Considering Group C

The only goal-mouth action we got from England/Algeria.

In which we consider the situation in Group C after yesterday's matches and somehow end up talking about Arsenal. But then again, don't we always?

Neal Thurman: COS?
Jeremy Spitzberg: no
Neal Thurman: or am I watching England on both coasts via ESPN3?
Jeremy Spitzberg: indeed you are
Neal Thurman: nice
Neal Thurman: I'm nationwide baby
Jeremy Spitzberg: and somehow in the last 90mins algeria became "we"
Neal Thurman: ha
Jeremy Spitzberg: as in "we need to hold on"
Neal Thurman: Good thing for England that France have actually done worse than they have so far
Neal Thurman: wow - England suck
Jeremy Spitzberg: phew
Neal Thurman: yeah - what do you think? England just stressed? (and not a well-constructed team) Just unlucky?
Jeremy Spitzberg: i don't know
Jeremy Spitzberg: algeria played a really good match
Jeremy Spitzberg: kept possession
Jeremy Spitzberg: closed down well
Jeremy Spitzberg: credit to them
Jeremy Spitzberg: but something not clicking for england
Jeremy Spitzberg: getting balls out of central mid wide?
Neal Thurman: have "lesser teams" figured out some version of the neutral zone trap from hockey or Cover-2 D from NFL to neutralize teams w/ superior talent
Jeremy Spitzberg: just don't look dangerous
Jeremy Spitzberg: let heskey win the header and make sure you get to the ball first
Neal Thurman: have the wrong coach to play longball
Neal Thurman: they should have hired someone English if that is their best strategy :-)
Neal Thurman: where's Harry Rednapp when you need him?
Jeremy Spitzberg: crouch, defoe, lennon
Jeremy Spitzberg: only liv with as many players
Jeremy Spitzberg: carra, gjohn, gerrard
Jeremy Spitzberg: blame rafa
Neal Thurman: no wonder Wenger doesn't buy English ;-)
Neal Thurman: they suck
Jeremy Spitzberg: sagna, diaby, gallas...
Neal Thurman: fair point, those guys played like crap as well
Neal Thurman: Sagna especially seems to have regressed since his first season
Jeremy Spitzberg: che had 3 as well, i guess
Jeremy Spitzberg: what did you think of eboue in central mid?
Neal Thurman: Diaby is what he is, nice versatile squad player and Gallas is what he is as well - mostly solid CB, good going forward, good for one big gaffe per match
Neal Thurman: I've always liked Eboue as a holding midfielder (certainly as a reserve holding midfielder)
Jeremy Spitzberg: ha
Neal Thurman: he has the temperment for it, lots of work rate, much less requirement that he shoot/cross accurately
Neal Thurman: perhaps a bit too rash (more the Roy Keane model than the Makelele calm/cool/collected model)
Neal Thurman: but if I were a mid-table team somewhere in the world, I'd start him at holding M
Jeremy Spitzberg: the holding part would scare me
Jeremy Spitzberg: as you say, temperment and inclination to bomb forward
Jeremy Spitzberg: but if you're villa, you'd like him covering milner or petrov
Neal Thurman: I don't remember him getting too far out of position for ARS on the few occasions he's played that position
Neal Thurman: definitely an upgrade for Villa over Petrov who is somewhat out of place as a Carrick-like holding M
Jeremy Spitzberg: send cash plus sidwell the other way to cover for song and you've got a deal
Neal Thurman: only if ARS need the cash - I'd rather have Eboue than Sidwell
Jeremy Spitzberg: they need cash to buy benaglio and fernandez ;-)
Neal Thurman: lol
Neal Thurman: they should have loads of cash to spend now - apparently they've paid off the big stadium building debts that were holding them back
Jeremy Spitzberg: then the 60mil they'll get for cesc...
Neal Thurman: that too
Jeremy Spitzberg: xavi making a nice case for barca's need for cesc
Jeremy Spitzberg: only a few games (cl final, swi) but
Neal Thurman: that's CL semi ;-)
Jeremy Spitzberg: right, sorry ;-)
Neal Thurman: will be interesting to see how it all pans out - maybe the fact that the "next Zizou" and France flamed out will mean his price will drop and he'll be the replacement
Jeremy Spitzberg: gourcuff?
Neal Thurman: yeah
Jeremy Spitzberg: or ozil
Jeremy Spitzberg: speaking of flame-outs
Jeremy Spitzberg: ozil to lando for week 3
Neal Thurman: I thought Ozil looked pretty good - just nothing for fantasy purposes
Neal Thurman: I'd take him on my team
Jeremy Spitzberg: guess it isn't fair to judge 11 on 10
Neal Thurman: HA - apparently the Malian referee that jobbed us on Edu's "goal" was born on the 4th of July
Jeremy Spitzberg: lol
Jeremy Spitzberg: #irony
Neal Thurman: pretty much
Jeremy Spitzberg: or is that just his "edited" wikipedia page?
Neal Thurman: not sure, reading it in Peter King's column
Neal Thurman: he didn't attribute a source
Jeremy Spitzberg: evidently his wikipedia page has been shredded
Jeremy Spitzberg: which is funny
Jeremy Spitzberg: in a particularly nerdy way
Neal Thurman: definitely - wonder if he even had a wikipedia page before this morning
Jeremy Spitzberg: http://ryankuder.posterous.com/koman-coulibalys-wikipedia-page-after-the-usa
Jeremy Spitzberg: page seems to be back to normal, including the 7/4 birthday
Jeremy Spitzberg: http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/blog/dirty-tackle/post/DTotD-Senderos-tackles-his-own-teammate-injure?urn=sow,249340
Jeremy Spitzberg: how did we miss this?
Neal Thurman: for some reason the picture isn't showing up for me but that's pretty funny - realized he was injured but not that he tackled a teammate to do it
Jeremy Spitzberg: only senderos
Neal Thurman: or Titus Bramble
Jeremy Spitzberg: ha
Jeremy Spitzberg: well that turned into a nice blog roundtable ;-)
Neal Thurman: :-)

For a take on the England team from across the pond - well, I guess it would be not across the pond - be sure to read Y!AM's excellent, and heartfelt, post.

Last night was embarrassing. Not just the fact we drew, but the fact there was no fight, no passion, we lost every 50-50, players looked tired/unfit, and Algeria probably deserved to win the game. Make no mistake, that is as bad as I've seen England play for an extremely long time.

Finally, be sure to check out my take on the USA's line-up against Algeria, and my suggestion that the USA plays a 4-3-3

It would also be a psychological advantage as it would signal the American's intent to win the match, which indeed they need to do if they want to ensure qualification into the next round.