The Round Ball Game

[johncorrigan]

Better than the ITV ones!

I was interested in what the Beeb punds were saying, because I was thinking something similar, that the change in the Spanish system was a disruption...one new player might upset the show. Xavi and Iniesta have controlled the show for ages and now they're expected to play the long ball quickly into the box...do they really want to do that? They went virtually unmentioned in the second half...amazing really given the impact they have had on world footie over the last five or six years.

Robben was pretty amazing mind you but Van Persie's goal will be hard to beat...it's really thrown a Spaniard in the works, as Mr Lennon put it.

[jayne lee wilson]

One for Pedants' Paradise, I think. The language is Serbo-Croat.

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_language

Spain - Netherlands... WOW!! Did you SEE that! Etc... After all the unresolved Qatar scandals, the Power, Corruption and Lies of FIFA always somewhere in the background... this beautiful game triumphs once again. I was reminded of another 5-1... remember Spain vs. Denmark in 1986, just after Denmark had brilliantly beaten a thuggish Uruguay 6-1...? I think that was 1-1 at half-time too...

Just wonder though what the Croatians feel after seeing Holland's 3rd ... probably need to invent a few more Croatian swearwords... suddenly, I recall Sol Campbell vs Argentina in 1998 and vs Portugal in 2004. I think I'm going to cry.

[Nick Armstrong]

yep and my orbs are still spinning ... Van Persie's first at the end of the first half could well be the goal od the tournament ... a classic game and oh my what a smack in the eye for the Spanish

Fantastic performance...

[Don Petter]

... and andy to explain everything during the game.

.. only explainin' a little bit, though.


(And no-one explained the golden moment when the advertising banner at the far side of the pitch apparently just said 'D CUP BRA'.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

... Van Persie's first at the end of the first half could well be the goal od the tournament ...

A perfect pass leading to a perfect header. Unbelievable.

[EdgeleyRob]

Uruguay without Suarez,are they all that ?
Showed their true colours towards the end too with the red card

[Anna]

Are there any Nevilles out there in Brazil At least THEY know what they are talking about.

You mean Phil Neville? He talks in. Short. Sentences. Does he think he's on. Twitter.
Honestly, I couldn't listen to him. Anymore. Sound. Went. Off. !!!!

[BBMmk2]

Ah well, England be out soon then!! Thank gawd for that and we can get back to normality!

[johncorrigan]

You mean Phil Neville? He talks in. Short. Sentences. Does he think he's on. Twitter.
Honestly, I couldn't listen to him. Anymore. Sound. Went. Off. !!!!

I have to watch all England games with the sound off, Anna. The commentators drive me crazy. Andy Townsend...how did he get a job? But ITV are so enamoured with him that they've signed up Andros Townsend too just to keep us on our toes.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

You mean Phil Neville? He talks in. Short. Sentences. Does he think he's on. Twitter.

That's the opposite of Radio 3 Breakfast/Essential Classics presenters who speak in one continuous sentence.

[cloughie]

You mean Phil Neville? He talks in. Short. Sentences. Does he think he's on. Twitter.
Honestly, I couldn't listen to him. Anymore. Sound. Went. Off. !!!!

Perhaps when they agreed his engagement terms the BBC should have held a bit back for media training - his delivery as a commentator/summariser goes nowhere near what it was on the pitch!

[cloughie]

Uruguay without Suarez,are they all that ?

Bet he'll be back against us!!!!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i am amazed at how unsurprised and lacking in disappointment i feel at the Engerland result .... drop Rooney/dropping Ashley Cole was a big mistake-Baines looked out of his depth

[jayne lee wilson]

Well, teamsaint got his wish, a Neville in the commentary box. Shame it was the wrong one. Phil's every phrase is a strange, cadentially-lifted monotone, like a question without the questionmark. His brother, star-analyst of SS1, is more gainfully employed on the England bench as a sort of mime artist for Roy Hodgson's more extreme emotions. Urbane, fastidious Uncle Roy restricts himself to grins, snarls and grimaces these days (usually rather more of the last two).

Still, a great game. WE DID THE RIGHT THINGS, BUT GOT THE WRONG RESULT! Etc... Did anyone else leap out of their chair in the 4th minute when Sterling seemed to have scored an Owenesque wondergoal? QUITE EXTRAORDINARY! Etc...
Italy's second was poorly defended, but how perfectly executed. As Candreva turned inside Baines (rather too easily, one might have thought), I muttered, "uh-oh..."

I wondered how long it would be before Rooney stood hands-on-hips, looking a touch flatulent... oh dear, with good reason. Well, where would YOU play him? Would you play him? (But the England equaliser - Sterling-Rooney-Sturridge, GOOAAALL!!! Perfect marriage of something old, something new...)

So, ONE HELLUVA now against Uruguay. Trust Suarez won't be fit - as long as he's ready in August...
From the Observer: BEST ASIDE: Lineker to his star pundit (Henry) at halftime: "Did you ever get away with a handball, Thierry?"

[teamsaint]

Be careful what you wish for.

I occurs to me that I haven't heard Phil Neville commentating before. I cant have.

Sorry.

nothing much new learned about England, really. Baines and Johnson were always going to be vulnerable against anybody decent.

Will Ricky get some game time , and some decent crosses to attack, against that flakey Uruguyan defence?

There was a time when a Uruguay v England game with two dodgy central defences would have been unthinkable.