So on to the next episode of the soap opera that is the England football team. If anybody though the performance in the first game was poor well they outdid themselves in the 2nd game and they produced a shocking and dismal performance. Once again the issue for England is a failure to control the tempo of the play and to keep the ball, but also to penetrate the opposition's defence. What is it about English football that despite the money in their game, they fail to have a decent passer of the bll who can keep it for long periods and dictate the tempo of the game. In my view Capello should have brought Danny Murphy to the Finals and played him in front of Gareth Barry. They could have played Lampard as the most advanced midfielder and Joe Cole and Gerrard on the wings with Rooney up front. In my view this would have been their best approach at keeping the ball and play players in the positions they have excelled in at their club. If anyone is wondering Gerrard played on the right for Liverpool and scored over 20 goals from that position so sorry Andy and Jamie, his natural position is not as a central midfielder, no matter how many times you call him Stevie G. It shows a lack of appreciation in the English game that a player like Murphy has never been mentioned, but if anybody looked at Fulhams their Europa Cup campaign they would have seen his ability to show for the ball and keep it and not try to play Hollywood passes ever time they get the ball. This is something that Gerrard and Lampard lack.
But saying all that, the performance of the playlers was shocking, shocking first touch, shocking pass and no spirit and very little effort. Its it a possibility that Capello's strict regime is not suited to tournament football and that the weeks of being couped up without any sort of light relief is taking its toll. Maybe its perfect for short international breaks but not suited to tournament football. Whatever is the case, Capello is certainly up against it going into the last game.
The other game in the group was between the smallest country in the tournament, Slovenia and one of the most populated, the USA. This was a game of 2 halves when the technically and well organised Slovenians rushed into a 2 goal lead against a very lethargic American side. Their coach Bradley obviously had words at half time and an early Donovan goal gave them a lifeline. The coaches son Michael Bradley was the best player on the pitch and his high energy and amazing stamina got them back in the game and he scored the equaliser. In fact they should have won the game as the referee disallowed a perfectly good goal at the end. The American fans were not too happy and rightly so. The USA should beat Algeria and England Slovenia is going to prove to be a tight game and it could quite possibly end up a draw with England going home early
The first game of the day pitted Germany against Serbia and everybody was expecting a goal fest for the Germans again. Serbia have been pretty defensive so far and they were the same again. Germany started the game well but it was obvious that the referee was going to try to be the star of the show. He started throwing out yellow cards like confetti early on and it was obvious that someone was going to leave the pitch pretty soon. It happened to be Klose for 3 innocuous challenges. Serbia took full advantage and managed to get a goal. Germany went for it in the second half and managed to control the game with Serbia hitting on the break. Serbia hit the woodwork twice but it was the Germans who had most of the chances and none more so than Podolski. He had a great chance from the penalty spot and became the first German footballer to to miss a penalty at international level in 28 years. Amazing statistic and some German fans said to me, "well he was born in Poland so the record still stands". Whatever the case, what this has done has opened up the group and if Australia can win aginst Ghanall teams may go into the last game on 3 points. Interesting days ahead.
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