England v Portugal
by Herr Ed
England’s lacklustre 2006 World Cup is over, but at least there was a glimpse of excitement before the end! The first-half did not deviate from the pattern established in the previous four games: players with a defensive brief looked in command, but our attack-minded players were yet again shackled by uncertainty and a lack of collective purpose. It was a tightly contested half, however, and the lone forwards for both sides (Pauleta and Rooney) had very few opportunities to get into the match.
The second-half continued in much the same vein, until Rooney’s dismissal on the hour. England played with more vigour and purpose with ten men: perhaps losing a player eased some pressure from this expectation-burdened team. Once they had been re-branded as plucky underdogs an element of freedom entered their approach and they threatened Portugal’s defence more than they did in the first period. England’s backline also stood firm and Portugal never looked likely to make the most of their extra man.
Although England were a man down, the substitutions in the second-half also improved the side’s attacking shape. Crouch demonstrated that he is more suited to the lone forward role than Rooney; his physical presence and deft touches provided hope that England could somehow fashion a clear scoring opportunity. Beckham had already been substituted prior to the sending off and replacement Aaron Lennon performed well, adding much needed bite to the right-flank. England therefore measured up to Portugal, despite the incongruence in team numbers, but there was never enough potency in attack to suggest that the impasse was likely to be dissolved.
As the fixture edged through extra-time it became apparent that the best that England could hope for was to hold on resolutely for penalties. This was achieved – but with 16 years of penalty shoot-out failure ingrained into the national psyche, the result was never in doubt.
So heroic failures yet again! England made it to a quarter-final penalty shootout, but it is quite remarkable how few coherent attacking manoeuvres they managed to contrive over the five games.
8/10 – Hargreaves: Covered every blade of grass in an effervescent performance.
7/10 – Terry: Dealt with everything the Portugal attack threw at him.
Ferdinand: Solid at the back and hardly put a foot wrong.
A. Cole: A reassuring presence at left-back. Neutralised the threat of Portugal’s wide players.
Robinson: His most convincing performance of the tournament.
Lennon: Made some very positive runs. Has a bright future.
6/10 – Crouch: Quickly settled into the lone forward role.
Neville: Sturdy performance, but unsettled by Ronaldo at times.
5/10 – Gerrard: Anonymous for most of the game, but involved in some good moves in extra-time.
J. Cole: A few neat touches, but failed to reproduce his early tournament form.
4/10 – Rooney: Didn’t get into the game.
Lampard: Nothing seemed to work for him.
Beckham: Negligible impact.
July 1st, 2006 at 10:47 pm
England had fairly good chances, but failed to capitalize.
One of the key offenders was the usual suspect - Lampard .. missed a golden opportunity, with an easy strike waiting for him at the back of the net. When it was his turn to take the penalty, I just knew he was going to miss… There was no doubt about that at all. What a loser!
I think England may have won if Beckham had stayed in the game and Crouch had been brought in much earlier. Rooney - would have stayed in if he had remained calm after the foul.
All in all, England shot themselves in the foot.
July 2nd, 2006 at 5:51 am
What?????
Beckham was again useless and immaterial and Lennon at least provided when he came on. Beckham should never have started after his group displays and personally I feel it is a shame that we didn’t see Aaron for 90 minutes in the tournament.
Sadly with the second-in-command becoming the new manager there will be few wholesale changes, which after this competition is sorely needed. England had a very, very good chance to win the World Cup, but the squad selection, the tactics and the misfiring stars (who will never be left out) have all contributed to another horribly disappointing campaign.
We were possibly the dullest big nation to watch throughout the World Cup, and if we had got to the semis it would only have been due to the lack of real quality faced. Portugal were the first decent side we played, and Germany’s efficient demolition of Sweden proved that, but although the match against Portugal was at last watchable, we never showed the class that the players undoubtedly have as individuals. We prepared for this tournament for over 4 years, and looked anything but prepared for the duration. Sven has to shoulder the blame because of his disregard for friendlies, which now will hopefully be used to build a side, rather than experiment and hand out superfluous caps to in-form bit part players. A major overhaul is required, and my only fear is that the FA’s new appointment will merely continue what has been done before. Please please please get somebody else in, we can always admit mistakes!!!!!
Bitterly hurt
jimu
July 2nd, 2006 at 11:03 pm
I find it impossible to express my dispair. I was just praying that one good performance would spring out of nowhere and spur the team on to great things. However, that was never likely to happen with the tactics used and the inexplicable squad selection.
The negatives from Germany 2006 are too numerous to list, so perhaps it’s time to think of some positives. I’ll leave that for the next guy because it’s still too raw for me.
Bitter
Helger
July 3rd, 2006 at 9:38 am
Is there any chance that we might now stop playing with 3 attacking central midfielders do you think. Beckham was awful & proved his detractors right and Lampard appeared to go Awol for the last hour, in fact this was so noticeable that some of us began to wonder whether he was on the sidelines practising penalties!
Hargreaves on the other hand appeared to playing in at least 5 different positions and as much as it pains me to salute Herr Eds championing of the curly haired one, he has been proved correct. Surely a Gerrard/ Hargreaves combination should be at the heart of a revamped team.
What I found quite despairing is the ‘play for penalties’ argument which Lawro was banging on about as soon as Rooney was sent off. I’d rather Sven had brought on Walcott and risked losing 4-0 than sit through another penalty shootout.
July 3rd, 2006 at 9:54 am
Who would have predicted England would play a tribute game to their 1998 thriller against Argentina? Almost incident-for-incident, except, yeah, not the goals.. Though Crouch and Lennon came close to saving the day no?
Hey ho, always next time I suppose. Still want to slap the insufferably arrogant pouting Cristiano Ronaldo though. I hope France frustrate him and preferably get him banned for life from all events everywhere.
July 3rd, 2006 at 10:32 am
It was only a matter of time before Rooney was sent off. Shame we can’t find someone with talent and a brain.
July 3rd, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Gary Neville?
July 3rd, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Why did Carragher take a penalty?
July 3rd, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Well, Carragher’s first penalty was great. Pity he couldn’t do it twice.
July 4th, 2006 at 8:44 am
I think he missed the retake in protest.
July 4th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Carragher should have done exactly the same on retaking his penalty. Every England player should be made to practice penalties for 30 minutes at the end of every England training session, from now until the end of time, hitting the ball into every corner of the goal and straight down the middle.
Apparently, the German FA have a database of over 13,000 penalty kicks, which enabled Jens Lehman to know where each and every kick was going, enabling him to save two and correctly guess the direction of the other two penalties.
July 4th, 2006 at 10:14 am
I think David James broke the England penalty database.