Joyless campaign leaves England without hope

Will Tidey: Joyless campaign leaves England without hope

The morning after the humiliation before, and a weary-eyed nation has three mindsets to choose from - anger, resignation or the blind hope that, surely, things can only get better.

Anger that this proud footballing island, hope to supposedly the greatest domestic competition in the world, has been exposed as hopelessly inept on the international stage.

Anger that a crop of proven players, with no shortage of big-game experience and egos to match their salaries, have let a zeitgeist moment in their careers pass them by, yet again. Of course they care, but the marriage between fans and this England team demands they paint their passion in technicolour.

- Germany 4-1 England

Finally, anger that this England team have chosen the greatest sporting stage on earth to deliver an entirely joyless campaign, bereft of flair, imagination or even a semblance of infectious enthusiasm for the task at hand. Whether we like it or not, the World Cup as entertainment fare is a good deal better off without us.

Questions will rightly be asked of the manager, but should Fabio Capello's stubornness really be the primary focus of England's World Cup obituary? After all, I don't see Jose Mourinho or Sir Alex Ferguson bowing to public opinion, or the behest of their star players on a regular basis.

Capello did make some curious decisions, not least in his substitutions, but I don't subscribe to the notion that England's best players withered on the grounds of their tactical deployment. Nor do I think Capello has become a bad manager overnight.

Wayne Rooney might not revel in a 4-4-2, but since when has a player's position on the pitch been responsible for their inability to control the football and pass it to a team-mate. As Alex Chick pointed out in his excellent blog at Eurosport-Yahoo!, Rooney is the most tackled player at the World Cup - and that says it all.

Defensively, England were beyond naive in Bloemfontein. Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson sent out invitations to attack in their absence, while John Terry and Matthew Upson looked like strangers thrown together in the playground. In midfield, England pressed in patches, but came nowhere near the Premier League intensity Capello has been screaming for on the touchline.

Perhaps England would avoided such a resounding defeat if Capello had opted for the 4-5-1 (or even 4-3-3) most of us had been crying out for, but if England's players are so mentally fragile and inflexible they fall apart outside of the narrow tactical framework they believe in, they're nowhere near good enough to win a World Cup.

What happens next will be subject to enormous speculation. There will be calls for Capello to go whatever the cost, and endless talk of this so-called 'golden generation' being sent out to pasture. The number of foreign players in the Premier League will be debated ad naseum and stories will doubtless emerge of disharmony within the England camp during the tournament.

But whatever the road forward for England, and whoever their manager is going into Euro 2012 qualifying, be sure that blind hope with emerge once more as we approach the tournament proper.

If only England's players shared the belief of their fans.

Meanwhile, Fabio Capello is to seek urgent talks with Club England chairman Sir David Richards about his future following Sunday's 4-1 World Cup hammering by Germany.

It was the biggest ever defeat to Germany and the worst result England have ever suffered at a World Cup. Capello's position is bound to come under intense scrutiny only five weeks after having a clause removed from his £6million-a-year deal that would allow either party to terminate after the World Cup.

Senior sources within the Club England camp who will determine whether the Italian stays or not have indicated that their stance on Capello - that he is the right man to take the Three Lions forward - has not shifted as a result of one single, albeit controversial result.

After claiming his side were capable of reaching the World Cup final, Capello has seen his men record just one win from four games and arguably reach their potential only once - against Slovenia in Port Elizabeth last Wednesday.

"When you lose the manager gets criticised," said Capello. "We didn't play too badly in the first game against USA, just made a big mistake.

"We played a bad game against Algeria but we played well against Slovenia. If the referee had whistled for the goal, it would have been different. It was too big a mistake."

England's World Cup campaign ended in total humiliation in the first knockout round as they suffered their worst-ever finals defeat, being comprehensively beaten 4-1 by Germany in Bloemfontein.

Fabio Capello named the same side that started in the 1-0 win over Slovenia which edged England through to the knockout stages.

- Germany v England: As it happened

Striker Miroslav Klose started for Germany in place of the injured Cacau, while Jerome Boateng and Bastian Schweinsteiger recovered from knocks to feature.

The first chance of the game fell to Germany five minutes in as Mesut Ozil got clear on the right and under pressure from Ashley Cole saw his shot blocked away for a corner by David James.

Soon after a long ball through the middle almost caught England out and a similar move led to the opening goal with 20 minutes played.

John Terry and Matthew Upson were sleeping as Manuel Neuer's long goal-kick bounced through and the predatory Klose pounced to slide a right-foot shot past the exposed James.

Just past the half-hour mark it was almost 2-0 as a fluent passing involving Sami Khedira and Per Mertesacker move played Klose through on goal, but James was out quickly to block with his legs.

Within a minute Germany did get a second, as Thomas Muller got in on the left and lifted the ball out to Lukas Podolski at the far post and he smashed a left-foot shot through the legs of the advancing James.

Five minutes later England were back in the game, as Steven Gerrard crossed into the area from the right and Upson made up for his earlier error by heading home past a hesitant Neuer.

Inside a minute it should have been 2-2 when Lampard's exquisite chip from 20 yards beat Neuer and hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down well over the line. However, no goal was given and Germany survived to take a slender lead into the interval.

The second half got off the a slow start, before seven minutes in Lampard lashed a long-range free-kick against the crossbar with Neuer grasping at thin air.

Just before the hour mark Philipp Lahm's weak backpass almost let in Defoe, but Neuer got there just in time to hack the ball clear, as England turned up the heat and went in search of an equaliser.

However, midway through the half, England were caught on the break yet again and Germany restored their two-goal cushion.

A quick counter ended with Schweinsteiger calmly taking the right option, playing in Muller on the right side and he blasted a shot past James at his near post.

Three minutes later and it was 4-1 as Germany's quickfire attacks paid off yet again. Ozil ran clear down the left and sidefooted the ball across the area for Muller to power home his second of the game.

Muller's double extinguished the fight in the England team, with their only late chance coming nine minutes from time when Neuer made a fine save as Gerrard broke into the area on to an accurate Rooney lay-off.

The final whistle sounded after two minutes of added time, with England a sorry and well beaten outfit and Germany looking forward to yet another quarter-final.

Joyless campaign leaves England without hope

Last updated : 28 June 2010 By worldcup2010.football.co.uk