Happy and glorious, sometimes..........The ups and downs of being a England football fan.
I'm English, always will be. Always will be proud to say that too, I'm also proud of being from Leicester and I often wear a Leicester shirt, one time and an American made a comment that "must be a hard team to support". How about fuck off, you don't just pick a team, a lot of people are born in cities that don't have glamour teams. Some people are born in cities with two teams but support the other club, in Liverpool, you have Everton and Liverpool. Liverpool have been one of the most successful clubs in English football history but Everton have their own loyal support despite Liverpool's trophy rich history. Sometimes teams are picked for religious reasons, see Rangers and Celtic. If you consider yourself a Scottish Protestant, you'll be a Rangers fan. If you consider yourself an Irish Catholic then you'll be a Celtic fan. Tensions between those clubs often becomes ugly. Driven not just by football but also by hatred of the others version of Christianity. Alan Green, the BBC Radio Five Live football commentator hates that derby, because of its ugly undertones. I once worked with a bloke who's wife family were Rangers fans, they wouldn't allow their children to eat salad cause it was green and Celtic play in green. For people that support teams in other countries, they likely pick their teams because of some other method which whilst it might mean something to them allows them freedom to switch teams regardless of any other loyalty. With national teams its rather more clear cut, although there are exceptions of course. But the majority of the time if you are born in a country and your family considers themselves English like in my case then you support England. It's not easy, especially when England have lost the amount of penalty shoot outs like England have. But when its good nothing is better.
Bobby Robson: A Victim of The Tabloids
My love of football started during the 1990 World Cup, my Dad never put me in a youth league and although football was on alot. I never had any exposure to playing organized football but I did watch it every now and then. The first memory I have of the world cup in 1990 was when England played Ireland, I didn't watch the game but I do remember coming in and seeing the final score of 1-1. My parents and their friends didn't seem best pleased by the result. Especially as England were looking for revenge after the Euro 88 embarrassment, the Irish had beaten England 1-0. It was a famous result for Ireland. My cousin is half Irish and the Irish club in Leicester had pictures dotted all over the club of Ireland's famous victory. Half the Irish team was born in England and they were managed by Jack Charlton. Who was in the England side when we won the World Cup and his brother Bobby was England's record goal scorer. England played the Netherlands next and held them to a goalless draw, it was a credible result. The Netherlands had won the European Championships in 1988, destroying England along the way. Then England beat Egypt 1-0, I had slight memories of that cause we learning about Egypt at school. England won with a Mark Wright goal. England advanced to knockout round and faced Belgium in what seemed to the longest game of football ever, England couldn't break Belgium down. In the 120th minute, Paul Gascogine ran forward with the ball from midfield. As he drove the ball and England forward, a tired Belgium defender brought him down, not in any way a professional foul, but more of a just stop him kind of foul. Gascogine got up and quite literally dinked a ball in the box, in the box waited David Platt, who turned and volleyed a beautiful shot past the Belgium goalkeeper, if you've listened to 3 lions, you'll know the line "and England have done it, IN THE LAST MINUTE OF EXTRA TIME!" That was John Motson, and that line came from that game. After finally disposing of Belgium, England faced Cameroon. Who had beaten Argentina (the reigning world champions) in the first game of Italia 90. Cameroon, were doing things that no African side had ever done at the world cup and were the neutrals favorites. England though wouldn't be denied, Platt gave England a 25th minute lead. Cameroon scored twice. Going into the last 10 minutes England still trailed Cameroon, Cameroon could see the semi finals and could be Africa's first contestants of the semi finals at the world cup but Gary Lineker won a penalty. Lineker converted to put England level. During extra time Gascoigne's ball put Lineker through. Lineker again was adjudged to have been fouled and Lineker again was asked the question. Lineker emphatically answered and England took a lead. Cameroon had shown themselves to be a very good side but England came out the winners. In the 24 year since the World Cup win in 1966 England hadn't reached the semi finals. Now for the first time abroad England could see the final but what waited ahead of them was the West Germans. The game itself I have very little memory of, England and West Germany played out a 1-1 draw after Lineker equalized a deflected West German opener. This led to the thing that would dominate English football in tournaments, we lost to West Germany after a penalty shootout. Chris Waddle missed a penalty that must be still in orbit over Europe somewhere and then Stuart Pearce, possibly the proudest man in an England shirt had a penalty saved. Tears flowed, Pearce and Waddle looked devastated, but the tears that where the most famous during that game where Paul Gasgoine's, England's star and creative force received a yellow card. His second of the knock out stage. Had England beaten West Germany, Gazza wouldn't have been able to play in the final. The shame of that sentence is heart breaking, England had been carried by Gazza's will and creativity. Bobby Robson, the England manager had treat Gazza like a son and got the best out of Gazza too. Robson left the job after the World Cup, or rather was forced out of it. The FA decided before Italia 90, that Robson's contract wouldn't be renewed. Robson's England didn't qualify for Euro 84, but England qualified for Mexico 86, Euro 88 (in West Germany) and Italia 90. Likely on the back of the poor performance at Euro 88 and despite England qualifying for Italia 90 without conceding a goal. The English FA decided to not renew his contract so Robson, the man that had made Ipswich Town relevant again (much like Sir Alf Ramsey had), took the position of manager at PSV Eindhoven.
Graham Taylor: Swedes, Yanks, Planks and Oranges
The English FA though had a manager with an impressive track record of his own, Graham Taylor had won the fourth division with Lincoln City, then went back to the fourth division and got Watford promoted to the first division in five seasons. Finished runners up in the First Division in 1982-1983, got to the third round of the UEFA Cup and then finished runners up in the FA Cup to a great Everton side in the 1984. Taylor though looked for a new challenge and in 1987, decided that a move was in order. So he Watford left for Aston Villa, Villa had just been relegated to the 2nd Division. As it is now, Villa being in the second division didn't feel right, but Taylor got Villa back into the 1st Division as runners up in 1988 and then in 1989-90 finished runners up to the last Liverpool team to win the 1st Division (still it remains as I write this, Liverpool's last league championship). Taylor being picked for England manager left a lot of people uneasy, he had never played top flight football as a player, he had never won a major competition despite finishing runners up in the 1st division twice and FA Cup once. But his constant performance's with Watford and Villa showed some pedigree. Taylor took over from Bobby Robson in 1990 and lead England to Euro 92 in Sweden, initial fears about his background where being founded though. England struggled to qualify for Euro 92, Gary Lineker spared the English blushes and beat the Irish to tournament. But there at Euro 92, England performed badly. England drew 0-0 with Denmark, then 0-0 with France (themselves having a poor tournament) and then in Gary Linekers final game as a England player lost 2-1 to Sweden. England had took the lead with a goal I can still see 27 years later, Lineker crossed to David Platt and Platt volleyed in. In the second half, Sweden changed tactics, formation and personnel. England crumbled, Sweden scored twice and England failed to reach the semi finals (in 1992 the Euro's were only 8 teams). Perhaps worryingly Taylor had a habit of making odd subs, England's best scorer on games to goal ratio was Gary Lineker. The Sweden game marked his 88th cap for England, in those games, Lineker scored 48 times. In search of a goal to keep England in the tournament, Taylor pulled Lineker off. The look on Lineker's face was only matched by everyone else watching the game......What is Taylor thinking? Lineker had rescued England several times in the past and was being subbed for Alan Smith? Alan Smith was a good striker, he had been the top scorer in the 1st Division on two occasions and had played with Lineker at Leicester. But was not the striker Lineker was, yet Taylor in his desperation pulled the wrong man off.
After England's poor performance during qualifications for Euro 92 and the subsequent performance at Euro 92 itself, the pressure was on Taylor for World Cup qualifying. England where drawn in a group with the Netherlands, who four years ago had won Euro 88 and still where a international force. The group also had Norway, Poland (as per normal, it seemed England always got Poland), Turkey, and then there was tiny San Marino, being 10 at the time, I never knew that San Marino was a country. I just thought it was a grand prix some where in Italy. In that group and with the players England could call from, England should have qualified. But Taylor showed once and for all, he was out of his depth. Taylor couldn't and maybe wouldn't deal with players like Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley and Paul Gascoigne. Gazza missed Euro 92 due to injury and Taylor was never really keen on him. Whereas Bobby Robson and Gazza had a father/son relationship. Taylor was more stand offish with Gazza. Waddle and Beardsley were consigned to the internal wilderness despite being stars of Italia 90. Whilst this wasn't the first time an England manager froze out creative players, it showed a blatant lack of man management, players like Gasgoine, Beardsley and Waddle all provided a creative spark which England sorely lacked under Taylor. Another fault of Taylor's, was he constantly chopped and changed his team. No one was safe from Taylor's changes. During his time as England manager he used 59 player, it was constantly leveled at Taylor that he didn't know his strongest team and his chopping and changing often lead credence to that argument.
England started off with a draw against Norway but followed that up with victories against Turkey (twice) and San Marino. Then the next 3 games likely started England's failure to qualify for the World Cup. England played The Netherlands, and started well, John Barnes a man that played for Taylor in his Watford sides but seemingly could never replicate his club form for his country. scored from a free kick within the first 5 minutes of the game and then Platt added a second, England where flying. They could have effectively ended The Netherlands chance to go the USA if they kept the result going. Norway had already beaten The Dutch earlier in the qualification process. A loss to England would have surely knocked the Dutch out but England couldn't hold on. The match finished 2-2, a Dennis Bergkamp goal coupled to a Van Vossen penalty pulled the Dutch level. A trip to Poland followed, the hosts scored early as England struggled and struggled to score, until Ian Wright finally scored for England. Ian Wright could not help but score for Arsenal, but for England it was a different matter. But finally when his country needed him, he finally hit the back of the net. Two draws wasn't ideal especially as England had let the Netherlands get a point after having them two nil down but the Poland result was almost the norm under Taylor. Taylor yet again showed his unease with Gazza, at the 70th minute, Nigel Clough and Gazza where taken off for Paul Ince and Ian Wright.
After England's poor performance during qualifications for Euro 92 and the subsequent performance at Euro 92 itself, the pressure was on Taylor for World Cup qualifying. England where drawn in a group with the Netherlands, who four years ago had won Euro 88 and still where a international force. The group also had Norway, Poland (as per normal, it seemed England always got Poland), Turkey, and then there was tiny San Marino, being 10 at the time, I never knew that San Marino was a country. I just thought it was a grand prix some where in Italy. In that group and with the players England could call from, England should have qualified. But Taylor showed once and for all, he was out of his depth. Taylor couldn't and maybe wouldn't deal with players like Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley and Paul Gascoigne. Gazza missed Euro 92 due to injury and Taylor was never really keen on him. Whereas Bobby Robson and Gazza had a father/son relationship. Taylor was more stand offish with Gazza. Waddle and Beardsley were consigned to the internal wilderness despite being stars of Italia 90. Whilst this wasn't the first time an England manager froze out creative players, it showed a blatant lack of man management, players like Gasgoine, Beardsley and Waddle all provided a creative spark which England sorely lacked under Taylor. Another fault of Taylor's, was he constantly chopped and changed his team. No one was safe from Taylor's changes. During his time as England manager he used 59 player, it was constantly leveled at Taylor that he didn't know his strongest team and his chopping and changing often lead credence to that argument.
England started off with a draw against Norway but followed that up with victories against Turkey (twice) and San Marino. Then the next 3 games likely started England's failure to qualify for the World Cup. England played The Netherlands, and started well, John Barnes a man that played for Taylor in his Watford sides but seemingly could never replicate his club form for his country. scored from a free kick within the first 5 minutes of the game and then Platt added a second, England where flying. They could have effectively ended The Netherlands chance to go the USA if they kept the result going. Norway had already beaten The Dutch earlier in the qualification process. A loss to England would have surely knocked the Dutch out but England couldn't hold on. The match finished 2-2, a Dennis Bergkamp goal coupled to a Van Vossen penalty pulled the Dutch level. A trip to Poland followed, the hosts scored early as England struggled and struggled to score, until Ian Wright finally scored for England. Ian Wright could not help but score for Arsenal, but for England it was a different matter. But finally when his country needed him, he finally hit the back of the net. Two draws wasn't ideal especially as England had let the Netherlands get a point after having them two nil down but the Poland result was almost the norm under Taylor. Taylor yet again showed his unease with Gazza, at the 70th minute, Nigel Clough and Gazza where taken off for Paul Ince and Ian Wright.
Norway were the surprise of the group, England and the Netherlands had been expected to progress from there group, but Norway had other ideas. England and Norway had already played out a 1-1 draw at Wembley. Now in Oslo, (the Norwegian capital), England faced a home crowd expectant and a in-form team in the Norwegian's. In Oslo, England came out in a 3-5-2 formation, this was before the three at the back craze of the mid 90's had taken over. So English players were not used to playing such a different system. England looked shambolic at best. Chris Woods lined up in goal, the three centre backs were Tony Adams, Gary Pallister and Des Walker. Wing backs were Lee Dixon on the right and Lee Sharpe down the left. The midfield was David Platt alongside Carlton Palmer (a favorite of Taylor's) with Gazza supporting the forwards, who were Teddy Sheringham and Les Ferdinand. On paper its a decent team but on the pitch and in the heat of the moment. England were battered by Norway. Goals before half time and after half time left England with their first loss. It was about to get worse though.
The USA were hosting the World Cup in 1994, the barren footballing waste land that was the USA was about to experience what Football really was, without a helmet or shoulder pad insight. The USA hosted the USA cup in the summer 1993 as a warm up to the World Cup the following season. Four teams entered, The USA, Germany, Brazil and England. In the first game England lost to the USA, it wasn't the first time England had lost to the USA but it was no less embarrassing. Losing 2-0 effectively started the clock ticking on Taylor's reign as England manager. A tabloid published a headline reading, YANKS 2 PLANKS 0. A credible draw with Brazil (the eventual World Cup winners in 1994) and a narrow loss to Germany (freshly unified and heading to their first World Cup as a unified Germany) helped Taylor somewhat but as the 1993-94 season started England's World Cup hopes hung in the balance. The USA Cup was ultimately meaningless but Taylor's reputation and standing as England manager following the USA defeat never recovered.
In the first qualifier of the new season England beat Poland 3-0 at home but a crucial trip to Rotterdam awaited. The Netherlands needed to be beaten if England wanted to qualify, there was no way around it. A loss would be fatal for any hopes of going to the USA in 1994. The match was on ITV, I watched it on my little 1970's era black and white telly, I got the aerial in the right position, and the picture looked about as good as it could get for a black and white telly. I'm not sure if I was allowed to watch that game or if I just did, because it was England and it was football. The first half could be equated to a boxing match, England and the Netherlands both trading blows. After a period of defending, England fought back with some counter attacks of their own. But Frank Rijkaard scored just before half time but the linesman adjudged him offside. Replays proved otherwise, he was actually onside. For once England had found some luck. In the second half, David Platt raced through into the box, a struggling Ronald Koeman pulled him back in desperation. Koeman was the last man, Koeman should have been sent off for a professional foul. But amazingly the referee failed to produce the required red card for denying a clear and obvious goal scoring opportunity. England then had the free kick blocked by encroaching Dutch defenders. Moments later, the Dutch who had possibly the best free kick taker in the world in Ronald Koeman, scored themselves from a free kick. He shouldn't have been on the pitch but yet he had scored. The injustice of it was staggering, the next irony was his original attempt had been blocked by a perfectly good block but the referee ruled England had encroached. Moments later Paul Merson hit the post for England but then Bergkamp scored the goal that ended both England's World Cup hopes and Taylor's reign as England manager. In a documentary made about England's qualifying attempt, Taylor was shown stood on the sidelines saying "do I not like Orange." After that night in Rotterdam, I doubt he did.
At full time, tears started, I couldn't help it, overwhelmed by the injustice caused by such poor decisions by the referee. There would be no World Cup in the USA for England. I had enjoyed Italia 90 so much three years before, now we wouldn't have that chance next year. Dad came in rubbed my head, told me not to cry, it would be alright. My Dad's generation had seen England's finest hour in 1966 but then seen England fail to qualify for West Germany 74 and Argentina 78. The World Cup in Argentina 1978 was made all the worse as Scotland had qualified and talked about winning the World Cup. The mockery of Scotland even talking about winning a World Cup is ridiculous in itself. For the second time in my life after Leicester losing to Blackburn in the playoff final in 1992, football had hurt me. When people say it's just a game, its not, it's not more than that.
There was the matter of the away game in San Marino, England needed to win and win big. But this being Taylors England. England conceded a goal after less than 30 seconds. Stuart Pearce made a mistake and the ball hit the back of the net, words could have been said but I was 12 Mum and Dad wouldn't have liked that. England hit 7 goals back but there slim chance had gone to go to the world cup. The Netherlands did what they had to and that was that. The next day Graham Taylor offered his resignation to The FA and the FA accepted. The press coverage towards Taylor was at times harsh but England's performance under Taylor after a promising Italia 1990 was poor. His mishandling of flair players like Gascoigne, Beardsley and Waddle, his unsettled side, a love of Carlton Palmer and how England struggled against teams they should have beaten. The initial fears about Taylors lack of top flight playing career and lack of winning any silverware had proven founded. Bobby Robson, himself had played for England and as a manager had won cups, he won the FA cup with Ipswich and followed it up with a UEFA cup victory. His pedigree as a football man was better than Taylors. So England found themselves on the look out for a new coach a new man awaited the job but he wouldn't called England manager. He would be known as the England Head Coach.
Terry Venables: The Natural Coach
Terry Venables was natural coach at 24 he got his coaching badges. A product of Chelsea's youth system he had played for Chelsea, won the league cup in 1965 (beating Leicester City in the then two legged final). But Venables had clashed with Tommy Docherty, which led to a move to Spurs. Whilst at Spurs, Venables won the FA Cup. A spell at Queens Park Rangers saw his first coaching experience, Venables had gone down a division but had described his time at QPR as "transfer blessed with so much good fortune". In 1974 the final step of his playing career was Crystal Palace in the third division, where he was given a coaching position by Malcolm Alison after retiring half way through the season due to arthritis. His first management job was Crystal Palace, doing well on a tight budget he got Palace from the third division to the first division. He followed this up with a spell at QPR after a poor start to the 1980/81 season, he left QPR. In June 1984 Terry Venables became "El Tel". Barcelona in those days, weren't quite the power house they are now in European football. El Tel as he was termed by the English press employed a very English 4-4-2 which in turn won La Liga, the Spainish league cup and finished runners up in the European Cup. He also brought in Gary Lineker (who seems to grace most paragraphs in this blog) and Mark Hughes. In November 1987 following his September 1987 firing by Barcelona, he returned to England to manage Tottenham Hotspur. At Spurs Venables brought Gary Lineker back to England from Barcelona and also brought in Paul Gascoigne in from Newcastle. Gascoigne was the best player of his generation and Venables got the best out of him. In 1991 Spurs defeated the double chasing Arsenal with a Gascoigne free kick and a Lineker strike in the first Wembley FA Cup semi final. Spurs went on to play Nottingham Forest in the final, the game went to extra time and Des Walker scored Spurs winner, an own goal. In June 1991 Alan Sugar took Spurs over, Venables himself tried to buy Spurs but Sugar appointed him chief executive. A prickly relationship with Sugar and a bitter legal battle led to Venables departing Spurs in June 1993.
The English FA needed a new coach and appointed Jimmy Armfield to find a new manager, Armfield (himself a former England international) recommended that the English FA hire Venables to be the new England manager after Taylors resignation. Venables had been considered in 1990 but Venables is a little dodgy, his business dealings didn't suit the FA. But in 1993 after Taylors lack of pedigree was a major concern, Venables had no issues in that respect. As a player he had won 2 england caps, was in contention for 1966 squad. Had played 1st division football and had as a player won the FA and League Cup. As a manager though his record was stellar in comparison to Taylors, FA cup winners, FA cup runners up (with a second division QPR), a La Liga title, the Spanish League Cup and finally the European Cup runners up. Venables, despite being a bit tricky could manage football teams and be successful with teams. England hosted Euro 96, after Heysel in 1985 and the European ban this was England's chance to show the world that we could and host a stellar tournament. More importantly the fan trouble that caused England's suspension from European competitions wouldn't be a issue. England didn't need to qualify as hosts so England decided to arrange friendlies. While the rest of Europe was trying to get one of the available 15 places. Venables was experimenting and building a core of team. It was at times frustrating. Venables didn't play to Alan Shearers strengths causing Shearer to go on a goalless streak. Shearer was the best striker of his generation but he needed wingers feeding him the ball, he also worked with a partner, in the christmas tree formation that Venables wanted to play it left Shearer alone and the style of service didn't suit him either. Les Ferdinand then asked questions when in a game which he filled in for the absent Shearer, he scored and he looked dangerous. Did Venables go with his best players or players that suited his system, the friendlies helped answer this question.
As Euro 96 started, England played Switzerland, Shearer finally broke his goal drought, England took an early lead and then Pearce was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box. It was a harsh penalty and the Swiss converted the ensuing penalty. The enthusiasm left the stadium and the game finished 1-1. Of course my dad being my dad, we couldn't watch the whole game we had to get the bus home from his godmothers. We got home to watch the last 10 minutes by which time the match was just being played as a draw, the momentum had been lost completely. In the second group game England faced Scotland, I hate Scotland, for the simple fact they hate us and every time we are in the World Cup or European Championships and they aren't, they have to be petty, some Scotts brought Croatia shirts during the World Cup in Russia, seemingly showing there jealousy or stupidity. I should add where as England may have lost in the quarter finals many times at the World Cup or Euros, Scotland have never even sniffed the quarters. Time after time they have gone into final games of group stages needing a result and not getting it. The pictures of distraught Scot's as they realize there not very good fills me with pleasure. But those views haven't happened in 20 years as they haven't qualified for anything since France 1998.
This was the game England's European championships came alive. A scoreless first half was broken in the 53rd minute, Gary Neville sent over a beautiful ball and Alan Shearer did what every great striker does, put his head on. Our living room erupted, bouncing up and down, England were leading. Then Tony Adams committed a foul in the box bringing Ian Dury down, the referee pointed and up stepped another former Leicester player, Gary McAllister. As he began his run up the ball moved slightly, he struck the ball down the centre of the goal and David Seaman (the english goalkeeper) saved the ball with his elbow. Adams was elated, England was elated but the best was yet to come. A long ball was pumped forward, Gascoigne (who was playing in Scotland at the time) looped the ball over Colin Hendry with his left foot, he watched it float in the air and with beautiful striker scored England's second. England erupted, the country bounced, Scotland probably didn't but Gazza's celebration was a direct reaction to the press's coverage of a pre tournament trip to Hong Kong. English people and English football players like a drink, well after a night out in Hong Kong, pictures emerged of a shirtless Gazza, a drunk Steve McManaman and Teddy Sheringham hammered, obviously having a good time. The press being the press were disgusted, because no journalist has ever got drunk before. Stories of the dentist chair emerged, basically a bottle of your favorite tipple would be poured down your throat. As the ball nestled in the scottish net, Gazza ran to the by line pointed at a water bottle and the england players knew what to do. As Gazza lay on the floor, the england players squirted water down his open mouth. The press always picked on Gazza so this was a direct response to that. Wembley celebrated and at 90 minutes England found themselves top of the group.
The third and final group game was against the Netherlands, for the third tournament in a row, England faced the Dutch. The dutch with their total football, there silky skills and the fact that Rotterdam game was still fresh in my mind at least. On paper it definitely looked like a tough match but in one of the best performances EVER by an England team, England won 4-1. England the often criticized footballing nation, the nation that can't play football, played football that would make even the Dutch jealous. Two goals from Alan Shearer and two from his strike partner Teddy Sheringham saw an outrageous display of football from England. The team fed off Shearer, Teddy Sheringham playing just off of Shearer, two wingers in McManaman and Anderton. Then with Gazza at incorrigible best, England had a flow. Defensively England were good too, Inter Milan's Paul Ince sat in front of Gareth Southgate and Tony Adams. Who formed a good partnership despite Southgate being relatively new at both international level and playing centre back. Stuart Pearce, who probably wasn't Venables first choice at left back (an injury to Graeme Le Saux saw him miss the tournament) but was as proud as any man to wear a England shirt. Then at right back you had young Gary Neville, the first of the famed class of 92 to become a regular for England. Gary Neville earned over 80 caps for England, essentially being the default choice in the 2 shirts for 10 years. Behind them stood David Seaman, Arsenals fine goalkeeper, he had dislodged Chris Woods in Taylors reign, fought off competition from Tim Flowers and was now undisputedly England's number 1. All the friendly games seemed to paid off, after missing USA 94, the team felt like Italia 90 again things could happen with the right breaks. More importantly the country had a positive vibe, it was the summer of 1996, Oasis were the best band in the world, Tony Blair and new Labour were telling us be proud of being British. Damon Hill was leading the F1 championship and the English football team was doing well at Euro 1996.
Then came the quarter finals, you know bravery comes in many forms, after you've failed at something it's often not easy to face the failure and have another go. Stuart Pearce though did and did it in exceptional style. The quarter final became a dire game between England and Spain, in all honesty Spain where the better team and they had a goal disallowed for offside. But after replay the goal was shown to be not offside. The game went to penalties, England had hung on, maybe clung on to a nil nil, Italia 90 still was on a lot people's minds, how could it not be but on that pitch. It must have weighed heavily on Pearce, his miss and Waddles miss had ended England's hopes of revenge against Argentina. Pearce though didn't shy away, he loved his country, he wore that shirt with a pride that is inspirational. He put the ball down and when he struck the ball, he struck it with a venom that wasn't going to be stopped. As the ball hit the net, Pearce turned to crowd and screamed, tears flowed, pride oozed from him and every english was proud of him. England won the shootout and advanced to the semi finals, awaiting them was Germany.
In 1966 England played West Germany at Wembley in the World Cup final. That day the West Germans wore white and England wore red. Red is the proper colour for England to wear. We should only wear white shirts and blue shorts at home and in the case of a clash, England should wear Red shirts and white shorts nothing else is acceptable. Umbro though had other ideas, Umbro had gone on a grey kit binge, giving Manchester United one, which they famously changed at half time during a 3-1 loss to Southampton and they extended their grey kit binge to England. It wasn't a bad kit, we've had a lot worse but England should only play in white or red shirts. For the semi finals, the Germans wore white and England wore grey, it still annoys me. England started well Shearer headed a corner in but then John Motson yelled Kuntz! He wasn't mad, but Stefan Kuntz (who I'd honestly thought was crap) had equalized for the Germans. After 90 minutes, neither team could find another goal so we went to extra time, in extra time England tried all they could but to no avail. One cross sticks in my mind, if only Gazza had been 2 inches taller. We would have been through to the final. Extra time finished and penalties again would determine the finalists. Both sides scored their first 4 penalties, it came down to Gareth Southgate. Southgate had been a star for England, his partnership with Adams had grown, his passing from the back was unusual for a English centre half but despite being a centre half. He stepped up to take a penalty, the balls of the man was immense, the penalty was not so much. The German goalkeeper saved a tame penalty, Wembley gasped. Moller stepped up for the Germans and cooly converted his penalty, his celebration was one that can only be described as a total and utter shithouse. Shocked and stunned, as I sat on the couch watching the coverage Des Lynam on the BBC team did his usual smooth talk but inside I was hurting. As the programme ended, the BBC showed a musical montage of English disappointment with the Cast song "Walk Away" playing in the background (it was Venables last game). I burst into tears, cried really pain, football was causing me pain again and my Mum's reaction? "Joseph, it's just a game, grow up". No Mum it isn't a game, it's more than that. Pride for my country and disappointment for my country just flowed through me. Why was it so hard to be a England football fan? The FA decided that they wouldn't renew Venables contract, the lack of competitive games had somehow formed the FA's opinion of if Venables should get a new contract. In all honesty he should have. But the FA in May 1996 appointed Glenn Hoddle, Venables was done and I for one was sad about that single fact. Something about Glenn Hoddle never quite fit for me.
The English FA needed a new coach and appointed Jimmy Armfield to find a new manager, Armfield (himself a former England international) recommended that the English FA hire Venables to be the new England manager after Taylors resignation. Venables had been considered in 1990 but Venables is a little dodgy, his business dealings didn't suit the FA. But in 1993 after Taylors lack of pedigree was a major concern, Venables had no issues in that respect. As a player he had won 2 england caps, was in contention for 1966 squad. Had played 1st division football and had as a player won the FA and League Cup. As a manager though his record was stellar in comparison to Taylors, FA cup winners, FA cup runners up (with a second division QPR), a La Liga title, the Spanish League Cup and finally the European Cup runners up. Venables, despite being a bit tricky could manage football teams and be successful with teams. England hosted Euro 96, after Heysel in 1985 and the European ban this was England's chance to show the world that we could and host a stellar tournament. More importantly the fan trouble that caused England's suspension from European competitions wouldn't be a issue. England didn't need to qualify as hosts so England decided to arrange friendlies. While the rest of Europe was trying to get one of the available 15 places. Venables was experimenting and building a core of team. It was at times frustrating. Venables didn't play to Alan Shearers strengths causing Shearer to go on a goalless streak. Shearer was the best striker of his generation but he needed wingers feeding him the ball, he also worked with a partner, in the christmas tree formation that Venables wanted to play it left Shearer alone and the style of service didn't suit him either. Les Ferdinand then asked questions when in a game which he filled in for the absent Shearer, he scored and he looked dangerous. Did Venables go with his best players or players that suited his system, the friendlies helped answer this question.
As Euro 96 started, England played Switzerland, Shearer finally broke his goal drought, England took an early lead and then Pearce was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box. It was a harsh penalty and the Swiss converted the ensuing penalty. The enthusiasm left the stadium and the game finished 1-1. Of course my dad being my dad, we couldn't watch the whole game we had to get the bus home from his godmothers. We got home to watch the last 10 minutes by which time the match was just being played as a draw, the momentum had been lost completely. In the second group game England faced Scotland, I hate Scotland, for the simple fact they hate us and every time we are in the World Cup or European Championships and they aren't, they have to be petty, some Scotts brought Croatia shirts during the World Cup in Russia, seemingly showing there jealousy or stupidity. I should add where as England may have lost in the quarter finals many times at the World Cup or Euros, Scotland have never even sniffed the quarters. Time after time they have gone into final games of group stages needing a result and not getting it. The pictures of distraught Scot's as they realize there not very good fills me with pleasure. But those views haven't happened in 20 years as they haven't qualified for anything since France 1998.
This was the game England's European championships came alive. A scoreless first half was broken in the 53rd minute, Gary Neville sent over a beautiful ball and Alan Shearer did what every great striker does, put his head on. Our living room erupted, bouncing up and down, England were leading. Then Tony Adams committed a foul in the box bringing Ian Dury down, the referee pointed and up stepped another former Leicester player, Gary McAllister. As he began his run up the ball moved slightly, he struck the ball down the centre of the goal and David Seaman (the english goalkeeper) saved the ball with his elbow. Adams was elated, England was elated but the best was yet to come. A long ball was pumped forward, Gascoigne (who was playing in Scotland at the time) looped the ball over Colin Hendry with his left foot, he watched it float in the air and with beautiful striker scored England's second. England erupted, the country bounced, Scotland probably didn't but Gazza's celebration was a direct reaction to the press's coverage of a pre tournament trip to Hong Kong. English people and English football players like a drink, well after a night out in Hong Kong, pictures emerged of a shirtless Gazza, a drunk Steve McManaman and Teddy Sheringham hammered, obviously having a good time. The press being the press were disgusted, because no journalist has ever got drunk before. Stories of the dentist chair emerged, basically a bottle of your favorite tipple would be poured down your throat. As the ball nestled in the scottish net, Gazza ran to the by line pointed at a water bottle and the england players knew what to do. As Gazza lay on the floor, the england players squirted water down his open mouth. The press always picked on Gazza so this was a direct response to that. Wembley celebrated and at 90 minutes England found themselves top of the group.
