England 1-1 USA - Green Gaffe Hands Americans Unlikely Point

It’s never easy supporting England at major tournaments, isn’t it?  Once again, 20million of us found this out, following a frustrating opener to the 2010 World Cup campaign in the altitude of Rustenberg.

A horrendous error by West Ham’s Robert Green, somehow fumbling a Clint Dempsey shot that looked easier to save with his eyes closed earned Bob Bradley’s USA a hard-fought and deserved point on Saturday night.  Once again, the Three Lions opening performance will have not set the alarm bells ringing in the camps of fellow favourites Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Holland and Germany.

And it had all started really well for Fabio Capello’s men.  Just four minutes had been played, when Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Emile Heskey all linked up beautifully in the build-up to England’s first goal of the 2010 finals, scored by the new skipper, Steven Gerrard.  If you were watching ITV HD, 1.5million missed the goal, but the other 18.5million would have been roaring around the country to the delightful start.  Sadly, this brilliant advantage was squandered six minutes before half-time, by a blunder of the first magnitude.  

Green, only selected ahead of David James and Joe Hart a mere two hours before kick-off had been given very little to do, and the evidence of the error he made suggested he must have been half asleep.  Fulham winger Dempsey did well to evade the pressing Gerrard three times.  His shot was ambitious and looked absolutely no threat.  However, Green produced the clangers of all clangers by allowing the ball to slip through his grasp and trickling into the net.  It was a horrendous moment which only guarantees Green’s participation in the traditional Christmas Blunder DVD’s, rather than a place in England’s next team.

By then, Capello was already looking animated on the touchline.  James Milner, still suffering from a virus that had plagued him all week, looked out-of-sorts and once booked, was replaced by Shaun Wright-Phillips.  This was a surprising move, with many believing Joe Cole might have been a better bet.  At the interval, Ledley King’s groin couldn’t keep up with the pace, and with indications that he might be out for three weeks, his selection looks like to be a gamble too many, especially after the injury that Rio Ferdinand picked up in training ten days ago.  Jamie Carragher replaced him at half-time, and when he was easily skinned by the threatening Jozy Altidore, questions were asked about the pace of the England defensive unit.  In this exchange, Green did at least bounce back, by producing a good save at his near post, which rebounded onto the post and away from danger.

Only in the last twenty minutes did England threaten to score again, with Emile Heskey missing a one-on-one, smashing a shot down Tim Howard’s throat, which had he placed it either side, would have beaten the Everton goalkeeper.  Wayne Rooney was well marked out of the entire game, but he produced a few moments of quality, which included a long-range effort which had Howard scrambling.  Wright-Phillips also had a chance which he squandered and eleven minutes was nowhere near enough time for Peter Crouch to make any impact.

By far, this wasn’t the start that Operation Capello had in mind.  However, England drew their opener in 1966 against Uruguay, and still won the Jules Rimet trophy.  We lost the 1986 opener to Portugal and drew the first game of the 2002 tournament in Korea against a far better looking Sweden side.  The Three Lions are notorious slow starters, so surely we can only get better.  Whether we have World Cup winning potential will only be realised more when our second game takes place, on Friday night in Cape Town against African outsiders Algeria. 

Let’s not give up and keep the belief….   

England 3-1 Egypt - More Positives for Fabio

Last night, England put aside the problems that have been washed up by the British media of recent weeks, with a decent second half performance, giving Fabio Capello more encouragement that his side can go all the way in South Africa this summer.

Despite this, the first half display against African Nations Cup holders Egypt was very flat and lacklustre.  It will have concerned the boss how many wayward passes were happening and the amount of time that the Egyptians were being allowed on the ball.  It will also be notified of Matthew Upson’s stumble and trip which led to Egypt’s opening goal from the Borussia Dortmund striker, Mohamed Zidan.  Although Zidan’s finish was cool and impressive, he shouldn’t have been allowed the chance to shoot in the first place.  The cover for Rio Ferdinand at the back is very worrying. 

For John Terry, last night was a step in the right direction.  He has received his criticisms and boo-boys and rightly so, and his mistakes at Chelsea of late have been repetitive and very costly.  He was booed by many on the team line-up, but those who continued during the national anthems and the game, were largely drowned out by cheers from the majority.  His performance wasn’t error-free, but it had far more conviction than the rest of the back four and he seemed to be the only one able to organize the mess around the team in the first 45 minutes.

England’s 500^th win in their history was sealed by an impressive 2^nd half display.  Substitutes Peter Crouch and Shaun-Wright Phillips were very impressive, surely having done enough now for their place on the plane to South Africa.  Tottenham striker Crouch, who has recently lost his place in the North London side, Roman Pavyluchenko helped himself to two more international goals.  In 38 appearances, the ex-Liverpool hitman now has an impressive 20 goals to his name – a staggering statistic.  Now, Emile Heskey cannot be considered as first choice alongside Wayne Rooney.  Wright-Phillips, considered by many as 4^th choice on the right-side of midfield, behind Aaron Lennon, David Beckham and Theo Walcott did his chances no harm at all, by setting up a goal and scoring one for himself.  James Milner once again gave a solid and committed performance when he came off the bench.  The Aston Villa playmaker is the most in-form English midfielder in the Premiership and his consistency has to put him in line for a place in Capello’s final cut.

So, who will miss out on the World Cup?  Both Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole face a race against time to be fit, whilst Joe Cole needs first team action desperately at Chelsea, otherwise he could be shock exclusion.  Once again, Walcott’s performance last night was dismal.  After a promising start, he faded badly and must have blown his chance now of playing in South Africa.  If I was Theo, I’d think about booking a summer holiday to the Bahamas, at least he will get a decent tan!

Last night’s 3-1 result was satisfactory and there were more positives than negatives.  After the trauma and scandal that has dogged English football in recent weeks, it was nice to see some much-needed unity last night.  South Africa is inching closer and Fabio Capello can lookback on last night at a job well done. 

See below for my 23-man prediction squad for the World Cup in 2010:

Robert Green, David James, Joe Hart, Glen Johnson, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, Joleon Lescott, Ashley Cole, Leighton Baines, Aaron Lennon, David Beckham, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Gareth Barry, James Milner, Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Carlton Cole, Gabriel Agbonlahor