Adidas WC 2010 Repliqué Soccer Ball, White/Black/Pure Yellow, 5
This article isn’t a few days early. It is yet another English fan scripting an account of a disappointing outing for England. Let me confess my interest in football began only about 2 years ago. I became an ardent fan of Chelsea. Didier Drogba is the reason I got attracted towards Chelsea and later became a big fan of most of the players. One player who’d top the list is the most faithful yet underrated soldier of Chelsea and England Frank Lampard. With Lampard and Terry being a part of Chelsea my loyalties definitely rested with England for the World Cup 2010 though an English fan is a person who usually gets snubbed pretty soon in the season.
England did the expected. They didn’t look like champions in any of the games they played. An under-5-minutes brilliance from Steven Gerrard in the first game didn’t make England look like giants. They struggled their way through USA’s formation and could not break it. Defensive errors were found but USA didn’t have a Rooney or a Messi to take full advantage of them. Fabio Capello was hired for one reason, to bring tactical genius to the side. But I must say he failed big time. The team looked as disoriented as ever and didn’t quite combine well. It felt like the players weren’t sure of the ability of the other players. The formations were not great and the senior players, I felt, didn’t get mush responsibility.
England played to their strengths but were the strengths relied based on weaknesses of oppositions? One can never say. Capello’s biggest contribution would have been finding out plots of all England’s oppositions and carefully taking out the cinches in their armors. Later he could have chosen players and formations to plug them. But Capello was totally at sea since the first game. He spent so much time watching the EPL. He should have spent some time either watching Bundes Liga or in the USA. USA are an attacking side and will always surge ahead. Don’t think England had a plan to counter that. They made bad selections and substitutions. Algeria will always play a defensive game and apart from one weak shot from Lampard that found the goal keeper England didn’t even come close to breaking the formation. Zero innovation zero adaptation. England put up their best show against Slovenia. Again the team saw new faces in Defoe and Upson. Milner also found his way back. The selections seemed bang on and England had a lot more possession and moved the ball positively using the flanks to great effect. Rooney found the bar once and went wide once. Defoe put one in and that was tremendous for a player playing his first WC match. He looked more confident and composed than Rooney throughout the tourney. But the sad thing is, apart from the team changes the plan didn’t change at all. The plan worked for England instead.
Germany would beat this English side any day. They had pace, exuberance, youth and guile. Whereas England had 30+ lounging midfield and a flank that just couldn’t cope up with the pace of Germany. Did Capello work Germany out? The answer, sadly, is no. Germany emerged with a good mind game calling themselves “underdogs”. And England fell for the false claim of pride and reputation. There were definite sparks of genius and a controversial decision of not giving a goal to Lampard but in spite of that England would have ended losing because they had no answers to the way Germany passed the ball and beat players. England defense largely constituted 2 players Terry and Upson. The holding midfielder Barry should never have been in the team. Lampard and Gerrard were seen falling back regularly but they aren’t as sprightly as they were once. England had to watch out for the pace of Mueller, Ozil, Podolski and playmaker Schweinsteiger. Germany had a fantastic finisher in Klose. They didn’t have a plan against them what so ever. Only pace and guile can counter pace and guile. I felt we needed Lennon and Sean Wright Phillips just to hold these guys up. England didn’t have the ammunition to step up and a simple set play situation which saw all of England forward was enough for the nimble Germans to take the ball to the other half and net it. That was their strategy and England fell to it very lamely.
Did England have nothing up their sleeve? England even today has some of the best players on paper. You can see sparks of genius every now and then with no support. They way Rooney collects and controls a long ball and surges ahead is an act of pure class. But he is usually alone. Defoe has great pace and can wither off big defenders. But you can’t give him a long ball because he is vertically challenged. Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole were brilliant in some games. Lennon looked good in some games. English defense has generally been good except for the Germany game. Gerrard and Lampard did play well with each other. That criticism didn’t hold good any more. Lampard’s free kicks were a sight to watch. He should have had a goal against his name. Gerrard was easily the best player in the English side but he didn’t have finishers or great tactics to play with. Overall England were predictable and exposed. Any team could work their way out with England. One more thing, they never seemed to have a fire to win. They were flat throughout except for Gerrard and Lampard in the last couple of games. Nobody seemed desperate enough to put their best performance in the biggest stage of their professional lives. Is it contentment or a lack of regard to the tourney is anybody’s guess? A similar situation was doing its rounds in English cricket a few years ago and they seem to have sorted it out wonderfully well. It’s time English football borrowed those brains. Adios #Eng!
adidas Men's WC 2010 Tee,Yellow,Large
This article isn’t a few days early. It is yet another English fan scripting an account of a disappointing outing for England. Let me confess my interest in football began only about 2 years ago. I became an ardent fan of Chelsea. Didier Drogba is the reason I got attracted towards Chelsea and later became a big fan of most of the players. One player who’d top the list is the most faithful yet underrated soldier of Chelsea and England Frank Lampard. With Lampard and Terry being a part of Chelsea my loyalties definitely rested with England for the World Cup 2010 though an English fan is a person who usually gets snubbed pretty soon in the season.
