England V. Croatia Post-game [R]

[deckham]

alrighty.... we know we just need a tie. i don't like that.... i hate watching teams play for ties... let's hope that england comes out the way they did in the second half when they didn't want to sit on 1-0 lead any longer.... wayne rooney is looking terrific up top and beckham is still providing those nifty short and long passes to create something brilliant.

[hangthadj]

Croatia wins 2-1. Prso with both.

[SirManchester]

Well, England played great against the Swiss but they cannot underestimate Croatia like France and they can't afford to take it easy and settle for a draw. They have to go all out and try to win the game and not think about any other circumstance. Any small mistakes in the back or in midfield can turn into a Croatian goal, it has happened quite a few times so far in this tournament, especially in this group.

[SwissGCZ]

Well, England played great against the Swiss...
What game were you watching?

[sendorange]

Croatia played well in the second half of the match against France and has good players, but they do not react well to pressure. England is better on the counter attack and in big games, and is just the better team.

England should get the result, it will take at least one horrendous individual mistake to cost them, like Desailly's yesterday, which is not outside the realms of possibility, but hopefully should not occur. I also hope the Croats will keep the diving to a minimum for a change, and that the ref is a strong one. A poor ref is a big advantage to Croatia and their gamesmanship.

[Thomas A Fina]

Like one or two horrendous mistakes are beyond the Three Lions?

D. James will be good for at least one since he has gone two games without it

Don't y'all wish you had like the US #5 keeper manning the nets

Croats 3 Enger-land 2

[tomvandamn]

what diving?
man please if totti got a 3game ban for spitting then rooney shouldve gotten a 1 game ban for elbowing i believe it was thuram

prso got clipped from the back vs the swiss---in the sweden/bulgaria game it was the same instance and sweden got the PK


in the france game when we got the PK rosso was in the back with 2 defenders in front of him and silvestre came from behind and he clipped him
that was not a dive he was rolling on the floor and stuff he got up right away
it was a silvestre error dont you think they wouldve gotten the ball from him anyway----

i dont think england will play too defensive and this game will be a war

oh btw if we put olic or srna on the wings that means one of them will have a matchup with becks and let me tell you they will burn him and he will have nothing better to do than tackle them from behind besides is scholes known for those bad tackles

plus you gotta remember terry,neville and scholes are not 100%

[Looper121]

Deleted.

Chew on that ;)

[tomvandamn]

does anybody have the ref lists yesterday they announced who will be the judge in the final games from group A but group b,c,d no announcment yet

i think it should be collina--best ref in the world and fair and besides he only refereed the portugal/greece game am i right so i think that its a very high possibility that he will ref the croatia/england game-----


o and that idiot portugese ref that refereed croatia versus switzerland will be the ref in the bulgaria/denmark match---lets see what he does now

[MetroFever]

Croatia played well in the second half of the match against France and has good players, but they do not react well to pressure.

Don't react well to pressure? If giving up a tough goal early in the match and taking the lead against "The World All-Stars better know as France" isn't reacting well to pressure, then I don't know what is.


I also hope the Croats will keep the diving to a minimum for a change, and that the ref is a strong one. A poor ref is a big advantage to Croatia and their gamesmanship.

That's a horrible statement.

Basically that's saying if Croatia loses it's because they suck, but if they win, the ref sucked, the other team had a bad day, and they dived all over the place. You can't have it both ways.

If a poor ref is an advantage to Croatia, then somebody forgot to tell that to the officials yesterday who failed to see the handball on the second goal.

[imasyko]

what diving?
in the france game when we got the PK rosso was in the back with 2 defenders in front of him and silvestre came from behind and he clipped him
that was not a dive he was rolling on the floor and stuff he got up right away
it was a silvestre error dont you think they wouldve gotten the ball from him anyway----



Sorry, I watched that game, and played that call back on my PVR several times, and I did not see Silvestre clip his heels. A little push in the back, I'll grant you. My opinion was that the Croat played it for the penalty, which most other strikers in the same situation will do. That said, the ref also missed the obvious hand ball call on Trezuguet, so they balanced out in that regard.

But the penalty goal got Croatia back in the game - they were being run off the field before that. BTW, I loved your fans - easily the loudest of the tourney so far.

[sendorange]

Don't react well to pressure? If giving up a tough goal early in the match and taking the lead against "The World All-Stars better know as France" isn't reacting well to pressure, then I don't know what is.

That's a horrible statement.

Basically that's saying if Croatia loses it's because they suck, but if they win, the ref sucked, the other team had a bad day, and they dived all over the place. You can't have it both ways.

If a poor ref is an advantage to Croatia, then somebody forgot to tell that to the officials yesterday who failed to see the handball on the second goal.
It's not horrible at all, if you'd watched both of Croatia's games you would see that a ref that does not have a good eye for player's going down easily will have a hard time spotting some of the Croatian theatrics, of which some of their players are very adept. The first game was a terrible demonstration of that and thankfully the ref spotted most of them, and although they did not do as much in the second game, mostly that was because half of their team were already on yellow cards and would have been suspended from the critical third group game. The penalty flop over from the Silvetre non-challenge is a good example of what to expect, although there are usually worse dives.

This does not mean that Croatia can only win through relying on the ref to not spot anything. My post does not say that at all, and there's no doubting they have some exceptionally talented players, just that a ref who is poor at judging simulation will be a significant advantage to them over most teams in the tournament.

As to the reacting to pressure - just ask their coaches and fans! Croatia always play vastly better when there are no expectations on them and they are free to perform. Witness the difference in performance between the second half against Switzerland where the pressure was on them to go on and win the game against 10 men, and the second half against France were they were expected to lose and could attack with freedom. It was the same story in World Cup 2002, they beat Italy in the second game when they were expected to lose after a poor performance in the first match, then in the third game against Ecuador where they were expected to win against a team already knocked out, they then lost.

[Clan]

We'll win it.
We may win ugly, we may even struggle just to get one goal, but we;ll put in a very strong defensive performance and strangle the game.
The lads are settled down now, they know whats at stake and all the sillyness of the first game will only serve to make them even more determined to not lose the game.

Thats going to be whats most interesting about what kind of formation Sven puts out.
Will he play the straight forward 4-4-2 with Butt in there and go for the "well, i'm going to make sure we don't lose" tactics, or play that poxy diamond again with the long ball being the play of choice in the second half.

In all honesty though, we should be capable of beating them.

[Looper121]

5-0 Croatia

Chew on that ;)

Great, Real Nice.

[Looper121]

The Last time I checked, Opinions were allowed on BS...maybe I am wrong.

I find it very unmoderator like to delete and opinion, based on what team he or she may be supporting. Oh let me guess, now you will delete this I suppose. :rolleyes:

[Clan]

The Last time I checked, Opinions were allowed on BS...maybe I am wrong.

I find it very unmoderator like to delete and opinion, based on what team he or she may be supporting. Oh let me guess, now you will delete this I suppose. :rolleyes:

I believe it's called abuse of power ;)

[KanKeano's DefPosts]

All I know is that we'll get the result we need, as we always have under Erikksson. :D

[sendorange]

I believe it's called abuse of power ;)
Good job Clannyblue, "chew on that" indeed :D Some trolls need to learn the difference between giving an opinion and being a tool.

[hangthadj]

Good job Clannyblue, "chew on that" indeed :D Some trolls need to learn the difference between giving an opinion and being a tool.

you gonna negative rep them if they disagree with ya?

[Looper121]

Sod off will ya.

This forum is for actual discussions with merit.

If you wish to post bollox go up the main page to World Rivalries.