The Round Ball Game

[Lateralthinking1]

With every major Soccer tournament that passes, I realize how privileged I was to be alive when England last came away with a trophy.

It is worse to have been alive but aged just three and a half in 1966 and therefore with only memories since Mexico 70.

I thought Lawro had a much better game. Yes, Mowbray had most of the possession but the former worked his socks off to create spaces and the way he passed the words around his sentences was an absolute joy. By comparison, the accompanying visual commentary by - was it a football match? - seemed predictable, if not without excitement. It's obviously a film that many of us have seen several times before. Still, it always ends up with us on the edges of our seats, don't it.



I'm disappointed. Alongside the obvious, we have in Hart, Johnson, Parker and the under-used Walcott the makings of a very good team. Additionally, Carroll’s height helps on occasions and Oxlade-Chamberlain is very promising. Welbeck and Milner are a bit so-so for me, Lescott rather more so and there is now a very big question mark over Young.

There is only so much that anyone can do against the likes of Pirlo. But in the future I would like to see far more training in passing and keeping possession. It needs to be obsessive in a way that it hasn’t ever been before. Put an end to the feeling that the long ball and a lot of scrappy scampering about is unalterably in the nation’s DNA.

And there is a question about fitness levels. Rooney, sadly, looks like a lump but they all get tired too easily. I don't understand why. Not enough lettuce? The wrong kind of rain? Whatever it is, other countries don't have it and it needs sorting out.



This is, though, now a squad which, morally, has been transformed in six weeks from a 3 out of 10 to a 9 out of 10. Its dignity, team spirit, sober reflection and common sense were such that it deserved one further round. The same is even more true of a manager who is the one person in all of this tournament who hasn’t put a foot wrong.

Good as the semi-finalists are, they have all had at least one 45 minutes when they have looked very ordinary and in most cases more than one. The hype will say something different by next weekend. Let it. We'll just bank the reality.

[Anna]

This is though now a squad which morally has been transformed from a 3 out of 10 to a 9 out of 10. Its team spirit, sober reflection and dignity were such that England deserved one further round as did the manager who is the one person in all of this tournament who hasn’t put a foot wrong.

Have to disagree Lat, they've gone from 2 out of 10 to about 6 out of ten but never looked like contenders. Totally agree about Roy Hodgson though, he seems to have worked wonders and he and the team can build on this. Rooney is, I think, way past his sell by date. All in all, it's been a rather boring tournament.

[antongould]

Have to disagree Lat, they've gone from 2 out of 10 to about 6 out of ten but never looked like contenders. Totally agree about Roy Hodgson though, he seems to have worked wonders and he and the team can build on this. Rooney is, I think, way past his sell by date. All in all, it's been a rather boring tournament.

Totally agree Anna...if England had gone through it would have been a travesty.

[Lateralthinking1]

Totally agree Anna...if England had gone through it would have been a travesty.

Just to confirm I was on a moral scale:

No falling out; no petulance; a good amount of effort and commitment; measured interviews; no nightclub antics; no pouring drink down each others' throats; no wags; no celebrity nonsense; no real cause for sending off; the visit to Auschwitz.

Competitions aren't always won by the best. If the best technically don't win, I hope the best in other respects do, ie fair play, trying. It is unrealistic to expect brilliance where ability is limited. The reasonable demand is that players do their best. This time I think they did and while the outcome is as disappointing as other QF (and earlier) exits, this one feels better.

[antongould]

The effort may have been there but I don't think collectively or individually they did, or were at, their best.

[Lateralthinking1]

The effort may have been there but I don't think collectively or individually they did, or were at, their best.

That is probably true anton but the stats under Roy Hodgson read -

Played 6
Won 4
Drew 1
Lost 1 (AET and penalties)

None of the opposition teams have been poor - Norway, Belgium, France, Sweden, Ukraine, Italy.

[Panjandrum]

Basically, England has no chance until it gets more middle class kids playing.

[teamsaint]

Basically, England has no chance until it gets more middle class kids playing.

spot on, panj. British tennis is leading the way.....

