Negative England Relief

Frankfurt

England 1 - 0 Paraguay

Scorer:
England - Gamarra (own goal) 3;

I have just wasted 2hours of my life on this really boring match. 3 points in the bag for England for sure, but how happy would they be? I think they should be more relief than happy, that Paraguay lacked a goal scorer. Or if today England's gonna play against Brazil or Germany they would have been destroyed. So, England started really well when Beckham floated in a perfect free-kick into the penalty box and Carlos Gamarra, under pressure from Terry and Owen, had to take touch of the ball and it went straight into the net. Worst thing is that the keeper, Villar injured himself clearing aloose ball and the latest I heard is he is OUT of the competition.

Anyway England took the lead and had loads of possesion. Joe Cole was the most active player on the field throughout the entire match and created lots of chances. Paraguay were really, really nervy at the start and they looked short of confidence. English sharpshooter Lampard and Gerrard had chances but both are having a competition on who's going to put the ball into row Z first. It seemed like England's gonna put a few goals in by the end of the half, but it didn't came and at half time it was 1-0.

2nd half was the start of the bore tug of war between a revived Paraguay and a distinctly negative looking England. Paraguay started really brightly and caused some problems for the England back four, or should I say the back 9. And the negative approach got them pegged back for the ENTIRE second half and they only had 2 shots on goal. Another thing worth noting is the refereeing standards of this game. He is seriously, too fussy, like a woman and his judgement lacks consistency. Peter Crouch was being penalised throughout the entire game for being too tall and there was constant decision against the foul throws. It makes the game really unbearable to watch and frustrates the fans and players alike.

Is England the most over-rated team ever? Perhaps. They boast the likes of Lampard, Gerrard and Beckham. Yet there is a problem for them playing together and today, we've again seen the shortcomings of England and IF they really want to relive the '66 glory, then they better improve and start to come out of their shell abit more.


Drogballs' Man of the Match: Joe Cole. Very lively throughout the game and his constant twisting and turning makes him the most threatening player tonight.

Tags: World Cup 2006, England, Paraguay