England vs. Ecuador Live!
It's the big one, lads. England vs. Ecuador with a prize for our boys of a quarter-final match with Portugal or Holland next weekend. Are you with me?
Come on, England!
posted by gatorbob @ 10:24 AM
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
Sunday, June 25, 2006
It's the big one, lads. England vs. Ecuador with a prize for our boys of a quarter-final match with Portugal or Holland next weekend. Are you with me?
Come on, England!
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
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73 Comments:
Here's the England side for today:
1. Paul Robinson
16. Owen Hargreaves
6. John Terry
5. Rio Ferdinand
3. Ashley Cole
7. David Beckham
18. Michael Carrick
4. Steven Gerrard
8. Frank Lampard
11. Joe Cole
9. Wayne Rooney
It's the 4-5-1, with Rooney at the top, Gerrard and Lampard playing through the middle, Becks and J. Cole out wide right and left and Michael Carrick playing the holding role. Also, Hargreaves comes in for the injured Neviller at right back.
Rob Stone, someone please end your career you muppet.
Too true, Gooner. Glad to have you with me. I have just a sneaking feeling that this is the match where Rooney explodes with a bunch of goals. You?
Your words to God's ears mate.
Five minutes to kick off - where are the rest of you church-goers?!
Notice that Rooney's the only one not singing "God Save the Queen?" I'm not sure he knows the words.
Excellent work by one of the Ecuadoran mascots there.
I want Rooney's brain to just concentrate on "ball", "in", "net". Plenty of time later to teach him the anthem.
Good to see that even that poor effort from Beckham created serious challenges for the Guinea Pig Munchers.
Come on, England!
Jesus, dial that pass down a bit Lamps. Roon was in there otherwise.
Get the card out, ref!
Agreed. Come on, Lamps!
I'm getting really pissed off with the negativity from the ABC crew. I'm about to turn over to Uni.
Phew, that was far too close. Jesus, Terry!
What the hell is Terry thinking about? That's a let off. Christ, he wouldn't get in the Chelsea squad with antics like that.
The nice thing about the BBC coverage and Mom and Dad's digital set up is that you could select the tv commentary or switch to the 5Live. 5Live's coverage did Dad's head in, but I liked it.
Brilliant block by Ashley, though.
Nice idea, Stevie! They're finally starting to put a few passes together.
this is a bit better. liked carrick's attempted through ball to lamps, and the interplay that ended in stevie g's shot was good.
agreed, great block from cashley.
terry's having a horror-show for some reason. and that could have gone anywhere off rio. looking shakey at the back. i'd like the midfield to take some pressure off so they can regroup.
free kick coming up.
wish gerrard felt confident enough to have taken that in the air and volleyed it towards goal.
Penalty for the push on J. Cole?
i think so but 'cello is talking about how smart the ecuadoran was to get cole that sly nudge. he should be fired simply for that statement.
another brilliant observation from 'cello. because hargreaves plays in germany for a living, he's the one player on the pitch that will be used to this heat. what???????
a little redress for terry. good clearance.
Stevie G. nearly through there. Just caught on the back of his head.
no-no-no, sit down jenas. you're a spectator, you muppet.
Keeper didn't move on the free kick - a good sign.
really want beckham to start scoring from his frees because if he doesn't convert those, he doesn't do enough else.
question--who let rooney put the long sleeve shirt on today?
why are they bypassing carrick in the build-up? cashley definitely chose the harder option to get it forward to beckham instead of laying off to carrick who had 30 yards of space in front of him.
hand-ball!
Now Hargreaves is down - Jesus!
that was a nasty challenge on hargreaves right under the nose of the linesman. i think he'll get up soon.
Half-time: 0-0; Fairly uninspired stuff. The 4-5-1 is not working, hasn't produced enough chances for Roon. They must throw Crouch on at some stage. I agree with you that their bypassing Carrick and trying to find the killer ball to Roon every time, particularly Stevie G. Have you also noticed how many times balls have been played behind the player, slowing down the play or forcing them to turn back to defenders or Robbo? It's driving me crazy, that.
Second half starting...they've started without any changes. That seems right. Give them ten minutes or so to see if there's a breakthrough. Then Crouch and maybe Lennon.
half-time and nothing terribly inspiring from either side. maybe it's the heat.
england's 4-5-1 isn't really in jeapardy of giving up a goal in the run of play. but right now, it doesn't look like we're likely to score either. the ball isn't coming to cole or gerrard or lamps in dangerous positions and rooney is doing a lot of running to try to create space.
either carrick is not making himself available or they are just using him to destroy their attack. if it's the latter, they seem to be attacking from the flanks when at all. he's just not in the game and i want sven to realize that.
game is back on. c'mon england.
That's better, but if Roon is part of the build-up then he can't be expected to get on the end of that cross, can he Stevie?
Come on, England!
definitely more verve going forward starting this half. too bad we don't have two strikers to get in on stevie's cross over the area.
really don't see too much wrong with hargreaves. not his position and he's sufficient at the moment. i thought he was better suited in his role vs. sweden.
austin delgado just took a corner there that must be getting attention in the DCUnited office! really not good enough.
That was quite a scrum but not really a penalty for Roon. But I'd have taken it gladly!
ah... maybe the long shirt was a piss-take for Ferg's benefit.
