Tag: World Cup 2014

WC2014: So close yet so far

T. J. BlakeLeave a comment

Thursday night England were beaten by Uruguay in the World Cup group stage, dashing everyones hopes of qualifying for the next round. We needed two Italy wins to have a chance but Costa Rica knocked us out with a 1-0 win over the Italians.
Hodgson played an England side that were tamed by Italy 2-1 in the first game. This team was then easily dismantled by Suarez, scoring two goals in the game. A wasteful Rooney missed big chances and apart from that there weren’t many chances for England.

Whispers are that the England team to face Costa Rica is a different side, which I believe we needed in the Uruguay match so we will see how they do.

But the point of this blog post is actually for my bet I placed last night. Algeria and USA to win. There were great odds, so I put just £1 on them both to win, with a return of around £80. Of course I was annoyed with the later match… Algeria won 4-2 but USA came so close to upsetting Portugal… in fact they were winning 2-1 before the Portuguese equalised in the 95th minute – Typical, I lost my bet.

Enjoying the 2014 World Cup? My England Team Line-up would be…

T. J. Blake1 Comment

The World Cup has begun and football has been played everyday, 3 times a day for nearly a week, and it’s been a great.

Surprise surprise England lost their first game, and a huge shock (no sarcasm here) Spain lost. In fact they got absolutely torn apart by a fantastic Dutch side – Thanks to Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie, Spain did not know what to do to prevent them from scoring. Admittedly it could have been a lot worse for Spain, 5 goals conceded was the least they got away with.

Brazil have surprisingly been pretty dull as well as Argentina (even after that Messi screamer). But my favourites Germany looked strong in their first match against Ronaldo, I mean Portugal…

Focusing my attention to England, I believe that Hodgson is failing to use his biggest talents. This England team actually does have a lot of potential, they actually looked decent against Italy but I just feel that Hodgson is too scared of shunning the likes of Rooney out of the team.
I think the England defence is weak and to be honest I’m not sure how I would improve it, although I wouldn’t have called Luke Shaw up to the team and instead called up Kieran Gibbs, I think the other choices were probably justified. The midfield is decent, although my starting line up would consist of starting either Gerrard or Henderson, and partnering the starter with either Wilshere, Lallana or Barkley with Sterling and Ox on the wings supporting front man Sturridge. That’s my opinion anyway…

So if you’re watching the World Cup then feel free to express your opinion on this post and tell me your starting England line up if you were Hodgson.