England had begun to get their momentum back (or so it seemed) after their 1-0 victory over Slovenia, having started off the tournament extremely poorly. Not only were the supporters disappointed, but the players too. Their high expectations of this England team were not naive and even they were puzzled as to why England had failed to beat the USA, and more strangely, Algeria.
The win over Slovenia secured second place for England, who were then put into the draw against Germany. Our old rivals - the Germans. The performance against Slovenia, was a start, an improvement, but we expected to see a near-perfect performance against the impressive, young German side, who would cause us more problems than Slovenia had. Capello was optimistic before the game - 23 players were fit and training - he had a whole squad to choose from now, but opted to go with the same players he had picked in the game against Slovenia.
To be honest, we could have been at least 4-0 down come half-time, because for the first half-hour of the game, Germany's youngsters made fools of England's experienced "golden generation". It was all too easy for the likes of Oezil, Mueller, Podolski and Klose to slice open the England defence like a hot knife through butter. If it wasn't for David James, then England could have kissed the tournament goodbye much earlier than they did.
David James did well to save from Oezil with his legs, as England literally parted to make way for Schweinsteiger's lofted pass out to the gifted playmaker. England weren't seeing much of the ball - with Rooney and Defoe stranded up front, as the Germans made good use of their possession. You sensed that the England defence needed to get their acts together otherwise James might not be so lucky next time the Germans came knocking.
And it wasn't long before they did, and this time, they found a way past. It was just simple route one football as Manuel Neuer's long clearance completely evaded the England players, and found its way over to Klose at the other end of the pitch. The England defenders weren't strong enough to challenge Klose, who controlled it and got his shot away with a cool, composed finish to leave James absolutely furious at his teammates in front of him. And quite rightly so, that was absolutely shocking defending. Upson, who had been chosen ahead of Carragher, and Terry were caught completely out of position and subsequently made to pay. They totally lost their bearings and for all their experience, they found themselves all at sea.
Again, it was James to the rescue, when the Germans were able to get in a few short, sharp passes to undo England's midfield and defence. It was just too easy for them - England were unable to close them down, or hound them for the ball, or tackle them which allowed them to slip the ball to Klose whose shot was quickly closed down by James. However, it wasn't long before Germany were able to make schoolboys of the England defenders once more. Again, we saw some good, incisive passing from the Germans on the left hand side and for some reason, the England defenders overcommitted themselves to the left, so no one spotted the run of Podolski on the right. Glen Johnson, who should have been on the right and therefore stopping the run of Podolski, was nowhere near him, allowing Mueller to slide the pass through to the Cologne player for their second goal of the game.
England needed to get themselves back into the game, and fast. Lampard almost got a goal back after a good cross from Milner on the right, but he failed to make proper contact with the ball. Mueller was again, given the freedom to run with the ball in midfield, and got his pass through to Klose, who was advancing in on goal sandwiched between Johnson and Milner. Luckily, this time between the pair of them, they were able to see the ball out. England were all over the shop, lacking in pace as the young Germans beat them for speed time and time again. There was some more shoddy defending from England from the resulting corner, as the ball pinged about all over the place with Klose again pouncing in on goal.
England, thankfully got the ball clear, and it was an England corner that led to Upson's goal. Milner passed the ball to Gerrard, who lofted in a good pass from outside the area, that met Upson who did well to stay in the air and guide it home pass the keeper. England were back in the game it seemed. And, just a minute and a half later, were so, so, so unlucky not to be on equal terms after an appalling decision by the referee and his assistant. With the momentum with England, they looked a different side as Milner passed it out to Defoe on the edge of the area, to slip it in for Lampard, who chipped the ball beautifully over the keeper and way over the line. WAY OVER THE LINE. For absolutely everyone watching in that stadium, the players, the managers, the staff, the fans and everyone else on their TV sets that was a goal. The whole of the ball had gone over the line by a clear 2 yards or so. Yet the only people who didn't believe this to be the case was the referee, Jorge Larrionda and his assistant, Mauricio Espinosa, who ruled it out for not going over the line. How the Germans got away with that one, we'll never know. All the England fans, players and staff had started celebrating, as had we at home, but those celebrations were cut short by that one stupid decision.
