I think we can win...

He is magnificent.

 

:NADowner:

 

He is Shrek



Oh, and that must be Heskey next to him

 

RRRRRRRRRRoooby Dooby Dooo!

Looks like your game is going ahead Michael!

...but who will you be backing?!

My favorite bits..

1) Scholes'y getting that monkey off his back, with the first goal in 3 years, yaaaay
2) Roooooneeyyyyy Roooooneeeeeyyyyyy what more can I say. Only down side is several years of little baby boys all being called 'Wayne'

Only downside was Owen still not managing to find the net. He's passing and making play, but isnt that a midfielders job? Nice one for Sven letting him have the whole 90 minutes though, a confidence boost I hope.. :beer:

 

The other downside was the defence from set pieces. Awful

 

Now I can concentrate my support purely on Sweeden

My great great great great uncle Henrik would be proud!

England deserved to win, but I still think they look quite average.

Rooney's been one of the best players of the competition. No doubt he'll be hyped up-up-up to be set up nicelt to be knocked down as soon as he fails to deliver! The good old eng-er-lish media!

Was good of Sven to stick with Owen for the full 90 this time. Rooney's likely to miss game's through suspensions, and you can bet all the attention will then be on Owen.............. who's confidence will no doubt have been shot to bits by then!!!

Portugal aint looking anything spectacular themselves. Could come down to who's boy-wonder shines on the night. Ronaldo, or Rooney?

 

i'd agree with mo here. england definately looked shaky at points and for a side that doesn;t run much with the ball their passing is piss poor. still, they won which is the main thing and they were the better side on the day.

the comentators were comparing rooney to pele on the bbc coverage which i thought a little..er... over zealous.
cheers


julian

 

If you listened to it on your hifi, you would have noticed the sound of two commentators masturbating every time he got the ball.

 

I've got tickets for the game on Thursday

Shold be an excellent game. Figo vs. Beckham, Ronaldo vs. Rooney

It's really a tough one as to who I will support. TBH I'll be gutted whichever side wins but I think I'm ever so marginally more favourable towards Portugal. If they win the country will go even more mental than it did yesterday.

I'm surprised at some of the criticism here of both Portugal and England. IMO they are both playing extremely well and are definitely worthy qtr finalists. I'd go so far as to say they would both be worthy tournament winners on the strength of both their last two games. No side is perfect (OK, apart from Brasil ) but England and Portugal are both getting close.

Who will win it on Thursday? Too close to call but maybe home advantage will swing it in favour of Portugal? Judging by the number of England fans who are here though there may well be just as many, if not more, England fans than Portuguese ones

Michael.

 

The slagging of the national team is just part of the English (and British) mentality unfortunately Micheal

I was just pleased to see the English win (I am English even though I currently reside in Scotland).

Thursday should prove to be a very exciting night indeed

 

i'd like to think that if i thought england played well i'd say so. but they always seem to just hang on by the skin of their teeth (and sometimes not - as with the france game). my main gripes are the way they get the ball and then just stand there waiting for 3 or 4 opposition players to run within 4 meters of them and then act like the bloke off the beer advert, shout 'ave it and sky it into the crowd - ok slight exaggeration but even the most staunch england supporter must admit that their passing was not as good as croatias and most of the time within 2 or 3 passes the ball was given to the opposition.
don;t get me wrong, i;m glad they won and will be watching england vs portugal solidly rooting for england but if they don;t improve even more then they are going to get slaughtered rooney or no.
cheers


julian

 

The over hyping of the team is also part of the English mentality

Both have been quite average IMO.

Both can do better.

Don't know how the Portuguese media hype their team, but I just don't see england as being as good as they're made out to be.

England in particular have made some silly mistakes.

"Figo v's Beckham"......... if either of them decide to play as they can!

Ron and Roon will be far MOre interesting on current form.

 

MO and Julian,

I am not going to disagree with either of the points that you have raised because I do agree with them.

I just really want us to do well (mainly because if we don't then I will get some serious ribbing from my Scottish colleagues in the office)

Adam

 

You should hear what the dutch say about their national team!

Incidantally, I wasnt slagging us off, mereley pointing out a big waekness which is going to cost us dearly unless we sort it out now.

 

Seeing England's woeful defending of crosses in the last couple of matches does worry me.

The Portuguese are well placed to exploit it, with Ronaldo and Figo providing crosses for the centre forwards, both of whom can head a bit

Still, if England can keep scoring they've got a chance.

 

Its very curious, I am not the only one watching then who thinks
we are looking nervy.
We did ok, the talking heads are saying how well we are doing, well, I suppose we are as we are thro', but the passing is sloppy, I hate to see a route 1 down the middle pass through the other team, it could easily be given away, long ball is u/s, and that's all owen can really do....good finisher.
We look fallible, some good bits, some poor, the other sides will not be too afriad, as goals are going against us, it means they can score, too.
I was VERY worried after goal 1, I thought that was it, they would shore up and we would be frustrated. We could have got 5 or 6 in the end. A good result on the whole, and the other teams see the result. England ARE doing well by results.
But Portugal scare me, they play with passion.
You know, I think the other sides view England as a scalp, I think they do see us as a big name, tho maybe a bit wobbly, and it is an achievment to excise us.
It will only take a big team to play competantly to despatch us I fear.
I still think we give too much space, we need to frustrate by keeping the ball around, and RUNNING at defences, that scares defenders into tripping and fouling.
We can do it, no team has been outstanding. We need to be tighter. sometimes our control lets us down, needs to be worked on, I havne't seen to much of that this time.
I am extremely suprised Sven was knocked for 'litening' to his players. surely if the team are not comfortable with something the coach needs feedback and its really a partnership coach tries out, players report back, I think the days of dicator coaching are in the past, you listen to what's said, and work with strenghts and form. Play who is playing well, play to peoples strengths. That's why the dutch total isn't as good IMO as you can never be brill in all positions.
George Best said to win you need 10 good players and a genius. How true.
Any jobs Sven?

 

Am I the only person that thinks regardless of the outcome of the next match, there will be riots across Portugal???

Think about it...

England fans are renowned for rioting.
- if we win, they will taunt the Portuguese. They will react - I was living in France during Euro 2000 and saw it first hand - it doesn't make it into the news over here, but the fans in Lyon went mad when Portugal lost.

- if we lose......need I say more???

 

Figo is not a patch on the player he was 4 years ago,he is no more a threat than Ronaldo,but i think Scholes will kick him to death now that the yellow cards have been scrubbed

 

England DID play well IMHO.


The passing looked pretty good in the Croatia game (although not in the previous 2).

Both Scholes and Rooney (and Vassell) all keen to make fast runs into the box, compared to a solitary figure of Owen playing billy-no-mates in the box in previous matches.

The defence - well set pieces perhaps not man marking very well, but Im very impressed with the speed and tenacity of ashley cole. He and Campbell would be two defenders Id pick over any other of the tournament. Im still unsure about both Terry and King.

If we play like we did last night, I think we will kick arse. If we play like we did in previous matches in the tournament, we'll lose. I see it like that really.

 

I don't know much about football at all, but I really don't understand why that pair of donkeys, the Neville bros, keep getting selected. Have they got the negatives or something?