England, Oh England: World Cup Day Two Thoughts

It's hard to think about about anything else on a day when England are playing a World Cup game other than: How will England do tonight?

Well, we're marginally more happy than Nigeria and Greece, but less ecstatic than Argentina, South Korea or the Good Ol' US of A.

So here are some points:

1) Goodbye, Robert Green

I'll say this as simply as I can: Robert Green should not start another World Cup game for England.

He's probably right that goalkeepers do make mistakes. But a 25 yard shot that seemed to go in slow motion? He became a YouTube highlight for all the wrong reasons.

While West Ham fans will argue that his save from Altidore in the second half was stunning, then there's another argument: why wasn't he covering his near-post better in the first place? Joe Hart to start please, Fabio, pleeease....

2) And now onto (gulp!) Algeria

First of all, history's behind England. They rarely start a tournament well. This may well give them the rocket that they need going into Friday's now all-important clash with (gulp!) Algeria (I can't believe I'm writing this!)

It had better: Lampard was non-existent, Heskey and Crouch were both equally awful, and let's not talk about the lack of cohesion between the defense. No-one seemed to be marshaling them.

As a QPR fan, I hate to say it, but John Terry should be given back the captain's armband.

3) Oh well, England could be ...

Greece, who didn't show up in an awful 2-0 loss to lively South Korea, who deposed of the Euro 2004 champions with ease. Enough said about that the better.

4) Argentina - the flip-sides

On one side, it's easy to see how Argentina are dark horses for the tournament.

It became plainly obvious that they seemed to ignore their madcap coach and domestic idol, Diego Maradona, optng instead to keep the ball at lot and tear apart Nigeria at well.

They should have won the game about 10-0, if it hadn't been for Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who was undeniably man of the match.

On the other side, they should also practice some better finishing too, after they missed chance after chance. And considering that their defense looked stretched against a speedy Nigerian attack, they probably need some work on that part of the game, too.

But don't get us wrong - I'd rather be in Argentina's position than England's right now...

5) South Korea....Whaaaat?

I would have gone to the bookies and put some money on this one being a draw, with the Greeks completely shutting down South Korea's defense, but then again, that's why I don't (particularly) gamble.

Inevitably, I was wrong. The Koreans completely outplayed the Greeks, and took advantage of the Europeans' defensive lapses. But this is still a very tough group....

6) And last but not least 

The USA should be delighted with a point, bearing in mind that their ramshackle defense looked woeful and they presented England with plenty of chances to win.

Having said that, they soon became masters of the last-ditch tackle — something that the Europeans should perhaps learn. Team America might not be the world police of the football world, but they certainly managed to shackle down Wayne Rooney — even if the constant sandwiching of the player was a mite, ahem, cynical.

But sadly, cynical gets results. And that's why the US is a dark horse for a semi-final place. Oh, and a round of applause to Tim Howard, who was brilliant in goal. Better than his opposite number, anyway ...

PERFORMANCE RATINGS

South Korea: A (best performance of the World Cup so far)

Argentina: B+ (better finishing would have had the game over at half-time)

USA: B (Luck + good goalkeeping + last ditch defending = one point)

England: C- (Good start + bad finish + no cohesion = one point)

Nigeria: C- (No defense and should have been punished)

Greece: E (Did Zeus hit you with a thunderbolt on your way over lads?)