Luis 'Jaws' Suarez.
This man is a fool. He has had a brilliant season with Liverpool, despite starting it with a 10 game ban for biting Ivanovic. He managed to turn things around, and even had some of us believing that he had turned a page. Alas, he has not. He is still a bitey wanker - highlighted by the chunk he decided to take out of Chiellini's shoulder in Uruguay's game against Italy.
His punishment? A 9 game international ban, and 4 month ban from footballing activities worldwide. This now means that since 2010, Suarez has been banned from playing in 34 matches without receiving a red card.
I think it's a generous punishment. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if in 18 months from now, he has bitten someone else and we go through this process all over again. He is a waste of great talent. I also think that if someone like Joey Barton were to do the same thing, he would be out of contract and unemployable - but alas, this is Suarez. He scores goals blah blah.. anyway, enough about him.
England
I think the criticism of the England team has been pretty harsh. I was very positive after the game against Italy, and thought we got some good things out of it. We were never going to do particularly well in this tournament, and knew that we had a tough group. Uruguay frustrated us, and the Costa Rica game was meaningless. I always suspected the Italy game would define who goes out of the group, and I was correct - though I certainly didn't expect Costa Rica to defeat anybody and win the group.
We have very few players in their prime at the minute - either too old or too inexperienced - and the one chap who should be in his prime is constantly being slaughtered by the media. We got what we realistically expected, and that's fair enough.
I would like to have seen more of Lambert in the World Cup, and more of Adam Lallana - Sturridge missed too many chances for my liking, and there's only so many times the likes of Barkley or Sterling can try and wiggle their way through an opposition's defence.
Saying that, I think we did OK. Yes, it is disappointing to not progress - the same can be said for any team who gets knocked out in the first round - but I don't think we were too bad.
Right, on to today's matches!
USA vs Germany
Huge game for USA and Klinsmann this, who have done well to be where they are. Nicked a victory out of Ghana, and just missed out on a huge upset against Portugal - USA are punching above their weight, and this game could see them either scrape through or narrowly miss out. Germany have looked alright, but not as great as you might expect.
Prediction - USA 1-2 Germany
Portugal vs Ghana
Both teams need a victory, and in Portugal's case - a pretty decent one - and I think they'll get it. Ghana have frustrated me because they have some great players, but don't have the composure to put the ball in the net when it matters. Muntari has been sent home alongside Kevin Prince Boateng, arguably two of their better players, and so it falls on the shoulders of the Ayew brothers, Christian Atsu, and former Sunderland man Asamoah Gyan to blag a win. Portugal have been crap so far and really need a performance. I imagine that Ronaldo will take it upon himself to win this, and will possibly be awesome.
Prediction: Portugal 3-0 Ghana
South Korea vs Belgium
I don't have a lot of faith in the Korean team. Losing to Algeria was pretty poor, and they lack the quality to do anything against a decent Belgium squad. Belgium haven't quite hit the heights yet in a relatively easy group, but this game should be the chance for Lukaku, Hazard and co to shine.
Prediction: South Korea 0-4 Belgium
Russia vs Algeria
Really? This game sounds crap but you never know. I've not got much of an opinion on either team, though I'd quite like to see Algeria blag it through to the next round and so I'll be cheering them on. Russia need a victory to have any chance - so should nab a goal, but have been largely disappointing for Mr Capello so I'm going for an unlikely victory for the African team.
Preditcion: Russia 1-2 Algeria
No comments:
Post a Comment