13.5 million supposedly watched it

Reports suggest that 13.5 million of us tuned in to what England crash out of the World cup with what was the heaviest defeat that England had ever suffered during a world cup.

To many of us it was predicted that things were not right in the England camp before the Germany game and things climaxed to a pathetic performance by some truly gifted footballers. The 4-1 defeat was sour to taste when you think that it was our arch rivals Germany that were the team to send our boys back on to the plane and home.

We started over two weeks ago with much hope anticipation, and with 5 minutes in to the first game, i am certain your hopes and enthusiasm for a possible long campaign were present. But from the moment Robert Green spilt the ball in to the back of his net, things looked ominous for the tournament and campaign.

Drawing to the USA was followed by a truly tragic and hopeless display against Algeria.

The players looked like boys that had been dragged by their mothers shopping against their request. The heart and passion that the fans show was not replicated on the pitch, evident in Wayne Rooney.

The player that many had pinned their hopes on did not perform in this tournament. After playing so well 4 years ago in the world cup in Germany, we have watched him mature in to a gifted player when playing for Manchester United. But this World Cup the striker had a very under-whelming campaign. He looked so unhappy playing in the tournament. Admittedly after picking up an ankle injury playing for Manchester United against Bayern Munich, he has not been able to recapture his form but the performances during South Africa were horribly below his best. But it leaves us asking why?

Why did Capello stick with 4-4-2? Why did he not try 4-5-1? Why did the players perform so poorly? Why could the players get themselves in to such a poor position that we ended up leaving the tournament so early?

Some of you may say that they got as far as they could go, but many would looks at the route they could have taken, they could have faced a Ghana team in the last 16, where they could have built upon that result, and faced Uruguay, where you would like to think that a poor England side could beat them, and it would have left us possibly in the Semi-Finals. We were given the group we wanted, we had the path to the Semi-finals where we would have met some of the big teams, but we failed, we faltered and we didnt achieve our potential

The golden boys did not make it, are the new youth going to? is there any youth coming through? why is it when we get the opportunity we seem to fall short? where is England going?

Were you watching???

We you today at 3pm sitting or standing watching the game. England today took on Slovienia knowing only a win against the European team would guarantee and safe passage into the next stage of the competition. Work places set up televisions for workers to watch the game, schools  showed the game, and if you were the lucky ones you were able to get home to watch the game in the comfort of your lucky chair.

England in their “lucky” red strip made 3 changes with Defoe, Milner and Upson coming in, and it was the first two changes that made the difference. Milner playing on the right whipped in a delivery in to the box where Defoe anticipated the cross and got in front of his defender before steering the ball in the back of the net.

It sent the port Elizabeth crowd in to raptures. The majority of the fan base was English adorned with the cross of George on many of their faces and shirts. the Stadium had the feel of and English home game with the mass of white in the crowd.

England after the goal finally managed to create chances unlike the first two games, and finally the country blessed with fine passers finally, were able to keep possession with confidence and competence.

Wayne Rooney had his best performance of the competition going close but for a fine save, but not to his supreme best but there was a drive and determination which had been missing in the Algeria  match. He was substituted in the second half after getting a knock, but we can only hope that it was a minor knock and that he will be back after his promising performance.

Capello after the game spoke of how the players played with out fear and it was the kind of performance he had seen them perform in the training session. His admission of how their performance was a huge mark up from their previous performances,  can bode well and the belief seems to be there.

With the knockout stages ahead, hopefully this victory can kick start the players and hopefully they can go far in this tournament.

Wimbledon 2010

Wimbledon is back for another year, and everyone here in Britain will be following Andy Murray rooting for him to get to the final and to go all the way. The grass court Grand slam always a fiercely contested slam, always seems to have the same winner, Roger Federer. The cool calm man from Switzerland started his defense of the title today. But the six time champion didn’t have it all his way.

