Cybereagles

Gooner1 wrote:Over the 2 games England played well, however, they lack the world class striker........
Oh well, the national team will be back home before their fans postcards.....

They played well till they lose the lead again in both games and then resort to their long ball play. All they kept saying after the Italian game was Rooney this and Rooney that, that he wasn't being played in his natural position so.....................

^They've yet to accept that Rooney isn't world class, quite like Nigeria hasn't come to terms with the limitations of Obiesta. The clutch needs its straws.

Seeing Suarez rape England in person = priceless

He was not even close to 100% yet buried 2 goals from 3 chances.

As for England, no skill and no creativity leads to these types of results. They arent good enough.

England as always produces a good fight, but not enough wins. Especially against strong opponents. And they did have 2 strong opponents in group play so far in Italy and Uruguay. It seems they have a 3rd good opponent coming in Costa Rica, so 3 losses is possible. Suffice it to say, England will at least lose heroically.

It's shades of the same thing. Pace, power, hustle, and determination. But a lack of guile, composure, and finishing always seem to let England down. It ultimately comes down to the players themselves.

For me, Rooney hitting the scoring once versus Suarez scoring twice exemplifies the typical skill and guile gap England faces. There is something in the English football upbringing that can't produce players who can take over and decide a game consistently against decent opponents.

1970 and 1990 are the only English teams of worth I've seen. The former on tape. And obviously I saw the 1990 team. Otherwise English teams have been mid tier. A shame for a nation that invests so much time, money, and passion into the game.

Cheers, Mate

I think Hodgson should be given a chance. I like the way he has blooded in a lot of younsters and finally done away with most of Englands old guard apart from Gerard and Lampard. Problem is some sections of the English media are already baying fo his blood so I fear he will not be given time. I am convinced if he is allowed to complete his work the 3 lions will make an impact at the Euro's in 2016.

^the youngsters were thrust upon him. Tactically, Roy's useless, beyond Hodgson there's nil else, dinosaurs amid a Jurassic park.

ohsee wrote:

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

Silver:
I also kept goal competitively (college), and was not bad at it. I saved hot shots from close range, and also conceded my fair share. I faced those who thought they were strikers, and faced those who KNEW they were strikers. A striker of Suarez's caliber will only miss such a goal by their own fault or miscalculation. Conversely, a GK will only save such a shot from such a quality striker by being lucky/successfully gambling.

A striker running at you full speed with the ball, at close range holds ALL the aces. Kinda like PKs. Anything a good GK does in that situation is an intelligent gamble, but a gamble nonetheless! Suarez is an assassin. After firing at you at close range, as a KG, you stand up, go and pick the ball from your net and shake your head.

Kpom! Chief Doctor has spoken! Nothing more to add.

My broda, I conceded a similar goal from a similar striker (albeit college level) a long time ago. I saw nightmares for close to 10 yrs after that goal. That was how long it took me to finally get over it. I kept rewinding that match in my head, and wondered if i could have done anything different. It was a final match, in the rain, and we were up 2-1 with about 5 mins left in regulation. I will never forget that striker...Andrei Golfov. medium build, stocky, tricky, fast, extremely mobile, packed cannon shots on both legs. There were rumors that he was a semi-pro...One of our CDs was giving him a hard time, so he resorted to turning and shooting from difficult positions. He was quite good in placing the ball...fired a rocket off the post once, nearly took my entire wrist off with a second shot. By the end of the game, one of our FBs (our RB Peter) was slightly hobbled. Andrei somehow sensed it and switched to "mark" him. One of my few attributes was being able to see the field quite well. I immediately notified the main CD (Victor), as a play was developing from midfield and Andrei was making dummy runs around Peter. CD decided to mark the zone instead...their AM recognized the situation and flicked to Andrei, who easily beat Peter and was on his way to me. In a nutshell, despite my positioning and shakara, he fired a "Suarez" past a hapless moi....

Things would get worse...we lost on PKs, despite my saving 4/8 (I saved one during the match as well). The most painful thing to me was that I did not step up and take a PK, despite being one of the better PK takers, as I was still downcast after that late equalizer. I was not one of the first 5 selected, and by the time my 4 saves gave me enough courage to volunteer and step up, our next player had fired the do-or-die PK into the sky. I felt I had let my team down... That match effectively "retired" me, plus my studies did not permit future serious activities anyway.

Our 2 CDs Victor (currently a France-based entrepreneur) and Corneille (a "colleague") still compliment, "comfort" and make fun of me till this day

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

ohsee wrote:

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

Silver:
I also kept goal competitively (college), and was not bad at it. I saved hot shots from close range, and also conceded my fair share. I faced those who thought they were strikers, and faced those who KNEW they were strikers. A striker of Suarez's caliber will only miss such a goal by their own fault or miscalculation. Conversely, a GK will only save such a shot from such a quality striker by being lucky/successfully gambling.

