The Three Lions

This performance was better than anything they did in 2006 or 2010.

I wouldn't say that , no. Italy were better and certainly much more confident about this. But England , for all Italy had to say , had they been somewhat more precise in at least 1 of their wasted chances in the 2nd half , mayhaps they could have gained the right to say they were on par .

But i'd say Italy , for the majority of the game , had the upper hand , though certainly not something made easy for them by England. They have to give something extra in their next game now , but i am sure they can manage it .

I'd certainly like to see them play with another great team like Italy after they get past the group stage , maybe Germany or Holland.. days before this game , i thought they wouldn't make it out of the group , but after the game , i am definitely thinking about the opposite .

They surely can do it , but we will have to see how Uruguay will react after their loss.

Nicely said arq.

It was a beautiful game of football. An even contest.

And both teams have a lot of respect for one another. No dirty challenges, no gamesmanship and the ref isn't a talking point. It was a great advert for the game we all love.

Good effort by England imo. Certainly did better than expected and it could have easily been a draw. Sterling and Sturridge were notably impressive. A lot of positives to take into future games. On the contrary England however weren't better than Italy and all the weaknesses tactically will need to be looked at and fixed.

I 've never felt rivalry with England (unlike French,Germany and Spain) ,  on the contrary I had always a sort of respect for English football   for Premier League,today they were worthy rivals as they were in double match for France 98 ... while I can't say same thing in Euro 2012

And you can notice the great improvement made by England if you compare Italy-England 2012 to Italy-England 2014 . Despite the defeat.

In 2012 England played only a negative, speculative game to reach penalty kicks ( and it will confirm the awful tradition of England to penalty kicks. but it was a justice after the trend of match) , an ugly image of mediocrity and regression , as if England couldn't aspire to a future .
In 2014 England played to football ,  even Hodgson understood that it was the better solution for a team with real talent , real young talent and it officially placed the basess for the future . today.

Forza Italia! ***** Glad we beat those overrated brats. Arab oil money won't help your NT.

A good match but no way the best match....Itally attack literally died in last 20 mins. they completely focused on defending the lead and did not come out of the box. they did it well though. It was all England playing and trying to equalize. i thought it would even be interesting to see what Italy could do had england been able to equalize. but italy defense was too strong for england to break.

Pedram wrote:Such a shame the final result doesn't reflect their performance, i think they were at least on par with Italy.

No they were not.

lol... ^ Two types of Italian fans, they can go from cultured and enlightened to the downright arrogant and disrespectful. A far cry from the respect the two sides showed one another today sbaggio.

Anyway I enjoyed this match, I think I speak for most england fans when I say in a way we would have taken this defeat over a familiarly dull 0-0 draw.

Well said Arq and much appreciated! Sterling, Cahill, Sturridge and Baines all put on extremely promising displays today for future tournaments. Gerrard improved in the second half and Hendo put on a solid display. Rooney was typically underwhelming but he didn't have a bad game and obviously contributed hugely with his great assist.

The three substitutes were, I suppose, the one major flaw in this side, with neither Barkley, Wilshere or Lallana offering a lot when they came on.

We had the better chances and I think Gerrards post-match was spot on. This is a match that could've gone either way, England having more chances and looking a far more technical side that what we are used to.

We could analyse all we want but realistically there aren't too many faults we can place on that performance, just did not have quite the same composure and execution as the Italians in the final third.

This side is certainly capable of reaching the quarter finals, so regardless of whether it has the experience or quality to put up any real challenge for the cup, lets hope performances like that continue.

after watched uruguay's performances vs costa rica, I hope ENgland will go through alongside Italy.. Now England and Italy shouldn't underestimate Costa Rica after their display against uruguay.. They look dangerous going forward.

i really have to appreciate england's gutsy football. they really exploited italy's weakness in best possible way. not like euro. they only missed goals tonight...

really great performance... they need a bit of italian mentality to win big games

Peccadillo wrote:lol... ^ Two types of Italian fans, they can go from cultured and enlightened to the downright arrogant and disrespectful. A far cry from the respect the two sides showed one another today sbaggio.

Anyway I enjoyed this match, I think I speak for most england fans when I say in a way we would have taken this defeat over a familiarly dull 0-0 draw.

Well said Arq and much appreciated! Sterling, Cahill, Sturridge and Baines all put on extremely promising displays today for future tournaments. Gerrard improved in the second half and Hendo put on a solid display. Rooney was typically underwhelming but he didn't have a bad game and obviously contributed hugely with his great assist.

The three substitutes were, I suppose, the one major flaw in this side, with neither Barkley, Wilshere or Lallana offering a lot when they came on.

We had the better chances and I think Gerrards post-match was spot on. This is a match that could've gone either way, England having more chances and looking a far more technical side that what we are used to.

We could analyse all we want but realistically there aren't too many faults we can place on that performance, just did not have quite the same composure and execution as the Italians in the final third.

This side is certainly capable of reaching the quarter finals, so regardless of whether it has the experience or quality to put up any real challenge for the cup, lets hope performances like that continue.

There are a spectrum of fans from every country. I, myself do not like England. It was a good game and I am glad we won. I hope we go deep and England get booted soon. I respect them but I don't like them.

