The Official Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup thread

[thewobbler]

Well said that article.

I kind of came to the same assessment 4 years ago, when the media decided that only answer to England's shockingly toothless football was the one and only Joe Cole; an idea which quickly spread throughout the players and supporters.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/7842062/World-Cup-2010-England-players-tell-Fabio-Capello-they-want-Joe-Cole-in-the-team.html

Capello actually gave in too.

----

Sadly, there are striking parallels here with Ireland over the past decade. A couple of seasons back Wes Houlahan joined the ranks of Andy Reid, Stephen Ireland and even Lee Carsley as assuming some sort of superhuman status during an international sabbatical.

Brian Kerr might have bored me to tears as Ireland manager, but unfortunately, his pragmatic realism is exactly the kind of management that teams from these islands need.

[Orior]

Did I hear last night that the population of Uraguay is less than Ireland?

However, I bet their hurling team are rubbish.

[deiseach]

* We have failed with English managers, we have failed with overseas managers. It's not the manager.

I can think of a certain Scottish manager who is okay. Then again, he couldn't beat a Uruguay team in the World Cup that had ten men for 89 minutes.

[yellowcard]

I don't think any England player can say they've had a good tournament to be fair.
Sterling was excellent first game but wasn't great last night. Rooney was ok last night but poor the first game.
Welbeck is just shit and it is absolutely mind boggling that he starts for England at a World Cup.
Jagielka and Baines have been shown up for the small club players they are, unable to make the step up in class.
Gerrard has had a poor world cup in fairness. Henderson isn't the player he has been for Liverpool all season.
Even with the mistakes made in the lead up to the goals last night I think Seanie forgot to mention the brilliance of Suarez in his finishing  He still had an awful lot to do it wasn't like they were both tap ins.
I think a lot of the blame though is on Woy.The English press will be clamouring for 'Arry to take over now.

I can't stand the fecker granted but the finishes were good but were nothing to really rave about. First was on a plate and he put it where it needed to go. Second he controlled it well and then just smashed it cos he was knackered at that point. Got lucky that Hart lay down out of the way, he made himself small.

Rooney didn't play all that badly in the first game considering he was out of position. Assist for the first goal and really unlucky to miss the one where he sent the keeper the wrong way but it went wrong side of the post. I think he was much better than ok last night also. Welbeck is a decent player, no more, no less. Pace and power but not much guile. England have better options and should use them.

Hodgson is just too conservative but I'd say the suits in the FA are scared shitless of appointing Redknapp. I can see their point to a degree. Hodgson should start Barkley and Wilshere in the middle the next day with Lallana instead of Welbeck. He should give Jones and Shaw starts too, they can't do any worse than who they would be replacing (though I still think Baines deserves credit for his attacking play).

With Rooney we are already witnessing the slow gradual decline of a once very good player (admittedly most of those displays were in his early career). Rooney had a decent game last night but he no longer merits an England team being built around him. Still capable of producing moments of technical brilliance that no other English player is capable of, but also capable of infuriating mediocrity for a player of his ability. He is also devoid of the mobility and pace that he once possessed and football seems to be a chore for him now whereas at one time he looked like a street footballer in love with the game. Very similar to the way Torres has gone over the last few years.

Gerrard is another whose status has always been elevated above his ability. He is also capable of producing some moments of magic, but as his athleticism has declined his game has suffered as a result. He never had the discipline or game intelligence to know how to control a game from central midfield. In his younger days he wanted to be the man who made the sliding tackle, got up and played the killer pass for himself to get on the end of and score the goal. Now that he is no longer capable of playing this role, I have serious doubts about his role as a sitting midfielder. He did play well in certain games last season but when under serious pressure he resorted to type by attempting to play Roy of the Rovers stuff.

Those 2 players sum up English football in a nutshell. Good players but over hyped, uncultured and indulged by the media. Neither have done it on the biggest stage and I think England have to move on without them. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see both of them retire after the World Cup in any case.

Agree with a lot of what you're saying but the bit in bold is bullshit.

Just to clarify, neither have done it often enough on the biggest stage. That means World Cup, European Championships and Champions League. And yes I know both of them scored in CL finals but neither were consistently the dominant players in the bigger games at the latter end of that tournament. They are often helped at club level by playing with players like Alonso, Torres, Ronaldo, Tevez, Scholes but when asked to lead a team at international level without that calibre of player around them they have struggled in practically every major tournament.