The third and final group game was against the Netherlands, for the third tournament in a row, England faced the Dutch. The dutch with their total football, there silky skills and the fact that Rotterdam game was still fresh in my mind at least. On paper it definitely looked like a tough match but in one of the best performances EVER by an England team, England won 4-1. England the often criticized footballing nation, the nation that can't play football, played football that would make even the Dutch jealous. Two goals from Alan Shearer and two from his strike partner Teddy Sheringham saw an outrageous display of football from England. The team fed off Shearer, Teddy Sheringham playing just off of Shearer, two wingers in McManaman and Anderton. Then with Gazza at incorrigible best, England had a flow. Defensively England were good too, Inter Milan's Paul Ince sat in front of Gareth Southgate and Tony Adams. Who formed a good partnership despite Southgate being relatively new at both international level and playing centre back. Stuart Pearce, who probably wasn't Venables first choice at left back (an injury to Graeme Le Saux saw him miss the tournament) but was as proud as any man to wear a England shirt. Then at right back you had young Gary Neville, the first of the famed class of 92 to become a regular for England. Gary Neville earned over 80 caps for England, essentially being the default choice in the 2 shirts for 10 years. Behind them stood David Seaman, Arsenals fine goalkeeper, he had dislodged Chris Woods in Taylors reign, fought off competition from Tim Flowers and was now undisputedly England's number 1. All the friendly games seemed to paid off, after missing USA 94, the team felt like Italia 90 again things could happen with the right breaks. More importantly the country had a positive vibe, it was the summer of 1996, Oasis were the best band in the world, Tony Blair and new Labour were telling us be proud of being British. Damon Hill was leading the F1 championship and the English football team was doing well at Euro 1996.
Then came the quarter finals, you know bravery comes in many forms, after you've failed at something it's often not easy to face the failure and have another go. Stuart Pearce though did and did it in exceptional style. The quarter final became a dire game between England and Spain, in all honesty Spain where the better team and they had a goal disallowed for offside. But after replay the goal was shown to be not offside. The game went to penalties, England had hung on, maybe clung on to a nil nil, Italia 90 still was on a lot people's minds, how could it not be but on that pitch. It must have weighed heavily on Pearce, his miss and Waddles miss had ended England's hopes of revenge against Argentina. Pearce though didn't shy away, he loved his country, he wore that shirt with a pride that is inspirational. He put the ball down and when he struck the ball, he struck it with a venom that wasn't going to be stopped. As the ball hit the net, Pearce turned to crowd and screamed, tears flowed, pride oozed from him and every english was proud of him. England won the shootout and advanced to the semi finals, awaiting them was Germany.
In 1966 England played West Germany at Wembley in the World Cup final. That day the West Germans wore white and England wore red. Red is the proper colour for England to wear. We should only wear white shirts and blue shorts at home and in the case of a clash, England should wear Red shirts and white shorts nothing else is acceptable. Umbro though had other ideas, Umbro had gone on a grey kit binge, giving Manchester United one, which they famously changed at half time during a 3-1 loss to Southampton and they extended their grey kit binge to England. It wasn't a bad kit, we've had a lot worse but England should only play in white or red shirts. For the semi finals, the Germans wore white and England wore grey, it still annoys me. England started well Shearer headed a corner in but then John Motson yelled Kuntz! He wasn't mad, but Stefan Kuntz (who I'd honestly thought was crap) had equalized for the Germans. After 90 minutes, neither team could find another goal so we went to extra time, in extra time England tried all they could but to no avail. One cross sticks in my mind, if only Gazza had been 2 inches taller. We would have been through to the final. Extra time finished and penalties again would determine the finalists. Both sides scored their first 4 penalties, it came down to Gareth Southgate. Southgate had been a star for England, his partnership with Adams had grown, his passing from the back was unusual for a English centre half but despite being a centre half. He stepped up to take a penalty, the balls of the man was immense, the penalty was not so much. The German goalkeeper saved a tame penalty, Wembley gasped. Moller stepped up for the Germans and cooly converted his penalty, his celebration was one that can only be described as a total and utter shithouse. Shocked and stunned, as I sat on the couch watching the coverage Des Lynam on the BBC team did his usual smooth talk but inside I was hurting. As the programme ended, the BBC showed a musical montage of English disappointment with the Cast song "Walk Away" playing in the background (it was Venables last game). I burst into tears, cried really pain, football was causing me pain again and my Mum's reaction? "Joseph, it's just a game, grow up". No Mum it isn't a game, it's more than that. Pride for my country and disappointment for my country just flowed through me. Why was it so hard to be a England football fan? The FA decided that they wouldn't renew Venables contract, the lack of competitive games had somehow formed the FA's opinion of if Venables should get a new contract. In all honesty he should have. But the FA in May 1996 appointed Glenn Hoddle, Venables was done and I for one was sad about that single fact. Something about Glenn Hoddle never quite fit for me.
Glenn Hoddle: For The Love of Three
Glenn Hoddle was a rare english player, gifted and talented on the ball, its likely if he'd been French, Spanish or Italian he would have broken the 100 cap mark for those countries but being English he wasn't quite so lucky. He could do everything with a ball that you would love, his passing was sublime and his shooting was second to none. But this was the age of the long ball, the midfield's of most English teams had to run between the two 18 yard boxes and help the centre halfs or centre forward depending on which way the ball was flying. Creative midfielders weren't frowned upon more they were just a confusing luxury to most English managers at the time. Hoddle left Spurs in 1987 to play in France for Monaco, unlike today, English players did leave our shores (though that trend among younger players is returning). Whilst in France, he was won the French League and was voted the best foreign player, for an English man and all the conentations that involves that was a great honour. Hoddle though suffered a serious knee injury and returned to England in 1991. Signing a contract for Chelsea though he never actually made an appearance for Chelsea. In April 1991 he took the role of player manager at Swindon Town. Swindon are a small club who had to sell a lot of their assets after being denied promotion to Division One in 1989-90. Swindon's owners had been found guilty of 36 breaches of FA regulations, 35 of which were related to illegal payments. Ten days after beating Sunderland in the 1990 Division Two play off final, Swindon were relegated two divisions (although the FA later rescinded this to not being promoted to Division One). Hoddles first task was to keep them in the division which he did. During 1991-1992 Swindon made noticeable progression, Hoddle switching the formation to a 5-3-2 with himself playing as a sweeper. They missed the chance of promotion to the new Premier League despite leading the table in October 1991. In 1992/93 Hoddle got Swindon into the play off's, despite being the underdogs to Leicester City in the playoff final, Swindon took a 3-0 lead, and then despite Leicester City's fight back, Swindon won an disputed penalty to win the game 4-3. Shortly after getting Swindon promoted, Hoddle left for Chelsea.
Chelsea were the London side that should be but never quite were. Arsenal and Spurs had often out shone Chelsea, but Chelsea were ambitious. Ken Bates hired Hoddle and in 1993 results started to trickle in, Chelsea found themselves bottom of the league at one point but progress was made and Chelsea beat the double winning Manchester United home and away. During the 1993/94 season that was an achievement as Manchester United were playing some brilliant football at the time. They then faced them in the Cup final. That result was a little different as United thumped Chelsea 4-0. Chelsea's revolution had started and Hoddle laid the groundwork of what was to come later on despite not winning anything and finishing 11th in all of his three seasons as Chelsea manager. His final season saw the Ruud Gullit and Mark Hughes brought in, when Hoddle left for England, Gullit was himself appointed Chelsea player-manager.
In 1996 England came calling, despite Terry Venables doing nothing wrong as England head coach, issues with Venables probity was again being questioned and his initial two year contract wasn't renewed because of a lack of competitive games. Which is ridiculous because before Euro 96, Veneables had only played competitive games in the Umbro Cup of 1995. Which was hardly a good judge of anyone. Hoddle was appointed England head coach, again England lacked an outstanding candidate, but with Hoddle's experience abroad it was likely considered advantageous for advancing the English football team. Hoddle made Alan Shearer his captain removing Tony Adams from the role, something I immediately disliked, despite Shearer being an outstanding player, I never once considered him a leader and a captain of a football team. The mid 1990's had seen a fascination in England to play 3 at the back and many clubs adopted the formation. All except Manchester United, who kept playing 4 at the back and kept winning. Hoddle was one of the earliest managers to adopt the 3-5-2 formation in England, playing it at Swindon Town in the old Division Two in the early 1990's. England's first game under Hoddle saw England line up in Hoddle's prefered 3-5-2 formation. Goals from Nick Barmby, Gazza and Shearer saw England beat Moldova easily. Notably that day a young David Beckham started his first game for England. Victories against Poland and Georgia followed but then England played Italy at home. Ian Walker was in goal when Gianfranco Zola beat him on his near post. A goalkeeper should never be beaten at his near post, and in International football it's a near hangable offence. England ended up losing the game, memories of the ill fated USA 94 qualification attempt came back, would we fail again? During the 1994 World Cup qualification we had the Dutch but the Norwegians played so well that we had to win and we failed. But Hoddle got England to rally and despite playing the unpopular 3-5-2. England went to Italy needing only a draw to win the group. Despite Italy being unbeaten draws against Poland Georgia had put Italy's lead in Group 2 in jeopardy. Other than England's loss to Italy they didn't drop another point until the game in Italy. England played a great game, grit and determination dominated the game, and England played a nil nil draw which saw them automatically qualify for France 98, the perils of the playoffs had been avoided. Captain Paul Ince recreated Terry Butcher's famous bloody headband look. England were magnificent, Hoddle had got England to the world cup, the fears of non qualification had gone despite Hoddle not exactly being popular with fans.
For the World Cup in France, Hoddle made a bold squad selection, eight years earlier Paul Gascoigne had singled himself to be a star. But in France, Hoddle decided against Gazza, instead he would rely on the attacking skills of Paul Scholes. In all fairness the swap of Scholes for Gazza wasn't like swapping Racid Ghezzal for George Best. But Gazza was in many ways being treated like Hoddle had been during his time as a England manager. Gazza was 31 and wasn't known for keeping a diet of professional athlete.
In the first game of France 1998 England best Tunisia 2-0, with goals from Shearer and a wonderful curling effort from Scholes. Romania awaited in the next game and England lost 2-1, I have vague memories of that game, mainly just of disappointment after Romania had scored in the 90th minute. Colombia awaited in the last game of the group, finally Hoddle gave David Beckham and Michael Owen their first starts at the world cup. Beckhams problem was, he played wide in a 4-4-2 for Manchester United and despite wanting to be a central midfielder no manager trusted him there. But his effort was second to none, so he often played out wide. In the days of wingers banging crosses in for a forward like Shearer, it was almost impossible to not play Beckham out wide. His crossing was a thing of beauty and his passing was Hoddle like. Against the Colombians, Darren Anderton, the often injured Spurs winger (and star of Euro 96) scored with a thumper, and then Beckham scored with his first goal for England with a trademark free kick.
The first game of the knockout round saw England face Argentina in the knockout round, to summarize it as a 2-2 draw and England lost on penalties would be a long way from what entirely happened. By the 16th minute of the match England were already winning 2-1, Argentina scored first with a Batistuta penalty before Shearer leveled it up with his own penalty for England. Then Michael Owen, England newest wonder boy scored a brilliant solo effort. Using his natural pace he escaped the Argentine defenders before finding the top left corner. But just before half time, Javier Zanetti equalized for Argentina, as the game entered the second half it was on a knife edge. The second half saw David Beckham start his fall before his climb to super stardom, before the match David Beckham had been one of Manchester United's class of 92 in the World Cup squad. Good looking, dating a member of the Spice Girls (albeit the one that couldn't sing), Beckham had proved himself as top talent for Manchester United and now was proving himself as a International class player. Was he at any stage world class? No but he was very good.
Beckham had been fouled by Diego Simone, indeed in the grand scheme of things very few people that have stepped on to a football pitch paying against Simone haven't got fouled. He was the kind of player that gets booked in training. But after being knocked over Beckham raised his foot and with the gentlest of touches brushed against Simone's calf with his studs. Simone hit the ground hard, the Danish referee pulled the red card out and despite the shock of the nation, England were down to ten men. Beckham was going to hit rock bottom at this point but it wouldn't be for long for him at least. England battled and every man on that pitch was a hero, England even had a goal from Sol Campbell ruled out for breathing to heavily on the Argentine goalkeeper. At the end of 120 minutes penalties awaited, Argentina scored, Shearer matched, Seaman saved from Crespo (David Seaman did save a few penalties in his time), but Ince who had shied away in Euro 96 stepped up to take a penalty and missed. The optimism of David Seamans saved had been eroded. Argentina scored to take the lead, Merson stepped up and just made it. Argentina scored again, Michael Owen leveled it for England. At just 18 years of age, Owen showed tremendous poise in converting his penalty. Ayala stepped up for Argentina and scored, England had to score to stay alive in the shootout and tournament. Up stepped David Batty, a holding midfielder who didn't score much if ever, I don't even remember him taking a shot never mind a penalty. In all fairness him passing forward was a novelty itself, it didn't feel right, but to his credit, David Batty when his country needed, he obliged. His penalty though wasn't good and Carlos Roa saved it, just like Italia 90, England were out on penalties. Football is a big game of ifs and buts. Had Beckham not been sent off would the result of been different? This wasn't a classic Argentina side, this was a England side full of experience and potential. The Class of 92 (Manchester United's Beckham, Scholes and Neville) all started that night, Owen was at his fastest (years of hamstring issues slowed Owen down in later years), experience filled the rest of the side, David Seaman, Tony Adams (the man that should have been England captain) and Darren Anderton. That England side to me from 98 is the great what if. Hoddle wasn't the greatest coach but he did have England playing solid football. Just a moment of madness from Beckham meant we never got to see that teams full potential.
Chelsea were the London side that should be but never quite were. Arsenal and Spurs had often out shone Chelsea, but Chelsea were ambitious. Ken Bates hired Hoddle and in 1993 results started to trickle in, Chelsea found themselves bottom of the league at one point but progress was made and Chelsea beat the double winning Manchester United home and away. During the 1993/94 season that was an achievement as Manchester United were playing some brilliant football at the time. They then faced them in the Cup final. That result was a little different as United thumped Chelsea 4-0. Chelsea's revolution had started and Hoddle laid the groundwork of what was to come later on despite not winning anything and finishing 11th in all of his three seasons as Chelsea manager. His final season saw the Ruud Gullit and Mark Hughes brought in, when Hoddle left for England, Gullit was himself appointed Chelsea player-manager.
In 1996 England came calling, despite Terry Venables doing nothing wrong as England head coach, issues with Venables probity was again being questioned and his initial two year contract wasn't renewed because of a lack of competitive games. Which is ridiculous because before Euro 96, Veneables had only played competitive games in the Umbro Cup of 1995. Which was hardly a good judge of anyone. Hoddle was appointed England head coach, again England lacked an outstanding candidate, but with Hoddle's experience abroad it was likely considered advantageous for advancing the English football team. Hoddle made Alan Shearer his captain removing Tony Adams from the role, something I immediately disliked, despite Shearer being an outstanding player, I never once considered him a leader and a captain of a football team. The mid 1990's had seen a fascination in England to play 3 at the back and many clubs adopted the formation. All except Manchester United, who kept playing 4 at the back and kept winning. Hoddle was one of the earliest managers to adopt the 3-5-2 formation in England, playing it at Swindon Town in the old Division Two in the early 1990's. England's first game under Hoddle saw England line up in Hoddle's prefered 3-5-2 formation. Goals from Nick Barmby, Gazza and Shearer saw England beat Moldova easily. Notably that day a young David Beckham started his first game for England. Victories against Poland and Georgia followed but then England played Italy at home. Ian Walker was in goal when Gianfranco Zola beat him on his near post. A goalkeeper should never be beaten at his near post, and in International football it's a near hangable offence. England ended up losing the game, memories of the ill fated USA 94 qualification attempt came back, would we fail again? During the 1994 World Cup qualification we had the Dutch but the Norwegians played so well that we had to win and we failed. But Hoddle got England to rally and despite playing the unpopular 3-5-2. England went to Italy needing only a draw to win the group. Despite Italy being unbeaten draws against Poland Georgia had put Italy's lead in Group 2 in jeopardy. Other than England's loss to Italy they didn't drop another point until the game in Italy. England played a great game, grit and determination dominated the game, and England played a nil nil draw which saw them automatically qualify for France 98, the perils of the playoffs had been avoided. Captain Paul Ince recreated Terry Butcher's famous bloody headband look. England were magnificent, Hoddle had got England to the world cup, the fears of non qualification had gone despite Hoddle not exactly being popular with fans.
For the World Cup in France, Hoddle made a bold squad selection, eight years earlier Paul Gascoigne had singled himself to be a star. But in France, Hoddle decided against Gazza, instead he would rely on the attacking skills of Paul Scholes. In all fairness the swap of Scholes for Gazza wasn't like swapping Racid Ghezzal for George Best. But Gazza was in many ways being treated like Hoddle had been during his time as a England manager. Gazza was 31 and wasn't known for keeping a diet of professional athlete.
In the first game of France 1998 England best Tunisia 2-0, with goals from Shearer and a wonderful curling effort from Scholes. Romania awaited in the next game and England lost 2-1, I have vague memories of that game, mainly just of disappointment after Romania had scored in the 90th minute. Colombia awaited in the last game of the group, finally Hoddle gave David Beckham and Michael Owen their first starts at the world cup. Beckhams problem was, he played wide in a 4-4-2 for Manchester United and despite wanting to be a central midfielder no manager trusted him there. But his effort was second to none, so he often played out wide. In the days of wingers banging crosses in for a forward like Shearer, it was almost impossible to not play Beckham out wide. His crossing was a thing of beauty and his passing was Hoddle like. Against the Colombians, Darren Anderton, the often injured Spurs winger (and star of Euro 96) scored with a thumper, and then Beckham scored with his first goal for England with a trademark free kick.
The first game of the knockout round saw England face Argentina in the knockout round, to summarize it as a 2-2 draw and England lost on penalties would be a long way from what entirely happened. By the 16th minute of the match England were already winning 2-1, Argentina scored first with a Batistuta penalty before Shearer leveled it up with his own penalty for England. Then Michael Owen, England newest wonder boy scored a brilliant solo effort. Using his natural pace he escaped the Argentine defenders before finding the top left corner. But just before half time, Javier Zanetti equalized for Argentina, as the game entered the second half it was on a knife edge. The second half saw David Beckham start his fall before his climb to super stardom, before the match David Beckham had been one of Manchester United's class of 92 in the World Cup squad. Good looking, dating a member of the Spice Girls (albeit the one that couldn't sing), Beckham had proved himself as top talent for Manchester United and now was proving himself as a International class player. Was he at any stage world class? No but he was very good.
Beckham had been fouled by Diego Simone, indeed in the grand scheme of things very few people that have stepped on to a football pitch paying against Simone haven't got fouled. He was the kind of player that gets booked in training. But after being knocked over Beckham raised his foot and with the gentlest of touches brushed against Simone's calf with his studs. Simone hit the ground hard, the Danish referee pulled the red card out and despite the shock of the nation, England were down to ten men. Beckham was going to hit rock bottom at this point but it wouldn't be for long for him at least. England battled and every man on that pitch was a hero, England even had a goal from Sol Campbell ruled out for breathing to heavily on the Argentine goalkeeper. At the end of 120 minutes penalties awaited, Argentina scored, Shearer matched, Seaman saved from Crespo (David Seaman did save a few penalties in his time), but Ince who had shied away in Euro 96 stepped up to take a penalty and missed. The optimism of David Seamans saved had been eroded. Argentina scored to take the lead, Merson stepped up and just made it. Argentina scored again, Michael Owen leveled it for England. At just 18 years of age, Owen showed tremendous poise in converting his penalty. Ayala stepped up for Argentina and scored, England had to score to stay alive in the shootout and tournament. Up stepped David Batty, a holding midfielder who didn't score much if ever, I don't even remember him taking a shot never mind a penalty. In all fairness him passing forward was a novelty itself, it didn't feel right, but to his credit, David Batty when his country needed, he obliged. His penalty though wasn't good and Carlos Roa saved it, just like Italia 90, England were out on penalties. Football is a big game of ifs and buts. Had Beckham not been sent off would the result of been different? This wasn't a classic Argentina side, this was a England side full of experience and potential. The Class of 92 (Manchester United's Beckham, Scholes and Neville) all started that night, Owen was at his fastest (years of hamstring issues slowed Owen down in later years), experience filled the rest of the side, David Seaman, Tony Adams (the man that should have been England captain) and Darren Anderton. That England side to me from 98 is the great what if. Hoddle wasn't the greatest coach but he did have England playing solid football. Just a moment of madness from Beckham meant we never got to see that teams full potential.
Euro 2000 was to be held in Belgium and The Netherlands, England went into a group with Sweden, Poland, Bulgaria and Luxembourg. England started with a loss 2-1 to Sweden, a 0-0 home draw with Bulgaria hardly helped matters, but results weren't Hoddles concern at this point. In January 1999, Hoddle had given gave an interview. Hoddle had long been criticized for his love of the 3-5-2 formation, Eileen Drewery (a faith healer) and questions about his religious views. Hoddle had sort the interview to defend himself and hopefully re-establish his standing with England fans. But Hoddle expressed an opinion that disabled people were being punished by god due to things they did wrong in a previous life. The public uproar was understandable, Hoddle was a born again Christian, but this couldn't protect him from the backlash due to his questionable views. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Sports Minister Tony Banks criticized him for expressing the view. Hoddle said he wouldn't resign but on the 2nd February 1999, the FA cancelled Hoddles contract. Lord Ashley, himself a disabled rights advocate spoke up for Hoddle. Fearing any dismal would be a sad day for free speech in the UK, some questioned whether Hoddles religious liberties were being impeded but the FA didn't care. It didn't need the negative news, in the last 20 years, the English FA had dealt with enough negative news. An England head coach expressing these views, which would be offensive to disabled fans was something they wouldn't tolerate. Hoddle found work in football again, with roles at Southampton, Spurs and Wolves but was always tainted by the way his tenure as England coach had ended. I would have sacked Hoddle for allowing the bloody band into the England games but that's just me. Do we really need that?
Kevin Keegan: Scraping The Bottom
Joseph Kevin Keegan was born on the 14th February 1951, he was a man that loved football, he would have loved to have beaten Alex Ferguson in 1996 as he famously stated in that long replayed interview. As a player, Kevin Keegan was a striker that had made his name with Liverpool, winning almost everything you could in his time with Liverpool, the only cups he didn't win with Liverpool was the Cup Winners Cup and the League Cup. In 1977 Keegan moved to Germany with Hamburg for a successful period winning the Bundesliga in 1978-79. As an individual he also garnered significant accolades, he won Football Writers Association player of the year award in 1975-76, the Ballon d'Or twice (in 1978 and 1979) and on upon his return to England in 1980 won the Professional Football Association player of the year in 1981-82. Keegan also represented his country 63 times scoring 21 goals, he also captained England 31 times, but only played in 23 minutes for England at World Cup in Spain 82. He retired from international football in 1983 when new England manager Bobby Robson didn't select him for the squad and Robson failed to call him. With Keegan playing in the Second Division at the time it wasn't likely that Robson would have called him up, although later on he did call Steve Bull into the England squad. Keegan's playing career finished at Newcastle in 1984, in his final match which was a friendly against Liverpool, he got in a helicopter still fully dressed in his kit on the pitch, stated he would never be a manager and moved his family to Spain to enjoy the sun.
For eight years Keegan enjoyed the Spanish sun, but Newcastle found themselves in a spot of trouble, relegation to the 3rd division loomed large over Newcastle in 1991/1992. Keegan had been hugely popular in Newcastle despite only playing two seasons there. Sir John Hall asked him to become Newcastle manager as Newcastle found themselves bottom of the league, Keegan kept Newcastle up and so Newcastle played in the newly renamed First Division. Newcastle became the first champions of the First Division and found themselves back in the top flight of English football for the first time in several seasons. The first season back netted a 3rd place finish in the Premier League and a berth in the UEFA cup. Not bad for a club that 3 years earlier was looking at playing in the third division of the English league system. The next season netted a sixth place finish as Newcastle sold Andy Cole to Manchester United for £6 million and received Keith Gillespie in exchange, whose £1 million valuation made the deal worth £7 million. The next season though was a season which Keegan and Newcastle will never forget, at Christmas 1995 Newcastle were a staggering 12 points ahead of everyone else, the league title was there for the taking. But stuttering form, the addition of Faustino Asprilla and the form of Manchester United saw the title of dreams of Newcastle falter. It did lead to two very memorable moments though, one being a 4-3 defeat at Liverpool, when Stan Collymore hit the winner and Anfield, Keegan's former home, literally shock. The brilliance of that match will forever be part of the Premier Leagues legacy. His other moment wasn't a moment on the pitch but more a outburst during a TV interview, after another April match in which Newcastle had been live on Sky Sports, trying to respond (or maybe falling victim too) Alex Ferguson's mind games, Keegan lost all composure and pointed into the camera and declared "I would love it if we beat them! Love it!" At home Ferguson sat on his couch laughing away, as Manchester United with its famed Class of 92 won the league and then added the FA Cup to boot. Keegan probably lost that title by buying Asprilla. To accommodate him, Keegan dropped Keith Gillespie and displaced Peter Beardsley. It's not that Asprilla was a bad player cause he wasn't, he was part of the great Colombian side that had beat Argentina 5-0 in Argentina. Until Asprilla had come in Les Ferdinand was being fed by the lethal David Ginola on the left, Keith Gillespie on the right and Beardsley down the middle. It was a balanced and flowing attacking team. But it did show Keegans naivety and lack of tactical knowledge, a great collection of players is not a great team. During the summer 1996, Keegan paid Blackburn Rovers £15 million for Alan Shearer. Shearer had stared for England at Euro 96 and his price tag saw him become the most expensive player in the world. But again despite Keegan couldn't find a way to mould Asprilla, Ferdinand and Shearer in to one cohesive unit.
On the 8th of January Kevin Keegan resigned from Newcastle United, Newcastle were bouncing around the top of the league but didn't quite look the force they had been the season before. Keegan left as speculation surfaced that it may have been because of the sale of Andy Cole in 1994/95 and the collapse during the 1995/96 season. But whatever the reason Keegan had blown a league title in 1996 and that was something he would never escape in his career.
When England came calling in 1999, Keegan was managing Fulham, he was originally brought in by Mohammed Al-Fayed as a Chief Operating Officer (another term for Director of Football) but eventually had found himself as the manager of Fulham. He left after a successful 1998 -99 season to concentrate on being England manager, for a short time he was both Fulham and England manager. After Hoddles dismal he was the FA's choice to lead them through the Euro 2000 qualifying program. despite being in the third division of the English system at the time. Taking over for the Poland game at Wembley, a Paul Scholes hat-trick started Keegans reign perfectly as England defeated Poland 3-1. Keegan recovered England to the playoffs, finishing a whooping 9 points behind the eventual group winners Sweden. In the group, England actually drew more games then they won, it was only a superior goal difference to Poland that got them into the playoffs. In the playoffs they met Scotland. The play off's themselves would be a two legged affair, in the first leg England went to Hampden and won 2-0 with both goals coming from Paul Scholes. In the final England vs Scotland match at the old Wembley, Scotland won 1-0 with a Don Hutchinson goal. I remember it being a poor match for England though just losing to Scotland was likely enough to make it a poor match for me. But with an aggregate score of 2-1, it booked England's trip to Belgium and Holland.
At Euro 2000, England found themselves in Group A with Portugal, Romania and the European champions Germany. England got off to a flyer against the Portuguese in their first group game with in 20 minutes England were 2-0 up, with goals from Scholes and McManaman but Portugal were level before 40 minutes. They scored a third to win the game in the second half. A disappointing start to the campaign, then came Germany, the reigning champions and a chance at some redemption for England. I have no memory of this game because I've never been so drunk in my life. Sibbo said we need to get in town before the game started which is a sensible ploy but at 5pm no one was in town and so we drank. I've never been able to drink Vodka since because of that night. When England scored I just bounced around with everyone else when England scored. However from what I read Alan Shearers header gave England a 1-0 win. Romania awaited in the final game, if England won they would go through. Romania took the lead, England through Shearer and Owen took the lead but in the second half Romania scored to equalize. At 89 minutes, Phil Neville (another member of the Class of 92) conceded a penalty and Romania converted. England crashed out of Euro 2000, four years after the semi final appearance of Euro 96 they now did a Scotland and left the tournament in the group stage.
For eight years Keegan enjoyed the Spanish sun, but Newcastle found themselves in a spot of trouble, relegation to the 3rd division loomed large over Newcastle in 1991/1992. Keegan had been hugely popular in Newcastle despite only playing two seasons there. Sir John Hall asked him to become Newcastle manager as Newcastle found themselves bottom of the league, Keegan kept Newcastle up and so Newcastle played in the newly renamed First Division. Newcastle became the first champions of the First Division and found themselves back in the top flight of English football for the first time in several seasons. The first season back netted a 3rd place finish in the Premier League and a berth in the UEFA cup. Not bad for a club that 3 years earlier was looking at playing in the third division of the English league system. The next season netted a sixth place finish as Newcastle sold Andy Cole to Manchester United for £6 million and received Keith Gillespie in exchange, whose £1 million valuation made the deal worth £7 million. The next season though was a season which Keegan and Newcastle will never forget, at Christmas 1995 Newcastle were a staggering 12 points ahead of everyone else, the league title was there for the taking. But stuttering form, the addition of Faustino Asprilla and the form of Manchester United saw the title of dreams of Newcastle falter. It did lead to two very memorable moments though, one being a 4-3 defeat at Liverpool, when Stan Collymore hit the winner and Anfield, Keegan's former home, literally shock. The brilliance of that match will forever be part of the Premier Leagues legacy. His other moment wasn't a moment on the pitch but more a outburst during a TV interview, after another April match in which Newcastle had been live on Sky Sports, trying to respond (or maybe falling victim too) Alex Ferguson's mind games, Keegan lost all composure and pointed into the camera and declared "I would love it if we beat them! Love it!" At home Ferguson sat on his couch laughing away, as Manchester United with its famed Class of 92 won the league and then added the FA Cup to boot. Keegan probably lost that title by buying Asprilla. To accommodate him, Keegan dropped Keith Gillespie and displaced Peter Beardsley. It's not that Asprilla was a bad player cause he wasn't, he was part of the great Colombian side that had beat Argentina 5-0 in Argentina. Until Asprilla had come in Les Ferdinand was being fed by the lethal David Ginola on the left, Keith Gillespie on the right and Beardsley down the middle. It was a balanced and flowing attacking team. But it did show Keegans naivety and lack of tactical knowledge, a great collection of players is not a great team. During the summer 1996, Keegan paid Blackburn Rovers £15 million for Alan Shearer. Shearer had stared for England at Euro 96 and his price tag saw him become the most expensive player in the world. But again despite Keegan couldn't find a way to mould Asprilla, Ferdinand and Shearer in to one cohesive unit.
On the 8th of January Kevin Keegan resigned from Newcastle United, Newcastle were bouncing around the top of the league but didn't quite look the force they had been the season before. Keegan left as speculation surfaced that it may have been because of the sale of Andy Cole in 1994/95 and the collapse during the 1995/96 season. But whatever the reason Keegan had blown a league title in 1996 and that was something he would never escape in his career.
