Watching England play is definitely not good for the nerves and it is quite understanding why we England supporters are all driven to drink too much


Another good day for Chelsea and England with Chelsea players picking up both FIFA man of the match awards - John Terry for England and Maniche for Portugal.


England 1 - 0 Ecuador
John Terry almost cost England dearly with his header which almost gave up a goal to Ecuador - but he made amends with good tackles, leadership and took on the mantle of Captain after Beckham left the field for the last 10 minutes.

England were woeful in the first half, but picked things up in the second and Lampard should have scored a couple of goals - once (and if) Frank & England start firing they are going to be capable of beating the better sides which they are going to meet in the rest of the World Cup.
England did a good job of stifling the Ecuador midfield and attack and while it was not pretty it was effective.


Portugal 1 - 0 Holland

Maniche scored a well taken effort taking a pass in the area jinking past the defender and coolly slotting home.
Carvahlo had a great game martialling the depleted Portugese defence and was one of the few players on the pitch not to get a yellow card. Robben looked lively for the Dutch but for some strange reason Van Basten dropped Van Nistelroy and it probably cost them the game.


Portugal looked very dangerous even playing with less players than Holland for large stretches of the game until the referee evened things up with his second and fourth red cards.

Follow up:

Fortunately for England both Costhino and more importantly Deco were sent off and will miss the Quarter Final - Figo was also lucky not to get sent off for head butting - but escaped with a yellow card. This along with an improved performance may give England a realistic chance of progressing - but Portugal looked very dangerous coming forward but will miss Deco.


So another seven Chelsea players through to the next round and poor Robben going home early. Tomorrow sees Shevchenko's Ukraine take on the mean defence of Switzerland and Tuesday sees Makalele and Gallas try to slow down rampant Spain and poor Essien less Ghana take on Brazil.


Hopefully England can give me a good birthday present next saturday with a win over Portugal with Lampard finally breaking the back of the net with some screamers.