Day 13: Costa Rica vs. England

gooDevil

Worst scout ever
Joined
Oct 2, 2008
Messages
25,160
Location
The Kids are the Future
Tuesday, June 24th, Costa Rica vs. England at Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte (5pm BST, 12pm ET)

i367167.jpg
 
England team to play Costa Rica:

Foster

Jones - Cahill - Smalling - Shaw

Lampard - Wilshere

Milner - Barkley - Lallana
Sturridge
​


Meh.
 
Costa Rica will beat England. Or maybe draw. I don't see England winning at all. The problem is that England didn't get the right players. They never should have taken Gerrard and Rooney to the World Cup. They should have started fresh. A new start. Get 11 hungry young lions from the lower Divisions and let them show the World how hungry they are!
England have the talent to win the World Cup. But they no longer have the hunger because the players have been so successful. Rooney/Gerrard and all the other English guys are known around Europe as some of the greatest footballers of this generation and they have done so much. What more could guys like Wayne Rooney achieve? Or Steven Gerrard? That's why England was never going to do well. You take a team like France. A bunch of nobodies and they somehow manage to out perform England. England is the superior team(talent wise) but France still managed to do better. Why? Because they are a bunch of hungry young players looking to make a mark. It is what it is. England will go down as a team that 'could have' been great. But never had the fire.
 
Pexbo said:
England team to play Costa Rica:

Foster

Jones - Cahill - Smalling - Shaw

Lampard - Wilshere

Milner - Barkley - Lallana
Sturridge
​


Meh.
Click to expand...

My first inclination this morning was to say that England would try to make it difficult for Costa Rica and that they'd ultimately be unlucky despite being the better team - CR 3:0 England.

If this is the selected squad then my first inclination would be wrong. CR 3:0 England in a romp.
 
This is what I'd like to see tomorrow:

FoRster
Milner Cahill Smalling Shaw
Jones Wilshere
Stirling/Sturridge Barkley Lallana
Rooney

Edit: Would like the Ox in for Stirling/Sturridge if he's fit.

Can't believe Lampard is going to be playing. What's the point when he's entering semi-retirement?
 
Last edited:
Fraser Forster should be playing and he should be considered a serious replacement for Hart. He is not taken seriously because he plays in the SPL but he is very highly rated up here and has put in some fantastic performances against the likes of Barcelona. He needs to move back to England because I seriously think he is better than Hart, who I find on a personal level to be quite obnoxious as well.

This team is a joke, you don't play second string sides in a world cup, it is not a training ground and some sort of expensive holiday led by Roy. This is a world cup and we need to regain what little pride we have left by not losing. The inclusion of Lampard for example reeks of sentimentality and semi-senile decision making by Roy..truly amazing we have such a fuddy figure as national coach.

I also feel this weakened team is there to prepare the excuses for Roy after a defeat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grinner
Will you be watching this match or the Italy-Uruguay match?
 
Exciting forward line. Meh backline though I'm interested in seeing how Shaw works out and pleased he gets to start and TBH that back four couldn't be any worse than what's gone before. Midfield looks like it'll get hammered and I'd like to know how they plan to keep possession since Lampard will be somewhere up front and Wilshere off on his 'going nowhere' runs before being dispossessed or taking someone out !

If they can keep the scores level until making their subs then England 2-1, if not they'll lose.

Italy 1 Uruguay 2 in the other match.
 
England 1-2 Costa Rica

Costa Rica will take the lead earlyish in the match, we'll equalise then they will get a winner not long from the end.

Hodgson will say "we played well and were unlucky to lose" and then the FA will say "Hodgson has our full backing"

may just watch Italy v Uruguay instead tbh, at least that should be exciting and some good football on show, reckon that will be a Uruguay win, Suarez to score at least one.
 
I dont have a problem with Roy swapping round the team, Gerrard and a couple of other should not play for England again.
But really Lampard in , WHY he is past it, he could not even get a game for Chelsea last season.
 
Hart
Johnson Smalling Cahill Shaw
Jones Wilshere
Sterling Barkley Lallana
Sturridge

This should be the line up, it gives youth a chance to let people know that how playing 11 best players doesn't work.
 
I don't really mind him playing Lampard. He's just giving him a chance to play for England one last time. I also can't think of any other candidates that would make that much of a difference in midfield. Gerrard? Jones? Henderson? Not really the crème de la crème.

The only decision that irritates me is choosing to play Milner on the wing. He'll probably end up taking him to the Euros anyway, because he's an "engine" or something. Not once has he played a pacy front-four yet. Against Italy, he started Rooney on the wing, the impact of which illustrated itself during the game. Against Uruguay, he played Rooney behind the striker (not his natural position), which wasn't too bad but ended up in Rooney bottling most of his opportunities. Finally, he opts to start Barkley in the hole, but with Milner alongside him. I hope it pays off, I hope that they demolish the Costa Rican team, but I can't see it happening.
 
tentan said:
Will you be watching this match or the Italy-Uruguay match?
Click to expand...

Easy, England. We may be out but it's my country and I love my country so will still support it. It's still important we still have some pride and get a win.