When England came calling in 1999, Keegan was managing Fulham, he was originally brought in by Mohammed Al-Fayed as a Chief Operating Officer (another term for Director of Football) but eventually had found himself as the manager of Fulham. He left after a successful 1998 -99 season to concentrate on being England manager, for a short time he was both Fulham and England manager. After Hoddles dismal he was the FA's choice to lead them through the Euro 2000 qualifying program. despite being in the third division of the English system at the time. Taking over for the Poland game at Wembley, a Paul Scholes hat-trick started Keegans reign perfectly as England defeated Poland 3-1. Keegan recovered England to the playoffs, finishing a whooping 9 points behind the eventual group winners Sweden. In the group, England actually drew more games then they won, it was only a superior goal difference to Poland that got them into the playoffs. In the playoffs they met Scotland. The play off's themselves would be a two legged affair, in the first leg England went to Hampden and won 2-0 with both goals coming from Paul Scholes. In the final England vs Scotland match at the old Wembley, Scotland won 1-0 with a Don Hutchinson goal. I remember it being a poor match for England though just losing to Scotland was likely enough to make it a poor match for me. But with an aggregate score of 2-1, it booked England's trip to Belgium and Holland.
At Euro 2000, England found themselves in Group A with Portugal, Romania and the European champions Germany. England got off to a flyer against the Portuguese in their first group game with in 20 minutes England were 2-0 up, with goals from Scholes and McManaman but Portugal were level before 40 minutes. They scored a third to win the game in the second half. A disappointing start to the campaign, then came Germany, the reigning champions and a chance at some redemption for England. I have no memory of this game because I've never been so drunk in my life. Sibbo said we need to get in town before the game started which is a sensible ploy but at 5pm no one was in town and so we drank. I've never been able to drink Vodka since because of that night. When England scored I just bounced around with everyone else when England scored. However from what I read Alan Shearers header gave England a 1-0 win. Romania awaited in the final game, if England won they would go through. Romania took the lead, England through Shearer and Owen took the lead but in the second half Romania scored to equalize. At 89 minutes, Phil Neville (another member of the Class of 92) conceded a penalty and Romania converted. England crashed out of Euro 2000, four years after the semi final appearance of Euro 96 they now did a Scotland and left the tournament in the group stage.
In October 2000, Wembley played host to a senior England football team match for the final time, it was a world cup qualifier for the 2002 World Cup that was to be held in Japan and South Korea. The first joint bid to get a World Cup and the first World Cup to be held in Southeast Asia. England's first game was against Germany, England played in red at home just like they did in the World Cup final in 1966. In Wembleys final England game 76000 people seen a disappointing England performance which ended in a 1-0 Germany win. Keegan had enough and promptly quit as England manager. Kevin Keegan to my mind was never a good manager, give him a cheque book and he might sign a decent player, well attacker, but if you wanted to build a winning team. Keegan was not the man, he was capable of winning a lower division and staying in the Premier League but win the Premier League or a major cup? Subsequent roles after his time as England manager with Manchester City and a return to Newcastle United saw him fail to win a major trophy as a manager. He won the First Division twice with Newcastle in 1992/93 and Manchester City in 2001-02. With Fulham he won the Second Division in 1998/99 but those were his only trophies as a manager. His transfer dealings and timings were often questionable. Selling Andy Cole during 1994/95 to Manchester United, bringing in Asprilla in 1996 when you already had a perfectly balanced forward line. I thought England regressed under him, I did feel better about the switch back to a 4 man defense but tactically he was poor. Keegan won less than 40% of his games whilst in charge of England only Don Revie and Steve McLaren have worse win percentages but neither of them qualified for a tournament like Keegan. Being the England manager is possibly the hardest job in football and whilst the lack of outstanding candidates made picking a manager a hard task, the quality of English managers was shockingly bad.
Sven Goran Eriksson: The Swedish English Manager
After Keegans resignation England employed a couple of caretakers whilst a permanent manger was found. Howard Wilkinson (the last man to win the 1st Division title as a manager and still the last Englishman to win the English league) took care of England's 0-0 draw against Finland and Under 21 coach Peter Taylor took the reins when England played Italy in Italy. It was also momentus as it was the first time David Beckham captained an England side. Eventually the FA found their man, and for the first time ever he wasn't born in the British Isles, he was in fact Swedish. His name was Sven Goran Eriksson, Eriksson had a pedigree of winning trophies, in his native Sweden, he had won the league, Swedish cup and UEFA Cup with IFK Goteborg, two seasons in Portugal saw him win the Portuguese League twice, the Portuguese Cup and finish runners up in the UEFA cup. A spell in Italy followed were he took Roma to the Italian Cup, and a runners up position in Serie A. Two winless seasons followed at Fiorentina and he headed back to Benfica where in 3 seasons, he won the league, the Portuguese Super Cup and lost the European Cup final to AC Milan. Next followed 5 seasons at Sampdoria, winning only the Italian cup, finishing runners up in the Italian Super Cup and a semi final loss to Arsenal in the Cup Winners Cup. Lazio then came calling for four seasons and he had probably his best time of anywhere, one Serie A League title, one Serie A runners up finish, 2 Italian cup wins, 2 Super Cup wins, a Cup Winners Cup win, a runners up finish in the UEFA Cup and a European Super Cup win. Erikson was a winner and a winner in one of the big European leagues. Taking IFK Gotebory to European glory was also a major plus in his favor. Unlike Graham Taylor, Glenn Hoddle and Kevin Keegan, Erikson was a major competition winner as a manager. His playing career had been less than stellar but under the Tord Grip's tutelage Erikson had flourished into a coach. The signs were promising, England had a young team coming through, spearheaded by Manchester United's class of 92. Primarily David Beckham (Eriksson's captain throughout Eriksson's tenure), Gary Neville (England's best right back in my life time) and Paul Scholes (the best English midfielder of his generation).In a hole because of the poor start to qualifying England, England won 3 games on the trot against Finland, Albania and Greece. Then came a match and performance that would absolutely amaze the watching public and have me yelling like a fool in absolute amazement. Germany have broken English hearts for a long time, whether it was the West German side in Mexico 1970 coming from 2-0 down to beat England, the West Germany side that beat England in the semi finals of Italia 90 or the German side that beat England in Euro 96. Whichever version of Germany, divided or unified, they always seemed to hurt England except for that one game in 1966. England went into Germany knowing a win would help their automatic qualifying chances. The lottery of the playoffs could be avoided if England beat Germany. Winning in Germany was going to be a hard task whilst this wasn't the West German sides of the 1970's and 1980's, it still was Germany and still would be a very difficult task to win. What happened was probably one of the greatest moments ever in football for an Englishman, for a German or a Scotsman, probably not. Germany playing in their green away kit scored first through their massive striker Carsten Jancker, Michael Owen then equalized but during first half stoppage time Owen's club teammate Steven Gerrard put England into the lead. The thought crossed my mind, could England win? Could that really happen? No this is Germany, they'll get something out of this surely? Just after half time Owen got his second and England's third. The excitement grew it was 3-1 England but surely England couldn't add a fourth could they? Surely not it, Germany they will come back and break our hearts yet again but on the 65th minute, Owen completed his hattrick. At this point I was bouncing round the living room in 43 Barbara Avenue, the neighbours who may have or may not have been watching the game, definitely heard me yelling. I've never been so happy watching a game. Then Leicester City youth graduate Emile Heskey added a fifth! A fifth goal against Germany! Did this game have to end? It was the great moment ever, it was only a qualifier but with so much on the line it meant so much more. Eriksson's England were amazing that night, the 1st of September 2001 is probably outside of the World Cup final in 1966, England's greatest moment as a footballing nation. Certainly in my life time, not much has come close. What a game, what a game! Countries just don't go in to Germany and murder them five goals to one, England might have gone in there and won 1-0 which would have made me happy but that result is a thing of legend.
The last game England had to play to qualify for the World Cup automatically was against Greece at Old Trafford. At St James Park 4 days after the Germany game, England dispatched Albania 2-0. England had to match whatever Germany did in the next game to automatically qualify for the World Cup. Wembley had been knocked down and was being rebuilt, so England played all over the country. Which in many ways likely helped the team as it wasn't just a southern base for them, games were held at Anfield, Old Trafford and St James Park instead. For the Greece, the home of Manchester United, Old Trafford was used with its 72000 capacity it was the biggest club stadium in England. What ever result we got, as long as it matched or bettered Germany's, England would qualify for the World Cup. That day in the Old Trafford sunshine England played in all white (never a good omen) and England played like crap, Greece took the lead but Euro 96 star Teddy Sheringham equalized for England, at this point we were going to the World Cup automatically but England couldn't hold there nerve and Greece retook the lead, as the clock hit 90 minutes, Sheringham won a dubious free kick outside of the box. David Beckham your time is now, his performance on the day was one of a captain, he covered every blade of grass on the pitch that day and carried England despite so many others on the pitch looking far below his level. Up stepped Beckham and let rip probably one of his best free kicks, I don't remember the keeper moving for it, I think he stood there and said oh fuck me in Greek as the ball hit the net. Beckham had done it, in the 93rd minute, three years on from that match against Argentina, he had got his absolution from that night in Staint-Etienne. Old Trafford erupted, 72000 rejoiced and I, well I got up screaming ran round the living room and kicked my Grandma's horrible couch so hard I bruised my foot, I then hobbled out to the yard, as my foot was browning up, yelling at my Dad. "Dad! Dad! He's fucking done it, Beckhams done it! We are going to the World Cup!" Mum and Dad stood there dumbfounded at my excitement but the way the qualifiers had started and now the way they had finished. It had shown that a good manager could get good performances out of a team unlike what Keegan had done previously.
Before the World Cup, England captain David Beckham had been enjoying a rich vein of form broke a bone in his foot, the country held its collective breath. This man had basically carried the country against Greece and now might potentially robbed of playing for England at World Cup. Aldo Duscher, a Argentine playing for Deportivo La Coruna tackled Beckham whilst he playing for Manchester United in the Champions League. The tackle resulted Beckham breaking a metatarsal, from April 10th 2002 to England's first game in the world cup. The english football fan became very well educated on the metatarsal and if it would heal for the World Cup. Compare this to the feeling of four years previous when many wouldn't have cared if Beckham had never played for England again after his dismal against Argentina.
The World Cup itself started the next in June, England played out a draw with Sweden, Beckham lasted a whole 63 minutes. England had a problem with the left side of midfield. Erikson played Emile Heskey out there. Heskey was big and powerful but is not a winger despite his efforts, he just couldn't do it. The second game of the group stage was against Argentina. Yep those lovely fellows again. Diego Simone and Beckham enjoyed a frosty handshake before the game, Beckhams life because of Simone's gameship had been forever changed. As usual against Argentina the game was full blooded, tackles flying, the odd errant elbow and Michael Owen doing what Owen was especially good at, winning penalties. As Owen tumbled to the floor, the referee the ever imposing Pierluigi Colina pointed to the spot. One man and one man only stepped up to take that penalty, David Beckham. He put the ball down, turned and hit the penalty as hard and slightly to the keepers right. As it hit the net he ran to the left where the Argentine fans were, he showed them the England shirt, I dare say they showed him something else but if Beckham's performance against Greece was redemption. This was put him on near enough Sainthood. The rest of the 47 minutes left in the game, England held on and something about France 98 had been put to bed. England had there revenge. If Sweden didn't lose to Argentina in the next game and England would put out Argentina. The next game saw a 0-0 draw against Nigeria, Sweden drew 1-1 with Argentina. Sweden went through as group winners, England runners with Argentina and Nigeria taking early flights home. Beckham truly did get his revenge. It was during the Argentina game that England sorted the left side of their midfield out. Sven was a 4-4-2 man, a formation which England had pioneered in 1966 and one with Roy Hodgson had won the Swedish league with repeatedly during Sven's early time as a manger. The impression it left had been indelible. Sven was often criticized for not moving away from 4-4-2 but when you've been so successful with something, why switch? In the first game, Heskey had played out left but is not a winger, his pace and power were better utilized in a 4-4-2 as a centre forward. Against Argentina, Paul Scholes had found himself on the left. Paul Scholes was the best player of the class of 92. For all the plaudits David Beckham and Ryan Giggs rightly earned. I would argue that Paul Scholes was the only true world class player in the group. But despite all of Scholes brilliance, he was not a winger and playing out on the left wing left him feeling lonely. Owen Hargreaves had started in the centre with Nicky Butt. Nicky Butt had only been in the side due to Steven Gerrard's groin injury putting him out of the World Cup. But early on in the game, Hargreaves himself got injured. Step forward Trevor Sinclair, injuries to the 2002 World Cup squad had been part of the tournament, Gary Neville, found himself at home with a broken foot, Steve Gerrard groin stopped him going to the World Cup and on the eve of the World Cup. Danny Murphy's fitness finally proved not good enough, so Sven included Trevor Sinclair. England have long had a problem with the left side of the midfield, when Hargreaves went down, Sinclair helped solve it for the World Cup at least. It allowed Scholes and Butt to rekindled their club partnership and gave England some natural balance, as much as right footer on the left will allow you any way.
In the knockout stage England faced Denmark, three goals before half time gave England a quarter final tie. That game turned into an all dayer, that I went home for a nap but had a good day otherwise. The quarter final being as the World Cup was the other side of the world, the games started for us at 8 am. Drinking pints at 8am was a weird weird feeling and I struggled to drink it to be fair. Sibbo and I stood in Squares and watched in hope that for once England could beat Brazil. It started well Michael Owen giving England a first half lead but just before the half time whistle Rivaldo scored. On the 50th minute Ronaldinho scored what was either a miskick or a moment of utter genius. David Seaman the England goalkeeper was stood about 2 yards off his line, Ronaldinho noticed this, from the position he was on the pitch and he then either miss kicked it over Seamans head or chipped Seaman from 35 yards out. Season had history of being lobbed from long distances, in 1995 Arsenal had a terrible domestic season but were looking to become the first back to back winners of the UEFA Cup Winners cup, as the game headed towards a penalty shoot out, Nayim (a former Spurs player, so even more galling for Arsenal) lobbed Seaman from essentially the same spot as Ronaldinho did 7 years later. As Seaman stood in the goal, we all wondered could we come back from this. Ronaldinho got sent off 6 minutes later, for 34 minutes England tried and tried to equalize to give themselves hope but couldn't. At the quarter final stage England found themselves out. Brazil went on to win the World Cup for the fifth time beating Germany 2-0 in the final. It was a small consolation that England had lost to the eventual champions, but at 10 am in the morning, slightly drunk, all I could think was England could have won that World Cup. One thing about the 2002 World Cup there was no outstanding team, Germany had beaten hosts South Korea in the semi finals and Brazil had only just beaten Turkey. Had England beaten Brazil, no game in the World Cup is easy but surely a chance of the final awaited?
Euro 2004 was around the corner and it was to be held in Portugal. England found themselves in a favorable group, Turkey, Slovakia, Macedonia and Liechtenstein. England won the group by 1 point, beating Turkey into the playoff's. A poor performance from David Seaman at St. Mary's (England still found themselves on the road due to Wembley still not being built yet) saw Macedonia score directly from a corner, Seaman already under pressure from the Ronaldinho mistake at the World Cup saw his international career finish. At this point Erikson found himself now giving his number 1 shirt to West Ham's David James. David James wasn't a bad goalkeeper, Liverpool had paid Second Division Watford £1.25 million in 1992. But he never totally filled me with confidence, David Seaman did drop the odd bollock but James dropped a lot more.
On the 19th of October 2002, a sixteen year old ended Arsenal's 30 match unbeaten streaking in the Premier League, by the 12th of February 2003, the now 17 year old trotted on to the pitch at Upton Park for England in a friendly against Australia. It was Wayne Rooney. Rooney could have played for Ireland and was indeed approached by the Irish at 16 but insisted he was English and had no interest in playing for Ireland. He ended up being England's top goalscorer, so really England were quite happy about that. Eriksson couldn't not pick Rooney despite his age, towards the end of the campaign Rooney started to add goals, like Owen in 1998, England had found another star. In Portugal, England drew France, Croatia and Switzerland. France were reigning champions. In the first game England played France. England took the lead, we watched in the Walkabout, a bloke I worked with got drunk and fell over. As I picked him, he'd managed to cut his head and he got blood all over my nice new England shirt. As I walked in after the game, Mum looked at my blood stained shirt and asked what you been doing? Well Mum I'd been watching Zidane score 2 goals in injury time to deny England a opening victory. Two Scousers scored against the Swiss as Rooney got two and Gerrard got one for himself. England then faced Croatia and with their best tournament despatched Croatia 4-2 goals from Lampard, Scholes and another from Rooney put England through to the next round. In the next round England faced the hosts Portugal, Michael Owen gave England a early lead, but in the 27th minute England's star of the tournament Wayne Rooney broke his foot. Darius Vassell came on and replaced Rooney, but wasn't anywhere near as effective. His game was very similar to Owen's. So Portugal had an easier time containing him. Then in the 83rd minute Portugal equalized, not through there version of Ronaldo, who Ashley Cole had kept quiet most of the game but through Postiga. The game went to extra time and Rui Costa gave Portugal the lead in extra time before Frank Lampard leveled the game. The match finished and England went to the inevitable penalties. Beckham missed the first penalty for England, but Rui Costa missed Portugal's third, penalties continued to the sixth penalty which meant sudden death, Portugal scored there's and Rooney's replacement Darius Vassell missed his, yet again England were out of a major competition on penalties. What would have happened had Rooney not got injured? The emergence of Frank Lampard was major plus but it also gave England another issue how to integrate him with Steven Gerrard was a major draw back. To accomodate, Gerrard and Lampard in the middle, Paul Scholes was pushed out to the left wing. Scholes was the best of all three yet it was him being asked to play out of position. A major issue of Sven's had been discovered, his love of star players and not playing players that suited the system better. Greece ended up beating Portugal in the final of Euro 2004 with former Leicester player Theo Zagorakis being named player of the tournament. But there was another tournament round the corner.
The media was growing restless with Sven, he wasn't exactly a man to light a room up with his charisma, he didn't have a plan b, England would win but win in one way and I'm sure there was thoughts he was wasting the golden generation. It had been a long time since England had had a team as collectively talented as the one they had. The likes of Beckham, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney and Owen were all seemingly being wasted. Qualifying for the 2006 World Cup was a successful but slow campaign, England found themselves in a group with Poland, Austria, Northern Ireland, Wales and Azerbaijan. A winnable group for England, England won the group but there was at times some alarmingly bad performances, highlighted (or lowlighted) by a 1-0 away loss to Northern Ireland, I remember being in the canteen at Walkers when England lost and the annoyance when the final whistle went was huge. In Germany for the World Cup England found themselves drawn in Group B, with Paraguay, Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago. Before the World Cup had even started Wayne Rooney like David Beckham before the 2002 World Cup broke his foot in a match against Chelsea. When it happened, my ex wife (who was over in England) couldn't believe the sadness that this had caused, she then proceeded to make a torrent of shit jokes about Rooney's injury. Despite the unconvincing qualification, Rooney had become something a talisman for England. Where once Beckham had held that mantle. Rooney now was the man that could take us anywhere but with his foot broken, it begged serious questions. Despite this, a friend of mine and a number of others still insisted we would win the World Cup. But with the side so disjointed and unbalanced, I couldn't see how. Sven had no plan b, no change of formation, no speed from the flanks and no balance in the midfield. The debate about who was better between Gerrard and Lampard could and will go on forever. But the facts simply point to them not being able to work together. As a younger player Gerrard was more of a defensive midfielder, but as he matured and he became more established, the real Gerrard was an aggressive driver of the game, a man that quite literally inspired Liverpool to come from 3 goals behind to win the Champions League in 2005. He was a force to be reckoned with. Lampard to me, was a great goal scoring midfielder, silky in his finishing, he could score every type of goal, and often did. But the combination of the two never worked well together. In either ones club side they had a player that would primarily defend so they had could play their natural games, which was pushing forward. Lampard also played at Chelsea at the time which was managed by Jose Mourinho. The special one (as he termed himself) loved the 4-3-3 formation, using it at Porto to win the Champions League in 2004. Jose brought it to South London and Lampard thrived in the system. He finished the season by retaining Chelsea's Premier League title and finishing Chelsea's top goal scorer in the league. Personally I prefer Gerrard, Lampard was great but I just liked Gerrard. But Erikson loved the star players, problem was he wasn't playing FIFA and there's one thing I've learned about football and especially a 4-4-2 midfield, it must be balanced. The midfield that started the first 2 games, was Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard and Joe Cole. Whilst all individually very good, balance was an issue and pace from the flanks was non exsistent. Beckham was never blessed with great pace and nor was Joe Cole, despite what they brought to the game in other respects. England's midfield in 2002 had been makeshift, the injury to Gerrard before the World Cup forced Sven to play Nicky Butt and allow Paul Scholes to play his natural game in the centre. When Trevor Sinclair eventually came on during the Argentina game, England at last had a balanced midfield that had a little bit of everything in it. England still won the first two games, unconvincingly a 1-0 victory against Paraguay and 2-0 victory against Trinidad and Tobago. In the 58th minute of Trinidad game Wayne Rooney made his World Cup debut, his replacement was Peter Crouch. A tall striker who despite his height was good on the floor too. He had become somewhat of cult hero for England BUT was actually rather good at scoring against former Soviet Union nations and other smaller nations. But actually scoring against a bigger side that England might play against he didn't. Rooney finally made his first start at the World Cup in the final group game against Sweden. Once again in a World Cup Sven had to face his home land, in the 4th minute, Michael Owen went off injured, it wasn't a injury that would see him back later in the tournament either, he was done for a while. Crouch was reintroduced to the World Cup after being dropped for Rooney who was regaining his fitness after his broken foot. England and Sweden played out a 2-2 draw. England nearly beat Sweden for the first time in 30 years, Joe Cole had opened the scoring with a brilliant 30 yard volley for England but Sweden equalized in the second half. In the 85th minute Gerrard put England ahead but Henrik Larsson equalized for Sweden in the 90th minute. Erikson also broke up the Lampard and Gerrard partnership, starting with Owen Hargreaves, Canadian born but had the choice of either England or Wales. He chose his father's country and played for England. He was also a rare thing in that he was a Englishman playing abroad.
England though where through to the knockout round. In the next round they faced Ecuador, a turgid game followed that was played on a very hot day in Germany. In what became Sven's last victory as England manager, Beckham scored his trademark free kick. It was a poor game, Gary Neville's groin had stopped him playing, Hargreaves moved to right back. This saw the Gerrard and Lampard partnership renewed. Sven switched to a 4-5-1 with Rooney still regaining his fitness as a lone striker. Rooney is now England's all time goal scorer but he has never been and never will be a out and out striker. But at the end of Sven's reign he relied on big team players no matter how they fit the team. In the next game England faced Portugal, Portugal had knocked England out of Euro 2004 after Rooney had gone down injured. Rooney again had a major impact on the game, instead of scoring or being injured he instead was sent off in the 62nd minute. Frustration had overcome Again England's exit of from the World Cup included a red card for one of the teams, it really wasn't a good game and it went to penalties yet again. Yet again England lost on penalties. Of the four penalties England took, only Hargreaves scored, he was of course brought up in Germany so he almost had too. Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher all missed for England.
Svens reign ended when Carragher missed that penalty, in January of 2006 The FA decided to move on from Sven, declining results which included an embarrassing loss to Northern Ireland and a news paper sting by the News Of The World. Saw the FA decide to move on, it seemed to me that Sven had taken England as far as he could, England's golden generation had been wasted. He seemed to not want a balanced team, relying on stars instead of building a balanced team, he took the FIFA approach and built a team mainly on what there FIFA ratings might be. It's great in a computer game but in reality you need balance. The FA started its search, Luiz Felipe Scolari was approached but he turned it down because of the English's newspapers reputation. Others including Martin O'Neil, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley were considered but The FA chose Steve McLaren. He wasn't first choice but the FA felt he was the man for the job. Trevor Brooking labelled McLaren "second choice Steve" and it did seem he was. McLaren was like Graham Taylor in that he hadn't had a stellar playing career mainly playing in the lower leagues starting with Hull and finishing with Oxford United in the early 1990's. He started coaching at Oxford and moved to Derby in 1995, where he was an assistant to Jim Smith. In 1999 after helping Derby establish themselves as a Premier League team, he moved to Manchester United after Brian Kidd took the Blackburn Rovers job. He was so little known that the Manchester United chairman announced him as Steve McClaridge. Its one of the few times I can remember an assistant moving and it being big news but he did move to the biggest club in England so it was going to be news. Whilst at Manchester United, Peter Taylor approached him to be an assistant which he continued under Erikson. For the majority of Erikson's reign, McLaren was an assistant so it was almost natural he took over if others wouldn't. Along with his England duties he eventually became manager of Middlesbrough, for Middlesbrough he had been relatively successful, winning the League Cup and having successive European campaigns. Although in his last season Boro fans where growing a little frustrated with McLaren, his tactics becoming more and more negative. It was often leveled at McLaren that he had Steve Gibson's millions to rely on and that made his job easier.
When McLaren was appointed England Coach he had big choices and decisions to make, Beckham had stepped down as England captain, so McLaren needed to appoint a new one. He chose John Terry, the Chelsea centre half, Terry to me was a great choice. He was Chelsea's captain, and had slotted into England's back line very well. During Euro 2004, Rio Ferdinand had been banned for missing a drug test. The footballing simpletons doubted Terry's inclusion in Svens team but in all reality he looked at home and performed well. The next decision that faced McLaren was how to move on from Sven's reign, the obvious choice was to start dropping players who were towards their 30's, the axe fell on Sol Campbell, David James and most shockingly David Beckham. I had been critical of Beckham, his lack of pace allied to England's general predictable play under Sven had seriously made me wonder if he was good enough any more. David James, I was never a fan of. But Sol Campbell I was surprised at. Terry Venables was brought back into national team as an assistant to McLaren, how different things could have been if he'd been passed over for Glenn Hoddle in 1996. England started with two victories, a 5-0 win against Andorra and a 1-0 away win against Macedonia. The next England game was at Old Trafford (the new Wembley was still not ready), I watched the game in Nottingham with my friend Rich. The game was a terrible 0-0 draw England looked completely devoid of ideas and I always remember one guy going mad about Stuart Downings performance. It was worrying, it was worse than the end of Sven and the footballing simpletons were embolden, Beckham wouldn't have let that result happen. Or would he have? The fact was looming larger and larger by every match. Perhaps England weren't very good? But then England travelled to Croatia for a big game. The eventually qualifiers from the group would surely come from Russia, Croatia or England. So these game's were crucial, draws were the minimum needed. In Croatia, McLaren decided to change to a 3-5-2 (or 5-3-2) which hadn't been seen much in the English game for a long time. It was a negative move, the exact thing that Boro fans had become increasingly frustrated with McLaren for. Much like Taylor in Oslo thirteen years previously a switch to a back 5 failed miserably. At the 59th minute Croatia's Brazilian Eduardo scored and then Gary Neville scored one of the oddest own goals ever. A simple back pass to Paul Robinson took a hop over a lump in the pitch. The ball bounced over Robinson's foot and England found themselves down two, the game finished that way too. Despite the setback, England put themselves in a position to qualify. Performances were still inconsistent or just poor. A goalless draw away to Israel showed this, I listened to that game and Alan Green constantly commented how poor England were that night. The game after was a 3-0 victory over Andorra. It took till the 54th minute for England to make a breakthrough against Andorra. Andorra a nation which England should be at least 3-0 up at halftime. Again Alan Green on the radio was not exactly complimentary towards England's performance. Watching the highlights later it was obvious why. On June 6th 2007, David Beckham even made a come back. Creativity was a problem and with Beckhams vision it was hoped creativity would return. I was working night shift at Walkers and Ken Jelley came in, he said to me "I dunno what he does but he can set up goals". Beckham never had much pace, but his vision made up for his lack of pace. His crosses for Peter Crouches (scoring against a former Soviet Union member) and Michael Owen goals showed that. Going into the last two games England could and still would qualify, first was a match in Russia, on a plastic pitch. I've never actually watched this game, it was the start of the lost period for me, I'd not long moved to the States, and was working. Something I had to get used to working when important football matches were on. England took the lead with a Wayne Rooney volley but two Russian goals had left England's hopes of qualifying were in tatters. Had England won, they would have been on their way to the Euro's in 2008 but now they had to rely on beating Croatia and other results going their way.
For the crucial Croatia game, England played in all white, that night, Croatia's away kit includes blue shorts which clashed with England's home blue shorts so England wore all white. It should be noted if it hasn't been already, this isn't a good omen for England. Croatia came to Wembley and took a 2-0 lead, the first goal that even our former six a side keeper couldn't make an excuse for (well that's not entirely true. He would for sure) England were out at this rate but in the second half staged a comeback. Lampard and Crouch scored to level the game, at this rate, England were going to Switzerland and Austria for the Euro's, but in the 77th minute, Croatia scored again. As the match ended so did England's qualifying hopes.
I didn't watch a lot of McLaren's games but I wasn't impressed and nor was the press, the day after England's exit. The Sun ran the head line, "The Wally With The Brolly". As the rain poured down that night, McLaren cut a lonely figure as he forlornly attempted to inspire his team while stood under a umbrella in the Wembley rain. What could have been a progression for England became stagnation and really regression. McLaren had inherited a generation of players coming to their end but the players that replaced them weren't as good. England were no better off under McLaren then they were under Sven. A new manager didn't seem to motivate the players to perform any better. The qualifying group for Euro 2008 was winnable and certainly for England, they should have qualified but McLaren just wasn't good enough to be England manager. When Graham Taylor failed to reach USA 94 he fell on his sword and resigned, McLaren was dispatched with the FA firing him. The results had been poor, the performances just as bad and McLaren seemed to taking England no where. He had to go.
So England needed a new head coach, the pickings in England were few and far between. No Englishman had won the Premier League, the last time an Englishman did win the league it was still called the First Division and it was Howard Wilkinson who was well past his sell by date as a top manager by 2007. So The FA looked abroad again, just a month after McLaren had been fired, Fabio Capello was selected, the Italians felt great pride that another top flight footballing nation would choose one their own to be their national manager. The Capello appointment mostly excited English fans, how could you not be? Capello's record was brilliant. As a player he'd played for some of Italy's biggest clubs in Roma, AC Milan and Juventus. He'd also been capped thirty two times for Italy. He won Serie A four times and the Italian Cup twice as player. But as a manager his haul was even more impressive, seven Serie A titles (Although two had been revoked due to the Juventus cheating scandal), two La Liga's titles, four Italian cups, one Champions League (His Milan side demolished one of the fabled Barcelona sides of the 1990's) and one European Super Cup. No England manager or head coach had ever had that impressive of a track record, he made Alf Ramsey's and Bobby Robson's club achievements look disappointing at best. Personally I loved the appointment, Capello's track record was indisputable, what England had been lacking was some order and structure. Capello would bring this to England. I only watched one of the qualifying games during the 2010 qualifiers, it was a 1-0 loss to Ukraine. Which I got on a pay per view channel, then after spending $15 Robert Green was sent of in the 12th minute and from then on England had to battle against a team that needed the victory. Ukraine scored in the 30th minute and England couldn't hit back. It was a poor match to watch, more than likely cause England had lost. It had been a while since I watched a England match, also there was tension in the house as my ex wife didn't want me to watch the match because it was pay per view. It was however England's only loss in the qualification period. Wayne Rooney's form had been outstanding, 9 goals in 10 matches helped England win the group by 6 points. To highlight the difference between the failed Euro 2008 qualifying effort and World Cup qualifying 2010 effort, England faced Croatia, on the 10th of September 2008, England played in Croatia and won 4-1 when they faced Croatia at Wembley. England went one better and won 5-1. The group was not especially difficult and England rolled through the likes Ukraine, Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra with ease.
