FIFA World Cup 2014

Touche!

Wow there are multiples of all those guys?

I can only speak from personal experience but Rooney is right up there - it's just that too many people in the UK want to do him down and want him to fail - and it then becomes self-fulfilling - he miss-hits a corner and he is the worst player in the world.

I do go to the occasional football match and it is not all silky skills - and people mkae mistakes. Beckham is a classic example on free kick taking - great reputation because on MOTD they only show the good ones.

Oh and Paul Scholes was the best English midfielder of his generation 

I am not old enough to have witnessed this.

Are you very much older than me? I am 53 later this year!

ATB from George

Wot! Not wiser than me?

I thought everyone was wiser than me!

Very best wishes from George

Wow! Yet another thriller! That USA/Germany/Ghana/Portugal group is now tighter than a fat woman wearing a pair of too-small tights in a tight spot coming out of a tights shop.

Or something.

Chris, are you speaking from experience, or are you wearing red-tinted specs?

I think Rooney is great. But he's not world class. World class is stepping up, like Suarez did on Thursday.

I look at England doing well at the Football World Cup Football is somewhat like Norway ever doing well at Skiing.

It is not going to happen because of sheer complacency.

Inventors rarely follow through.

Only Cricket bucks the trend and England [and Wales] occasionally beats the Aussies for the Ashes ...

ATB from George

Kevin - I couldn't disagree more - apart from Rooney is great - of course 

Watching Rooney and Ronaldo work together was enlightening 

Tough way to finish a match, but a point is a point. The US will now advance on a win, a draw, or a loss versus Germany, and a tiebreaker versus Ghana (or possibly Portugal).

Germany will have the advantage of better talent, an extra day of rest, and of having not just played up in Amazonia. But other than that... 

In a weird sort of way, I am glad the US/Germany game means something. Playing a meaningless game can never make you a better team.  It is simple -- if the US plays as well as they have their first two games, then they will advance. They've shown they can play with the big boys, and there is no reason why they shouldn't have a lot of confidence going in to Thursday's match.

ATB.

Hook

To this list I'd add Greaves, Colin Bell (before knee injury), Bryan Robson and Keegan.

And I hope Hodgson stays for another tournament as well.

MDS

Paul Scholes was a very gifted player but, goodness me, he couldn't tackle to save his life! 

Amidst the interminable debate about the national team and the Premier League nobody seems to have suggested that maybe what has happened is that players from other nations (perhaps especially from those in the 2nd/3rd rank as it were) have got better-and benefitted from playing in the competitive, professional and well managed environment of the EPL and this has closed the gap between the elite national teams (which we have really never been a consistent part of) and the next layer down.

Bruce

When he was with us i rated him as average at best,sorry not for me.

You have to ask yourself why did Liverpool boot him out so quick. check his history,the guy has had so many jobs over the years his Removal company had a job keeping up with him.

Mista h

You left out Johnny Haynes !!

Good post PJ,you are `Bang On` with that comment.

Mista H

Princess.....just hope we dont get him back !!!

Well done USA and also unlucky at the same time.

Chaps, I thought this was appropriate considering the superb USA performance yesterday, England playing Costa Rica on the grounds of the original stadium where USA beat England in 1950, and a Scottish connection that I never new of...a nice read.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27701640

Jason.

p.s. check out the England squad at the time.

Scholes > Gerrard, Hart, and Sturridge. If Rooney had performed as Sturridge has, it wouldn't  just be front and back pages, there would be 24 page colour supplements dedicated to the execution of Wayne. Hate to think what it would be like if his performances were the guano served up by Gerrard.

Hodgson - yet he bought into the Liverpool myth.

Cheers,

OW

Scholes>Hart? Greatest goalie of his generation?

Chris is that you?

What Liverpool myth?

Jason.

Mista H - I know he wasn't a success at Liverpool but if we want an English manager who would be better?  The only one I can think of would be 'arry R. Unlike Hodgson he has no international or foreign experience but he seems to be able to get the best out of players and his teams play with a bit flair.  But I don't think the FA like his 'geezer' reputation.  Who if not Hodgson?

MDS 

To perpetuate a Liverpool conspiracy even further, how about Brendon Rodgers, apparently his grandfather was of Jewish decent?

And to confound the conspiracy further...

"The arms were granted in 1797 and show a cormorant with a piece of seaweed in its beak. The cormorant also appears on the crest. The supporters are a Triton and Neptune, the God of the sea. They hold banners with the cormorant and a ship. The arms shows the importance of the sea to the city of Liverpool. 

The cormorant is often referred to as the Liver Bird, and is used widely in the city. Liverpool was founded in 1207 by King John. He needed a new port to ship his troops to Ireland and to control the Irish Sea. The new town adopted King John's seal as its own. The seal showed the eagle of St John holding a sprig of broom in its beak. The broom, or planta genista was the symbol of the royal house of the Plantagenets. 

In 1644 the seal was lost and a new seal was made. For some strange reason the eagle was replaced by a cormorant, a more familiar bird in the area. It is likely that the artist mistook the eagle for a cormorant. The piece of broom was replaced by a piece of seaweed. The cormorant became later known as a mythical liver bird. 

The motto can be translated as "God has bestowed these blessings on us", and is taken from Virgil."

Those that now there Plantagenet history, know that they claimed the Kingdom of God (Jerusalem) , via the Crusades.

So there you have it, Liverpool football club is the secret vehicle for the Jewification of the FA. Raheem Sterling is also Jewish.

Jason.

Hodgson saw the second place finish and the number of Liverpool players available. He took the position to mean it was a good idea to put Gerrard and Henderson in front of the defence. The latter - the one he put out - being around the quality of the Anfield club's back four. Liverpool conceded 50 goals. It was the forward line who took them to runners-up; the problem for Roy, he doesn't have Liverpool's main ingredient, Suarez. It cost England.

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Scholes>Hart? Greatest goalie of his generation?

Chris is that you?

----

Then who is that at the World Cup? A body snatcher?

Cheers,

OW

That's not a myth, that's a conspiracy theory...but quite a good one at that As it chimes in with mine.

Hodgson is also Jewish.

Jason.

To be fair it was understandable that Hodgson would look to the Liverpool squad for available players given that neither City nor Chelsea's first teams are exactly brim full of young English players. Hodgson's game plan seems to have been to push up the 2 Fullbacks (Johnson and Baines) and rely on the holding midfield players to cover. In the event this didn't work out and Cahill and Jagielka were exposed to quick counterattacks.

I agree with you about the number of goals conceded by Liverpool last season but the difference is that whereas Liverpool played with a lot of pace and invention in attack and midfield (in part provided by Suarez but also by Coutinho, Sterling and Sturridge) which opened up opposing defences and created a lot of goal-scoring chances, this just did not happen in Brazil.