England 1 Ecuador 0

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Dare I say that England will raise their game against 'bigger' opposition?

From what I have seen of these knockout games to date I have not been impressed by anyone...England have every chance of going all the way.

[Paul]

I'm one of those who has been disappointed in the England performances, I predicted they would go out in the second round and I'm pleased to be wrong. I'm not an England fan in particular, if they do well and play well I shall enjoy it but I won't be gutted if they lose. I think this is possibly where the criticism is coming from, people who are not really committed in the way we are to our clubs.

If Rovers had just put in four iffy performances to be two matches away from the FA Cup Final I'd be delighted. I wouldn't give a hoot about the performance. If we had a season of boring wins and finished champions life would just be too good to contemplate. Winning is what matters first and foremost, provided it's fair.

It's the WC and milions of armchair England supporters are looking for stirring performances from the team. We haven't seen this which creates the feeling of they're doing OK but it should be much better. SGE has a tremendous pool of talent available, he's failed to use it for five years, he isn't using it in the WC and this, I feel, leaves many casual fans frustrated at the standard of play.

If this were Rovers I'd be very happy, because it's England I'm sitting back thinking "Come on, entertain me" and I suspect millions who criticise the performances feel the same, but may not realise it.

[Napoleon]

Lennon has been very impressive in his short bursts so far, and Sven should try and find room for him in our next weird and wonderful formation (especially as Portugal looked uncomfortable against Robben's pace). I would be tempted to leave out Lampard; looks tired after a long season and has wasted good ball time and again by shooting from distance.

[RoyRover]

I think that the Guardian match report is a fair reflection of what happened yesterday. England failed to convince yet again and this idea that the positive thing to take out of these games that England can play better is becoming quite old. This was said after the Paraguay match and there has been little improvement. You can't just suddenly start to play well, especially when there has been no real sign of it in the previous four matches. I think the Guardian is right when it says that England have an undeserved stay in the competition and it's only the draw that's been handed to them, which has keep them in the competition, but that's hardly England's fault.

Edited June 26, 2006 by RoyRover

[den]

I think that the Guardian match report is a fair reflection of what happened yesterday. England failed to convince yet again and this idea that the positive thing to take out of these games that England can play better is becoming quite old. This was said after the Paraguay match and there has been little improvement. You can't just suddenly start to play well, especially when there has been no real sign of it in the previous four matches. I think the Guardian is right when it says that England have an undeserved stay in the competition and it's only the draw that's been handed to them, which has keep them in the competition, but that's hardly England's fault.

Why is England's stay undeserved?

They haven't played well, but they have been better than their opponents. So why undeserved?

[BuckyRover]

He is jealous.

The draw has been just as kind to Germany, Spain and France, we didn't have an easy group yet we still topped it.

What do people want?

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Give over RoyRover!!!

PLD 4

WON 3

DRAWN 1

What you Irish,Scots and Welsh would do for such an 'undeserved' record!!

Edited June 26, 2006 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Rovermatt]

He is jealous.

The draw has been just as kind to Germany, Spain and France, we didn't have an easy group yet we still topped it.

What do people want?

Jealous of...?

Argentina, Spain, Brazil, Germany perhaps. But it's not really possible to be jealous of England. We may not like them, but we certainly don't envy them.

Surely the standard of England's group was irrelevant? Were you not going to blow away all challengers?

[RevidgeBlue]

Beckham scored a cracking free-kick (average my arse). But for some poor finishing and the odd wayward final pass we could have got more.

I really don't know how you reach that conclusion unless you call a hurried half chance for Lampard from outside the area a shoe in.

Yes it was a great free kick. But other than that we didn't genuinely threaten their goal once.

Still as jim said after the Spurs game, better to play badly and win than play well and lose. It's just a question of whether we can go any further playing like that.

[rover6]

Did Nuno Valente get through the battle with Holland without earning a suspension?

If so, Aaron Lennon is the man to take England to the next round. Valente is a slow left back who would could be exposed by a pacy winger.

I.e Not David Beckham.

Thank God for Wayne Rooney. For all his failings, you cannot deny that he is a superbly talented footballer who will perform wherever he is played, support or no support, fully fit or not. The same cannot be said of our midfield 'superstars'.

Edited June 26, 2006 by rover6

[American]

He is jealous.

The draw has been just as kind to Germany, Spain and France, we didn't have an easy group yet we still topped it.

What do people want?

Didn't have an easy group?!?!?!?!?

Ahh, the kool-aid must be tasty.

So far the matchups have been kind, but England under SGE has always played down to the opposition, only doing just enough for the win.

[philipl]

But Beckham is our place kicker and unlike in American Football he can stay on the pitch to puke to his heart's content.

Its a policy that is working- two 1-0 wins against South American opposition thanks to him.

Whereas Lennon would skin his man and pass/cross into an empty box judging by Saturday's game.

[Scotty]

Hmmmm, I see one prediction that you'd lose to Ecuador.

