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It shouldnt come as a disappointment anymore for England supporters. They are used to this. Losing. It isnt underachieving when the team isnt good enough. This is as good as it gets. Whenever Englands Brazilian journey comes to an end (they havent been eliminated, yet) the diehard support and those responsible for overseeing English football will hold on to the positive moments. Flashes of ability and promise are what constitute hope. "They werent that bad" is excused as progress. The play of the likes of Sturridge and Sterling, and the futures of Barkley and Shaw will be used as evidence brighter days ahead. Yawn. Weve heard this before. Weve done this song and dance. The days of a semi-final shoot-out loss in Italia 90 are long gone. Lets not go back to 1966. The failures have piled on, one less painful than the next. Success would be a surprise. Losses to more intelligent and superior football nations are the expectation. The English should be immune from the feeling of devastation or outrage. From a Golden Generation not good enough, to the likes of Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard who have failed to capture the imagination. Its a vicious cycle of mediocrity. A 2-1 loss to Uruguay is just the latest chapter. England was poor. Nothing new. The how it happened is what drives home the obvious. Too weak in too many areas and lacking true top talent to break down their competition. Out-managed. Out-witted. Out-classed. Uruguay only completed a pathetic 64 per cent of passes. The South Americans struggled in build up and were content to sit back. It was an astute page out of Italys book from Englands opening match; sit-back and force England to break you down. Dont get beat for speed. And counter-attack. Thats what Uruguay did, and credit for executing. They got stuck in and remained organized. Forget basic statistics telling you England dominated possession with Uruguay on the back-foot. It was calculated. It worked to perfection. A basic approach against a basic team. Simple. The game winning goal incredibly came directly from the Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. A ball put on the ground and a long ball played out. Simple to defend, right? Apparently not. Edinson Cavani dropped deep all match to expose long-in-the-tooth Steven Gerrard sitting on top of the England backline. For what the England captain has in experience, he lacks in legs because of the kilometers accumulated. Cavanis aerial challenge of Gerrard forced a wayward header backwards from the England midfielder. Luis Suarez, as proper poachers do, tucked in behind the backline looking for an advantage. He gambled and he won, as Gary Cahill got caught. Suarez was clinical in finish and again showed his special talent. A game breaker and match winner, something England doesnt have. Likewise on Suarez opener, he exposed Englands backline. The Uruguayan number nine did well to create the needed space on the far post behind Phil Jagielka. The ball played to Suarez by Cavani was all-world. But it was two Uruguayan players on six England defenders. Nobody put pressure on the ball. And to leave Suarez lurking on the far post wasnt good enough. Not to mention is was a missed tackle by Gerrard in the midfield, leading to the attack. Two England centre-backs and two mistakes leading to goals conceded. Cahill and Jagielka are experienced at the position, at least at the club level. They are the best in the country at the position and they were exposed. The best England has at an all-important position and not good enough. Its the same story at the other end of the field. Not good enough. Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge are more than fine players. They are very good. But they are not at the same levels of other top forwards in this tournament, let alone not the top forwards on their own club teams. Therein is the difference. The likes of Rooney and Sturridge require real substance around them to be at their best, and thats fine. They are better the complimentary piece rather than the focus at this level. When played appropriately, they can shine. In this England team, their play often times is representative of the whole. These are the best England has and they are not good enough. The midfield, a make-shift, comprised of decent parts with no direction on how its supposed to work. Jordan Henderson had a fine season on a good attacking Liverpool team. Yet something suggests he has the makings of becoming the next Sinclair, Wright-Phillips, Mills, or Parker – take your pick of the long list of players youll ask, "Did he really play for England?" Is he really the best England really has? The rest of the midfield is all over the place. The left-side exposed defensively and the movement in attack not creative or consistent. Passing the ball around without purpose wont break down a back line. Its no surprise this area of the field is stagnant and lacks influence. And the manager, oh the manager. Roy Hodgson saw fit to keep Englands double-pivot of Gerrard and Henderson on the field in a game begging for attacking players to breakdown the Uruguayan defensive wall. Comically, two holding players were preferable to keeping on Sterling or Welbeck, or even throwing on a Rickie Lambert until after England went down. The options at Hodgson arent flattering. But neither were the tactics. The very least Hodgson could have done was shuffle the deck. Bring off a defensive midfielder or ineffective wing-back in preference of another attacking player. Change the shape. Instead, the end result of a cautious approach was not good enough. Some will suggest Ashley Cole and Jermain Defoe should have been in the England set-up. Leighton Baines has struggled and another forward option off the bench could have proved decisive. Arguments can be made but how much of a difference they would have made most likely would have been negligible. It made more sense to include Michael Carrick in the squad as a holding midfielder able to provide distribution. But then again, this is a country deeming Paul Scholes not a proper fit to be an England regular over the course of his career. The best England had, but not good enough? Theres a pattern here. Selection issues are nothing new. But no matter who dons the England kit, are they ever good enough? There have been phenomenal performances over the course of the first week of the World Cup, both by individuals and team. Honest assessment would tell the