2010 FIFA World Cup

[Casperian]

German media reports Beckham was furious and attacked the referee after the game and Schweinsteiger stepped in to calm him down.

Would love to see some footage of this.

[Who]

Ouch, England conceded two goals off of their own set pieces. A free kick outside of Germany's penalty box + a throw in from the right corner of the pitch.

Two needless goals to concede. Very bad sloppy goals to concede.

[Fafnir]

Ouch, England conceded two goals off of their own set pieces. A free kick outside of Germany's penalty box + a throw in from the right corner of the pitch.

Two needless goals to concede. Very bad sloppy goals to concede.

Their defense was awful.

[ederson]

The first two weren`t any better.

[Who]

I thought England's success with that weak team selection in the Slovakia game would come back to haunt them.

That was a hugely flawed midfield four and an inconsistent front two. That team selection was vulnerable and going to hurt, especially against a quality side like Germany.

------------------------------------------------------

I am very disappointed with Fabio Capello in this tournament. I thought he had a very poor showing throughout the tournament, as bad as or worse than Steve McClaren, and deserves to be fired for it.

There was not a single game where I thought he made the right decisions. He consistently made it more difficult for England to win games.

-------------------------------------------------

If there was ever a game to go 4-4-1-1, this was it.

England needed that extra midfielder to combat the intelligence, passing and movement of Germany + that extra creative spark in Joe Cole to improve their passing, both in possession retention and creation of goal scoring opportunities.

[BballTim]

  By the way, why was Beckham even there? They needed a mascot? And why was he even allowed to sit there? Was he on the WC roster? Was he an assistant coach?

[PosImpos]

FIFA: Where "Refusal To Use Simple Technology To Prevent Idiotic Mistakes" Happens.

[misha]

That was the best game of the tournament. Germany is the better team and showed that all along. Even though Lampard's goal could have change the dynamycs of the match, Germany were too strong and played simply brilliant at times.

As for the difference between Capello's team and McLaren's team - on the performances in this tournament - very little, but generally we have looked much better in the past 2 years since McLaren left.

I have to say that I'm not surprised that England lost. We just aren't as good
as the media believe us to be.

Yes, Capello is another England coach that can't make them play to their full potential. It's not only in this game, they played pretty crappy from the start.

The defense was just horrible. And where was Rooney this whole WC? Didn't score even once and was invisible. And that's after the best season of his career.

By the way, why was Beckham even there? They needed a mascot? And why was he even allowed to sit there? Was he on the WC roster? Was he an assistant coach?

Sort of mascot. He was brought by Capello in order to add positive presence to the locker room.

[misha]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqR_fi0WAww
 

[BballTim]

  England was never that viable a team no matter who the coach. Watching the US game, and seeing them struggle with Altidore and Findley on the counter, you could see they were going to be in trouble against teams with better strikers.

[celticmaestro]

pbak63 - I've TP'd you for being gracious and honest in defeat. Couldn't disagree with any of what you said.

I will say this about the game: Germany deserved to win. Yes, Lampard scored a legitimate goal, but you always play to the whistle. Over the course of 90 minutes, England were lucky to lose 4-1.

[ederson]

Of course! Germany was by far the better side. England had only 5 mins of good game in the first and another 10 in the second and that`s mailny because the germans stayed back.

Poor movement witout the ball, vey slow pace, the biga names unable to produce something (throughout the tournament), they kept attacking through the middle making although it was clear the stand no chance. I expected something better from Cappello.

Well we are getting used to this.

I hope Argentina qualifies and we`ll watch a great quarterfinal. (england vs argentina would be intersting too but for the wrong reasons...)

[ederson]

Wasn`t Teves offside?

[misha]

Wasn`t Teves offside?

Yep, by a big margin. The refs in this tournament are beyond terrible.

2:0 Higuaín.

[Casperian]

pbak63 - I've TP'd you for being gracious and honest in defeat. Couldn't disagree with any of what you said.

I will say this about the game: Germany deserved to win. Yes, Lampard scored a legitimate goal, but you always play to the whistle. Over the course of 90 minutes, England were lucky to lose 4-1.

You can take solace in the fact that your pop-music is way better than ours.