England 2 Sweden 2

[Cheshireblue]

The question is really in the title. Anybody else going out for the Sweden game?

[ABBEY]

YEA IM GOING OUT.....to me local

[Will]

Yup.

[Ozz]

Is this the official match preview?

I reckon this has the look of the last group game in Japan V Nigeria, both teams happy to settle on bart a piece.

Pubs should be packed full of dense blokes in overly tight England style tops from Asda, and girls with white plastic bowler hats with a red cross on. Scum the lot of them.

[Presty On Tour]

england will but in their best performance of the world cup so far and win by the odd goal.

my mate told me yesterday that if england win 2-0 and t&t beat paraguay 1-0, there will be a coin toss to t&t and sweden to see who will go through to the 2nd round?

[American]

I'm thinking England to win and face Germany in the second round...

[Paul]

Is this the official match preview?

Don't see why not.

[neekoy]

Don't see why not.

Ha Ha, stuff the formalities

Can England break the drought? I think not, 0-0 in probably the most boring game of the World Cup

[Lathund]

Indeed. I get the feeling both teams will more or less cancel eachother out.

[Eddie]

Ha Ha, stuff the formalities

Can England break the drought? I think not, 0-0 in probably the most boring game of the World Cup

You clearly do love this England team.

[Philly Rover ®]

Well, it looks like Sven has broken up the Lampard-Gerrard midfield pairing, as many of you were hoping he would.

Unfortunately, he took off the wrong one... and brought the wrong holding midfielder on in his place.

[Wolverine]

Owen's leg is knackered, along with our chances now...

Proof prevailant Sven was wrong not to take more strikers.

[LeChuck]

Unfortunately, he took off the wrong one... and brought the wrong holding midfielder on in his place.

Not at all. Hopefully Hargreaves will shut up the morons that have no idea how good he is. He put in so many tackles in that half, then kept it simple when he had the ball. That's all we want, we've got three other midfielders who are there to do attacking work.

Carrick is too flimsy to do that job (assuming that's who you were on about).

Owen's leg is knackered, along with our chances now...

Proof prevailant Sven was wrong not to take more strikers.

Our chances are knackered because it's Owen that is injured or because Sven never took another striker?

If it's the latter then that is ######. Crouch is the third best striker in the country by a comfortable difference, the only way Sven's decision will badly affect us is if either Rooney or Crouch now pick up an injury. Fingers crossed they don't.

Edited June 20, 2006 by LeChuck

[Wolverine]

I mean we are knackered because that looks like a lengthy lay off for Owen, and I am concerned that we now have one striker who hasn't yet regained full fitness and another who already as a yellow card.

For the record, I don't particularly rate Crouch and the first half did nothing to change that for me. However, it appears more to be a confidence thing.

[Rovermatt]

Sweden pull it off again. England and Rooney looked knackered, although the reliably brilliant Gerrard dug them out.

Already, the pundits are discounting a tasty looking Ecuador side who have the edge over England in as far passing the ball from A-B is concerned.

As for Cole's goal-what an absolute pearler.

[Eddie]

What is it about those Swedes? Thought we were good in the first half, no long balls, nice movement and passing, but it all went pear shaped in the second. I think a lot of that has to be credited Sweden, they closed down well and worked hard and turned it into a grudge match that was never going to be pretty. Our defending from set pieces needs to improve, though that was most unlike us, again though some of that can be put down to Sweden's quality, it was the one area where they looked like they could trouble us and they worked it very well.

[joey_big_nose]

A really mixed performance today. We looked great in the first half and Hargreaves looked decent as did Crouch dropping back. Joe Cole was excellent. Rooney was off the pace and Beckham was poor throughout.

Second half we began even better and then completely fell apart. At set pieces we were absolutely clueless. And then Hargreaves got a yellow cardand became an absolute spectator. Our heads dropped and the team appeared confused.

Joe Colewas excellent and Gerrard was good when he came on.

