World Cup news - day 13...

Although being in US and missing the match (in office) a 2-2 result went OK with me but.....its been again a bad start for england only that this time they have points on their side......as far as bad luck and injury woes....they are not leaving them,and I suspect if we will be able to see through in this campaign.......but whatever may be the case,,this is still one of the best squad you can find on earth presently....

It is not one of the best squads on earth. It has some of the most famous names in world football but fame and quality are very different things and they have drifted apart in football recently thanks to that bogeyman global capitalism.

Weibe,

I don’t think “global capitalism” has anything to do with it. There are possibly more famous names and equally top earners in football in the more cohesive top teams we’ve seen so far than in the England team, but such fame or money has not prevented them from delivering when it matters. Besides, even though some of us are quick to criticize England’s play (including me), I do not think we have much room for complaint result-wise. We may have wished England to overrun Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago and Sweden, based on the much-touted quality in the team, but frankly, there are no easy games at the World Cup finals and this is certainly not the time to begin to fundamentally change a team’s culture. This is what you do in the four years before every World Cup. Of course, part of the problem is Eriksson, but our criticism of the man can wait. At this stage, we should be content with England winning their group, while urging them to make the key adjustments necessary to confront better opposition, having seen what the Argentines, Spaniards, Brazilians, Dutch, Germans, Italians, Ecuadorians and the Portuguese are offering. Some of us have criticized Eriksson on his selections and even at this early stage, with the injury to Owen, there is the temptation to gloat that we told him so. But that wouldn’t serve any purpose now. England are still very much in the mix, so let’s encourage them all to do their best, while offering our opinions.

England have to take it a game at a time. My own fear right now is that England’s problem is much more fundamental than the claim that they just haven’t hit top gear yet. It is certainly not about the individual talents, but how much of a team they are. Of course, the Ecuador team that played Germany wouldn’t be the one to face England. There is a sense in thinking that Luis Suarez deliberately put out a very weak team against Germany to deceive future opponents, with five of his key players in defence, midfield and attack rested and with a few more in the squad yet to play. The man has talked a lot about how much work he’s done in his quest to understand European teams. His demolition of Poland is testament to how much he’s learnt. Ecuador are strong in every area of the pitch. When the first squad is put out, they have one of the best defences in the competition marshaled by the very strong and very alert Ivan Hurtado. Poland huffed and puffed to no avail in the first twenty minutes of their meet mainly because Hurtado was able to read and neutralize their threat without much fuss, either by the way he made his presence felt or by how he deployed his comrades. Against Costa Rica, they didn’t even enter second gear. Their very hardworking midfield continually spread the ball and kept it away from the very dangerous Wanchope. They made him impatiently come back for the ball time and time again, rather than hang on the shoulder of their defence, which was how he plundered two goals against the Germans. They certainly will not give England much space to work with and from what I’ve seen so far, they can keep the ball better than England and are more instinctive in knowing when to hurt opponents on the break. With the threat of Carlos Tenorio and Delgado, Ecuador would punish England more than Sweden did with those set-pieces comedy England put up in the last game. Ecuador’s weakest part is their attack, but it would be deceptive to underrate Delgado and the threat he can pose when he has the ball anywhere around the box. He’s a natural goal-scorer, in spite of his Southampton nightmare. These guys didn’t beat Brazil and Argentina just because of the altitude alone, they’ve got something about them that England need to be weary of. And what they’ve got is cohesion. The coach is making them all play to their strengths. England shouldn’t be deceived by the languid bearing of Delgado; the Ecuadorians are all very, very fit.

For England to beat Ecuador, I would suggest they play a five man midfield with Michael Carrick in the holding role. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard should be told to go forward and play their game, not attempt to second guess each other as to who should be doing the attacking or the defending and when. Carrick should simply sit in front of the back four, not to be seen to join the attack or defence unnecessarily. The person who’s played that role perfectly so far in the competition is Mascherano. Carrick can learn from watching the tapes of the three games Argentina has played so far. I choose Carrick ahead of Hargreaves not only because Hargreaves made a hash of the role against Sweden, but because Carrick is a better user of the ball, especially with his better range of passes. England will need to neutralize the threat posed by Mendez, the midfield generalissimo of Ecuador. The guy is a cross between Gerrard and Wright-Phillips, can play across the midfield, switch wings, has a powerful shot from outside the area and can score goals as well. The England man upfront should be Rooney, helped of course by Beckham/Lennon and Joe Cole coming in from the flanks. These guys should be instructed to test the keeper from any range, because in spite of what I said about the defence, I think they have a dodgy keeper in Mora. Though seemingly agile, he has problems with low shots to his left and is known to be temperamental.

Though Eriksson has never played three at the back, he can do so, depending on the opponents and score-line. When the opponents are getting weaker at the back, he can do this and throw in a fresh pair of legs in the attack alongside Rooney. It is important that England do away with the temptation of route one football when Crouch is on the pitch. But when opponents are weaker and their legs heavier, Eriksson can send in Crouch. Even Ivan Hurtado has problems in the air.

Kenn, I had in mind someone like beckam. I have to watch the games in the united states, where commentators regularly introduce him as the best player in the world. Now he does not show up in my list of the best thousand.