Kevin Whitcher
Wednesday 4th July 4pm
So… time for a catch up. And where else to start but the national team? Arise Sir Harry, Sir Jordan (That’s Pickford, not Henderson), Sir Eric and the rest… because what do you know, England have won an actual penalty shoot-out for the first time since the quarter finals of Euro 96 against Spain. Can this be real? Cue mass celebrations, dancing on the streets, people getting sticky hair due to being showered in beer, tooting horns and proclamations that it’s coming home.
Tournament football is about staying in the tournament, not losing games. You don’t even have to win too many of them as long as you are good at penalties. Portugal in 2016 and Argentina (finalists) in 2014 can attest to that. And England are most certainly still in the tournament. Can they beat Sweden? Yes. Can they get knocked out by Sweden? Certainly. Russia? Croatia? Can they sneak to the final and pull off a 1988 FA Cup Final scale shock result be beating one of Brazil, France, Belgium or Uruguay? Scientifically, it is possible. Realistically… well, let’s just see if Harry’s boys can beat Sweden first shall we?
There is serious optimism in the air, and the feelgood factor is great, but this old fool is too gnarled and wisened to even think about the country winning the big one before they have even managed to get to a final where they will be serious underdogs. My earliest memories of England are listening on BBC radio to the team being handed a football lesson by Germany in the spring of 1972 at Wembley. Then we had Poland in 1973, Italy in 1977, Spain (0-0 when England needed 2-0) in 1982, The Hand of God, Ireland in 1988, Germany in 1990, Sweden in 1992, Holland in 1993, Germany (again) in 1996, Argentina in 1998, Romania in 2000, Brazil in 2002, Portugal in 2004 and 2006, Steve McLaren’s umbrella in 2007 (NB – Croatia), Germany (yet again) in 2010, Italy in 2012, Uruguay in 2014 and Iceland in 2016. I gave up hoping after 1986. I had a ticket for the final four years later and was sat in a friend’s apartment in Rome watching the Turin semi-final shoot-out with total detachment. The result was never in doubt. Ever. So you think the hype is going to change the habit of more than half a lifetime? No sir.
However. A few observations. Gary Neville stating that the manner of the victory against Colombia will serve the psychological strength of the squad much better than if they had held on and won 1-0 in normal time. Interesting point. How strange watching penalties in which I was willing Spurs players to put the ball past an Arsenal goalkeeper. Eric Dier’s winning spot-kick was actually a p*ss poor effort, not dissimilar to the one Gareth Southgate missed in 1996, but Ospina made a hash of it. Of course, who cares, if they go in? England have beaten Tunisia, Panama and a Colombia team shorn of their best player through injury. They have faced one decent team and both sides put their B team out, although Marcus Rashford’s horror miss against Belgium was probably the best thing he could have done. Is it just me or do Raheem Sterling and Jesse Lingard remind anyone of Theo Walcott? Are you seriously telling me England can win the World Cup playing two attackers that give up possession so easily?
Still, there is much to praise. Jordan Pickford’s two saves (one in the shoot-out) last night, Harry Maguire’s improving brilliance, Harry Kane’s confidence when presented with the opportunity to score a goal. There is a good argument to replace Kyle Walker with Eric Dier in the back three. Kudos to Gareth Southgate for the preparation of his players for the shoot-out. Own the moment is a sound philosophy, although in his haste, perhaps one that Jordan Henderson seemed to forget about. It wasn’t a bad penalty, but there was no disguise. If you are going to do that, then blast it in the top corner.
A statistician on the radio this morning stated that England have a one in three chance of making the final, and a one in eight chance of actually winning it. Brazil have a better than one in four chance of being crowned World champions. I recall being at the last 16 game between Brazil and Belgium at the 2002 World Cup. In Oita, Japan from memory. Belgium had a perfectly legitimate goal chalked off and were unlucky to lose that game. Friday afternoon’s match is in no way a foregone conclusion.
Uruguay against France later that evening pits Antoine Griezmann against his club-mates Godin and Jiminez. There will be a plan for M’Bappe and Uruguay don’t concede lightly. If Cavani is fit, they could go through. If he isn’t, then France should edge it by a single goal, based on their performance against Argentina. I’m really looking forward to Friday for a pair of cracking matches.
Saturday evening sees Croatia against Russia. I think at this point, the party may be over for the hosts. They somehow managed to hold on for two hours against Spain, but the group game against Uruguay was a more honest assessment of their abilities. Croatia admittedly stalled a bit against Denmark, but I don’t see them having another off-day when they will be confident that they can make a World Cup Final.
As for England against Sweden in the afternoon, well, here’s a good way to prepare for the game on Saturday (or indeed before). Start playing this YouTube playlist at 2.35 and put the volume of the TV on silent to drown out the pundits. When it’s finished, turn on for the national anthems…
