I was supprised it ended 1-0 too, Argentina could have (should have?) bagged a hatfull and i could see Nigeria nicking it toward the end. Good game

begining to shit it about tonight now

Weird game that, ah? Man of the match for me was probably Nigeria's goalkeeper, who seemed to be the only reason Argentina didn't win 3-4 nil. And yet I wasn't that impressed with Argentina on the whole. Some obvious individual brilliance but I think they'll struggle against a well organised side. Nigeria weren't awful but I think they made Argentina look a lot better than they are.

yep yep. the goalkeeper was the best.

re: well organized-- no team starts at 100% though, except those that have no hope-- it's not like argentina needed to play at their max at this point. this is a warmup round for them just like it kinda it is for england (easy group). no need to hurt yourself and get burned out so early, and certainly no need to show everything you have to your more serious opponents down the line.

holy mother of fuck, heart attack central

the usa defense up until 40' was a colander, full of holes. score could be 2 or 3-0 at this point.

usa attacking was zero creativity, utter shit: kick and run and hope for some luck, 1 attacker vs 5 english defenders. they never even made it to the penalty area. shitty strategy, but it worked, from sheer luck-- thanks, green! you fucked up big.

england should get its shit together & massacre us in the 2nd half unless usa starts controlling the ball & creating some opportunities in the front instead of the shitty forward passes they've been kicking all along.

england is way way better in the attack.

demerit is fucking up, pulling terry, kicking heskey in the face (maybe revenge for heskey's cleats on howard's chest, ha ha)-- if he's not replaced he's going to bring down a shitstorm-- a penalty, a red card. calm the fuck down fucker.

horseshoe, rabbit foot, 4-leaf clover, mojo bag, we need al the help we can get.

holy fuck that was tense. USA needs to learn to make passes. seriously.

howard was the fucking hero.

fuck USA playing football, seriously.

now, as long as Argentina doesn't get the cup, it's all good.

USA USA!

Howard did well, he produced what we've seen from him for Everton, he'd be in our first team every time, and id have said that before the fuck up tonight

Obviously Green, theyll blame the ball, the vuvuzelas etc. But it is the first fuck up hes had for England, and he has a chance to redeem himself on Friday which i think he will do.
When Carson and Robinson made big errors for England they had to wait weeks until getting the chance to play for England again because they fucked up in qualifying games. If he was gonna make a big error, now was the time to do it

Bigger concerns are Ledley King being injured, Carragher got left for dead by Altidore and nearly got done by Findlay. If he comes up against anyone better (of whom there are a few) he's either gonna get sent off or give away a pen. Or more likely, both

Milner was woeful, and subbing him after half an hour was the right call, he looked appalling. I hope he can come back from it

Most interesting, Heskey was leading the line and Rooney did nothing. Best Heskey performance ive ever seen.

When Saturday Comes and their ironic front cover doesnt seem so witty now, eh?

Great game. I think it's fair to say that England were the better team, even though I thought Lampard and Rooney were quiet and Carragher at the back looked a major liability. Altidore for the US was impressive and looks likely to get some goals further into the tournament, and Landon Donovan was typically very good. The USA pretty much confirmed what I already thought about them: organised and competitive but lacking that real class element.

The UK's media are bound to focus on Green's mistake but those things just happen. The defence in general are a far bigger worry, especially as King looks unfit and the likelihood is that Carragher's gonna be replacing him more often than not.


I agree with that but part of why I thought it was a weird match was that Argentina did look like they had another gear (or two) in reserve, but that the way they seemed to be playing made me wonder if they could get into them. They'll always get goals but something I've always loved about Argentina has been their solidity and they just don't seem to have that at all. I think they'll get to the quarters but against a genuinely strong team I think that fragility will be theirt undoing.

Totally agree. For England, anyway. Man of the match for me.

He'll get goals against Algeria and Slovenia certainly, he looks strong, athletic, but nothing special beyond that. I think Hull City is about his level, and i doubt he's going to improve much over his career unless he gets chances with really goodt coaches.

The USA were actually pretty poor, Dempsey did absolutely nothing bar the lucky goal, Altidore had a couple of moments, Findlay (who i thought looked pretty decent frpm what id seen of him) was out of it the whole time. DOnovan was reduced to 3 or 4 pinpoint free kicks and nothing else.

Id say theres a case for being disappointed with the Americans tonight, they didnt press home their good luck enough and could easily have gone behind again.

I've not seen enough of the USA's pre-tournament matches but I was neither disaapointed or impressed with them tonight. They did what i expected and, had Green not made that save against Altidore, they may have won it - albeit against the run of play. Pure specualation but I'd say England could play a lot better but I don't think the USA have much left to offer - at least in terms of their players. They could tactically improve (maybe) but I doubt the actual squad have any great secret left to be unlocked.

Theyve decent, and i half expected a draw tonight, i certainly didnt think the US would win like some people did. Theres a backlash tendency to say England will lose against teams like the US even when its pretty unliely
England had far better chances, and the most relieved man after this game will be Wayne Rooney, because Rob Green will have hidden his poor performance.

Glenn Johnson also played extremely well going forward.

So the lot of you misunderstood the purpose of this thread, eh?

the fantasy and the reality are interchangeable

he did indeed

i'm kinda glad we've seen Carragher show his true colours, and got away with it. He looked slow and completely out of his depth and had he been up against proper world class opposition we would have been in trouble.
If King is injured I'd rather see Dawson play than Carragher. Only plus for Jamie is his experience...

still think we'll qualify top, but it would have been nice to start with a win.
and Green would still be my first choice (although i really like Joe Hart)

im 100% with you there.
I am a Spurs fan, but dont you wanna just give michael dawson a massive kiss on his big happy lips?

The prospect of Carragher and Terry in central defence is a real worry. They just can't cut it against quick forwards anymore. Carragher looked like an old battleship out there.

As for Green I think he's probably the only certain pick for the next game. I'd have gone for Hart from the beginning but even if he wanted to change him (and besides the one mistake, he'd have no cause to) Capello has to let Green redeem himself. The only thing stopping that is Green himself: if he doesn't recover in training. But then I think he'd go for James over Hart.

I'd love to see Capello gamble with joe Cole in the next game. I think our ranking is gonna come down to goal difference and Cole does atleast send the message of outright blitzkrieg, especially if you pair Rooney up with Defoe instead of Heskey (even though I thought he was excellent today) or Crouch. We have to assume we're gonna beat Algeria and Slovenia so the aim has to be by how much. Capello's caution in that area may be the difference between us getting 1st and 2nd. (I'm assuming the US will beat them both too)

I love Jermaine Defoe, he's a yiddo, but he aint good enough to win tings for us. No Joe Cole, he aint the solution to the problem. Lennon did well, way better than WrightWphillips or Milner. i say we stick with the two shortarses next week
Crouch isnt in contention now after Heskeys performance. But if we get past the group stages, Crouch may be the better man to partner Rooney

we where terrible first half but better in the second i thought but we are lucky its just a draw. world champions, hardly. i thought the decision to bring on shaun wright-phillips was terrible when defoe is available.