British Expatriate Network

HALF TIME .

Engand turned up for this match differant team, very aggressive and ball possesion in our favour .
Micheal Owen carted of in the 4th minute with a knee injury (replaced by crouch ) , hope its not serious we need him down the road .

Brilliant long range goal from J cole making it england 1 sweden 0

for those who can lip read about 21 mins into the game a foul called on ashley cole and with the camera on his face you could see the words * fucking wanker * coming from his lips directed at the lines man LOL

who decided to play hargreaves ??

Great first half by England there; much, much better performance from them and they're finally playing more like the team I know and love. Aside from the goal, which was an absolute cracker, they're playing a much better passing game and have been a lot more positive going forward in general, so let's hope it continues, although I have to say, I'm seriously worried by Owen's injury there. I hope he's okay.

Anyway, it's not over yet, so let's see how the second half pans out...

Sweden came on strong in the 2nd half denying us our first victory against them for 40 years , beckham made almost non existant .

Final england 2 sweden 2
both teams advance we play Ecuador on sunday

Err, dont you mean Ecuador ???? :mrgreen:

I just have two words...................JOE COLE :mrgreen:

I thought England was in overdrive early, but then went on autopilot for the rest of the game. Still it was their best to-date so let's hope they keep getting better.

England played much better this time, especially in the first half. John, we could lip read that too lol
My throats killing me.......... roll on Sunday mrgreen

Err, dont you mean Ecuador ???? :mrgreen:

I just have two words...................JOE COLE :mrgreen:[/quote

of course i ment ecuador sorry must have had a brain fart .

Joe Cole this game ( best player )

jJohn Terry the trinidad game .( best player )

What would englands team be with out chelsea players to show the way for them ???


COME ON THE BLUES .....

seems they run out of steam

Three goals from Liverpool so far says the wife...

For once, Sven's substitutions were perfect, sending Campbell out to add some bite and physical presence to the defence after the second nearpost corner almost cost us the game. He obviously carried a pile of orders out with him and our defence was much better right up to the 90th minute.

What a fluky goal. Ashley Cole made the error of throwing out the first base guy while the tying run ran to home plate - reverting to instinct to guard the post when he was the player nearest the ball. That scene looked like me trying to play EA FIFA and hitting the "change player" too often!

Then the second masterstroke, sending out captain courageous Stevie Gerrard. First he's blocking a shot on the line, next he's sending home a perfect cross from Cole with a bullet header.

Why is Beckham captain when he is such a one faceted player? I hope McClaren changes that regardless of what happens this summer. A promising attack seized up on the right wing late in the game cos Beckham wouldn't make the run into space and the ball had nowhere to go. It is such a frustration that you have a player SO talented with long balls playing quarterback, but without the hustle to make him an all round star.

Overall I am happy but we need to work on some set-piece defending. Ecuador will be equally unpredictable on Sunday. At least we avoided Germany. I think Sweden have a chance to shock them, the German defence is flaky like ours was today.

Hargreaves? I watched out for him and I can seriously say he is an asset to the team. He is the tether for the midfield that allows Gerrard, Lampard and Beckham the freedom to roam forward.

I think we all saw what Ashley Cole thought of that "handball". Handball my arse. If you pull your arm into your side and still get hit by the ball, that's NOT INTENTIONAL. Did you also notice he stood in the wall for that free kick, standing in the penalty area with his arm floating in front of his neck, wondering what to do with it if the ball came near it? He was seriously afraid of giving away a penalty for the same non-offence.

Good comments from everyone. I don't have anything to add to the game, although I was a bit deflated by the end and then remembered that we'd finished top of the group and got the tie we wanted.

I did enjoy the close-up of Ashley Cole's exclaimation - did anyone catch US coach Bruce Arena's similar image on Sunday when he was clearly shouting "F**k you!" at the linesman after a US goal had been disallowed for offside?

I'm a little more cynical about England's performance today. Not to sound too cliched but football is a game of two halfs and particulary with England over the last few years its been painfully obvious. This was a true Jeckyll and Hyde performance by England. Personally I think England were lucky to get away with the draw.

The first half was such a difference to the plodding along of England in the last two games. It was watching the Germans win earlier which was the prime motivation for both of these teams to try to avoid a meeting with the hosts, that mixed with the need for Sweden to get a result to avoid being topped by Trinidad & Tobago.

England knocked the ball around and Joe Cole had a great half, he was causing all sorts of problems for Sweden and with Rooney chasing everything down it was encouraging to watch England up the pace and actually play like a team with some conviction. My main gripe with England at the moment is that England transition play has improved but they still lack that pass or quality cross into the box. It has improved but were nowhere near as deadly in front of goal as the Germans or the Argentinians. But saying that England did make their slightly superior possession count with that great goal by Cole.

