England were supporting the Italians in the hope they could achieve qualification in their third game. Sturridge was sending messages of support to Pirlo and the rest via twitter…while the Daily Mail issued an article before the game between Italyand Costa Rica about how to behave when supporting Italy in World Cups, underlining the importance of pizza, watching lots of R.Baggio clips on Youtube and to abuse the ref as much as possible. Gary Lineker was also wearing an Italy polo shirt in the studio apparently…. bless him.
After the Italians defeat by Costa Rica (a defeat which may even cost them elimination from the tournament) the English started packing to return home after completing one of the worst ever campaigns in a World Cup in their 40 years of qualifying for it. This has not happened since 1962.
The english press approached this all with its normal routine default attitude.
They are trying every drama they can to show how to enjoy these eliminations. Just like the guy who has been rejected by the hot girl at the bar but acts above it…as if he dont care – only in their hearts and minds does he/they know how much suffering exists.
At this point we shouldnt ignore or forget how many bestselling books in the country have been written trying to explain and analyse England’s failures in world cups.
Obviously…the reasons vary from ‘penalty curse’ to more serious reasons but none of these books touch on the one single truth –England gets eliminated from tournaments because they don’t have a good enough squad.-Since whichever squad they bring will rely on two or three (maximum) of themost seriously over-hyped players in world football. Players who are hyped up by the powerful UK media that are without international experience, afraid, settled in their cocoons, who by and large full fill bit-part player roles in their clubs where the main guys pulling the strings are foreigners.
The English never had a GREAT world cup squad. Never. What they did have though was an identity ( hey jack…lol) . However this identity has been lost ever since the introduction of the Premier League.
Production of English players has gone down the drain with realistically only a foreigner (Wenger) doing the most to help England produce decent footballers who can pass , run, are comfortable on the ball , know what to do and when.
The few english players that are genuinely good are paid excessive millions way beyond their actual value/worth and also get over the top -exposed in media. This over the top-exposure clouds peoples judgement on their ability. A goal from Rooney in a derby suddenly becomes huge news and shown over 130 countries, while a goal from Reus in a German derby might go unnoticed. That should not mean that the former is a better footballer than the latter.
The premiership is the richest league and most organised and profitable league in the world. A league that generates billions is no guarantee that it will have a great national team too. If the sheiks tomorrow go crazy and bring to Qatar all the greatest players on earth they will also have a super rich league but their national squad will still be a bad one. The english might think that since they can buy the best players and have the best league product they can do the same with the national team. That is not the case. International football requires work, sacrifice, lots of sweat, and individual and collective ambition. The only thing the premier league offers are over-hyped overpaid millionaires for the national squad. nothing else.
Off course all this happens due to some cultural traits also…like living in their bubble/microcosm , always thinking of being more important than they are.
In the recent past the F.A very optimistically handed the keys to the national squad to McLaren after Errikson ( who took them to three consecutive quarter finals). A Manger the English media referred to as “McLown“. The F.A thought that a less dogmatic coach than the Swede was what was needed for the players to make the difference. Off course they were wrong. For Euro2008 they didn’t even qualify. Unable to beat teams like Croatia, Israel and Russia . Due to the fact that they don’t know who they are anymore( in a football sense at least). They followed the opposite extreme of selecting big names and paying for a world class manager : Fabio Capello.The best and the best managed to create a salad that went to S.Africa in 2010 and was humiliated by Germany with 4 goals!
Their ability to drive national coaches crazy is unparalleled in football history. Hodgson is no genius, I give you that, but he did built a tough and solid Switzerland around Chapuisat before Hitzfeld took over and also built teams with tough defences in Inter, Fulham etc.. Alas even this lover of catenaccio couldn’t resist the pressure of the media and presented a team in Brasil with a joke defence and a midfield unable to support the strikers/forwards.
It is this dumb practice coupled with standard gung-ho naivety ( a draw with Uruguay would still keep them in the chase, while they were charging forward in numbers to win the game in ‘glory’..) that has eliminated them form the World Cup.
In the crucial game of the group the difference was made by Luis Suarez…an international superstar and world class player…not just an EPL superstar….there is a huge difference.
