Crouch earns his keep

At about 54 minutes of the England-T&T match, Peter Crouch tried emulating some of the smaller, nimbler players with a bicycle kick that sails far and wide over the goal. Peter, what were you thinking?? That's so not you!

But at 83, Crouch does the one thing he's been hired to do: head in a cross. The pass, from from Posh's man on the pitch, sails from the right to the far post, where Crouch leaps above his defender to knock the ball into the net. England scored an insurance goal in the 91st minute, a rocket from Stephen Gerrard. Despite a valiant effort from the Soca Warriors, they seemed to run out of gas towards the end, and having chased England all around the field. They just didn't have the skill or stamina to stay with the Brits for a full 90. So England is through to the second round.

Where they join Germany and not-Poland. So I was wrong about that one. As I write, Ecuador sits in first place in Group A, with 6 points and a goal differential of +5. Germany also has 6 points but its goal diff is +3. I didn't watch the Ecuador-CR game, but looking at the stat sheet afterwards, I was struck by the number of shots Wanchope had and how many were on target: 0/0. (Ms. AR watching the game at work, how lucky is that!, said that the announcers commented on Wanchope's absence from any meaningful play during the game.) The Ecuador-Germany match looms large: the winner plays the 2nd place team from group B, which could be Sweden. Based on what happens later between Sweden and Paraguay, I'd almost rather play England: at least Sweden looked consistently dangerous against T&T, whereas England continued its somewhat lackluster play until late. More later after I watch the Sweden game.