ENGLAND FAIL TO WIN!

 

The World Cup. That's all a football fan needs to hear and for the fourth tournament in a row England have qualified. Of course what we all dream of is the captain of the Three Lions lifting the trophy for the first time since 1966. After that, well, the other England team that has been lifted on to a pedastal recently is the 1990 team that were the last side to make it to a World Cup semi finals in a tournament a barely remember. Last time around though, and indeed the time before that we got as far as the quarter finals. And that, if you believe some of the experts is where England belongs. Maybe we'll prove them wrong this time round.

Last time around, Sven Goran Erriccsson was our gaffer and he took a squad off to Germany for our World Cup Group B campaign. First up came a very ugly 1-0 win over Paraguay at the Waldstadion. England then improved slightly to beat Trinidad and Tobago at the Frankenstadion. That secured us a spot in the knockout stages with a game to spare. We wound up cruising in our final game to draw 2-2 with Sweden in the Cologne World Cup stadium. That banked us top spot in the group. Still, people weren't particularly happy with our performances overall. On paper we had a very classy squad in '06. The fact that we were just grinding out results against teams like these was a bit irritating.

This time around, our first opponents were the USA. It wasn't that long since we last faced the Yanks, having beaten them 2-0 in a friendly at Wembley in '08. It was a decent enough end of season performance which provided promise of what was to come in the qualifiers. The last time the two sides met in the World Cup though, well it is the Yanks only real "soccer" legend. The Three Lions were meant to be the undisputed kings of the world in 1950 but an amateur US side had other ideas and beat them 1-0 in a Group 2 match at the Estadio Independiencia. That is the only time the two sides have faced each other at the World Cup but that doesn't mean to say the Yanks are strangers to the world's biggest competition.

Well a 3-0 win over South African Premiership side Platinum Stars...didn't prove very much. Of more concern were injury problems, particularly the one that ruled out Rio. However, whatever the fitness of our players this was it. The time for experimentation was over and in the USA we faced a squad that couldn't be underestimated. And yet still, we could tell them to "bring it on" for this World Cup Group C match at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium. For us it was Green in goal, Terry and King at centre back, Lennon right mid, Gerrard(captain) and Lampard centre mid, Milner left mid, Rooney and Heskey up front. This looked to be a tough match, but three points.

Well a standing-room-only Walkabout watched...as an ad-break started up mid match! When the match action came back on we found that Heskey had slid the ball to Gerrard in the 4th minute and our new skipper was more than happy to claim our first goal of the tournament! The initial celebrations started falling flat though as the Yanks showed why they were a credible force in their own right but it looked like we'd be able to hold on. That was untill Clint Dempsey fired in a 40th minute long range effort that somehow our goalie wasn't able to hold. Annoying but still, there were 45 minutes still to go and that was long enough to give the Yanks a reality check in theory.

Well we certainly had the opportunities early on in the 2nd half, pity we weren't able to make anything of them. The Yanks were more than happy to reply though and forced us to dodge a bullet which gave our goalie a degree of redemption. More opportunities came for England after that and we should have put them away. Fresh legs were brought on by Fabio but they weren't able to do much and this game wound up cruising to a halt. I never complain about even the dodgiest of England wins. This however was not the result we needed but the glass if still half full. It wouldn't be the first time we've opened a World Cup by drawing a seemingly straightforward game and then going on to have a good tournament.

Elsewhere, Algeria faced Slovenia and the Peter Mokoba Stadium. Algeria had the opening chance of the game and it took a while for Slovenia to get going but when the dust settled on an iffy first half. the match was still goalless. In the second half the Algerians looked to be stepping it up only for them to first find themselves down to ten men and then for Robert Koran to hit what turned out to be a late winner for Slovenia. That leaves England joint 2nd in Group B, level on points, goal difference and goals scored with the USA and on course for a drawing of lots to make the knockout stages. They lie two points behind group leaders Slovenia.

Over in Group D, Ghana beat Serbia 1-0 at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium. The Black Stars won the game late on but only after Serbia had gone down to ten men. Other than that it was a pretty even affair though Ghana shouldn't get carried away. Particularly as Germany beat Australia 4-0 at the Durban World Cup Stadium. Joachin Low's crew put on an awesome display though admittedly the Aussie cause wasn't helped with them going down to ten men. So, Germany top that group and lie level on points with 2nd placed Ghana but with a +3 goal difference advantage. Both sides are three points ahead of third placed Serbia who have a mountain to climb.

So here's how the knockout stages look after one match:

South Africa/Mexico(the two sides drew 1-1 with each other) vs Argentina(beat Nigeria 1-0)

South Korea(beat Greece 2-0) vs South Africa/Mexico

Slovenia vs Ghana

Germany vs England/USA

Netherlands(beat Denmark 2-0) vs Italy/Paraguay/Slovakia/New Zealand(Italy and Paraguay drew 1-1, Slovakia and New Zealand drew 1-1)

Italy/Paraguay/Slovakia/New Zealand vs Japan(beat Cameroon 1-0)

Brazil(beat North Korea 2-1) vs Chile/Switzerland(Chile beat Honduras 1-0. Switzerland beat Spain 1-0)

Chile/Switzerland vs Portugal/Ivory Coast(the two sides drew 0-0 with each other)

Summary of first group of matches? Messy.

Click here to visit the football archive

Comments get emailed here

Click here to return to sports homepage

Click here to return to Matt G's homepage