But we wouldn't want to see the facts get in the way of another winge, would we?

What a magnificent contribution from you American.

There may only have been one prediction that we'd lose on this thread, but there were others on some of the other threads. Both Paul and USABlue, for example, have admitted they thought we would lose.

Perhaps it's you who should get your facts right before making a pointless jibe.

[Moppy]

Whereas Lennon would skin his man and pass/cross into an empty box judging by Saturday's game.

Very good point. Nothing about the team is set up for wingers. And how could we change it up front. Despite his hight PC is no good in the air and Walcot well if Erricson does use him it wont be cause of his heading ability unless he plays at under 11 levels.

[tcj_jones]

First of all, what a free kick from Beckham. That was a hell of a long way out and he put it in perfectly. Cracking goal, absolutely world class.

It's a shame that this team under Eriksson will never do the collective same. We deserved to win, but that's not saying much as we were playing the worst team in the knockout stages who had little, if any, attacking intent all game. Still, we only just managed to beat them and could easily have gone a goal down because of Terry's mistake. After that we created precious little. I think Rooney had a good game but was let down by Gerrard, Cole and especially Lampard (again) in midfield not supporting well enough. Lampard must be dropped. He has performed no better than average in all four games. He hasn't played horribly bad, but is just the most anonymous player in the competition.

The only real positives that I can take from the game are that, once the players are used to playing the 4-5-1 formation, then we will start playing better football. All too often there would be acres of space through the middle and yet the defense and wide midfielders would insist in playing balls down the line of over the top. I think Carrick did ok, nothing special mind. Played a few very good passes and broke a few moves down. We got through with only Terry from our first team in any real risk of getting suspended. Erm, I'm struggling for any others.

I think we have a chance against Portugal. We would have been murdered by either Holland or Portugal has the ref not have carded the entire Portugal team. The have something like six players on yellow cards and two suspended. I can't see them going in for so many 50/50's and I wouldn't be surprised if that last game took a lot out of them.

I put this formation forward after every game, but I still think we should play this midfield against Portugal:

Lennon / Beckham / Carrick / Gerrard / J. Cole

Let Lennon and Beckham rip their left side to pieces!

[Eddie]

I really don't know how you reach that conclusion unless you call a hurried half chance for Lampard from outside the area a shoe in.

Yes it was a great free kick. But other than that we didn't genuinely threaten their goal once.

Still as jim said after the Spurs game, better to play badly and win than play well and lose. It's just a question of whether we can go any further playing like that.

Have to disagree, we didn't play well but we could easily have scored more in the second half. Lampard in particular messed things up a couple of times.

[RoyRover]

Before the World Cup started, there was a belief that England would go into it and show the world what they were able to do, blowing aside the the likes of Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago and over coming a decent Sweden team, on the path to inevitable World Cup glory. Ever since the first game we saw furious attempts at back tracking, telling us how it was only the result that matter and so far it has been. As I said, I agree with the Guardian's match report (which was probably written by an English man) which talks about England's 'undeserved good fortune' which has made life easier for them. Would you not agree? But as the saying goes, you can only beat what's put infront of you. As I also said, it's hardly England's fault that the draw has been so good to them and other teams like Germany and Spain have had relatively easy passages to the latter stages. When you see how well teams like the Ivory Coast and Mexico have played and going out before the 1/4 finals, it puts my point into a bit of perspective. But then again, if all teams that played well went through then there would be a very different make up to the second round.

As for being jealous of England, how wrong you are, I have enough to worry about in my life, namely spending a year studying in America, than having that to deal with that as well.

Edited June 26, 2006 by RoyRover

[speeeeeeedie]

1-0. Hot weather. Quarter final hear we come. I keep seeing boring performances, but we keep advancing and I'll take that. Part of the boredom is the fact than Sven coached in Italy for years and has adopted that style of play, contrary to English cravings. These players are good enough to do it. I also think we will play better against better opposition. Ecuador were surprising in that they were so defensive. In the group games they looked very adventurous but yesterday nothing. Did we stifle them?

Robinson - booked for time wasting. He'd better not get another one.

Hargreaves - did well, would be a shame if he was dropped as has done well.

Terry - bad game, not his usual self.

Ferdinand - class. Keeps things organised.

Cole A. - MOTM. Saving tackle and didn't give them a sniff.

Beckham - tired. Can we just bring him on for free kicks?

Carrick. Very tidy, kept the play ticking over. Would also be a shame if he lost his place.

Lampard - awful. Nothing new from the latter day David Platt. Drop him for wasting space. He's had more shots than anyone at the tournament; including the Germans who had shooting practice against Sweden.

Gerrard - getting there. More space and he'll do better.

Cole J. - subdued. Not up to his group game standards.

Rooney - pleased. First half quiet but came into it late on showing his fitness is there. Will be much better next game.

