World Cup

If he's as good as I've been hearing, then he should be an interesting guy to play against... that is if we meet up in the Quarters, Semi's or even the Finals.

To quote directly from a little World Cup thingy I picked up from a Newspaper:

How do you beat them [USA]? Catch them on the counter-attack. The domestic Major League Soccer is slow in comparison to the Premiership and less technical than Serie A or La Liga. High tempo, high quality football could unsettle them.

Now I don't really watch Premiership matches all that much, but let me tell you - they can be as slow and as boring as wathing paint dry. If that's the case, and if the American Leagues are slower, then I shudder to think what you have to put up with.

Once again, it'd be interesting to see how you handle the Czech's. 5.00pm on Monday, I'm gonna be watching.

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EDIT: Right, 10 minutes before the match.

Watch out for Beckham's crosses, Terry on set-pieces, and Owen and Crouch up front.

And I'm off again.

COME ON ENG-ER-LAND!!

Your quote is right, the MLS is slower than the Premiership and Serie A. But, the USA has proven that they can definitely keep up with international play.

Did you see Beck's amazing goal in the 3rd minute!!!???

Lol, sounds like you liked that.

Actually an OG by Gamarra, but we're letting Beckham have the glory. You'd better get used to that - he's an absolute demon with his free-kicks and crosses. So accurate.

Paraguay only really had one chance, didn't they? Right at the end of the First Half. In the Second Half they nearly got through, but we still held them... even though we played abysmally. That's our problem - we can keep up the tempo and whatever in the First Half, stunning everyone, then when we come out for the Second Half we lose our Killer Instict.

Methinks Sven was stupid bringing Owen off. Sure, he hasn't played much and needs to not be playing so much he tires himself out, but did you see how Crouch had no-one to head on to? Or when beckham broke through, knocked the ball across the goal mouth... and there was no-one to get it. Owen would've scored that, no questions asked.

Lampard had his chances too. He was unlucky not to score. We should've got a second, but we just didn't take the chances. We need to play more as the tournament goes on we will get better.

And the fact that we had a wanker for a referee didn't help one bit. Yellow card for Gerrard, because someone jumped over him... but no free kick given. Yellow Card for Crouch for a trivial little tackle. And all those free kicks and decisions going Paraguay's way. But what happens when Downing, amking a superb run down the wing, is taken out with the ball 10 feet in front of him? "Carry on!" Absolute wanker.

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Let's see if you fare any better. I really do hope for you that you don't have a stupid ref. They can really ruin matches. If you don't have that South American ref, or that Swiss bastard we had for our game against Portugal in Euro '04, then you should be OK.

I liked the England game, but I thought it was dangerous trying to hold on to a 1-0 lead. I would have gotten another goal just for security.

You really liked it? I 'spose it wasn't that bad... but I've seriously seen a lot better. And there were no Owen runs! Just wait till you see one... he ought to do one. He first came on against Argentina in '98, had a run, and BAM! Jeez louise was that good. Did the same against Brazil in 2002.

To be perfectly honest - the way England play football, naturally, is to get a second goal after a first. But Sven, being Sven, an itsy bitsy Swede, coaching the England squad, with the spirit of Italian football in him, prefers to hold onto each goal.

IF we'd've had Owen when Beckham knocked across the goal mouth, we'd have scored.
IF we'd've had Owen when Crouch was heading them up, we'd have scored.

And IF, it's a gigantic IF, IF we'd've had Rooney playing, we'd've got hundreds of goals (well, slight exageration, but he works absolute magic. Not even Gerrard or Owen can receive the ball with their back to the goal, surrounded on every side by defenders, and still score).

Don't you think we played absolutely awful during the second half though?

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Going back to:

I want Argentina to win

1. Never tell that to an Englishman. You'll get your head kicked in.
2. The beat Cote d'Ivoire 2 - 1, and got 3 (out of 5) yellows in the process.

Argentina played terrible, they are lucky that Ivory Coast couldnt put the ball in the back of the net. THey played like pusses.

I'd never have thought you'd be one to like Football.

Don't forget, they're complying with the "second rule" of the World Cup - no team, no matter how talented, survives a trip across a major sea. It may sound like a load of rubbish, but look at past years - it is true... excepting maybe Brazil.

And Argentina have really gone down in standard these past few years. We've been beating them for a few years now - before France '98, we didn't stand a chance.

If they played that badly, then I'd be surprised if they make it out of their Group of Death and into the knockout stages.