Obviously the Italy-Uruguay match has more importance, but do I really care if either of those two go through? Not particularly. I'd rather Uruguay after Italy let us down.
 
Cereal Killer said:
I don't really mind him playing Lampard. He's just giving him a chance to play for England one last time. I also can't think of any other candidates that would make that much of a difference in midfield. Gerrard? Jones? Henderson? Not really the crème de la crème.

The only decision that irritates me is choosing to play Milner on the wing. He'll probably end up taking him to the Euros anyway, because he's an "engine" or something. Not once has he played a pacy front-four yet. Against Italy, he started Rooney on the wing, the impact of which illustrated itself during the game. Against Uruguay, he played Rooney behind the striker (not his natural position), which wasn't too bad but ended up in Rooney bottling most of his opportunities. Finally, he opts to start Barkley in the hole, but with Milner alongside him. I hope it pays off, I hope that they demolish the Costa Rican team, but I can't see it happening.
Click to expand...

I'd play Milner in the centre. He's decent there and its his original position. He works hard in the middle, is strong enough to play there and has a good range of passing and is solid defensively.
 
icehole said:
My first inclination this morning was to say that England would try to make it difficult for Costa Rica and that they'd ultimately be unlucky despite being the better team - CR 3:0 England.

If this is the selected squad then my first inclination would be wrong. CR 3:0 England in a romp.
Click to expand...



:lol::lol:

"Make it difficult for them" - Costa Rica may have had some surprising results but they are hardly a team that you go out trying to make it difficult for. What world-class forwards are we going to frustrate, Bryan Ruiz or Joel Campbell?

There's absolutely not a chance they will win 3-0. Not a chance. I can see them pressing us well and collect a 1-0 win but they won't thrash us, that's just silly stuff.
 
Eriksen said:
I'd play Milner in the centre. He's decent there and its his original position. He works hard in the middle, is strong enough to play there and has a good range of passing and is solid defensively.
Click to expand...

If you play Milner in the centre, you know what you're going to get: 90 minutes of non-stop running, decent ball retention, and the occasional Hollywood pass across the pitch. And while his performance would be admirable, the likelihood of it leading to both assists and goals is slim. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have him in the centre than on the wing, but I just think that it wouldn't change much, which is why I'd play Lampard tomorrow. Let him have his last run in an international competition. Milner isn't going anywhere.
 
Cereal Killer said:
If you play Milner in the centre, you know what you're going to get: 90 minutes of non-stop running, decent ball retention, and the occasional Hollywood pass across the pitch. And while his performance would be admirable, the likelihood of it leading to both assists and goals is slim. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have him in the centre than on the wing, but I just think that it wouldn't change much, which is why I'd play Lampard tomorrow. Let him have his last run in an international competition. Milner isn't going anywhere.
Click to expand...

True, but like you said its better than him on the wing. I don't really mind Lampard starting, its a dead rubber game and its his last ever game.
 
Englands problem is they picked the players then attempted to fit them into a system, rather than let the system fit around the players.
 
Rado_N said:
Why is Sturridge having been shite against Uruguay seemingly being ignored?
Click to expand...

It's baffling. For some reason he is the only one alongside Cahil(can understand him though) who is starting all three games in his favourite position. Start Welbeck upfront Roy you idiot.
 
Rado_N said:
Why is Sturridge having been shite against Uruguay seemingly being ignored?
Click to expand...

I've never been impressed with him in an England shirt. He was rubbish in the build up games bar one excellent goal vs. Peru and was average for most of the game against Italy before Rooney put one on a plate for him. Woeful in most of the qualifying games he appeared in too.

Then he was useless against Uruguay to boot.
 
Rado_N said:
Why is Sturridge having been shite against Uruguay seemingly being ignored?
Click to expand...

Because from the 70th minute onwards, he actually wasn't bad. Came up with a few pieces of skill, one of which led to a Glen Johnson assist (if I remember correctly). He also did well in most of the build up until the end. He was dire before that, and should've been criticized. The mind sees what it wants.
 
Hoping for a Costa rica win! England would make history for all the wrong reasons.
 
England save their best performances for when it doesn't matter - 2-0 to England after a generally dominant performance.
 
There is a reason for me posting the following video....

This is a clip from the Graham Taylor documentary. The clip was filmed in 1993...It is now 2014.

And I get the impression things haven't changed much since


2-1 Costa Rica.

England and Roy are in a lose/lose situation here
 
Wonder if Shaw will be as out of his depth as he was against Ecuador.
 
I won't be watching this. The game to watch will be Italy-Uruguay.

I think England will play well today with the pressure mostly gone. 1-1.

I hope fwank scores so that at least one journalist/pundit will write an article about how he should've started against Italy and Uruguay:D
 
Why do people have a problem with Lampard playing? He hasn't seen a single minute and we're out already.

Now it's just a matter of getting the rest of the players some gametime. Who really cares at this point?
 
The lineup is in:
Foster, Jones, Smalling, Cahill, Shaw, Lampard, Milner, Barkley, Wilshere, Lallana, Sturrdige.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.