Player: Fraser Forster/Joe Hart
Match: Uruguay vs England
Stadium: Arena Corinthians, São Paulo
Result: Uruguay 2-1 England
Goal Scorers: Suarez ’39 (URU), Rooney ’75 (ENG), Suarez ’84 (URU)
Report:
England face a tough task to reach the World Cup knockout stage as Uruguay striker Luis Suárez scored a brace that led England to their second consecutive defeat in the tournament.
England manager, Roy Hodgson must have been alarmed by the frequency with which his players lost the ball inside their own half and, at this level, a team cannot defend as badly as we saw here for Suárez’s first goal. England had half a dozen players in their own half but still could not prevent the brilliant piece of link-up play between Edinson Cavani and the scorer. Cavani’s cross was excellent and Suárez peeled away from Phil Jagielka to head the ball past Joe Hart. The marking that led to the goal was poor and Steven Gerrard will regard the goal as a personal failure after Nicolás Lodeiro had started the move by evading him in the centre circle.
As the game went on after Uruguay opened the scoring, both teams started to pick up the pace with England taking slightly more of the possession. It was fairly end-to-end but you could see that England were desperate to score, and in the 75th minute, their work had to paid off.
Rooney’s goal came almost as a surprise. Sturridge linked up with Johnson and his cross was weighted perfectly for Rooney to arrive at the far post and score from close range. Briefly, England had threatened to turn the game upside-down. But then, an error from England’s captain led to Suárez being clear on goal again, with almost non-existent defending. Suárez then set himself up with a touch before blasting the ball past Hart to put his country 2-1 up against England.
Defeat means England are now bottom of Group D and will be out of the tournament if Friday’s match between group rivals Italy and Costa Rica ends in a draw.
As for Joe Hart, he hasn’t been at his best for these past two fixtures for England. He was always going to get another chance after his team’s defeat to Italy. However, he’s now conceded four goals in two games which, in my opinion, would be extremely unfair if Hodgson doesn’t give Fraser Forster a chance in England’s next game.
Joe Hart’s match rating: 3/5
Group Table:
Next Fixture: Costa Rica vs England – 24/06/14
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