Anyhow, for what it is worth, and it will never happen, I would drop Beckham and put Gerrard on the right. And Campbelll should come in ferdinand which i think will happen.

As for up front I guess we will continue with Crouch and Rooney. Not too many other options to be fair...

Ecuador should be alright but you really have to wonder after that. Still getting to the QF is a decent performance if it happens.

[rover6]

Surely Hargreaves must start the next game. We need that genuine anchor player to receive the ball off the back four and play simple.

[Oklahoma]

Fair result today.

England was better on the first half (cole's goal was brilliant) and Sweden was better in the second.

But England offered the second goal to Sweden. Didn't make much diference but that mistake was too stupid for a WC team.

[tchocky]

What a great game that was!

Shame it didn't end 1-1 with regard to my betting, but hey. The entertainment value was great. Am I the only one who thinks England are not particularly weakened by the loss of Owen?

[Shevchenko]

Thought Hargreaves did very well tonight and I hope some people will start to understand what a good player he is. Interesting wasn't it, to see how much more balanced the midfield looked without both Gerrard and Lampard in it. England were very good first half. They played with pace, movement and enthousiasm and they exploited Swedens big weakness down the right of their defence to good effect. Joe Cole was fantastic.

It's a worry for England that they can't keep up the tempo as the game goes on and I don't think it's anything to do with tactics. The movement stops and so the passing becomes ineffective. Most of these players are in the champions league teams and are having to play a lot of matches during a season. It's costing England now. Defending on set pieces was awful and they were lucky to get away with it.

I really thought England had found a worthy goalkeeper in Robinson, but not anymore. He doesn't exactly fill you with confidence the way he's playing at the moment.

[greggyk]

This thing with Sweden is a joke!

Anyway, first half i thought we were really good. Coles goal was best of the WC so far and Lampard should have made it 2 right at the end of the half. We didn't give Sweden a sniff at goal and we were battering them TBH.

Second half, again we were poo!!

To be fair though, apart from set pieces, Sweden never looked like scoring(dont think they will be good enough to beat Germany) . Put we should be able to sort those out by Sunday as in open play we defended well.

Hargreaves played well too!!

Thought Lampard and especially Beckham were woeful.

Joe Cole was the best player on the pitch by a mile.

[tchocky]

Coles goal was best of the WC so far

Joe Cole was the best player on the pitch by a mile.

1. Are you forgetting Lahms goal in the first game?

2. Yes, and Gerrard was immense when he came on IMO.

[RoyRover]

England played some decent stuff in the first half, without really dominating and without creating too many clear cut chances. Joe Cole had a fine game and his goal was a screamer. Sweden looked pretty solid at the back and limited the affectiveness of Rooney who looked well off the pace, but that's to be expected. Owen Hargreaves inclusion made England look like a far more balanced team. Beckham was poor again though and if he were any other player, then he'd be out.

Sweden would have been a better side with Ibrahimovic, but his replacement Marcus Allback scored with a great header and worked his socks off. Sweden were destroying England in the second half, with set pieces being their main weapon. Robinson pulled off a great save to deny an own goal, Mellberg hit the cross bar and Kallstrom had one cleared off the line. England could easily have been 3-1 or 4-1 down.

Steven Gerrard got a goal against the run of play, but Sweden got a deserved point, although the defending for it was comical. Owen going off was a huge blow and the decision to bring Walcott looks a bigger mistake than it did before tonight. Overall, England looked better, but I doubt that Ecuador will be too worried, when they look at how England have played. You'd expect England to win though, but I'm sure most people will say that it won't be a stroll in the park.

Edited June 20, 2006 by RoyRover

[Lathund]

Will be bye-bye Sweden against Germany I'm afraid. They're a class above England, and Schweinsteiger + Lahm will destroy us down the left.

Which is why it's so agonizing to hit the bar twice and have another shot cleared off the line... so close to topping the group This really was a game of two halves as they say, with each team having one awful half. Linderoth's corners were excellent, Lucic had a good game and Allbäck did well (And has to be the hardest-working striker at the WC).