Germany 2006 Day 12 (ii)

England-Sweden (from one fan's perspective)

At half time (which was when I picked up my AlphaSmart and started blogging whilst watching):

Well, Owen going out was - stat alert - the fastest substitution in World Cup history.

Replacing Owen with Crouch may have been the stupidest decision in World Cup history.

Ah well..

Oh, and sports shows can stop showing how Owen's knee goes splurk as he goes down. It's making me squirm and we keep having to see it over and over and over again.

WHAT A GOAL!

Joe Cole slotted home what may be the goal of the tournament so far - and that's not just my opinion, even the American commentators were talking about it in those terms.

England are playing better - far better - than I've seen them playing for years.

Second half:

England coming out attacking. This is encouraging.

But Sweden are also starting to wake up, and this could fall into..

Okay. I was about to type that this could fall into the old pattern of England laying back and Sweden replying with an equaliser.

And guess what happened?

Sweden equalised.

MERDE!

Stat alert - that was the 2,000th goal in World Cup history.

54th minute: Here's a wake-up call for England: The crossbar should not be saving goals.

What happened?

England need to get back into this game and quick or we'll loose and have to face Germany, and we will loose that match.

But the good news: Eriksson just brought our man Campbell on. Excellent. We like Sol Campbell. He used to play with Spurs, and is a giant in defense.

What's worrying is that England are looking more and more like we're playing for the draw. That's never good.

Again: This is why England aren't allowed to score first any more.

59th minute: And AGAIN with the crossbar!

61st minute: Campbell just showed why he's there. Excellent defending.

69th minute: Sheeit. Rooney's out. And he is not a happy chappy about it. Great save by Gerrard, his replacement, though.

75th minute: The first lesson in FOOTball, Mr Hargreaves, is that we use our FEET, not our HANDS.

85th minute: That goal was textbook. Bloody textbook. 2-1. Sweet strike, Gerrard.

89th minute: Sweden pulls it out and now it's 2-2. What the hell was Ashley Cole doing? The ball just dribbles into the net and he just watches it go in. Great. 3 minutes of stoppage time and we've got a draw.

Game over: 2-2.

Sweden faces Germany, England faces Ecuador.

Stat alert: England haven't beaten Sweden since 1968.