standard of football played by the true top football nations is a step beyond England. Its all very disturbing considering important players for the likes of Chile and Colombia (etc…) are buried in the League Championship, or in some cases not deemed good enough for even that. This should trouble the English to the core. But it wont. Overrating their own talent has become a past-time and feeds the beast. Criticism and finding scapegoats has become a past time. In reality, these are the best players they have. And they are not good enough. The Premier League is the most entertaining league in the world and the most popular. It is not the best. Englands best players are not even the top talent in their own domestic league. Taking a look in the mirror doesnt always cast a pretty reflection. But the look in the mirror is necessary. Acceptance is needed. This was a day England will never have a better context to beat a Uruguay team as such on a stage made for a statement performance. The weather was an ideal 14 degrees Celsius for the hardened English. The opponent was missing two of their preferred back-four. The star player was not 100 per cent. And Uruguays confidence was shaky coming off a shock 3-1 loss. England didnt let it slip away. They were incapable of seizing the moment. It is possible England can still advance from the group stage, even though a team losing their first two games at a World Cup has never done so. Italy must beat Costa Rica then Uruguay, and England will need a comprehensive victory over the Ticos to have superior goal differential. But really, would that constitute success? Squeaking by would be as good as it gets for a team not good enough. Cheap Air Jordan 1 Authentic . "I wouldnt read anything into what happened Saturday at Torrey Pines," Woods said Tuesday after an 18-hole exhibition for past winners of the Dubai Desert Classic. Cheap Air Jordan 1 China . Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks were proof of that on Wednesday night. http://www.cheapairjordan1forsale.com/ . He did one better Sunday by holing out a pitching wedge from 142 yards for eagle, capping a remarkable 28 on the back nine to win The Championship at Laguna National. Real Air Jordan 1 Shoes Outlet . Long snapper Patrick Mannelly announced Friday that he is retiring after a 16-year-career with the Bears, a span in which he played in a team record 245 games and snapped the ball 2,282 times. Cheap Air Jordan 1 Shoes For Sale . The Kings paraded the Stanley Cup through downtown Los Angeles on Monday to celebrate their second NHL title in three seasons.DENVER -- The runs have been scarce lately for the Colorado Rockies. They made up for it in a big way to stop the surging Los Angeles Dodgers. Corey Dickerson homered, tripled and drove in four runs, Tyler Matzek pitched into the sixth inning by getting out of several tight spots, and the Rockies snapped a seven-game skid with a 10-4 win over the NL West-leading Dodgers on Tuesday night. The Rockies scored just 11 runs during their losing streak and nearly matched that total in eight innings against Los Angeles in support of Matzek. "Hes been really battling his last couple of starts, doing a really good job," Dickerson said. "We felt like we needed to get some runs to support him. I think everybody fed off him." The Dodgers had Matzek (6-10) on the ropes, but couldnt produce the timely hit. They stranded 10 runners to drop 1 1-2 games behind Washington for the best record in the National League. Matzek allowed two runs and 11 hits in 5 1-3 innings. He also had six strikeouts, including Juan Uribe twice to end threats. "The first three innings I was able to get the guys out early. The last three innings the leadoff guy getting on three times in a row," Matzek said. "You know youre in for a longer inning. Just have to bear down and get that leadoff guy." Dan Haren (13-11) had a more productive evening at the plate than on the mound, where he struggled to find his rhythm and allowed five runs in five innings. Dickerson hit a towering two-run homer in the fourth. He added a two-run triple in the eighth, and the Rockies scored as many runs Tuesday as in their previous six games combined. "I didnt know if it was going to get out or not," Dickerson said of his team-leading 23rd home run. "I squared it up pretty good but it went straight up. I hit it pretty high, but luckily it got out." Trailing 5-0 in the sixth, the Dodgers got something going when Justin Turner lined a two-run double to centre. Uribe followed with another doubble over the head of Drew Stubbs in centre, but Turner was thrown out trying to score on a strong relay from shortstop Josh Rutledge.dddddddddddd "Big relay. One of the better ones Ive seen," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "Stubby getting the ball to Rut, and Rut makes a heck of a throw. (Catcher Mike) McKenry makes a great play on the other end of that play." After walking A.J. Ellis, Matzek was pulled for reliever Tommy Kahnle, who struck out pinch-hitter Hanley Ramirez. Kahnle then surrendered an infield single to Dee Gordon to load the bases and set the stage for Yasiel Puig. The slugger looked at a 96-mph fastball for a third strike. Puig threw his hands into the air in exasperation, while Kahnle did a subtle fist pump. "That was big time, that sequence by Kahnle with the game in the balance," Weiss said. Los Angeles couldnt string anything together against Matzek, who escaped trouble in the third by striking out Gonzalez with two runners on base. The lefty found himself in a mess in the fourth after allowing back-to-back singles to Matt Kemp and Scott Van Slyke. But he got Turner to hit into a double play and struck out Uribe on a slider in the dirt. LONG BALL The Rockies have the worst record in the NL but their offence wont get the blame. Dickersons homer was the teams 170th of the season, the most in the NL. MORNEAU STILL CHASING Colorado 1B Justin Morneau continues to battle for the NL batting title. The 2006 AL MVP had two hits and an RBI to raise his average to .316. He trails Pittsburghs Josh Harrison by a percentage point. Harrison went 1 for 4 in the Pirates win over Boston on Tuesday. TRAINERS ROOM Rockies: 3B Nolan Arenado will be sidelined indefinitely because of a bruised chest and pneumonia. He was hurt diving for a ball during a game in New York against the Mets last week. UP NEXT Rockies: LHP Jorge De La Rosa is 9-2 with a 3.30 ERA at Coors Field this season. 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