England building up a real head of steam
Edited by Dave Devereux. email: devereuxdave@yahoo.ie
SO, ENGLAND are a possible 180 minutes of football away from lifting the World Cup.
Surely only the most optimistic or downright loopy fans would have predicted that scenario after they huffed and puffed to a pretty uninspiring 2-1 win over Tunisia in their opening group game.
Fortune may have smiled on England in terms of their path to the semi-final, but you take the cards that you’re dealt and just beat what’s in front of you.
In the 2002 World Cup, Germany played the Republic of Ireland, Saudi Arabia and Cameroon in the group stages, before beating Paraguay, U.S.A. and South Korea to reach the final, where they lost to Brazil.
Four years earlier Brazil finished as runners-up, having faced Morrocco, Scotland and Norway in their group and overcoming Chile and Denmark to set up a date with The Netherlands in the last four.
They scraped past the Dutch on penalties in the semi-final, before losing to hosts France in the final.
While it’s undoubtedly true that England couldn’t have handpicked more beatable opposition en route to the final four, they’re not the first and definitely won’t be the last to get the benefit of a favourable draw.
The biggest problem for Gareth Southgate and his troops as they enter the white heat of a semi-final is that they have yet to face any top class individual talent, a player that can control a game or a star man that can find a moment of magic from out of the blue.
It goes without saying that Tunisia and Panama don’t possess any world stars, while the dead-rubber between the England and Belgium ‘B’ sides taught us nothing about either outfit.
Injury robbed Colombia of their one real game-changer, James Rodriguez, a player who arguably could have swung the tie in favour of the overly-physical, yet streetsmart South Americans.
The Three Lions brigade comfortably brushed aside a limited Sweden team, which lacks any individual flair, relying on a strong work ethic and good team spirit.
Even against a side that lacked creativity and were forced to live off scraps, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was still called into action to pull off a couple of superb saves to help them negotiate that hurdle.
Things are about to change though as the tournament hots up, and they will certainly be tested by midfield maestros Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic. You don’t become regulars for teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona without possessing special talent.
That said, Croatia have been hit and miss so far in this tournament. Having looking superb in the second-half of their group game against Argentina, they have failed to really kick on and needed penalties to get past Denmark and hosts Russia.
Those sides set up to frustrate the Croats and the suspicion is that their playmakers will get much more space to do their stuff against a more expansive English midfield.
Croatia will almost certainly spray the ball around better than England, but one thing they do lack is a striker as potent and dangerous as Harry Kane.
The lion’s share of England’s goals may have come from set-pieces, but a team can’t be crit- icised for playing to their strengths and the way Croatia allowed Russia’s Fernandes to ghost in to head home a late equaliser from a free-kick in their quarter-final will have Harry Maguire, John Stones et al salivating at the thoughts of making hay in that regard again.
Whichever team emerges from the France versus Belgium semi-final would certainly go into the decider as favourites, but anything can happen in a one-off sudden-death game.
Whatever way it goes from here, despite a route as clear as a motorway in the wee hours of the morning, England’s campaign will have to be viewed as a real success.
Managing to get the annoying monkey off their backs by finally winning a World Cup penalty shoot-out when they ousted Colombia in their last sixteen clash was a defining moment for the country.
Who knows, they may be capable of weaving one or two even more special memories before this crazily unpredictable tournament draws to a close.