England: Let's NOT get carried away
I'm sure most of you witnessed England climb out of the group stages with a sequence of good results against good opposition (with the exception of Ukraine who are shocking!).
England struggled yesterday against Ukraine who lets not forget are ranked 52 in the world. England did get the job done though and managed to somehow grind out a 1-0 win thanks to a header from the returning Wayne Rooney in the second half. Rooney also missed a glorious chance in the first half which he really should have buried but nevertheless a win is a win and as Roy Keane said "England just have to win and the table will take care of itself" which it did. So England play Italy on Sunday in Kiev which promises to be a tasteful game for both teams.
Do England really have what it takes to win the EURO's? From what I have seen. No.
People seem to forget that yesterday England were playing against one of the worst teams in the tournament. Yes, they had a massive backing but that was always to be expected. What wasn't to be expected was for England to be dominated by a team ranked 52 in the world. Ukraine did put the ball in the goal but the 5th official seemed to think otherwise much to the frustration and agony of the Ukraine fans.
Ukraine on the night were unlucky. As a result of the match Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine's David Beckham) retired from International football after a fabulous playing career. The co-hosts it must be said played with heart and passion as to be expected but were helped at times by some bad spells of play from England. Upon his much anticipated return Wayne Rooney seemed to be very mediocre in the middle of the England attacking force which may have partly been to blame because of his lack of game time. Of course Rooney hasn't played for around 5 weeks because of a suspension. A lot had been said about whether he should even be able to return to the England team after results against Sweden and France. Roy Hodgson stuck with him though and the gamble payed off at the expense of Andy Caroll who was described to me as a white pony tailed Heskey the other day. The real heart of the team though was provided by Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker who were phenomenal throughout the match and have been really throughout the whole group stage.
So looking ahead to England vs Italy... The Italians haven't had the best group stage results around but it was never going to be with the current World Cup champions in your Group, Spain, along with Croatia who also are not a bad team with some decent players in that team. I won't talk about how the Irish got the joint worst record in EURO history. Oops. The Italians play a similar sort of shape to England and the definite threat and heart of the team is no doubt Andrea Pirlo. The dynamic Juventus man may have age against him but is still a major threat to England. He creates chance after chance for the Italians and is one to be weary of in that midfield. Gerrard and Parker will need to put more pressure on him then they did against Ukraine. The Italians also have the innocent and dependable figure of Mario Balotelli leading the line for the Italians. Terry and Lescott will need to be all over him during the game and really try and keep him quiet. Let's just hope there are no Italian fireworks after the game... To summarise... England have got a chance but will need to be more clinical on the break when playing the Italians. Rooney, Gerrard, Terry, Young, Hart will all need to be at their best. They will need to be strict, confident, well-disciplined throughout and have good tactics which Roy always does. However can we win the EURO's? No. Thanks for reading.
Ukraine on the night were unlucky. As a result of the match Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine's David Beckham) retired from International football after a fabulous playing career. The co-hosts it must be said played with heart and passion as to be expected but were helped at times by some bad spells of play from England. Upon his much anticipated return Wayne Rooney seemed to be very mediocre in the middle of the England attacking force which may have partly been to blame because of his lack of game time. Of course Rooney hasn't played for around 5 weeks because of a suspension. A lot had been said about whether he should even be able to return to the England team after results against Sweden and France. Roy Hodgson stuck with him though and the gamble payed off at the expense of Andy Caroll who was described to me as a white pony tailed Heskey the other day. The real heart of the team though was provided by Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker who were phenomenal throughout the match and have been really throughout the whole group stage.
So looking ahead to England vs Italy... The Italians haven't had the best group stage results around but it was never going to be with the current World Cup champions in your Group, Spain, along with Croatia who also are not a bad team with some decent players in that team. I won't talk about how the Irish got the joint worst record in EURO history. Oops. The Italians play a similar sort of shape to England and the definite threat and heart of the team is no doubt Andrea Pirlo. The dynamic Juventus man may have age against him but is still a major threat to England. He creates chance after chance for the Italians and is one to be weary of in that midfield. Gerrard and Parker will need to put more pressure on him then they did against Ukraine. The Italians also have the innocent and dependable figure of Mario Balotelli leading the line for the Italians. Terry and Lescott will need to be all over him during the game and really try and keep him quiet. Let's just hope there are no Italian fireworks after the game... To summarise... England have got a chance but will need to be more clinical on the break when playing the Italians. Rooney, Gerrard, Terry, Young, Hart will all need to be at their best. They will need to be strict, confident, well-disciplined throughout and have good tactics which Roy always does. However can we win the EURO's? No. Thanks for reading.
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