Football replaced religion as the Englishman’s opiate of choice some time ago. The national team’s non-participation in the Alps this summer will only serve to heighten the sense of emptiness for some supporters who already long for August and the return of the domestic season.
Until then, the hopelessly hooked will search out whatever morsel of football they can, be it their club’s latest money-spinning jaunt to Asia or the endless “intrigue” of the summer transfer market.
After the spectacular high of last week’s Champions League Final, those desperate for one last fix were treated to a less appetizing dose last night, as England cruised to a 2-0 win over the USA.
More than 70,000 worshippers filled the cathedral of Wembley to witness a match that proved to be drearier than a two hour sermon.
Prior to kick-off, Saint David Beckham was canonized for reaching his 100th cap against France in March. He received the crowd’s adulation and a golden cap from Sir Bobby Charlton. Beckham remains a hugely popular figure among the England faithful despite his failure to spur the national team on to heights that Charlton achieved.
England’s latest messiah, Fabio Capello, is charged with plotting a course to South Africa in two years time. Once there, the powers that be at The FA have, in their infinite wisdom, set the Italian the underwhelming target of a semi-final place.
If it were up to the media, England may as well not bother with qualification at all. After a decade of talking up the so-called “golden generation,” Fleet Street now specializes in doom and gloom; the misery of the McClaren era still too fresh in the mind.
The campione in Capello will feel he can win any tournament he enters and rightly so; abandoning hope before you start is the surest way to lose. Forging a winning spirit will be no easy task, but last night’s game, however listless, offered Capello some small crumbs of encouragement.
He witnessed the beginning of John Terry’s redemption and, though his intention to make the Chelsea man his third trial captain may have formed before last Wednesday’s events, its effect seemed to be wholly positive.
Thankfully for Terry, summers are short for the modern footballer. After a week spent dwelling on his misfortune, national obligation forced him back to the game that had, in Moscow, been so cruel. The mental scars will take longer to heal, but his performance and goal will go some way towards easing the pain.
Sympathy for Terry within the England team was evident in the celebrations that followed his goal. Club rivalries were laid aside as his team-mates eagerly congratulated their captain at the start of his recuperation. Capello must look to seize on this show of togetherness if he is to forge the team unity he desires.
Terry shared a particularly heart-warming embrace with his provider David Beckham, who has endured and recovered from his own share of professional tragedy. How long Beckham’s service continues is still open for debate.
Despite an impressive start to the MLS season, Beckham’s future with England was not expected to stretch much past his 100th cap. Capello isn’t known for his sentimentality, so the former skipper’s continued involvement is reason to believe that he may yet have a role to play in World Cup qualification.
Against the USA, Beckham once again showed his quality from set-pieces. Apart from his assist to Terry, he worked two imaginative training-ground free kicks with Steven Gerrard that almost opened up the scurrying American defence. The continued excellence of Beckham’s deliveries and the general solidity of his all-round game seem to have staved off his challengers for now.
The young pretender, David Bentley, did little to support his ousting of Beckham when he replaced him at half-time. Apart from one dangerous cross, the Blackburn winger provided scant evidence to suggest he will become a permanent fixture on England’s right flank.
On the left, Steven Gerrard gave one of his finest international performances for some time. His support of England’s forwards, especially his interplay with the snarling Rooney, was reminiscent of his Liverpool role and his second-half goal was richly deserved.
Gerrard’s goal came moments after the introduction of Garreth Barry, perhaps soon to be his colleague at Anfield. With barely his first touch, Barry slotted a superb through ball that Gerrard clinically converted. Rafa Benitez will have noted the impressive combination.
It would be overly critical to condemn the lethargy of England’s overall display since it comes so soon after the completion of such an exhausting domestic season. Of the starters, seven had played more than 90 minutes in Moscow. Having endured the physical and emotional ordeal of that night, it would be unfair to expect them to reproduce their swashbuckling efforts in a meaningless friendly.
The American players had no such excuse but they suffered from the late withdrawal of Landon Donovan and desperately lacked his creativity. Without him, the USA rarely threatened, only springing to life briefly with the second-half introduction of Freddy Adu.
Despite the visitor’s mediocrity, Capello will be satisfied with a clean sheet. Sterner tests lie ahead, but the game’s rare moments of life were English in creation and this will give the pragmatic Italian increased confidence and hope for the future.
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