France V England

[bwilly]

I always support my team with money regardless of opposition..

this time round it hurts my pocket..!! I half expected England to draw at least. Like I says, sometimes the ball is round. with the other group match with Swiss n Croatian draw. This game should be a draw game. (inside changing room,

both teams shake hand n drink booze together) When Zidane line up to take the free kick, I predict he will score, n upz my money. After the goal, I was pushing France to go for the killer to wake England for the next 2 matches.

The coach I can't believe do stupid subs. Changing strikers for strikers when they are leading especially against a stronger team. No change in strategry and can see that if they are defending their lead, should add a defensive midfielder n fresh legs on the defence.

The only spark in England, Wayne Rooney was removed and placed by a bulky Heskey.. wah lan.. Wayne Rooney got to watch out on his off ball behavior, rate he's going, red card any time. This match round I see the referee seem to be on England side most of the time. Its down to England lack of skills especially in midfield creativity department and lack of concentration especially in the end. England has a tendency to score first n let opponents come back to them. Check the last few World Cups, they score, other score, other win..

England lack a true midfield creative spark like the old gazza, jack in the box, gary linker who strive on any pass inside the box, loud barking stuart pearce (to wake up the young punks). Steve macca used to be able to string in some nice pass n take on defenders.. dun see it no more except some flashes of brillance from Rooney.

Owen too frequent reliance on fast break thru balls that never came..

Football has not come home yet again..

[Chris]

Two school boy errors, punished by two flashes of brilliance. That's the difference between world class to-be and world class.

I agree England should have won it. But it might do them better that they lost this way.....wake them up for the other games.

[bwilly]

one flash of brillance..

the penalty most soccer player can score..

except England. England has a history being soft in the legs

taking penalty.. too much booze n late nite storming..

[kschew1498]

%$#@^%$##&^$&^#@ STUPID Gerald!!!!.........

For a second even after Zidan score the beautiful free kick ........I was still hopefully for a jackpot....but ....^#@!%$&@%@#&^%$#>>>>..........Kelong!!!!

Damp England!!!!!

[bwilly]

%$#@^%$##&^$&^#@ STUPID Gerald!!!!.........

For a second even after Zidan score the beautiful free kick ........I was still hopefully for a jackpot....but ....^#@!%$&@%@#&^%$#>>>>..........Kelong!!!!

Damp England!!!!!

wat did u buy..?

England is like Singapore, promise alot (brag actually)

but never performance..

Like 2010 goal, eh..? SEA bronze is it..? haha..!!

when heskey foul at outside box, zidane line up to take the kick, I think

seow liao, like I predicted, kelong draw. both teams happy...

scarly France won.. England deserved it.. bunch of ######..

[kschew1498]

wat did u buy..?

England is like Singapore, promise alot (brag actually)

but never performance..

Like 2010 goal, eh..? SEA bronze is it..? haha..!!

when heskey foul at outside box, zidane line up to take the kick, I think

seow liao, like I predicted, kelong draw. both teams happy...

scarly France won.. England deserved it.. bunch of ######..

Makan both matches lor......

Bloody hell.....thought Jackpot last night! ^#%$@^%@#$$@

Tonight Italy and Sweden is gonna DIED!!!!!

[ngjaso]

%$#@^%$##&^$&^#@ STUPID Gerald!!!!.........

For a second even after Zidan score the beautiful free kick ........I was still hopefully for a jackpot....but ....^#@!%$&@%@#&^%$#>>>>..........Kelong!!!!

Damp England!!!!!

yap. F**K England. hope they kana kick out in the 1st round.

[lightningstrike]

what can i say..... KELONG!!!

[bwilly]

not kelong.. stupid coach all the brain cells go to the small bro.

n bunch of sissies that never learned, they can never protect

their one goal margin properly.

[typrobin]

rooney should really control his temper, he is young and immature as a player...but his break away shrink my balls for a moment and luckily "golden balls" took the penalty...think erickson should find another penalty taker...

when fabien fumbled(the ball hit his face), my balls shrunk another time...specifically known as "the clown", i bet it is not for no reason.....

england should have won the game, their defence was really good and at times, frustrating for me to watch....king and sol did a fantastic job and kept david, henry and zidane off bay...

england should have won, but the 1999 champions league moment re-surfaced and this time, against david beckham....france did not deserve to win but their magic was too much for england to handle...

