Sony Ericsson’s Fly On The Ball blog
By James Roe.
(85 views)
At last, an England win to write home about!
That being said, we should have put away a lot more than just the one goal with Defoe’s second off-side and Rooney hitting the post.
Despite this there were moments of brilliance in the team, Milner being a shining example of how to play down the right wing, chasing every ball, holding it up when he needed to in the last minutes of extra time and even whipping in some wonderful crosses, last night Milner looked like the complete package.
But kudos also to players like Ashley Cole and Steven Gerrard who really upped their games and showed that they can put in the kind of performances that could see us beating the Germans!
So, the Germans then... If somebody had told me that we’d play the Germans in the Round of 16 after their drumming of Australia i think i’d have wept, but after two uninspiring games against Serbia and Ghana i really think we’ve got a chance.
The atmosphere after the game was incredible, with chants of ‘We’re not going home’ echoing around the stadium. Call me an optimist but i really do reckon that we can do Germany, if we up our game again and Rooney puts in a performance like we know he can (something he’ll be itching to do after being taken off by Capello) then there’s no reason why we shouldn’t get through to the Quarter Finals and play Argentina, Brazil in the Semis and Spain in the Final, EASY...!
Get more on
Facebook. (98 views)
Well what an awesome match that was between Brazil and Ivory Coast! A few talking points include Luis Fabiano’s double hand ball for his second goal (but what a goal it was!) and the dodgy refereeing decision to send Kaka off. Actually come to think of it, there have been quite a few soft red cards this tournament and I’m sure there will be a few more before 11 July is up.
We watched the Portugal v North Korea match yesterday afternoon in the glorious sunshine at the Joburg Fan Fest stadium. What a spectacle! Portugal took Korea apart good and proper and really look like the kind of threat that most teams could do without.
After the match we played football with about 20 South African kids until dark, an absolutely awesome experience, especially when you’re being outpaced and out skilled by a 12 year old!
Finally, what about camp England then, a complete shambles! We’ve heard a lot about the John Terry press conference and how he’s got himself in trouble with both Capello and his fellow England players. To be honest, the last thing we need before Wednesday’s crunch game is more division within the camp but we’ve heard rumours that Capello is going to back down and play Joe Cole, Rooney up front to wander on his own and Gerrard slotting in just behind him.
If this is true, we really could have an England side who will threaten and hopefully, take all 3 points and top the group.
Get more on
Facebook. (75 views)
After Wayne Rooney’s large helping of humble pie yesterday perhaps England can now get back on track as a unit and work out how we’re going to sort out the mess that is Group C. The thinking is here that Capello needs a complete overhaul of his tactics if we’re going to progress, especially with the daunting task of playing Germany in the round of 16.
For the moment though, Ed and I are putting England out of our minds as we managed to get tickets last night for Brazil v Ivory Coast tonight. It promises to be one of the games of the group stage and hopefully they won’t cancel each other out and it end with a 0-0 draw!
In the couple of days that aren’t dominated by football matches we’re hoping to visit a game reserve tomorrow and a lion park on Friday which should give us some respite from England’s shoddy performances. Maybe we can find some lions at the park which will have a bit more passion than the 3 currently on the England shirt! All this being said, i’m quietly confident that England will be playing in the round of 16 (and even further), call me delusional but i really do think that Capello will come up with the goods on Tuesday.
Watch this space...
Get more of me and travels on
Facebook. (104 views)
Today it’s all about wobbly balls and big horns... Intrigued?! The vuvuzela horn has received mixed reactions both here in South Africa and back at home.
We’ve been hearing of 100’s of complaints to the BBC about the horns drowning out the commentary and the atmosphere of the game whilst others say that they’re just part of the African culture and if people can’t hear the commentary then they should concentrate harder!
Even the players have had their say with many complaining about the vuvuzela’s making it difficult to communicate with players on the pitch. France captain Patrice Evra was also reported saying that the horns were waking the players up at 5am (has nobody ever told them about ear plugs?!).
Whatever your view on them, I know two things about the vuvuzela. Firstly, try having one blown down your ear from point blank range, I’m registering for a hearing aid on the NHS as soon as i get home! Secondly, the vuvuzela’s are great for making fart noises whilst everyone looks around to see who the smelly offender is!!! And yes, we really have been that immature!
On the topic of the official ‘jabulani’ football and its ability to move on its own (obviously that’s why Robert Green let THAT goal in- the ball decided to jumpy out if his hands) I think it’s great. As my brother said yesterday, there will be a load of impressive goals being scored, like Maicon’s last night against Korea which we had the pleasure of seeing in the flesh. As the saying goes, ‘a bad workman blames his tools’. It just so happens that in this instance, the workmen are multi- millionaire football players and their tools are renegade footballs and 1 million plastic horns.
Get more on
Facebook. (96 views)
This morning we made possibly the biggest blag of our lives.
We stood in a queue at a small ticket vendor (that a lot of people didn’t know about) for half an hour, suddenly two tickets for the Brazil v Korea match tonight at Ellis Park Stadium came up.
The woman told us they were 280 and asked if we wanted them. Now i thought $280 was pretty steep but she then informed me it was actually 280 Rand (South African currency)which works out to roughly £26! 26 quid for two tickets to see one of the best teams in the world, and Brazil (!).
Now our only issue is how to get to the stadium, one taxi driver quoted us £30 one way so we’re hoping we can pull off our second blag of the day- jumping on the Mexican supporter’s bus which is also going! This really is a tough life...!