SportsDirect.com Takes A Look At England’s Progress In The World Cup

Saturday 14th June saw England defeated 2-1 by 4x world champions, Italy in their first game of the World Cup. England have two matches remaining in which they will compete for a place in the next round. England ideally need to win their next two games, however there is a possibility for England to go through if they draw or lose any of the two games, depending on how the scores turn out for the other teams in their group. Wayne Rooney admits their next match is “do or die” and following criticism of his performance against Italy, the pressure is on to do well.

During Saturday’s match, Marchisio scored the first goal for Italy after 35 minutes, 2 minutes later Sturridge equalised for England. At 50 minutes, Balotelli headed in the second goal for the Italians to take the win. With a missed goal set up by Rooney, 2-1 was the final score. In the excitement of England’s equalising goal, the teams physio, Gary Lewin ended up being stretchered off with a dislocated ankle after falling on the astro turf. Lewin was flown back to the UK and is now waiting for surgery on his ankle following the event.

During the game, England had 44% possession of the ball and 18 shots, 5 of which were on target. Italy had 13 shots, 4 of which were on target. England had 9 corners and Italy 2 and finally England made 8 fouls, one of which Sterling was given a yellow card for, while Italy made 11 fouls.

England’s next game is tomorrow evening against Uruguay. Luis Suarez sat out of Uruguay’s first game due to injury but is fully fit again to play against England. With the exception of their most recent friendly in 2006, Uruguay have never lost a game against England at a World Cup, winning 4 and drawing 3 games.

Expectations may be low for England’s World Cup chances, however the possibility to go far in the competition is there. The England squad are now back in Rio at their training ground preparing for their next big game.

SportsDirect.com Takes A Look At England’s Preparations For The World Cup

With only 10 days until the World Cup 2014 kicks off, England’s preparations are off to a good start with a 3-0 win over Peru in the international friendly last Friday. The game at Wembley Stadium was England’s last match on home soil before the World Cup begins. During the game, Daniel Sturridge, Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka all scored a goal each to secure the 3-0 win. Following their first friendly, the England team flew over to Miami, where they will be staying for the next week or so to play their next two friendly matches between Ecuador on the 4th June and Honduras on the 7th June. After these two matches, on the 8th of June the team will head to Rio De Janeiro ready for the start of the World Cup.

England’s first game takes place on Saturday 14th June against Italy and will be played at Manaus Stadium. Shortly after they will play Uruguay at Sao Paulo on the 19th and Costa Rica at Belo Horizonte on the 24th June.  England’s approach to the World Cup is to study each game in detail and analyse potential opponents’ game tactics and weak areas. Football analysts Steve O’Brien and his assistant Mike Baker will compile the facts and statistics from each game and feedback to Roy Hodgson in Brazil. This research should give the England team a good insight into how to play against each competitor and know where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

With only 10 days to go, the opening match venue in Sao Paulo is not yet ready for the opening. Due to on going delays the Corinthians arena will be less than three quarters full for Sundays last test match to assess whether the stadium is ready. As it stands, with temporary seating unfinished, only 40,000 fans will be able to attend the league match. All facilities need to be tested and up to standards. Fire fighting authorities have not authorised the host club to open one of the seating areas and only 5000 fans will be able to watch from another unfinished seating  area. With so little time, the pressures on for the stadium to be completed.

The starting places for the England team are yet to be confirmed, however there is speculation as to whether Wayne Rooney will start, while Daniel Sturridge looks a strong possibility following his performance against Peru last Friday. Prior to kick off Roy Hodgson has told the boys they must sing that  national anthem and belt it out loud and proud. This will help build up emotions before they play. Fans across the UK are now gearing up for England’s first match in just under two weeks. With pubs set to open later and games being aired on national television, everyone will have an opportunity to watch the match live.

Visit http://www.sportsdirect.com/Pages/WorldCup2014 for SportsDirect.com’s full selection of World Cup football shirts.

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Sportsdirect.com’s #WearWithPride Selfie Competition

In celebration of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, sportsdirect.com have launched their very own selfie competition to get fans involved and excited about the upcoming tournament. The competition  gives two lucky winners the chance to win a £200 voucher to spend at sportsdirect.com.

