World Cup: England survive to earn German reacquaintance
After the calamity that was England's second World Cup match against Algeria, I thought it would be wise for me to fore go predicting an England win for Wednesday's crucial encounter with Slovenia. This illogical superstition was richly rewarded as England finally started living up to their somewhat bloated reputation.
England's 1-0 victory was a typically tense and nervous affair, but more importantly it was deserved and relatively dominant. Of course, there will be concern that Fabio Capello's team were unable to score the extra goals that could have calmed us all down or may have even won the group. Instead the USA were able to take some of the shine off for England and leave fans momentarily bemused when Landon Donovan gobbled up a rebound in the 92nd minute of their clash with Algeria.
The goal by USA's talisman meant that the nation dramatically leaped from World Cup elimination to being the group C winners. In fairness it was a result that the USA should have already secured by injury time, a Clint Dempsey tap-in had been dubiously ruled out earlier for off-side and a number of other chances had been thwarted by Algeria's goalkeeper.
With the knock-out format of the World Cup pre-ordained, it would be difficult to meet a fan who had not planned a hypothetical route for their nation. With this in mind as England edged towards victory over Slovenia and the USA remained deadlocked with Algeria, a lot of fans would have begun to look ahead to a second round tie that probably wouldn't feature Germany. The potential quarter-final draw would then have come from the encounter between Uruguay (winners of group A) and South Korea (group B runners-up).
The permutations of England finishing as group C runners-up are now clear. On Sunday afternoon England will once again face Germany in the World Cup, for the first time since Italia '90, from which more baseless superstition can fill us with hope. In the 1990 World Cup England were similarly slow in building momentum. England drew their first two group games 1-1 and 0-0 against the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands respectively. This left them needing to win their final group game to guarantee progress to the last sixteen- sounding familiar so far?!
Of course none of this has any bearing on what will happen on Sunday, the parallels between England's 1990 campaign and the 2010 one so far does not mean that England will get to the semi-finals (or further). Just like the fact that North Korea's only previous World Cup to South Africa was a certain 1966.
What is true is that Sunday's encounter will be huge. The rivalry is always more valued on the English side of the channel, but the Germans would have been just as keen to avoid England at this stage of the competition as England would rather to be taking on Ghana on Saturday (like the USA).
It is clear that England will need to up their game again for the challenge ahead. Their attitude and overall skill was markedly improved against Slovenia and they displayed enough glimpses of the England during qualifying campaign victories over Croatia to suggest that they are capable of stopping Germany from reaching the quarter-final stage for the first time since the 1938 tournament.
Capello said that he had rediscovered the spirit of the team that qualified so comprehensively as the top goal scorers from Uefa. It therefore seems quite obvious that his selection should remain the same, barring any major setbacks.
James Milner snatched the chance to show why he is a more consistent and capable winger that Aaron Lennon, the Tottenham midfielder may excel at White Hart Lane but we have never seen him live up to the potential that seemed on offer when he nearly inspired England to victory in their 2006 quarter-final with Portugal. Milner worked hard and delivered a number of dangerous crosses into the Slovenian penalty area, and this is where Jermaine Defoe capitalised for England's solitary and priceless goal.
The Tottenham striker, like Milner, should now be a shoo-in for England. The argument that Emile Heskey brings the best out of Wayne Rooney should finally be put out to pasture, especially after the awful Algeria spectacle. No other major nation that has aspirations to win the World Cup would justify playing a striker that has scored just seven times from 61 caps, rather it must demoralise the team knowing that one of their so-called forwards is almost guaranteed not to get on the score sheet!
Defoe on the other hand IS a goal threat, he has pace and he is lively enough to earn England corners and to put himself into the danger areas. Choosing Heskey over Defoe has been a nonsensical argument for some time now.
Finally there was the dropping into the deep end of Matthew Upson. The West Ham defender may have come into the starting eleven as the fourth choice to partner John Terry (after Ferdinand, King and Carragher had fallen by the wayside) but he was composed throughout and made a crucial 90th minute block on Slovenia's Matavz. It was a moment of panic when time froze and it looked like England would throw away their prior hard work. On that basis and the fact that Carragher has looked much laboured since coming back into the international fold, the former Arsenal defender should get the nod over the Liverpool vice-captain.
Interestingly Franz Beckenbauer has decided to use his exceptional clout for criticising the England set-up for the second time in a week. Previously the World Cup winning player and manager had mocked England's style of play as 'kick and rush'. Since England and Germany were scheduled to meet in the last sixteen, 'Der Kaiser' has suggested that England were 'stupid' for failing to win their group and that their players looked 'burnt-out'. All that is certain is that Beckenbauer is providing a good source of motivation for the England camp, as if any more should be needed at this stage anyway.
Beckenbauer may be right when he claims that Germany will not fear England, after all they have a far richer World Cup history, but in recent years England have had the measure of their rivals. The last tournament encounter came in Euro 2000, when Alan Shearer scored the winner between two lacklustre sides (1-0). Since then there have been two victories apiece, funnily enough with all coming away from home. The most recent meeting was a friendly in Berlin in November 2008, a 2-1 win for England was notable for being Germany's first defeat in Berlin for 35 years.
Until Sunday however there will be plenty more to keep you occupied, starting with Brazil versus Portugal tomorrow, a match that may shed more light on both nations’ credentials. In the evening Spain will face the difficult task of needing to beat surprise package Chile, surely the Euro 2008 winners and World Cup favourites won't follow France and Italy out of South Africa as well?! After a nervy first week the tournament has certainly come alive, and there will be plenty more to come in the days ahead...