I brought up the whole 'controversial decisions in a World Cup' issue in one of the earlier posts. Wish I hadn't now. Sepp Blatter watched on from the stands as the England players protested to the referee at half-time about the ridiculous decision that had been made, preventing England from going into half-time on a level playing field. England, were lucky not to concede from Podolski's shot, once the referee had waved play on. Now that would have been a death wish. It was like the reverse of 1966 when Geoff Hurst's controversial goal secured the win for England against West Germany - this was the German's revenge.
England went into half-time needing to score another to level things up, and almost did so in the opening exchanges of the second-half. Lampard, who went another tournament without scoring, almost got the equaliser from a free-kick that he absolutely lashed past the German wall only to see it hit the bar, with Neuer beaten. With England desperately trying to get that much-needed goal, they were stretched at the back. Heavily stretched, as the likes of Terry and Upson tried to help things upfront. There was always that danger of Germany breaking, and that was to be England's undoing in the end.
It was literally from one end of the pitch to another with England's players over-committed upfront leaving acres of space, and few defenders at the back. Germany were scarily good on the break, attacking with such pace and speed that it left you breathless. They may have been the young guns, but they made England's more experienced players look like little boys out there. Gareth Barry lost the ball on the edge of the German box after Rooney had been awarded a penalty, that had been struck by Lampard, straight into the German wall. Once they got going, there was absolutely no stopping them as England quite simply fell apart. There was acres of room at the back, none of the England players could keep up with their European counterparts and they were free to use the width of the pitch, and within a few passes they got their third goal. Schweinsteiger did really well to get the ball out to Mueller on the right, and he calmly put the ball away, with England's defence looking on. They were so unorganised at the back, that it ended up with 5 England players stuck in the middle of the box, with no one closing down Mueller or Oezil in the wide areas. Absolutely shambolic defending.
3 minutes later, and the same thing happened again. This time it was from a throw-in with John Terry trying his luck in the German penalty box and committed up-front, Joe Cole lost the ball this time and all England could do was watch and admire this scintillating German side. Barry was unable to catch up with Oezil, whose pace was unbelievable and no one spotted Mueller, in acres of space, who was able to slide home his second and Germany's fourth after a fine pass from the supertalented Oezil. It was all over for England now. They tried in vain to go forward, and Capello went for broke, sending Wright-Phillips and Heskey on, but it was all too little too late. I didn't understand the Heskey substitution at all. I mean, here we are, needing to score 3 goals to get ourselves back in the game, and Capello puts on a player, who has been unable to score for so long. I mean, for goodness sake put Crouchy on. At least we might have a shot then. Crouch has a record of coming on and scoring late goals.
England could do nothing except pray that the 5-1 scoreline in Munich would not be emulated here by the Germans. They had nothing to offer and the game petered out with the last 5 minutes seeming like the longest 5 minutes ever. The result marked the end of England's tournament - a tournament that had looked so much full of promise and hope but was actually dire and disappointing. Questions will again be raised over the use of goal-line technology and the goal that wasn't given. Surely that goal would have changed things around - England wouldn't have been so overcommitted going forward, and wouldn't have let their 2-2 slip so easily. Still, we will never what could have been and on balance, you would have to say that Germany deserved their win. For the way they played and for the way they totally destroyed England, they deserve nothing but credit and praise. It wasn't they who made that ludicrous decision, and it will be interesting to see how far this young side can go in the tournament. At the end of it all, and looking at the tournament as a whole, England have no one but themselves to blame. Apart from that brief respite against Slovenia, who aren't the best of sides in this competition, they didn't really show up. The big name stars were nowhere to be seen and ultimately England failed to live up to expectations. The match against Germany was one of "what-if"; in fact the whole tournament was one of "what-if". What if Capello had taken Walcott? What if he had changed the system? What if all the players were fully fit? What if we had finished top of Group C?
Let the inquest begin...
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