3-1. Italy are going home

I've generalised. I would've thought you might've accepted the point and argued it as such, rather than just "proving" me wrong using your own experience. It's my contention that had England gone out at the group stage, but displayed the same level of performance as in that last match, there would've been a lot less positivity and a lot more criticism by the fans. I dislike the extreme negativity of this country and that's what I see around me. You can of course, choose how to respond to my contention. Maybe the people around you are different....



I think perhaps this is where we fundamentally disagree. If it's entertaining and teams are well matched and not simply not trying, I'm happy with that.

That said, I do agree it's better to look to the future, not 66. I also agree that the potential route to the final looks promising from a genuine spectacle kind of POV.

However, that's contingent on a higher level of play than was seen in the first 3 matches and more akin to (and probably better than) the last game. On that front, looking to the first four matches for analysis IS important. Most fans I know will see that as the past and want to forget about it, and I've inferred from your statement that you may be one of them, but I think the extremely recent performances are relevant to future performance in this tournament. No?

Toodlepip.

Slovakian sub, first world cup match, first touch, goal. Nice day for him.

Arrivederci!

3-2.
There's a comeback

Some great time-wasting from Slovakia, especially their keeper.

I prefer not to argue points of generalisation, it's usually a futile activity.


I agree with that, I also equally dislike the other extreme of believing that we can we the cup just because we had a better performance yesterday. That's primarily the domain of the media though, anyone I know who knows anything about football has a generally more realistic viewpoint.


So it's just about entertainment?



Hopefully it will bring out an improved performance to boot.


I would contest that 9/10 times the teams that have made it to the later stages have started off slowly and generally scrape through the group stages so the importance of the group performance is not that important.

It would be like purely going on League performance when deciding who will make it further along in the FA Cup. Portsmouth (amongst countless others) anyone?


Perhaps for confidence building but that is all.

Look to all the previous World Cups, as I say, the teams that progress tend to have very poor group performances. I'm not sure how you can argue that that isn't the case.

That said progression is all dependent on improving performances. If we don't perfom any better we won't progress. Mind you, if you want to look at the previous matches you can't argue that England haven't improved.

Not enough yet, but in the right direction.

That all makes a lot of sense. Thanks for taking the time to discuss

I take your point about generalisation. However, just because I generalised, doesn't mean I'm wrong, in general Just that I'm wrong with regards to you. I might've expected you to comment on your experiences of others around you, not just your experience. That's what I meant. Hope that makes sense.

For me, yes it's about entertainment. It would be more about enjoying myself and trying to score/win were I playing the sport myself. As a spectator, I want to be entertained. But I understand that might not be true for a fan. I'm just a guy who casually watches the world cup

I can't remember group stages of previous tournaments, so I'll take your word for it and I hope you're right about performances improving as the tournament progresses. That will mean I get to be more entertained

Anytime mate.


I think so TBH I'm getting so saturated with football at the moment I'm not sure what I think anymore.


It's usually the case that teams aren't overly impressive. If we look at the last world cup ,for example, France drew against Switzerland and South Korea and beat Togo. They managed to get to the final on the back of that.

Italy had a bit better start with a 2-0 win over Ghana but that was followed up with a 1-1 with USA (sound familiar ) and a 2-0 over the Czech Republic.

Not this year for either of them though eh?

I do think we agree though, we have to play better, more entertaining football, if we are to progress. All the teams that do do well in the end have to entertain as it takes good football to win.

Quote of the day, by whoever was commentating on the Italy game for Radio 5 live..
"And so Italy say au revoir to the world cup"

Japan look like they're up for it.

Very much so, didn't expect Japan to be 2-0 up at half time.

The other half isn't happy about Italy going home. Even less happy at me relishing in the fact!

It's all over, bar the shouting. 3 - 1 to Japan

Nicely played Japan. Not sure what was up with Sorensen tonight, flapping like a flapping flapper from flapsville, Arizona.