England did the expected. They didn’t look like champions in any of the games they played. An under-5-minutes brilliance from Steven Gerrard in the first game didn’t make England look like giants. They struggled their way through USA’s formation and could not break it. Defensive errors were found but USA didn’t have a Rooney or a Messi to take full advantage of them. Fabio Capello was hired for one reason, to bring tactical genius to the side. But I must say he failed big time. The team looked as disoriented as ever and didn’t quite combine well. It felt like the players weren’t sure of the ability of the other players. The formations were not great and the senior players, I felt, didn’t get mush responsibility.
England played to their strengths but were the strengths relied based on weaknesses of oppositions? One can never say. Capello’s biggest contribution would have been finding out plots of all England’s oppositions and carefully taking out the cinches in their armors. Later he could have chosen players and formations to plug them. But Capello was totally at sea since the first game. He spent so much time watching the EPL. He should have spent some time either watching Bundes Liga or in the USA. USA are an attacking side and will always surge ahead. Don’t think England had a plan to counter that. They made bad selections and substitutions. Algeria will always play a defensive game and apart from one weak shot from Lampard that found the goal keeper England didn’t even come close to breaking the formation. Zero innovation zero adaptation. England put up their best show against Slovenia. Again the team saw new faces in Defoe and Upson. Milner also found his way back. The selections seemed bang on and England had a lot more possession and moved the ball positively using the flanks to great effect. Rooney found the bar once and went wide once. Defoe put one in and that was tremendous for a player playing his first WC match. He looked more confident and composed than Rooney throughout the tourney. But the sad thing is, apart from the team changes the plan didn’t change at all. The plan worked for England instead.
Germany would beat this English side any day. They had pace, exuberance, youth and guile. Whereas England had 30+ lounging midfield and a flank that just couldn’t cope up with the pace of Germany. Did Capello work Germany out? The answer, sadly, is no. Germany emerged with a good mind game calling themselves “underdogs”. And England fell for the false claim of pride and reputation. There were definite sparks of genius and a controversial decision of not giving a goal to Lampard but in spite of that England would have ended losing because they had no answers to the way Germany passed the ball and beat players. England defense largely constituted 2 players Terry and Upson. The holding midfielder Barry should never have been in the team. Lampard and Gerrard were seen falling back regularly but they aren’t as sprightly as they were once. England had to watch out for the pace of Mueller, Ozil, Podolski and playmaker Schweinsteiger. Germany had a fantastic finisher in Klose. They didn’t have a plan against them what so ever. Only pace and guile can counter pace and guile. I felt we needed Lennon and Sean Wright Phillips just to hold these guys up. England didn’t have the ammunition to step up and a simple set play situation which saw all of England forward was enough for the nimble Germans to take the ball to the other half and net it. That was their strategy and England fell to it very lamely.
Did England have nothing up their sleeve? England even today has some of the best players on paper. You can see sparks of genius every now and then with no support. They way Rooney collects and controls a long ball and surges ahead is an act of pure class. But he is usually alone. Defoe has great pace and can wither off big defenders. But you can’t give him a long ball because he is vertically challenged. Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole were brilliant in some games. Lennon looked good in some games. English defense has generally been good except for the Germany game. Gerrard and Lampard did play well with each other. That criticism didn’t hold good any more. Lampard’s free kicks were a sight to watch. He should have had a goal against his name. Gerrard was easily the best player in the English side but he didn’t have finishers or great tactics to play with. Overall England were predictable and exposed. Any team could work their way out with England. One more thing, they never seemed to have a fire to win. They were flat throughout except for Gerrard and Lampard in the last couple of games. Nobody seemed desperate enough to put their best performance in the biggest stage of their professional lives. Is it contentment or a lack of regard to the tourney is anybody’s guess? A similar situation was doing its rounds in English cricket a few years ago and they seem to have sorted it out wonderfully well. It’s time English football borrowed those brains. Adios #Eng!
adidas Men's WC 2010 Tee,Yellow,Large
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