Nice job lads. Much better than i thought... but i will stress caution. France looked good against Spain, Germany, etc. over the past 2 years but had problems against the smaller teams. Once a team can perform in games that are open AND handle teams that park the bus, then the team has truly arrived.

Let's see if England has a style that it can impose on everyone. That's what i'm waiting for with France.

I will say this though... Liverpool is saving England NT.

They were better than I expected but I feel people are overhyping them now. Italy hit the woodwork twice and had an effort cleared off of the line. They don't have a very good defence and Henderson and Gerrard is not a good enough pairing at this level. They have some very exciting players going forward but Rooney is completely wasted out wide.

sportsczy wrote:Nice job lads.  Much better than i thought...  but i will stress caution.  France looked good against Spain, Germany, etc. over the past 2 years but had problems against the smaller teams.  Once a team can perform in games that are open AND handle teams that park the bus, then the team has truly arrived.  

Let's see if England has a style that it can impose on everyone.  That's what i'm waiting for with France.

I will say this though...  Liverpool is saving England NT.  

the same way Barcelona saved the Spanish NT

what's the problem?

sbaggio wrote:Forza Italia! ***** Glad we beat those overrated brats. Arab oil money won't help your NT.

Cold Winnipeg winters have frozen your brain I see

TenMenWonTheLeague wrote:They were better than I expected but I feel people are overhyping them now. Italy hit the woodwork twice and had an effort cleared off of the line. They don't have a very good defence and Henderson and Gerrard is not a good enough pairing at this level. They have some very exciting players going forward but Rooney is completely wasted out wide.

How are people overhyping them lol? they are just giving them respect for a good performance against a top team.

No one expects anything major from England, no need to be so defensive lol..... how dare we say nice things about England

sbaggio wrote:Forza Italia! ***** Glad we beat those overrated brats. Arab oil money won't help your NT.

I see you've crawled out from underneath your rock.

Is this thread serious?  

Since England went out and played a more pleasing game to the eye then in years past we should laud there what? Courage and willingness to adapt there philosophy around the players they have?  

Every country  has to make the decision when to break from the old guard to the new guard except England's decision was way easier than other countries because the old guard has been crap in tournament football and way overrated. It's not like the decisions Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain and Brasil have to make to keep or cut out the old guard.  It was really a no brainer.

I don't really get what we are applauding England for?  No, they were not as good as Italy and tactically they were inept letting the oldest man on the pitch roam the midfield and dictate the game as if it were a practice session and he were wearing a red jersey so player;s don't foul him.

Pirlo the genius that he is must have been shocked at how easy it was for him to operate and pull the strings.  Hell Xavi must have been watching in total jealousy at how England let him go about his mastery of the midfield without pressure or physically punishing him for being older and playing in a sauna.

The goals they let up were schoolboy stuff and had Italy needed another it looked they could have gotten it anytime they wanted it after about the 70th minute.

They wasted a substitution on Jack F'ing Wilshere who has been crap for years now and was so bad in that game it wasn't even funny, he looked like he had no business being out there when they could have thrown on a guy like Milner who has played the super sub role all year to perfection not to mention is, was and always will be a better player than Wilshere or even Lampard who has at least shown to be a big game player during his career.

It was a good game to watch and was entertaining, but I think everyone on earth expected either a 1-1 draw or a 2-1 Italy win and that's what we got.

I said before this world cup started, England will not receive 1 point from this group and after this game I see no reason why I should change my opinion.  In fact after Costa Rica's performance I think's it's a better bet than before.

TL;DR Version.

Bla bla bla i hate England, i said before i hate England i see no reason to change my stance on hating England.

TenMenWonTheLeague wrote:They were better than I expected but I feel people are overhyping them now. Italy hit the woodwork twice and had an effort cleared off of the line. They don't have a very good defence and Henderson and Gerrard is not a good enough pairing at this level. They have some very exciting players going forward but Rooney is completely wasted out wide.

This.


England played well, they should easily dispatch Uruguay and they actually look like the best England side in a long time. But they were not on par with Italy.

If people want to play the 'let's count missed chances/imaginary goals' game, then Italy won 5-3. Stupid thing to do btw.

I enjoyed watching England, which is something that nobody in their right minds would normally say. Roonay should be dropped for a game if he doesn't improve I reckon, or at least played in his actual role for once. and Welbeck is not needed in the last 2 games and should be substituted for somebody who will offer more in the attack department. No need to have a workhorse against Costa Rica.

But Tom where are people saying any different? no one is saying they are going to stroll to the Semi's or anything.

People are saying they played well against a side which easily end up in the semi's and it gives the country positivity going forward into future tournament and that's it.

People just like to deflect any positivity regarding England for some reason.

Tomwin Lannister wrote:
England played well, they should easily dispatch Uruguay and they actually look like the best England side in a long time. But they were not on par with Italy.

Spot on

A lot of criticism of Rooney here. Are people forgetting that the only top, top quality pass played by any England player during the course of this game was off his boot and resulted in a goal? I agree with TenMenWonTheLeague in that Rooney is marginalised out wide. I think he's going to have to settle for being the second striker in this team unless the formation changes. Of course, he wasted some chances and looked outright lethargic after 70 minutes, but that might also be partly because of his role as a winger in that game. There's really no reason to put Rooney in a position where he has to track back IMO.