The World Cup though wouldn't be as easy, the World Cup itself was to be held in South Africa, for the first time in the history of the tournament. It was to be played in Africa, FIFA was trying to please all its federations and the choice of South Africa was a striking one. But not striking because South Africa had been chosen on merit. The South African Football Association had in fact had bribed important FIFA members to get the tournament, in 2015 it was revealed that Morocco had actually won the vote but money talks and the World Cup went to South Africa. It went to show that FIFA was obviously just as corrupt as the Olympic Committee. England where drawn in Group C, along with Slovenia, The USA and Algeria. In the first game was against the USA, Steven Gerrard scored first for England after only four minutes, it seemed like England could be set for a opening victory, but with 5 minutes left in the half a harmless shot form Clint Dempsey was fumbled into his own net by Robert Green. Quite why Robert Green was the number one choice of goalkeeper is easy to explain. After David Seaman's international career was ended after the Euro 2004 qualifier with Macedonia at St. Mary's, England never really settled on or had a top quality keeper. David James was given a go but was David James. Paul Robinson at times was very good for Spurs and Leeds but had erratic moments to say the least. Then there was Joe Hart, Manchester City's younger goalkeeper who was on loan at Birmingham City, was he good enough? Goalkeepers get better as they age and he was only 23. Then there was Capello's choice Robert Green, who had also been in good form. But before the game the Robert Green was almost in a trance, was the trance caused by the nerves of someone about to play in the World Cup? I'm sure everyone gets nervous before their debut in the World Cup, for a footballer it wouldn't get any bigger I'm sure. But Robert Green looked like he was playing for his life, maybe that could explain his awful error. It wasn't quite Scott Carson's error against Croatia but it wasn't much better. The game with the USA finished 1-1, the USA hit the post in the second half and an out of form Emile Heskey blew a one on one chance with the USA goalkeeper to put England ahead.
The next game England played Algeria, I didn't watch this game but all reports said it was terrible. I remember being at work with my computer on and it kept saying nil-nil, I kept refreshing the browser but still it said nil-nil. It finished that way to and the England fans in attendance were non to happy. David James replaced Robert Green, Green's mental meltdown against the USA worried Capello so much so he brought back the Portsmouth keeper. In the midfield, the Lampard/Gerrard partnership had been broken up, Gerrard was moved to the left and Gareth Barry was brought in to the middle of pitch. The hope being Gerrard, Lampard and Aaron Lennon would push forward with Gareth Barry giving the back four protection. With Gerrard on the left and a woeful performance by Lennon it did nothing for the English attack. Which was led again by the out of form Heskey and a hobbled Wayne Rooney. Wayne Rooney is England's greatest goal scorer and one of the best talents our country has ever produced, his career for Manchester United was stellar. He was not only a scorer of great goals, he was also a great goal scorer. But before every tournament with the exception of his first, he seemed to have some sort of issue going to the tournament whether it be fitness or suspension. At 2004, he lifted the England side and had he stayed fit, there's no telling what England could have done. But against Portugal, he broke his foot. Before the World Cup in Germany in 2006, he broke his foot again in a Premier League match and never quite had the fitness/sharpness required. In South Africa the issue again raised its ugly head, Rooney for Manchester United had scored 34 goals, for a 23 year old to be scoring that much was a sign of his talent but going into the World Cup, he was hobbled by groin and ankle injuries, whilst not enough to take him out of games. They robbed him of his sharpness, add this to the awful England performances and prospects for success didn't look too good. Going into the Slovenian game, Capello made changes, a third centre back pairing made was employed as John Terry lined up with Matthew Upson. James Milner replaced the poor performing Aaron Lennon. Upfront Jermaine Defoe replaced the under performing Emile Heskey. It was Defoe that scored the winner, England squeaked into the next round as group runners up. In the knockout stages they would face Germany first. Yes, those delightful fellows.
On the 26th of June 2010, I was excited, I was getting Dish network installed, missing two England games during a World Cup had been painful. Sometime early in the afternoon a guy arrived to install my Dish and box, as he was looking around he then said he couldn't install the Dish, as it needed some kind of electrical connection and being a rental property he wasn't allowed to work like that on the apartment. Immediately I went to you ARE installing it mode and got him to call his supervisor. After calls to his supervisor, he relented and they mutually found a solution and he installed the required satellite dish and wiring. The next day was a Sunday and England played Germany in the first knockout round of the World Cup. For the first time at the World Cup, Capello kept the same side, the match itself kicked off at about 8 am in the morning here, groggy I got up and put the telly on, Germany took a early 2 goal lead, and looked the better side. Then in the 37th minute Matthew Upson scored from a corner and suddenly England had some momentum, then in the 39th minute Frank Lampard had a shot which clearly went in. The ball seemingly was a yard over the line but neither the linesman or referee called a goal. These days it would have been given but everyone in the red of England was aghast, how did the referee not give that? Must have been karma for 1966 when the Russian linesman gave England a questionable goal. England in the second half chased the game and were punished with two second half goals by Muller. England crashed out of the World Cup, overall the performance of England had been poor. The Algerian game being a particularly glaring example of that. Wayne Rooney a man that couldn't not score in the club season didn't looked even half as sharp as he had. Capello came under fire for his 4-4-2, Germany had crushed England with the new 4-2-3-1 formation. Capello had a lot of success with 4-4-2 but times had changed and the formation was sign of Capello's age in the game. Capello was also criticized for his squad selection, why did he take an unfit Ledley King? And why did he take Emile Heskey, who was clearly out of form at the expense of Theo Walcott, whilst Walcott's selection in 2006 was a surprise, in the 4 years that had followed he had established himself as a good performer for Arsenal and England. Heskey though did offer another attacking option, being a big man. The FA shortly after the Germany defeat confirmed that Capello would stay as England coach for the 2012 European Championships qualifiers.
The group for the European qualifiers was winnable, Montenegro, Switzerland, Wales and Bulgaria were England's opponents. England delivered 5 wins and 3 draws. I didn't watch a single match I must admit my life at this point was a joke of turbulence. England, however got through 2011 without losing a game, which is a great feat itself.
John Terry, was a great centre half, big, strong, a good passer of the ball and was a danger at set pieces. At Euro 2004 he replaced the suspended Rio Ferdinand, Sven Goran Erickson stated he was the first choice centre half in the team. I was happy with Terry being in the side, to me at least, he looked like a improved version of Tony Adams. England had a strong set of centre halves at the time, so at 23 to lead Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand and Ledley King was a big achievement. A footballing simpleton I knew, wasn't impressed by it though, but thats why I call him a simpleton. When Steve McLaren took over in 2006, he had made John Terry his captain after David Beckham had stepped down from the role. When McLaren was removed from the job in 2008, and Capello took over and Capello kept Terry as his captain, in all reality it wasn't a bad choice, he was already captain at Chelsea. He was also a winning captain at Chelsea. Success in the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup had all happened under Terry's leadership. But then in 2010 allegations came to light of John Terry having an affair with Wayne Bridges girlfriend, Wayne Bridge had been Terry's teammate at Chelsea up until 2009. Capello stripped Terry of the captains armband and gave it to Rio Ferdinand because of these allegations. By March 2011, Terry had won the armband back after Rio Ferdinand had suffered a long term injury. In November 2011, video emerged of Terry calling Anton Ferdinand "a fucking black cunt". Terry tried to counter the accusations by saying he saying he said "oi Anton, you think I called you a black cunt?" He also tried to pass it off as sarcasm towards Anton Ferdinand, it was all the more awkward as Terry's long term England centre back partner was Anton's brother, Rio Ferdinand. The FA stepped in and stripped Terry again of his captaincy, those actions saw Capello resign his position as England coach. Capello's position was that the FA had acted before a court of law had found Terry guilty or innocent. Whilst the FA did run the game in England, a court was an extension of the law of the land and they should be the only ones to find him guilty or not guilty. When a court did find Terry guilty or not guilty, then to Capello's mind the correct actions should have been taken. In all reality The FA was only looking after itself, its image and its bank balances. It couldn't have the nation team lead by a man who was about to face charges in a court of law of racially abusing someone. The English game at this point was becoming very rich and very sponsor friendly. The FA themselves had debts, Wembley had cost a lot of money, and so had Capello (a record £6 million a year contract) and then there was the failure of 2008. Not as many shirts got sold in the summer of 2008. Because of McLaren's failure. Although in all fairness, the kits that would have been worn by England at Euro 2008 were ugly. Not one of Umbro's finest hours with those kits. But Capello like any club side coach would have done, couldn't be undermined by the FA in such a manner. It was his job to pick his captain, it was the courts job to decide his guilt or innocence. It was not the FA's to either strip his captain of the role or judge him his guilt or innocence. It would be like a chairman picking a captain for the side which not many club managers would tolerate.
When Capello left it was an odd one, the performance at South Africa had been awful. But England had looked leggy and Wayne Rooney hadn't turned up. His unbalanced and sluggish 4-4-2 was outdated but for the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Capello evolved into a 4-3-3. The 4-3-3 formation had predated the 4-4-2 formation and whilst England under Alf Ramsey had won the World Cup in 1966 with the 4-4-2 it had only been a switch form the 4-3-3 that had sealed the success. In the early 2000's the 4-3-3 had become the one of the fashionable formations of the day. Jose Mourinho's arrival at Chelsea saw the 4-3-3 end the Manchester United and Arsenal's duopoly in the Premier League. Even forcing the great Sir Alex Ferguson into switching from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3. The Germany defeat had left Capello with a question how to combat the rising 4-2-3-1, and with the 4-3-3 he thought he had it. The 4-2-3-1's deep lying second striker (often referred to as the 10) is near on impossible for a centre half to pick up and to deep for a midfielder to pick up in a 4-4-2 formation. But a 3 man midfield could do it and still provide the support it needed to. But the promise that had been the qualifying record, switch of formation and undefeated 2011 had been erased when The FA chose to strip Terry of his captaincy which in-turn forced Capello to feel he had to quit.
England had already qualified for the 2012 European Championships in Ukraine and Poland but needed a manager. Where would England choose their manager from this time? Would it an Englishman or a foreigner? In the end the FA chose to offer it to a bit of both, Roy Hodgson was English but he had spent most of his management career abroad, in the late 70's he had revolutionized Swedish football. Swedish football prior to Hodgson's success had replicated the German game. Teams would play with a sweeper behind a back 3 or 4. The formation in front of the sweeper would man mark, leaving the sweeper to roam and distribute as he saw fit. When Hodgson arrived he implemented the then tradition English 4-4-2 with a more direct style. A major weakness of the sweeper system is how it can be exposed to quick and direct counter attacks. With a sweeper it also becomes difficult to play the offside trap. Roy exposed this and he won the Swedish League seven times with two different clubs, had he not had a short ill fated come back to England with Bristol City, he may have won more. At Malmo he was offered a lifetime contract such was his achievements, both domestically and internationally but he turned it down, instead preferring to move to the Swiss Super League, where he managed Neuchâtel Xamax. The winning continued in Switzerland where he won the Swiss Super Cup in 1990. In the following season, in the UEFA Cup Xamax defeated Celtic 5-2 on aggregate (Rod Stewart was not available for comment) and then beat the mighty Real Madrid 1-0 at home but lost the away leg 4-0. Still for a Swiss league team to beat the mighty La Liga giants that are Real Madrid it showed a lot of quality. Where I first remember Hodgson was in Euro 96, when he managed Switzerland, this meant for the opening game his Swiss team played England. They finished bottom of the group with 1 point. The only point they gained was because of Kubilay Turkilmaz 83rd minute penalty against England in the opener. They even lost to Scotland which showed how bad their tournament went. But they put Scotland out, because Scotland needed to win by two clear goals to displace the Netherlands in the final group standings to progress to the knockout round.
From 1995 to 1997, Hodgson also managed Inter Milan, it was a rebuilding phase for the fallen Inter. Hodgson didn't win anything with Inter but finished 7th and 3rd in his two seasons and reached the last 2 legged UEFA Cup final. Losing to Schalke 04 on penalties. He claimed Inter's president didn't want him to leave but took the Blackburn Rovers managers job, feeling Inter's president wasn't genuine. Blackburn Rovers had won the Premier League in 1995 but after Kenny Dalglish left, they found it hard to repeat the form they had shown during the title win. The sale of Alan Shearer obviously didn't help but still Chris Sutton remained at Blackburn and Hodgson had a good core of players to build with. His first season went well with Rovers finishing 6th and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. The next season didn't go so well, by the 21st of November 1998 Hodgson was out of a job. It seemed after his experiences at Bristol City and Blackburn Rovers, he wasn't meant to manage in England. Several jobs followed , with a added championship in Denmark. A dismal stint in the UAE after that, a job in Norway, a brief spell as Finland's manager and then Hodgson finally got a long spell with a club in England. In December 2007, Fulham were struggling in the Premier League two points from safety and looking pretty good for relegation. Hodgson was a surprising appointment but he managed to keep them up and by 2010 they were playing in Europe eventually losing the Europa League final. His job at Fulham did something to renew his reputation in England, whilst he had a lot of success abroad, his stints at Blackburn and Bristol City had left a large question mark over Hodgson. Which really was unfair given his record in other countries, when Liverpool came calling in 2010 they paid Fulham £2 million for Hodgson's services but by January 2011, Hodgson and Liverpool parted company by mutual consent. He didn't seem a good fit for Liverpool and it was questioned whether he could handle the big name players that Liverpool had. Hodgson pointed to his track record, he had managed at big clubs, international level and won trophies. Still he wasn't popular with the Liverpool fans and with football being a results game his lack of results couldn't save his job.
His last stop prior to being England manager was at West Bromwich Albion, just over a month after leaving Liverpool he replaced Roberto Di Matteo as West Brom manager. West Brom were not in the best of forms losing 13 of the last 18 games. Hodgson came in and turned West Brom around guiding them to 11th, which included a 2-1 defeat of Liverpool, that match became known as "Roy's Revenge". The next season Hodgson went one better and despite accepting the England job in April, he finished the season with West Brom, guiding them to 10th. Prior to the tournament Hodgson had two friendly's to see how he could get the best out of his squad. Wayne Rooney however was suspended for the first two games of the championships, in the final qualifying game for Euro 2012 against Montenegro, Rooney lost the ball in midfield and lashed out. He was shown an instant red card, UEFA imposed a three match ban for violent conduct. Yet again, although this time not because of injury, Rooney's build up to a tournament would be comprised. Rio Ferdinand was not selected for the tournament, Hodgson claimed he wasn't fit enough tournament, many people questioned how much of his un-selection was because of John Terry being in the squad. Terry was to face trial after the tournament on charges for abusing Rio's brother Anton.
England won their two friendly's prior to the tournament, beating Norway for the first time in 32 years one nil and repeating the trick against Belgium. Rooney's ban had been reduced to 2 games, so he would have a rest before the tournament at least. England's group was not the easiest. Ukraine, France and Sweden all occupied Group D, Ukraine being co-hosts of the tournament wouldn't be a easy task and mostly host's do well in their own countries. France were still a good side, they were a constant force in international football and despite it being a classic French squad they were still dangerous. And then there was Sweden, Sweden for whatever reason always played England well. Again for an England coach, he had close ties to Sweden. Whilst not being Swedish like Sven Goran Eriksson, Roy Hodgson had made his name in Sweden and still has a corner of Malmo's stadium named after him. England started with a game against France, I took half a day off work that day, did some other tasks and sat down to watch the game. England took the lead with a Joleen Lescott header but Samir Nasri (Lescott's Manchester City team mate) equalized for France, the game ended 1-1.
In the next game England face Sweden, Sweden is always a tough game and the Swedish team were lead by the ever arrogant Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Born to Yugoslavian parents in Sweden (hence his less than Swedish sounding name) Ibrahimovic was one of the worlds best strikers, he started at Malmo. But after that he played in the top leagues for some of the top clubs in Europe. At that point he had played for Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona and AC Milan. Scoring goals at will wherever he played he was going to be a threat towards England's hopes of advancing to the next round. The match itself was something of a thriller. I lived in an apartment in Kendallville, Indiana at the time so I don't know what the bloke below thought was going on. A one man riot maybe. England opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with a Andy Carroll header, Andy Carroll could win almost anything in the air and Steven Gerrard (now free of the Lampard partnership due to Lampard being injured) crossed a great ball into the box, Carroll did what he does best and scored with a great header. Going into half time England led 1-0 but in the second half Olef Mellberg caused a Glen Johnson own goal after a scrappy turn of events after a Ibrahimovic free kick and then scored a goal that any England centre half would have been proud to score with an outstanding header. At this point Hodgson made changes, in the 61st minute James Milner was removed from the game for Theo Walcott and England now had pace on the right wing, if there's one thing Walcott he's fast, very fast. Walcott's pace added an extra dynamic to the team which stretched Sweden. In the 64th minute, Walcott himself equalized for England with a deflected shot from a corner. His pace cause Sweden caused Sweden constant problems and then in the 78th minute Walcott's pace down the right ripped the Swedish apart his ball into the box allowed Danny Welbeck to back heel the ball into the net, I exploded England now had a lead which they would hang on to and it would turn out to be there first ever competitive victory over Sweden.
England now faced Ukraine in the last game. Swannie sent me a whatsapp message asking me who I was supporting? Silly question, despite my Grandad being Ukrainian, I have never nor will ever support Ukraine, I don't dislike them, I just don't feel anything for them. Wayne Rooney's suspension was over and he was now free to play for England, it was something of a relief. Rooney was still at his peak during this time for Manchester United, and under Capello during qualifying he had done nothing but score. Would England find an extra gear with Rooney's return? England probably only had 3 world class players at the time and he was certainly one of them. After Walcott's game changing performance against Sweden there was calls for him to start instead of the steady James Milner. Whilst James Milner is a very good player, you don't achieve what he has in football if you don't have quality, he didn't have dynamic nature Walcott did and on the wing that is especially important. Hodgson though, played it safe and went with Milner. The rest of the team remained unchanged. Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker looked an effective partnership in the middle. Scott Parker was a talented player and had come to most people's attention when as a young kid he appeared in a McDonalds advert were he managed to do all kinds of kick ups. He was likely a victim of Sven's love of stars and big club players during his younger years. But a move to Chelsea had cut stopped some of his momentum as he rarely played for them. At Euro 2012 it made me wonder how good Gerrard could have been if Parker had been next to him more often in an England shirt. Ukraine needed a win, their goal difference was not enough to see them through if France drew, they needed to beat England but on the 46th minute, Wayne Rooney did something he hadn't done in 8 years for England. Namely score in a tournament, his goal was the only goal in the game that was given despite Ukraine actually had the ball over the line at one point but the referee and the extra referee's assistants didn't give it. Either way now, in 5 games as England manager. Hodgson was yet to be defeated.
Italy awaited in the knockout round, Italy were lead by the fabulous Andrea Pirlo, that man had vision that was beyond belief, the game seemed to be played at walking speed for him but warp for everyone else. He was simply the type of midfielder I would have loved to have been. Laughingly someone once compared Andy King to Andrea Pirlo on twitter, its little wonder why Noel Gallagher referred to Twitter as the play ground of idiots. England couldn't get the ball from Italy and Italy didn't really play that well themselves. England were defensively good at 2012. But Pirlo was the key everything Italy did went through his majestic right foot. He was in total command of the game. Looking back at it, his position was hard to pick up and how could have Hodgson stopped him dominating the game so much? I think having Rooney sit on him would have caused him problems and Hodgson's team was static, he stuck to the starting line up that had started against Ukraine in the last game, meaning no Theo Walcott but James Milner on the right. The game itself was dreadful and dreadful is an understatement. It went to penalties and yet again England lost a shoot out 4-2.
Despite England crashing out in the quarter finals there were signs to be encouraged about, Hodgson only had two games in which to get to know his England side and this was done with out England's best player. But there was signs to be worried about. His preference of Milner on the right wing and Hodgson reverting back to a 4-4-2. Something Capello had been criticized for during the 2010 World Cup but had evolved into a 4-3-3 for the 2012 qualifying. After the tournament John Terry announced he would retire from international football. The issue with Rio and Anton Ferdinand had no doubt played a role in his retirement. Not long after 2012 a court of law found Terry not guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand but the FA found him guilty in their own justice system.
The next World Cup was to be held in Brazil, England were drawn in a group that yet was easily winnable when compared to other teams in the group. Ukraine, Montenegro, Poland, Moldova and Sam Marino gave England a good chance to get to the World Cup. Despite the group's strength England won the group by only a point, they didn't lose a game but yet again the strength of the group had helped England qualify. When England got to the World Cup, the heat and more importantly the humidity was going to an issue. The first game was against Italy and England looked pretty good. Hodgson had evolved into a 4-2-3-1. Daniel Sturridge was the forward with Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling and Danny Welbeck interchanging behind him. It looked fluid and we looked very good. I watched the game in a bar near my wife's families lake house, when Sturridge equalized just two minutes after Italy's opener I screamed but then Pirlo exerted his influence over the game and Italy found the winner. England had lost their opener in the World Cup. Pissed off I walked back to the Lake house, I think it was the first time my wife had seen me mad at the result of a football match. I was annoyed cause I thought England could have got something from that game but again Hodgson had allowed Pirlo to take control of the match. The man was 35, playing in the heat and humidity, moving slowly and yet England couldn't stop him! Telling her dad and uncle about the game, her uncle came out with the line, "you might wanna pick him up". Indeed but there was always another game, Uruguay were England's next opponents, if England lost they would be going home. They at least needed a draw to stay alive in the tournament. Uruguay were lead by Luis Suarez, the supremely talented if not temperamental striker. Suarez had nearly led Liverpool to a league title by allied to a Steven Gerrard slip and a wobble of form later on in the season, Liverpool finished second but the plaudits for Suarez during 2013-2014 were high winning the golden boot and player of the season. Not long after the World Cup he moved to Barcelona, he might have the odd episode were he genuinely goes a bit mad but in front of goal he's lethal. Uruguay had done well at the previous World Cup so this game wasn't going to be easy. It proved to be less than easy, I watched it in the Pint and Slice in Fort Wayne a group of English people watched it together. Emma even turned up in her 1990 replica with 19 on the back. In 1990 Gazza wore 19 for England, we could do with a player like him now. England in all fairness had their chances, Rooney went close several times but it was Suarez for Uruguay who opened the scoring, a deft header beating Joe Hart. England pilled the pressure on until in the 75th minute, Wayne Rooney finally scored a goal at the World Cup finals, having gone goal less in Germany 2006 and South Africa 2010 this was a relief. We had hope, we had looked decent in all reality we could and should have expected more from the game. The amount of chances we had created surely would prove our quality but then a long ball from the back for Uruguay skimmed off Steven Gerrard's head. Suarez would have been off side if Gerrard hadn't have touched it. The England captain was an inch too short if he had been bigger he would have disrupted the flight of the ball more but he wasn't. The ball found Suarez and as he advanced from a now onside position my exact thoughts were, "oh fuck thats cunts gonna.............oh fuck me, we are fucked". England lost to Uruguay, England were out of the World Cup. Costa Rica won the group from Uruguay, Italy and England went home. On paper Costa Rica shouldn't have qualified for the knock out stage but they got through. This group was always going to be hard because of Italy and Uruguay but for Costa Rica to win it showed a team means more than individuals and there individual accolades.
The side Hodgson took to the World Cup wasn't a bad squad but for some reason we just couldn't finish side's, Sturridge was genuinely a good striker, Gerrard was old but was still as good as you could hope to find with an British passport and Hodgson had two years to work with the side not 2 friendly matches. Was it the players or was it the manager not getting the best out of them? I started to wonder. The next game we played Costa Rica and Hodgson knowing England were out picked the b team. Gerrard's final game at a World Cup was the ill fated flick on to Suarez. England finally picked up at point, drawing nil nil. It was England's worst performance at a World Cup, save for the shock by the USA in 1950 (that was one game though). Questions started to be raised about Hodgson, was he the right man? This was normal though and to be expected after a poor performance. The fact England played in all white again wasn't a good omen, the last three tournaments had seen England play in all white, this is never a good omen. Even a switch from Umbro to Nike, saw the all white strip trend continue. Despite Nike's first England kit featuring blue shorts, the kit for the World Cup saw the return of a Real Madrid style kit. It wasn't a bad kit but England in all white is just asking for a loss. The European championships in France awaited England, the championships had been expanded to 24 teams, a bad move by UEFA as the quality of football would suffer. But since the break up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the 90's Europe had a lot more nations, to my mind, the Euro's was the best tournament because it featured only 16 teams. I hate the fact that FIFA will expand the World Cup to 48 teams its mind a awful idea.
Qualifying for Euro 2016 was perfect England couldn't have performed any better but yet again the group was hardly stellar in its competition. Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and San Marino all faced England to qualify for Euro 2016. England conceded only 3 goals during the entire process, won 10 games and scored 31 goals. Wayne Rooney again finished top scorer in the group, against Switzerland he finally beat Bobby Charlton's goal scoring record becoming the first man to score 50 goals in an England shirt. The signs were promising for the Euro's but there is always one thing about qualifying, its something of a phony war and winning a phony war is not going to earn you plaudits or medals. Wayne Rooney was in something of a decline, he had been playing in the Premier League since he was 16, scoring goals since the start and consistently performing well for Manchester United and England (in qualifiers at least). But towards the end of Alex Ferguson, Rooney wasn't quite Rooney any more. He was still good but he wasn't that version of Rooney we'd all known and feared (if he was playing your club). Maybe it was Louis Van Gaal's version of football not suiting him or maybe after 14 years of playing at the top level and not exactly sticking to a Cristiano Ronaldo level of diet, he was slowing down earlier than expected. Rooney always reminded me of my Jack Russell, stocky but lighting when he got going. With his pace declining and his goal's becoming fewer and further between. Rooney was pushed backwards into the midfield, he still was a good passer of the ball and playing in the midfield wouldn't be so bad from that respect. He physically wasn't afraid of getting his foot in and he would be on the ball more which with his vision was seen as a good move. Hodgson saw this and was convinced it was the right move for England. Dropping a man that had just finished top scorer in the qualifiers for the Euro's and broke the goal scoring record was not something Hodgson wanted to do. Plus he had another headache, Harry Kane at Tottenham Hotspurs had emerged into being the next big thing for England. He was scoring goals at Spurs for fun, finishing top scorer in the league that season. Kane was young and the obvious choice going forward to be England's number 9. Kane is as good as its been since Alan Shearer and he might actually be a better all round player than Shearer was. Hodgson also had another headache. Leicester City shocked the world that season by winning the Premier League. The entire Premier League winning starting 11 cost less than Manchester United's left back. Chief amongst the bargains and cast off's that won the title was Jamie Vardy, he had broken Ruud Van Nistleroy's record for scoring in consecutive games against Manchester United to which he politely told the traveling Manchester United fans its all about me now. He was had pace that Michael Owen had in his early years, he could score every type of goal right foot, left foot, head, scrappy and the down right sublime. The goal against Liverpool is one of those things I'll never get tired of watching. Hodgson was in the crowd that night as Vardy scored 2 against Liverpool, a sublime volley and a poachers goal with his left foot. Hodgson's face as Vardy scored his ridiculous first was a smile but deep down he had to think I have to pick him for the Euro's even if he does play for Leicester. He was scoring against any and everyone.
England's group at the Euro's contained Russia, Wales and Slovakia. The opener was against Russia was played with the back drop of ugly scenes. The Russian fans tried their hardest to get to the English fans to fight before, during and after the match. England fans abroad was usually a guaranteed fight or trouble with the local police but in recent times. It seemed to have calmed down but the Russian's wanted to fight and went after the English. The English with the reputation they have were of course treated harshly by the police but as the game went on England beat on Russia's goal but seemingly, through bad finishing or outstanding goalkeeping couldn't break through. That was until the 73rd minute when England won a free kick on the edge of the box. Harry Kane ran over the ball which unnerved the Russian goalkeeper and his Spurs teammate Eric Dier smashed the ball in the top of the net. England had the lead which they deserved, but in stoppage time a looping Russian header beat Joe Hart and the game finished 1-1. For a team that had scored 31 goals in qualifying and for a team that romped through qualifying, something didn't quite seem right. Also why was Harry Kane taking corners? It was a confusing choice, why have your centre forward (who is 6 feet 2 inches) not be on the end of corners? The choice was befuddling at best, still if England set that many chances up, we should be alright shouldn't we?
Wales awaited in the next game, Wales hadn't been to a major tournament since my Dad was 6 years old. For those of you that know when my dad was born that was 1958 World Cup in Sweden and it was so long ago, the European Championships hadn't even started yet. European club football competitions was still in its infancy, the UEFA European Championships started in 1960. Wales were led by Chris Coleman who was a classy defender in his day but had since switched to management. He led Wales to the Euro's with a team built around Gareth Bale. Gareth Bale was a product of Southampton's famed youth system but had made his name for Spurs before a world record transfer fee saw him move to Real Madrid. At Madrid he become an even better player than he already was. His game was more rounded and had even added heading to his game. It was Bale that opened the scoring in the 42nd minute with a dipping free kick, Joe Hart was at fault for the goal. The ball did dip hugely but for the length of time it took to get to him, he should have pushed it round the corner. But he didn't and the Welsh went mad. At half time Hodgson made changes, the struggling Sterling and Kane were removed from the game to be replaced by Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge. It was at least encouraging that Hodgson would do this if players were struggling. It was Vardy that got England back level with a poachers goal, he would have been offiside but the ball came off a Welsh head before it got to Vardy. Vardy didn't care and lashed it in the net, it was 1-1. England had their chances and so did the Welsh. But in stoppage time Daniel Sturridge gave the ball to Delle Alli, the ball made its way to Vardy who gave Sturridge the ball back. Then Sturridge with his weaker right foot beat the Welsh keeper on his near post. The English portion of the stadium erupted and Welsh hearts broke. England had their first win of Euro 2016 and it was made extra special by it being against Wales. May be like Euro 96 when England had beaten Scotland this would be a catalyst for an improvement in performances. Hodgson wasn't afraid of pulling of players off either, this was good maybe it will give players like Harry Kane, Adam Lallana and Raheem Sterling a kick in the arse. Especially since Marcus Rashford, Jame Vardy and Daniel Sturidge had all performed so well when they came on.
Slovakia were England's next opponents and final group stage game. Hodgson rung the changes, at right back Kyle Walker was replaced by Nathaniel Clyne. At left back Ryan Bertrand replaced Danny Rose. In the midfield Jordan Henderson replaced Delle Alli. Jamie Vardy replaced Harry Kane up top and there was one further change which saw Jack Wilshire replace Wayne Rooney. I'll make this clear now, Jack Wilshire should never have been picked for Euro 2016. Not because he isn't a good player, but because before the tournament he had played 141 minutes of first team football for Arsenal. Jack Wilshire is a sad case, he has talent, he has vision uncommonly found in an english player, his passing is superb but he always seems to be injured. Even Darren Anderton wasn't injured as much as Jack Wilshire. All to often he has lost portions, if not whole seasons to injuries. It really is sad for him because he is a very good player. Hodgson was a fan of his and despite his lack of fitness took him, a waste of a shirt and it made me all the more mad because at Leicester. Danny Drinkwater had played magnificently all season. His passing was a thing of beauty, he knew where Vardy would be in a instant and found him. The season he had put in was one almost of the complete midfielder, he only really lacked goals. But Hodgson couldn't pick another Leicester player. One was enough! Its what it seemed like anyway. England played a turgid nil nil draw. Wilshire struggled, his fitness and lack of game time showed. England still qualified for the knock out stage and so did Slovakia but it was a poor performance.
Iceland awaited in the knock out round, England restored Walker, Rose, Alli, Rooney and Kane. But replaced Lallana with Sturridge. England's forward line had been poor all tournament. Vardy, Rashford and Sturridge all looked more threatening then the woeful Lallana, Kane and Sterling. England needed a performance and what England got was a performance, it just happened to be one of the worst performances ever. Rooney opened the scoring in the 4th minute with a penalty but from that point on England fell apart. Kyle Walker allowed Ragnar Sigurðsson an easy chance and he made no mistake. Iceland had their equalizer. The second goal was down to Joe Hart. Goalkeepers make mistakes, when they make mistakes though, there isn't a lot to save them. Hart to my mind had been on the decline for a little while, he was capable of tremendous saves but more than ever now he was struggling to go a whole game without dropping a howler. Its little wonder when Pep Guardiola took over at Manchester City, he banished Joe Hart almost immediately. After some short passes at the top of the England box Kolbeinn Sigþórsson picked the ball up and let go what really was a tame shot. In no way should it have gone in, but it did. As the ball pathetically trickled over the line England's Euro 2016 was over. For the rest of the game, an idea less England toiled away but produced nothing, there was some chances but nothing that would or could threaten Iceland's lead. As the full time whistle blew. England faced boo's and it was absolutely the worst performance I can remember England playing. It just seemed so un-inventive and turgid. It was made no better when someone who is English and believed England would win the 2006 World Cup text me laughing. I've always thought he was a footballing simpleton but to not be hurt by that result proved he wasn't a proper football fan. Yes England did deserve to lose but to laugh wasn't called for, I was then told cause I lived in another country it was different for me, which is complete and utter shit. I could live on the moon and support England or Leicester City in the same manner I do now. Some people I guess just don't feel loyalty to a shirt or badge.
