[WC] England 1 - 1 USA
-
WORLD CUP 2010: Come on England! Fabio Capello has Final dream in sight for Three Lions
*TONIGHT* - 2.30 AM
- Starhub WC Channel 261 & 263
- Singtel MioTV Channel 88
England launch their World Cup campaign against the United States with manager Fabio Capello fixing his sights on the final.
Capello admits he is living a dream as he carries the hopes of his adopted nation on to football's biggest stage.
On Friday night, he declared James Milner fit to play in England's first match. The midfielder has missed two days training this week with a stomach virus.
Come on England: Captain Steven Gerrard knows the nation expects a good start against the United States in Rustenburg
The news means Milner will almost certainly start ahead of Joe Cole as Capello looks to the Aston Villa midfielder to provide extra defensive cover for Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in the centre.
On Friday night, after watching his team train here, Capello said: 'I am a normal man. But, yes, my job is important at this moment because the World Cup is important for the country, the fans.
'I understand perfectly it is a tough job - not only for me but for all managers - because you can feel that, behind you, you have a whole country. I feel a great responsibility. I feel a nation, the whole people, but I always like difficult things.
Talking tactics: Fabio Capello goes through his pre-match instructions with his England squad
'It is a dream. It was a dream to be England manager and I hope the next dream comes off, too. Why not?
'In my career as a manager, I have built teams, worked with teams, with players, and I have always been focused to win.
'That's all that matters to me - to win and get to the final. In my mind, we play to win. That's all. I exist to win.
'The challenge is to win. Anything else is just words. We have to win. No more. It is fantastic for me. Exciting.'
But Capello gave a warning to his star striker, saying: 'Wayne Rooney played all the qualifying games for the World Cup and had no problems with the referees. I hope we see the same Rooney during the World Cup. I have spoken with him but Rooney is a fantastic player because he wants to win. But you have to be careful every time and you have to be careful and respect referees.'
England are itching for their games to begin after two weeks in a training camp in Austria and 10 days at their World Cup camp in Rustenburg.
Capello, who played for Italy in their disappointing 1974 World Cup campaign and was omitted four years later, said: 'When you arrive here it's completely different. You have to live for one month with policemen, press conferences every day, TV, everything, at every moment.
'You switch on the television and it is all about the World Cup. There is really strong pressure from the media. We have to live with this pressure. It is not easy. But I try. We try.'
The manager said he will tell his players the team just before they leave for the stadium today and called for England fans to rally behind the side as they did in the qualifying campaign.
Return to fitness: Gareth Barry is back for England but will not start against the United States but James Milner (R) could after recovering from illness
'My team, I think, is OK,' he said.
'We have arrived at a good moment. We trained really well, we spoke with the players.
'The players will be really focused. The altitude and the balls are terrible… terrible. It's impossible to control when you play long balls, but I hope I can help the players to be perfect. Also, the performance like a team will be really good.
'Usually the first game is hard because the expectation and pressure is big.
'We are sure we can go forward in this competition. The biggest challenge is to win.'
Raring to go: Wayne Rooney prepares for England's opening Group C clash
Capello said Gareth Barry would start on the bench, and the manager is also seriously considering a first competitive appearance for rookie goalkeeper Joe Hart, although he remains concerned by the 23-year-old's lack of experience and may well yet turn to Robert Green.
He has already dismissed David James amid concerns about his knee. Capello appears to think the problem has damaged the 39-year-old's confidence in training.
Hart has been the best of the three keepers all season as well as the best in training since the squad flew out to Austria.
Up front, Emile Heskey is almost certain to get the nod ahead of Peter Crouch for the place alongside Rooney.
Crouch has scored 21 goals in 38 internationals but Rooney, in his last nine starts with Heskey, has scored nine goals.
-
should win by 1 or 2 goal..if not really cmi
-
Don't underestimate the USA, they are a lot better now than say 4 to 10 yrs ago... And I think they are the only side to have beaten Spain since they last won the European Championship... And it certainly wasn't a friendly... Spain had their best players in that match and was going all for it... So no excuse there that they didn't try... Torres, Villa, Fabregas, Ramos, Casillas, Puyol, Xavi, Pique, Alonso... all played.
