The Sprout

England Crash Out

Posted by archifCLICarchive from National - Published on 28/06/2010 at 12:59
2 comments » - Tagged as Sport & Leisure, Topical

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It's hardly surprising that the second round tie against Germany was another shambolic story of what could have been but never has (and probably never will be).

Ever since that third goal in the 1966 World Cup final was allowed to stand, England have been out of luck against the Germans as far as knockout games have been concerned.

Wind back the clocks to Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddles' penalty misses at Italia 90, fast track to Euro 96 at Wembley where Gareth Southgate fell foul to nerves against the Krauts from twelve yards out.

However, if anyone feels like Sunday's loss was purely England's boys' fault, well...you're half right. The opening goal was a complete disgrace; reminiscent of pub teams and Sunday league matches where the centre backs haven't got a flying clue about each others positioning, let alone the forward's.

How Miroslav Klose was allowed to slice in between John Terry and Matthew Upson to convert a straightforward German goal kick in to their opening goal, is anybody's guess. Not mine. In the replays, you could see both the centre backs ball watching, or perhaps taking an untimely moment to admire the clear Bloemfontein sky.

Either way, you would have thought that the goal, coupled with David James' fury at being left totally exposed, would have woken them up.

An expectation too high perhaps, as Germany sliced through the two of them a second time before cutting across to Lucas Podolski, whose poor first touch went unnoticed by the gods as they allowed his blasted shot to slip perfectly through James' legs and just hit the inside corner of the far post and make it 2-0 to the designated home nation for the day.

Still, the English players seemed to be trying hard to bounce back and it worked as Steven Gerrard's cross was directly past the German keeper by Upson to make it 2-1. Game on, and why not?

The captain's assist proving once again, his most lethal position is at the centre of the park, unlike what Don Fabio considers to be down the left wing. The players seemed to have been fired up by the goal, as the lads looked more at ease with possession, trying to work the German defence.

Funny thing is, it even worked. After a couple of hustled touches around the edge of the box, the ball fell to Frank Lampard, whose lobbed shot well and truly beat the German keeper Manuel Neuer. It struck the underside of the crossbar and crossed the line before bouncing back in to the keeper's hand due to the backspin on it.

2-2 or so we thought. The referee waved play-on as if nothing had happened and this is where you have to wonder whether or not Sunday's game was perhaps the biggest practical yet cynical joke pulled off by the Germans (ironic really, given their historically assumed lack of humour in the first place).

Still, can't blame the German players here for carrying on. But what do you say to a referee who can't spot a ball crossing the goal line by at least 2-3 yards if not more? What about his linesman? This isn't an offside call so no one has to be in line with anyone to be sure. This wasn't even a case of the ball still being in mid air. It hit the grass, well inside the goal before bouncing back.

Instead of going in to the half time team talk level, the English players went back more demoralised than perhaps they had been after the infamous Robert Green fob in the first match against the USA, or even after that shock 3 minute turnaround defeat against France at the hands of a Zinedine Zidane freekick followed by the match winning penalty at Euro 2004.

There will be millions still jumping to the referee's rescue, calling it a human error and one that should not be considered the turning point of the game, but anyone with any footballing sense (whether you play yourself or are just an ardent supporter and viewer) will realise that there is a mammoth difference between chasing a knockout match and playing on level terms.

There is a sense of urgency about a team's play when they are a goal down, especially if they have already scored to cut the gap down to a single goal.

Shut a team out of granting them their own created goal and the mental effects are devastating, as it proved in the second half. The players were playing but their deflated body language showed what they were thinking - 'what is the point if it is going to be disallowed again?'

Add to that the fact that they were desperate to equalise, which made even the defenders bomb forward unnecessarily, leaving behind those gaps which the Germans exploited well on the break for the third and the fourth goals, and you know what we had here at the end of the day.

That one horrendous decision made by Messers Espinosa and Larrionda from Uruguay. You can argue all you like about the fact that England conceded two in the second half which meant they had enough time to score those instead, but truth remains, had the second half started at 2-2, we would have seen a very different game from England - devoid of desperation and perhaps even explosive the way they played against Slovenia after Jermain Defoe's goal gave them the lead.

When momentum is on your side as well the refereeing decisions, it's easier to score four goals in a second round world cup tie. The final score however, will always tell a completely different story forever from here on and that is the biggest shame of all.