I do think England suffers from the same club syndrome as Spain; players seem to perform better for them instead of their national team. Everyone is having a laugh at Emerton's world class performances why do our lads not up their game?

England must be optimistic about facing Portugal this time around. The game is not on Portugese soil, they will have no Deco or Costinha. Ronaldo is iffy right now, but should be fit, and there are no agents sniffing around trying to engineer big money moves. They do need to watch out for Portugal, they were up to allsorts of dirty tricks yesterday, we'd better not get involved. Their keeper did the same thing he did to us at Euro 2004; he came out flapping for a cross, missed it and flopped around like a fish out of water to get a free kick.

The game should be more open as they like attacking. Us v. Holland would have been a sleep fest.

Roy, Mexico had one decent performance, against the Argies, and got beat. Their group play was crap, they just had easy opposition. Where are you going to study Stateside?

[USABlue]

England's team look like 11 apprehensive individuals who do not believe in the manager or his methods.

That is about the best thing you have ever written, totally spot on.

[pleasure]

i've heard a few loons on radio phone-ins saying " our peformance against ecuador at last has proved we have the quality to win it!"

i've also heard people saying " we can play better", i disagree. i think we played to our optimum ,against ecuador.

lump on portugal, theyre certain to beat us.

poland and serbia apart, england have been the most boring, negative team at the finals- this cannot be argued!

[USABlue]

They got there first and were both in a position to play the ball - Rooney ran into them. Not a penalty.

I disagree but that's OK, it seems the same situation outside the box was cause enough for a whistle. Rooney shoulder charges, I noticed were illegal too. Still, I think that is done and we can move on heh?

poland and serbia apart, england have been the most boring, negative team at the finals- this cannot be argued!

If my memory serves me correctly and if yours goes that far back, on more than one occasion Germany have bored their way to a World Cup Finals win on more than one occasion.

Edited June 26, 2006 by USABlue

[RoyRover]

Roy, Mexico had one decent performance, against the Argies, and got beat. Their group play was crap, they just had easy opposition. Where are you going to study Stateside?

They played well in the 2nd half against Portugal. I'm going to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond VA. I can't wait.

[gazsimm]

i've heard a few loons on radio phone-ins saying " our peformance against ecuador at last has proved we have the quality to win it!"

i've also heard people saying " we can play better", i disagree. i think we played to our optimum ,against ecuador.

lump on portugal, theyre certain to beat us.

poland and serbia apart, england have been the most boring, negative team at the finals- this cannot be argued!

yes but at least we are getting the right results look at Chelsea they are not the most entertaining side in the world and look what they have achieved

stop slagging the lads off

[American]

What a magnificent contribution from you American.

There may only have been one prediction that we'd lose on this thread, but there were others on some of the other threads. Both Paul and USABlue, for example, have admitted they thought we would lose.

Perhaps it's you who should get your facts right before making a pointless jibe.

So sorry your highness, 3 people. Paul said he thought you'd lose AT THIS STAGE, not necessarily to Ecuador.

There were more people predicting a blow out victory than a loss (FACT).

I guess you need the extra weight to carry the chip on your shoulder.

[LeChuck]

That just about sums up England's progress so far. People shouldn't be surprised to see them stumble into the semis though...With England's superiors eliminating each other.

You never stop, do you? If we do go on to win this competition it seems you've already lined up a string of excuses for us doing so. I'd love to know what these undeserved moments of fortune are...and why they are undeserved if they exist. Losing Owen in the way we did was hardly fortunate, we're also dealing with an 80% fit Wayne Rooney. And no Gary Neville. What lucky sods we are indeed.

As someone else pointed out, we've been the better side in every game we've played, whether it is the best we can do or not is irrelevent...we have deserved to get this far on merit, not fortune. Even if good fortune did come in to it, after the way we've been eliminated in previous tournaments, only bitter @#/?s could begrudge us a slice of luck. Two Sol Campbell goals and a Ronalidinho fluke anyone?

Everyone hails Scolari as a master tactician, yet Brazil had an easy route to victory in the 2002 World Cup, with almost every 'big' nation out of sorts. They also had their fair slice of good fortune along the way (Aforementioned Ronalidinho free kick for example...). It is guaranteed that if we win the final with a Beckham free-kick Sven won't get any praise. It's looking like we'll have to go through Portugal, Brazil then Argentina if we do want to win it. Hardly an easy route, is it? No more so than Brazil's passage...Ecuador and Ghana have shown themselves to be at similar levels in the group stage.

Last night's brawl robbed the Portuguese of Deco and possibly Ronaldo.

Is this an example of the good fortune we're having? Figo has been cleared to play despite clearly headbutting a Dutch player...swings and roundabouts. Deco has no-one to blame but himself anyway, he hacked down a player for the first yellow then held on to the ball when time was sparse for the Dutch to find an equaliser. Both obvious bookings. Ronaldo being injured is a blessing for the Portuguese as well, Simao is superior to Ronaldo, at least he has some end product to his dribbling skills.