England crashed out of the World Cup with a humiliating scoreline, and I tell you it'll make the Americans' defeat to Ghana not all that bad.
I may not be a pundit or expert in football but this is where it has all gone wrong:
Selection of Heskey: OHH.MY.GOODNESS.GRACIOUS.ME. Of ALL players. Come on, the way he played makes Michael Owen looked better, and he's been injured all season, rarely getting games at Aston Villa. Seriously, it's just because of his ariel ability that Capello brought him along. Darren Bent must be wondering what was the 25 goals he scored for.
Verdict: Should have brought Darren Bent. Or at LEAST, Gabriel Ablonglahor. Or Ashley Young? I mean, besides Rooney (& Defoe?) England has no other better strikers. Man. Look at Argentina. Messi, Aguero, Tevez...
Selection of Upson: OHH.MY.GOODNESS.GRACIOUS.ME. number 2. Get real Capello. it's ok to pick him, but playing him at the expense of Michael Dawson and Jamie Carragher? No way in hell! I tell you, HE makes Sol Campbell look better now. Carragher and Dawson must have been wondering if their time in South Africa was worth it, especially Carragher, who decided to pull out of retirement to help England again.
Verdict: Well I guess it can't be helped due to Rio Ferdinand's injury. He must be cursing it now. Either way, Carragher or Dawson should have played instead. Carragher's got more experience; Dawson at least had a better towards-the-end season with Spurs.
"Yeah, play Ledley King and he'll be injured 2 minutes later." - Anonymous.
He's really prone to it.
Anti-left-footed player?: For your information, of all players, only Ashley Cole and Stephen Warnock are naturally left-footed. You have to say though, England has never produced naturally left-footed players (except Steward Downing), but even so, using Gerrard on the wings? If it's on the right he might get a few assist, but not left. Perhaps Joe Cole or Shaun Wright-Philips should have played there instead, though the latter didn't look too convincing during the ENG vs USA game.
Verdict: This has been an on-going problem for England, one which many managers don't know or can't solve. Perhaps making the strikers work on the wing would be a better option? Or at least that's how I saw Spain played. David Villa worked on the left all the time, opening up space for midfielders to bomb forward, hence Iniesta's goal against Chile. Again, players like Ablonglahor or Ashley Young are needed. Players that are forward-thinking yet capable of crossing a good ball in (though they are still not left-footed, that has to be said =P)
Terry fiasco: I don't know, but I have a feeling that the entire incident just blew up his mind. Losing captaincy is never an easy thing, and although many said that he should get over it, or has gotten over it, the fact that one of the world's greatest defender can slack up like this (seriously, he doesn't look like what he was in Chelsea) means he STILL hasn't got over it (or that's my opinion). Psychological factor. I have to say, mistakes do happen, but when it happened 4 times, something's not right.
No verdict to this. What's passed is passed. Or perhaps he learned that next time he shouldn't be involved in affairs that involves his England teammate, hence Warnock being selected due to Wayne Bridge's "retirement".
England as a whole: I can tell you I wasted time and sleep during England's opening game against USA. Besides Gerrard's goal, there was nothing else to shout about. I decided not to watch the England vs Algeria game 'cause I felt that England ain't going to win, and the next morning I woke up, they drew goalless.
There's just no spirit in their game. Yeah they probably played well against Slovenia, but I believe that's because they HAD TO! If they don't they'll fall to a draw or a defeat and the English press is going to go all over them again. Well I'll put it this way. The victory over Slovenia only brought them some time. In truth, Slovenia should have qualify. Who knows, they might even have beaten Germany, or at least loss by a more respectable scoreline.
England's going forward has been poor; Rooney wishing he had his Manchester United teammates with him, or at least have Sir Alex - yeah he'll probably know what to do with Rooney - ; Gerrard's been playing out of place, though he probably is the only who had his heart in it - watch the USA game - Lampard not capable of scoring in World Cups (apparently he's the top player to have the most shots without scoring any goals); Barry not fully fit maybe? (It's questionable); defending's been all over the place; Glen Johnson missing at the wrong time; Lennon not doing what he does best at Spurs; goalkeeping woes. You name it.
Verdict: Squad revamp? They seriously look like they need it. Although it's also partly Capello's fault (well he has to take the blame somewhere), this squad never looked capable of winning. Perhaps they should look for players who are eager to make their country proud. Bobby Zamora anyone?
Or perhaps they were trying to do an Ahtletico Madrid (won the Europa League with more draws than wins) but then again, that competition has second-legs. This competition requires teams to win all games from the second round onwards to qualify.
Well, like they always say, the least said about this the better. 3 goals scored (Gerrard, Defoe and Upson) against 5 goals conceded - Clint Dempsey of the USA (blunder of a goal by Green really), two from Mueller, and one each from Klose and Podolski (all Germany) has summed up England's South African journey. Although there are worse things to talk about, e.g France and THEIR fiasco, this is one that's not worth remembering, but it will kept as one of England's worst World Cup. Ever.
"Germany played as a team. England played as individuals." -Anonymous
And that, sadly, is the truth.
PS: I'm sorry, but I'm done being quiet about England. There's a lot more to talk about, like how Lampard and Rooney are expected to deliver, just because they had an awesome season of scroing over 30 goals. It's when the press does something like this that they get nothing.
Positive points to be taken from this game for England? Zero. They probably don't even deserve all their effort.
~eNd~
