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England struggles to edge Japan, 2-1

EnglandJapan (GettyImages)

The Japanese men's national team scored all three goals in its friendly vs. England on Sunday. Unfortunately for the World Cup-bound Asian squad, two of those goals were scored for England.

The English overcame a first-half deficit, and a missed Frank Lampard penalty kick, as two own goals by Japan gave England a less-than-inspiring 2-1 exhibition win in Graz, Austria.

What did you think of England's performance? Starting to like the United States' chances of getting at least a point from their June 12th World Cup opener?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Exactly. The supporters should be wearing navy blue or in the worst case white for all of the matches. If USA’s second shirt was red, I could get wearing red as a supporter, but its not.

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  2. Apparently Japan had little trouble picking apart England’s midfield early on. Maybe we can throw them off balance for a while.

    Also, Jeff Agoos would be proud of either own-goal. Both of them were golazos – or rather, autogolazos?!

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  3. Unternehmen, Serbia is that good. Serbia has an imposing defense, speedy wings and an excellent central midfielder in Dejan Stankovic who can spread the ball around. What also helps is Essien’s injuries. I expect Serbia to finish second to Germany, at the very least. With Essien out, Ghana will struggle because he’s too pivotal to that team’s hopes.

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  4. Franz, if the U.S. advances that far, they won’t lose to Argentina. Yes, Argentina has Messi, et al, but Maradona is worth at least one point for any decent opposing team in this tournament. Argentina (and Maradona) are lucky to be in such an inferior group.

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  5. Bradley and edu would give lamps & gerr fits. But I agree with Dempsey, there is a need for att play from Torres, Lando, and Demps to keep Englands ‘d’ busy. Dont be too quick to think that our ‘D’

    will neutralize Eng att. It finding the right balance in mixing att and def.

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  6. What do you think was the best English team/roster from the past four world cups? Anyone have any thoughts? The best USA team?

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  7. I hope USA wins… but if Crouch scores, I hope he does the robot. Also… i think the lineup we used vs. Turkey that was so effective in the 2nd half may not be suitable for England. That defensive presence in midfield with Edu and Bradley may be more suitable against Lampard and Gerrard due to their long range bombs.

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  8. Funny you should mention that; on the NY Times sports page (in the soccer section), there’s an article today about the psychology of penalty kicks: “A Few Things to Think About When Lining Up That Kick” I’m not sure if we’re allowed to post urls here, but the article is easy enough to find.

    Reply

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