Selection ‘can haunt England’
WORLD CUP: BRAZILIANS BREEZE INTO QUARTERFINALS
– England manager Gareth Southgate has risked ratcheting up World Cup last-16 opponents Colombia’s motivation by fielding a B team in their last group game believing that would earn them an easier route to the final, warns England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward (below).
England are due to play the Colombians today after a 1-0 loss to Belgium last Thursday to finish runners-up in their group.
Woodward takes issue with the selection policy of Southgate – although his Belgian counterpart Roberto Martinez also made sweeping changes – but is more staggered by another facet of the thinking behind the policy.
“The thing I am really struggling with, though, is a much bigger point,” he wrote in the Daily Mail yesterday.
“England have hardly covered themselves in glory in tournaments over the last two decades yet they were wasting time and energy and getting distracted thinking about possible quarterfinals and semifinals.
“Don’t even go there, just win the next match and the next after that.”
Woodward drew on his experience of a tough first knockout stage match in the 2003 Rugby World Cup with Wales, after taking their pedal off the gas for their final two pool matches, to illustrate the perils of tinkering with winning line-ups and taking the sharpness off the first team players.
“Who on earth ever thought that somehow Colombia would be the easy route, one of the best attacking teams in world football and a side who reached the Olympic quarterfinals?
“Nobody qualifying for the World Cup last-16 gets lucky.
“The one team who will be relishing all this is Colombia – what greater motivation than an England team believing playing them is an easier way to glory!”
On the plus side, though, Woodward says Southgate has got his patriotic juices flowing like no previous England manager.
Also see Page 26 and
Neymar scored a stylish opener and set up substitute Roberto Firmino for a late second as Brazil cruised into the quarterfinals of the World Cup with a 2-0 win over Mexico yesterday.
Bidding for a record-extending sixth title in Russia, Brazil weathered an early storm before Neymar turned on the style to underline their status as favourites.
After seeing Argentina, Spain and Portugal eliminated, Brazil will fancy their chances.
“We have to learn to suffer and we did suffer, it was a tough match,” said Neymar.
“We knew they high-quality opponent.” were a
Mexico made a bright start in their bid to beat Brazil in a World Cup match for the first time.
But after dominating the first 20 minutes of an entertaining opening period, Brazil came back into the match, bossing the final stages of the half.
The match had been billed as a duel between Neymar and Javier Hernandez, but the West Ham striker was more noticeable for his platinum-dyed blond hair before being replaced in the second half.
Brazil awoke from their early slumber late in the opening half, but Neymar’s angled drive was blocked by Guillermo Ochoa and striker Gabriel Jesus saw the ‘keeper block his drive after a smart one-two.
After the interval Mexico lost drive and focus and Neymar broke the deadlock on 51 minutes.
The Paris Saint-Germain star drew several defenders as he ran across the edge of the area with the ball at his feet. He laid it off for Willian and darted into the box, stretching to convert the Chelsea midfielder’s superb delivery.
Mexico were on the ropes, but Casemiro spurned a great chance to stretch Brazil’s lead, seeing his shot blocked by Ochoa.
Osorio replaced the ineffective Hernandez with Raul Jimenez on the hour and Alisson dived to tip over Carlos Vela’s curling drive.
With 10 minutes remaining, coach Tite replaced Barcelona midfielder Paulinho with Manchester City’s Fernandinho.
Brazil secured victory when Neymar turned provider in the 88th minute, finding Firmino in the box and the Liverpool forward made no mistake.
“Neymar was out for threeand-a-half months. At the top level, this is a lot,” said Tite.
“A top-notch athlete would need four or five matches to recover properly. In the previous match he was excellent and here he repeated a high-quality performance.” – AFP