So I sit here on a rainy Sunday afternoon with the memories of last nights disappointing result still going around in my head. The media in general, and the fans on many a football forum are already telling us to take down our flags and to tear up the Panini albums as we have no chance. It WAS a depressing way for the game to finish, but the negativity is, I believe, one of the major contributory factors behind why we always seem to come away disappointed. There are only a handful of countries that have ever won the World cup, and for those of us who have not heard it, apparently England won it in 1966 and we haven't been as good since. Well I hate to mention this, but things have changed slightly since then...I know, I was born in 1966 and I have kind of kept my eye on things since then. I have watched pretty much all of the games since the start of this world cup, and in fact, most of the games in every world cup since 1974. It is very rare for a team to come out and start playing to it's full potential at the beginning of a tournament. In fact, it is perhaps more common for the eventual winners to be fairly slow out of the starting blocks. Back in the year that shall not be named, England drew with Uruguay in their opener, and the legend that is Gordon Banks told the story on television yesterday. The press got on the backs of the England team and told then they were crap basically. This was in the days when the only Wag you would hear of was from the tail of a dog. I digress....So we witnessed the end of English football by all accounts of last night, however, no-one seems to have mentioned that fact that USA have improved greatly over the last few years, and only last year, beat Spain, and gave Brazil the shock of their lives.The facts however, do not always make for a good story, and lets face it, we all like a good moan. When you watch the match back, you will see that we had the Lion's share of the possession, and we had several opportunities to have won the game. It is far easier though, to blame the goalkeeper for one error. The mature and responsible message that our press want to send out to kids watching this, is that it is the correct and proper attitude to pillory one man for a mistake, when in fact we could and should have won the game at the other end. Where for example are the critics of Mr Rooney, a player put on a pedestal so high that he must be suffering from vertigo? He was ineffective, wasteful in possession, and optimistic in his choice of shots. He is forgiven, as he is a world class player, but Robert Green is not allowed to make a mistake. The genius perspective would seem to be suggesting that an Injured David James, who makes a habit of the kind of ricket that Green made last night would have been more sensible...or of course Hart, who has not had any International experience. Again, the obvious facts would appear to be far less important than the apparent god given right to rant. Emile Heskey raised a few eyebrows here at Plug Acres. I did not want him in the team, and even after what I consider to be one of his better games, I still do not want him. The wasted one on one opportunity was enough to show me that he is not good enough at this level, and certainly wont be against the very top opponents. In 1990, England drew their first game against Egypt, a team MUCH lower in the ranking than the USA are now, and again the knives were out, however, we ended up in the Semi Finals and lost on penalties, Bobby Robson was knighted, and Paul Gascoigne became an unlikely national hero. The margins are narrow, and I am impressed that so many people seem to know the outcome of the tournament already. I am envious that they will be able to spend all those hours over the next month doing other things rather than enjoying the spectacle and drama that I shall have to endure.
As a Spurs fan, I know only too well that it is easy to write off our chances too soon. Most of the people I know on the Spurs forum I visit were moaning and whining about our manager early on in the season, but now seem to be a little quieter. Patience is a virtue I believe, and I shall have patience with England for a couple more matches at least. Anyway...I must dash...I'm off to slag off Algeria vs Slovenia
No comments:
Post a Comment