World Cup Diary

Monday 14th June
The World Cup so far has been mainly characterised by negativity and hesitancy as teams fear conceding more then expressing themselves through creative forward play. With the exception of Germany against Australia, South Africa’s opening fixture (and of course the England game) the matches have been cagey affairs with little or no pace in the passing or movement and hardly any decisive or inventive play in the final third of the pitch.

This is how the modern game is evolving as a result of the success of Italy during the 2006 tournament and more recently Jose Mourinho and other such managers. It is something we shall have to live with until there is another change in football tactical fashions and is part of football’s constant struggle with style over efficiency. Teams of all abilities present two banks of four behind the ball when not in possession and try to hit their opponent on the break. Italy were held 1-1 by Paraguay after Italy conceded an early goal from a set-play. From the commentators and analysers Italy are receiving criticism, as always, for their defensive tactics. This is presumably because they invented the idea, however they are now merely one of many purveyors of this practice of containment.

As always, teams are exalted and disregarded at will, without looking at the bigger picture or historical accuracy. No one who has ever watched more then two games of football this season and not suffered a gunshot wound to the frontal lobe would have realistically written-off Germany as potential contenders. It’s Germany! They always have a chance and they made easy work of an Australian team that had many similarities with the United States.

The referee did ruin Cahill (and as a result Australia’s) World Cup with a bizarre decision to send him off even though he was pulling out of a late challenge. Despite this the German attack cut through the Aussie defence at will creating chance after chance with incisive and direct through balls, something England were lacking when in or around the USA’s box. The irony was that in fact this was the best performance England have made in a while and many feeling that this is a disaster for our chances of winning. Many eventual winners get off to an average start; for example Italy drew 1-1 with the USA in 2006 and England in 1966 drew with Uruguay.

The much-lauded 1996 European Championship team began with a draw against Switzerland. So hstory shows that not all is lost and as long as the team improves as the tournament progreses then anything is possible. The finalists of the last World Cup (France in 2006) and European Championship finalists in 2008 (Germany) did not seem like contenders at the beginning of the tournament but go better game by game.

Robert Green also received massive attention for failing to stop a tame shot from Clint Dempsey. The media as usual focused on this error as opposed to the deeper-rooted problems of the team. Goalkeepers are always at risk of this as any mistake generally leads to a goal. Capello seems to favour a 4-4-2 formation, hopefully because it was against the USA and not a more accomplished side, as the midfield seemed flat.

Gerrard was just about England’s best player, closely followed by Heskey who many did not even want to see in South Africa at all, and it was these two players that combined well to give England the lead in the 4th minute. A neat one-two involving Lampard and Heskey, who then laid off Gerrard as he over-lapped Heskey to break through the American defence and poke the ball past Tim Howard. England were cruising until just before half time Clint Dempsey turned Gerrard one way then the other and let of shot that 99 time out of 100 Green would have saved comfortably.

He didn’t though, as he failed to get down to the ball in time and as a result only got a bit of a touch on the ball and it bobbled passed him and over the line leaving a prostrate Green wondering how he can live this down. Blame for the defeat should not be directed completely at Green, he did not miss a one-on-one as Heskey did, or not have the confidence to take a shot as Lennon was guilty of. Green was not the player that allowed Dempsey to get the shot away in the first place.

When Milner had to be substituted due to illness it was perhaps a chance for the introduction of Joe Cole to add some creativity to the England midfield, instead Capello decided this game needed two wingers that run into dead ends and give the ball away a lot. Shaun Wright-Phillips joined Ashley Cole on the left side of the pitch and failed to successfully pass to any of his team-mates or beat the USA full-back. This tactical ploy was also being used by Lennon on the opposite wing with slightly less effectiveness. Just to exaggerate Wright-Phillips and Lennon’s ineptitude it was Glen Johnson who was the most dangerous attacker down the flanks as he overlapped his colleagues to cause the US defence problems on regular basis.

England dominated for most of the game, with the exception of short period in the second half. It was only during a twenty-minute period in the second half that England consistently created any decent chances and put pressure on the American back four. But did not stretch the US defence and as a result England ran out of time energy and ideas and a draw was all they deserved against an under-rated US side that’s was well organised made of many Premiership and other European league players. Bob Bradley clearly had England’s number and targeted Wayne Rooney for special treatment as he was doubled up on every time he got the ball. Bradley had worked out what Capello had not: England only has one truly creative player.

Capello has also been criticised for only selecting the team two hours before the kick-off. As Jamie Carragher informs us Liverpool have done the same thing for 14 years. Does this explain the clubs decline since the eighties, or is it that the media have over hyped another situation. World Cups do this to people of all professions it seems.

The media have also been backing the referees even in their most bizarre decisions and stating that challenges are dangerous despite the video evidence to the contrary. There have also been four red cards for two yellow card offences, these challenges seem innocuous at best as referees seem to be penalising players for even the slightest late or sliding challenge, thus making the game virtually non contact as player fall to the ground if they feel the smallest of touches. It would be a shame if a much-anticipated World Cup is ruined by dictates from FIFA and the constant medalling with the ball used during major tournaments.

Many are making a lot of the ball unpredictable flight and the fact that the Germans have been using the Jabulani ball in the Bundesliga for a year. All associations were offered use of this ball a year ago. Its good to see we the FA and Premier League could put aside their differences and selfish self-interests for the good of the national team. At least now we already have our excuses for losing to the Germans as England could face them either in second round if either team finishes second in their group and the other first, or if both win all their remaining games then they could meet in the final.