Grm
Well yes, the most excitement I’ve had is burning the first two lots of toast…oh, and the milk’s a little off. These final Group games can sometimes be played in strange circumstances.
Game over.
No injuries, yellow cards wiped clean, Beckham’s fitter, the team’s getting more used to playing with each other…a good training session in the heat of the day.
Excellent outcome. I much prefer playing Denmark on Saturday evening than Senegal in the midday heat.
Two games 'til Brazil in the semi’s…Fingers seriously crossed.
grimpixie - No bloody idea.
As predicted, Argentina out, see you later, Bati-no-gol.
Was the England game worth watching the tape of? I’m off to bed, will get up in time for the second games at 7:30…
The verdict: must try harder.
I’m sure the conditions and the knowledge that a draw would suffice didn’t help, but England didn’t impress. Short on ideas - just look at how long players paused with the ball - and the final ball just wasn’t great. Nigeria looked pacy, fired up and more willing than we did. It wasn’t an awful performance, but nothing that suggests Denmark will be quaking in their boots. I thought their keeper looked a lot steadier than the pundits were predicting (awful aerial performance excepting) and he seemed a decent shot-stopper. The forwards all looked lethal, particularly against that sluggish man-mountain Campbell.
[ul][li]David Seaman: 8 - looked solid, made one good save and generally seemed composed and alert.[/li]
[li]Danny Mills: 7 - he’s no Cafu, but played well, defended effectively and made up the numbers in attack.[/li][li]Sol Campbell: 5 - exposed for pace on more than one occasion. Nearly set up a Nigerian goal with a hospital pass to Ferdinand.[/li][li]Rio Ferdinand: 10 - simply outstanding. Saved England at least three goals and never put a foot wrong.[/li][li]Ashley Cole: 5 (first half), 6 (second half) - as usual, shaky in defence and constantly out of position, but dangerous in attack. Future winger, I hope.[/li]
[li]David Beckham: 5 - anonymous. Why was he playing behind Mills? His set pieces didn’t work and he never seemed fired up.[/li][li]Nicky Butt: 6 - decent but unremarkable defensive performance. No real complaints, but not quite up to his performance against Argentina.[/li][li]Paul Scholes: 7 - some good passing, one good shot (superbly saved), one cock-up of a free kick. Moved around the pitch well to make space.[/li][li]Trevor Sinclair: 7 (first half), 5 (second half) - looked good to begin with; tricky and willing to take on players. Faded noticeably later on.[/li]
[li]Michael Owen: 7 - some dangerous runs but let down by the quality of the final ball from midfield.[/li][li]Emile Heskey: 5 - put himself about a bit and useful as a strongman to win high balls, but never really looked pacy or tricky enough to be a threat.[/li]
Subs:
[li]Teddy Sheringham: 6 - did what he had to; slowed the game down and provided a target man capable of passing the ball. Missed one good chance.[/li][li]Darius Vassell: 5 - disappointing; ran around a lot but didn’t get himself into striking positions when he should have done.[/li]Wayne Bridge: 6 - not enough time to really impress, but didn’t make any mistakes.[/ul]
I set my alarm for 7am… and woke up at 9.30 to an alarm clock flashing 12:00… 12:00… 12:00. Bloody powercut in the middle of the night.
Sounds like I didn’t miss much though.
Some more thoughts:
[ul][li]Motty played a blinder in the commentary box. Some absolute gems make him a dead cert for the final.[/li][li]Drop Sinclair. He looked good coming on as a sub against Argentina, but this time ended up defending more than attacking, and that was against a Second Division full-back! (Sodje) Either Cole, given free reign to take players on, would be a better choice.[/li][li]Drop Campbell - maybe. He cannot play against pacy forwards, and his composure looked suspect at times. Southgate is a far safer player, and Keown a better marker.[/li][li]My suggested team against Denmark: Seaman / Mills, Keown or Southgate, Ferdinand, Bridge / Beckham (but shape up!), Butt, Scholes, A Cole (let him do what he’s best at) / Owen, Sheringham. [/li]Oh … don’t let Scholes take free kicks. Ever.[/ul]
This World Cup has been the coming of age of Rio Ferdinand. He’s been brilliant.
Well, there’s 90 minutes of my life I’ll never get back…
Result was good, play was bollocks. Still, midday heat and all that - I imagine the Nigerians coped better. Frankly, our lot looked whacked by the second half, and Owen looked like death.
Bonus one: next game will not be under the blazing sun.
Bonus two: facing a good team in the next round might actually inspire England to play some decent football.
I second the call to keep Scholes well away from any penalties. And what the hell was he up to during the National Anthem? He normally just stands there looking miserable as sin, but today he decided to start warming up.
Here’s an optimistic take: historically, England have always put in at least one really good attacking performance in World Cup campaigns. The Argentina game was great defensively but merely OK otherwise, so it doesn’t count. If we squeak past Denmark with another so-so showing, we can use our joker on, according to my wallchart, Brazil, and then we’re in the semis! Looking good. And we are due a good game - when was the last time we won comfortably? Against Paraguay was only a friendly, last time in a competitive match was Munich, I guess.
On a less cynical note, totally agree about Ferdinand, he looks like the genuine article. We have a world-class central defender, at last! Pleased with Butt and Mills, too. Of the regulars, Scholes and Seaman are playing very well, Owen and Teddy are doing OK, Heskey is… Heskey, and Campbell and Cole frighten me as usual. But is Beckham going to be match-fit in time to be of any use to us? He still looks extremely rusty.
Re. the national anthem - Scholes was taken by surprise by them playing two verses of the anthem, as was Motty and most of the crowd, it seemed. Don’t know why, they played the same tape in the first two games. Perhaps Adam Crozier should have a word in their ear (ears?). Did you hear the Uruguay anthem? It must have been 3 minutes long. It had an overture, for christ’s sake.
I’ve been thinking…
Ireland HAVE to play England in this world Cup.
the only way we can is in the final.
Here’s hoping…
Didn’t see the game, but it sounds like I didn’t miss much (this is prolly the only downside to living over here now, no good coverage of rugby or football).
I’m well chuffed that we are through though and Argentina going out is an added bonus.
I’m going to have to read all about the match later.
Rick
Congrats all. Yes, LC, it’s F-ng hot and humid as Hades (the rainy season has officially started in Honshu). So far the chaps have been well behaved. Here’s an American wishing (against the odds) for an England US final. 
Hehehe, Osakadave, I have to say that the odds of USA in the final are steadily growing. Mind you, they’re still longer than shadows at sunset, but IF we manage to get the Octofinal game against Mexico, then if I’m not mistaken, we’re looking at someone from the Spain-Paraguay-Germany-Ireland grouping, which, depending on who we end up with would give us a good shot at the Semi-final, of all things. And if Mexico and Croatia manage to keep Italy out of the second stage, it’s not impossible to imagine the good old US of A having a semi-final opponent they can have a hope against.
I’m not going out on a limb and predicting it, mind you…