Comment: England's false start
Wayne Rooney cut a dejected figure for much of last night
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Sunday, 13, Jun 2010 01:43
By Chris Jefferies.
England's World Cup campaign got off to a faltering start in Rustenburg on a night which will be remembered for a rookie error by goalkeeper Robert Green, leaving manager Fabio Capello with plenty to ponder.
The positives and negatives of England's performance were fairly evenly balanced, but the overriding feeling that this team is not good enough to go all the way is hard to escape. Several of Capello's selection decisions backfired, with James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ledley King doing little to prove that they deserve their chance at the highest stage. The greatest disappointment must be felt by Green, however, who will be left to dwell on his one costly blunder. Such a fundamental mistake should be covered, not only by Football Goalkeeping 101, but Cricket Fielding 101. The basic principle remains the same: get your body behind the ball.
When compared with the great England goalkeeping blunders of recent years, Green's fumble was more embarrassing, but hopefully will turn out to be less significant than Scott Carson and David Seaman's career defining errors against Croatia and Brazil respectively. Carson's diabolical performance against Croatia in qualifying for Euro 2008 proved terminal for Steve McClaren's tenure as England manager, and Seaman's positional mistake against Brazil in 2002 ended England's involvement in that World Cup.
Green's fumble, though, could be easily glossed over, due to the kindness of the draw which sees England pitted against Algeria and Slovenia in their remaining group stage games. It is unlikely that last night's disappointing result will prove decisive to their progression in the tournament, but it does mean that England's qualification from group C will go right down until the final game. Capello is not reputed for his compassion - just ask Theo Walcott - so it would not be surprising if this meant the end of Green's involvement in the tournament.
The result cannot be entirely put down to one individual error - England as a team lacked spark, imagination and the effectiveness in front of goal to kill off close games such as this. Emile Heskey showed both his best and his worst qualities, with a selfless assist for Steven Gerrard's early opener preceding a series of awful misses in the second half. Heskey's tendency to stray into an offside position (which can be put down to lack of match practice this season) must have caused much frustration for his strike partner for the evening, Wayne Rooney, who cut a subdued figure. It hardly helped that he was supplied with few chances by a lacklustre midfield. Frank Lampard was conspicuous by his anonymity and Aaron Lennon was highly ineffective. How England could have done with the inventiveness of Joe Cole - Capello's choice to bring on Wright-Phillips instead was puzzling.
To their credit, the United States' defence of Jay DeMerit and Oguchi Onyewu did a great job of stifling most of England's attacking possession, and coach Bob Bradley will be proud of an organised and resilient display which greatly improves their chances of reaching the final 16. Further forward, the midfield duo of Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey provided tenacity and creativity in equal measure, but since neither of them could hope to even make the England squad, Capello will be left to rue what he will see as a missed chance to make the perfect start to this World Cup campaign.
Optimists will reiterate that the legendary 1966 campaign, which saw England crowned World champions, also began with an underwhelming draw, but if the class of 2010 are to even come close to such heights of success, then they will need to improve drastically, and quickly.