By Myles Palmer
_______________________
Cameroon 2 England 2
_______________________
South Korea 2 France 3
_______________________
I don’t see how Sven can start Joe Cole, Trevor Sinclair or Emile Heskey against Sweden.
If we believe Sven, not the tabloids, Beckham will start that game.
But if he does, Danny Mills will have to do his running and Nicky Butt will have to do his tackling.
That means that Paul Scholes has to play wide on the left.
Poor Emile.He misses Houllier,his mentor.
He misses Stevie G. Maybe he even misses Danny Murphy.
And he has been outshone by Darius Vassell.
So Sven can’t play him on the left. And he can’t play him ahead of Vassell.
Heskey is an awesome, intimidating channel runner if your long balls are early and accurate. But without Gerrard you can’t play that way.
This should be Sven’s team next Sunday morning (4-4-2) : Seaman,Mills, Ferdinand, Campbell, Cole; Beckham, Butt, Hargreaves, Scholes;Owen, Vassell.
It has to be that team. I don’t see how it can be anything else.
I was vastly reassured to know that Tord and Dave were watching Sweden v Japan(1-1) on Saturday.
Tord Grip is 63 and he’s young compared to Dave Sexton, who is 72 and maybe the greatest football brain England has ever produced.
Sven is one smart Swede to keep Dave on board.
When I bumped into Tord that day at the Arsenal-Middlesbrough game he said we might need somebody like Joe Cole(a dribbler) to break Sweden down.
And he said we might need somebody else up front with pace.
What Tord didn’t mention to me was something that he said, apparently,in the Swedish papers.
As you remember, Sven was still at Lazio when Tord first came over and watched every Premiership team for five weeks.
He then went back and spoke to Sven.
Tord said, “I’ve found you another Michael Owen.”
Sven said, “Who is it?”
Todd said, “Darius Vassell.”
Sven said, “Who?”
This morning I watched England, then France.
Morning football on TV is tough.Two matches is very hard and it only works if the second match is far better than the first, as was the case today.
I decided that if I woke up I would watch England-Cameroon at 7 a.m.
I happened to wake up at 6.48, just in time to make a cup of tea and get my eyes open.
When I saw the teams I knew England could not win but thought a draw might just be possible.
FIFA rate Cameroon at No.15 but thet are in my top six.
Eto’o scored, Vassell equalised, Geremi made it 2-1 with a lovely free-kick.
Fowler equalised again in 92 minutes when Wes Brown’s long free-kick was allowed to bounce in the box and Sheringham nodded it to him.
Ages ago I sussed out that Sven, a realistic, pragmatic guy, was gonna play long ball with two quarterbacks.
Not for him the continental affectations of Venables and Hoddle.
We lack the craft for that.We are clumsy. We can’t beat them at their own game, so we must play our own game.
If Owen is a highly-motivated human bullet, hit him with long passes from Beckham and Gerrard.
Gerrard has played with Owen since they were both 12.
Hit Owen, and have Heskey playing like a belligerent bulldozer, knocking people over.
PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS!
If Owen, Beckham, Gerrard are your three best players, this must be your style.
Sven, to me, is a nucleus manager, not a blueprint manager. He has no pre-ordained tactical scheme to fit his players into.
He looked at what he had and made a decision.
He chose his nucleus. He built round his nucleus. And it was the right decision.
Remember Germany 1 England 5?
That was our quarterback team and that was our World Cup.
Clearly, South Korea are far better footballers than Japan.
TREZEGUET volleyed France ahead from Henry’s cross but ten minutes later PARK arrowed onto a very good diagonal ball down the middle, swerved inside Desailly and slammed a scorching left foot shot past Barthez.
What a goal!
Petit’s face said; Mon Dieu! The World Cup’s started already!
Zidane went off with a thigh strain, Choi headed in from three yards, unmarked as he connected with a free-kick.
DUGARRY equalised with a header off a fantastic long free-kick by Djorkaeff, who is still a fabulous player. Very resourcefil.Class is permanent, as they say.
This could be Djorkaeff’s swansong.He is so perceptive in those hole positions, almost a French Zico.
89 minutes, Wiltord measured a lovely cross for Leboeuf, who chested it down beautifully and buried it like a world class centre forward. Good goal.
3-2, thank you and goodnight.
Bottom line?
France have another gear.
Overdrive.They can switch on their turbo-charged pace.
They can be colossally athletic, even in hot, humid conditions.
FRANCE will play safe football, with spells of power football now and then.
They are BY FAR the best team of the 32.
They have the deepest squad, the best morale, the strongest organisation off the field.
France have only lost six of their last 61 games.
I can’t wait for France v Senegal.
First group matches are often dull. But this one could be as exciting as a quarter-final.
Don’t miss it !
26th May 2002.
A