GOAL: Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Golden Balls!That's why he's on the pitch!
yessssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
finally beckham got it right. jesus, it shaved the post and in.
Great save and collection from Robbo. Now where exactly did he get his training, lads?
Yeah, it did look like Becks was losing his lunch. He'll have to go off for Lennon, right?
great save from robbo after another defensive error. and hargreaves did well backing that bloke out of the area.
why is beckham throwing up on the pitch? did he have a problem coming into this game? because if that's from the heat, that's a sign that he's lost wayyyyy too much fluid and he needs to be subbed for his own safety.
no question that playing behind the back four at elland road gives you a chance to get in the game. good save from robbo.
both tenorios off the pitch now. this lara guy is 5.3. a statistic that they ran with a lot in england.
Oh, that was a lovely move but the final ball from Lamps was just not there.
i'm praying that rooney's color looks better in person than on my telly. he's meaty pink, like a pork chop done medium rare.
OOOHHHHHHHHH, they need to stop passing to Lamps!
aaarrrrhhhhhhggggggg!!!!
lampard must be considered for the drop. he's always the guy who has the opportunity and he's finishing worse than mary decker.
Crikey, they look knackered, don't they? Cole coming out for Carra.
carra for cole. that's a statement that one is enough, yes? i don't like it.
yes, england looking shagged. the mid and rooney look shagged.
11 minutes plus 2 or 3?
Yellow for time wasting for Robbo - silly boy.
Yeah, I think they're settling.
lovely moment there from rooney but lamps can't get there in time to finish.
carra got the yellow. actually, i think this ref is starting to lose the plot on time-wasting. both sides are dragging severely and he should consider the heat.
Robbo down - time wasting or hamstring?
noooooo.
get up robbo. we have nothing good in reserve if he cannot.
England's #2 keeper step forward....not so fast, Calamity!
too easy for ecuador to get from their half to the edge of our area. we need someone to step on the ball for us. step up becks and carrick.
absolutely great stuff from lennon there.
more excellent stuff from lennon. (clap-clap-clap)
Did you see Roon stroking that Ecu guy's hair. Hilarious! He's daft as a brush.
as long as the ball is in play, you're allowed to do what you want with it.
actually one of bob and my favorite moments ever was an african nations cup game with south africa. in the last minutes of the game, the back four were passing the ball around ole-ole style, making egypt(?) run to get it back. but the egyptians were tired and stretched and not getting anywhere near the ball. it went on for about 90 seconds and then the ref whistles.
time wasting called and he gave egypt the ball for a free kick. extraordinary.
What do you want, Trev? A yellow card for negative play? I saw that once in an African Nation's Cup match.
Full-time: 1-0 Eng-er-lund! Just about good enough to beat a poor Ecuadoran team. We'll have to be much, much better against either Holland or Portugal. Any preferences there?
I'm with GoonerSteve; drop Lamps for the next match. Play the diamond with Gerrard at the top and Carrick at the bottom. Two up front Prem style with Roon and Crouchie.
Plusses: No injuries; that's massive. Ashley Cole played as well as I've seen and saved a certain goal; Rio also good, Terry good after those early jitters; Becks on set piece; Carrick in the holding role; Lennon coming on at the end - perfect.
Minuses: Lampard's appalling misses; not enough from J. Cole today; too many long balls lumped up to Roon from the back.
See you lads at 3 p.m. to see who are next opponents are.
1-0 and into the quarter-finals on a pretty comfortable performance. the real question is how can we score goals. we looked defensively comfortable except for a moment or two.
We should have also had a penalty for the shove on Joe Cole in the first half. If Becks' goal had been 2-0, we'd have cruised this one.
I'm still unhappy with the conditioning of the england players. no way should becks be throwing up on the pitch. that's a clear and alarming indication of severe dehydration and the ref should have stopped play for him. can you imagine the s**t-storm if becks had dropped like foe did for cameroon? the ref is in charge of the players welfare as well as a rule-reader. very poor.
but even without becks' dehydration issues, the last 20 minutes were very long for england. and looking at the qf game, it again is at 4pm. if it's hot, we're again going to be under the cosh.
i hope they consider dropping lampard and giving gerrard a more free rein to go forward and get involved. that also gives us the option of bringing in lamps with his amazing engine later in the game when legs are tired.
rooney was impressive that he continued to run and run and lasted the full 90. take that you manky smelling, red-faced, has-been, Ferg. we're not listening anymore.
lennon coming on gave us a tremendous lift immediately. imagine if he'd been on the pitch 10 minutes earlier. sven should consider that. and in a similar situation, i think that wolcott should have come on instead of downing who didn't get a kick and didn't show any interest in getting one.
terry and rio bot have made scary defensive errors now. is there anyone in the set-up that can talk to these guys and get them concentrated again?
i'd also like to hear that neville is ready to go in the next game. that would free up hargreaves to hold just in front of the back 4. he can collect the ball and shepherd it forward well. trev was more critical of his play today than i, but it's clear that he's not playing in any kind of comfort zone in the right back role.
through to the quarters. i can breathe again.
I just finished watching the game with about a twenty minute delay.
PHEW!!!!!!
Not good again but great goal from BECKS!!
I just read on the Beeb that he is the first England player to score in three world cups.
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