Regular readers will have no problem guessing who wrote today’s piece.
Positively Arsenal 
First half Italy/Uruguay was a bit scrappy, nothing special. I really want to see this rolling about on the floor malarky as if they’ve just been shot with a 22 calibre bullet stamped out of the game. The sooner retrospective video evidence is used the better.
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ani; I tried ages ago. Fell on deaf ears!
northbank; So, what you are saying is, the 1st half of Italy vs Uruguay was average then…?
Hunter; Did I touch a nerve there? You fancy a bit of the old droopy dawg? No shame in that, he is a fine looking man.
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Preferably with a few years experience at a reasonably high level. I love what Campbell has shown and hope he gets a chance in preseason. He isn’t a substitute for another option to compete with, play with, or provide an alternative to Giroud who could reasonably contribute fairly reliably next season.
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NB, pretty dire. I am switching to England CR for the start of the second half. Watch our boys dueling.
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Compared to watching Campbell playing for Olympiakos in this season’s CL he seems to me to have become much more polished and intelligent in his game. He is a street ahead of Sanogo and I can see him fitting in smoothly in August.
Maybe YaYa could benefit from a good loan spell along the same lines
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Why Mario ? Why ?
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LSG and Ani; Yeah, agree with all that. I think JC would get enough playing time at AFC, no need for another loan. He could play wide right, especially given Theo’s absence.
I think if he hadnt have missed so much of last season (who didnt?) Sanogo would be further along in his development, so a loan would make sense. At least for one half of the season.
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Unsurprisingly, the biggest worry over Balotelli is his temperament but the 23 year-old would undoubtedly represent an upgrade on Olivier Giroud and is an out-an-out striker.
Matt Law Telegraph
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Hmmm…. Interesting!
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” the 23 year-old would undoubtedly represent an upgrade on Olivier Giroud”
Oh well if Matt Law says so………….sadly its unlikely to be true.
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I just dont see why its “undoubtedly” though. I think they are different players. Sure they can both play the lone striker, but still.
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And I really rate Balotelli too!
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Brave keeping from Navas – good lad
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It may be unlikely, but so what? Now is the time to dream of big things in the market. Just as the beginning of the season is the time to dream of winning the league. Confident and hopeful–where’s the harm in that?
I am not fussed too much about Balotelli or some other striker. I think it is clear we need more attacking threat up front and relying on Giroud as the principal central striker is a recipe for problems of several sorts. We have the resources, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t hope and even expect that this summer AW and the club will manage to bring in a good striker after attempting to do this last summer.
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We must have signed MB. He is injured.
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That wasn’t a red card…. I’ve seen worse go unpunished
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Dex, that sounds promising!
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Beautiful pass from Wilshere, wasted by Sturridge.
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Oh well, Joel Campbell off. Not much in this match for me now, besides JW. And that was a nice return ball for Sturridge in the box. Only sparkle of quality for minutes–both teams just can’t pass the ball accurately.
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Good idea to loan Yaya out for a season. He’s talented, but needs some games and the refinement that will come with playing.
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Lampard was ok (just about heh) in the first, poor in the second for me. Wilshere has been England’s best player in the second half, there can’t be much doubt about it if you’re talking about consistancy etc.
A little frustrated at others’ inability to return the pass or make use of a good one from him.
And Wilshere off for the skipper. He’ll probably score the winner…Wilshere isn’t ‘match fit’ so the less chance of injury the better!
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Suarez just nutted an Italian player….. and got away with it
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Biter is grabbing his teeth after it looks like he bit Chiellini. Certainly looked like he was biting him and that is what Chiellinis is claiming.
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And then goes down holding his teeth…… perhaps it was a bite, the geezers a fucking vampire
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Should be tossed out right away in disgrace. Absolute disgrace.
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Bollo
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Godin scores from the corner. But the whole passage of play was wrong–Suarez should have been red carded with free kick to Italy.
commentator says, “Uruguay have really bitten Italy here!” Nice one!
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Suarez is a really hungry player.
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That’s three times he has bit a player. The man needs psychological help. If I were Chiellini, I would make a big deal of it and threaten a law suit. That will scare FIFA into banning him harshly.
