by Durhamfootman » Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:55 pm
so England beat Brazil 2-1
All in all it was a pretty good game, I thought, and England did as well as I've seen them do for a while. Wilshire got MOM, deservedly, and provided plenty of problems for a fairly beleagured Brazil defence. Hart did well between the sticks, Baines came on for Cole at half time and England lost nothing from the change, Johnson looked in good shape as did Gerrard in a defensive role. The two centre backs had a bit of a ricket that led to the Brazil equaliser and wobbled a bit for 5 minutes or so, but other than that dealt with the Brazil threat fairly comfortably. Rooney and Lamps scored good goals, after good work from the excellent Walcott.
I'm still not sure what Wellbeck brings to the table. He was replaced quite adequately by Milner, who also offers a lot more in defence than Wellbeck does. I'm beginning to think that his inclusion is due in the main to a gut feeling by the manager that it is a good idea to have 2 strikers who play for the same club. My gut feeling is that he is the footballing equivalent of Jade Dernbach, or perhaps the new Heskey.... no-one outside the bubble can understand why he is there, but those in the bubble seem to think he offers something that no-one else can see.
I saw lots of good things tonight. I liked the way England moved the ball around without giving it away. I liked the facgt that Hart predominantly threw the ball out to a player instead of lumping it upfield. I liked that England tried to play themselves out of difficult situations without resorting to lumping it forward. Okay it cost us a goal when Cahill cocked it up, but the intent is good, I think.
Wilshire was terrific, and the Brazilians hadn't the first idea how to stop him. Adriano had to be subbed because Walcott was running rings around him, and David Luiz was just a clumsy thug who benefitted hugely from the ref's desire to keep the game moving and refusal to award cards. Naymar had a nice little spell of 5-10 mins, but once he'd shinned the ball over the crossbar from about 3 yards, he just faded out of the game completely. Oscar did very well, I thought, but it was difficult for him becasue Naymar and Ronaldinho were just showboating aimlessly, and he couldn't do it all by himself.
I would have liked to have seen the Ox get on, but the manager wisely kept his substitutions to a minimum rather than risk throwing the win away.
All in all..... a pretty decent effort. If the players can stay fit and the manager can continue to bring these sorts of performances out of them, we may not be quite the embarrassment that we have been in recent competition finals come 2014
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