FIFA World Cup 2006: England v Trinidad & Tobago, discussion thread

as it happens. Kicking off soon.

putting 9 men behind the ball and leaving a single striker up front.

That lucky bastard!

Although the first 38 minutes was a snore-fest

Yuk!

whew!

:(

Go Trini/Tobagans!

Yea team!

England dominate possession and chances but seem to be playing half-heartedly. Trinidad & Tobago have defended very well, although they have made defensive errors that England weren't capable of capitalising on. Trinidad & Tobago are certainly capable of getting a point from this, if not sneaking a win if England play worse in the second half. Right now England would probably be happy with 3 points even from a 1-0.

The team & the manager might be, but if they carry on playing this listless, unmotivated crap then the press is going to eviscerate them tomorrow, and rightly so.

They're playing a team with absolutely intent on defending, England should have recognized this days ago & lined up in a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 formation to maximize the number of scoring chances.

Sven-Göran Eriksson's inability to drop his favorite players even when they're playing badly is going to ensure that England fail yet again. If he wasn't leaving after the World Cup I'd want him sacked for these terrible performances.

T&T are playing well and arguably deserve to lead at half-time.

It's the only way I can keep up with the games. I should have took this month off work.
The BBC commentary is even more critical of England than it was against Germany yesterday

44 mins: David Beckham opts for his right foot on this occasion and to good use. The only problem for England is that Peter Crouch's right foot is not up to much as he volley's the skipper's cross well wide with nobody near him - apart from a rooted Shaka Hislop. A great chance goes begging.

43 mins: David Beckham in left-foot shock. Now we know why he only uses it to stand on as he chips a soft shot straight at Shaka Hislop.

49 mins: An attacking throw-in to England from which they opt to work the ball back to Paul Robinson. It's the second half and they've changed the direction they're attacking but it's not obvious they know it!

47 mins: The early signs are that England did not get a half-time rollicking from Sven-Goran Eriksson or find a secret stash of kryptonite in the changing room. It's moribund stuff summed up by an aimless Ashley Cole pass to... nobody.

LurchPeter Crouch scores!

Although the first goal was irregular. Crouch pulled the defender back by his hair.

Finally we got a goal. But man we suck!

Funniest thing was how all the pundits were saying before the tournament started how we had a good chance of winning it! Get fucking real you morans!!!
:rofl:

Gerrard scores a cracker

England qualify for the second round. We'll have to wait until next week to find out whether they finish 1st or 2nd in the group and who they'll face in the next round.

England were really poor though, the 2-0 score line flatters the team (and manager). There were very few scoring chances for most of the game and little creativity. We seem at times to only play with 10 men since Gerrard and Lampard play so poorly together and as with other recent England games Frank Lampard has been a waste of space on the pitch.

T&T did well and might well have scored themselves at the end of either half (they did get the ball in the back of the net very late on only for the goal to ruled out for offside)

at least he was taking a shot at goal...

IMO A. Cole was wasted space...

It makes one wonder how Eriksson had managed to bluff his way through as a "good manager" before taking the England job.

Remarkably similar to the coaching style of Graham Souness.

Get 11 good players on the pitch and trust them to do the rest. He did well in Italy but that had a hell of lot to do with the massive amounts of money that he spent and unadventurous style of Italian league football.

Either that or the jokes about Nancy Dellolio (his SO) being the real footballing brain in the partnership are true.

We tend to raise our game according to the opposition. I have noticed a tendency with England to struggle against opponents we should by rights wipe the floor with.

I still don't think we'll win the tournament, though. ;)

Always low wages. Always.

It was on tv at my favorite sandwich shop. I was relieved they had that on instead of Faux News.

I was able to see some of the game at work - I am in marketing, so we have TVs...
Finally, an advantage of being at work...