The tournament as a whole was a let down, despite beating Wales. England felt like a team without a plan. Leadership was lacking, I never liked Rooney as captain and it seemed the coaching staff wasn't really that interested. Why Harry Kane was allowed to take corners in the first game, why? Almost everyone was aghast at the stupidity of that decision. Its not as if his corners were any good cause they looked he was just toe poking the ball at the penalty spot. Having favorite players and sticking by them no matter what. Sterling and Kane in particular were very poor yet he kept picking them. Wayne Rooney wasn't a good enough striker so you pushed him back into midfield? Just so he could play? I would have understood IF England had stuck to a 4-2-3-1 but they switched to a 4-3-3. Rooney was probably still pass as good as any English midfielder in terms of passing but his natural game wasn't a midfielder. Taking a clearly unfit Jack Wilshire, despite players like Mark Noble and Danny Drinkwater playing well all season. The two appearances Jack Wilshire had, were lamentable, caused by Wilshires understandable lack of fitness. Bringing him on at half time against Iceland and expecting him to turn the game around was another level of favoritism. Loyalty to players that really weren't good enough. I've never rated Gary Cahill, together with Chris Smalling, England were going to be exposed sooner rather than later. A forward line that was embarrassingly blunt despite having Kane finishing top scorer in the Premier League. In Euro 2016 Kane looked absolutely lost and not even half the player he'd been all season at Spurs. A coach who was tactically lost at times. How did the formation work, how did you play off Kane? England had possibly 17 good players that they could build a decent team around but Hodgson stuck to his favorites. An example of this was England played Germany in Germany in a friendly. England at one point were 2-0 down but Hodgson changed things brought on Vardy, played two up top and pushed the full backs on and England won 3-2 (with a sublime Vardy goal). The England team that night did not feature Wayne Rooney, Dele Alli got the man of the match award from the BBC. Jamie Vardy was not one of his favorites though, from playing him on the wing to outright ignoring him despite his great club form. Hodgson did all he could to avoid playing Vardy. Was it cause he was a Leicester player or was it cause he didn't know how to integrate him into the side? In France, his midfield was ineffective. Alli was sort of lost in the team, like his Spurs teammate Harry Kane he looked a shell of the player that had been so good in the Premier League. A lot of people hate Alli but he's a very good player on his day. Eric Dier was decent until he got ill against Iceland and Rooney was there cause he didn't have the balls to drop him for a more natural midfielder.
After the Iceland debacle, Hodgson resigned, it was a good thing. He looked like a man that didn't want to be there and the teams performances showed. Yes the players didn't perform but the manager/coach sets the tone. Hodgson's tone seemed to be, I want to be at home not here and it showed. It likely rubbed off on the players too. England had a decent squad but as a whole they performed badly. Roy Hodgson is a decent manager and doing a good job at Palace now, but the end of tenure as England manager left a bitter taste in the mouth.
So where would England look now? Of course the press drew up a shortlist, Alan Pardew, the then Crystal Palace manager was mentioned, Eddie Howe of Bournemouth was mentioned, Gary Neville, Roy Hodgson's assistant was also linked to the role, Gareth Southgate the England Under 21 head coach was mentioned but The FA chose Sam Allardyce. Big Sam as he was readily known was a big northern Englishman who in another life could have been a character from Phoenix Nights. He was something of a miracle worker. Just like in the A Team if you had problems, if you could find the A Team they would help you. Big Sam was a bit like that, if your team was in relegation problems and you needed to be dug out of a hole. Call Big Sam up, he'll turn up in his 2005 Mercedes S Class and save the day, then promptly leave once the season was over. Big Sam had a long and journeyman like career playing although most of his career had been spent at Bolton Wanderers, he had also played in NASL (in the USA, a league that pre dates the MLS) and in the Irish League. He first came to my attention whilst managing Notts County, taking to the Third Division title (now Leauge Two but used to be called Division Four) in 1998. Not long after he moved to Bolton where he made his name, getting Bolton to the Premier League and guiding them to four top 10 finishes in a row, a League Cup Final and UEFA Cup qualification. A short spell at Newcastle followed by two years at Blackburn Rovers followed. He got West Ham back into the Premier League but after 4 years of criticisms because of his perceived long ball style he left in 2015. He was out of management when Sunderland came calling in 2015 when Dick Advocaat left Sunderland 19th in the table and looking a good to be relegated. Big Sam kept Sunderland up at the expense of his former club Newcastle. By becoming Sunderland manager he became the first man to manage both Sunderland and Newcastle. England came calling and Allardyce is a proud Englishman and accepted the job straight away. After the debacle of Euro 2016 it was important to restore some pride and performance to the English players. What happened was something rather different. The train wreck that had been Euro 2016 still lingered over the team, the lack of confidence clearly showed and England struggled to get a shot on target it took till the 65th minute of the game for England to register a shot on target and that was from the lamentable Rooney. It wasn't until the 95th minute when Slovakia who were down to 10 men conceded. Adam Lallana forced a shot a in and mercifully England took all 3 points.
The story of Big Sam the England manager ends there. Big Sam comes across a bit like a second hand car salesman, he might sell you that Ford Fiesta for a grand cheaper and he might tell you he's getting you a good deal but what's he doing is actually not a good deal. The Daily Telegraph is a news paper in the UK and on the 26th of September they published video footage of Sam Allardyce explaining ways of how a fictitious company could get round rules of owning players rights by a third party. Third parties owning players rights had been an issue since Allardyce's former club West Ham United signed Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano had been signed not from there club Corinthians (of Brazil) but from two third party organizations called MSI and Global Soccer Agencies. The Premier League investigated the issue and fined West Ham a record £5.5 million. Sheffield United weren't so lucky and suffered the most from this. West Ham and gone through a bad season finding themselves in a relegation battle, on the last day of the season Tevez scored against Manchester United and kept West Ham up at the expense of Sheffield United. Tevez was later found to be ineligble as his contract was not owned by West Ham. Sheffield United sued to keep their Premier League status but it was rejected. When it failed they went to an FA court of abritration claiming £30 million. The arbitration panel found in Sheffield United's favor, West Ham and Sheffield United settled out of court for an undisclosed figure. Corruption in football is nothing new, just the season prior to the Tevez/Marscherano/West Ham deal, a major corruption case had erupted in Italy which saw Juventus stripped of two league titles and demoted to Serie B. The Premier League and its over lord The English FA were keen to keep corruption out of the English game but now 9 years after the Tevez incident, the English National Football team manager was now condoning and providing ways of getting round rules to aid what some called slavery. Other comments in the video didn't help his cause, calling his predecessor Roy Hodgson, "Woy". Hodgson had a slight speech impediment which affected him when he said his R's, which was unfortunate when his name began with a R. Making comments about Hodgson's assistant Gary Neville and saying HM Revenue and Customs Service were the most corrupt organization in the world. On the 27th of September, Sam Allardyce resigned as England head coach, further allegations where by this time published in the Telegraph about "bungs" that were given during transfers. A "bung" is a bribe made to help transfers along, one had famously brought down George Graham of Arsenal in the mid 90's, when Arsenal brought John Jensen, sad thing was John Jensen wasn't very good and George Graham lost his job because of it. This wasn't the first time things of this nature were leveled against Allardyce, a BBC panorama documentary had exposed allegations against his son Craig Allardyce, which implicated Sam Allardyce amongst others. Then in 2014 Ravel Morrison, said he felt pressured to sign with Allardyces agent. Who represented a number of other West Ham players. Considering Terry Venables was not renewed before Euro 1996 due to his probity, it was almost ridiculous that a man such as Sam Allardyce was even considered to be the focal point of the FA's most visible position.
In all fairness I liked the appointment of Sam Allardyce, his style when he kept teams up was organized and they often produced results when they shouldn't have. His time at Bolton showed some quality. Bolton before Big Sam had been a Premier League but he cemented their place making them a tough to beat team, who twice qualified for Europe. But ultimately his resignation paved the way for Gareth Southgate to become England manager. Southgate was a solid defender, not the biggest, not the fastest but a good reader of the game with a great footballing mind. He started his playing career at Crystal Palace as a midfielder. As club captain he helped Palace win the 1st Division in 1993/94 and they went back to the Premier League. In 1995 Crystal Palace were relegated from the Premier League, Aston Villa paid £2.5 million for his services. It was at Villa that then Villa manager Brian Little converted Southgate in a central defender. Whilst he was a smaller centre half, what he really had in his favor was, he was less hurried on the ball and it allowed him to read the game better. English football at the time was going through a transitional state where possession football was being favored over the more direct play of the 1970's and 1980's. At Villa he won the League Cup in 1996 and by Euro 96 he was a England regular. He started every Euro 96 game alongside Tony Adams looking a natural, he was undoubtedly one of England's star during Euro 96. But his most infamous night in a England shirt also came during Euro 96 when he missed the vital penalty against Germany in the semi finals. In 2001 he moved to Middlesbrough after growing fed up at Villa. There he won his second League Cup and continued to play for England although not as regularly until 2004. In 2006 he retired from playing and became Middlesborough's manager replacing Steve McLaren who had become England manager.
When Southgate was appointed Middlesborough manager, it wasn't a smooth transition, he didn't have the required coaching qualifications. This caused quite a stir but Middlesborough argued that with Southgate's recent international duties (he played until international football until he was 34) had stopped him taking his coaching courses. The FA and the Premier League agreed and Southgate was allowed to continue as Middlesborough's manager. In his first season Southgate guided Middlesborough to 12th which beat the previous season's 14th under the departed Steve McLaren. In December 2007 Arsene Wenger praised Southgate suggesting he would someday be the England coach. By November 2008 Southgate had Middlesborough in 8th position in the league, but a run of poor form saw 1 win in 14 games and saw Middlesborough fall in to the relegation zone. Calls for his dismal followed during the poor run of form, relegation was looming and for a club to lose their Premier League status would be damaging in every respect but Middlesbrough's owner and chairman, Steve Gibson, would decline to fire him. Claiming the firing of Southgate would not do the club any good. Southgate finished the season as Middlesbrough manager and they finished 19th. They finished 3 points from safety, relegation to the Championship followed, despite this Southgate kept his job until October 2009, when despite beating Derby 2-0 and sitting 4th in the Championship. Gibson fired him unexpectedly, he said that it was in the best interests in the club despite Middlesbrough doing well in the championship and much to the fans confusion. Why wasn't he fired during Middlesbrough's poor run in the Premier League the season before?
Southgate moved into an administration role in 2011, working for the FA as the head of elite development. Basically working on ways to implement Sir Trevor Brooking's 25 point plan to improve coaching of English youth players and increase the quality of players. Southgate left the role after 18 months, but by 2013 he was working for the FA again, but this time as Head Coach with England's Under 21 team. England had long had a decent Under 21 set up, often doing what the senior team couldn't and win tournaments. Southgate replaced Stuart Pearce, who despite all the passion he had showed in an England or Nottingham Forest shirt never could replicate the level he had reached as a player. After two poor showings at Under 21 tournaments, the FA decided a new direction was needed to help nurture the youth of England so Southgate took over and had a good record. Winning 27 of 33 games as Under 21 coach, but 2 of his 3 losses as head coach were at the 2015 European championships leading to England's exit at the group stage. When Hodgson resigned as England head coach in 2016 after the dismal performance at Euro 2016, Southgate was considered for the head coach role but the FA turned to Big Sam Allardyce due to his more established club record (albeit with the Bolton's, Blackburns and Newcastle of the world). When Allardyce resigned the FA went back to Southgate and asked him to take the role of caretaker. Effectively giving him four games with which to prove he could do something with the role.
In his first game in charge England won 2-0 against Malta hardly a stellar performance but after 2016 and the turmoil of Allardyce's micro reign, a return to form was going to be a work in progress. A goalless draw against Slovenia followed but two good performances helped Southgate win the job. A 3-0 victory over Scotland, which for any England manager is a good result and this was followed by a 2-2 draw with Spain. England had been leading 2-0 at one stage but faded in the second half. Spain showing a bit tactical nouse to recover from a losing position, the next day on honeymoon in London. I was getting a bacon sandwich when I was talking to the two blokes at the stand. They were disappointed by the result but I countered whilst it wasn't perfect to lose a two goal lead it was better than the awful performances that Hodgson's England had given us just 4 months earlier in France. They agreed, shoots of recovery where starting, an identity was being found again, the majority of the players that had performed so badly in France now looked reinvigorated and been given clear instruction on how to play, something that was clearly lacking in France under Hodgson and his coaching team. England qualified as group winners, which wasn't unusual for England football teams, Unlike 2016 there performances weren't quite as eye catching and some performances weren't quite what they should have been. A nervy 2-2 draw in Scotland didn't help the jitters, but a captains performance from Harry Kane saw England level the game after awful defending by Gary Cahill. Which was handy as I was quite drunk and distraught at the thought of the looming loss to the Scots, for most of that game Scotland had kept England at bay until Alex Oxlade-Camberlain (has to be the poshiest name to ever grace a England shirt) scored in the 70th minute. He had replaced the lackluster Marcus Rashford, who hadn't found his grove. In the 87th minute Gary Cahil committed a foul. Lee Griffiths stepped up and beat Joe Hart directly from the free kick. Jake Livermore slipped and committed a foul about 25 yards out, Griffiths stepped up and again beat Joe Hart on his right post. I couldn't fucking believe it, from winning the game we were losing to the jock bastards. Then in stoppage time, an Eric Dier free kick was blocked, Kyle Walker managed to stop a Scottish break. He found Raheem Sterling who played a beautiful ball back into the Scottish box, in the box waited Harry Kane. Kane did what Kane does so well and equalized for England, the looks of joy on the Scottish faces were reduced to sadness. However the English faces were over the moon. The Scotland game was the last time England dropped points in the group, beating Malta 4-0, Slovakia 2-1, Slovenia 1-0 and finishing off the qualifying with a 1-0 victory in Vilnius, as they defeated Lithuania.
With World Cup qualification clinched against Slovenia, Southgate could relax, considering the state he found the national team in, he'd done a good job, nothing spectacular but workmen like. During this relaxed period Southgate began to plan for the World Cup, his formation was under consideration, his goalkeeper was certainly going to be analyzed as Joe Hart was certainly declining and all positions seemed to be open. Your club didn't warrant your international selection it seemed, your form did. The Slovenia victory had wrapped up qualification for the World Cup, in the next game Southgate decided a new formation was needed. When Chelsea won the league in 2016/2017, Antonio Conte had switched Chelsea to a 3-4-3 formation. After starting the season playing the default 4 at the back, Chelsea were mauled 3-0 on the 24th of September (my wedding day) by Arsenal. From that point on, Conte switched to his preferred 3-4-3 and Chelsea never looked back, running away with the league. Many teams tried a 3-4-3 after Chelsea's dominance running the system but no one was quite as dominant or caused the over loads that Chelsea did. Chelsea were aided though by a natural wing back in Marcus Alonso, the superb N'golo Kante, the sublime Eden Hazard and the outrageous Diego Costa. Southgate along with everyone else in football noticed this, the problem with the now default 4-2-3-1 formation was it could and would isolate a central striker. Harry Kane was especially prone to this, because a big part of his game is to drop off deeper. From the Lithuania game onwards, Southgate experimented with a 3 man back line. It was something England had done 20 years ago under Glen Hoddle and once disastrously under Steve McLaren in Croatia but since then it was a rare thing for a England team to play 3 centre halves. Although Fabio Capello's first game as England head coach had seen a 5-4-1 formation employed.
During qualification for the World Cup, Wayne Rooney was not selected by Southgate, his club form had dipped and he had also been injured. A move back to Everton seemed to reinvigorate Rooney, but then Southgate did select Rooney again, but Rooney decided to decline selection, preferring to focus on Everton. At 31, it did seem rather young to retire from international football but he had been playing for England since he was 18. Rooney had already announced plans to retire after the World Cup. Rooney is England's greatest ever goalscorer, the sad thing, most of his goals came against former Soviet Republic's in qualifying. When major tournaments came round by mostly no fault of his own he failed to match the performances he had so often delivered for England. But football moves on, Rooney will likely be England's record goalscorer for my life time but his lack of production of at major tournaments will sadly blight his outstanding contribution to England.
The World Cup was to be held in Russia, England had bid for the 2018 World Cup but despite having the best club stadiums in the world, the English bid was denied due to FIFA corruption. In all fairness the Russian World Cup actually turned out to be a very good World Cup and not just for the neutral but for a England fan for a change. The squad that Southgate took to the World Cup was England's youngest ever and the third youngest squad at the World Cup overall. It was a bold move by Southgate it wasn't the first time a England coach had used the line we are building for the future but with Southgate's short tenure as England coach it did seem to have credibility. As is usual England played two warm up games before the World Cup started, the opponents in those games were Nigeria and Costa Rica, England both times came out victorious. Southgate had stuck to his 3 men at the back idea but added an extra twist. Kyle Walker came in as almost a sweeper. He isn't the best defender in the world, he's a very good right back and one that excels at pushing forward, his pace and athleticism aid his forays down the right side. But Southgate took a bold step and played him as part of the back three. It was a odd move but one that strangely worked. As the World Cup itself started the back three took its shape, with Walker joined by his clubmate John Stones, and Leicester City's Harry Maguire. Maguire had enjoyed a very good season for Leicester City, replacing Robert Huth in the line up and despite Claude Puel's best efforts looked rather good all season. Like Stone's he was good on the ball and often pushed forward from his left centre back spot. The rest of the team was made up of Everton's Jordan Pickford, Pickford had endured a torrid couple of season's, relegation with Sunderland and a big money move to Everton which wasn't made any easier with Ronald Koeman's firing during the season. Sam Allardyce came in and got Everton going but Pickford won the England number 1 shirt despite competition from Stoke City's Jack Butland. Unlike Capello in 2010, Southgate knew his goalkeeper going into the tournament. He wanted to avoid any Robert Green like situations. Pickford is a smaller keeper, physically he isn't in the David Seaman mould of keepers but where he is superb is his kicking, he has an absolute hammer of a left foot. The right wing back role was filled by Kieran Trippier, the Spurs right back who had an ability with set pieces that would become crucial to England. The left wing back was Ashley Young, despite being right footed, he was played on his unnatural side, but his own with ability with a set piece he was also to be crucial. The midfield saw Jordan Henderson sit behind Delle Alli and Jesse Lingard. Lingard was an odd choice, I'm not a fan of his but overall he did a decent job, I know some Manchester United fans that aren't so complimentary about him. For me Ruben Loftus-Cheek of Chelsea who had a great season on loan at Crystal Palace would have been a better choice but Southgate saw something in Lingard (still wondering what it was). Up front Southgate obviously chose Harry Kane, Kane was his captain and is the best choice for an England striker. The next choice was not as obvious and I can't begin to explain the thinking, wearing number 10 for England was Raheem Sterling. Sterling had played on as a winger in 4-3-3 for Manchester City. He scored a lot of goals and had his best season to date at Man City. Pep Guardolia had sparked Sterling into form not seen since his early Liverpool days under Brendan Rodgers. His mobility was likely key to Southgate's decision. But where it really failed was the fact he wasn't a natural striker. On the bench sat Jamie Vardy and Marcus Rashford, while Vardy was 31 and likely facing his last major competition for England. Marcus Rashford was very much the up and comer but Southgate prefered Sterling. Out of position, we never got to see the best of Sterling.
The World Cup draw saw England placed in group G for Russia 2018 along with Belgium, Tunisia and Panama. On paper England should along with Belgium qualify for the next round of the World Cup. While Tunisia were to be unpredictable, England should beat them but African teams are notorious to predict, especially in a tournament played in the summer. And finally Panama, a loss to them would be horrific. Panama had knocked the USA out in qualifying, a match which caused Alexi Lalas to almost melt down into a ginger puddle such was his disappointment/disgust with the USA and United States Soccer Federation. Nike had given England a classic kit, a mainly white shirt, navy blue shorts and plain white socks which saw England capture something of the look of 1966. Unlike 2016 it was a thing of beauty and no red socks, which I had absolutely hated. It had been a feature of Nike's templates for 2016/2017 that shirts and shorts match but socks differed. It wasn't a good look, Manchester City had a terrible kit that season. Nike went classic with 2018's kit and nailed it. The away kit was also red which was also a beauty, red shirt, white shorts and red socks, it gets no better for a England away kit, no greys or blues. It was so nice for a change to have a nice kit.
For the first since I had lived in the states, ESPN were not showing the World Cup, instead Fox was showing the World Cup. The growth of the game in the USA was getting bigger every year, the MLS had grown ever since its inception in 1996, the English Premier League was now on regular TV nearly every week and so Fox decided to stump up a reputed $200 million (although some reports put it closer to $425 million) for the rights to the next 3 world cups. Which was great, why wouldn't Fox want to do that, the USA hadn't missed a World Cup since 1986 and were getting quite respected around the world for being a solid team. But then the USA failed to qualify and Fox's $200 million seemed to be money not so well spent. Its common now for women to be involved in the TV teams presenting games, like the male pundits and commentators, there are good and there are bad. Fox decided that England should get a Scotsman in Derek Rae (who is a solid commentator in his own right) and an American woman in Aly Wagner. At times its painful hearing American men talking about football, Kyle Martino on NBC Sports is particularly bad at talking bollocks. If my wife had a $1 for every time I called him a cunt when watching football, we wouldn't have a mortgage. His waffling, the fact he played in the MLS, which is still viewed as sub championship level of football. And perhaps most maddingly saying Leicester City were making progress under Claude Puel as they sank quicker than the Titanic. There's also an American guy in a Facebook group I'm in, who defended Claude Puel numerous times, even going as far as praising the combination of Ndidi and Mendy! After Leicester had been torn apart by Wolves, he called them normally reliable! I asked him if he watched the games because he clearly couldn't be. He clung. The most annoying American habit when it comes to football is when they call penalties, PK's. Its beyond annoying. Listening to Aly Wagner nearly drove me mad, what was she doing? Stating the obvious, using terms that were just nonsense, and almost ruining my enjoyment of the World Cup.
In the first game England played Tunisia, just like France 98 but unlike France 98 it wasn't so straight forward. England wearing all red dominated the statistics that don't count, the possession and the shots on goal but despite Harry Kane's 11th minute opener, England couldn't find a second goal. Then in the 35th minute, Kyle Walker did what Walker is quite famous for, being a bit thick. As an innocuous ball came across the box, he elbowed a Tunisian, why he thought he could and should do that is beyond me. Maybe he was reacting to something earlier in the match or may be he was just being thick. Watching on my phone I wondered what he was doing?! Anyway the penalty was awarded, Ferjani Sassi stood up and despite Jordan Pickford going the right way, he just didn't quite get to it but his time would come when it came to penalties. Just before half-time Lingard hit the post, as the ball bounced off the outside of the post, I thought it's going to be one of them kind of games, typical England. As the game drew to a close, a draw was a very real possibility, but England won a corner, Kieran Trippier sent the ball in, a Tunisian defender stopped Harry Maguire getting a header but as the ball deflected off him it found Harry Kane at the back post, who much like his first goal scored another poachers goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time. England finally found a break through, a pile of Englishmen amassed in the corner, ecstatic and relieved that the second goal had finally been scored. The country blew a sigh of relief as the beer rained down through the celebrations, a win in the World Cup hadn't happened since England beat Slovenia in South Africa 2010. However hard it had been, a victory at the World Cup was a great start to the campaign.
The next game was against Panama, after Iceland in 2016 and with England's struggles to beat Tunisia, I was somewhat worried. As I got up at the lake I was relieved to see England roll Panama over, a Harry Kane hat trick (two penalties and an obnoxious deflection), two goals from John Stones and a Jessie Lingard curler saw England hit six at the World cup to record a 6-1 victory. England's largest victory at a World Cup qualified them for the second round of the World Cup. Something England hadn't done in Brazil four years previously, with qualification for the knockouts assured Southgate decided to field a weakened side in the final group match against Belgium, making 8 changes. Winning the group would have seen a tougher route to the final, finishing second in the group made the route to the final on paper look easier. In the game that followed not a lot happened but Adrian Januzaj 51st minute goal sealed a victory for Belgium. Ironically just a few years prior he could have chosen to play for England or so it was thought. But Januzaj didn't have the required residency requirements to play for England, so the naturalization route was shut on him. However the list of countries he could have played for was long, Serbia, Turkey, Albania and Croatia all could have been his country to represent. Even Kosovo was mentioned despite not being a full recognized independent state or FIFA member at that point. Eventually Januzaj chose the country of his birth. The loss left England in second and they would face Colombia next in the knockout round, as luck would have it for the English, James Rodriguez had hurt his hamstring and was going to miss the game. After seeing a performance of his, earlier in the tournament, I was very relieved. He can be on his day a very special and talented player.
Against Colombia, England didn't play well, infact over the whole tournament you could say this was the worst England played. Colombia without their star player James, resorted to dirty tactics. It was one of the ugliest games of football I think I've ever seen at a World Cup. England went close a couple of times, then in the 57th minute, Carlos Sanchez rugby tackled Harry Kane in the box, for his trouble's he was booked and to rub salt into this wound, Kane converted the penalty. England looked like they might hang on, a wonderful save from Pickford forced a corner. But in the 93rd minute, a Colombian corner was swung in, Mina beat Maguire in the air and the bounced over Trippier on the post and found its way in the net. Instead of scraping through to the quarter finals England now faced extra time. In a game that had been so bereft of quality in front of goal, the thought of penalties was only 30 minutes away. Penalties, that most stressful of words to any England fan, as is usual the game did indeed go to a penalty shootout. England went second, meaning they had to match whatever Colombia did, nerves ramped up. I had watched the game at work, clocking out when I should have and watched the remaining 15 minutes in my cubicle. When the game went to extra time, I drove to the nearest bar near work, there I found Ricardo who is in fact from Venezuela but his best man at his wedding was a Colombian and he was traveling to Baltimore were Ricardo was getting married. As the penalties started, I adopted a nervous posture waiting for a red shirt to miss, there had to be at least one right? Kane matched Falaco's earlier effort, Rashford matched Cuadrado effort, Muriel scored for Colombia but the miss happened. Jordan Henderson who had been enjoying an effective World Cup stepped up but saw his penalty saved by David Ospina. My heart sunk, the slope was slippery, who was next to miss for England? Uribe stepped up and whacked the bar! "Fuck me I yelled!" We weren't dead yet! Trippier stepped up and put his penalty in the top left corner, it was level again! Earlier, I mentioned Pickford's time on penalties was to come and now was his moment. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, Bacca was the next Colombian penalty taker, he put the ball on the spot, walked back to just inside of the 18 yard box as Pickford bounced watching him, Bacca began his run and struck the ball well. Pickford dived to his right, the same direction Bacca had struck the ball but it was going above his body, but with his left arm, he reached and he saved the kick! I screamed and banged the bar so hard my hands hurt, "FUCKING COME ON!!!!", I yelled in absolute joy much to the confusion of the customers in Mad Anthony's. Then Eric Dier stepped up, Dier is not a popular player amongst England fans, he's a bit slow, doesn't command a range of passing and is seemingly there cause he's a Southgate favorite (every manager has them, no matter how good or bad). But Dier stepped up with the weight of a nation on his shoulders, score and England would win. Miss and it would be into the lottery that is sudden death. Southgate had told the players to own the moment, if anyone knew about missing penalties on the biggest stage it was him. It was his penalty at Wembley in 1996 that put England out of Euro 96. Dier stood up and converted the penalty, once more I yelled as my elation went wild, Ricardo recorded the whole thing. His best friend would get off an aeroplane to hear a half drunk Englishman's joy as his Colombian team was beaten on penalties. As the English players, fans and nation celebrated, Bacca no doubt wanted the ground to swallow him whole, no one understands the pain of a penalty shoot out miss like Gareth Southgate. Southgate offered commiserations to Bacca, for as unsporting and ugly as Colombia had played all game, Southgate could have celebrated with his players but instead, he offered a sporting move and a kind gesture. Southgate was not only winning in the World Cup, he was being a gentleman. Was there anything this man couldn't do right at the moment?
In the quarter finals awaited Sweden, Sweden always give England a hard match, the styles of play in Sweden and England are very similar hence why many Swedes transition well to the English game. The influence of English Roy (Roy Hodgson) and English Bob (Bob Houghton) had put a very english influence on the Swedish game. The Swedish love of 4-4-2 is almost religion, I've never known the Swedish nation team to play with anything but a 4-4-2, counter attacking, big centre halves and a big man to play off. The influence of English football was far and deep reaching in the Swedish game. In the previous round Sweden had dispatched Switzerland in one of the worst games of the World Cup, sloppy play covered the whole game. Dave text me, telling me "we'll beat either of these, they are both shit". I hoped so, hoping to avoid Aly Wagner and her drivel, I attempted to watch the game on the proxy, watching the BBC's excellent coverage, I became instantly homesick......Fox's coverage was adequate but Aly Wagner coupled to a guy who couldn't say Moscow (why do American's say the W? Its silent in Moscow) was near on unbearable. Due to the excitement in England, the BBC iPlayer crashed, almost five million people tried using the iPlayer that day, so I had to switch to the Fox coverage but happily, Aly Wagner wasn't a part of the commentary team, so I didn't have to irritated by her nonsense for 90 minutes. I wish I could be positive about her but good grief she was shockingly bad. England wearing again wearing all red kicked off against the Swedes, in the 30th minute England won a corner, Ashley Young sent the ball in where it found Harry Maguires massive head, he made no mistakes and opened the scoring for England. Not only had England scored, a Leicester City player who had become a big part of the side had scored. To say I was happy is a understatement, most of my neighbourhood heard me yell as Maguire ran off to the corner. I don't think I sat down for the entire first half. Just two years before Maguire was watching England in France as a fan. Playing for Premier League strugglers Hull City, he wasn't considered for the national team and went to France to watch England's efforts. Not long after England scored a long Henderson ball put Sterling through, Raheem Sterling had enjoyed a stellar season for Manchester City scoring 23 goals in all competitions, helping Manchester City to win the Premier League with a record points haul and win the League cup. But for England, Sterling was not played in his natural position a winger, he was played as a striker, although he can play as a striker, he's not naturally inclined to. As he controlled Henderson's long ball, he could have taken a shot earlier but seemingly low on confidence he fluffed his lines. If he had scored England would have had a 2-0 lead and with Sweden not really showing much going forward it would have ended the game. However he fluffed his lines and the ball went out for a corner, what could have been if a natural striker had been in that position? Although with his club from what had happened to Sterling for England? In the 59th minute Delle Alli sealed the game, Delle (as he prefers to be known) hadn't enjoyed the best of World Cup's, hampered by a groin strain and maybe hampered by Southgates system he hadn't been the player, he can be at Spurs. But his header from Jessie Lingard's cross surely put England in the semi finals? Jordan Pickford kept a clean sheet with a great save early in the second half and another great save later in the second half. As the final whistle blew, England were going to the World Cup semi finals, before the tournament, several "funny" American's had made comments about England's chances at the tournament despite their own country's non-appearance at the World Cup, now England stood one game away from the final and for the second time in my life, England were in the World Cup semi finals.
