After two very disappointing performances in South Africa so far, England need nothing less than a clear victory to progress into the next round and to boost their own morale as well as the England fans; their performances thus far have been both shambolic and passionless and bears no resemblance to the England team that qualified in such a dominant and confident mood.
One suggestion is that the England players have frozen and cannot perform because the expectancy is so high. But watching England’s first two draws against USA and Algeria you would be forgiven for thinking they had been replaced by look-a-likes.
Wayne Rooney couldn’t control the ball, Steven Gerrard running round like a headless chicken and Emille Heskey??? Well, maybe all the players except Emille Heskey haven’t played as well as they can!
Of course, if England beat Slovenia with a hatful of goals then all this will be forgotten and instead the hype will swing completely the other way. The media will once again be touting England as likely winners of the competition and the surviving members of the England 1966 team will be wheeled out to give their opinions on how Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and player manager John Terry will feel when they are crowned champions of the world!
The truth is that England are amongst the top eight best football playing nations in the world and are therefore expected to get to the quarter-finals in South Africa at the very least. Anything less and the trip to South Africa will be deemed a disaster.
While criticism for the England team performances, Fabio Capello’s strict regime, and debates on whether our footballers are even good enough continue Domino’s Pizza has launched a competition on Facebook to find the current squad’s best lookalikes. Maybe a look-a-like England team could play better than the real players!
To enter the Footballer Lookalike Competition, fans can upload a picture of themselves or their friends via the events tab of the Facebook fan page of Domino’s Pizza UK. Every week, Domino’s will hand out free pizza vouchers to the best Lampard lookalike, Defoe double or other imitation of one of Fabio Capello’s chosen 23. Meanwhile, Facebook users can vote for their favourite picture too by clicking ‘like’ under each picture. After four weeks, the public’s favourite will win a free pizza party (worth £100) for the final.
Football fans can also compete for the Domino’s Cup in the online football game On me ‘ead. Prizes include 25 Domino’s Pizza Parties, each worth £100, and various discount codes. Players have to head footballs from one side of the screen to the other, without letting them hit the ground.
So, will England turn it around?
C’mon England! Do it for Bobby Robson and do it for Frank Sidebottom!
Three Shirts on my Line! Home, Away and Goalie!!!
1 comment so far
1 Galvin Green // Jul 13, 2010 at 11:09 am
England did have two poor first games which ended as draws against both USA and Algeria and everyone expected them to turn it around by thrashing Slovenia in our final group game. This didn’t happen, it was 1-0 and USA also won against Algeria so we came 2nd in the group to USA and to go against Germany which in fairness to there group games I honestly didnt think we had a chance. In the game I think we played well apart from in defense where we conceded 4 goals on the counter-attack. Frank Lampardr and Glen Johnson I think were our best players of that game and the tournament, along with the very best player Ashley Cole.