Now there's two ways you can look at the second half performance. You can say that the swedes came out and played hard or that England ran out of gas and ideas. I'd probably say it was because the swedes came at England that it wore them down. Sweden had more than enough chances to win the game in the second, and whether Allback's goal was lucky or not its painfully obvious that England are very vunerable at set pieces, Allback never got where he did to head the ball by pure chance? And all the rest of the goalmouth scrambles werent flukes either. I'm not entirely sure that the substitutions were masterstrokes either. Rooney had run around the park and never see a lot of the ball in the second half and the whole idea of keeping Gerrard on the bench was because of his yellow card. I dont think Eriksson had a lot of choice, not taking anything away from the rest of the subs but Gerrard is probably the most versatile of players in the squad, and according to Sky Sports News Ferdinand had a thigh strain. I'm not sold on Ferdinand anyway, he does pass the ball out well from the back but he is very suspect sometimes.
I thought (like everyone else here I bet) that England might have snatched a victory from the swedes but just look at the mess in the England box when they got the equaliser.

Nick Webster from FSC reported this evening that Owen had an ACL injury. So if thats true then its goodbye Owen and hello Theo. Lets be honest Owen hasnt looked good out there has he? He doesnt look his usual self and after this injury I bet there's a few who are going to be asking some serious questions as to whether Owen should have been in the squad? Particulary with players like Defoe, Bent and Johnson ( wink I kill myself wink ) left home.

I think you can safely say that there are two teams who are going to be doing a LOT of set piece work at practice. One being England, the other being Ecuador. I watched the Germany game and Ecuador was made to look ordinary, but that doesnt mean to say that they wont be a handful for England.

Let me ask this question. On England's form right now if they get past Ecuador can you see them going any further in the world cup? Because you got to think that quality opposition are going to punish a team like England. There again the optimist says that this is just another stepping stone for England to learn from and to grow. After all I was the one who said that England always start poorly!! wink

I dont know whether this is the time and place, but can't you just see the changes which McLaren is going to make? Beckham's going to lose the captaincy and either Stevie G or John Terry is going to get it and there is going to be some crucial personnel changes in the midfield too.
I'm sure McLaren is weighing all of this up before our very eyes...... wink

I agree with that. In the first half we were excellent, in the second, we were a totally different team. We were lucky to get away with a draw. Its the first time I've ever seen any England team that are jammy goits! Sweden hit the bar, post....we seemed totally unable to defend corners and crosses into the area.

Owen was sent home and his world cup is over with. I don't think we are going to win it this time around!

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I agree that the second half was a shambles, but in spite of Owen's injury there could be some positives. With only three strikers left, perhaps some enforced changes may give us a better team.

I thought Hargreaves looked very good in the holding role, and would really like to see Sven go for a five man midfield, with Hargreaves in the holding role, and Rooney on his own upfront.

Then both Gerrard and Lampard would be free to get forward, without having to worry about one of them needing to stay back, and you still have Crouch or Walcott available to come on as sub and cause problems late in the game.

Of course what's actually going to happen is that we'll stick with 4-4-2 with Rooney and Crouch up front. Walcott won't get a game all tournament and we'll go out in the quarters.

Good first half, crap second half. But 2-2 against Sweden aint bad. Joe Cole scored a cracker - but then if he'd missed everyone would call him a showboating twat. Actually I think Cristiano Ronaldo should watch Cole and see what he could be doing.
Robinson looks dodgy. And I thought the England defence was dire in that game. Rio was having a mre before he went off, and Campbell is a terrible terrible defender. Composure? He looks like a pantomime horse trying to play football. Hargreaves had a very good - glad for him. Lampard was once again out of it really. Evidently Makalele makes him look better than he is. Gerrard was, as always, fantastic when he came on. I've never thought this before but beckham looked below average - didn't beat anyone, his passing was poor, deadball was very poor and his work rate was probably the lowest on the field. He will never be dropped but God he better improve or he'll be thought of in the same way Roberto Carlos is - a few good goals and 5 years of averageness. TalkSport have virtually blamed him for the 2nd half which is harsh but then he's the captain of that performance.

And Sven deserves an award for shittest selection of strikers for a World Cup. 2 injured, one average player, and one who has never played and looks like he never will for Sven. Dunce. Shame about Owen, but it might have spared him what was looking like a very poor tournament. I think I'm one of the few Liverpool fans who thought he was vastly overrated. For once I'm going wiht Moo here - should have brought Defoe.