Funny Sports Picture #2

Seeing as its Wimbledon at the moment...

No matches today and tomorrow

There were no matches today as the World Cup has a 2 day break before the quarter finals take place on Friday and Saturday. I don't really mind though as both the 3pm fixtures look like they could be unmissable:

Friday 3pm- Holland vs Brazil

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Saturday 3pm- Argentina vs Germany

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Funny Sports Pictures #1

Shaquille O'Neal (not Irish) is 7ft 1". Earl Boykins is 5ft 5"

Last 16 Games 7 & 8

Villa sends Ronaldo packing

David Villa became the joint top goalscorer in the World Cup with the only goal against Portugal. Christiano Ronaldo received little support and didn't make much of an impact as creative football beat defensive and boring. After a stutter against Switzerland, Spain have gone from strength to strength and look set to make the Semi-Final with a tie against Paraguay in the quarter final.

That's how you do it Christiano

Japan go out on Pens
The Blue Samurais went out after a penalty shoot out against Paraguay. Both sides had decent chances with Paraguay going closest to scoring but Komano's miss allowed Cardozo to slot his penalty home and take Paraguay into a quarter final against Spain

He has to go...

Fabio faced up to the press after the humiliation

nicely done

Murray going strong

Andy Murray progressed into the quarter finals with 3 set win over Sam Querrey who won Queens just last week

In other news, Holland and Brazil both won easily but I'm still depressed about yesterday so can't really be bothered to do the highlights...

Sepp Blatter shows it was not a goal

I know we were well beaten but Germany's 3rd and 4th goals were scored on the counter while we were trying to get an equaliser. If Lampard's has been counted, we'd have set up differently in the 2nd half...could have been different. F*ck sepp and his cronies

England vs Germany Analysis

That has to be one of the worst england performances I have ever had to watch. I wasn't around for 1966 so now have only felt pure embaressment when it comes to playing the Germans. I'm almost lost for words at the 4 performanes during the World Cup, but here are a few...

DEFENDING

The defending was woeful against Germany. You wont see strikers scoring from goalkicks in Sunday league matches! Upson failed to follow the man but Terry was completely out of position and not in line with his fellow centre back. The other 3 goals were down to poor marking and positioning...the Germans couldn't believe their luck. We have kept 2 clean sheets but they were against Algeria and Slovenia FFS and today we were destroyed by the pace and creativity of Oezil, Klose and Podolski. As Lineker put it when ending the post-match analysis on BBC 'England should have had a goal, but they have no defence...literally!'

ROONEY

Wayne Rooney was going to be the man to lead us to the World Cup. A lot of pressure was on the young scouser but everyone presumed he'd be up to the challenge having coped so well all season playing for Man United. He has been fairly crap all tournament, didn't look fit, frustrated and completely out of sorts. 3 goals scored this tournament, only 1 by a striker, 0 for Rooney

LINESMAN

Yes, we deserved to get beat, but I can't help feeling that if we'd gone into half time at 2-2, it could have been so different in the 2nd half. It doesn't matter if the linesman isn't in line with the goal line, the England bench saw it go in, the fans saw it go on, we saw it go in! The ball was so far over the line it was nearly in Rustenberg where England should have been playing Ghana. I think we exhausted our luck with the incredibly lucky draw we had (if we'd just won our group). Although England have lost out here, unless Blatter and his chums take this as a prime example why goal line technology is needed, it will be football that suffers in the long run. As lawro so beautifully put it...'what is it FIFA don't want, technology, thanks very much Sepp Blatter'. Well said that man!

FORMATION

Fabio's biggest mistake I feel was the formation. Above, is the team I would have played if I were manager (if only) and I believe the team the England players were asking Fabio to try. It allows Cole & Johson to get forward, Rooney is playing his favourite role up front by himself, Gerrard plays his favourite role and puts Rooney in on goal, Barry cleans up loose balls, Lampard can support Gerrard and J Cole and Milner can go wide and cross or cut in and shoot.
The formation Fabio went with created so many problems:
1. Rooney wasn't allowed the freedom he has at United. He was picking the ball up 20 yards outside the area. He should be making runs into the area and receiving the ball with back to goal from Gerrard
2. Gerrard was playing on the wing but kept strolling into the middle of the park (his natural position). This meant, we never had any width and the midfield was so densly packed in the middle, teams were easily able to counter attack down the wings (Germany did so 3 or 4 times today)
3. Because Fabio insists on playing 4-4-2, Cole and Johnson aren't able to get forward and play short passes with the midfielders giving England even less width

CAPELLO

The main reason for our World Cup failure has to lie with the manager. Capello has got it completely wrong for me and I would not mind seeing him go back to Italy. His inability to befriend players has led to tension in the camp (strict, authoritive and stubborn) and I can't help comparing him to Robson, England's most successful manager since '66, who was a great man manager and got on well with the whole team. Some of the substitutions have been awful such as bringing Crouch on with only 5 mins to go against Algeria and bringing on Heskey today when we desperately needed goals (thats right Fabio, when you're in need of goals, bring on a man who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat...and I'm pretty sure we had no possession at all once he came on).

English football now faces a serious problem. Several of the current squad wont be around for the 2012 Euros and if the FA decide they want Fabio gone, it'll cost a small £10 million to pay off his contract (2 more years left). In my opinion, we need an English manager who gets on well with players and brings the best out of them. The FA needs to give them a 2 year contract (can be added to if results are good) and challenge them to be the next Alf Ramsey. Or we should do an X Factor style phone in where the public decides on the team and formation...I quite like the sound of that

Please, please, no penalties!

Day 16 Highlights 26/6

Uruguay snatch victory

The South American side were the first to qualify for the last 16 as they beat South Korea 2-1 and go on to face Ghana in the quarter finals. The 2nd best diego at the World Cup crossed for Suarez to finish on 8 minutes but midway through the second half Lee Chung-Yong equalised for the asian side. 10 minutes from the end, Suarez claimed his second with a brilliant strike to put Uruguay through

Looks like he's having his balls squeezed

Ghana pull through in extra-time

Ghana became only the 3rd african side to reach the quarter finals of a World Cup with a 2-1 win over USA. The Yanks, who somehow won Group C after some certain England performances, went behind early when Kevin Prince Boateng found the bottom corner from the edge of the area. Donovan became the highest ever US World Cup scorer with a penalty to take the game into extra time but Gyan got the party started with a good finish at the start of extra time