England’s players looked dejected at full-time, and no wonder, after a pitiful and abject display in Bloemfontein on Sunday, that pretty much summed up their World Cup campaign. Forgettable!
Fabio Capello’s team weren’t the Three Lions; they looked like eleven Lambs to the slaughter, as they were thrashed by Germany. The scoreline ended 4-1, and quite frankly could have been a whole lot more, had it not be for some smart stops from goalkeeper David James. Although England had a perfectly good goal ruled out, when Frank Lampard’s delicate chip bounced over the line, but was remarkably missed by the clueless Uruguayan match officials, there could be no doubt which side deserved to go through.
Capello didn’t make any changes from the side that worked hard to beat Slovenia in Port Elizabeth last Wednesday. Consequently, he resisted the urge to bring Ledley King back, ahead of schedule and stuck with Matthew Upson. Twenty minutes in, he might well have been regretting yet another tactical error. A long goal-kick by Manuel Neuer went a full 80 yards. John Terry mistimed his jump and Upson was caught ball-watching. In a flash, the prolific Miroslav Klose stole through and beat the despairing James to cap a fine return from suspension. For England, it was a shambolic goal to concede, the sort of goal you concede on a Sunday League pitch, not a World Cup second-round match. Eleven minutes later, the defence once again was exposed, by a neat German move which involved Klose and the energetic Thomas Muller. As Glen Johnson went to close Muller down, Upson was miles away from the action, and that allowed Lukas Podolski the freedom of Bloemfontein. Despite a poor first touch, he still managed to squeeze the ball inside James’s near post to make it 2-0 and leave England in big trouble.
Within of six crazy minutes though, England could have been level, if not for a sharp turn of fortunes. First, the Germans fell asleep on a short corner, and Steven Gerrard curled a delightful cross, Upson rose furthest and beat Neuer to the ball, nestling in the bottom of the net. It was Upson’s second international goal for England and ironically, the first one had come against the Germans in a friendly win in Berlin back in November 2008. Less than ninety seconds later, Jermain Defoe’s sharp turn had the defence on the backfoot again. The ball approached Lampard, who hit a delicious lob, which beat the unconvincing Neuer and bounced miles across the line. England fans went wild; Capello punched the air in delight, Lampard wheeled away in celebration. It was now 2-2, or was it? Amazingly, everyone in the stadium, on TV saw it cross the line, yet it wasn’t given. The match officials had not seen it. Television replays confirmed the blundering miss by the officials. Once again, the rejection of goal-line technology earlier in the year had come back to haunt FIFA on the global stage. I personally hope Sepp Blatter; the President of FIFA was squirming in his seat, wondering where he goes from here, if he doesn’t introduce the technology that football badly craves for.
After an absorbing end to the first half, surely England would carry on their momentum into the restart. Well, they did briefly, with Lampard coming close again, a free-kick beating Neuer, but shaving off the crossbar. With twenty-five minutes remaining and Joe Cole brought into the attack, England were throwing the dice, but once more, their hopeless defending was exposed by the deadly German counter-attack. Gareth Barry was robbed with possession and away came Joachim Low’s team again, with the outstanding Meszut Ozil and Bastian Schweinsteiger pulling all the strings. This time, the ball landed at Muller’s feet and the 20-year old lashed a powerful drive past James, which killed the game off.
Moments later, Glen Johnson was carelessly caught out and Ozil outstripped him for brutal pace, squaring the ball past James, allowing Muller to tuck away his second in quick succession. To cap off Capello’s miserable day, at 4-1 down, he took off goal threat Defoe, for the dopey Emile Heskey. To be honest, it summed up England’s game, England’s tournament, England’s nightmare. Germany eased through the last twenty minutes, and now can prepare their youngsters for a tasty quarter-final on Saturday with Maradona’s Argentina in Cape Town.
For England’s flops, it was an early flight home. For the players, it was the chance to feel that they blown it yet again! They went to South Africa with high hopes, but instead performed like a bunch of clueless highly-paid superstars, putting in the country’s worst performance at the World Cup for sixty years.
Wayne Rooney looked unfit, lacked fitness and match practice. He looked more likely to be sent off, than score in South Africa. Gerrard lacked the dynamic passion as a leader, surprising considering his Liverpool glory as their inspirational leader. Lampard rarely featured, Heskey was just the bumbling clown everyone predicted, Rob Green needs to learn how to catch and hold onto a ball and even the usually energetic and buzzing Ashley Cole was at least a yard short. Capello must wait another two weeks, before learning whether he will be leading England into qualification for Euro 2012. This has been another tournament full of hope and expectation, but once more, delivered the usual failings and disasters you would associate with our national team. England’s worst ever World Cup defeat and dire South African performance must leave for some serious scratching of heads in the coming months.
