Croatia 1 England 4
Walcott 26, Walcott 59, Rooney 63, Mandzukic 78, Walcott 82
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What a gamble !
A massive gamble by Capello !
He started Theo Walcott against a team who had never lost a qualifying game at home and the kid scored a hat-trick. And their goal was a foul. About 19 out of 20 Uefa refs will give a foul for a raised foot on that goal where Srna’s foot missed JT’s face by a whisker. He zoomed past JT and set up his mate to make it 3-1.
How do we explain this amazing result?
With a cliche : You can only play as well as you’re allowed to play. It’s the oldest cliche in football. But a cliche is only a truth you’re tired of hearing.
Fabio Capello gave England shape, organisation and belief. Right from the start they pushed up on Croatia, imposed themselves physically, played with tempo, and forced errors. They made Croatia to play at England’s tempo and that’s not their game. Surprisingly, their game collapsed. We’ve never seen Croatia pass the ball as badly as this. Locals had laughed when England, the Three Lions, were been dubbed one lion and two kittens. But they were not laughing now.
The first goal came from a bad pass by Rooney which nicked off a defender before panicky left back Pranjic booted it against centreback Robert Kovac and the ball broke for Walcott to fire into the far corner. I thought he took too long to shoot but he buried it.
1-0 at half-time.
Niko Kovak deserved his red card for an elbow on Joe Cole, a dangerous challenge. Jenas replaced Cole, whose head was gashed, and did well to win the ball on the left and set up Rooney for a sweet sidefoot shot that made it 2-0. Jenas, on for Joe Cole, set up Rooney for 3-0
Lampard made a goal nicely with a left-to-right run and buried his shot for 4-0. But Lubos Michel disallowed that goal for no good reason.
Then Srna broke through after his high boot got the ball and not JT’s boat race – and Mandzukic scored neatly to make it 3-1.
But four minutes later Rooney brilliantly pulled down Terry’s long pass, and released Walcott again, and he zoomed beyond the defence and finished with his left foot for 4-1.
A truly amazing result.
Capello had said before the game that he had NOT studied the DVD s of Steve McClaren’s two defeats against Croatia. Why would he ? Why would he want to suffer? He told his players what he wanted and they gave it to him. He gambled on a 19-year old and Walcott repaid that faith.
England’s confidence is often fragile. But not tonight. As Capello said, they played with courage and confidence.
For me, it was really nice to see the manager giving Rooney and Joe Cole a severe bollocking late in the game against Andorra. It’s been decades since we saw an England manager do that. Keegan didn’t, Sven didn’t, McClaren didn’t.
What can Capello show us ? On this evidence, a lot. Four goals in open play. None of our four goals was a free-kick, a corner or a penalty. His tactics turned zeroes into heroes. England have six points from two games.They will need about 23 points to qualify, so they already have a quarter of the points they need to get to South Africa.
The England team at last played like a team, played to our strengths. Even Rooney scored. He left the field wearing the biggest little grin I’ve seen for four years.
I’d Sven gave us an Italian England – timid, negative, defensive, paranoid. That’s what I told Kirsty Wark that time I was on Newsnight with Matt Lawton.
This Italian can give us an English England : natural physicality organised into a powerful unit, able to seize the initiative. Heskey was important. He didn’t score, as he did when England won 5-1 in Germany, but he was important.The first goal was vital and it was amazing that Croatia were unable to respond, that we dominated the entire game, even before Kovak was sent off.
And one thing is certain : Fabio thinks England can improve.
I’d like to write a lot more on Sir Fabio’s wonderful team in the morning but I’m vacating my office for the day. Builders are coming at 9am to replace the window here and in Michael’s room.
They are young, Polish and very good at what they do. But there’s no quiet way to do what they do, so I’ll be in the gym, the pool, and the gym’s cafe, reading the papers. All being well, I’ll be back with a couple of pieces on Friday.