ENGLAND IN
BRAZIL 2014
England 1 - Italy 2
Roy's men started the campaign off in the amazon city of Manaus against the reliable Italians, Manaus is deep in the amazon and is the state capital of Amazonas has a population of just above 2 million inhabitants and it's a region that the temperature average for June is approximately 30 C which will make for difficult conditions for players of all teams playing there during the World Cup.
The stadium and aptly named Arena Amazonia is a new 40,549 seater stadium that is the home of Nacional FC, the stadium was designed to resemble a straw basket which is one of the things the region is famous for. The stadiums pitch in the run up to the World Cup has caused a bit of a stir as it resembles a beach in places with sand having to be put down in places which is a little bit strange as you'd of thought that on the eve of a major tournament that the pitch would of been relayed especially as the region is known for watery conditions lying on the edge of the Rain forest.
So the game was a predictably tight affair with big news for both teams going into the game the Italians had to do without their experienced and always reliable keeper Buffon unable to start the game for the Azzurri. England went I to the game with a selection dilemma whether to start with Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling or Adam Lallana, Roy opted for the Liverpool player and it was Sterling that had the game’s opening chance when he fired into the Italian side betting from a tight angle, ye game was a predictably tight affair with the Italians playing through Pirlo in the anchoring role the game was very stop start as conditions dictated the pace of the early exchanges. England looked threatening whenever they broke and the Italian defence struggled at times with the England forward players movement although Rooney was struggling to make an impact wise on the left a position not entirely new to him but he obviously wasn't comfortable in that role. The Italians made a good spell pay off when Claudio Marchisio fired through a crowd for an Italian keeper and the shot found its way past Hart in the England goal much to the Azzurrie's delight, the Italians seemed to be still celebrating when on 37 minutes Rooney was released down the left and deep crooks evaded everyone except Daniel Sturridge and the Liverpool front man scored his fifth England goal so send the English fans in to raptures although in celebrating the goal the England physio somehow injured his ankle (which was later confirmed as a broken ankle). The Italian pressed again and nearly got a half time lead when Balotelli's chip was cleared from under the bar by and England defender from the resulting corner the very impressive Candreva struck Harts near post from inside England's box, they survived the late Italian surges to go in all level at half time.
The second half started in the same fashion as the 1st half with both teams sparing like a pair of heavyweights sparing with each other but Italy scored what proved to be the winner when Welbeck failed to close down an Italian who then fed the fantastic Antonio Candreva who whipped in a delightful ball to the back post where that man Mario Balotelli had pulled away from his marker to head home past Hart. England seemed to run out of ideas and the goal seemed to knock the wind out England sails although Rooney missed an absolute guilt edge chance when he found space in the box but his shot just went wide of the near post with the Italian keeper Siroglu flat footing the goal. Hodgson made changes to try and address the balance but just couldn't find a break through. The defeat leaves England needing to win the next two games to realistically have a chance of progressing after earlier in the day Costa Rica stunned Uruguay by coming from behind at half time to win 3-1.
Roy's men started the campaign off in the amazon city of Manaus against the reliable Italians, Manaus is deep in the amazon and is the state capital of Amazonas has a population of just above 2 million inhabitants and it's a region that the temperature average for June is approximately 30 C which will make for difficult conditions for players of all teams playing there during the World Cup.
The stadium and aptly named Arena Amazonia is a new 40,549 seater stadium that is the home of Nacional FC, the stadium was designed to resemble a straw basket which is one of the things the region is famous for. The stadiums pitch in the run up to the World Cup has caused a bit of a stir as it resembles a beach in places with sand having to be put down in places which is a little bit strange as you'd of thought that on the eve of a major tournament that the pitch would of been relayed especially as the region is known for watery conditions lying on the edge of the Rain forest.
So the game was a predictably tight affair with big news for both teams going into the game the Italians had to do without their experienced and always reliable keeper Buffon unable to start the game for the Azzurri. England went I to the game with a selection dilemma whether to start with Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling or Adam Lallana, Roy opted for the Liverpool player and it was Sterling that had the game’s opening chance when he fired into the Italian side betting from a tight angle, ye game was a predictably tight affair with the Italians playing through Pirlo in the anchoring role the game was very stop start as conditions dictated the pace of the early exchanges. England looked threatening whenever they broke and the Italian defence struggled at times with the England forward players movement although Rooney was struggling to make an impact wise on the left a position not entirely new to him but he obviously wasn't comfortable in that role. The Italians made a good spell pay off when Claudio Marchisio fired through a crowd for an Italian keeper and the shot found its way past Hart in the England goal much to the Azzurrie's delight, the Italians seemed to be still celebrating when on 37 minutes Rooney was released down the left and deep crooks evaded everyone except Daniel Sturridge and the Liverpool front man scored his fifth England goal so send the English fans in to raptures although in celebrating the goal the England physio somehow injured his ankle (which was later confirmed as a broken ankle). The Italian pressed again and nearly got a half time lead when Balotelli's chip was cleared from under the bar by and England defender from the resulting corner the very impressive Candreva struck Harts near post from inside England's box, they survived the late Italian surges to go in all level at half time.
