Saturday 12 June 2010

The World Cup has begun, but can we really win it?

So, last night the World Cup begun. Lots of colour, flair, excitement and energy surrounding the beginning of the Rainbow Nation's first ever World Cup is probably going to be the only thing  to stay consistent throughout the whole tournament. But it started off, after so much hype, a low scoring but interesting game between Mexico and South Africa, in quite boring fashion. No big goalscoring game, no big refereeing mistakes, nothing. But then, France v Uruguay was the next game. Surely a game with two teams as good as they are will produce something.

On the contrary, this game was one of the most boring I have seen. Many people on the BBS, a Palace fans' forum board, have said that we only think it is boring because of the hype surrounding the World Cup, and because it is the world's biggest stage, we expect a bit more, but really, it was just dull.

So can England, the team that invented the beautiful game, produce something interesting tonight? As I write this I am watching Argentina v Nigeria, and Argentina are 1-0 up. Despite this lack of goals, it is a very enjoyable game. And no, it isn't because of Messi, it is because, as much as I hate to say it, Maradona's side are playing very good football.

This, according to ITV and BBC commentator's, is what Capello has got England doing. Every game, and listen for it tonight against the USA, the commentator's say at least once: "Capello has got England playing their best football for years." If this was the case, we would have won all of our games comfortably. We didn't and it isn't.

The problem is, every time somebody talks about England to me, I mention how our squad is too old now, and our squad in 2006 was better. They then come back with the usual "we have got Rooney/Lampard/Gerrard" depending on which big 4 team they chose to support despite not living locally to them. But the truth of the matter is this: Capello is a good manager, but doesn't play good football, and doesn't have a good squad.

However, the shocking display from France last night gave me, for the first time in a long time, a glimmer of hope.

We should really win our group, and as I am sure everybody has I have been through my World Cup wall chart and worked out that the odds are that we face France in the quarter-finals. If they play like they did last night, we really should beat them.

That would leave us with Brazil in the semi's, but let's cross that bridge when we come to it!

Gibbo

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