The defending champion came through 5-7 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-1) 6-0 in an astonishing opening match on Centre Court. Falla, the world number 60, served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set, but top seed Federer dug deep. And the six-time champion hit top form in the deciding fifth set as Falla’s fire finally died out.

Today the opening day showed what entertainment there is, and the unpredictablility of the competition. All we can hope for is that the rest of the competition lives up to the entertainment and thrills that we were able to enjoy today in the first match of the competition.

for the latest in the draws and scores

http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/tracker/ttFrame.html?ts=1277156937298&lang=en_GB&syn=none&wh=572&mode=draw&ref=www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/scores/draws/ms/index.html&db=false&crt=none

Robbie you naughty boy

ITV World Cup pundit Robbie Earle has been sacked by the broadcaster after tickets for his family and friends were passed on to a third party.

ITV said a “substantial number” of tickets for the Denmark v Holland match on Monday had been passed on, breaching Fifa rules.

It has been claimed a block of tickets were used by a Dutch company for an “ambush marketing effort”.

In a statement Earle said: “I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.”

He added: “I hope when people hear the full story they will see me in a different light. I have absolutely no connection with any marketing ambush agency and have not profited in any way from these tickets.”

ITV’s full statement said: “Following claims by FIFA that official 2010 World Cup tickets may have been used for ambush marketing, ITV has reviewed its entire ticket allocation for the tournament,” the TV network said in a statement.

“Immediate investigations indicated that a block of ITV tickets would appear to have been used for unauthorised purposes during the Holland v Denmark match.

“Further enquiries have revealed that a substantial number of tickets allocated to Robbie Earle for family and friends have been passed to a third party in breach of FIFA rules.

“As a result, Robbie Earle’s contract with ITV has been terminated with immediate effect.”

The announcement comes after officials ejected 36 women who were wearing orange mini-dresses during Holland’s game against Denmark.

The women were accused of “ambush marketing” for a brand of beer.

Members of the group, accused of promoting a brand that is not one of the tournament’s official sponsors, were found with tickets understood to have been part of Earle’s allocation.

The tickets’ terms and conditions stipulate they must not be passed on or sold to anyone else.

Earle, 45, an ambassador for England’s 2018 World Cup bid, played for Wimbledon and Port Vale as well as for Jamaica in the 1998 World Cup.

The World cup “Is not Gold”

A British chemistry professor has calculated that if the World Cup trophy were really solid gold it would be too heavy for footballers to lift.

Martyn Poliakoff of Nottingham University estimates that a solid gold trophy of its size – 36cm (14 in) high – would weigh at least 70kg (154lb).

He concludes that the trophy, or at least part of it, must be hollow.

Fifa insisted that the metal part of the current trophy, which dates back to 1974, was “solid gold”.

It told the BBC News website the prize weighed 6.175kg, including 4.9kg of “solid 18-carat gold” and two layers of the semi-precious stone malachite.

Nobody wins the coveted trophy outright as Fifa retains possession between tournaments, awarding a gold-plated replica to each World Cup champion.

Dense metalMaking his case on the university’s Periodic Table of Videos website, Professor Poliakoff said a genuinely solid gold cup of this height would be “as much as the weight of quite a large adult”.

“Gold is very heavy, it’s one of the densest metals that there is,” he said.

“According to my calculations, if it was solid all the way through, it would have somewhere between 70 and 80kg of gold in it.”

The professor suggested the term “solid gold” might mean “the metal part is gold all the way through – it isn’t that there is a thin layer of gold and the rest is steel, for example”.

“However, I think – and I have no means of knowing – that perhaps the ball at the top, which is the world, is probably hollow… because I don’t think that it would be light enough for people to wave above their heads, and also it would be a big waste of gold.”

The professor added that he was “not very interested in football”.

“I was a teenager when England won the World Cup in 1966,” he said.

1. “I didn’t watch the game then and I haven’t watched a World Cup match since then, but perhaps I will watch something this year.”