The second half started in the same fashion as the 1st half with both teams sparing like a pair of heavyweights sparing with each other but Italy scored what proved to be the winner when Welbeck failed to close down an Italian who then fed the fantastic Antonio Candreva who whipped in a delightful ball to the back post where that man Mario Balotelli had pulled away from his marker to head home past Hart. England seemed to run out of ideas and the goal seemed to knock the wind out England sails although Rooney missed an absolute guilt edge chance when he found space in the box but his shot just went wide of the near post with the Italian keeper Siroglu flat footing the goal. Hodgson made changes to try and address the balance but just couldn't find a break through. The defeat leaves England needing to win the next two games to realistically have a chance of progressing after earlier in the day Costa Rica stunned Uruguay by coming from behind at half time to win 3-1.
England 1 - Uruguay 2
Next up for the three lions saw them play one of the tournaments favourites Uruguay in the Arena de São Paulo a 62,601 capacity state of the art home of Corinthians but the game had extra importance for both sides after defeats for England and Uruguay this was a game neither side could afford to lose if they wanted to stay in the competition.
The game started pretty much as expected with both side being cagey as they tried to suss each other out, Uruguay started with their influential striker Luis Suarez but England kept the same team that lost to Italy in the opening game although Roy did switch Rooney and Welbeck just try and make the forward line more dangerous and in the early exchanges England looked lively and England's good play caused Uruguay's Godin to collect an early yellow card for a blatant hand ball and it wasn't long before he was involved again when he forcefully held off Sturridge in the throat area which the ref punished but failed to produce an obvious second yellow for Godin. As Both teams started to press it was Uruguay who started making clear cut chance forcing Hart to save well from a Suarez corner but in England went the closest when Rooney headed against the post from a few yards out but that only seemed to wake the South Americans up again and they soon took the lead when a brilliant ball by PSG's Edison Cavani was headed past Hart by that man Luis Suarez on 35 mins.
The second half started with England appearing to still be shell shocked and they could of found themselves completely out of it gift 3 good early chances to Uruguay but England where let off the hook and the game never really sprung into life with the game being very stop start for most of the second half but England managed to start creating chance first Rooney fired at Muslera in the goal from near the pen spot but it wasn't long before the England man finally scored his first England goal in the finals of a World Cup when after some dogged work by Glen Johnston Rooney was on hand at the far post to put England on level terms with 15 minutes remaining much to the delight of the England fans inside the stadium, England started to press in search of a winner that they really needed to keep qualification in their own hands but disaster struck on 85 mins a long ball up field by Muslera came off the England captain Steven Gerrard's head and fell into that man Suarez path and as he closed in on Harts goal he fired a powerful shot into the goal to send Uruguay's fans into raptures and condemning England to their second defeat in two games and also casting doubt that Roy is the correct man to steer England on in the future.
Next up for the three lions saw them play one of the tournaments favourites Uruguay in the Arena de São Paulo a 62,601 capacity state of the art home of Corinthians but the game had extra importance for both sides after defeats for England and Uruguay this was a game neither side could afford to lose if they wanted to stay in the competition.
The game started pretty much as expected with both side being cagey as they tried to suss each other out, Uruguay started with their influential striker Luis Suarez but England kept the same team that lost to Italy in the opening game although Roy did switch Rooney and Welbeck just try and make the forward line more dangerous and in the early exchanges England looked lively and England's good play caused Uruguay's Godin to collect an early yellow card for a blatant hand ball and it wasn't long before he was involved again when he forcefully held off Sturridge in the throat area which the ref punished but failed to produce an obvious second yellow for Godin. As Both teams started to press it was Uruguay who started making clear cut chance forcing Hart to save well from a Suarez corner but in England went the closest when Rooney headed against the post from a few yards out but that only seemed to wake the South Americans up again and they soon took the lead when a brilliant ball by PSG's Edison Cavani was headed past Hart by that man Luis Suarez on 35 mins.
