Robben, Blind, Van Persie - all on fire.
 
The courage of the Dutch.
 
Spain humbled.
 
Let the inquisition start.
 
Rep, Van Basten, Neeskens, young boys having a kickabout in the park .....
 
I have a sneaky feeling Joe Coral is being just a wee bit stingy at 11/1
 
Hullit, Cruyff, Rijkaard.... jerseys for goalposts, what...?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Spain might have done better, but all the best players on their teams from the Champions League final are from other countries! 

Enduring image. One's gone home for his tea. Beans on toast. Isn't it though? Hmm?

 
Diamond formation? Does anyone really know what that is? I mean, at least you knew where you were with Alf Ramsey's wingless wonders....
 
You know? 4-4-2, 4-2-4, 4-3-3... 0898 654000, freephone double glazing?

Most end up in a de-formation anyway. 

SteveStrummerUK
... 
Robben, Blind, Van Persie - all on fire.
... 
Spain humbled.

What I saw is EXACTLY what Jose Mourinho defined when at Real Madrid with Ronaldo's ability, to stretch the field with the long ball. And you saw, that the Spanish did not adjust and the Dutch continued going to the well and found nothing but gold! Pepe in Germany had the same thing happen to him, but his ego would not admit that he was not prepared for what people had already been doing to his teams, and he had been living off the big names and nothing else.
 
Spain deserved that loss! The did not show up to play, and I think the heat may have had a part in the whole thing, but not enough to play that badly!
 
That RVP goal was astounding ... that ball was a cross from 30 or 40 yards out, and the header was even more beautiful to watch. Sensational is the word!
 
Best game so far? .... Costa Rica's game was really good, and Uruguay wilted as well, and you could see that Costa Rica was more comfortable with the heat and continued playing. Uruguay looked totally out of it by the 60th minute. I'm having this feeling that the CONCACAF teams might surprise a few people that keep thinking that the league is still lower level, and you should count how many of those players are in MLS ... quite a few of them!

heh heh Pedro said CACA.

heh heh Pedro said CACA.

I liked these comments from my dad on the continued failure of the English team (ps fag = cigarette for our US friends):

"English footballers just don't have the edge, there's none of them you could describe as truly international, if they were any good they would be able to turn it on at least for the world cup but they never do because they can't. Every team needs at least one loose canon, a nutter like Gazza, somebody who doesn't even know himself what he's going to do. England haven't got one, so they have no edge. I know this may sound a bit odd but I think in the main, the English as a race, have a bit of a trade union attitude and feel they should get a tea break whenever a minor battle is won, instead of going for the jugular. Antony Beevor has just written a book about Normandy and he makes the observation in the enlisted element of the Army. As soon as they achieved an objective they stopped for a brew up and a fag instead of taking advantage of an advantageous situation. How many times do you see English players get ahead then take their foot off the pedal and have a Kit Kat break. Whenever I saw it I used to think they were a bunch of girls and lacked the killer punch but after reading a few bits and pieces in Beevor's book it's suggested it's an English / British trait. It's like they need to reward themselves for every perceived sacrifice. It's probably the reason why I had many failed attempts at packing in smoking, after three weeks I felt I deserved a reward and one little tiny cigarette wasn't going to make a difference. "

I have to agree with him. If I didn't feel like I had to put the kettle on for a nice refreshing cuppa every 10 minutes I'd get 10x more done.

sharke

I know this may sound a bit odd but I think in the main, the English as a race, have a bit of a trade union attitude and feel they should get a tea break whenever a minor battle is won, instead of going for the jugular. Antony Beevor has just written a book about Normandy and he makes the observation in the enlisted element of the Army. As soon as they achieved an objective they stopped for a brew up and a fag instead of taking advantage of an advantageous situation. How many times do you see English players get ahead then take their foot off the pedal and have a Kit Kat break. Whenever I saw it I used to think they were a bunch of girls and lacked the killer punch but after reading a few bits and pieces in Beevor's book it's suggested it's an English / British trait. It's like they need to reward themselves for every perceived sacrifice. It's probably the reason why I had many failed attempts at packing in smoking, after three weeks I felt I deserved a reward and one little tiny cigarette wasn't going to make a difference. "

I have to agree with him. If I didn't feel like I had to put the kettle on for a nice refreshing cuppa every 10 minutes I'd get 10x more done.

 
I understand what he's saying, but I don't think that's our problem, they always seem to put in a good shift, giving it the old 110% etc.
 
 

sharke

"English footballers just don't have the edge, there's none of them you could describe as truly international, if they were any good they would be able to turn it on at least for the world cup but they never do because they can't. Every team needs at least one loose canon, a nutter like Gazza, somebody who doesn't even know himself what he's going to do. England haven't got one, so they have no edge.

 
In my humble opinion, this is nearer to the heart of the problem.
 
We rarely seem to produce anyone truly world class.
 
Our home-produced players, for whatever reason, seem to have two major flaws. Firstly, they don't ever seem comfortable on the ball. Secondly, and this may well be related to the first point, they never seem to possess any genuine skill.
 
I don't know whether it's because we don't coach our players the same way as in other countries. Or maybe it's because there are so many foreign players in the Premier League and the Championship that our hopefuls aren't getting a chance, possibly because the scouting and academy programmes every team used to run have become redundant when top teams can afford to simply buy in the finished article.
 
I think a telling statistic might be to see how few English registered players, especially those currently appearing in the World Cup squad, are plying their trade abroad.
 
And how often do we hear the pundits say that nobody in the England squad would get in the Brazil side, or the German side etc.