England we're much better against Slovenia than the previous 2 games but still lacked the ability to get the second goal which would have won us the group and given us a slightly easier passage to the semi finals. Instead of Ghana then either Uruguay or South Korea we have Germany then either Mexico or Argentina, probably Argentina (assuming we beat the Germans).
Still i said before the tournament my dream tournament would involve knocking out Germany and Argentina (France too but they did that to themselves) and now we have a chance to do just that.

England V Germany is most likely the game any England supporter wants to win over all others. Games against Scotland are nice to win but there is a real "Lets beat the Germans" attitude due to the number of times they have beaten us and knocked us out on penalties.

My all time most enjoyable memory of watching England was watching the 5-1 game in the Angel pub in Rotherham. We haven't watched any football there for a while but we have decided as nostalgia trip we will return there this Sunday. While i am not expecting anything like 5-1 (just a win will do me) it will be interesting to see if the atmosphere is anywhere near as good.

The Game itself is being played in Bloemfontein in the Free state stadium. The stadium holds just short of 41 thousand and has already hosted 4 games so far and a fifth today but it will be the first visit here for either England or Germany. Which looks like this:


I don't expect Capello to make any changes to the team that started against Slovenia if everyone is fit except for King or Carragher replacing Upson. I wasn't a fan of Upson and i still think Dawson is a better defender but what i saw of Upson he should definitely play in front of Carragher.

I would still like to see Joe Cole starting but on the left and not as a second striker, this wont happen as Defoe scored and will get another game. That is unless Rooney isn't fit in which case we are done for. After he went off V Slovenia we suddenly became very disjointed and while he may not be scoring, his work rate is second to none.

Ok Prediction time, England to win 2-1

Steve Jarvis