A striker running at you full speed with the ball, at close range holds ALL the aces. Kinda like PKs. Anything a good GK does in that situation is an intelligent gamble, but a gamble nonetheless! Suarez is an assassin. After firing at you at close range, as a KG, you stand up, go and pick the ball from your net and shake your head.

Kpom! Chief Doctor has spoken! Nothing more to add.

My broda, I conceded a similar goal from a similar striker (albeit college level) a long time ago. I saw nightmares for close to 10 yrs after that goal. That was how long it took me to finally get over it. I kept rewinding that match in my head, and wondered if i could have done anything different. It was a final match, in the rain, and we were up 2-1 with about 5 mins left in regulation. I will never forget that striker...Andrei Golfov. medium build, stocky, tricky, fast, extremely mobile, packed cannon shots on both legs. There were rumors that he was a semi-pro...One of our CDs was giving him a hard time, so he resorted to turning and shooting from difficult positions. He was quite good in placing the ball...fired a rocket off the post once, nearly took my entire wrist off with a second shot. By the end of the game, one of our FBs (our RB Peter) was slightly hobbled. Andrei somehow sensed it and switched to "mark" him. One of my few attributes was being able to see the field quite well. I immediately notified the main CD (Victor), as a play was developing from midfield and Andrei was making dummy runs around Peter. CD decided to mark the zone instead...their AM recognized the situation and flicked to Andrei, who easily beat Peter and was on his way to me. In a nutshell, despite my positioning and shakara, he fired a "Suarez" past a hapless moi....

Things would get worse...we lost on PKs, despite my saving 4/8 (I saved one during the match as well). The most painful thing to me was that I did not step up and take a PK, despite being one of the better PK takers, as I was still downcast after that late equalizer. I was not one of the first 5 selected, and by the time my 4 saves gave me enough courage to volunteer and step up, our next player had fired the do-or-die PK into the sky. I felt I had let my team down... That match effectively "retired" me, plus my studies did not permit future serious activities anyway.

Our 2 CDs Victor (currently a France-based entrepreneur) and Corneille (a "colleague") still compliment, "comfort" and make fun of me till this day

Oga so you get experience like this, and you stood by and watched as Arsene Wenger graced with Almumunia for almost 3 seasons. Why didn't you run down from the stands and grab the gloves.

amafolas wrote:

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

ohsee wrote:

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:

Silver:
I also kept goal competitively (college), and was not bad at it. I saved hot shots from close range, and also conceded my fair share. I faced those who thought they were strikers, and faced those who KNEW they were strikers. A striker of Suarez's caliber will only miss such a goal by their own fault or miscalculation. Conversely, a GK will only save such a shot from such a quality striker by being lucky/successfully gambling.

A striker running at you full speed with the ball, at close range holds ALL the aces. Kinda like PKs. Anything a good GK does in that situation is an intelligent gamble, but a gamble nonetheless! Suarez is an assassin. After firing at you at close range, as a KG, you stand up, go and pick the ball from your net and shake your head.

Kpom! Chief Doctor has spoken! Nothing more to add.

My broda, I conceded a similar goal from a similar striker (albeit college level) a long time ago. I saw nightmares for close to 10 yrs after that goal. That was how long it took me to finally get over it. I kept rewinding that match in my head, and wondered if i could have done anything different. It was a final match, in the rain, and we were up 2-1 with about 5 mins left in regulation. I will never forget that striker...Andrei Golfov. medium build, stocky, tricky, fast, extremely mobile, packed cannon shots on both legs. There were rumors that he was a semi-pro...One of our CDs was giving him a hard time, so he resorted to turning and shooting from difficult positions. He was quite good in placing the ball...fired a rocket off the post once, nearly took my entire wrist off with a second shot. By the end of the game, one of our FBs (our RB Peter) was slightly hobbled. Andrei somehow sensed it and switched to "mark" him. One of my few attributes was being able to see the field quite well. I immediately notified the main CD (Victor), as a play was developing from midfield and Andrei was making dummy runs around Peter. CD decided to mark the zone instead...their AM recognized the situation and flicked to Andrei, who easily beat Peter and was on his way to me. In a nutshell, despite my positioning and shakara, he fired a "Suarez" past a hapless moi....

Things would get worse...we lost on PKs, despite my saving 4/8 (I saved one during the match as well). The most painful thing to me was that I did not step up and take a PK, despite being one of the better PK takers, as I was still downcast after that late equalizer. I was not one of the first 5 selected, and by the time my 4 saves gave me enough courage to volunteer and step up, our next player had fired the do-or-die PK into the sky. I felt I had let my team down... That match effectively "retired" me, plus my studies did not permit future serious activities anyway.

Our 2 CDs Victor (currently a France-based entrepreneur) and Corneille (a "colleague") still compliment, "comfort" and make fun of me till this day

Oga so you get experience like this, and you stood by and watched as Arsene Wenger graced with Almumunia for almost 3 seasons. Why didn't you run down from the stands and grab the gloves.

ol boy, dat Amumumumunia thing pained me too much. And Waffi was helping Wenger with excuses. That was when I gave up on Wenger