with the result in the other game tonight England are now sort of playing knock out football

loser of the game between England and Uruguay is basically out , I know it would be mathematically possible for England to qualify should they lose but it would be a stretch

then should England get a result against Uruguay the game against costa rica becomes a decider

Uruguay are 7th in the FIFA world rankings. They came 4th in the last world cup.
How would they get to that postion by accident?

Uruguay are pretty much like England in that for many years they found it hard to deliver at the World Cup.
The same could have been about Spain for many years.

Whatever you believe about the ability of Uruguay, I think that after today's results I can see a potential problem that I didn't before today.
You don't want to face Uruguay when they're desperate.
Not necessarily because they suddenly become better, but because they have a tendency to be a nightmare to play against when they are in a desperate position.

They will do anything to avoid being beaten when they are in that situation. Things get dirty and very tough, and the last thing we want is for any England players to be injured, even if they should go on to win.

Well tonight Pirlo proved yet again what a true world class player he is in the centre of midfield as I thought he was absolutely brilliant the whole game and dictated most of the Italian play.

Serious questions have to be asked as to why he was allowed to stroll about largely untroubled in the centre of England's dynamic midfield though - not exactly rocket science to know that snuffing out Pirlo should have been the first thing that any opposing manager looks at ... seemingly the English management didn't rate him that highly by the amount of space he was allowed.

this is the problem, people think welbeck had a good game because he ran around a lot and tackled people, he offered nothing in attack. he creates nothing from a wide position, he's not a good dribbler and he's not a good crosser of the ball, all he does is run around a lot and close people down. he's not a good striker either, his finishing is woeful, i don't rate welbeck in general and believe he's only in the england squad because he's a united player...

Disappointed as there was effort and some skill although precision went at the end. Once again I think Sturridge has been slightly underrated. I like reliability and said beforehand that my money would be on him. He could probably get a goal per game on average although the way in which he left the pitch was a bit concerning.

All aspects of that goal were good but as others have said, it was Sterling who made the biggest impression. Henderson mainly did well. Barkley looked promising when he was brought on. Jagielka was the best defender. I am not going to knock Baines but one thing I did feel about the last season was he was better before the injury.

I am glad that the big ego era is over. Terry had gone. I think Cole had to be left out symbolically and anyhow he's getting on. It's a transitional team and I think Hodgson, who I like a lot, is to be applauded for being selfless in preparing the way for the future. Ditto Gerrard. At last we have both a manager and a captain with the right spirit.

It could be a sad tournament for us but I really hope not. We deserve to get a result from the next two matches.

uruguay have nothing in midfield creatively, very workman like team. at the last world cup they had forlan in the form of his life creating everything for the strikers, he's old and past it now and suarez is half fit at best with no match practice going into the england game. we should give uruguay a good hiding and i think we will...

how many of those goals have come at major tournaments?

Uruguay have historically always punched way above their weight - they have a smaller population than Scotland and pretty much similar to that of Wales. It's a bit unfair to compare a nation of 3 million people to 2 nations of approx 50million

Overall a positive performance for England but just lacked that killer finish. Italy in general were not great but did the job.
England must take positives into the Uruguay game as we are not at that stage yet of 'what if or if only'. I have mix feelings on Rooney but he really needs to show at Uruguay game.

It was a long time ago but they've actually won two World Cups

Yes I know, it's incredible really.

They've invariably been very solid but did miss out on QF in 94, 98 and 06. But overall their record is pretty decent.

India have a population of 1.237 billion, how many world cups have they won?

I'm sure you already know the answer, if not try google.

What their population is is neither here nor there, I don't understand who's being unfair.

Historically they are the most successful team in South America and are the current holders of the Copa América.

Whether they punch above their weight or not, they still manage to somehow compete.
How can they be 7th in the FIFA world team rankings if not for some reason?

I thought England played well and I am normally one of their biggest critics.

Gerrard doesn't have it anymore at the top level, i would drop him, maybe that suggest to him it's time to move on

I just thought it was unfair for you to say they have found it hard to deliver at the world cup, when they've actually done incredibly well over the years, particularly given their small population and meagre financial resources compared to the footballing behemoths of Spain and England, the two countries you compared them to.

9 I think. at the Euros he played in. I may be wrong so somebody feel free to correct me.

4 at Euro 2004
1 at Euro 2012

Oh, I see. I didn't mean to sound unfair.
I didn't even intend to compare the teams in an unfavourable manner.

I agree that over several decades they've performed incredibly well.
I just meant that in recent decades some teams haven't delivered in the same way teams like Germany, Italy, and Argentina have. Spain were another 'underachiever' where when every world cup came along people felt that they were good enough to win, but they didn't do as well as expected. Until they won the last one.

That's what I meant. I wasn't trying to undermine anybody's success.

He's gone downhill since leaving Everton.

Are you sure? Okay thanks.

Agreed we can't afford the luxury of carrying anyone at this level.

Like you say I thought we did ok, switched off defensively for their goals, although the corner was well worked.

I would rather see us go down trying to play like that rather than the dull turgid stuff we played at the Euro's.

Just a shame we seemed to lack energy and composure right when we needed it near the end because generally we played pretty well against a decent Italy side.

Missed some really good chances and the 2 goals given away were pretty soft which surprised me actually.

Sterling was very impressive butt hey certainly targeted the full backs and Rooney should have scored (albeit created the goal too)

A promising performance but have to covert those chances and make sure we tighten up at the back.

A final worry would be the way we did lose fitness at the end when chasing the game.

England players are being unfairly criticised tbh - Italy were just better, nothing complicated.

As above poster says, fitness does look to be an issue. A lot of them were huffing and puffing yesterday. They should give them loads of pre-workout supplements before the match.

Put Rooney up front. Not 'in the hole' as he has neither the intelligence or temperament for that. 4 4 2. Sterling did look good but directionless; that'll come with experience though.

Think the team needs to focus on possession and slow down a bit. Tired of 'Premiership pace' which translates to 'trying to run onto a hoofball throughball counter attack'.