[LHC]

JNo falling out; no petulance; a good amount of effort and commitment; measured interviews; no nightclub antics; no pouring drink down each others' throats; no wags; no celebrity nonsense; no real cause for sending off; the visit to Auschwitz.

I wonder how much of that is due to press coverage and how much to the players.

I am sure the mood in the camp was much better than the last world cup and that the players were more committed and behaved better. However, the lowered expectations meant that press interest was relatively low-key and confined to the sports pages. Consequently, there were fewer tabloid journalists looking for stories about drinking etc. I suspect that the players did not change their normal activities greatly, we were just spared the usual barrage of negative stories that surrounds such events. Of course, the lack of tabloid attention could also have helped to remove the petulance and siege mentality that was so prevalent in South Africa

By way of illustration, at the last Rugby World Cup, England's campaign was quickly overtaken by negative press reports about drinking and their behaviour in various bars and hotels. Other teams visited the same pubs and clubs, but were not the focus of attention in the same way and did not suffer from the same press coverage (apparently Ireland were at the same 'dwarf-tossing' bar as England and on the same night, but their visit was not reported at all). of course England handled the coverage badly and both players and managers managed to make matters much worse, but they were much more the focus of attention than other teams.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Penalties again.
I much prefer the Golden Goal as a tie-breaker. It's much less of a fluke. Italy would probably have won that anyway.

Avram Grant was sacked after John Terry missed a penalty in a Champions' League final. No justice there.

[Hornspieler]

=Lateralthinking1;177203I'm disappointed. Alongside the obvious, we have in Hart, Johnson, Parker and the under-used Walcott the makings of a very good team. Additionally, Carroll’s height helps on occasions and Oxlade-Chamberlain is very promising. Welbeck and Milner are a bit so-so for me, Lescott rather more so and there is now a very big question mark over Young.

There is only so much that anyone can do against the likes of Pirlo. But in the future I would like to see far more training in passing and keeping possession. It needs to be obsessive in a way that it hasn’t ever been before. Put an end to the feeling that the long ball and a lot of scrappy scampering about is unalterably in the nation’s DNA.

And there is a question about fitness levels. Rooney, sadly, looks like a lump but they all get tired too easily. I don't understand why. Not enough lettuce? The wrong kind of rain? Whatever it is, other countries don't have it and it needs sorting out.

.

These footballing stars(sic) are paid more money per week than I receive in a year from my old age pension. (and most of them are only capable of kicking the ball with one of their two feet)
There is no excuse for any member of that team to fail to direct a football with their favoured foot, towards a goal which is twenty four feet wide and eight feet high.

So that's it. Those silly (but dangerous to pedestriand) little flags can be removed from the idiots' cars for another four years and we can start to talk about sportsmen, not prima donna "celebrities".

HS

[Panjandrum]

Penalties again.
I much prefer the Golden Goal as a tie-breaker.

Yes, but that presumes that either side is capable of scoring.

[Paul Sherratt]

How about The Golden Shot ?

http://static.bbci.co.uk/programmeimages/640x360/clip/p00cwtq1.jpg?nodefault=true

[gurnemanz]

I shall also be missing it. Months ago my wife booked us in for a Pina Bausch dance event at Sadler's Wells, not of course able to foresee any potential round ball clash. I am not a great devotee of dance and I won't claim that I wouldn't actually prefer the footie + beer + sofa option, but it is a sell-out and promises to be a good night and the match may well be disastrous either in quality or outcome - or indeed both.

It looks like my wife did me a big favour. The dance evening was marvellous.

[teamsaint]

These footballing stars(sic) are paid more money per week than I receive in a year from my old age pension. (and most of them are only capable of kicking the ball with one of their two feet)
There is no excuse for any member of that team to fail to direct a football with their favoured foot, towards a goal which is twenty feet wide and eight feet high.

So that's it. Those silly (but dangerous to pedestriand) little flags can be removed from the idiots' cars for another four years and we can start to talk about sportsmen, not prima donna "celebrities".

HS

good points...but the goal is 24 feet wide...though our guys make it look about 6 ft !! pedants corner alert !!