A Country Now More Famous For Its Fish and Chips, Than Football

Wayne Rooney showing his fondness of Uruguay by keeping
the jersey of an opponent in a very secure place.
(Pic Courtesy of FIFA.com)

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, others have greatness thrust upon them." And some are England. When it counted most, they came up short. If one speaks of thinking outside the box, England are a team which does its thinking inside the box, a very, very small box, in darkness, with no imagination. England created this game, now they have been left behind, and are falling further back.

They were devoid of ideas on ways to break down the Uruguay defence. Wayne Rooney, a man on whose shoulders rested the hopes of a nation, and most of its former colonies, looked nothing like the proverbial number 10. He is more of a hyena, rather than a gazelle. A number 10 needs to be the latter, just take a moment to compare his style of play, to that of Andrea Pirlo, Mesut Ozil, Andres Iniesta and even the Brazilian Oscar.

Their defence needs addressing, as no front line will be shivering coming up against Phil Jagielka and Gary Cahill. Jones and Smalling are not the answers, with the utmost of respect to supporters of Manchester United.

What England have though, is pace, and lots of it. The slaloming Sterling, the elegant Barkley, flanked by Oxlade-Chamberlain, with Sturridge ahead of this diamond. This team might be able to have a crack at the Euros, but fans have to be realistic. Everytime 'England expects', England fails. They do not have the 'never say die' mentality of a Luis Suarez.

Suarez rifling the ball past Joe Hart to clinch the win
(Pic Courtesy of FIFA.com)

Uruguay were in truth, quite fortunate to get away with the three points, but in the World Cup, that's pretty much all that matters. By the looks of it, how far they advance will hang a lot on whether Suarez can be fit, as the majority of this team, Cavani included, look jaded.

England have work to do, Uruguay have matches to win.

Japan and Greece meanwhile, looked like it was a meeting between a group of men who had Samurais, with the other powered by Zeus. Football was not the order of the day in their matchup, though Japan were quite abject, playing against the ten men Greeks. Both teams' campaign might fizzle out.

Hoping for inspiration from Zeus?
(Pic Courtesy of FIFA.com)

Tonight's matches. Italy v Costa Rica, Switzerland v France, Honduras v Ecuador.

Italy v Costa Rica

Truth be told, England do not have a chance. But Mario Balotelli might want them to remain in this competition, after posting this on Twitter.

Balotelli being Balotelli
(Pic Courtesy of FIFA.com)

 As this piece was being written though, Italy were probably of the thought that the World Cup will be alright without England in it, that abject in the way they have started their match against Joel Campbell and Costa Rica.

Pirlo's outfit, in the Italian dressing room.
(Pic Courtesy of FIFA.com)

A shadow of what they were against England, but they still do have a certain Andrea Pirlo in their ranks. A man who has been the most consistent midfielder in world football, could turn it on at the flick of a switch. But my oh my, Costa Rica have just put themselves ahead.

I'd still wait for a certain bit of magic from Balotelli, to spark Italy into life. If they get the ball moving quicker, and be more solid when in the opposing half, they could get back into this match.

My take: Italy 2-1 Costa Rica

Switzerland v France

In a clash between French speaking nations, Switzerland created the most exciting moment thus far in the World Cup, with a winner at the death against Ecuador. Whether they can pull off an upset against the French though, is questionable.

Xherdan Shaqiri is a tad too individualistic for my liking, and it could come as a detriment to the Swiss' mode of attack. One consolation for them, is that the French will always provide teams with a chance, due to their shaky back line.

France though, might just be in the mood for some condiments, and might make cheese out of their Swiss opponents, to go along with their wine from Bordeaux.

My take: France 3-1 Switzerland

Honduras v Ecuador

In their opening encounter against France, Honduras were hounds in a football match. Their anchorman, Wilson Palacios will be suspended for this game, and South America's weakest team might just be facing the Hondurans at the right time.

Predictable is what both teams are, and it could end up being another one of those stale draws. With the fact that this is being played closer to home for Ecuador than Honduras, I'm tipping the men in yellow today.

My take: Honduras 0-2 Ecuador.