Phew! I can breathe again! England are through to the Quarter Finals.
Watching England play usually makes me feel like I've aged ten years. I'm glad they played a bit better and that they didn't sag in the second half like they have done so far in each match in this tournament. They kept possesion much better, and generally built things up nicely, although they tended not to finish things off.
I think Carrick played very well indeed, and Lennon was looking quite good at the end of the game too. Rooney did really well and showed his passion for playing. He lasted the full match (for the first time since breaking his foot) in an isolated role (i.e. where he had to do a lot of running), and this was on a hot day as well!
Lampard seems to be off form this tournament, as he keeps missing shots he'd normally put away, and Robinson sometimes gives us heart attacks in his role as the hesitant goalkeeper! I was not too happy with the refereeing at some points (eg. three hand balls by Ecuador that were ignored [once in the penalty area and once just outside], ignoring a foul on Gerrard on the edge of the penalty area, and some occasional rough stuff from Ecuador, and yet two yellow cards for English players for "time wasting"... !), although it was not toooo bad overall. We also got to see some delightful footage of Beckham spitting a lot... he apparently vomited on the pitch, and had not been feeling well all day! A lot of people have been criticizing his form; he might get let off for now after his rather nice free kick...
Edit: Oh yes, and I was happy to be proven wrong: I had feared Ecuador might produce a "shock" and beat England, given the way England has been playing recently!
