Unlucky England, the only difference between the 2 teams was a world class striker. Rooney played well but that shot he had in the box should have been roof of the net. Felt the defence was our weak part of the team and that was highlighted last night, Baines and Jagielka looked a bit out of their depth. Whilst I'm no fan of Terry who should have never gone to the WC because of his past antics, I do think England would have benefited from picking Cole and playing him at LB instead. Oh well, come on Italy, there is a chance we could still go through.

In unrelated WC news very happy with the Joleon Lescott signing for Albion.

this was sent to me on the book of face showing why China is not in World Cup

^^ ha ha ah ah!

here a great article just read re: spain

http://www.espnfc.co.uk/blog/tactics...own-revolution

shit!

Great article, thanks, but it overlooks that while tiki-taka/possession may not be dead, it's dominance this past couple of seasons has been replaced by high pressure counter-attacking associated with the likes of Ancelotti and Klopp. This may just be because key players for Spain/Barcelona have past their peak just when players for other sides, playing a different style, hit theirs. Either way, rightly or wrongly, possession football startec to be seen as unfashionable/impractical probably since the last Euros and Dortmunds and Bayern's success in the 2013 CL.

Doom!

i don't think italy is ready to let this one go, but the ticos have been jamming up pirlo.

also, balotelli is pulling a lot of defenders. if italy can open up with someone else simultaneously, it should be able to find her goals.

jupp's success was flexibility-- he was able to play possession and suddenly switch to direct attacks. tiki taka with teeth.

--

ps- cassano in!!!! go fatman go!

Seems like that dood don't wanna move. How many times has he been offsides? He needs to chill....

indeed all italian long balls have been wasted offside-- not just balotelli but also on the wings.

they are missing other attacking options.

cassano has been terrible connecting with other players so far. and lost many balls. functioning almost like a costa rican defender.

CONCACAF Bitchez

Just stepped in from work to see the post match review. Goddammit.

I agree with that article it was a great read. I had predicted (not guessed) that Spain would run into a wall eventually for the reasons the article mentions; (a) fatigue/mileage (b) teams catching up with Spain's tactics and (c) a bit of bad luck

Props to Spain, they did indeed bring a certain revolution to the modern tactics and style of play, and they deserve all the credit for that. Respect.

Shit's unreal. Costa Rica was tactically superior. Great coach. Prandelli fucked-- bringing in Cassano was a huge wasted chance.

It was so unreal I don't think even the Ticos realized it was happening until the final whistle! Props to them, I was surprised that Panama didn't qualify, but I knew Costa Rica would show up this year, they have just been getting better and better, more disciplined and developing better chemistry. Really, it seems like they play futbol without worrying about the results so much as sticking with the process. If they lose, they lose, but when the win? As the announcers said, "Historica."

I feel quite relieved to be honest. Not sure6 I could've taken the stress of having to rely on the Italy Uruguay game - and I'm not confident we'd even beat, never mind thrash, Costa Rica. Thought we'd do better than we did but not that much better and at least we went out without playing especially badly in either game. This definitely doesn't as feel as bad as when we went out in Sth Africa.

Yeah, sorry for your losses Demonrail, but at least England gave it a good go and didn't back down. Personally I like their very choreographed, disciplined style of play and would have been happy to see them advance after their poor showing in South Africa..

Respect to Ingle Terra

for next world cup you guys should hire the colombian that's taking costa rica to D group dominance. he dealt with pirlo better than hodgson did.

Haha. Just been talking (more like just listening) to an Italian woman who lives downstairs from me. Apparently this is what happens when you play a world cup in "a fucking jungle" and invite "fucking savages [aka non European players] to play gentlemen [aka European ones]."

Brilliant.