And the ironic part is, it also happened in South Africa... In the 2009 Confederations Cup final.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsBjLA9dW7I&feature=related
http://gnews.com/usa-2-spain-0-usa-advance-to-the-confederations-cup-final-13200919061924/
For me, it's a 50 / 50 for both sides unless Rooney shines or someone gets sent-off could change the whole match... I guess it could be a draw with both sides being very careful not to lose their first match at this tournament...
As for whoever wins this, I think they will be Group C leaders...
-
yeh me thinks so too. USA is no pushover..look at landon donovan. And their development of football is modelled after those of europe's top clubs since they last staged the 94 event.
-
England should come out winner no matter what, if not it spell doom!
-
i'm hoping for doom then.
-
USA WC record........
1994 - did well as host
1998 - crash
2002 - did very well, reach Q-F
2006 - crash
2010 - to do very well again ?????
my brain telling me England to win but i can't shake the feeling it'll be a draw !
-
Originally posted by omgukilledkenny:
i'm hoping for doom then.
same here !
every England loss is a win for me !
-
Safest is to bet on England.
Wayne Rooney, James Milner, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard starting against USA is already quite a relief for many.
Hope its not deja vu like what happened during the friendlies when Japan led 1-0 until half time . Haha once that happens, Rooney's mouth gonna open and close and that's it man.
-
Originally posted by JazzMyWorld:
Safest is to bet on England.
Wayne Rooney, James Milner, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard starting against USA is already quite a relief for many.
Hope its not deja vu like what happened during the friendlies when Japan led 1-0 until half time . Haha once that happens, Rooney's mouth gonna open and close and that's it man.
Rooney will probably give up cursing once he realises he can't compete with the noise from the vuvuzelas. -
hoping for england to win
but
the usa hmm
skeali shock them -
Originally posted by omgukilledkenny: Rooney will probably give up cursing once he
realises he can't compete with the noise from the vuvuzelas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrYb9qtO8OQ&feature=related
damn noise leh!
-
I hope kopitiam not too much people tonight....
-
Surprisingly! Not much comments after the match.
This is my take:
The way england plays, they are an above average team but they will never beat a team as technical as Argentina and Brazil.
Before Green conceded that silly goal, I noticed his positioning when catching ground balls is not good. He should grab the ball and pounce forward to secure it. When Clint Dempsey shot, his body position was a little out and that allowed the ball to bounce off his hands and into goal. It would have been prevented had he positioned himself a little further to his right.
Lampard....where was he? He looked ordinary and did not stamp his class. People say Gerrard is world class but he looked nowhere like a midfield maestro in the class of Zidane, Beckenbauer or Dunga, all crucial players for a successful world cup.
Aaron Lennon's high ball crosses are absolutely pathetic. His saving grace is his pace and cut ins into the penalty box. SWP, what the hell is he doing there? lol He looked clueless most times, senseless running, can't get past opponents and his crosses are shitty. He also scuffed a glorious chance at goal and still had the cheek to smile after that.
Carragher may have loads of experience but he can't handle quick players. When Liverpool played Man U earlier in the season, while Owen was through on goal and proved too much for him, he sliced in with a cynical tackle that was nowhere near the ball. And looking at John Terry....he's world class? My ass. He is good at tackles and headers but he has a tendency (like Rio Ferdinand) to distribute high balls from the back. And many times I have seen him clear the ball into no man's land......like all British defenders, their technical ability is crap, that's why the unease when under pressure,
And Rooney, only god knows what happened. He doesnt seem to excel for country as shown in all the pre WC friendlies. He scored against a an African club of which whose presence is negligible.
And England, despite being under Capello, still plays those traditional high balls. The defending sucked too, a lot to learn from Mourinho when it comes to tactical defence. I give England at most, a run into the q-finals. I will come back and check this prediction again.
-
Originally posted by Rock^Star:
And Rooney, only god knows what happened. He doesnt seem to excel for country as shown in all the pre WC friendlies. He scored against a an African club of which whose presence is negligible.
Almost the same issue for Messi, but Messi seem okay yesterday.
