England have struggled through the group stages of the World Cup and made it into the last 16.
England started the World Cup as one of the favourites, yet has struggled against teams they really should have beaten.
Better
The performance against Slovenia in the 1-0 victory was far better than the last two games. The England players suddenly looked like they could play again.
They were once again passing to their teammates and looked like they had woken up from their slumber from the first two group games.
England was in what was supposedly an easy group yet they made it look hard. It’s typical of the England team to put us fans through it, but if they made it easy it wouldn’t be England. Supporting the Three Lions has never been easy.
They let you down, only to raise your hopes. This tournament because England has been poorer than expected the expectations have been reduced slightly. Maybe our performances so far have made the likes of Germany and Serbia, likely opponents in the knockout stages, slightly complacent and the England team from qualification could just show up.
We saw signs of the England team from qualifying in the Slovenia game and the victory will have restored confidence. The spirit of the side will also be restored. The team looked together again and played as a team.
Knockout stages
The whole country was worrying that England wouldn’t get through to the knockout stages. The England players held their nerve when it mattered. World Cup’s are not won in the group stages. Not many World Cup winners have really excelled in the group stages but quality teams produce in the knockout stages.
For Fabio Capello’s side the World Cup starts here. The group stage means nothing now. That’s gone and we need to look forward to the prospect of meeting Germany, Ghana or Serbia in the last 16. We all know the history our country has with Germany in major tournaments but the German’s are still a young side and can be beaten.
They are beatable if the real England turns up and not the imposters that played in the first two group games. The Ghana side is very unpredictable and are beatable. I wrote an article a couple of weeks ago about how I thought Serbia would do well in South Africa and I believe they would be the hardest side that England could face. Serbia is a good solid side but at times can struggle to make an attacking impact. England at their best shouldn’t fear any of their prospective opponents.
Harder Route
England finished second in the group thanks to an injury-time USA winner against Algeria. That goal meant if England negotiate the first knockout round then they could have to face the Argentinian’s in the quarter-finals.
Argentina has been one of the few sides to have really impressed at this World Cup. They have the most deadly attackers in the competition but their defence are not the best. However their opponents have to get the ball off them before they can get anywhere the Argentinian defence. Most of their opponents have struggled to even manage that!
Optimism
I don’t want to go over the top with a 1-0 victory over a poor Slovenia side. It shouldn’t have come to having to win the last group game to scrape through but we are there now and anything is possible.
Everybody believed we had the players to win the tournament before it started; these players haven’t lost all of their talent and passion in the last few weeks. We still have talented players and now their confidence has been restored. We are still in with a chance of lifting the trophy. It could be worse England fans, we could be French!
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