England Disappoint in Slovakian Stalemate
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I’m not sure if Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr’s powers of intuition were potent enough to forecast the goings-on of a national football team, some hundred-odd years after his death, or, indeed, if the French novelist was even a big sports fan. But it’s an epitaph that rather neatly sums up Roy Hodgson’s England and their offerings at international tournaments.
It looks different, it feels different, but somehow, against all odds —yep— it’s just the same.
We’ve experienced worse, of course. Fabio Capello’s England once played a group game against Algeria at World Cup 2010. You might remember: it’s a performance often cited as being the nadir of underachievement for the supposed Golden Generation; the purest demonstration of a team of elite-level footballers literally taking the p*ss.
Unable to rope three passes together, incapable of travelling ten yards without looking like they’d just finished the Moroccan Sahara Ironman. After the game, Wayne Rooney shouted at us through the television. Nice to see your own fans booing you, he said, with a sweaty face he hadn’t earned.
Sure, things weren’t that bad. For soul-squeezing disappointment, however, for the want for a team with so much potential to do something exciting, imaginative, to take risks— this somehow trumps that evening in Cape Town.
This wasn’t a gang of battle-weary heavyweight champs, looking for one last shot at the glory. This was the future; a fearless, untainted England who weren’t bogged down by the failures of the past. Last night, they weren’t awful, by any estimation. Just flavourless. A raw courgette sandwich. A side order of plain rice. A glass of water.
Anyway, before things get too moribund, let’s take a look at some of the brighter notes from the evening:
Slovakia decided quite early on in the encounter, possibly aware that Wales were pummelling Russia and their route to the knockouts was all but assured, that defending in numbers would be their tactic du jour. As many men behind the ball as legally possible, sitting as deep as geometrically possible.
Marek Hamšík, Slovakia’s best and most creative player by some margin, was anchored so far in his own half he could’ve happily chatted to his goalkeeper without raising his voice.
With that being the case, and central areas being as bottlenecked as they were, it was always likely that England’s clearest path to success would be down the flanks. Ryan Bertrand and Nathaniel Clyne both had fine games. Clyne, in particular, understudying for the tournament’s best right-back, Kyle Walker, was able to get forward with intent and deliver with at least some degree of competency. Which is more than can be said of some of his teammates.
Eric Dier, again, was one of England’s most assured performers. Considering he was only introduced to the role of anchoring midfielder less than a year ago, he’s doing an awfully good impression of someone who’s mastered it.
There wasn’t too much to do in the way of screening— tougher tests await, you’d imagine— but what little threat Slovakia did offer, he dealt with proficiently and with minimal fuss. His range and accuracy of passing was impressive, too. One 45-yard cross-field diagonal to Daniel Sturridge was one of the first-half highlights. That and, erm, the kits looked quite fetching, didn’t they?
To the knockouts!
The article appeared originally on Yahoo! Sports
