hi

With all of the first round of games played it now appears that the England performance against the USA was not too disappointing.

Teams like France,Italy and Spain struggled and did not perform to their ability either.

The only major side that appeared to play better than expected was Germany. And let's face it Australia are not yet a World side. Also they had to play for a long period with only ten men -without Cahill their best player.

The next games will be played differently - no playing to avoid losing - they all must play to win.

I don't know what team or tactics Capello will adopt but surely one must be one that allows Rooney to be brought into the game and not starved for long periods as happened last week.

Another problem was that England gave away possession too easily. In part this is due to the fact that Heskey is played up front with Rooney. Because of this England seemed be stuck in a mind set of knocking a long ball up to Heskey. While Heskey did not let England down, most of this play resulted in England losing possession. We have to play a passing game and bring Rooney's undoubted class into the equation. He should be in the middle trying to score, not taking throw ins on the halfway line !!

We have to win both games if only to shut Beckenbauer up.

Cheers

MikeL2