Hopeless, then hopeful, then mugged

SOCCER-WORLD/Images: Rapidgamer

THIS POSTING NOW SUPERSEDED BY: Germany 4, auf wiedersehen England


We were
hoping to feel able to use a less jubilant image of German fans at half time. And after a disastrous start it should have been possible as Lampard’s shot came down from the underside of the bar far enough into the goal to fit at least another ball between it and the line.

Incredibly, the ref and linesman must have been quietly humming Deutschland über alles to themselves; they imagined it no more a goal than Rooney’s earlier blast into row Z.

Had the goal counted, it would and should have been a morale-boosting clawback from 0-2 and sinking fast to 2-2. Gary Lineker being proved right again? Football a game played between 11 men on each side and the Germans always win?

At 31 minutes, we had seemed fortunate to be only a goal down with 11 men still on the field. Eleven minutes earlier, Upson would have been off, the penalty doubtless converted, had Klose not chose to stay upright and score after comical defending by Terry and Upson. At 32 minutes, some more shambles at the back and Germany were two up.

Upson quickly made up for his share in the earlier humiliation leading to goal one by heading in Gerrard’s excellent cross. In truth, we could by then have been three or four down, such was the ease with which the fast, direct German attack was playing. And then, suddenly, Lampard – and the watching world – assumed we’d equalised.

EN_00920781_1855Let’s hope the sense of injustice drives England on to better things in the second half and gets this girl smiling as broadly as when she was photographed for this shot. It is not beyond us – even if basic defending, it seems, is.

As the teams left the field, Sir Mick Jagger was signing autographs, other England fans were booing and the Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda, so lamentably served by a linesman with gammy vision, was doing his best not to look sheepish.

9 thoughts on “Hopeless, then hopeful, then mugged”

  1. Bill, England were back to playing without a strike force again. We had Defore who seems to have shrunk in the wash since the World Cup started. A midget and a Scouse chav as the forward line with Rooney about 20 yards behind the play all the time. I’ve been questionining Rooney’s ability at this level for the last two years and have just been stared at as if I was mad. He is absulute garbage.

    We need a bloke in charge who isn’t frightened to drop players who aren’t performing. What about Barry Bill? I’ve a wheelie bin that’s more effective than he is! I really wonder if Capello has just been taking the piss out of England and the English. Heskey’s appearance just capped it for me.

  2. With a coach like Capello, Jeremy, anything is possible. As Capello said of Rooney on the FansFC website: “He is one of the most important players in the world. He played a good game against Slovenia. He should do really well and I’m happy about his performance.”
    I must have watched that game in an alternate universe. I don’t remember anything good about Rooney.

  3. If we were beat 2-1, 3-1 then there might be an excuse for that goal being over looked, but 4-1 combined with a terrible performance. Wake up!

  4. I backed England out of a bizarre sense of misplaced patriotism in the ESPN “Pick em” despite some conviction that the Germans would win.

    Milner seems to think that beating the full back is completely unnecessary for a winger. He has a lot to learn. The persisitence with Rooney has to stop. He is the most over rated player I’ve seen in an England shirt since the days of Trevor Francis. It’s all about what he might do despite a rapidly stacking pile of evidence which shows that he just can not cut the mustard.

    Johnson and Cole were all over the place. They were both getting caught in the first half but their lack of back tracking was brutally exposed by Germany in the second half. Good side the Germans. Full of heart pace and the ability to bury chances when they came. Rooney leaves the field without a shot on target. How can a coach stick by this game in and game out?

  5. Agree Jeremy. England had a “purple patch” that lasted for all of 60 seconds. They had a goal wrongly disallowed but that may only serve to deflect a tiny bit of the huge amount of criticism that this vastly overrated side (I refuse to call them a team) and their inept management fully deserve. The BBC pundits lamented the lack of width in the first half and highlighted the nervousness of the young German goalkeeper. Cue Lennon and Crouch I thought. No! Joe Cole and the goal machine that is Emile Heskey come on. Also, why does Glen Johnson haul back his man and accept a booking when the score is 4-1? I don’t advocate foul play, but if he’d done the same when the score was 2-1, then the third goal would not have been scored. Still, Muller is in my dream team and I’ve a fiver on Germany, so every cloud etc.

  6. Remarkably that moment has become completely irrelevant with the woeful display in the second half. No real surprise with this, other than the completely lamentable Rooney remains on the field. Has he hat a shot at goal yet? Didn’t think so. Capello really is a genius. Emile the goal machine comes on. I’d love to ask him about that decision. Some of us thought that humiliation had been avoided by going out in the group stage. Maybe the lesson to be learnt is that if you are going to embarrass yourselves then make it as brief as possible.

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