Posted on 06/15/2006 5:42:49 AM PDT by soccer_maniac
Starting off the day will be Real Salt Lake's Douglas Sequeira and his Costa Rican teammates, who play Ecuador at 8:55 a.m. ET in Hamburg (ESPN2). The ticos showed pluck in their Group A opener against Germany on Friday, making a game of it by scoring twice against the hosts before falling 4-2. The Central Americans will need to have more players get involved in the attack against Ecuador, as Paulo Wanchope provided their only offense. The Ecuadorians got a huge weight off their shoulders by downing Poland 2-0 in their group play opener Friday. Previously, the side had been maligned for its inability to win away from the high altitude of their home ground in Quito, but that changed as Carlos Tenorio and Agustin Delgado each scored to upset the favored Poles. An Ecuador victory will guarantee they and Germany advance from Group A to the round-of-16.
Trinidad & Tobago looking to play giant-killer against England in the day's marquee matchup. The sides meet at 11:55 a.m. ET in Nuremberg in a match that will air live on ESPN2. The "Soca Warriors" made their World Cup debut Saturday, pulling off a surprising scoreless draw against Sweden in Group B play despite playing a man down for most of the second half.
The last match of the day comes at 2:55 p.m. ET in Berlin (ESPN) as Paraguay and Sweden meet. The Paraguayans were lackluster in their match against England and must get more out of their attack to have a shot to advance to the knockout phase. The Swedes had equal difficulty finding the net against Trinidad & Tobago; strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson will hope to be on target this time around.
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May your words come back to bite you :)
As far as a Germany-England clash -- England isn't through yet.
T&T has people capable of scoring a goal and England has not yet put one in the back of the net, as the goal in the Paraguay game was an own goal.
45th minute
And Stern John of my very own Coventry City very nearly scored. Sort it out England, you tarts!
And Crouch, get off the pitch, you mess.
I have no reason to classify the US as the fittest team.
Stern John used to play for the Columbus Crew.
This is a trap match for England.
The yellows are piling up for T&T, they had better be careful before they find themselves a man down.
Trinidad comes within a lash of shoving John Terry along with the ball into goal.
Everyone should get a dressing down from John Terry. They should kiss his ass.
The shooting from England was woeful on at least a half dozen opportunities.
How many balls lofted far clear of the goal with no pressure on the shot?
You know that is the one thing about soccer I don't get. You obviously have tremendously talented players, but why is it, they aren't more accurate on shots?
Crouch should have taken a touch instead of full volley. He could have had fish and chips between getting the ball and shooting. Major, Major mistake.
Ball is moving and often spinning. It's a lot harder to get a clear shot than it looks. There's often not much time.
Stern's a good striker when he can actually be bothered. Coventry fans tend to get on his back because he appears lazy through half the season. Still doing a decent job for us.
England always struggle against sides who sit back and let them have plenty of space. This game is very reminiscent of England vs Norn Iron....
It's very true. And the more anxious the player is to score, the more chance it has of being ballooned over the bar.
Another underwhelming England performance. Booed off the field at halftime.
I think we'll see Rooney come on for Crouch.
England's a mess right now and they need a lift.
Fleet Street is already warming up for headlines tomorrow if England can't beat T&T.
And if England loses ... the headlines will make one think Big Ben has collapsed.
It already did. On a motor cycle.
The way this game is going I see England scoring often in the 2nd half. They are getting so many opportunities. I just don't see T&T hanging in there. I wouldn't want to be the English coach just now. Sitting on the bench the pressure is unbelievable.
Being the England coach right now isn't so bad.
Being the England coach after Lalas outjumped Woods to head in the second goal for the USA in 1993 -- now THAT you really didn't want to be!
England haven't scored in a 2nd half in the WC since 1998.
As Dr Sam Beckett might say....Oh boy.
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