England's 1-0 victory was a typically tense and nervous affair, but more importantly it was deserved and relatively dominant. Of course, there will be concern that Fabio Capello's team were unable to score the extra goals that could have calmed us all down or may have even won the group. Instead the USA were able to take some of the shine off for England and leave fans momentarily bemused when Landon Donovan gobbled up a rebound in the 92nd minute of their clash with Algeria.
The goal by USA's talisman meant that the nation dramatically leaped from World Cup elimination to being the group C winners. In fairness it was a result that the USA should have already secured by injury time, a Clint Dempsey tap-in had been dubiously ruled out earlier for off-side and a number of other chances had been thwarted by Algeria's goalkeeper.
With the knock-out format of the World Cup pre-ordained, it would be difficult to meet a fan who had not planned a hypothetical route for their nation. With this in mind as England edged towards victory over Slovenia and the USA remained deadlocked with Algeria, a lot of fans would have begun to look ahead to a second round tie that probably wouldn't feature Germany. The potential quarter-final draw would then have come from the encounter between Uruguay (winners of group A) and South Korea (group B runners-up).
The permutations of England finishing as group C runners-up are now clear. On Sunday afternoon England will once again face Germany in the World Cup, for the first time since Italia '90, from which more baseless superstition can fill us with hope. In the 1990 World Cup England were similarly slow in building momentum. England drew their first two group games 1-1 and 0-0 against the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands respectively. This left them needing to win their final group game to guarantee progress to the last sixteen- sounding familiar so far?!
Of course none of this has any bearing on what will happen on Sunday, the parallels between England's 1990 campaign and the 2010 one so far does not mean that England will get to the semi-finals (or further). Just like the fact that North Korea's only previous World Cup to South Africa was a certain 1966.
What is true is that Sunday's encounter will be huge. The rivalry is always more valued on the English side of the channel, but the Germans would have been just as keen to avoid England at this stage of the competition as England would rather to be taking on Ghana on Saturday (like the USA).
It is clear that England will need to up their game again for the challenge ahead. Their attitude and overall skill was markedly improved against Slovenia and they displayed enough glimpses of the England during qualifying campaign victories over Croatia to suggest that they are capable of stopping Germany from reaching the quarter-final stage for the first time since the 1938 tournament.
Capello said that he had rediscovered the spirit of the team that qualified so comprehensively as the top goal scorers from Uefa. It therefore seems quite obvious that his selection should remain the same, barring any major setbacks.
James Milner snatched the chance to show why he is a more consistent and capable winger that Aaron Lennon, the Tottenham midfielder may excel at White Hart Lane but we have never seen him live up to the potential that seemed on offer when he nearly inspired England to victory in their 2006 quarter-final with Portugal. Milner worked hard and delivered a number of dangerous crosses into the Slovenian penalty area, and this is where Jermaine Defoe capitalised for England's solitary and priceless goal.
The Tottenham striker, like Milner, should now be a shoo-in for England. The argument that Emile Heskey brings the best out of Wayne Rooney should finally be put out to pasture, especially after the awful Algeria spectacle. No other major nation that has aspirations to win the World Cup would justify playing a striker that has scored just seven times from 61 caps, rather it must demoralise the team knowing that one of their so-called forwards is almost guaranteed not to get on the score sheet!
Defoe on the other hand IS a goal threat, he has pace and he is lively enough to earn England corners and to put himself into the danger areas. Choosing Heskey over Defoe has been a nonsensical argument for some time now.
Finally there was the dropping into the deep end of Matthew Upson. The West Ham defender may have come into the starting eleven as the fourth choice to partner John Terry (after Ferdinand, King and Carragher had fallen by the wayside) but he was composed throughout and made a crucial 90th minute block on Slovenia's Matavz. It was a moment of panic when time froze and it looked like England would throw away their prior hard work. On that basis and the fact that Carragher has looked much laboured since coming back into the international fold, the former Arsenal defender should get the nod over the Liverpool vice-captain.
Interestingly Franz Beckenbauer has decided to use his exceptional clout for criticising the England set-up for the second time in a week. Previously the World Cup winning player and manager had mocked England's style of play as 'kick and rush'. Since England and Germany were scheduled to meet in the last sixteen, 'Der Kaiser' has suggested that England were 'stupid' for failing to win their group and that their players looked 'burnt-out'. All that is certain is that Beckenbauer is providing a good source of motivation for the England camp, as if any more should be needed at this stage anyway.
Beckenbauer may be right when he claims that Germany will not fear England, after all they have a far richer World Cup history, but in recent years England have had the measure of their rivals. The last tournament encounter came in Euro 2000, when Alan Shearer scored the winner between two lacklustre sides (1-0). Since then there have been two victories apiece, funnily enough with all coming away from home. The most recent meeting was a friendly in Berlin in November 2008, a 2-1 win for England was notable for being Germany's first defeat in Berlin for 35 years.
Until Sunday however there will be plenty more to keep you occupied, starting with Brazil versus Portugal tomorrow, a match that may shed more light on both nations’ credentials. In the evening Spain will face the difficult task of needing to beat surprise package Chile, surely the Euro 2008 winners and World Cup favourites won't follow France and Italy out of South Africa as well?! After a nervy first week the tournament has certainly come alive, and there will be plenty more to come in the days ahead...
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