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 four

Day four of the World Cup and Ivory Coast beat Japan by two goals to one. This was good win for the Ivorians and there is no reason why Ivory Coast do not progress to the knockout stages. 

One of the tournament favourites Argentina beat Bosnia-Hercegovina by two goals to one and to be fair it would have been more of a shock if Bosnia-Hercegovina had beaten Argentina. 

France beat Honduras by three goals to nil and Frances task was made slightly easier by playing ten men Honduran team for most of the match. 

The French are my outside favourites to win this cup as they have the talent and the experience in their squad so I am expecting them to make it to at least the quarter finals. 

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 - round up

The first leg of the of the play-off tie took place over the weekend France lost two nil to the Ukraine.

This was a bad result for France and they are really going to need to up their game if they want to qualify for the World Cup. 

 

I will be very surprised if Oliver Giroud can score the three goals they need to make it to Brazil 2014.

 

 Leaving Bacary Sagna on the bench was a bad move as he can defend as well as whip
those crosses in. 

 

So if they want to make it to the final they need to amend the line up and include Bacary Sagna. 

 

Elsewhere some the African teams played the second leg of the play-offs and this meant Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast all qualified for Brazil 2014.

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.