By Colin Dunne
This game had become a must win game for England and rightly so. They had been shocking in their previous two games against Algeria and the USA. Now granted the USA are a highly under-rated team in the press; it should not be forgotten that they ended Spain's unbeaten run in last year's Confederations Cup and but for huge stage-fright against Brazil in the final, may have actually won the cup. It is for that reason that England could have been excused for playing poorly against them.
Algeria on the other hand are a bad team, let's make no bones about it. They came to Dublin two weeks before they played England and were soundly beaten. Ireland didn't play any majestic football against them but simply played their way around them and mixed their play up, by hitting them with long balls down the middle which they could not cope with. Now if I was Fabio Capello, I would have thought playing Crouch up on his own and landing balls up to him, with Gerrard, Lampard and Rooney picking up the knockdowns would have been the obvious thing to do. He, however thought he knew better, and England managed one meaningful shot on target from Lampard in the entire game.
So to today's game. The pressure in the camp had been building and with the former captain trying and failing to lead a mutiny against Capello in the buildup, you had to wonder which version of England was going to turn up. Heskey and Lennon were both dropped and replaced by Defoe and Milner. Lennon is a one trick-poney like Wright-Phillips and Walcott, so you could see why Milner got the nod and the change was justified when he landed a perfect cross for Defoe to score with his shin. Defoe had been quiet up to the goal and should have doubled his tally in the opening minutes of the second half. Gerrard was asked to play on the left of midfield to allow Lampard play in the centre and to be fair he did a good job. He linked play well with Cole and Rooney but you could see that he always wanted to come in-field. It wasn't the Liverpool Gerrard that was on-show, he seemed to be shackled. Lampard did nothing from midfield and I would be thinking about moving Gerrard back into the centre and either dropping Lampard or asking him to play on the left against Germany.
Slovenia showed themselves to be an average team. They had two centre-forwards that had as much pace as a double-decker bus. They had two speedy full-backs, with Jokic the left-back causing Johnson trouble right-from the off. Johnson went in with one missed timed tackle and one reckless tackle in the first five minutes which went un-punished by the referee; it's never good when Rooney is telling you to calm down. Slovenia did cause England a few problems mainly in the second half when last ditch tackles from Terry and Johnson were required. Terry didn't put a foot wrong for the game and was willing to put his body on the line for the cause. His partner Upson, looked out of his depth at times and may struggle against the likes of Podolski and Kolse on Sunday. Ashley Cole put in another sterling performance based on decent defending and great attacking fullback play. David James handled everything that came at him with ease and seemed to be a commanding presence from the back, who was constantly talking to those around him.
Gareth Barry is obviously struggling in this world cup. I don't believe it's his fault; the lad's not fit and because of that he is making silly mistakes that are out of character. He played dodgy back passes today and put his colleagues in serious trouble at the back. Against a better team, those errors will be punished. I think Capello will stick with him as he doesn't have any alternative, which shows how poor the England squad is. Wayne Rooney put in a workmanlike performance. As Dunphy said, it was not the same Rooney we see week-in, week-out for Manchester United. The player is lacking in confidence and didn't look like ending his 7 game drought today. He had a clear cut attempt at goal which he scuffed and the keeper made a brilliant save to push it on to the post. He hobled off with an ankle injury; he's expected to be back for Sunday and England will need him. Although he's not scoring, his link play is good and he creates space for others.
As for Fabio, he seems to have got lessons from Martin O'Neill and Gordon Strachan over the weekend on how to behave on the touchline; stop acting Fabio, it's not your way of doing things. Stop listening to the media and focus on the job in hand.
The media will build the Germany game up to the hilt. The games in '66, '90 and '96 will all be talked about over the coming days and the English will get romantic about beating the old enemy. However, I think the Germans will see through the English and will knock them out in normal time. The Germany team is nothing special but it never needs to be. They will always be there or there abouts in the World Cup. They are well organised with decent strikers, decent midfielders in Oezil, and Schweinsteiger and a solid defence. I would love to see England go further, purely so that they can bulid themselves up to being world-beaters, and then get beaten by a really great footballing nation like Brazil or Argentina.
Either way, this Sunday is going to be a Super Sunday.
Colin made a great point that the German side is nothing special but it never needs to be. The Germans are a machine that will always put in a solid shift and will be a hard team to beat.
I tend to agree with Colin in wanting England to go that bit further, but i just don't see it happening, they need to improve so much and only have 4 days to do so. A German win is the only way i can see this going.
I'l be talking more about my Predictions for the Last 16 on Friday.
Oh, here's something that amused me while watching the game today:
USA 1-0 Algeria
You have to give it to the Algerians, they made it bloody tough for the other 3 teams in group C.
Only a late winner from the USA superman Landon Donovan saved them the Yanks from an early exit.
The USA are a decent side but don't expect them to go much further. Last 16 should be where it ends for them, if their lucky last 8.
Germany 1 - 0 Ghana
An excellent game that deserved more goals.
Germany looked good without over-impressing. The typical German way!
Ozil's second half rocket for Germany was enough to set-up the biggest game of World Cup 2010 so far, England v Germany.
Ghana did play their part in the game and had good chances. They deserve to be through to the second round. The best African nation by far.
Australia 2-1 Serbia
The Socceroo's bowed out of the World Cup in style but it was all a bit too late for them.
Another entertaining game that produced some good goals (especially Tim Cahill's opener)
Both teams were eliminated tonight but should go home with their heads held high. It could be worse for them, they could be FRANCE!
So there you have it, Matchday 13 is done and dusted and these are the confirmed fixtures for the last 16 so far:
Uruguay vs. South Korea
Argentina vs. Mexico
USA vs. Ghana
Germany vs. England
Looks ok so far!
As for tomorrow, i'l give you my quick predictions:
Holland 1-2 Cameroon
Holland are already through and pretty much have the group won. I'm expecting Cameroon to restore some pride by putting together a strong performance tomorrow.
Japan 0-1 Denmark
Denmark are a good side in my view and from the start were under-estimated in this group. I expect them to edge a tight game against an energetic Japan. I could see one of the old stalwarts like Rommedahl or Gronkjaer grabbing the winner.
Italy 2-0 Slovakia
Italy have been here before and know what they have to do, I think that will count for something. De Rossi needs to prove his worth tomorrow, he needs to step up. It would be a shame to see Italy go home early too.
Paraguay 1-1 New Zealand
I could be way off with this one but i'm going to say that the Kiwi's will go home to as hero's after leaving World Cup 2010 undefeated. I really hope they can do it, it seems like everybody likes them.......maybe not the Australians.
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