The second half started with England appearing to still be shell shocked and they could of found themselves completely out of it gift 3 good early chances to Uruguay but England where let off the hook and the game never really sprung into life with the game being very stop start for most of the second half but England managed to start creating chance first Rooney fired at Muslera in the goal from near the pen spot but it wasn't long before the England man finally scored his first England goal in the finals of a World Cup when after some dogged work by Glen Johnston Rooney was on hand at the far post to put England on level terms with 15 minutes remaining much to the delight of the England fans inside the stadium, England started to press in search of a winner that they really needed to keep qualification in their own hands but disaster struck on 85 mins a long ball up field by Muslera came off the England captain Steven Gerrard's head and fell into that man Suarez path and as he closed in on Harts goal he fired a powerful shot into the goal to send Uruguay's fans into raptures and condemning England to their second defeat in two games and also casting doubt that Roy is the correct man to steer England on in the future.
Costa Rica 0 - England 0
So England went into the final group game in belo horizonte against the groups surprise package Costa Rica knowing it would be there last game of the 2014 after Italy failed to Costa Rica in game 2 meaning that England couldn't qualify for the knock out stages. Hodgson made wholesale changes to the team beaten by Uruguay most notably dropping the captain Steven Gerrard for Frank Lampard and making him the captain, he also brought in Luke Shaw for Baines and Everton's Ross Barkley was hand a start.
The game was played in the Estadio Mineirao stadium a 58.170 capacity oval shaped stadium which is the home of Brazilian top flight team’s Atletico Mineiro and Cruzeiro both who have been Brazilian national champions.
The first half was a typical cagy affair with England been denied a clear penalty when Sturridge was brought down in the area just as he was about to pull the trigger. England's was much improved on the previous two games although that's not to say England have been bad they just moved the ball more fluidly in the opening half although Costa Rica forced a fingertip save from Fraser Foster in the goal from Borges. The second half started slowly really with England maintaining the lion’s share of possession without creating too many clear cut chance something that's been a feature of England's play in the last few years in my opinion. Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge was denied by the sprawling legs of the Costa Rica keeper Navas when the ball feel to the England man’s feet just insider the Central Americans areas, Sturridge had another chance this time curling an effort just wide of Navas's far post after a delightful England move. Daniel Sturridge was again at the centre of another England penalty appeal as the England forward again broke through the Costa Rica back line and as he shapes to shot appeared to be caught by the full back although it would of been a very harsh if the ref had given it. England brought on the old guard as the game went on and it was one of these players Wayne Rooney had another chance as he tried to take advantage of Navas being off his line slightly but his chip was tipped over for a corner by the keeper that was the last real chance for England as they managed to secure a point in the group but that was nowhere near enough as the bowed out with a wimped and started the debates that will rage on for a while is HODGSON THE RIGHT MAN FOR ENGALND? My answer is NO but that is a debate for another time.
So England went into the final group game in belo horizonte against the groups surprise package Costa Rica knowing it would be there last game of the 2014 after Italy failed to Costa Rica in game 2 meaning that England couldn't qualify for the knock out stages. Hodgson made wholesale changes to the team beaten by Uruguay most notably dropping the captain Steven Gerrard for Frank Lampard and making him the captain, he also brought in Luke Shaw for Baines and Everton's Ross Barkley was hand a start.
The game was played in the Estadio Mineirao stadium a 58.170 capacity oval shaped stadium which is the home of Brazilian top flight team’s Atletico Mineiro and Cruzeiro both who have been Brazilian national champions.
The first half was a typical cagy affair with England been denied a clear penalty when Sturridge was brought down in the area just as he was about to pull the trigger. England's was much improved on the previous two games although that's not to say England have been bad they just moved the ball more fluidly in the opening half although Costa Rica forced a fingertip save from Fraser Foster in the goal from Borges. The second half started slowly really with England maintaining the lion’s share of possession without creating too many clear cut chance something that's been a feature of England's play in the last few years in my opinion. Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge was denied by the sprawling legs of the Costa Rica keeper Navas when the ball feel to the England man’s feet just insider the Central Americans areas, Sturridge had another chance this time curling an effort just wide of Navas's far post after a delightful England move. Daniel Sturridge was again at the centre of another England penalty appeal as the England forward again broke through the Costa Rica back line and as he shapes to shot appeared to be caught by the full back although it would of been a very harsh if the ref had given it. England brought on the old guard as the game went on and it was one of these players Wayne Rooney had another chance as he tried to take advantage of Navas being off his line slightly but his chip was tipped over for a corner by the keeper that was the last real chance for England as they managed to secure a point in the group but that was nowhere near enough as the bowed out with a wimped and started the debates that will rage on for a while is HODGSON THE RIGHT MAN FOR ENGALND? My answer is NO but that is a debate for another time.