[bwilly]

France midfield overwhelm England IMO. England did not have much attacking option. while France somehow could not pentrate England leaky defence.

mostly due to Campell n Ashley Cole.

Rooney at this rate he's going, red card any time. this time round I notice the referee seem to gives England benefit of doubt many times. many hand balls in m outside the box, rash tackles - esp from Rooney.

bird bird team has scored against England. (recent Japan n Iceland) so stronger teams should have not a problem putting a few.

their lack of concentration at times really u mad..

u won't get much of this crap from harden Germany.

[terryansimon]

I admit Steven Gerrard did the worse thing in his life by doing such a backpass. gee. but David James should have tried to flap his arms instead of rushing in with his body. would have obviously clipped Thiery Henry.

what to do. football is like that. just look at Man Utd in 1999's European Cup. England should have replaced a strike with Nicky Butt. or something. a more holding player. it was very obvious that the midfield game was well and truely lost after the 60th minute. even though England was then holding on to the skin of their teeth...but I understand what Eriksson is doing. he was hoping that France would over-commit. and then one nice ball by Beckham or Lampard into Darius Vassel/Heskey and a goal would ensue. they did just that when Rooney was fouled...only for Becks to foul it up.

till today, I still don't know why he must be the one taking the penalty, when Lampard is a much better kicker of the penalty kick in my humble opinion.

[heman]

In my Opinion, sven has to shoulder all the blame. its a tactical mistake. Until now, i still couldnt comprehend why he took out rooney and put it the liverpool flop gorilla heskey.

true indeed rooney is hot tempered. But in anycase, if he is to be replaced, it should either gone to butt or phil neville.

Its true tt i am damm du lan as i lost $$ betting on them when i thought the $$ is in the bag. But the fact after this morning match is...england really arnt gonna make it...

[terryansimon]

I think its okay. it wasn't a lack lustre performance like what Portugal gave Greece. England can still qualify if they beat the Swiss and Croatians.

England can take heart at their defensive show. they manage to shut out Henry and Trezeguet completely, and Ashley Cole *whose attacking instinct has been known to foul England up* managed to shut Robert Pires up. (=

Gerrard apart from his screw up, played a very good cover for the defence...but didn't quite manage to bring the ball up to the midfield 2/3 for England.

I wouldn't blame Sven Goran Eriksson. the boys lost their concentration after the first goal, and the shit started to hit the fan. Eriksson, though foreign, is still the best coach that England has had since goodness knows when. Glenn Hoodle and his faith healers. hahaha.

[clammy]

hmm.. got quite a diff opinion as oppose to other reefers here..

Think rooney at times was good, and totally agree he can be red carded anytime...

But in my humble opinion, if Rooney was a little more composed, and had even bothered to pass, England would have a lot more clear cut and better chances at scoring.. He did NOT even look up ONCE to consider his options up front, and only know how to run with the ball, (which at times is really lousy...see the number of times he lost possession??)

And tho i have to agree that Becks should have converted the penalty, credit i feel, is to Barthez... Quite a decent spot kick, tho predictable. Great save.. Didnt even allow the chance for follow up..

Anyway, if Rooney had pass to (i think) owen on his right when he was on the break, there will have been a VERY open chance for England to go 2 up, rather than barge into the penalty box with no real threat and earn the penalty that The English captain failed to convert....

Seems to me the english have no confidence in their open game as well, and have to resort to maximising time in penalty box and hope for a foul, rather than creating good chances by stringing their passes together..

Still, a good match in terms of drama, build up and story.. But really lacking in quality and technique from such big names, other than the dead ball situations.. quite sad..

[terryansimon]

its very well known that the modern game is no longer as fluid as it used to be. many situations/goal scoring chances actually derieve from dead ball situations *corner, free kick, throw in* why do I say so? because its very *and I mean VERY* easy to stop a fluid attacking team. but its not easy if a team is cunning with their plethora of dead-ball situations. how on earth can you defend something that you don't even know? whereas watching replays of the opponent in action against another team will tell you where the pivot of the attack is, and who to nullify. you can't do that in a dead-ball situation.

and besides, if the team is strong in its dead-ball situation, it'll obviously centre its might around that prospect of the game. a cobbler repairs shoes because he is good at repairing shoes, but he wouldn't try to sell clothes because its not his ######. the same goes for the modern game.

my two cents.

[bwilly]

the England fans themselves on a poll believe so.