-
I think we are too harsh on the England players, but I agree that some of them has not performed up to mark.
Surprisingly, Glen Johnson was 1 of the best player in the match, however, his cross is decent but still unable to find the targets such as Rooney/Heskey/Crouch!
Ashely Cole sadly wasn't given the space enough or chances to cross with his left foot on the left wing, the left wing was basically pretty impotent. Playing Millner on the left seems to be a bad bad idea! And whats the point with subbing Millner at 35min when SWP and Millner is the same, except that SWP contained a little more pace?
Heskey was disappointing, where was the striker finishing? So many chances and yet he wasted it again and again.
Was Rooney on the field? But lets not be too harsh for him because we all should know that Rooney was marked so tightly that whenever he have the chance to touch the ball, the next moment he will loses it.
Lennon IMO was the worst player on the pitch. How many times we saw him have the ball, yet he was unable to pick out ANYONE in the box from the right wing. His passing was slow, crossing was slow, I was surprised that he could play full 90.
-
What is Heskey doing at South Africa in the first place?
-
Originally posted by Paisley:
Almost the same issue for Messi, but Messi seem okay yesterday.
whether Messi plays well or not is not a major issue, maradona know lots about pychological football, in his heyday, he uses his skill to motivate his teammates and influenced the referees as well, therefore, Messi alone is a great bonus and motivator for the whole team.Referees on the pitch tends to concentrate more on the top players, the lines man will alway look up for messi offside, and the main referee will alway look out for any tackle onto Messi, and that alone put so much attention away from the other players, in fact if you look at the goal of Heinze...he was not marked at all, and there was a pulling of a nigerian defender who was going to block him. So, every nigerian marked Higuain, trevez, messi,...but they forget Heinze
-
Originally posted by Y_Shun:
I think we are too harsh on the England players, but I agree that some of them has not performed up to mark.
Surprisingly, Glen Johnson was 1 of the best player in the match, however, his cross is decent but still unable to find the targets such as Rooney/Heskey/Crouch!
Ashely Cole sadly wasn't given the space enough or chances to cross with his left foot on the left wing, the left wing was basically pretty impotent. Playing Millner on the left seems to be a bad bad idea! And whats the point with subbing Millner at 35min when SWP and Millner is the same, except that SWP contained a little more pace?
Heskey was disappointing, where was the striker finishing? So many chances and yet he wasted it again and again.
Was Rooney on the field? But lets not be too harsh for him because we all should know that Rooney was marked so tightly that whenever he have the chance to touch the ball, the next moment he will loses it.
Lennon IMO was the worst player on the pitch. How many times we saw him have the ball, yet he was unable to pick out ANYONE in the box from the right wing. His passing was slow, crossing was slow, I was surprised that he could play full 90.
you can comment and said so much on the players of england, but ultimately, Goalkeeper Green shall have to take the worst of them all, by and large, that evade most of the blaming on all those poor performance players you mentioned. -
We can compared them with BPL performance as we followed the league.
As for expectations, they alway say that they will win the cup every time but ended up empty handed.
This squad is not particularly strong as compared to the rest of the team.
They should be smiling if they can qualify for the semi final.
They are a bunch of hot air and stayed that way.
-
Originally posted by angel7030:
you can comment and said so much on the players of england, but ultimately, Goalkeeper Green shall have to take the worst of them all, by and large, that evade most of the blaming on all those poor performance players you mentioned.robert green is at fault, but don't forget that the ball itself sucks
-
Originally posted by angel7030:
you can comment and said so much on the players of england, but ultimately, Goalkeeper Green shall have to take the worst of them all, by and large, that evade most of the blaming on all those poor performance players you mentioned.robert green is at fault, but don't forget that the ball itself sucks
-
ya, i understand, but now because of Green big flop, the focus is away from those poor performing, if the game is at 1-1 and green did not make any mistake, than i think the focus can go back into the team, if u look at all sport papers both in england and singapore, everything is GREEN
-
too bad England escaped with a draw !
US hit the post at 1-1, right ?
teams should know by now to beat England not that hard, shoot from long range and have strikers rush in for the rebound ! those English CRAP goalies can't catch the ball so the rebound is 2nd chance to score !