England 1 Brazil 2
The boys from En-ger-land just lose out to a dream semi-final that I'm sure
would have seen them win the cup. But two very different displays saw England go
out and with the help of a freak Brazil goal.
Heskey put Owen through and he went passed a defender to chip the keeper
superbly and England were well in control and I couldn't see how Brazil were going
to score. But when Beckham and Scholes both missed
tackles in the Brazil half, Ronaldinho took advantage with a superb run at the
heart of the England defence. Campbell was back-pedalling, Ronaldinho slipped
the ball to his right into the path of Rivaldo, who stroked a fine left-foot
shot past Seaman and into the far corner, oh shit a lst minute first half goal
just waht we wanted.
The second half was poor and England couldn't keep hold of the ball and long
hoofs went a miss, then a free kick and Ronaldinho lobbed the ball into the
middle - but instead his curling cross-shot fooled Seaman and somehow found the
top corner of the net.
The only concellation was Ronaldinho
was sent off for a tavkle on Mills but even 10 men didn`t help.
Oh well better luck in 2006!
England: Seaman, Mills, Campbell, Ferdinand, Ashley Cole (Sheringham 79),
Beckham, Scholes, Butt, Sinclair (Dyer 56), Owen (Vassell 79), Heskey.
Subs Not Used: Bridge, Brown, Joe Cole, Fowler, Hargreaves, James, Keown, Martyn,
Southgate.
Booked: Scholes, Ferdinand.
Brazil: Marcos, Roque Junior, Lucio, Edmilson, Cafu, Gilberto,
Ronaldinho, Kleberson, Carlos, Ronaldo (Edilson 70), Rivaldo.
Subs Not Used: Belleti, Ceni, Denilson, Dida, Juninho Paulista, Junior, Kaka,
Luizao, Polga, Ricardinho, Vampeta.
Sent Off: Ronaldinho (58).
Referee: F Ramos Rizo (Mexico).
Danes 0 England 3
yes a great result with Rio, Heskey (yes I predicted he would score as with Owen)
and Owen scoring this was a comprehensive first half win. The second half was a
bit flat and some changes were made but the main thing is England got the result
and like Italy and Germany its the result that counts not how you got it.
The pre-match threat from the great Danes was not there to see today and they
lost confidence in the first half although 2 goals should have been scored, they
also cleared a great shot for us, thanks!
Rio headed well from a corner and
the goalie fumbled it over the line, then Owen slotted in a great goal from a
Brazil style flick from Butt and the 3rd Heskey half volleyed in a great cross
form Beckham.
Come on England lets beat the samba boys!
Denmark: Thomas Sorensen, Thomas Helveg (Kasper Bogelund 7), Niclas
Jensen, Rene Henriksen, Martin Laursen, Dennis Rommedahl, Thomas Gravesen, Stig
Tofting (Claus Jensen 58), Jesper Gronkjaer, Ebbe Sand, John Dahl Tomasson.
Subs Not Used: Jesper Christiansen, Jan Heintze, Jorgensen, Peter Kjaer,
Peter Lovenkrands, Steven Lustu, Peter Madsen, Jan Michaelsen, Brian Nielsen,
Christian Poulsen.
Booked: Tofting.
England: David Seaman, Danny Mills, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell,
Ashley Cole, David Beckham, Paul Scholes (Kieron Dyer 48), Nicky Butt, Trevor
Sinclair, Emile Heskey (Teddy Sheringham 69), Michael Owen (Robbie Fowler 46).
Subs Not Used: Wayne Bridge, Wes Brown, Joe Cole, David James, Martin
Keown, Nigel Martyn, Gareth Southgate, Darius Vassell.
Booked: Mills.
Attendance: 40,582
Referee: M Merk (Germany).
Nigeria 0 England 0
Point was enough and not much else to talk about, there wasn't much doubt about
this outcome.
Argentina 0 England 1
A superb performance by all the England lads game a historic and revenge win
over Argentina. The atmosphere in the JB pub at Southampton was superb and we
all spilled out onto the street as the Walkabout was emptying to celebrate a
great win.
England looked good at the start and surged forward and were rewarded for their
aggression in the 44th minute when Owen won a penalty after being tripped by
Pochettino. up steped Beckham as he said to Owen `I`ll take the pen` to smash it
home to the right of the keeper. Owen hit wide after some good running and
skill, Teddy Sheringham - on as a substitute for the excellent Heskey - had the
next chance. Paul Scholes - who had just fired in a spectacular shot of his own
- floated a pin-point cross over and the Tottenham striker volleyed fiercely at
Cavallero from 15 yards.
Argentina attacked non stop in the last 15 minutes but England were sound at the
back.
It was 1-0 to the England! and with a ref who wasn't influenced by the cheats.
Argentina: Pablo Cavallero, Mauricio Pochettino, Walter Samuel, Diego
Placente, Javier Zanetti, Diego Simeone, Juan Sebastian Veron (Pablo Aimar 45),
Juan Pablo Sorin, Ariel Ortega, Gabriel Batistuta (Hernan Crespo 60), Kily
Gonzalez (Claudio Lopez 64)
Subs Not Used: Matias Almeyda, Roberto Ayala, Roberto Bonano, German
Burgos, Claudio Caniggia, Jose Chamot, Marcelo Gallardo, Claudio Husain, Gustavo
Lopez
Booked: Batistuta
England: David Seaman, Danny Mills, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Sol
Campbell, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Owen Hargreaves (Trevor
Sinclair 19), Michael Owen (Wayne Bridge 80), Emile Heskey (Teddy Sheringham 56)
Subs Not Used: Wes Brown, Joe Cole, Kieron Dyer, Robbie Fowler, David
James, Martin Keown, Nigel Martyn, Gareth Southgate, Darius Vassell.
Booked: Ashley Cole, Heskey
Attendance: 35,927. Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
After a commanding performance in the first half with
a goal from Campbell it all went horribly wrong. Sol Campbell opened the
scoring for England with a powerful header after 24 minutes, but Niclas
Alexandersson deservedly equalised after 59 minutes following a Danny Mills
blunder. It all went sour in the second half afetr to many changes made the
team look out of sorts. down.
England: Seaman, Mills,
Ashley Cole, Ferdinand, Campbell, Beckham (Dyer 63), Scholes, Hargreaves, Heskey,
Vassell (Joe Cole 74), Owen.
Subs Not Used: Sinclair, Fowler, Brown, Martyn, Bridge, Keown, Southgate,
Sheringham, Butt, James.
Booked: Campbell.
Sweden: Hedman, Mellberg, Mjallby, Jakobsson, Lucic, Linderoth,
Alexandersson, Ljungberg, Magnus Svensson (Anders Svensson 56), Allback (Andreas
Andersson 80), Larsson.
Subs Not Used: Patrik Andersson, Michael Svensson, Kihlstedt, Antonelius,
Edman, Jonson, Farnerud, Daniel Andersson, Ibrahimovic, Isaksson.
Booked: Allback, Jakobsson.