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Digicel’s John Barnes shares his thoughts on yesterday’s World Cup games
John Barnes
Today (yesterday) saw another big upset with Serbia beating Germany 1-0. Serbia is a very good side and Germany struggled after Miroslav Klose got a red card. After Germany beat Australia 4-0 last week, everyone got very excited and said Germany will go all the way through to the final.
But it’s very important not to get carried away with ourselves here and favor the teams that did well early on. Spain lost to Switzerland, and Germany lost today (yesterday) – that doesn’t mean that we won’t see them in the next round, only that they will have to fight harder in their next set of matches to go through.
In Group D, everything is to play for going into the final set of matches next Wednesday. Serbia have to fancy their chances now, playing against the pointless Australians, and who knows which German team will show up against Ghana. This loss will have rocked the young Germans’ confidence.
In the second match of the day, the USA showed all of their fighting spirit to come back against Slovakia from 2-0 down. They showed the spirit, determination and organization which are qualities that will get them far in this tournament. Regardless of their skill and technique, it’s their great attitude and spirit which carrying them through.
England disappointed once again in the last match of the day. They didn’t play well and they didn’t create chances. Having said that, I do think they will beat Slovenia and go through to the next round.
England doesn’t play sparkling football – they just get the job done. And when the chips are down, there is no one like England to get the job done. They don’t play like Argentina, Spain and Brazil – and while they haven’t won the last two matches, their experience and competence will get them through and they will win against Slovenia.
In terms of England’s players, Gerard and Rooney were disappointing in the last two matches. I feel that the team doesn’t play as a team but as individuals.
They don’t have a game plan and they are not performing as a unit. Before next Wednesday’s match, they have to decide what players they will go with and do they need to get Crouch involved and get more direct – they do need to show more fight for the ball in the final third a little more, because at the moment they are playing too much in midfield and doing too much passing of the ball without actually threatening the goal.
Group C is completely wide open going into the last round of the group matches.
If England does defeat Slovenia that leaves the door open for the USA to snatch the second qualification spot from Slovenia. It’s still all to play for.
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