Not England's Finest Hour - Croatia 2 - 0 England

England were dismissed by Croatia in Zagreb, after the home side took a deserved lead in the 61st minute, when Eduardo headed home.


Until then this had not been England's finest hour, as they had they had constantly been under attack from what was a better team. England appeared to be comprised of gifted individuals, incapable of operating as a team against half decent opposition. It seemed that they had been favoured by getting into the relatively easy Group E. They are making hard work of it, and it is not difficult to imagine that they might have been slaughtered, if they had been drawn against more formidable opponents, as in Group B, for example.


Eight minutes after they scored their first Croatia were two goals ahead due to what must have been one of the most farcical goals ever! Gary Neville tapped, yes tapped, the ball back to keeper Paul Robinson, to kick down the field. But horror of horrors, the kick failed to connect with the ball, which trickled passed him into the net.


That really summed the game up! Steve McClaren experimented, with a 3-5-2 formation that did not work, as he later admitted. How could he do otherwise with such a devastatingly bad performance? He is going to have to pull his socks up very quickly, because he was not everybody's favourite to land this prestigious, well paid job.


Again we must consider McClaren's decision to fire David Beckham because his team are not doing much firing now! England do not have ball players in the class of Cristiano Ronaldo or Thierry Henry. They do have players with other skills, such as the sheer power and determination of the likes of Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard. However, the game is about keeping possession, and moving the football about, with the objective of scoring goals. Croatia seemed to apply this strategy, whereas England did not, and so often gave the ball away. When he played, Beckham was superb at passing the ball to the intended recipient. Unfortunately, that is not happening now.


Tags:
Croatia Vs England
soccer and football
Croatia Vs England