Still think England can lift the Cup come 9th July 2006?

Not with the performance they shown so far,that’s for sure!

From the start England had dominated the game,in which Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) were more than happy to defend and place all 11 men behind the ball.

But England,for all their dominance did not convert them into goals,and by far this has been one of the worst performance of any team in this tournament.Sven Goran hasn’t found a cohesive side,and many England fans & critics believe Lampard and Gerrard should not play together at the same time,because oth have similar roles and talents…i think Paul Scholes smelled that some time back!.

Caribbean nation, T&T once again played their defensive game as they did against Sweden and that really frustrated England who were unable to penetrate their defence with a goal.Dwight Yorke used his experience playing in the premier league to T&T’s advantage.Kenwyne Jones & Stern John also proved to be the thorn in England’s side.

As the game progressed,England’s dominance were evident,creating some chances which were duly missed by Crouch and Owen,who (Owen) by the way looks pretty rusty…Defoe anyone?

It wasn’t long before cries of ‘Rooney,Rooney,Rooney’ were heard in the stadium,as the English fans cried out for their main man,Sven though was having none of it.But the cries got even louder and anticipation was in the air when Wonderkid Rooney began warming up at the touchline with Aaron Lennon.Still, they were not given a chance till later.

England finished the first half looking as if they had played all 90 minutes,the players looked jagged,dull and pretty much uninspiring!, which is such a suprise for a side many claim could be the next champion!.

As the second half got underway,Sven finnaly had some sense knocked into him as he replaced
Owen and Carragher for Rooney and Lennon in the 58th minute.Needless to say the English fans went beserkmseeing their star man on the pitch after 6 weeks of intense wait and speculation,but nonetheless Rooney has arrived and was raring to go.

Aaron Lennon brought some much needed pace to the england side, and was evident for all to see with his darting run and trickeries ala cristiano ronaldo.Becks was drawn in to a more defensive role,but the introduction of Downing for Joe Cole in the 74th minute meant England were now playing with 3 men in defence & 5 in the middle and 2 up front.

That was the single best decision Sven has ever made in this game,that meant Becks was a little more free to roam the middle and get those crosses into crouch and rooney,and in the 83rd minute that was what exactly happened,as Beck’s cross found crouch and the Liverpool striker heading it into the goal to make it 1-0 to England and also to be England’s first goal in the tournament (the one against Paraguay was an OWN goal).

T&T were dissapointed, and in the 91st minute,insult was added into injury as Steven Gerrard beat Shaka Hislop for a third time this year (he scored two against Hislop in the FA Cup final).
De Ja Vu perhaps?.

Rooney ended up playing a bit part in this game,but it was good all the same to see him finally play,and i hope in their next game they come out stronger and better and prove me wrong when i say they WON’T win the cup this summer.

Svens reaction to the game

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