I’m still thinking about Iceland and Brexit.
On Monday I had a premonition about Iceland. A feeling… and a bet.
But I haven’t blogged anything about Iceland’s 2-1 victory yet.
Later today is possible.
On Tuesday afternoon I was looking for a piece of scrap paper to scribble on and yanked out a dozen A4 sheets that are blank on one side, from a stack on a low shelf behind my swivelling office chair.
One of the pages was six years old.
It was a printout of this preview of an England game in the South Africa World Cup.
Fabio Capello was talking about the goals Rooney scored in training.
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Waiting for Rooney, or somebody, to beat the new Germany
27th June 2010
This is difficult.
How do I sum it up?
I woke at 7 a.m. on England-Germany day and thought : What can I write this morning?
My second waking thought was the result of my unconscious mind sorting through a mountain of conflicting information while I was asleep.
I thought : We could become a good team by beating Germany.
England are not a good team and that’s my fundamental point. Our stars are mostly journeymen who are over-rated, over-paid, and scared of being found out.
Our players were tense against the USA and terrified against Algeria and paralysed by fear for 22 minutes against Slovenia. They were absolutely terrified of being found out, of being sent packing from this World Cup without a win and with the whole world realising that they have been praised far beyond their talents, paid far beyond their talents, hyped far beyond their talents.
That’s why England looked scared and played scared. They were not afraid of Algeria or Slovenia, they were paralysed by fame, by fear of failure, fear of shame and ridicule.
Then Jermain Defoe scored in the 23rd minute and we started to play. But we couldn’t score again because we’re not good enough to score again. So far England have scored only twice in three games.
I wanted five games and I expected Fabio Capello to give me five games – and if we beat Germany I get my five games.
Four games will be shame, fear and loathing. Five games will be the usual : OK, we’re top eight, the lads did their best, now it’s time to go on holiday.
The quarter-final is in Cape Town on July 3. Will we be there?
My gut feeling says we won’t be.
We have more experience than the German team but it’s an experience of England failures. This German team is mostly new and has not failed yet. Klose is a Luis Fabiano-type assassin, Podolski did nothing all season and then smashed an 83mph shot past Australia, and the other German players are younger, fresher and more inventive than ours. Our high-tempo 4-4-2 might be made to look obsolete by their running patterns, their off-the-ball intelligence, their teamwork and good habits.
UNLESS WE SCORE FIRST.
For the last three days I’ve tried to think about this game, tried to talk about it, tried to read about it. But I can’t seem to do any of that. I’m stuck where I was last week, stuck with a throwaway remark I made as I left the gym on Thursday morning.
I said, “We can’t beat them in 90 minutes and we can’t beat them on penalties. But Crouch can score a goal in extra time.”
That’s where I was on Thursday. I haven’t moved on, although I’ve tried.
Until the sleeping blogger decided : England can become a good team by beating Germany.
We all know that Wayne Rooney has not scored a goal for Man United or England since March. And Rooney has never scored at a World Cup in seven games. He hasn’t scored in eight hours and 25 minutes of World Cup action.
And he is facing a card-happy Uruguayan referee, Jorge Larrionda, who has issued an astonishing 26 yellow cards in seven World Cup games. And three red cards.
That terrifies me. Larrionda will be out to make a name for himself today, I feel that in my bones. You call it paranoia, I call it instinct.
Rooney says, “I’m fit and flying.” But is he? Should he be playing as a lone striker? No!! Because our journeymen are not good enough to get the ball to him.
Rooney’s biggest fault is impatience. At his worst, he’s a playground footballer who chases the ball and wastes energy. If he waited, if he was more of a minimalist, if he forced himself to accept that sometimes less is more, Wayne Rooney might be able to give us a roller-coaster ride, just as Gazza did in 1990.
However, as I keep saying, this England team is not a patch on our 1990 team.
The truth is on the pitch. You know who said that. A tall guy from Senegal who used to wear Arsenal\’s No.4 shirt. Mark my words, the truth will be on the pitch in Bloemfontein this afternoon.
Are we any good? We will find out at 3pm.
I’m waiting to see whether Mesut Ozil will turn into the new Roberto Baggio. Is this kid that skilful? Probably not. Few are. Ozil is 21, just starting his career. .
As Fabio Capello’s England face possible meltdown, remember this : Germany can become a good team by beating England.
On Rooney, Capello says, “He’s been scoring a lot of goals in training, and we hope he’ll take that on to the pitch in this match. But, even if he’s not scoring, he has been important for us with his movement, his assists and everything he does in a game. I was happy with his performance against Slovenia, and he needs to carry that into this game.”
To sum up : Germany are a short-passing team with very good running patterns. The game is about support, about good habits, about not giving the ball away.
To beat Germany we need to break up their running patterns. But our journeymen are not quick enough or combative enough to do that. If we had Nobby Stiles, Bryan Robson or Paul Ince, or two of those, we’d have a much better chance of being in Cape Town next Saturday.
So that’s where I am at 12.30pm on another England-Germany day.
The Germans have not lost in the Second Round of the World Cup since 1954.