Today a few teams held friendlies to sharpen themselves before the final push to South Africa.
In particular, the Three Lions faced a scrappy Mexico side, who dominated the match but ended up on the losing side of a 3-1 score at Wembley Stadium in London. Ledley King, Peter Crouch, and Glen Johnson were responsible for the England goals, and Guillermo Franco hit a consolation shot for Mexico.
England looked decidedly unimpressive, but there is still time to gel.
The Wembley pitch has taken on a life of its own in the last year. Not a single player or manager has complimented it, and it's baffling as to why they can't get it right. I think they're on their twelfth new pitch in six months.
Peter Crouch makes it 2-0
The shocker of the day, or as soccernet headlined it, "Portugal Embarrassed," Cristiano Ronaldo's team limped to a 0-0 draw with...no not Brazil, not Spain, not France...but the Cape Verde Islands.
Yes, the lowly Cape Verde Islands.*dramatic pause*
Cristiano and company were not in good form, and the former missed two stirling chances. It's not as if manager Carlos Queiroz were playing a few slugs, his lineup included Ronaldo, Ricardo Carvalho, Miguel Veloso, Nani, Deco, and Liedson. Nani has been in great form for United, but his last match was two weeks ago. Carvalho has somewhat of a pass because he's been injured most of the year and only returned recently to the Chelsea ranks. But Ronny missing two gimmes is unforgivable.
Giving Portugal some slack, they've only been training as a full team since last Friday, but we're talking about Cape Verde, not Brazil.
If they have any hope of surviving the "Group of Death" they will need to dig deeper.
His frustration started in Madrid and is continuing in Covilha
Manchester United's Ji-Sung Park scored for his South Korean side in an away match at Japan. Park's side won 0-2.
Ji-Sung (14) scored and is sporting a new short do
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