Come on England!

From Sukhdev:

Well it is time for England's second game, and I'm hoping to see a very different performance to that against the USA. But more on that later. First, to yesterday's games. Argentina looked ominous as they spanked Korea Republic 4-1. I do wonder how effective playing four or five forwards against one of the tournament's better teams will be though. Great going forward, but the goal they let in was horrible.

Kaita must be ruing the day he boarded the plane to South Africa. What was he thinking. Until his stupidity got him sent off, Nigeria looked pretty much in control of the game against Greece and should probably have won.

The last game was great. Mexico played with some real heart and really well. In an earlier blog I mentioned I watched them play against England and Italy before the tournament and was very impressed. So the result against South Africa surprised me more than the game against France. This is what the fans really want to see.

So to today's games. Germany looked mightily impressive in their first game against Australia, but Serbia have a much better defence. So this one will be interesting, but the exciting pass and move play that Germany seem to have perfected should still be too much to handle. And all this from a young team. Could be a great team for years to come.






















The US vs Slovenia is interesting in a number of ways. USA could pass through with a draw and try to beat Algeria, hoping England beat Slovenia. If they win, they could try to win the group on goal difference. Coming second would probably mean meeting Germany, so that is not really a great option. I'm sure the US' mentality will push them for that win, but Slovenia is a useful outfit and resilient too. They had to overcome a pretty good Russian side in the qualification playoffs to get here.






















And then to the big one, or at least for me. I hope Barry's return will add some steel to our midfield, but really big parts of our tactics remain unresolved. I wonder if we will stick to 4-4-2, which means pushing Gerrard to the left. Something I really do not favour. Also, who is in goal: do you keep favour with Green after his howler? I would much rather see Hart in goal. Finally, Heskey was impressive against USA. HE missed a guilt edge chance to score, but won a lot of headers, put himself about a bit and set up Gerrard for the first goal. if we play 4-4-2, I think he would still be in the team for me. Finally, we need Rooney to wake up. He has to play a lot better. A lot rests on his shoulders, but he is a confident guy and I am sure he will rise to the challenge.






















Come on England!