England’s World Cup ended in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday in a horribly familiar way: a heroic rearguard action after going a man down; their strongest performance of the competition, let down by managerial indecisiveness leaving a lone striker isolated up front; and the final, inevitable, soul-crushing capitulation in a penalty shoot-out.
This time, there wasn’t just the regular one or two penalty fall-guys. Of the four spot-kicks England took, only Owen Hargreaves – magnificent throughout the match – scored. Lampard signed off on his dismal tournament with yet another lazy shot that failed to find the net, and Gerrard never looked confident, before Jamie Carragher was controversially ordered to re-take his successful kick. He opted to change direction, but it was a nervous, unconvinced attempt that Ricardo saved easily.
That miss left pantomime villain Christiano Ronaldo with the task of converting his kick to send Portugal through; he did so with the confidence of a man who doesn’t think he’ll ever have to share a training pitch with Wayne Rooney ever again. If Ronaldo wanted out of Manchester before the tournament, he’s certainly burnt his bridges now, after Rooney’s 62nd minute dismissal.
Would Rooney have been sent off if it hadn’t been for his United team mate’s intervention? Certainly as he was manhandled by two Portuguese players his boot made contact with Ricardo Carvalho’s groin. Was it intentional? Only Rooney knows; the replays were inconclusive. Did Ronaldo rush over, almost before foot had left testicle, to urge referee Elizondo to send him off? Yes. Was Rooney an idiot for pushing Ronaldo away? Absolutely; it was a moment of crass stupidity.
But the push was so innocuous that even the gravitationally-challenged Ronaldo didn’t fall over; however, it seemed to be that which the referee reacted to, and the red card was flourished. Ronaldo’s sly wink to the Portuguese bench showed that he knew exactly what he was doing; Rooney has been an angry, petulant accident waiting to happen all tournament, and Ronaldo was only too happy to provide the catalyst to set him off.
A young, hot-headed talent gets himself sent off, leaving his team mates to battle manfully in his absence; it must have seemed very familiar to David Beckham. England’s captain wasn’t even on the pitch at the time – he had his own little tragedy playing out, as an ineffective performance was brought to a halt by an Achilles tendon injury. Replaced by the far more useful Lennon, Beckham was immobile and in tears on the sidelines – until he leapt to his feet to harangue the officials over Rooney’s dismissal. It was the most active he’d been all night.
This was England’s strongest performance so far, against a Portuguese team that passed the ball prettily but rarely penetrated the English defence. While Beckham and Lampard were anonymous, and Joe Cole was subdued, Ashley Cole and Gary Neville provided a threat down the wings, and Hargreaves and Gerrard made marauding runs. But still, Rooney looked isolated and frustrated alone up front, and very few clear-cut chances were created. Indeed, it was only after the introduction of Aaron Lennon and the subsequent loss of Rooney that England posed a genuine, sustained threat to the Portuguese goal. Once again, blind chance seemed to have more tactical nous than Sven.
It would be nice to think that Hargreaves’ tireless, man of the match performance was a vindication of Sven’s faith in him; certainly, it was the perfect response to his numerous, mindless critics. But if anything, it highlighted what could have been achieved had Sven actuallyhadfaith in him, instead of spending years playing him out of position as a last-minute spoiler substitute. That, even after those endless, tinkering friendlies, England still went into this tournament with a midfield that lacked any shape, tactics or coherence – when a solution was sitting right under the noses of Eriksson and McLaren – is a damning indictment.
Likewise, as the match went into extra time, it became increasingly apparent that Sven never had any intention of letting Theo Walcott play in this World Cup. With only two substitutes used against a tiring Portugal, Crouch isolated up front, and the excellent Lennon showing their defensive vulnerability to pace, it was madness not to throw the dice and bring on England’s only other striker. Instead, Sven did nothing, content to let the momentum shift away from England. Eventually, with two minutes remaining, he brought Carragher on for his supposed expert penalty-taking skills. It was the last ever decision that Eriksson made as England manager, and the level of judgement it showed stands as a fitting summation of his reign.
