the_undead
Jackets & Baseball/Soccer Mod
Wtf was the deal with that corner kick by Rooney?????
2014 WC Brazil|June 12th to July 13th|CBC/Sportsnet
- Thread starter Leafovic
- Start date
Bleedsblue&white
Well-known member
Italy looked better than I'd hoped.
JaysCyYoung
Legend
Really good game from England. If they play half as well as they did today against Uruguay and Costa Rica they should breeze into the elimination round. Great passing and a lot more offence than I'm used to watching. Barkley and Sterling were awesome.
Italy played well too. They commanded the passing game beautifully and had the highest completion percentage (93%) since 1966. Great technical effort from them. If they played as consistently clean and with as minimal theatrics as they did today I dare say they'd be likeable. Really good sportsmanship from them. I was impressed.
And Pirlo is so, so good.
Italy played well too. They commanded the passing game beautifully and had the highest completion percentage (93%) since 1966. Great technical effort from them. If they played as consistently clean and with as minimal theatrics as they did today I dare say they'd be likeable. Really good sportsmanship from them. I was impressed.
And Pirlo is so, so good.
the_undead
Jackets & Baseball/Soccer Mod
After that performance, I'd agree with you about Rooney (who I like at the club level even though I detest United), but I have confidence that Gerrard can bounce back. And not to defend their poor play at the end of the game, but it wasn't just those two down the stretch. Johnson put a cross well behind the goal, so did Sterling (who was exceptional the entire game aside from that poor cross at the end). Then when a decent cross was put into the box, no white shirts were there to bang it in. Lallana played pretty poorly from the moment he was brought in. Wilshere had a terrible pass that went out of bounds for an unforced turnover. And even Joe Hart, at the end of the first half when Italy was REALLY pressing, pulled toward a ball to his right and then hung still in no-man's land, rather than making his way back to goal. He was just lucky to have a defender there to make a goal line clearing header.
As a whole... England played a decent first half, but looked like shit from somewhere around 60' and beyond. Italy did play a pretty good game, though. Can't take away from their performance.
JaysCyYoung
Legend
Hart should have had that Balotelli goal though. You're right there at your bloody close post. For a 6'5 man there's no excuse not to use your arms to bat that away from that close. Instead he was standing kind of awkwardly on the line away from the post and let Mario get the inside.
the_undead
Jackets & Baseball/Soccer Mod
I agree with you on that, for sure. Not to mention, the defense just kinda let him slip in the back as if they didn't know Balotelli was capable of such a thing.
JaysCyYoung
Legend
Cahill was absolutely atrocious on his coverage of that goal. It's like he didn't see the cross developing and notice the massive black Italian slip in behind him for the header.
JaysCyYoung
Legend
People's expectations of Rooney are too high for his calibre of player IMO. He almost equalized the game in the box around the 75th minute with a really close strike that was two inches away from a 2-2 match.
But the hilariously awful corner that went into the crowd is going to have Twitter aflame for days.
That pass to Sturridge was world class though. Gorgeous play-making.
And I still maintain that Pirlo must be a cyborg or some illegal robotic specimen sent from the future. The man does not age. He's master class at the international level every time. That little fake before the Marchisio goal was brilliant.
CH1
The Artist Formerly Known as chiggins.
Teeds' got this.
the_undead
Jackets & Baseball/Soccer Mod
This is true. I like Cahill, but he's spotty from time to time. That was definitely one of those times. He did, however, have a class tackle at the end of the game, but it was too little too late by that point.
Though I have to ask, what do you mean by peoples' expectations of Rooney are too high for his calibre of player? Rooney is a world class player and a work horse, he's been unsuccessful with his scoring touch in World Cup play, though. I'd say the high expectations of him are justified considering what he's capable of. Though I'll admit, I was a bit short-sighted by the end of the game due to England's poor play and put aside the absolute top quality service on the Sturridge goal. That was a thing of beauty, no doubt. Rooney didn't play TOO poorly, but he DEFINITELY didn't have shit for a scoring touch. Close is close, yeah, but he's more than capable of finding the back of the net. He simply couldn't get it on target against Italy today.
Also, hi JCY!
JaysCyYoung
Legend
I mean to suggest that Rooney is unquestionably a dominating presence at the club level, but that his work at the international level has been seriously deficient to date (at least compared to what it could be), and I think you'll find few people that would seriously challenge that assessment. I've resigned myself to the fact that he simply isn't going to be a consistent impact player at this level by this point, but then he'll show a little touch of magic like that pass to Sturridge and you'll find yourself questioning if the assessment is too harsh. He lacks consistency from game to game for England, at least in actual World Cup matches, and we probably have a large enough sample size of his play at this point to draw that conclusion. I just would like for him to start taking over games, especially given his talent level and work ethic, but it doesn't seem to happen. He's perpetually snake-bitten or something for whatever reason.