In the semi finals England met Croatia, led by the immensely talented Luka Modric they would be no push over and England would have to play their most complete game of the tournament to beat Croatia. To get to the semi finals Croatia had taken a longer path then most, their round of 16 match against Denmark had gone to penalties after playing a 1-1 draw out after extra time. In the quarter final's they played the host's Russia again another penalty shoot out was required as despite taking the lead in the extra time, Russia equalized but in the eventual penalty shootout Russia went out to Croatia. England awaited in the semi's, it was going to be a hard game no matter which way you looked at it. England and Croatia had played each other pretty evenly during Croatia's time as a independent nation. The game was played on a Wednesday afternoon, as I came home I had a little while to wait so I cleaned up a little bit, listened to the radio from home and awaited the game to start. Southgate remained faithful to all of those that had got him to this stage meaning Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Delle, Henderson, Lingard, Young, Sterling and Kane (the captain) all started. England were the designated home team and wore their white shirts but due to a clash of colours wore white shorts. England wearing all white is never a good omen but in the 5th minute Delle was tripped up on the edge of the box and up stepped Kieran Trippier. The "Bury Beckham" then proceeded to step up and imitate his idol in the best possible way, as Trippier stepped up, the Fox commentator commented that Trippier hadn't scored in the World Cup yet, as the ball hit the net I bounced around the living room screaming "he has now you cunt!" Harry Kane should have scored a second which surely would have put Croata in serious jeopardy but fluffed his lines badly, although he would end up winning the golden boot, three of his goals were penalties, one was a lucky deflection and two were poachers goals against Tunisia. Form had seriously left him in the knockout round but a lot of that could be contributed to Englands slow build up play in the World Cup. In the second half Croatia overran Jordan Henderson in the midfield and England couldn't cope in the 68th minute Perisic scored. Kyle Walker should have done better Perisic got his foot to the ball before Kyle Walker's head gotto the ball. Some people thought it could have been a high foot. Truth was since Kane's miss Croatia were the better team, in the 72nd minute Perisic hit the post, England were clinging to life. Southgate left his sub's till the 74th minute, bringing on Marcus Rashford for the underperforming Sterling. It made no difference to the game England needed help in the midfield but Southgate took Ashley Young off for Danny Rose in the 91st minute. Finally in the 97th minute he replaced Jordan Henderson with Eric Dier, as the Croatians continued to over run the midfield, I was resigned to the fact that England would be losing but luckily not on penalties. But in the 99th minute another England set piece nearly came up with another goal as John Stones had a header cleared off the line. As counter punches goes that was a good one from England, Pickford made another brilliant save to keep England in the tournament. Pickford had arguably been England's player of the tournament, some of his saves had been tremendous, his left arm had won the penalty shootout against Colombia, saves against Sweden and now Croatia had kept England going in the tournament. The 109th minute saw Pickford beaten for Croatia's second, a poor clearance from Kyle Walker saw the ball get pumped back in the box, a slip by John Stones and Mandzukic pounced, burying Croatia's second. In the 112th minute, Jamie Vardy made his entrance for England. It wasn't enough, by the end of the match England were down to 10 men, Trippier's legs finally stopped working and as the final whistle blew my heart sank. England were out of the World Cup.
The third/fourth play off was England's next game against Belgium, I didn't really want to watch the game, but I did. The England team that was put out was the players that hadn't played much, England made 4 changes and lost in a stunted display, I got the impression that England didn't want to be there, Belgium won 2-0 to claim third place. The World Cup was over, going into the World Cup I expected nothing but the English were given a brilliant tournament. While England had reached the semi finals, no one really expected it. But for once I could wear a England shirt and be proud, I've always been proud to say I'm English but that World Cup only made me more proud.
Southgate had taken a young squad to the World Cup and with the exception of Jamie Vardy, Gary Cahill and Ashley Young. Plenty of players in that squad have a future, it's plain to see somehow or someway England have got to a stage where we look like a team on the up. We are keeping the manager for the first time since 1966 after a successful competition. I don't agree with everything Southgate has done, the three at the back with Kyle Walker, Raheem Sterling as a striker, Alli and Lingard with Henderson in the midfield. But his promotion of youth, his building of pride of being English and his single mindedness have all encouraged me despite the negatives. He stuck by those players and formed a team spirit. In the months since the World Cup, England have progressed to the semi finals of the Nations League (UEFA's maddingly complicated new tournament). Southgate again changed the formation of the team to 4-3-3 which now brings out the best in Raheem Sterling. He has seen more youth come through, Hudson-Odoi from Chelsea, Jordan Sancho of Broussia Dortmund although he is a product of Manchester City). After defeating Montenegro 5-1 in Montenegro, I was enthused whilst it was only Montenegro, England had struggled to beat them in the past, the last time England played there, they played a 2-2 draw and Rooney was sent off. Now England handled them easily, even after conceding a early goal. The future is bright, maybe one day England will lift something major, wouldn't that good?
The World Cup itself started the next in June, England played out a draw with Sweden, Beckham lasted a whole 63 minutes. England had a problem with the left side of midfield. Erikson played Emile Heskey out there. Heskey was big and powerful but is not a winger despite his efforts, he just couldn't do it. The second game of the group stage was against Argentina. Yep those lovely fellows again. Diego Simone and Beckham enjoyed a frosty handshake before the game, Beckhams life because of Simone's gameship had been forever changed. As usual against Argentina the game was full blooded, tackles flying, the odd errant elbow and Michael Owen doing what Owen was especially good at, winning penalties. As Owen tumbled to the floor, the referee the ever imposing Pierluigi Colina pointed to the spot. One man and one man only stepped up to take that penalty, David Beckham. He put the ball down, turned and hit the penalty as hard and slightly to the keepers right. As it hit the net he ran to the left where the Argentine fans were, he showed them the England shirt, I dare say they showed him something else but if Beckham's performance against Greece was redemption. This was put him on near enough Sainthood. The rest of the 47 minutes left in the game, England held on and something about France 98 had been put to bed. England had there revenge. If Sweden didn't lose to Argentina in the next game and England would put out Argentina. The next game saw a 0-0 draw against Nigeria, Sweden drew 1-1 with Argentina. Sweden went through as group winners, England runners with Argentina and Nigeria taking early flights home. Beckham truly did get his revenge. It was during the Argentina game that England sorted the left side of their midfield out. Sven was a 4-4-2 man, a formation which England had pioneered in 1966 and one with Roy Hodgson had won the Swedish league with repeatedly during Sven's early time as a manger. The impression it left had been indelible. Sven was often criticized for not moving away from 4-4-2 but when you've been so successful with something, why switch? In the first game, Heskey had played out left but is not a winger, his pace and power were better utilized in a 4-4-2 as a centre forward. Against Argentina, Paul Scholes had found himself on the left. Paul Scholes was the best player of the class of 92. For all the plaudits David Beckham and Ryan Giggs rightly earned. I would argue that Paul Scholes was the only true world class player in the group. But despite all of Scholes brilliance, he was not a winger and playing out on the left wing left him feeling lonely. Owen Hargreaves had started in the centre with Nicky Butt. Nicky Butt had only been in the side due to Steven Gerrard's groin injury putting him out of the World Cup. But early on in the game, Hargreaves himself got injured. Step forward Trevor Sinclair, injuries to the 2002 World Cup squad had been part of the tournament, Gary Neville, found himself at home with a broken foot, Steve Gerrard groin stopped him going to the World Cup and on the eve of the World Cup. Danny Murphy's fitness finally proved not good enough, so Sven included Trevor Sinclair. England have long had a problem with the left side of the midfield, when Hargreaves went down, Sinclair helped solve it for the World Cup at least. It allowed Scholes and Butt to rekindled their club partnership and gave England some natural balance, as much as right footer on the left will allow you any way.
In the knockout stage England faced Denmark, three goals before half time gave England a quarter final tie. That game turned into an all dayer, that I went home for a nap but had a good day otherwise. The quarter final being as the World Cup was the other side of the world, the games started for us at 8 am. Drinking pints at 8am was a weird weird feeling and I struggled to drink it to be fair. Sibbo and I stood in Squares and watched in hope that for once England could beat Brazil. It started well Michael Owen giving England a first half lead but just before the half time whistle Rivaldo scored. On the 50th minute Ronaldinho scored what was either a miskick or a moment of utter genius. David Seaman the England goalkeeper was stood about 2 yards off his line, Ronaldinho noticed this, from the position he was on the pitch and he then either miss kicked it over Seamans head or chipped Seaman from 35 yards out. Season had history of being lobbed from long distances, in 1995 Arsenal had a terrible domestic season but were looking to become the first back to back winners of the UEFA Cup Winners cup, as the game headed towards a penalty shoot out, Nayim (a former Spurs player, so even more galling for Arsenal) lobbed Seaman from essentially the same spot as Ronaldinho did 7 years later. As Seaman stood in the goal, we all wondered could we come back from this. Ronaldinho got sent off 6 minutes later, for 34 minutes England tried and tried to equalize to give themselves hope but couldn't. At the quarter final stage England found themselves out. Brazil went on to win the World Cup for the fifth time beating Germany 2-0 in the final. It was a small consolation that England had lost to the eventual champions, but at 10 am in the morning, slightly drunk, all I could think was England could have won that World Cup. One thing about the 2002 World Cup there was no outstanding team, Germany had beaten hosts South Korea in the semi finals and Brazil had only just beaten Turkey. Had England beaten Brazil, no game in the World Cup is easy but surely a chance of the final awaited?
Euro 2004 was around the corner and it was to be held in Portugal. England found themselves in a favorable group, Turkey, Slovakia, Macedonia and Liechtenstein. England won the group by 1 point, beating Turkey into the playoff's. A poor performance from David Seaman at St. Mary's (England still found themselves on the road due to Wembley still not being built yet) saw Macedonia score directly from a corner, Seaman already under pressure from the Ronaldinho mistake at the World Cup saw his international career finish. At this point Erikson found himself now giving his number 1 shirt to West Ham's David James. David James wasn't a bad goalkeeper, Liverpool had paid Second Division Watford £1.25 million in 1992. But he never totally filled me with confidence, David Seaman did drop the odd bollock but James dropped a lot more.
On the 19th of October 2002, a sixteen year old ended Arsenal's 30 match unbeaten streaking in the Premier League, by the 12th of February 2003, the now 17 year old trotted on to the pitch at Upton Park for England in a friendly against Australia. It was Wayne Rooney. Rooney could have played for Ireland and was indeed approached by the Irish at 16 but insisted he was English and had no interest in playing for Ireland. He ended up being England's top goalscorer, so really England were quite happy about that. Eriksson couldn't not pick Rooney despite his age, towards the end of the campaign Rooney started to add goals, like Owen in 1998, England had found another star. In Portugal, England drew France, Croatia and Switzerland. France were reigning champions. In the first game England played France. England took the lead, we watched in the Walkabout, a bloke I worked with got drunk and fell over. As I picked him, he'd managed to cut his head and he got blood all over my nice new England shirt. As I walked in after the game, Mum looked at my blood stained shirt and asked what you been doing? Well Mum I'd been watching Zidane score 2 goals in injury time to deny England a opening victory. Two Scousers scored against the Swiss as Rooney got two and Gerrard got one for himself. England then faced Croatia and with their best tournament despatched Croatia 4-2 goals from Lampard, Scholes and another from Rooney put England through to the next round. In the next round England faced the hosts Portugal, Michael Owen gave England a early lead, but in the 27th minute England's star of the tournament Wayne Rooney broke his foot. Darius Vassell came on and replaced Rooney, but wasn't anywhere near as effective. His game was very similar to Owen's. So Portugal had an easier time containing him. Then in the 83rd minute Portugal equalized, not through there version of Ronaldo, who Ashley Cole had kept quiet most of the game but through Postiga. The game went to extra time and Rui Costa gave Portugal the lead in extra time before Frank Lampard leveled the game. The match finished and England went to the inevitable penalties. Beckham missed the first penalty for England, but Rui Costa missed Portugal's third, penalties continued to the sixth penalty which meant sudden death, Portugal scored there's and Rooney's replacement Darius Vassell missed his, yet again England were out of a major competition on penalties. What would have happened had Rooney not got injured? The emergence of Frank Lampard was major plus but it also gave England another issue how to integrate him with Steven Gerrard was a major draw back. To accomodate, Gerrard and Lampard in the middle, Paul Scholes was pushed out to the left wing. Scholes was the best of all three yet it was him being asked to play out of position. A major issue of Sven's had been discovered, his love of star players and not playing players that suited the system better. Greece ended up beating Portugal in the final of Euro 2004 with former Leicester player Theo Zagorakis being named player of the tournament. But there was another tournament round the corner.
The media was growing restless with Sven, he wasn't exactly a man to light a room up with his charisma, he didn't have a plan b, England would win but win in one way and I'm sure there was thoughts he was wasting the golden generation. It had been a long time since England had had a team as collectively talented as the one they had. The likes of Beckham, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney and Owen were all seemingly being wasted. Qualifying for the 2006 World Cup was a successful but slow campaign, England found themselves in a group with Poland, Austria, Northern Ireland, Wales and Azerbaijan. A winnable group for England, England won the group but there was at times some alarmingly bad performances, highlighted (or lowlighted) by a 1-0 away loss to Northern Ireland, I remember being in the canteen at Walkers when England lost and the annoyance when the final whistle went was huge. In Germany for the World Cup England found themselves drawn in Group B, with Paraguay, Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago. Before the World Cup had even started Wayne Rooney like David Beckham before the 2002 World Cup broke his foot in a match against Chelsea. When it happened, my ex wife (who was over in England) couldn't believe the sadness that this had caused, she then proceeded to make a torrent of shit jokes about Rooney's injury. Despite the unconvincing qualification, Rooney had become something a talisman for England. Where once Beckham had held that mantle. Rooney now was the man that could take us anywhere but with his foot broken, it begged serious questions. Despite this, a friend of mine and a number of others still insisted we would win the World Cup. But with the side so disjointed and unbalanced, I couldn't see how. Sven had no plan b, no change of formation, no speed from the flanks and no balance in the midfield. The debate about who was better between Gerrard and Lampard could and will go on forever. But the facts simply point to them not being able to work together. As a younger player Gerrard was more of a defensive midfielder, but as he matured and he became more established, the real Gerrard was an aggressive driver of the game, a man that quite literally inspired Liverpool to come from 3 goals behind to win the Champions League in 2005. He was a force to be reckoned with. Lampard to me, was a great goal scoring midfielder, silky in his finishing, he could score every type of goal, and often did. But the combination of the two never worked well together. In either ones club side they had a player that would primarily defend so they had could play their natural games, which was pushing forward. Lampard also played at Chelsea at the time which was managed by Jose Mourinho. The special one (as he termed himself) loved the 4-3-3 formation, using it at Porto to win the Champions League in 2004. Jose brought it to South London and Lampard thrived in the system. He finished the season by retaining Chelsea's Premier League title and finishing Chelsea's top goal scorer in the league. Personally I prefer Gerrard, Lampard was great but I just liked Gerrard. But Erikson loved the star players, problem was he wasn't playing FIFA and there's one thing I've learned about football and especially a 4-4-2 midfield, it must be balanced. The midfield that started the first 2 games, was Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard and Joe Cole. Whilst all individually very good, balance was an issue and pace from the flanks was non exsistent. Beckham was never blessed with great pace and nor was Joe Cole, despite what they brought to the game in other respects. England's midfield in 2002 had been makeshift, the injury to Gerrard before the World Cup forced Sven to play Nicky Butt and allow Paul Scholes to play his natural game in the centre. When Trevor Sinclair eventually came on during the Argentina game, England at last had a balanced midfield that had a little bit of everything in it. England still won the first two games, unconvincingly a 1-0 victory against Paraguay and 2-0 victory against Trinidad and Tobago. In the 58th minute of Trinidad game Wayne Rooney made his World Cup debut, his replacement was Peter Crouch. A tall striker who despite his height was good on the floor too. He had become somewhat of cult hero for England BUT was actually rather good at scoring against former Soviet Union nations and other smaller nations. But actually scoring against a bigger side that England might play against he didn't. Rooney finally made his first start at the World Cup in the final group game against Sweden. Once again in a World Cup Sven had to face his home land, in the 4th minute, Michael Owen went off injured, it wasn't a injury that would see him back later in the tournament either, he was done for a while. Crouch was reintroduced to the World Cup after being dropped for Rooney who was regaining his fitness after his broken foot. England and Sweden played out a 2-2 draw. England nearly beat Sweden for the first time in 30 years, Joe Cole had opened the scoring with a brilliant 30 yard volley for England but Sweden equalized in the second half. In the 85th minute Gerrard put England ahead but Henrik Larsson equalized for Sweden in the 90th minute. Erikson also broke up the Lampard and Gerrard partnership, starting with Owen Hargreaves, Canadian born but had the choice of either England or Wales. He chose his father's country and played for England. He was also a rare thing in that he was a Englishman playing abroad.
England though where through to the knockout round. In the next round they faced Ecuador, a turgid game followed that was played on a very hot day in Germany. In what became Sven's last victory as England manager, Beckham scored his trademark free kick. It was a poor game, Gary Neville's groin had stopped him playing, Hargreaves moved to right back. This saw the Gerrard and Lampard partnership renewed. Sven switched to a 4-5-1 with Rooney still regaining his fitness as a lone striker. Rooney is now England's all time goal scorer but he has never been and never will be a out and out striker. But at the end of Sven's reign he relied on big team players no matter how they fit the team. In the next game England faced Portugal, Portugal had knocked England out of Euro 2004 after Rooney had gone down injured. Rooney again had a major impact on the game, instead of scoring or being injured he instead was sent off in the 62nd minute. Frustration had overcome Again England's exit of from the World Cup included a red card for one of the teams, it really wasn't a good game and it went to penalties yet again. Yet again England lost on penalties. Of the four penalties England took, only Hargreaves scored, he was of course brought up in Germany so he almost had too. Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher all missed for England.
Steve McLaren: He had a brolly
Svens reign ended when Carragher missed that penalty, in January of 2006 The FA decided to move on from Sven, declining results which included an embarrassing loss to Northern Ireland and a news paper sting by the News Of The World. Saw the FA decide to move on, it seemed to me that Sven had taken England as far as he could, England's golden generation had been wasted. He seemed to not want a balanced team, relying on stars instead of building a balanced team, he took the FIFA approach and built a team mainly on what there FIFA ratings might be. It's great in a computer game but in reality you need balance. The FA started its search, Luiz Felipe Scolari was approached but he turned it down because of the English's newspapers reputation. Others including Martin O'Neil, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley were considered but The FA chose Steve McLaren. He wasn't first choice but the FA felt he was the man for the job. Trevor Brooking labelled McLaren "second choice Steve" and it did seem he was. McLaren was like Graham Taylor in that he hadn't had a stellar playing career mainly playing in the lower leagues starting with Hull and finishing with Oxford United in the early 1990's. He started coaching at Oxford and moved to Derby in 1995, where he was an assistant to Jim Smith. In 1999 after helping Derby establish themselves as a Premier League team, he moved to Manchester United after Brian Kidd took the Blackburn Rovers job. He was so little known that the Manchester United chairman announced him as Steve McClaridge. Its one of the few times I can remember an assistant moving and it being big news but he did move to the biggest club in England so it was going to be news. Whilst at Manchester United, Peter Taylor approached him to be an assistant which he continued under Erikson. For the majority of Erikson's reign, McLaren was an assistant so it was almost natural he took over if others wouldn't. Along with his England duties he eventually became manager of Middlesbrough, for Middlesbrough he had been relatively successful, winning the League Cup and having successive European campaigns. Although in his last season Boro fans where growing a little frustrated with McLaren, his tactics becoming more and more negative. It was often leveled at McLaren that he had Steve Gibson's millions to rely on and that made his job easier.
When McLaren was appointed England Coach he had big choices and decisions to make, Beckham had stepped down as England captain, so McLaren needed to appoint a new one. He chose John Terry, the Chelsea centre half, Terry to me was a great choice. He was Chelsea's captain, and had slotted into England's back line very well. During Euro 2004, Rio Ferdinand had been banned for missing a drug test. The footballing simpletons doubted Terry's inclusion in Svens team but in all reality he looked at home and performed well. The next decision that faced McLaren was how to move on from Sven's reign, the obvious choice was to start dropping players who were towards their 30's, the axe fell on Sol Campbell, David James and most shockingly David Beckham. I had been critical of Beckham, his lack of pace allied to England's general predictable play under Sven had seriously made me wonder if he was good enough any more. David James, I was never a fan of. But Sol Campbell I was surprised at. Terry Venables was brought back into national team as an assistant to McLaren, how different things could have been if he'd been passed over for Glenn Hoddle in 1996. England started with two victories, a 5-0 win against Andorra and a 1-0 away win against Macedonia. The next England game was at Old Trafford (the new Wembley was still not ready), I watched the game in Nottingham with my friend Rich. The game was a terrible 0-0 draw England looked completely devoid of ideas and I always remember one guy going mad about Stuart Downings performance. It was worrying, it was worse than the end of Sven and the footballing simpletons were embolden, Beckham wouldn't have let that result happen. Or would he have? The fact was looming larger and larger by every match. Perhaps England weren't very good? But then England travelled to Croatia for a big game. The eventually qualifiers from the group would surely come from Russia, Croatia or England. So these game's were crucial, draws were the minimum needed. In Croatia, McLaren decided to change to a 3-5-2 (or 5-3-2) which hadn't been seen much in the English game for a long time. It was a negative move, the exact thing that Boro fans had become increasingly frustrated with McLaren for. Much like Taylor in Oslo thirteen years previously a switch to a back 5 failed miserably. At the 59th minute Croatia's Brazilian Eduardo scored and then Gary Neville scored one of the oddest own goals ever. A simple back pass to Paul Robinson took a hop over a lump in the pitch. The ball bounced over Robinson's foot and England found themselves down two, the game finished that way too. Despite the setback, England put themselves in a position to qualify. Performances were still inconsistent or just poor. A goalless draw away to Israel showed this, I listened to that game and Alan Green constantly commented how poor England were that night. The game after was a 3-0 victory over Andorra. It took till the 54th minute for England to make a breakthrough against Andorra. Andorra a nation which England should be at least 3-0 up at halftime. Again Alan Green on the radio was not exactly complimentary towards England's performance. Watching the highlights later it was obvious why. On June 6th 2007, David Beckham even made a come back. Creativity was a problem and with Beckhams vision it was hoped creativity would return. I was working night shift at Walkers and Ken Jelley came in, he said to me "I dunno what he does but he can set up goals". Beckham never had much pace, but his vision made up for his lack of pace. His crosses for Peter Crouches (scoring against a former Soviet Union member) and Michael Owen goals showed that. Going into the last two games England could and still would qualify, first was a match in Russia, on a plastic pitch. I've never actually watched this game, it was the start of the lost period for me, I'd not long moved to the States, and was working. Something I had to get used to working when important football matches were on. England took the lead with a Wayne Rooney volley but two Russian goals had left England's hopes of qualifying were in tatters. Had England won, they would have been on their way to the Euro's in 2008 but now they had to rely on beating Croatia and other results going their way.
For the crucial Croatia game, England played in all white, that night, Croatia's away kit includes blue shorts which clashed with England's home blue shorts so England wore all white. It should be noted if it hasn't been already, this isn't a good omen for England. Croatia came to Wembley and took a 2-0 lead, the first goal that even our former six a side keeper couldn't make an excuse for (well that's not entirely true. He would for sure) England were out at this rate but in the second half staged a comeback. Lampard and Crouch scored to level the game, at this rate, England were going to Switzerland and Austria for the Euro's, but in the 77th minute, Croatia scored again. As the match ended so did England's qualifying hopes.
I didn't watch a lot of McLaren's games but I wasn't impressed and nor was the press, the day after England's exit. The Sun ran the head line, "The Wally With The Brolly". As the rain poured down that night, McLaren cut a lonely figure as he forlornly attempted to inspire his team while stood under a umbrella in the Wembley rain. What could have been a progression for England became stagnation and really regression. McLaren had inherited a generation of players coming to their end but the players that replaced them weren't as good. England were no better off under McLaren then they were under Sven. A new manager didn't seem to motivate the players to perform any better. The qualifying group for Euro 2008 was winnable and certainly for England, they should have qualified but McLaren just wasn't good enough to be England manager. When Graham Taylor failed to reach USA 94 he fell on his sword and resigned, McLaren was dispatched with the FA firing him. The results had been poor, the performances just as bad and McLaren seemed to taking England no where. He had to go.
Fabio Capello: The man who wanted to be Emperor
So England needed a new head coach, the pickings in England were few and far between. No Englishman had won the Premier League, the last time an Englishman did win the league it was still called the First Division and it was Howard Wilkinson who was well past his sell by date as a top manager by 2007. So The FA looked abroad again, just a month after McLaren had been fired, Fabio Capello was selected, the Italians felt great pride that another top flight footballing nation would choose one their own to be their national manager. The Capello appointment mostly excited English fans, how could you not be? Capello's record was brilliant. As a player he'd played for some of Italy's biggest clubs in Roma, AC Milan and Juventus. He'd also been capped thirty two times for Italy. He won Serie A four times and the Italian Cup twice as player. But as a manager his haul was even more impressive, seven Serie A titles (Although two had been revoked due to the Juventus cheating scandal), two La Liga's titles, four Italian cups, one Champions League (His Milan side demolished one of the fabled Barcelona sides of the 1990's) and one European Super Cup. No England manager or head coach had ever had that impressive of a track record, he made Alf Ramsey's and Bobby Robson's club achievements look disappointing at best. Personally I loved the appointment, Capello's track record was indisputable, what England had been lacking was some order and structure. Capello would bring this to England. I only watched one of the qualifying games during the 2010 qualifiers, it was a 1-0 loss to Ukraine. Which I got on a pay per view channel, then after spending $15 Robert Green was sent of in the 12th minute and from then on England had to battle against a team that needed the victory. Ukraine scored in the 30th minute and England couldn't hit back. It was a poor match to watch, more than likely cause England had lost. It had been a while since I watched a England match, also there was tension in the house as my ex wife didn't want me to watch the match because it was pay per view. It was however England's only loss in the qualification period. Wayne Rooney's form had been outstanding, 9 goals in 10 matches helped England win the group by 6 points. To highlight the difference between the failed Euro 2008 qualifying effort and World Cup qualifying 2010 effort, England faced Croatia, on the 10th of September 2008, England played in Croatia and won 4-1 when they faced Croatia at Wembley. England went one better and won 5-1. The group was not especially difficult and England rolled through the likes Ukraine, Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra with ease.
The World Cup though wouldn't be as easy, the World Cup itself was to be held in South Africa, for the first time in the history of the tournament. It was to be played in Africa, FIFA was trying to please all its federations and the choice of South Africa was a striking one. But not striking because South Africa had been chosen on merit. The South African Football Association had in fact had bribed important FIFA members to get the tournament, in 2015 it was revealed that Morocco had actually won the vote but money talks and the World Cup went to South Africa. It went to show that FIFA was obviously just as corrupt as the Olympic Committee. England where drawn in Group C, along with Slovenia, The USA and Algeria. In the first game was against the USA, Steven Gerrard scored first for England after only four minutes, it seemed like England could be set for a opening victory, but with 5 minutes left in the half a harmless shot form Clint Dempsey was fumbled into his own net by Robert Green. Quite why Robert Green was the number one choice of goalkeeper is easy to explain. After David Seaman's international career was ended after the Euro 2004 qualifier with Macedonia at St. Mary's, England never really settled on or had a top quality keeper. David James was given a go but was David James. Paul Robinson at times was very good for Spurs and Leeds but had erratic moments to say the least. Then there was Joe Hart, Manchester City's younger goalkeeper who was on loan at Birmingham City, was he good enough? Goalkeepers get better as they age and he was only 23. Then there was Capello's choice Robert Green, who had also been in good form. But before the game the Robert Green was almost in a trance, was the trance caused by the nerves of someone about to play in the World Cup? I'm sure everyone gets nervous before their debut in the World Cup, for a footballer it wouldn't get any bigger I'm sure. But Robert Green looked like he was playing for his life, maybe that could explain his awful error. It wasn't quite Scott Carson's error against Croatia but it wasn't much better. The game with the USA finished 1-1, the USA hit the post in the second half and an out of form Emile Heskey blew a one on one chance with the USA goalkeeper to put England ahead.
The next game England played Algeria, I didn't watch this game but all reports said it was terrible. I remember being at work with my computer on and it kept saying nil-nil, I kept refreshing the browser but still it said nil-nil. It finished that way to and the England fans in attendance were non to happy. David James replaced Robert Green, Green's mental meltdown against the USA worried Capello so much so he brought back the Portsmouth keeper. In the midfield, the Lampard/Gerrard partnership had been broken up, Gerrard was moved to the left and Gareth Barry was brought in to the middle of pitch. The hope being Gerrard, Lampard and Aaron Lennon would push forward with Gareth Barry giving the back four protection. With Gerrard on the left and a woeful performance by Lennon it did nothing for the English attack. Which was led again by the out of form Heskey and a hobbled Wayne Rooney. Wayne Rooney is England's greatest goal scorer and one of the best talents our country has ever produced, his career for Manchester United was stellar. He was not only a scorer of great goals, he was also a great goal scorer. But before every tournament with the exception of his first, he seemed to have some sort of issue going to the tournament whether it be fitness or suspension. At 2004, he lifted the England side and had he stayed fit, there's no telling what England could have done. But against Portugal, he broke his foot. Before the World Cup in Germany in 2006, he broke his foot again in a Premier League match and never quite had the fitness/sharpness required. In South Africa the issue again raised its ugly head, Rooney for Manchester United had scored 34 goals, for a 23 year old to be scoring that much was a sign of his talent but going into the World Cup, he was hobbled by groin and ankle injuries, whilst not enough to take him out of games. They robbed him of his sharpness, add this to the awful England performances and prospects for success didn't look too good. Going into the Slovenian game, Capello made changes, a third centre back pairing made was employed as John Terry lined up with Matthew Upson. James Milner replaced the poor performing Aaron Lennon. Upfront Jermaine Defoe replaced the under performing Emile Heskey. It was Defoe that scored the winner, England squeaked into the next round as group runners up. In the knockout stages they would face Germany first. Yes, those delightful fellows.
On the 26th of June 2010, I was excited, I was getting Dish network installed, missing two England games during a World Cup had been painful. Sometime early in the afternoon a guy arrived to install my Dish and box, as he was looking around he then said he couldn't install the Dish, as it needed some kind of electrical connection and being a rental property he wasn't allowed to work like that on the apartment. Immediately I went to you ARE installing it mode and got him to call his supervisor. After calls to his supervisor, he relented and they mutually found a solution and he installed the required satellite dish and wiring. The next day was a Sunday and England played Germany in the first knockout round of the World Cup. For the first time at the World Cup, Capello kept the same side, the match itself kicked off at about 8 am in the morning here, groggy I got up and put the telly on, Germany took a early 2 goal lead, and looked the better side. Then in the 37th minute Matthew Upson scored from a corner and suddenly England had some momentum, then in the 39th minute Frank Lampard had a shot which clearly went in. The ball seemingly was a yard over the line but neither the linesman or referee called a goal. These days it would have been given but everyone in the red of England was aghast, how did the referee not give that? Must have been karma for 1966 when the Russian linesman gave England a questionable goal. England in the second half chased the game and were punished with two second half goals by Muller. England crashed out of the World Cup, overall the performance of England had been poor. The Algerian game being a particularly glaring example of that. Wayne Rooney a man that couldn't not score in the club season didn't looked even half as sharp as he had. Capello came under fire for his 4-4-2, Germany had crushed England with the new 4-2-3-1 formation. Capello had a lot of success with 4-4-2 but times had changed and the formation was sign of Capello's age in the game. Capello was also criticized for his squad selection, why did he take an unfit Ledley King? And why did he take Emile Heskey, who was clearly out of form at the expense of Theo Walcott, whilst Walcott's selection in 2006 was a surprise, in the 4 years that had followed he had established himself as a good performer for Arsenal and England. Heskey though did offer another attacking option, being a big man. The FA shortly after the Germany defeat confirmed that Capello would stay as England coach for the 2012 European Championships qualifiers.
