England receive "Het winst van hulp" for qualification

After Windsor Park's debacle, which showed a dispiriting right to claim a position for Germany 2006, England once again seeked to answer their critics, and perhaps themselves. Losing to a Danish side you expect to beat was one thing, the Danes were not 116th in the FIFA rankings. Players criticised, tactics criticised, formation criticised, positioning criticised, coach criticised, so yesterday's match was quite significant.

Thought the first threat went to Austria when Markus Kiesenebner hit a crisp shot palmed 'up, up and away' by Supergoalie Paul Robinson, England settled into a better pass-and-move game around Austria's defensive area. Individual performances were much better and the defence felt stronger with two stalwarts in John Terry and Sol Campbell, with Luke Young increasingly pleasing his addition and Jamie Carragher covering at left-back. Michael Owen's penalty claim was justified, bizarre how Paul Scharner held onto Owen at such a risk. Frank Lampard duly took over from David Beckham to the glee of the nation. The cheers must go further to Peter Crouch, who also justified his selection with some passing and head-ons, Young and Owen could have increased our lead and Crouch himself possibly scoring with a header that went straight to Jurgen Macho. Owen clearly should have had a second penalty when Andreas Dober blatantly obstructed the Newcastle man but ref Luis Cantalejo, the zealous ref who sent off Patrick Vieira in Juventus's CL match against Club Brugge, bizarrely waved claims aside.

The first half had been slightly uneventful other than the penalty claims and the goal, but in reaction the second half was uninspiring. Austria came out to press on us and we yet again allowed them to, Roland Linz almost capitalising on a Terry mis-head to bounce a lob off the crossbar. Then David Beckham jumped with a flailing arm onto Andreas Ibertsberger and was booked, which ruled him out of Wednesday's game, then he made contact with the same player moments later, which I assume the ref saw as a deliberate act and issued a second booking.

We were scraping along with 11, so with 10 the enthusiasm went further down. Ledley King has played in central midfield before why Sven Goran Eriksson swapped him immediately for Joe Cole, and held the holding position behind Lampard and Steven Gerrard. He then swapped with Campbell as the Arsenal man pulled on a hamstring, later to come off for Rio Ferdinand. Eriksson then swapped Owen for Kieran Richardson and set the defensive formation.

So with that (and I didn't think we would concede, even with 10 men), we held out to the end. Wednesday's game would have needed a win to cement qualification but then later on in the evening we had the 'het winst van hulp' from the Dutch. With the ruling that teams in the groups of 7 will not prosper from games with the bottom team, to ensure fairness to those in groups of six teams, that meant Czech Republic needed to win to heighten their claim for Germany. They almost got ahead with a penalty but Edwin Van der Sar saved well from Tomas Rosicky, and the Dutch took the game with goals from Rafael Van der Vaart and Barry Opdem.

At the moment, while I'm content that we have done what we should have done some time ago, that is qualify, we did so with a little help from elsewhere when we have the talent and potential to have wrapped it up earlier.

The critics wasted no time. Alan Shearer said "Right from the start there was an opportunity to really get at Austria and get some goals and make a point. But in the 65 minutes England had with 11 men they did not really do that. And they never looked like doing it either."

Alan Hansen: "At times it was a bit like a schoolboy game, with everybody chasing the ball and there was no shape....They can't go to Germany and play anything like that and expect to win the World Cup. In the last 10 minutes England were hanging on against a team that had really shown nothing up until then. Peter Crouch is 6 feet 7 inches tall and there would be something wrong if he wasn't good in the air, but for me he isn't mobile enough for international level."

I agree that Crouch isn't mobile enough but mobility has little to do with his game, or with the aim of those who play him. He did well in a home debut but Wayne Rooney and Owen will always start. One fan after the game said, while being interviewed on the spot by Sky Sports, that Crouch was 6ft 5in and didn't win a header all game!

A holding role is relevant in discussions of a five-men midfield, and I have said previously about a 4-4-2 with a defender dropping down to sweep behind the midfield to make an ad hoc 3-5-2, something I think Ferdinand would be comfortable to do, for he likes to get forward on occasion. My EFT colleague T suggested that a 3-5-2 could become a cropper against good wingers, but my visualisation of 3-5-2 would have Beckham and J Cole on the wings, Lampard between them, Gerrard positioned diagonal to Lampard behind the forwards. If our wingers lose possession, Gerrard could have a loose rein from left to right to help. But such discussions may seem academic, for Eriksson favours to use four across the back.

Between now and Germany I don't suppose there is much that Eriksson can do to align the features that seem to dog the performances of late. I think it is a time for other players to be given a chance, not a fleeting glance but a good duration. Darren Bent seems eager to score, more so than Crouch and Owen accordng to Danny Murphy, who may now have talked himself out of selection. I still feel Jermaine Defoe can help add flair to the team and we have still to find a left-sided midfielder, with one option in Stuart Downing currently injured and another in Gareth Barry questionable. The question is do we really want to win the World Cup, or do we feel content enough to be participants?


RedsMan.