june 25th
Familiar territory for England fans as they went out of a major competition on penalty kicks again.
The game itself was fun to watch from a neutral point of view. England took an early lead and after Wayne Rooney went off injured they just sat back and defended.
Huge credit has to go to the English back four, Gary Neville was very good, John Terry solid enough apart from his boob for the Portugal equaliser, Sol Campbell (who had a good goal disallowed in the last minute of normal time) was immense, and Ashley Cole was simply outstanding at left back. That’s probably the best game I’ve ever seen him play.
He had show-pony Ronaldo in his pocket every time, and once again he had to cope with being left alone as the left side of England’s midfield failed to support him properly. He slotted a cool penalty in the shoot-out and I felt terribly sorry that he had to be on losing side after a performance like that. He’s certainly answered the critics who said he has to work on the defensive side of his game.
In general though, England didn’t deserve to go through. Beckham and Owen have never showed up during Euro 2004, in Sven they have a coward of a manager whose safety-first approach has backfired more than once. He won’t make brave decisions, only decisions he knows he can justify as ‘common sense’ afterwards. Phil Neville? Seriously. What’s the point of Phil Neville in a game of this size and importance? Compare that to Scolari who took off Figo, of all people, to bring on Helder Postiga. I thought he was nuts at the time, but it paid off. Sven obviously has little belief in his players and that’s been transmitted into their performances. Their confidence is brittle and Sven does nothing to inspire them. They lack leadership on and off the pitch and they’ve made little progress under Sven’s management. He picked a mediocre squad, had them play in a mediocre way and got mediocre results. When you pay somebody £4.5m a year to manage your football team you have a right to expect better than mediocrity.
So tonight sees France take on Greece. The French may be without Patrick Vieira who’s struggling with an injury, but they’ll be hoping Thierry Henry has his shooting boots on again. Incidentally, you can read the interview with Thierry which appeared in GQ magazine by clicking here.
Nothing else to report, I’m afraid. So what are you up to this weekend then?