The group for the European qualifiers was winnable, Montenegro, Switzerland, Wales and Bulgaria were England's opponents. England delivered 5 wins and 3 draws. I didn't watch a single match I must admit my life at this point was a joke of turbulence. England, however got through 2011 without losing a game, which is a great feat itself.
John Terry, was a great centre half, big, strong, a good passer of the ball and was a danger at set pieces. At Euro 2004 he replaced the suspended Rio Ferdinand, Sven Goran Erickson stated he was the first choice centre half in the team. I was happy with Terry being in the side, to me at least, he looked like a improved version of Tony Adams. England had a strong set of centre halves at the time, so at 23 to lead Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand and Ledley King was a big achievement. A footballing simpleton I knew, wasn't impressed by it though, but thats why I call him a simpleton. When Steve McLaren took over in 2006, he had made John Terry his captain after David Beckham had stepped down from the role. When McLaren was removed from the job in 2008, and Capello took over and Capello kept Terry as his captain, in all reality it wasn't a bad choice, he was already captain at Chelsea. He was also a winning captain at Chelsea. Success in the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup had all happened under Terry's leadership. But then in 2010 allegations came to light of John Terry having an affair with Wayne Bridges girlfriend, Wayne Bridge had been Terry's teammate at Chelsea up until 2009. Capello stripped Terry of the captains armband and gave it to Rio Ferdinand because of these allegations. By March 2011, Terry had won the armband back after Rio Ferdinand had suffered a long term injury. In November 2011, video emerged of Terry calling Anton Ferdinand "a fucking black cunt". Terry tried to counter the accusations by saying he saying he said "oi Anton, you think I called you a black cunt?" He also tried to pass it off as sarcasm towards Anton Ferdinand, it was all the more awkward as Terry's long term England centre back partner was Anton's brother, Rio Ferdinand. The FA stepped in and stripped Terry again of his captaincy, those actions saw Capello resign his position as England coach. Capello's position was that the FA had acted before a court of law had found Terry guilty or innocent. Whilst the FA did run the game in England, a court was an extension of the law of the land and they should be the only ones to find him guilty or not guilty. When a court did find Terry guilty or not guilty, then to Capello's mind the correct actions should have been taken. In all reality The FA was only looking after itself, its image and its bank balances. It couldn't have the nation team lead by a man who was about to face charges in a court of law of racially abusing someone. The English game at this point was becoming very rich and very sponsor friendly. The FA themselves had debts, Wembley had cost a lot of money, and so had Capello (a record £6 million a year contract) and then there was the failure of 2008. Not as many shirts got sold in the summer of 2008. Because of McLaren's failure. Although in all fairness, the kits that would have been worn by England at Euro 2008 were ugly. Not one of Umbro's finest hours with those kits. But Capello like any club side coach would have done, couldn't be undermined by the FA in such a manner. It was his job to pick his captain, it was the courts job to decide his guilt or innocence. It was not the FA's to either strip his captain of the role or judge him his guilt or innocence. It would be like a chairman picking a captain for the side which not many club managers would tolerate.
When Capello left it was an odd one, the performance at South Africa had been awful. But England had looked leggy and Wayne Rooney hadn't turned up. His unbalanced and sluggish 4-4-2 was outdated but for the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Capello evolved into a 4-3-3. The 4-3-3 formation had predated the 4-4-2 formation and whilst England under Alf Ramsey had won the World Cup in 1966 with the 4-4-2 it had only been a switch form the 4-3-3 that had sealed the success. In the early 2000's the 4-3-3 had become the one of the fashionable formations of the day. Jose Mourinho's arrival at Chelsea saw the 4-3-3 end the Manchester United and Arsenal's duopoly in the Premier League. Even forcing the great Sir Alex Ferguson into switching from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3. The Germany defeat had left Capello with a question how to combat the rising 4-2-3-1, and with the 4-3-3 he thought he had it. The 4-2-3-1's deep lying second striker (often referred to as the 10) is near on impossible for a centre half to pick up and to deep for a midfielder to pick up in a 4-4-2 formation. But a 3 man midfield could do it and still provide the support it needed to. But the promise that had been the qualifying record, switch of formation and undefeated 2011 had been erased when The FA chose to strip Terry of his captaincy which in-turn forced Capello to feel he had to quit.
Roy Hodgson:The man seemingly without a plan
England had already qualified for the 2012 European Championships in Ukraine and Poland but needed a manager. Where would England choose their manager from this time? Would it an Englishman or a foreigner? In the end the FA chose to offer it to a bit of both, Roy Hodgson was English but he had spent most of his management career abroad, in the late 70's he had revolutionized Swedish football. Swedish football prior to Hodgson's success had replicated the German game. Teams would play with a sweeper behind a back 3 or 4. The formation in front of the sweeper would man mark, leaving the sweeper to roam and distribute as he saw fit. When Hodgson arrived he implemented the then tradition English 4-4-2 with a more direct style. A major weakness of the sweeper system is how it can be exposed to quick and direct counter attacks. With a sweeper it also becomes difficult to play the offside trap. Roy exposed this and he won the Swedish League seven times with two different clubs, had he not had a short ill fated come back to England with Bristol City, he may have won more. At Malmo he was offered a lifetime contract such was his achievements, both domestically and internationally but he turned it down, instead preferring to move to the Swiss Super League, where he managed Neuchâtel Xamax. The winning continued in Switzerland where he won the Swiss Super Cup in 1990. In the following season, in the UEFA Cup Xamax defeated Celtic 5-2 on aggregate (Rod Stewart was not available for comment) and then beat the mighty Real Madrid 1-0 at home but lost the away leg 4-0. Still for a Swiss league team to beat the mighty La Liga giants that are Real Madrid it showed a lot of quality. Where I first remember Hodgson was in Euro 96, when he managed Switzerland, this meant for the opening game his Swiss team played England. They finished bottom of the group with 1 point. The only point they gained was because of Kubilay Turkilmaz 83rd minute penalty against England in the opener. They even lost to Scotland which showed how bad their tournament went. But they put Scotland out, because Scotland needed to win by two clear goals to displace the Netherlands in the final group standings to progress to the knockout round.
From 1995 to 1997, Hodgson also managed Inter Milan, it was a rebuilding phase for the fallen Inter. Hodgson didn't win anything with Inter but finished 7th and 3rd in his two seasons and reached the last 2 legged UEFA Cup final. Losing to Schalke 04 on penalties. He claimed Inter's president didn't want him to leave but took the Blackburn Rovers managers job, feeling Inter's president wasn't genuine. Blackburn Rovers had won the Premier League in 1995 but after Kenny Dalglish left, they found it hard to repeat the form they had shown during the title win. The sale of Alan Shearer obviously didn't help but still Chris Sutton remained at Blackburn and Hodgson had a good core of players to build with. His first season went well with Rovers finishing 6th and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. The next season didn't go so well, by the 21st of November 1998 Hodgson was out of a job. It seemed after his experiences at Bristol City and Blackburn Rovers, he wasn't meant to manage in England. Several jobs followed , with a added championship in Denmark. A dismal stint in the UAE after that, a job in Norway, a brief spell as Finland's manager and then Hodgson finally got a long spell with a club in England. In December 2007, Fulham were struggling in the Premier League two points from safety and looking pretty good for relegation. Hodgson was a surprising appointment but he managed to keep them up and by 2010 they were playing in Europe eventually losing the Europa League final. His job at Fulham did something to renew his reputation in England, whilst he had a lot of success abroad, his stints at Blackburn and Bristol City had left a large question mark over Hodgson. Which really was unfair given his record in other countries, when Liverpool came calling in 2010 they paid Fulham £2 million for Hodgson's services but by January 2011, Hodgson and Liverpool parted company by mutual consent. He didn't seem a good fit for Liverpool and it was questioned whether he could handle the big name players that Liverpool had. Hodgson pointed to his track record, he had managed at big clubs, international level and won trophies. Still he wasn't popular with the Liverpool fans and with football being a results game his lack of results couldn't save his job.
His last stop prior to being England manager was at West Bromwich Albion, just over a month after leaving Liverpool he replaced Roberto Di Matteo as West Brom manager. West Brom were not in the best of forms losing 13 of the last 18 games. Hodgson came in and turned West Brom around guiding them to 11th, which included a 2-1 defeat of Liverpool, that match became known as "Roy's Revenge". The next season Hodgson went one better and despite accepting the England job in April, he finished the season with West Brom, guiding them to 10th. Prior to the tournament Hodgson had two friendly's to see how he could get the best out of his squad. Wayne Rooney however was suspended for the first two games of the championships, in the final qualifying game for Euro 2012 against Montenegro, Rooney lost the ball in midfield and lashed out. He was shown an instant red card, UEFA imposed a three match ban for violent conduct. Yet again, although this time not because of injury, Rooney's build up to a tournament would be comprised. Rio Ferdinand was not selected for the tournament, Hodgson claimed he wasn't fit enough tournament, many people questioned how much of his un-selection was because of John Terry being in the squad. Terry was to face trial after the tournament on charges for abusing Rio's brother Anton.
England won their two friendly's prior to the tournament, beating Norway for the first time in 32 years one nil and repeating the trick against Belgium. Rooney's ban had been reduced to 2 games, so he would have a rest before the tournament at least. England's group was not the easiest. Ukraine, France and Sweden all occupied Group D, Ukraine being co-hosts of the tournament wouldn't be a easy task and mostly host's do well in their own countries. France were still a good side, they were a constant force in international football and despite it being a classic French squad they were still dangerous. And then there was Sweden, Sweden for whatever reason always played England well. Again for an England coach, he had close ties to Sweden. Whilst not being Swedish like Sven Goran Eriksson, Roy Hodgson had made his name in Sweden and still has a corner of Malmo's stadium named after him. England started with a game against France, I took half a day off work that day, did some other tasks and sat down to watch the game. England took the lead with a Joleen Lescott header but Samir Nasri (Lescott's Manchester City team mate) equalized for France, the game ended 1-1.
In the next game England face Sweden, Sweden is always a tough game and the Swedish team were lead by the ever arrogant Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Born to Yugoslavian parents in Sweden (hence his less than Swedish sounding name) Ibrahimovic was one of the worlds best strikers, he started at Malmo. But after that he played in the top leagues for some of the top clubs in Europe. At that point he had played for Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona and AC Milan. Scoring goals at will wherever he played he was going to be a threat towards England's hopes of advancing to the next round. The match itself was something of a thriller. I lived in an apartment in Kendallville, Indiana at the time so I don't know what the bloke below thought was going on. A one man riot maybe. England opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with a Andy Carroll header, Andy Carroll could win almost anything in the air and Steven Gerrard (now free of the Lampard partnership due to Lampard being injured) crossed a great ball into the box, Carroll did what he does best and scored with a great header. Going into half time England led 1-0 but in the second half Olef Mellberg caused a Glen Johnson own goal after a scrappy turn of events after a Ibrahimovic free kick and then scored a goal that any England centre half would have been proud to score with an outstanding header. At this point Hodgson made changes, in the 61st minute James Milner was removed from the game for Theo Walcott and England now had pace on the right wing, if there's one thing Walcott he's fast, very fast. Walcott's pace added an extra dynamic to the team which stretched Sweden. In the 64th minute, Walcott himself equalized for England with a deflected shot from a corner. His pace cause Sweden caused Sweden constant problems and then in the 78th minute Walcott's pace down the right ripped the Swedish apart his ball into the box allowed Danny Welbeck to back heel the ball into the net, I exploded England now had a lead which they would hang on to and it would turn out to be there first ever competitive victory over Sweden.
England now faced Ukraine in the last game. Swannie sent me a whatsapp message asking me who I was supporting? Silly question, despite my Grandad being Ukrainian, I have never nor will ever support Ukraine, I don't dislike them, I just don't feel anything for them. Wayne Rooney's suspension was over and he was now free to play for England, it was something of a relief. Rooney was still at his peak during this time for Manchester United, and under Capello during qualifying he had done nothing but score. Would England find an extra gear with Rooney's return? England probably only had 3 world class players at the time and he was certainly one of them. After Walcott's game changing performance against Sweden there was calls for him to start instead of the steady James Milner. Whilst James Milner is a very good player, you don't achieve what he has in football if you don't have quality, he didn't have dynamic nature Walcott did and on the wing that is especially important. Hodgson though, played it safe and went with Milner. The rest of the team remained unchanged. Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker looked an effective partnership in the middle. Scott Parker was a talented player and had come to most people's attention when as a young kid he appeared in a McDonalds advert were he managed to do all kinds of kick ups. He was likely a victim of Sven's love of stars and big club players during his younger years. But a move to Chelsea had cut stopped some of his momentum as he rarely played for them. At Euro 2012 it made me wonder how good Gerrard could have been if Parker had been next to him more often in an England shirt. Ukraine needed a win, their goal difference was not enough to see them through if France drew, they needed to beat England but on the 46th minute, Wayne Rooney did something he hadn't done in 8 years for England. Namely score in a tournament, his goal was the only goal in the game that was given despite Ukraine actually had the ball over the line at one point but the referee and the extra referee's assistants didn't give it. Either way now, in 5 games as England manager. Hodgson was yet to be defeated.
Italy awaited in the knockout round, Italy were lead by the fabulous Andrea Pirlo, that man had vision that was beyond belief, the game seemed to be played at walking speed for him but warp for everyone else. He was simply the type of midfielder I would have loved to have been. Laughingly someone once compared Andy King to Andrea Pirlo on twitter, its little wonder why Noel Gallagher referred to Twitter as the play ground of idiots. England couldn't get the ball from Italy and Italy didn't really play that well themselves. England were defensively good at 2012. But Pirlo was the key everything Italy did went through his majestic right foot. He was in total command of the game. Looking back at it, his position was hard to pick up and how could have Hodgson stopped him dominating the game so much? I think having Rooney sit on him would have caused him problems and Hodgson's team was static, he stuck to the starting line up that had started against Ukraine in the last game, meaning no Theo Walcott but James Milner on the right. The game itself was dreadful and dreadful is an understatement. It went to penalties and yet again England lost a shoot out 4-2.
Despite England crashing out in the quarter finals there were signs to be encouraged about, Hodgson only had two games in which to get to know his England side and this was done with out England's best player. But there was signs to be worried about. His preference of Milner on the right wing and Hodgson reverting back to a 4-4-2. Something Capello had been criticized for during the 2010 World Cup but had evolved into a 4-3-3 for the 2012 qualifying. After the tournament John Terry announced he would retire from international football. The issue with Rio and Anton Ferdinand had no doubt played a role in his retirement. Not long after 2012 a court of law found Terry not guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand but the FA found him guilty in their own justice system.
The next World Cup was to be held in Brazil, England were drawn in a group that yet was easily winnable when compared to other teams in the group. Ukraine, Montenegro, Poland, Moldova and Sam Marino gave England a good chance to get to the World Cup. Despite the group's strength England won the group by only a point, they didn't lose a game but yet again the strength of the group had helped England qualify. When England got to the World Cup, the heat and more importantly the humidity was going to an issue. The first game was against Italy and England looked pretty good. Hodgson had evolved into a 4-2-3-1. Daniel Sturridge was the forward with Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling and Danny Welbeck interchanging behind him. It looked fluid and we looked very good. I watched the game in a bar near my wife's families lake house, when Sturridge equalized just two minutes after Italy's opener I screamed but then Pirlo exerted his influence over the game and Italy found the winner. England had lost their opener in the World Cup. Pissed off I walked back to the Lake house, I think it was the first time my wife had seen me mad at the result of a football match. I was annoyed cause I thought England could have got something from that game but again Hodgson had allowed Pirlo to take control of the match. The man was 35, playing in the heat and humidity, moving slowly and yet England couldn't stop him! Telling her dad and uncle about the game, her uncle came out with the line, "you might wanna pick him up". Indeed but there was always another game, Uruguay were England's next opponents, if England lost they would be going home. They at least needed a draw to stay alive in the tournament. Uruguay were lead by Luis Suarez, the supremely talented if not temperamental striker. Suarez had nearly led Liverpool to a league title by allied to a Steven Gerrard slip and a wobble of form later on in the season, Liverpool finished second but the plaudits for Suarez during 2013-2014 were high winning the golden boot and player of the season. Not long after the World Cup he moved to Barcelona, he might have the odd episode were he genuinely goes a bit mad but in front of goal he's lethal. Uruguay had done well at the previous World Cup so this game wasn't going to be easy. It proved to be less than easy, I watched it in the Pint and Slice in Fort Wayne a group of English people watched it together. Emma even turned up in her 1990 replica with 19 on the back. In 1990 Gazza wore 19 for England, we could do with a player like him now. England in all fairness had their chances, Rooney went close several times but it was Suarez for Uruguay who opened the scoring, a deft header beating Joe Hart. England pilled the pressure on until in the 75th minute, Wayne Rooney finally scored a goal at the World Cup finals, having gone goal less in Germany 2006 and South Africa 2010 this was a relief. We had hope, we had looked decent in all reality we could and should have expected more from the game. The amount of chances we had created surely would prove our quality but then a long ball from the back for Uruguay skimmed off Steven Gerrard's head. Suarez would have been off side if Gerrard hadn't have touched it. The England captain was an inch too short if he had been bigger he would have disrupted the flight of the ball more but he wasn't. The ball found Suarez and as he advanced from a now onside position my exact thoughts were, "oh fuck thats cunts gonna.............oh fuck me, we are fucked". England lost to Uruguay, England were out of the World Cup. Costa Rica won the group from Uruguay, Italy and England went home. On paper Costa Rica shouldn't have qualified for the knock out stage but they got through. This group was always going to be hard because of Italy and Uruguay but for Costa Rica to win it showed a team means more than individuals and there individual accolades.
The side Hodgson took to the World Cup wasn't a bad squad but for some reason we just couldn't finish side's, Sturridge was genuinely a good striker, Gerrard was old but was still as good as you could hope to find with an British passport and Hodgson had two years to work with the side not 2 friendly matches. Was it the players or was it the manager not getting the best out of them? I started to wonder. The next game we played Costa Rica and Hodgson knowing England were out picked the b team. Gerrard's final game at a World Cup was the ill fated flick on to Suarez. England finally picked up at point, drawing nil nil. It was England's worst performance at a World Cup, save for the shock by the USA in 1950 (that was one game though). Questions started to be raised about Hodgson, was he the right man? This was normal though and to be expected after a poor performance. The fact England played in all white again wasn't a good omen, the last three tournaments had seen England play in all white, this is never a good omen. Even a switch from Umbro to Nike, saw the all white strip trend continue. Despite Nike's first England kit featuring blue shorts, the kit for the World Cup saw the return of a Real Madrid style kit. It wasn't a bad kit but England in all white is just asking for a loss. The European championships in France awaited England, the championships had been expanded to 24 teams, a bad move by UEFA as the quality of football would suffer. But since the break up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the 90's Europe had a lot more nations, to my mind, the Euro's was the best tournament because it featured only 16 teams. I hate the fact that FIFA will expand the World Cup to 48 teams its mind a awful idea.
Qualifying for Euro 2016 was perfect England couldn't have performed any better but yet again the group was hardly stellar in its competition. Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and San Marino all faced England to qualify for Euro 2016. England conceded only 3 goals during the entire process, won 10 games and scored 31 goals. Wayne Rooney again finished top scorer in the group, against Switzerland he finally beat Bobby Charlton's goal scoring record becoming the first man to score 50 goals in an England shirt. The signs were promising for the Euro's but there is always one thing about qualifying, its something of a phony war and winning a phony war is not going to earn you plaudits or medals. Wayne Rooney was in something of a decline, he had been playing in the Premier League since he was 16, scoring goals since the start and consistently performing well for Manchester United and England (in qualifiers at least). But towards the end of Alex Ferguson, Rooney wasn't quite Rooney any more. He was still good but he wasn't that version of Rooney we'd all known and feared (if he was playing your club). Maybe it was Louis Van Gaal's version of football not suiting him or maybe after 14 years of playing at the top level and not exactly sticking to a Cristiano Ronaldo level of diet, he was slowing down earlier than expected. Rooney always reminded me of my Jack Russell, stocky but lighting when he got going. With his pace declining and his goal's becoming fewer and further between. Rooney was pushed backwards into the midfield, he still was a good passer of the ball and playing in the midfield wouldn't be so bad from that respect. He physically wasn't afraid of getting his foot in and he would be on the ball more which with his vision was seen as a good move. Hodgson saw this and was convinced it was the right move for England. Dropping a man that had just finished top scorer in the qualifiers for the Euro's and broke the goal scoring record was not something Hodgson wanted to do. Plus he had another headache, Harry Kane at Tottenham Hotspurs had emerged into being the next big thing for England. He was scoring goals at Spurs for fun, finishing top scorer in the league that season. Kane was young and the obvious choice going forward to be England's number 9. Kane is as good as its been since Alan Shearer and he might actually be a better all round player than Shearer was. Hodgson also had another headache. Leicester City shocked the world that season by winning the Premier League. The entire Premier League winning starting 11 cost less than Manchester United's left back. Chief amongst the bargains and cast off's that won the title was Jamie Vardy, he had broken Ruud Van Nistleroy's record for scoring in consecutive games against Manchester United to which he politely told the traveling Manchester United fans its all about me now. He was had pace that Michael Owen had in his early years, he could score every type of goal right foot, left foot, head, scrappy and the down right sublime. The goal against Liverpool is one of those things I'll never get tired of watching. Hodgson was in the crowd that night as Vardy scored 2 against Liverpool, a sublime volley and a poachers goal with his left foot. Hodgson's face as Vardy scored his ridiculous first was a smile but deep down he had to think I have to pick him for the Euro's even if he does play for Leicester. He was scoring against any and everyone.
England's group at the Euro's contained Russia, Wales and Slovakia. The opener was against Russia was played with the back drop of ugly scenes. The Russian fans tried their hardest to get to the English fans to fight before, during and after the match. England fans abroad was usually a guaranteed fight or trouble with the local police but in recent times. It seemed to have calmed down but the Russian's wanted to fight and went after the English. The English with the reputation they have were of course treated harshly by the police but as the game went on England beat on Russia's goal but seemingly, through bad finishing or outstanding goalkeeping couldn't break through. That was until the 73rd minute when England won a free kick on the edge of the box. Harry Kane ran over the ball which unnerved the Russian goalkeeper and his Spurs teammate Eric Dier smashed the ball in the top of the net. England had the lead which they deserved, but in stoppage time a looping Russian header beat Joe Hart and the game finished 1-1. For a team that had scored 31 goals in qualifying and for a team that romped through qualifying, something didn't quite seem right. Also why was Harry Kane taking corners? It was a confusing choice, why have your centre forward (who is 6 feet 2 inches) not be on the end of corners? The choice was befuddling at best, still if England set that many chances up, we should be alright shouldn't we?
Wales awaited in the next game, Wales hadn't been to a major tournament since my Dad was 6 years old. For those of you that know when my dad was born that was 1958 World Cup in Sweden and it was so long ago, the European Championships hadn't even started yet. European club football competitions was still in its infancy, the UEFA European Championships started in 1960. Wales were led by Chris Coleman who was a classy defender in his day but had since switched to management. He led Wales to the Euro's with a team built around Gareth Bale. Gareth Bale was a product of Southampton's famed youth system but had made his name for Spurs before a world record transfer fee saw him move to Real Madrid. At Madrid he become an even better player than he already was. His game was more rounded and had even added heading to his game. It was Bale that opened the scoring in the 42nd minute with a dipping free kick, Joe Hart was at fault for the goal. The ball did dip hugely but for the length of time it took to get to him, he should have pushed it round the corner. But he didn't and the Welsh went mad. At half time Hodgson made changes, the struggling Sterling and Kane were removed from the game to be replaced by Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge. It was at least encouraging that Hodgson would do this if players were struggling. It was Vardy that got England back level with a poachers goal, he would have been offiside but the ball came off a Welsh head before it got to Vardy. Vardy didn't care and lashed it in the net, it was 1-1. England had their chances and so did the Welsh. But in stoppage time Daniel Sturridge gave the ball to Delle Alli, the ball made its way to Vardy who gave Sturridge the ball back. Then Sturridge with his weaker right foot beat the Welsh keeper on his near post. The English portion of the stadium erupted and Welsh hearts broke. England had their first win of Euro 2016 and it was made extra special by it being against Wales. May be like Euro 96 when England had beaten Scotland this would be a catalyst for an improvement in performances. Hodgson wasn't afraid of pulling of players off either, this was good maybe it will give players like Harry Kane, Adam Lallana and Raheem Sterling a kick in the arse. Especially since Marcus Rashford, Jame Vardy and Daniel Sturidge had all performed so well when they came on.
Slovakia were England's next opponents and final group stage game. Hodgson rung the changes, at right back Kyle Walker was replaced by Nathaniel Clyne. At left back Ryan Bertrand replaced Danny Rose. In the midfield Jordan Henderson replaced Delle Alli. Jamie Vardy replaced Harry Kane up top and there was one further change which saw Jack Wilshire replace Wayne Rooney. I'll make this clear now, Jack Wilshire should never have been picked for Euro 2016. Not because he isn't a good player, but because before the tournament he had played 141 minutes of first team football for Arsenal. Jack Wilshire is a sad case, he has talent, he has vision uncommonly found in an english player, his passing is superb but he always seems to be injured. Even Darren Anderton wasn't injured as much as Jack Wilshire. All to often he has lost portions, if not whole seasons to injuries. It really is sad for him because he is a very good player. Hodgson was a fan of his and despite his lack of fitness took him, a waste of a shirt and it made me all the more mad because at Leicester. Danny Drinkwater had played magnificently all season. His passing was a thing of beauty, he knew where Vardy would be in a instant and found him. The season he had put in was one almost of the complete midfielder, he only really lacked goals. But Hodgson couldn't pick another Leicester player. One was enough! Its what it seemed like anyway. England played a turgid nil nil draw. Wilshire struggled, his fitness and lack of game time showed. England still qualified for the knock out stage and so did Slovakia but it was a poor performance.
Iceland awaited in the knock out round, England restored Walker, Rose, Alli, Rooney and Kane. But replaced Lallana with Sturridge. England's forward line had been poor all tournament. Vardy, Rashford and Sturridge all looked more threatening then the woeful Lallana, Kane and Sterling. England needed a performance and what England got was a performance, it just happened to be one of the worst performances ever. Rooney opened the scoring in the 4th minute with a penalty but from that point on England fell apart. Kyle Walker allowed Ragnar Sigurðsson an easy chance and he made no mistake. Iceland had their equalizer. The second goal was down to Joe Hart. Goalkeepers make mistakes, when they make mistakes though, there isn't a lot to save them. Hart to my mind had been on the decline for a little while, he was capable of tremendous saves but more than ever now he was struggling to go a whole game without dropping a howler. Its little wonder when Pep Guardiola took over at Manchester City, he banished Joe Hart almost immediately. After some short passes at the top of the England box Kolbeinn Sigþórsson picked the ball up and let go what really was a tame shot. In no way should it have gone in, but it did. As the ball pathetically trickled over the line England's Euro 2016 was over. For the rest of the game, an idea less England toiled away but produced nothing, there was some chances but nothing that would or could threaten Iceland's lead. As the full time whistle blew. England faced boo's and it was absolutely the worst performance I can remember England playing. It just seemed so un-inventive and turgid. It was made no better when someone who is English and believed England would win the 2006 World Cup text me laughing. I've always thought he was a footballing simpleton but to not be hurt by that result proved he wasn't a proper football fan. Yes England did deserve to lose but to laugh wasn't called for, I was then told cause I lived in another country it was different for me, which is complete and utter shit. I could live on the moon and support England or Leicester City in the same manner I do now. Some people I guess just don't feel loyalty to a shirt or badge.
The tournament as a whole was a let down, despite beating Wales. England felt like a team without a plan. Leadership was lacking, I never liked Rooney as captain and it seemed the coaching staff wasn't really that interested. Why Harry Kane was allowed to take corners in the first game, why? Almost everyone was aghast at the stupidity of that decision. Its not as if his corners were any good cause they looked he was just toe poking the ball at the penalty spot. Having favorite players and sticking by them no matter what. Sterling and Kane in particular were very poor yet he kept picking them. Wayne Rooney wasn't a good enough striker so you pushed him back into midfield? Just so he could play? I would have understood IF England had stuck to a 4-2-3-1 but they switched to a 4-3-3. Rooney was probably still pass as good as any English midfielder in terms of passing but his natural game wasn't a midfielder. Taking a clearly unfit Jack Wilshire, despite players like Mark Noble and Danny Drinkwater playing well all season. The two appearances Jack Wilshire had, were lamentable, caused by Wilshires understandable lack of fitness. Bringing him on at half time against Iceland and expecting him to turn the game around was another level of favoritism. Loyalty to players that really weren't good enough. I've never rated Gary Cahill, together with Chris Smalling, England were going to be exposed sooner rather than later. A forward line that was embarrassingly blunt despite having Kane finishing top scorer in the Premier League. In Euro 2016 Kane looked absolutely lost and not even half the player he'd been all season at Spurs. A coach who was tactically lost at times. How did the formation work, how did you play off Kane? England had possibly 17 good players that they could build a decent team around but Hodgson stuck to his favorites. An example of this was England played Germany in Germany in a friendly. England at one point were 2-0 down but Hodgson changed things brought on Vardy, played two up top and pushed the full backs on and England won 3-2 (with a sublime Vardy goal). The England team that night did not feature Wayne Rooney, Dele Alli got the man of the match award from the BBC. Jamie Vardy was not one of his favorites though, from playing him on the wing to outright ignoring him despite his great club form. Hodgson did all he could to avoid playing Vardy. Was it cause he was a Leicester player or was it cause he didn't know how to integrate him into the side? In France, his midfield was ineffective. Alli was sort of lost in the team, like his Spurs teammate Harry Kane he looked a shell of the player that had been so good in the Premier League. A lot of people hate Alli but he's a very good player on his day. Eric Dier was decent until he got ill against Iceland and Rooney was there cause he didn't have the balls to drop him for a more natural midfielder.
After the Iceland debacle, Hodgson resigned, it was a good thing. He looked like a man that didn't want to be there and the teams performances showed. Yes the players didn't perform but the manager/coach sets the tone. Hodgson's tone seemed to be, I want to be at home not here and it showed. It likely rubbed off on the players too. England had a decent squad but as a whole they performed badly. Roy Hodgson is a decent manager and doing a good job at Palace now, but the end of tenure as England manager left a bitter taste in the mouth.
Sam Allardyce: One and done
So where would England look now? Of course the press drew up a shortlist, Alan Pardew, the then Crystal Palace manager was mentioned, Eddie Howe of Bournemouth was mentioned, Gary Neville, Roy Hodgson's assistant was also linked to the role, Gareth Southgate the England Under 21 head coach was mentioned but The FA chose Sam Allardyce. Big Sam as he was readily known was a big northern Englishman who in another life could have been a character from Phoenix Nights. He was something of a miracle worker. Just like in the A Team if you had problems, if you could find the A Team they would help you. Big Sam was a bit like that, if your team was in relegation problems and you needed to be dug out of a hole. Call Big Sam up, he'll turn up in his 2005 Mercedes S Class and save the day, then promptly leave once the season was over. Big Sam had a long and journeyman like career playing although most of his career had been spent at Bolton Wanderers, he had also played in NASL (in the USA, a league that pre dates the MLS) and in the Irish League. He first came to my attention whilst managing Notts County, taking to the Third Division title (now Leauge Two but used to be called Division Four) in 1998. Not long after he moved to Bolton where he made his name, getting Bolton to the Premier League and guiding them to four top 10 finishes in a row, a League Cup Final and UEFA Cup qualification. A short spell at Newcastle followed by two years at Blackburn Rovers followed. He got West Ham back into the Premier League but after 4 years of criticisms because of his perceived long ball style he left in 2015. He was out of management when Sunderland came calling in 2015 when Dick Advocaat left Sunderland 19th in the table and looking a good to be relegated. Big Sam kept Sunderland up at the expense of his former club Newcastle. By becoming Sunderland manager he became the first man to manage both Sunderland and Newcastle. England came calling and Allardyce is a proud Englishman and accepted the job straight away. After the debacle of Euro 2016 it was important to restore some pride and performance to the English players. What happened was something rather different. The train wreck that had been Euro 2016 still lingered over the team, the lack of confidence clearly showed and England struggled to get a shot on target it took till the 65th minute of the game for England to register a shot on target and that was from the lamentable Rooney. It wasn't until the 95th minute when Slovakia who were down to 10 men conceded. Adam Lallana forced a shot a in and mercifully England took all 3 points.
