AK's view from the boundary.

It’s been two days on from England beating Slovenia 1 – 0. This left England finishing 2nd in the group due to the USA leaving it very late in their game, 90+2 mins, to finish top by beating Algeria 1 -0.

England performed far, far better in this game but there is still room for improvement but, barring injuries, I’d be tempted to keep the same starting 11 for the next game. The next game, sounds easy when said like that, the next game.

Sunday 27th June: England v German

Said like that it takes on a whole new meaning. Since beating the Germans in the 1966 final, it has all gone Germany’s way in major tournaments ever since.

1970 World Cup quarter final. We lost 3 -2 aet. We lost a 2 goal lead.
1990 World Cup semi final. 1 – 1 aet. Lost 4 -3 on penalties.
1996 European championship. 1 – 1 aet. Lost 6 -5 on penalties.

This Sunday, to quote Lord Nelson, England expects…..

The French went out without so much as a whimper and the Italians followed straight after.

It’s all sounding a little familiar is all this.

France surrendered early.
The USA left it late.
We’re left facing Germany.

It was nice to see Japan go through, what about the free kick by Hondo? Fantastic! The second one wasn’t too shabby either.

I was a little sad to see New Zealand miss out. Never lost a game, didn’t win one either but that’s not the point. NZ doesn’t have a professional league and can just about muster enough players to make up a squad. Tremendous achievement and they finished above Italy. At this moment in time NZ are my team of the tournament.

The Kaka indecent earlier in the week against the Ivory Coast angered me greatly. Incidents of cheating like this, cheating is the correct description because that is exactly what it is, needs stamping out once and for all. The video footage of incidents such as this should be referred to a panel and adjudicated on appropriately. In this instance I would ban Kader Keita from international football for life. FIFA needs to grow some balls and deal with this. Just like they should with all these diving twats who are ruining the game.

In the Premier League I would like to see season long bans for incidents such as this.

On to cricket.

The Aussies are over here and are currently taking on England in a one day series. We lead 2 – 0 so far and the games haven’t even been close. The next game is up here at Old Trafford this Sunday with the remaining 2 at the Oval and Lord’s respectively.