Following the pre release of the new England shirt early last week, there were mixed reactions regarding the price of the new kit. Sportsdirect.com have discounted the shirt to £47.99* and the new kits are now available to buy online and in store. To further reward dedicated fans who have purchased the shirt, the selfie competition was launched.

The competition asks participants to send in their #wearwithpride selfies of themselves  wearing the England shirt. The selfies can be entered by either Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #wearwithpride. Entries received via Twitter will have a winner chosen at random where as Facebook entries will under go a vote to decide the winner. You may vote for as many selfies as you like, however only one vote per user will be counted on each photograph. Votes on your own entry will also not be counted.

The competition runs throughout April and will close at 1pm on the 30th April. The two winners will each be given a £200 voucher to spend at sportsdirect.com. To enter the competition submit your selfies through the Facebook app at https://www.facebook.com/SportsDirectUK/app_1391002151122265 or tweet us at https://twitter.com/SportsDirectUK using the hashtag #wearwithpride.

Full Terms and Conditions:
Prize is 2x £200 voucher code to spend on www.sportsdirect.com.
One winner will each be selected from Facebook and Twitter.
Twitter entries must be made by tweeting a selfie in an England shirt using the #wearwithpride tag and winner will be selected at random and notified via twitter.
Facebook entries must be made through the app and winner will be decided through the photo voting system and notified via e-mail.
If a winner does not respond within 5 working days another winner will NOT be chosen.
Voters can vote for as many pictures as they like, however only one vote per picture will be counted from any one individual user.
Entrants cannot vote for their own photograph. All personal votes will be removed from the final vote count.
Promoter is SportsDirect.com, Unit A Brook Park, Shirebrook, NG20 8RY.
No correspondence will be entered in to.
By submitting your e-mail address you agree to receive promotional material from the SportsDirect.com group.
Competition closes Wednesday 30th April 2014 at 1pm.

*Price correct as of 08/04/2014

Visit http://www.sportsdirect.com/englandpreorder for SportsDirect.com’s range of England kits with the adults replica shirt only £47.99!

England's World Cup Shirt Revealed

Monday 31st March saw the launch of this years England shirt, which will be worn during the World Cup in Brazil over summer. You can now pre order your England kits from Sportsdirect.com and they will be available to buy from the 3rd April. England were one of the last teams to reveal their new kit with other countries such as Germany, Italy and Brazil themselves revealing their kits earlier this year. The World Cup kicks off on the 12th June with hosts Brazil competing against Croatia in the very first game. England’s first game against Italy will take place on the 14th June.

This years shirt has been stripped back to basics and accompanies an all white kit and alternative red and white kit to be worn during the games in Brazil. The white shirt features a subtle pinstripe design along with satin strips along each shoulder. The shirt has an original cut off overlapping v neck collar along with the Nike swoosh logo and of course the 3 lions crest.

The inspiration behind the design appeared to resemble the 1970s kit worn by Sir Alf Ramsey’s defending champions. In 1966, when England won the World Cup for the first and only time to date, the teams performance was not so entertaining and the players put their efforts into playing the game well, rather than putting on a show for the excited fans watching. This years shirt represents this attitude towards the game and focuses on the performance enhancing qualities the kit brings to players, rather than the aesthetic design to appeal to fans.

As the World Cup is being hosted in Brazil, the temperatures will be significantly higher than those players are used to back home. Whilst designing this years kit, Nike have utilised their current technologies to ensure the kit they provide for the England team will enable them to play in such heat and to maximise comfort throughout each game. With built in Nike Dri Fit technology the England kit has sweat wicking properties within the dual knit fabrication that helps pull moisture away from the body into a separate layer of material where it can evaporate. This will enable the player to stay cooler and dryer and therefore more comfortable, thus improving performance start to end.

When the shirt was revealed earlier this week there were mixed reactions from fans. Many were outraged at the price of the players shirt, with exact copies costing up to £90. Others were impressed by the design and features of the kit and with replica shirts costing a lot less than exact copies, fans can still get behind their team and #wearwithpride this World Cup.

Visit http://www.sportsdirect.com/englandpreorder for SportsDirect.com’s range of England kits with the adults replica shirt only £47.99!

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