World Cup - Day thirteen

Day thirteen of the World Cup and Uruguay beat Italy by two goals to one. This match had everything goals, a sending off and a biting incident. 

I was surprised when the Italians lost there previous group match because I thought that this match against the Uruguayans was going to be tough. 

The loss to Uruguay meant that the Italians where out of the tournament. but this match will not be remembered for the football but Luis Suarez biting the shoulder of the Italian defender. 

This is the third time in his footballing career that Luis Suarez has bitten an opponent hopefully FIFA will give him a long term ban.

 

England drew nil nil with Costa Rica and this ended there worst tournament in over fifty years. 

World Cup - Day eight

Day eight of the World Cup and Uruguay beat England by two goals to one. England's defence were all over the place  and struggled with crosses and corners. 

I think the blame lies solely with Roy Hodgson as his selection for this World Cup was puzzling. As was his decision to leave experienced defensive players like Ashley Cole and John Terry. 

Elsewhere Colombia beat Ivory Coast by two goals to one and I was little suprised with this result because it was game that I was expected Ivory Coast win. 

It seemed that Colombia just seemed to have a little bit more in terms of defending and most importantly finishing. 

However Ivory Coast can still qualify with there last game whilst Colombia have now qualified for the knock out stages. 

  

World Cup - Day three

Day four at the World Cup and the stand out game today was Italy beating England by two goals to one.  However the scoreline does not really reflect the match. 

England had many chances and in attack they where excellent going forward and Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge both played very well. Contrary to popular opinion I thought Wayne Rooney played well. 

Where England lost the game was in defence and the goalkeeper. What was most surprising and frustrating about Roy Hodgson pick of these players is that three of four have only played domestic games last season and none of them won any silverware. 

A sign of a defence struggling is when they are backing off as opposed to putting in tackles. 

However despite this poor defence England will I think make it to the knock out stages but that is as far as they can go with this ineffective defence. 

Italy did what they needed to do to win the match and I got the impression that they where not fearful of losing to England and going as far as helping English players with cramp. 

So Italy where not tested in this game but I am sure they will make it through the knock stages and beyond.  

World Cup preview

Ok I am a little late with my World Cup preview but it is better late than never..I haven't got World Cup fever yet but I am sure I will soon get it. 

The teams to watch this World Cup are Spain, Argentina, Italy, Germany and Brazil. Needless to say that they are all World Cup wiinners. 

These teams will be hard to beat with their experience of winning this plus some unbelievable players. 

Teams that I think have an outside chance of winning it our France and Portugual. France are former winners but I don't think they have the team to win it but I expect them to do reasonably well. 

I also think that realistically Ivory Coast might do reasonably well. I am hoping that both Ghana and England do well but it is going to be incredibly difficult for them. 

So it should a really interesting World Cup with lost of twists and turns, happiness and heartbreak and that is why it's called the beautiful game. 

World Cup - selected group review

The draw for Brazil 2014 took place yesterday and there where a few surprises. 

England are in a group with Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica. It is going to be a tough World Cup for England as the draw has not been kind to them. 

It will be a a real uphill task to qualify for the next round. I think they will really struggle to get a win against any of these teams.

Ghana are also in a very very tough group with Germany, Portugal, USA. It is really hard to imagine Ghana topping this group. 

They better pray that they have all their players are fully fit to have any realistic chance of topping or winning this group.

Spain also in a tough group with Holland, Chile and Australia. It won't be easy but I can imagine Spain will make it to the knock out stages. 

After struggling to qualify for the Workf Cup France have somehow managed to be drawn into a reasonable group with Switzerland, Ecuador and Honduras. I can imagine that they will make it to the knockout stages. 

Nigeria have drawn into a farely reasonable group with Argentina, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iran. I can see Nigeria qualifying for the knock stages.

 

International friendlies review 15 November 2013

England lost two nil to Chile and at home. At first I was surprised that the convincing way in which Chile beat England.

But after seeing the England line up and I was no longer surprised. The some of players that Roy Hodgson chose for this friendly.  Where mainly players who would struggle to get into their premiership team. 

 

This meant that it would have been unrealistic for England to beat Chile who had brought a much better team. 

England would have needed all their first team players to have any chance of winning this match.

Please check out the highlights to this match below. (commentating is in Russian)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPbIjD8nhVI
 

Scotland drew nil nil with the USA and this result was a surprise. I thought there was going to be lots of goals and I also thought that USA where going to win. 

The USA brought a strong team to Scotland and Scotland after previously losing to the USA where determined that they would not be humiliated at home.