The story of Big Sam the England manager ends there. Big Sam comes across a bit like a second hand car salesman, he might sell you that Ford Fiesta for a grand cheaper and he might tell you he's getting you a good deal but what's he doing is actually not a good deal. The Daily Telegraph is a news paper in the UK and on the 26th of September they published video footage of Sam Allardyce explaining ways of how a fictitious company could get round rules of owning players rights by a third party. Third parties owning players rights had been an issue since Allardyce's former club West Ham United signed Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano had been signed not from there club Corinthians (of Brazil) but from two third party organizations called MSI and Global Soccer Agencies. The Premier League investigated the issue and fined West Ham a record £5.5 million. Sheffield United weren't so lucky and suffered the most from this. West Ham and gone through a bad season finding themselves in a relegation battle, on the last day of the season Tevez scored against Manchester United and kept West Ham up at the expense of Sheffield United. Tevez was later found to be ineligble as his contract was not owned by West Ham. Sheffield United sued to keep their Premier League status but it was rejected. When it failed they went to an FA court of abritration claiming £30 million. The arbitration panel found in Sheffield United's favor, West Ham and Sheffield United settled out of court for an undisclosed figure. Corruption in football is nothing new, just the season prior to the Tevez/Marscherano/West Ham deal, a major corruption case had erupted in Italy which saw Juventus stripped of two league titles and demoted to Serie B. The Premier League and its over lord The English FA were keen to keep corruption out of the English game but now 9 years after the Tevez incident, the English National Football team manager was now condoning and providing ways of getting round rules to aid what some called slavery. Other comments in the video didn't help his cause, calling his predecessor Roy Hodgson, "Woy". Hodgson had a slight speech impediment which affected him when he said his R's, which was unfortunate when his name began with a R. Making comments about Hodgson's assistant Gary Neville and saying HM Revenue and Customs Service were the most corrupt organization in the world. On the 27th of September, Sam Allardyce resigned as England head coach, further allegations where by this time published in the Telegraph about "bungs" that were given during transfers. A "bung" is a bribe made to help transfers along, one had famously brought down George Graham of Arsenal in the mid 90's, when Arsenal brought John Jensen, sad thing was John Jensen wasn't very good and George Graham lost his job because of it. This wasn't the first time things of this nature were leveled against Allardyce, a BBC panorama documentary had exposed allegations against his son Craig Allardyce, which implicated Sam Allardyce amongst others. Then in 2014 Ravel Morrison, said he felt pressured to sign with Allardyces agent. Who represented a number of other West Ham players. Considering Terry Venables was not renewed before Euro 1996 due to his probity, it was almost ridiculous that a man such as Sam Allardyce was even considered to be the focal point of the FA's most visible position.
Gareth Southgate: Wastecoats, 4th places and Maybe it will come home
In all fairness I liked the appointment of Sam Allardyce, his style when he kept teams up was organized and they often produced results when they shouldn't have. His time at Bolton showed some quality. Bolton before Big Sam had been a Premier League but he cemented their place making them a tough to beat team, who twice qualified for Europe. But ultimately his resignation paved the way for Gareth Southgate to become England manager. Southgate was a solid defender, not the biggest, not the fastest but a good reader of the game with a great footballing mind. He started his playing career at Crystal Palace as a midfielder. As club captain he helped Palace win the 1st Division in 1993/94 and they went back to the Premier League. In 1995 Crystal Palace were relegated from the Premier League, Aston Villa paid £2.5 million for his services. It was at Villa that then Villa manager Brian Little converted Southgate in a central defender. Whilst he was a smaller centre half, what he really had in his favor was, he was less hurried on the ball and it allowed him to read the game better. English football at the time was going through a transitional state where possession football was being favored over the more direct play of the 1970's and 1980's. At Villa he won the League Cup in 1996 and by Euro 96 he was a England regular. He started every Euro 96 game alongside Tony Adams looking a natural, he was undoubtedly one of England's star during Euro 96. But his most infamous night in a England shirt also came during Euro 96 when he missed the vital penalty against Germany in the semi finals. In 2001 he moved to Middlesbrough after growing fed up at Villa. There he won his second League Cup and continued to play for England although not as regularly until 2004. In 2006 he retired from playing and became Middlesborough's manager replacing Steve McLaren who had become England manager.
When Southgate was appointed Middlesborough manager, it wasn't a smooth transition, he didn't have the required coaching qualifications. This caused quite a stir but Middlesborough argued that with Southgate's recent international duties (he played until international football until he was 34) had stopped him taking his coaching courses. The FA and the Premier League agreed and Southgate was allowed to continue as Middlesborough's manager. In his first season Southgate guided Middlesborough to 12th which beat the previous season's 14th under the departed Steve McLaren. In December 2007 Arsene Wenger praised Southgate suggesting he would someday be the England coach. By November 2008 Southgate had Middlesborough in 8th position in the league, but a run of poor form saw 1 win in 14 games and saw Middlesborough fall in to the relegation zone. Calls for his dismal followed during the poor run of form, relegation was looming and for a club to lose their Premier League status would be damaging in every respect but Middlesbrough's owner and chairman, Steve Gibson, would decline to fire him. Claiming the firing of Southgate would not do the club any good. Southgate finished the season as Middlesbrough manager and they finished 19th. They finished 3 points from safety, relegation to the Championship followed, despite this Southgate kept his job until October 2009, when despite beating Derby 2-0 and sitting 4th in the Championship. Gibson fired him unexpectedly, he said that it was in the best interests in the club despite Middlesbrough doing well in the championship and much to the fans confusion. Why wasn't he fired during Middlesbrough's poor run in the Premier League the season before?
Southgate moved into an administration role in 2011, working for the FA as the head of elite development. Basically working on ways to implement Sir Trevor Brooking's 25 point plan to improve coaching of English youth players and increase the quality of players. Southgate left the role after 18 months, but by 2013 he was working for the FA again, but this time as Head Coach with England's Under 21 team. England had long had a decent Under 21 set up, often doing what the senior team couldn't and win tournaments. Southgate replaced Stuart Pearce, who despite all the passion he had showed in an England or Nottingham Forest shirt never could replicate the level he had reached as a player. After two poor showings at Under 21 tournaments, the FA decided a new direction was needed to help nurture the youth of England so Southgate took over and had a good record. Winning 27 of 33 games as Under 21 coach, but 2 of his 3 losses as head coach were at the 2015 European championships leading to England's exit at the group stage. When Hodgson resigned as England head coach in 2016 after the dismal performance at Euro 2016, Southgate was considered for the head coach role but the FA turned to Big Sam Allardyce due to his more established club record (albeit with the Bolton's, Blackburns and Newcastle of the world). When Allardyce resigned the FA went back to Southgate and asked him to take the role of caretaker. Effectively giving him four games with which to prove he could do something with the role.
In his first game in charge England won 2-0 against Malta hardly a stellar performance but after 2016 and the turmoil of Allardyce's micro reign, a return to form was going to be a work in progress. A goalless draw against Slovenia followed but two good performances helped Southgate win the job. A 3-0 victory over Scotland, which for any England manager is a good result and this was followed by a 2-2 draw with Spain. England had been leading 2-0 at one stage but faded in the second half. Spain showing a bit tactical nouse to recover from a losing position, the next day on honeymoon in London. I was getting a bacon sandwich when I was talking to the two blokes at the stand. They were disappointed by the result but I countered whilst it wasn't perfect to lose a two goal lead it was better than the awful performances that Hodgson's England had given us just 4 months earlier in France. They agreed, shoots of recovery where starting, an identity was being found again, the majority of the players that had performed so badly in France now looked reinvigorated and been given clear instruction on how to play, something that was clearly lacking in France under Hodgson and his coaching team. England qualified as group winners, which wasn't unusual for England football teams, Unlike 2016 there performances weren't quite as eye catching and some performances weren't quite what they should have been. A nervy 2-2 draw in Scotland didn't help the jitters, but a captains performance from Harry Kane saw England level the game after awful defending by Gary Cahill. Which was handy as I was quite drunk and distraught at the thought of the looming loss to the Scots, for most of that game Scotland had kept England at bay until Alex Oxlade-Camberlain (has to be the poshiest name to ever grace a England shirt) scored in the 70th minute. He had replaced the lackluster Marcus Rashford, who hadn't found his grove. In the 87th minute Gary Cahil committed a foul. Lee Griffiths stepped up and beat Joe Hart directly from the free kick. Jake Livermore slipped and committed a foul about 25 yards out, Griffiths stepped up and again beat Joe Hart on his right post. I couldn't fucking believe it, from winning the game we were losing to the jock bastards. Then in stoppage time, an Eric Dier free kick was blocked, Kyle Walker managed to stop a Scottish break. He found Raheem Sterling who played a beautiful ball back into the Scottish box, in the box waited Harry Kane. Kane did what Kane does so well and equalized for England, the looks of joy on the Scottish faces were reduced to sadness. However the English faces were over the moon. The Scotland game was the last time England dropped points in the group, beating Malta 4-0, Slovakia 2-1, Slovenia 1-0 and finishing off the qualifying with a 1-0 victory in Vilnius, as they defeated Lithuania.
With World Cup qualification clinched against Slovenia, Southgate could relax, considering the state he found the national team in, he'd done a good job, nothing spectacular but workmen like. During this relaxed period Southgate began to plan for the World Cup, his formation was under consideration, his goalkeeper was certainly going to be analyzed as Joe Hart was certainly declining and all positions seemed to be open. Your club didn't warrant your international selection it seemed, your form did. The Slovenia victory had wrapped up qualification for the World Cup, in the next game Southgate decided a new formation was needed. When Chelsea won the league in 2016/2017, Antonio Conte had switched Chelsea to a 3-4-3 formation. After starting the season playing the default 4 at the back, Chelsea were mauled 3-0 on the 24th of September (my wedding day) by Arsenal. From that point on, Conte switched to his preferred 3-4-3 and Chelsea never looked back, running away with the league. Many teams tried a 3-4-3 after Chelsea's dominance running the system but no one was quite as dominant or caused the over loads that Chelsea did. Chelsea were aided though by a natural wing back in Marcus Alonso, the superb N'golo Kante, the sublime Eden Hazard and the outrageous Diego Costa. Southgate along with everyone else in football noticed this, the problem with the now default 4-2-3-1 formation was it could and would isolate a central striker. Harry Kane was especially prone to this, because a big part of his game is to drop off deeper. From the Lithuania game onwards, Southgate experimented with a 3 man back line. It was something England had done 20 years ago under Glen Hoddle and once disastrously under Steve McLaren in Croatia but since then it was a rare thing for a England team to play 3 centre halves. Although Fabio Capello's first game as England head coach had seen a 5-4-1 formation employed.
During qualification for the World Cup, Wayne Rooney was not selected by Southgate, his club form had dipped and he had also been injured. A move back to Everton seemed to reinvigorate Rooney, but then Southgate did select Rooney again, but Rooney decided to decline selection, preferring to focus on Everton. At 31, it did seem rather young to retire from international football but he had been playing for England since he was 18. Rooney had already announced plans to retire after the World Cup. Rooney is England's greatest ever goalscorer, the sad thing, most of his goals came against former Soviet Republic's in qualifying. When major tournaments came round by mostly no fault of his own he failed to match the performances he had so often delivered for England. But football moves on, Rooney will likely be England's record goalscorer for my life time but his lack of production of at major tournaments will sadly blight his outstanding contribution to England.
The World Cup was to be held in Russia, England had bid for the 2018 World Cup but despite having the best club stadiums in the world, the English bid was denied due to FIFA corruption. In all fairness the Russian World Cup actually turned out to be a very good World Cup and not just for the neutral but for a England fan for a change. The squad that Southgate took to the World Cup was England's youngest ever and the third youngest squad at the World Cup overall. It was a bold move by Southgate it wasn't the first time a England coach had used the line we are building for the future but with Southgate's short tenure as England coach it did seem to have credibility. As is usual England played two warm up games before the World Cup started, the opponents in those games were Nigeria and Costa Rica, England both times came out victorious. Southgate had stuck to his 3 men at the back idea but added an extra twist. Kyle Walker came in as almost a sweeper. He isn't the best defender in the world, he's a very good right back and one that excels at pushing forward, his pace and athleticism aid his forays down the right side. But Southgate took a bold step and played him as part of the back three. It was a odd move but one that strangely worked. As the World Cup itself started the back three took its shape, with Walker joined by his clubmate John Stones, and Leicester City's Harry Maguire. Maguire had enjoyed a very good season for Leicester City, replacing Robert Huth in the line up and despite Claude Puel's best efforts looked rather good all season. Like Stone's he was good on the ball and often pushed forward from his left centre back spot. The rest of the team was made up of Everton's Jordan Pickford, Pickford had endured a torrid couple of season's, relegation with Sunderland and a big money move to Everton which wasn't made any easier with Ronald Koeman's firing during the season. Sam Allardyce came in and got Everton going but Pickford won the England number 1 shirt despite competition from Stoke City's Jack Butland. Unlike Capello in 2010, Southgate knew his goalkeeper going into the tournament. He wanted to avoid any Robert Green like situations. Pickford is a smaller keeper, physically he isn't in the David Seaman mould of keepers but where he is superb is his kicking, he has an absolute hammer of a left foot. The right wing back role was filled by Kieran Trippier, the Spurs right back who had an ability with set pieces that would become crucial to England. The left wing back was Ashley Young, despite being right footed, he was played on his unnatural side, but his own with ability with a set piece he was also to be crucial. The midfield saw Jordan Henderson sit behind Delle Alli and Jesse Lingard. Lingard was an odd choice, I'm not a fan of his but overall he did a decent job, I know some Manchester United fans that aren't so complimentary about him. For me Ruben Loftus-Cheek of Chelsea who had a great season on loan at Crystal Palace would have been a better choice but Southgate saw something in Lingard (still wondering what it was). Up front Southgate obviously chose Harry Kane, Kane was his captain and is the best choice for an England striker. The next choice was not as obvious and I can't begin to explain the thinking, wearing number 10 for England was Raheem Sterling. Sterling had played on as a winger in 4-3-3 for Manchester City. He scored a lot of goals and had his best season to date at Man City. Pep Guardolia had sparked Sterling into form not seen since his early Liverpool days under Brendan Rodgers. His mobility was likely key to Southgate's decision. But where it really failed was the fact he wasn't a natural striker. On the bench sat Jamie Vardy and Marcus Rashford, while Vardy was 31 and likely facing his last major competition for England. Marcus Rashford was very much the up and comer but Southgate prefered Sterling. Out of position, we never got to see the best of Sterling.
The World Cup draw saw England placed in group G for Russia 2018 along with Belgium, Tunisia and Panama. On paper England should along with Belgium qualify for the next round of the World Cup. While Tunisia were to be unpredictable, England should beat them but African teams are notorious to predict, especially in a tournament played in the summer. And finally Panama, a loss to them would be horrific. Panama had knocked the USA out in qualifying, a match which caused Alexi Lalas to almost melt down into a ginger puddle such was his disappointment/disgust with the USA and United States Soccer Federation. Nike had given England a classic kit, a mainly white shirt, navy blue shorts and plain white socks which saw England capture something of the look of 1966. Unlike 2016 it was a thing of beauty and no red socks, which I had absolutely hated. It had been a feature of Nike's templates for 2016/2017 that shirts and shorts match but socks differed. It wasn't a good look, Manchester City had a terrible kit that season. Nike went classic with 2018's kit and nailed it. The away kit was also red which was also a beauty, red shirt, white shorts and red socks, it gets no better for a England away kit, no greys or blues. It was so nice for a change to have a nice kit.
For the first since I had lived in the states, ESPN were not showing the World Cup, instead Fox was showing the World Cup. The growth of the game in the USA was getting bigger every year, the MLS had grown ever since its inception in 1996, the English Premier League was now on regular TV nearly every week and so Fox decided to stump up a reputed $200 million (although some reports put it closer to $425 million) for the rights to the next 3 world cups. Which was great, why wouldn't Fox want to do that, the USA hadn't missed a World Cup since 1986 and were getting quite respected around the world for being a solid team. But then the USA failed to qualify and Fox's $200 million seemed to be money not so well spent. Its common now for women to be involved in the TV teams presenting games, like the male pundits and commentators, there are good and there are bad. Fox decided that England should get a Scotsman in Derek Rae (who is a solid commentator in his own right) and an American woman in Aly Wagner. At times its painful hearing American men talking about football, Kyle Martino on NBC Sports is particularly bad at talking bollocks. If my wife had a $1 for every time I called him a cunt when watching football, we wouldn't have a mortgage. His waffling, the fact he played in the MLS, which is still viewed as sub championship level of football. And perhaps most maddingly saying Leicester City were making progress under Claude Puel as they sank quicker than the Titanic. There's also an American guy in a Facebook group I'm in, who defended Claude Puel numerous times, even going as far as praising the combination of Ndidi and Mendy! After Leicester had been torn apart by Wolves, he called them normally reliable! I asked him if he watched the games because he clearly couldn't be. He clung. The most annoying American habit when it comes to football is when they call penalties, PK's. Its beyond annoying. Listening to Aly Wagner nearly drove me mad, what was she doing? Stating the obvious, using terms that were just nonsense, and almost ruining my enjoyment of the World Cup.
In the first game England played Tunisia, just like France 98 but unlike France 98 it wasn't so straight forward. England wearing all red dominated the statistics that don't count, the possession and the shots on goal but despite Harry Kane's 11th minute opener, England couldn't find a second goal. Then in the 35th minute, Kyle Walker did what Walker is quite famous for, being a bit thick. As an innocuous ball came across the box, he elbowed a Tunisian, why he thought he could and should do that is beyond me. Maybe he was reacting to something earlier in the match or may be he was just being thick. Watching on my phone I wondered what he was doing?! Anyway the penalty was awarded, Ferjani Sassi stood up and despite Jordan Pickford going the right way, he just didn't quite get to it but his time would come when it came to penalties. Just before half-time Lingard hit the post, as the ball bounced off the outside of the post, I thought it's going to be one of them kind of games, typical England. As the game drew to a close, a draw was a very real possibility, but England won a corner, Kieran Trippier sent the ball in, a Tunisian defender stopped Harry Maguire getting a header but as the ball deflected off him it found Harry Kane at the back post, who much like his first goal scored another poachers goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time. England finally found a break through, a pile of Englishmen amassed in the corner, ecstatic and relieved that the second goal had finally been scored. The country blew a sigh of relief as the beer rained down through the celebrations, a win in the World Cup hadn't happened since England beat Slovenia in South Africa 2010. However hard it had been, a victory at the World Cup was a great start to the campaign.
The next game was against Panama, after Iceland in 2016 and with England's struggles to beat Tunisia, I was somewhat worried. As I got up at the lake I was relieved to see England roll Panama over, a Harry Kane hat trick (two penalties and an obnoxious deflection), two goals from John Stones and a Jessie Lingard curler saw England hit six at the World cup to record a 6-1 victory. England's largest victory at a World Cup qualified them for the second round of the World Cup. Something England hadn't done in Brazil four years previously, with qualification for the knockouts assured Southgate decided to field a weakened side in the final group match against Belgium, making 8 changes. Winning the group would have seen a tougher route to the final, finishing second in the group made the route to the final on paper look easier. In the game that followed not a lot happened but Adrian Januzaj 51st minute goal sealed a victory for Belgium. Ironically just a few years prior he could have chosen to play for England or so it was thought. But Januzaj didn't have the required residency requirements to play for England, so the naturalization route was shut on him. However the list of countries he could have played for was long, Serbia, Turkey, Albania and Croatia all could have been his country to represent. Even Kosovo was mentioned despite not being a full recognized independent state or FIFA member at that point. Eventually Januzaj chose the country of his birth. The loss left England in second and they would face Colombia next in the knockout round, as luck would have it for the English, James Rodriguez had hurt his hamstring and was going to miss the game. After seeing a performance of his, earlier in the tournament, I was very relieved. He can be on his day a very special and talented player.
Against Colombia, England didn't play well, infact over the whole tournament you could say this was the worst England played. Colombia without their star player James, resorted to dirty tactics. It was one of the ugliest games of football I think I've ever seen at a World Cup. England went close a couple of times, then in the 57th minute, Carlos Sanchez rugby tackled Harry Kane in the box, for his trouble's he was booked and to rub salt into this wound, Kane converted the penalty. England looked like they might hang on, a wonderful save from Pickford forced a corner. But in the 93rd minute, a Colombian corner was swung in, Mina beat Maguire in the air and the bounced over Trippier on the post and found its way in the net. Instead of scraping through to the quarter finals England now faced extra time. In a game that had been so bereft of quality in front of goal, the thought of penalties was only 30 minutes away. Penalties, that most stressful of words to any England fan, as is usual the game did indeed go to a penalty shootout. England went second, meaning they had to match whatever Colombia did, nerves ramped up. I had watched the game at work, clocking out when I should have and watched the remaining 15 minutes in my cubicle. When the game went to extra time, I drove to the nearest bar near work, there I found Ricardo who is in fact from Venezuela but his best man at his wedding was a Colombian and he was traveling to Baltimore were Ricardo was getting married. As the penalties started, I adopted a nervous posture waiting for a red shirt to miss, there had to be at least one right? Kane matched Falaco's earlier effort, Rashford matched Cuadrado effort, Muriel scored for Colombia but the miss happened. Jordan Henderson who had been enjoying an effective World Cup stepped up but saw his penalty saved by David Ospina. My heart sunk, the slope was slippery, who was next to miss for England? Uribe stepped up and whacked the bar! "Fuck me I yelled!" We weren't dead yet! Trippier stepped up and put his penalty in the top left corner, it was level again! Earlier, I mentioned Pickford's time on penalties was to come and now was his moment. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, Bacca was the next Colombian penalty taker, he put the ball on the spot, walked back to just inside of the 18 yard box as Pickford bounced watching him, Bacca began his run and struck the ball well. Pickford dived to his right, the same direction Bacca had struck the ball but it was going above his body, but with his left arm, he reached and he saved the kick! I screamed and banged the bar so hard my hands hurt, "FUCKING COME ON!!!!", I yelled in absolute joy much to the confusion of the customers in Mad Anthony's. Then Eric Dier stepped up, Dier is not a popular player amongst England fans, he's a bit slow, doesn't command a range of passing and is seemingly there cause he's a Southgate favorite (every manager has them, no matter how good or bad). But Dier stepped up with the weight of a nation on his shoulders, score and England would win. Miss and it would be into the lottery that is sudden death. Southgate had told the players to own the moment, if anyone knew about missing penalties on the biggest stage it was him. It was his penalty at Wembley in 1996 that put England out of Euro 96. Dier stood up and converted the penalty, once more I yelled as my elation went wild, Ricardo recorded the whole thing. His best friend would get off an aeroplane to hear a half drunk Englishman's joy as his Colombian team was beaten on penalties. As the English players, fans and nation celebrated, Bacca no doubt wanted the ground to swallow him whole, no one understands the pain of a penalty shoot out miss like Gareth Southgate. Southgate offered commiserations to Bacca, for as unsporting and ugly as Colombia had played all game, Southgate could have celebrated with his players but instead, he offered a sporting move and a kind gesture. Southgate was not only winning in the World Cup, he was being a gentleman. Was there anything this man couldn't do right at the moment?
In the quarter finals awaited Sweden, Sweden always give England a hard match, the styles of play in Sweden and England are very similar hence why many Swedes transition well to the English game. The influence of English Roy (Roy Hodgson) and English Bob (Bob Houghton) had put a very english influence on the Swedish game. The Swedish love of 4-4-2 is almost religion, I've never known the Swedish nation team to play with anything but a 4-4-2, counter attacking, big centre halves and a big man to play off. The influence of English football was far and deep reaching in the Swedish game. In the previous round Sweden had dispatched Switzerland in one of the worst games of the World Cup, sloppy play covered the whole game. Dave text me, telling me "we'll beat either of these, they are both shit". I hoped so, hoping to avoid Aly Wagner and her drivel, I attempted to watch the game on the proxy, watching the BBC's excellent coverage, I became instantly homesick......Fox's coverage was adequate but Aly Wagner coupled to a guy who couldn't say Moscow (why do American's say the W? Its silent in Moscow) was near on unbearable. Due to the excitement in England, the BBC iPlayer crashed, almost five million people tried using the iPlayer that day, so I had to switch to the Fox coverage but happily, Aly Wagner wasn't a part of the commentary team, so I didn't have to irritated by her nonsense for 90 minutes. I wish I could be positive about her but good grief she was shockingly bad. England wearing again wearing all red kicked off against the Swedes, in the 30th minute England won a corner, Ashley Young sent the ball in where it found Harry Maguires massive head, he made no mistakes and opened the scoring for England. Not only had England scored, a Leicester City player who had become a big part of the side had scored. To say I was happy is a understatement, most of my neighbourhood heard me yell as Maguire ran off to the corner. I don't think I sat down for the entire first half. Just two years before Maguire was watching England in France as a fan. Playing for Premier League strugglers Hull City, he wasn't considered for the national team and went to France to watch England's efforts. Not long after England scored a long Henderson ball put Sterling through, Raheem Sterling had enjoyed a stellar season for Manchester City scoring 23 goals in all competitions, helping Manchester City to win the Premier League with a record points haul and win the League cup. But for England, Sterling was not played in his natural position a winger, he was played as a striker, although he can play as a striker, he's not naturally inclined to. As he controlled Henderson's long ball, he could have taken a shot earlier but seemingly low on confidence he fluffed his lines. If he had scored England would have had a 2-0 lead and with Sweden not really showing much going forward it would have ended the game. However he fluffed his lines and the ball went out for a corner, what could have been if a natural striker had been in that position? Although with his club from what had happened to Sterling for England? In the 59th minute Delle Alli sealed the game, Delle (as he prefers to be known) hadn't enjoyed the best of World Cup's, hampered by a groin strain and maybe hampered by Southgates system he hadn't been the player, he can be at Spurs. But his header from Jessie Lingard's cross surely put England in the semi finals? Jordan Pickford kept a clean sheet with a great save early in the second half and another great save later in the second half. As the final whistle blew, England were going to the World Cup semi finals, before the tournament, several "funny" American's had made comments about England's chances at the tournament despite their own country's non-appearance at the World Cup, now England stood one game away from the final and for the second time in my life, England were in the World Cup semi finals.
In the semi finals England met Croatia, led by the immensely talented Luka Modric they would be no push over and England would have to play their most complete game of the tournament to beat Croatia. To get to the semi finals Croatia had taken a longer path then most, their round of 16 match against Denmark had gone to penalties after playing a 1-1 draw out after extra time. In the quarter final's they played the host's Russia again another penalty shoot out was required as despite taking the lead in the extra time, Russia equalized but in the eventual penalty shootout Russia went out to Croatia. England awaited in the semi's, it was going to be a hard game no matter which way you looked at it. England and Croatia had played each other pretty evenly during Croatia's time as a independent nation. The game was played on a Wednesday afternoon, as I came home I had a little while to wait so I cleaned up a little bit, listened to the radio from home and awaited the game to start. Southgate remained faithful to all of those that had got him to this stage meaning Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Delle, Henderson, Lingard, Young, Sterling and Kane (the captain) all started. England were the designated home team and wore their white shirts but due to a clash of colours wore white shorts. England wearing all white is never a good omen but in the 5th minute Delle was tripped up on the edge of the box and up stepped Kieran Trippier. The "Bury Beckham" then proceeded to step up and imitate his idol in the best possible way, as Trippier stepped up, the Fox commentator commented that Trippier hadn't scored in the World Cup yet, as the ball hit the net I bounced around the living room screaming "he has now you cunt!" Harry Kane should have scored a second which surely would have put Croata in serious jeopardy but fluffed his lines badly, although he would end up winning the golden boot, three of his goals were penalties, one was a lucky deflection and two were poachers goals against Tunisia. Form had seriously left him in the knockout round but a lot of that could be contributed to Englands slow build up play in the World Cup. In the second half Croatia overran Jordan Henderson in the midfield and England couldn't cope in the 68th minute Perisic scored. Kyle Walker should have done better Perisic got his foot to the ball before Kyle Walker's head gotto the ball. Some people thought it could have been a high foot. Truth was since Kane's miss Croatia were the better team, in the 72nd minute Perisic hit the post, England were clinging to life. Southgate left his sub's till the 74th minute, bringing on Marcus Rashford for the underperforming Sterling. It made no difference to the game England needed help in the midfield but Southgate took Ashley Young off for Danny Rose in the 91st minute. Finally in the 97th minute he replaced Jordan Henderson with Eric Dier, as the Croatians continued to over run the midfield, I was resigned to the fact that England would be losing but luckily not on penalties. But in the 99th minute another England set piece nearly came up with another goal as John Stones had a header cleared off the line. As counter punches goes that was a good one from England, Pickford made another brilliant save to keep England in the tournament. Pickford had arguably been England's player of the tournament, some of his saves had been tremendous, his left arm had won the penalty shootout against Colombia, saves against Sweden and now Croatia had kept England going in the tournament. The 109th minute saw Pickford beaten for Croatia's second, a poor clearance from Kyle Walker saw the ball get pumped back in the box, a slip by John Stones and Mandzukic pounced, burying Croatia's second. In the 112th minute, Jamie Vardy made his entrance for England. It wasn't enough, by the end of the match England were down to 10 men, Trippier's legs finally stopped working and as the final whistle blew my heart sank. England were out of the World Cup.
The third/fourth play off was England's next game against Belgium, I didn't really want to watch the game, but I did. The England team that was put out was the players that hadn't played much, England made 4 changes and lost in a stunted display, I got the impression that England didn't want to be there, Belgium won 2-0 to claim third place. The World Cup was over, going into the World Cup I expected nothing but the English were given a brilliant tournament. While England had reached the semi finals, no one really expected it. But for once I could wear a England shirt and be proud, I've always been proud to say I'm English but that World Cup only made me more proud.
Southgate had taken a young squad to the World Cup and with the exception of Jamie Vardy, Gary Cahill and Ashley Young. Plenty of players in that squad have a future, it's plain to see somehow or someway England have got to a stage where we look like a team on the up. We are keeping the manager for the first time since 1966 after a successful competition. I don't agree with everything Southgate has done, the three at the back with Kyle Walker, Raheem Sterling as a striker, Alli and Lingard with Henderson in the midfield. But his promotion of youth, his building of pride of being English and his single mindedness have all encouraged me despite the negatives. He stuck by those players and formed a team spirit. In the months since the World Cup, England have progressed to the semi finals of the Nations League (UEFA's maddingly complicated new tournament). Southgate again changed the formation of the team to 4-3-3 which now brings out the best in Raheem Sterling. He has seen more youth come through, Hudson-Odoi from Chelsea, Jordan Sancho of Broussia Dortmund although he is a product of Manchester City). After defeating Montenegro 5-1 in Montenegro, I was enthused whilst it was only Montenegro, England had struggled to beat them in the past, the last time England played there, they played a 2-2 draw and Rooney was sent off. Now England handled them easily, even after conceding a early goal. The future is bright, maybe one day England will lift something major, wouldn't that good?
Comments
Post a Comment