10%+ believe the cup is coming back "home".

same like Singapore, anyone believe we are going to qualify

for the world cup in 2010? We can't even beat Malaysia and Indonesia.

In terms of ranking, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia follow by

Singapore, maybe Cambodia. We are only slightly above Philippines n Laos.

sometime ago we can beat all asean teams except Thailand.

With worldwide coverage of soccer, the game is evolved.

There are also many funni rules to make it more "attractive"

to the Americans.

Game are now play to win, and not to entertain.

When team slug it off a lose like nothing, they dun know nothing.

Forest long standing ex-coach did quote "soccer is not a matter of life and

death, its more than that", explains all.

[terryansimon]

the english fans, including the beer guzzling hooligans, are the most die-hard supporters in the world. they can even do an Andres Escobar and kill David Beckham if they wanted to *they wanted to do that during the 98 World Cup when he was sent off against Argentina*

England has a good midfield and a up and coming defence to build its structure from. the only areas that are lacking are the goalkeeping department, the strikers and the left flank. Scholes isn't a left flank player and to play him there is like trying to drive a Ferrari at full speed down rush hour traffic.

[bwilly]

England does not have a natural left footer.

its has been "exposed" many times in the papers.

Scholes should play in the center where his creativity

spark can evolved.

Only one that barely comes to it are Joe Cole.

If we.. opps.. England have Dunn from Chelsea..

superb liao..!!! maybe Cole should move up from

defence to left wing while playing for England.

his pace n willingness to take on defence is veri encouraging.

u dun see any England players taking on the opponents, except

Rooney. He dribble too much these days, and defenders expected.

Good mix of both (pass n dribble) will b good.

[clammy]

wow... great braekdown... Cant agree with you more on the training aspect and the cobbler theory..

My two cents is that on counter attacks and/or break-aways/thru-passes, where theres like a lot of open spaces to exploit, and having fast strikers to penetrate, pro footballers should at least have a decent go at opening up the defence and have a go at an open game goal.

Surely a one on one situation (striker vs goalkeeper) is a much better chance (and excitement for fans) than a spot kick? That's when skillful players can show the trickery of their dribbling skills, magical touches, deadly finishing, cheeky flicks etc at beating the goalie and scoring that goal that makes Soccer an exciting game isnt it?

Anyway, am a neutral soccer fan in most matches, and any display of good skill, great vision, good team play, and spectacular finishes from either side will definitely win a cheer from me.. even if it means my money going into singapore pools pocket...

Let's hope we get to see more good plays in tonite's fixtures.

[terryansimon]

as much as players want to show off for their fan's excitement, but I think most of them do it for 1) country's honour, 2) personal gratification and money plus bonus 3) fans.

sad to say, it wasn't like yester-year anymore. thats why you only see trickery coming into play when the team is 4-0 up, or when its the last match and its not an important one. unless you are Cristiano Ronaldo or Ronaldinho, then the rules are thrown out of the window.

but I guess it depends on opposition as well. look at how France carved up Ukraine by letting Zidane run amok. the Ukranian defence just held the lines and the front cover just gave Zidane a torrid time in terms of tackles. but if you play against a weaker opposition *like the Icelandic team that England faced*, obviously players who are capable of delivering that all deadly pass *like Scholes* will relish.

but moments of magic will still appear here and there, although on a less frequent basis if the game were to continue this way. and it doesn't help that technology is aiding the dead ball game. the newer soccer balls are designed to swerve wickedly in the air. many players, especially goalkeepers, complain about its flight pattern through the air. look at Zidane's free-kick again last night and you'd know what I mean. (=

[kschew1498]

wow....I am impressed.....you guys are good.....can be the commutator already.

Anyway......I never like England!!!....its just according to my betting strategy.......

In any case they never make it big in real big match!......could still remember the last world cup....they lose to Bazil even the got the first goal!!.....

[terryansimon]

aiyah that one. I can only blame Seaman and the wicked path of the Fevernova ball. thats what I mean by balls having the most wicked swerves nowadays.

[Chris]

Just to share my view.

England OK at the back but midfield was controlled by Zidane and Vieri. Lampard, Gerard, Becks and Scholes hardly impress. Up front, Owen barely took any shot. Rooney showed some talent but could have been shown the red card for his arm actions.

France did well in midfield and defence. Only problem was that the strikers were hesitant to take shots. Their football is more fluid and flowing.

[terryansimon]

England OK at the back but midfield was controlled by Zidane and Vieri.

Viera you mean.