So I think the draw must have felt like win for Scotland and for the USA it must have felt like a loss,

 

International Friendlies

So the international friendlies are taking place today and England will take on Chile. Roy Hodgson has decided drop goalkeeper Joe Hart to the bench.

I  have never rated Joe Hart but the reality is, he is the only decent goalkeeper England have got. I think the result will be two goals one in England's  favour.

Scotland are playing the USA tonight and I think it will be a close win for the USA like England, USA  have already qualified for Brazil 2014. 

It should be a good game as Scotland will have nothing to prove and USA will want to be seen as potential champions in Brazil 2014.

World Cup - round up

World Cup qualification matches took place on Tuesday and England beat Poland two goals to nil.

I was surprised with the ease in which England beat Poland. However England  have a long way to go to before they can convince me that they are potential champions.

Elsewhere the reigning World and European champions, Spain, qualified after beating Georgia by two goals to nil.

Spain's team is stronger than ever and they even recently gave the Swansea City player Michu his first international call up. To me they are one of the teams to beat.

In the African qualification section, Ghana beat Egypt by six goal to one. This was an outstanding performance by Ghana.

It is not often that Ghana wins game with such an emphatic scoreline. I think that Michael Essien return to the team has boosted the midfield and made them more clinical in front the goal.

 It should hopefully mean that the away leg in Egypt will be a is just a formality and Ghana would hopefully have qualified for their World Cup.

World Cup qualifiers round up

The World Cup qualifiers took place over the weekend England beat Montenegro by four goals to one. Now need to beat Poland at Wembly to ensure qualification to Brazil 2014.

The star of the match went to the Tottenham winger Andros Townsend who helped set up Wayne Rooney's goal and then scored his own goal. 

It's good to see Roy Hodgson is prepared to take risks and play players with little or no international experience. It was a good win for England but I expect Poland to be tougher opposition.

Elsewhere Germany secured its place in the final by beating Republic of Ireland three goals to nil. This also end Ireland's chance of qualifying.

In the African qualifiers Nigeria beat Ethiopia by two goals to one which has brought Nigeria little closer to qualification. 

Ivory Coast beat Senegal three goals to one to take them a step closer to qualification. 

Tunisia drew nil nil with Cameron so this match like the others in the African qualifiers have it all play for to secure qualification to Brazil 2014. 

World Cup qualifiers- round up

This week's World Cup qualifiers had some interesting results. 

England drew with Ukraine but two other home nations suffered surprising defeats.

Northern Ireland lost to Luxembourg and Wales lost to Serbia. The manner in which both teams lost was surprising to say the least. 

Luxembourg is a lowly ranked team so for Northern Ireland to lose to them was a little embarrassing. 

Although Serbia have a  good team, for Wales to lose to Serbia was surprising. Especially has they have Gareth Bale the new Real Madrid striker in their team. 

Neither Wales or Northern Ireland can qualify for 2014 which must be galling for their supporters.

Other notable European countries to qualify for 2014 are Italy and Holland who can now book their tickets to Brazil. 

The USA have made it again to the World Cup which is always a little surprising as they are not known as a footballing  country. 

However I would that their last two World Cup outings their results have been very similar to England.

So those October qualifiers should be interesting some countries can play their B team. 

Some countries, who have little prospect of qualifying will be playing for pride. Some countries like England still have it all to do but it is in their hands.

 

England v Ukraine - review

England played a World Cup qualifier against Ukraine yesterday and it ended in a draw. 

England are still at the top of the table despite getting this draw and qualification to the World Cup is still very much in England's hands. 

This was always going to be tough away match for England. What doesn't help matters is the lack of strength and depth in the squad. 

Roy Hodgson chose to go with experience and some up and coming players like Rickie Lambert who plays for Southampton. 

It was a gamble that enabled England to get a draw over a much more established and experienced team like the Ukraine.

The England 's subs bench was also filled with lots  of up and coming players. There was only about two or three players on that subs bench that could have made a difference like Ashley Young , Jermaine Defoe and Michael Carrick. 

Roy Hodgson chose to bring  on Ashley Young who made little impact on the score line. 

The next two qualifiers in October are going to be huge for England. Hopefully Roy will have a better selection of players to pick from.

Although qualifying is still very much in England's hands  it is going to be a real challenge. I still wish Rio Ferdinand and John Terry were still playing for England.

 Yes qualification can be achieved with these current players but it going to require an amazing  effort from the eleven players picked.

I hope England qualifies as anybody who supports them desperately wants to see them at  Brazil 2014.