I'm no Liverpool fan (and I agree about Rooney) but Gerrard took a Liverpool team (which was distinctly average on paper) to CL victory on his own.  He alone dominated the second half of that game.  Granted he had Alonso beside him but he was playing that night against a side that included Cafu, Stam, Maldini, Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf, Kaka, Shevchenko and Crespo!  The stage doesn't get much bigger.

No he did not. Gerrard never dominated a game from central midfield, it was never his game. Yes, he scored a headed goal and gesticulated wildly to the crowd after it which tends to stick in peoples minds, but my recollection is not of Gerrard 'dominating that game alone'. Granted he was playing in a mediocre Liverpool side and was capable of moments of brilliance like in the FA cup final a year later but he was never at the level of say Xabi Alonso in terms of a top class CM capable of controlling a game. His best football was played just behind Torres in a free role where he could afford to give the ball away with more speculative passes. The problem Gerrard has is that he wants to be doing everything himself. Passing, tackling, controlling, creating and scoring. Now that his body is slowing down he is incapable of fulfilling all these functions and will never develop the natural instinct, game intelligence and knowing how to control a game with possession that a top class holding midfielder requires at this stage of his career.   

[WT4E]

Would Fat Frank not be a better option than stevie g at the min?

[blewuporstuffed]

Would Fat Frank not be a better option than stevie g at the min?

as a defensive midfielder ? 

[beer baron]

Italy 4/7 against Costa Rica? Looks a gift!

[johnneycool]

Italy 4/7 against Costa Rica? Looks a gift!

Costa Rica looked impressive enough in their first outing, I wouldn't be surprised if its a draw although the Italians maybe think there's more chance of winning this one than their last outing against Uruguay.

[beer baron]

I thought Costa rica looked good for 20 minutes against Uruguay but poor for the rest  and Uruguay are terrible without Suarez. Will be surprised if the Italians don't win but i was very wrong about the spaniards the other day and could be again. Just had a little treble of Switzerland+1,Italy and Ecuador

[deiseach]

Where has this thing about Lampard being fat come from? Never seen it myself.

Alliteration.

[imtommygunn]

England play what they feel their best 11 is and if the players don't fit the roles then sobeit.

For all his faults at least trap played the players who he saw best fitted his system. In watching England you can kind of see why he needed to be so stubborn.

[deiseach]

On a general point, the English (as do the other teams in these islands) make a rod for their own backs with their obsession with captaincy. Other countries view it as a nice honour, usually given to the player with the most caps, but nothing more than that. The English though view it as sacred, the armband like a Ring of Power. Once you pick someone as captain you can't drop them because then you made a mistake by picking him in the first place. Brits, eh?

[Asal Mor]

On a general point, the English (as do the other teams in these islands) make a rod for their own backs with their obsession with captaincy. Other countries view it as a nice honour, usually given to the player with the most caps, but nothing more than that. The English though view it as sacred, the armband like a Ring of Power. Once you pick someone as captain you can't drop them because then you made a mistake by picking him in the first place. Brits, eh?

Yeah the English captain becomes an ambassador for the game over there. Maybe it comes from rugby or especially cricket where the captain's job is important on the field. I don't we're as bad for it. There'd be a lot of hype around the rugby captaincy but that's an important job.

[deiseach]

On a general point, the English (as do the other teams in these islands) make a rod for their own backs with their obsession with captaincy. Other countries view it as a nice honour, usually given to the player with the most caps, but nothing more than that. The English though view it as sacred, the armband like a Ring of Power. Once you pick someone as captain you can't drop them because then you made a mistake by picking him in the first place. Brits, eh?

Yeah the English captain becomes an ambassador for the game over there. Maybe it comes from rugby or especially cricket where the captain's job is important on the field. I don't we're as bad for it. There'd be a lot of hype around the rugby captaincy but that's an important job.

I'd agree it comes from that rugby/cricket tradition. The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.

[deiseach]

Meanwhile, fresh from heading-is-a-piece-of-piss central:



And totally out of context but from the same source and highly amusing:



(h/t)