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Without that, I wonder if it will just be passed over.
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Luis ‘Hannibal’ Suarez………… disgrace. If Italy and Uruguay are two of the top teams in the world…. then I think Stoke could probably win the WC.
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Costa Rica win the group!
Biter bites again.
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I may not have a clue what I’m wittering on about here but I think FB is an interesting area, at least things are more obvious there: Jones was bloomin’ tripe! Gibbs may have his injury issues but he still should’ve been picked over Shaw, I considered this when I made the comment back then: still an inexplicable call for me.
I think Germany have problems there, they have their reasons for their selections but after having giving the benefit of the doubt I’m not sure. Both The Madrid and Germany manager played an unfit Khadeira, they must have their reasons?
Will Evra be a weakness for France or is his experience a bonus?
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personally I think its a bit of an impossible task sending an all english squad of players and coaches to go and win a competition to become the best team in the world when said coaches struggle to win their own domestic competition with the aid of foreign playeys from around the world. in the last 20 yrs of domestic competition English manager’s have not won a lot domestically or abroad compared to their foreign counterparts
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Suarez will probably miss his team’s second round game. What an absolute dumb fuck.
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Limestonegunner
June 24, 2014 at 6:53 pm
lol…approach at your own risk….
you blocking my run chielini? take that…
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Hunter, he may need a good lawyer. He certainly needs a top top psychiatrist.
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no man he is cool….. defenders should know by know this is one not to fuck with..he will give more than he gets and i think partly thats due to a very basic animalistic tribal instinct to show who is boss….like the monkeys in space odyssey… i wish we had him when rio terry barton taylor etc were bullying our players now its too late…
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Hunter
I sincerely hope your last comment was just a joke. Only a fool would condone Suarez’s awful behaviour.
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It clearly is just a witch hunt by the evil English media to scapegoat poor Suarez and distract attention from the terrible failure of English football in producing players of such technical quality that they can combine head butting and biting an opponent at the same time, displaying great coordination and superior skill. English players haven’t demonstrated the finer dental techniques and can only manage lumbering head butts and have never ever mastered the shoulder or bicep bite.
The entire press is ignoring how Suarez hurt his teeth in this complex and sophisticated maneuver due to Chiellini’s brutal jerk when incisor contact was made. Suarez is the victim here!
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The story we will here is that he was only trying to head butt him but because his teeth stick out so far, they inadvertently sunk deep into Chiellini’s fleshy shoulder but with no jaw action by Suarez. Completely unintentional and terribly injurious to Suarez and his world famous buck teeth.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup-2014/luis-suarez-bite-pictures-see-3756841
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Hunter: you are spoiling things . I thought this was a place for mature intelligence.
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Well done Hellas…..they deserved to win….
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Foreverheady
Why punish us because of Hunter?
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Really, Georgaki? Dive in the box worse than Fred’s. True, they hit the bar twice on great shots, but pretty poor there at the end. Greece is my pick for the worst team to qualify for the knockouts. But they could be eclipsed by the US, if they go through.
Worst day of a great tournament. Stained by Suarez and Samaras. And two buffoonish referees.
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I do feel sorry for Gervinho.
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The analysis showed it was no dive….
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I think it was a Penalty. Very unlucky, but a pen.
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how on earth does arsenal get linked to a player like aurier? i will prefer we go for ebuoe than this guy. defensively, he is a disaster waiting to happen. his positioning is not up to sratch. he just knocked ivory coast out of the world cup with his stupidity. he left his defensive duty at a crucial period, what he did throughout the game. if this is who we want to replace sagna with, then we are due for a long season.
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Greece’s style is the antithesis of Arsenal. But they are a well organised team. The central defenders Manolas and Papastathopoulos were superb. Yes, I wouldn’t want to watch a team like that in the EPL, they are more an Allardyce/Pulis type team as far as I can see…..but sometime my heart takes over…
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I thought he look a good prospect Layksite.Shows what I know.
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Well done Greece, well played.
Colombia are doing the bizz, not at all average, even without their best striker.
Hopefully Aurier can have a good break before he joins up with his new team mates.
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