England’s match with Uruguay has the feeling of a real classic World Cup encounter and with Roy's boys ready to attack, I expect fireworks from the English in attack and a thoroughly hostile environment to be created by scores of travelling Uruguayans looking to make life as difficult as possible for the "away" team.
I have spoken at length on my feelings on both sides and I am very confident in backing England at 13/10 odds to overcome overrated opponents who lack pace in key areas and this could be the night where Raheem Sterling announces himself on the international stage and a certain Wayne Rooney puts a sock in the English media's sallivating mouth With Sterling expected to operate on the flank with Rooney returning to a more central role, England will have pace in the right areas and I really feel they can expose a Uruguayan side who will be missing their Captain Diego Lugano as well as the suspended Maxi Pereira and while Luis Suarez is expected to start, there are serious question marks about his fitness and match sharpness and I believe England can adequately handle the Liverpool man who is unlikely to be operating at anything close to the top of his game. The so called “Rooney debate” has to be one of the most annoying features about this World Cup and quite why the English media refuse to let go of this notion that Rooney should be dropped is anyone’s guess. Even if it were true, can they not just shut up for a few weeks and the let the team get on with their job? Here is a man who is their top goalscorer in qualifying (7 from 10), a man who is only second to Bobby Charlton on Man Utd’s all time top goalscorer charts, a player who runs his socks and heart out in every single game, a player who has the ability to turn the game on its head with a moment of genius, a player respected and revered by many footballers across the world. It’s not as if England have a litany of talent to call upon and the very idea that they should drop Rooney for someone like Lallana is quite simply nonsensical and bordering on the offensive. Lallana, great little player that he is has the square root of **** all experience for England and while he has had a super season at Southampton, the suggestion that he should be shoehorned into the English team at the expense of Rooney is simply wrong. I for one fully expect Rooney to have a great game tonight and I am backing him to score in a man of the match winning performance. If not, I shall eat my words in tomorrow’s updates In contrast to England, everyone talks about the South American’s attack as being truly world class but I have just never understood the fascination with Edison Cavani who never seems to perform when I see him play and I feel he is not someone who can cause England great damage (cue 2 goals for big man tonight) while Luis Suarez has not played in over a month and cannot be 100% fit, while Diego Forlan looks like he only has 10 minutes of action left in his legs. Conversely, Under Roy Hodgson, England are developing a pretty attractive team and in Daniel Strurridge they finally have a top striker to work in tandem with the much maligned Wayne Rooney while in Raheem Sterling they have arguably Europe’s finest teenage talent in their squad with pace and ability to burn and these 3 could really hurt the aging Uruguayans tonight by stretching them whenever they can on the break. I would quite happily take Rooney, Sturridge and Sterling over Suarez, Cavani and Forlan to be honest. Uruguay need the win just as much, if not more than the English given their catastrophic defeat to Costa Rica on Friday and they look sure to be fired up but I just feel they are similar to Spain in someways...past their best and on their last legs. England must take confidence and play with attacking verve and I fully expect them to do so. It won’t be easy for England but if there key attackers perform then I cannot see anything other than English victory and if they come out firing, they might just do it with a little style and I am going to say it now and put my head on the line... Tomorrow’s English press will be hailing Wayne Rooney and declaring the result one of the best in England’s recent history. Of course they certainly enjoy a degree of hyperbole down south and if England do get the victory, we can expect to see some revised optimism about England’s chances of going all the way in Brazil. Bo’s Best Bets England to win – 13/10 Rooney to score 1/1 (or Sturridge or both) Rooney man of the match – 7/1 Comments are closed.
|
Categories |