Ok, come on chap. Be strong and face into the issue.
I posted a full and frank match summary on facebook last night. It read:
"Toss".
Not sure if it is worth expanding on, but since I am sat watching England's feint hopes of staying in the competition fading slowly away (i.e Costa Rica one up on Italy) I may as well use the time efficiently. Where did it all go wrong?
Well. First up was the fact that the two players everyone wanted to see sidelined, were in fact not sidelined. Suarez and Rooney. From the outset, it was clear that Uruguay would not be the off-colour outfit that they were in their opener. By contrast, England started nervously and had little rhythm. Rooney, looked off the pace (I should add that I was, and still am utterly torn, as to whether we'd be better without him in the team - but for the sake of not repeating the same errors in every tournament I ever watch, I'd side with the "if it is broken, fix it" camp.) Uruguay started making chances and of course, with complete inevitability, Suarez gave them the lead.
At this point England looked easily second best. Gerrard and Henderson were marshalling an area of the pitch where there was no threat, and Rooney looked just like a brit abroad. A bit hot, dehydrated and generally out of shape. Yet they were taking up shirts that Lallana, Barkely, Lampard must have been begging to fill.
Things improved in the second half, and when Barkely eventually did get onto the pitch, it seemed to perk Rooney up - with several impressive runs before his historic equaliser. At this point, we probably all felt we could turn it around, but Suarez had other ideas, capitalising on Gerrards captaincy-resignation-gesture of a header and walloping home before commencing a celebration / mental & emotional breakdown that lasted for so long that it hadn't finished until long after he was substituted and the match had ended. It was an object lesson in making a team accomplishment all about himself.
So where are we now. Staring down the barrel of a Spain-esque capitulation from the tournament. As I write, the clock is ticking down to just 14 minutes of our [competetive] tournament remaining. Even if Italy turn things around and grab an England saving win, I am in grave doubt about whether England could get the win they'd need AND rely on Suarez not having a second helping of England slaying in a few days. And even if all that did happen, it would feel a bit wrong. There should be a rule that all teams losing their opening two games must be eliminated. To progress on just 3 points would be a farce.
As my wife astutely pointed out (after about 35 minutes of the match), watching England was confusingly similar to watching Villa. You knew, just knew that it wasn't going to go well - and the 90 minutes was just an exercise in finding out exactly how the inevitable would unfold.
A footnote to all this bitter rambling is that I love the tournament just as dearly without England - and once the dust has settled I will do just that.
I posted a full and frank match summary on facebook last night. It read:
"Toss".
Not sure if it is worth expanding on, but since I am sat watching England's feint hopes of staying in the competition fading slowly away (i.e Costa Rica one up on Italy) I may as well use the time efficiently. Where did it all go wrong?
Well. First up was the fact that the two players everyone wanted to see sidelined, were in fact not sidelined. Suarez and Rooney. From the outset, it was clear that Uruguay would not be the off-colour outfit that they were in their opener. By contrast, England started nervously and had little rhythm. Rooney, looked off the pace (I should add that I was, and still am utterly torn, as to whether we'd be better without him in the team - but for the sake of not repeating the same errors in every tournament I ever watch, I'd side with the "if it is broken, fix it" camp.) Uruguay started making chances and of course, with complete inevitability, Suarez gave them the lead.
At this point England looked easily second best. Gerrard and Henderson were marshalling an area of the pitch where there was no threat, and Rooney looked just like a brit abroad. A bit hot, dehydrated and generally out of shape. Yet they were taking up shirts that Lallana, Barkely, Lampard must have been begging to fill.
Things improved in the second half, and when Barkely eventually did get onto the pitch, it seemed to perk Rooney up - with several impressive runs before his historic equaliser. At this point, we probably all felt we could turn it around, but Suarez had other ideas, capitalising on Gerrards captaincy-resignation-gesture of a header and walloping home before commencing a celebration / mental & emotional breakdown that lasted for so long that it hadn't finished until long after he was substituted and the match had ended. It was an object lesson in making a team accomplishment all about himself.
So where are we now. Staring down the barrel of a Spain-esque capitulation from the tournament. As I write, the clock is ticking down to just 14 minutes of our [competetive] tournament remaining. Even if Italy turn things around and grab an England saving win, I am in grave doubt about whether England could get the win they'd need AND rely on Suarez not having a second helping of England slaying in a few days. And even if all that did happen, it would feel a bit wrong. There should be a rule that all teams losing their opening two games must be eliminated. To progress on just 3 points would be a farce.
As my wife astutely pointed out (after about 35 minutes of the match), watching England was confusingly similar to watching Villa. You knew, just knew that it wasn't going to go well - and the 90 minutes was just an exercise in finding out exactly how the inevitable would unfold.
A footnote to all this bitter rambling is that I love the tournament just as dearly without England - and once the dust has settled I will do just that.
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