For some reason, I seem to be the only person in Britain who wasn't surprised by how easily Germany beat England. Did anyone else actually watch these teams' previous games? Having said that, even I was amazed at how inept England were. I couldn't believe how quickly the saucer-eyed Özil sped past the England defenders. There is some talk about how things could have been different if Lampard's "goal" had been allowed. Yes, Germany would have won 4-2 instead. I can only assume that the referee was looking up at row Z expecting Lampard's shot to end there like all his other attempts.
The response to this from the media seems to be to sack Capello - like a farmer shooting the dog because the sheep starved to death. What this will achieve, I don't know. Was he any worse than McClaren, Eriksson, Keegan, Mike Bassett et al. That England team was actually the best they can do. There are just not enough youngsters coming through. Any that do play football are probably doing it on an X-box and the FA just don't care. If England are ever going to achieve anything in World football they are going to have to start at the roots. Get the kids playing and get the keen ones to the kind of football summer camps that Bobby Charlton has tried to run in the past. Get the players into the club sides and make sure that they get first team experience. This isn't going to happen and by the time they are scraping to a 2-1 away win against Narnia in Euro 2012 qualification it will all be forgotten as the next "Golden Generation" will be tipped to win the European Championship, World Cup and Nobel peace prize.
Anyway, my wife is delighted and I'm actually looking forward to a bit of a contest in the Germany-Argentina game.
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England looked poor for a large chunk of the game - they conceded 4 goals after all - poor, silly goals - but at the end of the first half they looked unbeatable - they had the momentum to go on and win. That Lampard goal - for it was clearly a goal - would have meant that England would not have been so desperate to move forward and leave their defenders in stupid out-of-positions.
ReplyDeleteSepp Blatter should be ashamed of himself and resign. He won't - unless someone bribes him an awful lot of money to do so.
There are quite a few individuals beside Sepp who have hastened England's flight home.
Wayne Bridge's Ex and John Terry affected the original team choices and - possibly more importantly - the choice of captain.
Talking of captains, the Ferdinand/Heskey collision cost us a vital player.
Rob Green's fumble led to us not winning the group and taking the Ghana route. Fabio's decision to play him instead of James had the same effect.
If Rooney had shown some interest in the Algeria game rather than being sarcastic about the fans, we would have won the group and beaten Ghana.
If the Uruguayan officials yesterday had been looking in the right direction for the Lampard goal, England would have maintained their momentum and now be talking about being beaten by Argentina. If they had seen the replay on the big screen there and had to the guts to go back and award the goal - why not!? - the referee's decision is final according to Sepp - I may be being niave here but why not?
Anyway, we weren't going to win The World Cup this year - my tip is still Argentina - as it has been from day 1 - but we should still be in it today.
Thank you - I enjoyed that rant - and I needed it!