TUNISIA....1 KANE.......2
(and he’s even got Harry Kane scoring from corners rather than taking them)
AS he watched Tunisia’s goalkeeper parry a thumping header from John Stones, Gareth Southgate surged forward in frenzied excitement. ‘ Where’s harry?’ he screamed, and from harry came the perfect response.
It is actually hard to believe that Roy hodgson had harry Kane taking the corners at england’s last major tournament.
This england manager thought it more prudent to invite Kane to score from such set- pieces and last night it was one of the many decisions he has made that paid off. It was not complete vindication of the bold experiment Southgate undertook when he tore up the playbook less than 12 months ago, not least because of the difficulties his side endured in providing Kane with enough opportunities to do what he does best.
But it remained a hugely rewarding evening for Southgate and some introduction to World Cup football as a coach, however much we need to remind ourselves that here is someone who has already experienced international tournament football at its most brutal.
For the first half an hour he must have thoroughly enjoyed himself, so good were this england side in executing his plan. But the second half?
Well, that proved a more nervy affair, even if it did conclude in glorious, man-hugging victory.
To begin with the football was breathtaking, england’s approach everything Southgate had promised it would be. ‘They want to be a bold and attacking team,’ he said on the eve of this game and that was exactly what they were.
Indeed, it was almost 20 minutes before Southgate even felt the need to venture into the technical area, to complain to the referee about a challenge on Dele Alli.
It represented the briefest of departures from a man so cool he met the heat of south-west Russia wearing a shirt, tie and waistcoat. his raised arms in protest might well have given the game away but the shirt remained bone dry.
Things could have been better, of course. If england had displayed anything like the predatory instincts of the tiny flies that feasted on the crowd inside this arena last night, they would have had this World Cup opener sewn up inside the first half an hour.
As it was, Allan Russell needs to get england’s forwards back to Repino and demonstrate why he considers himself the world’s greatest striker coach.
Nevertheless, Southgate wanted to change the perception of english football and last night he took a significant step towards doing that.
What was it Fabio Capello said in Sunday’s BBC documentary about ‘the impossible job’?
‘We get to the World Cup and there’s that ghost smothering you with its white tentacles,’ said the Italian, reflecting on his experience in South Africa in 2010.
Well, the ghosts of england’s past did not appear to be haunting this particular generation of players. They produced england’s finest football at a tournament since a precociously gifted teenager called Wayne Rooney was terrorising defences in Portugal 14 years ago, building on the momentum of their performances in the last few friendlies with a move through the gears.
As a team they were as in tune as they had appeared during the national anthem, with arms linked and every syllable delivered with gusto. On the bench, too, a manager and his coaches stood as one.
This certainly wasn’t a side who looked as though they had not actually played together before as an XI, never mind boasting nine World Cup debutants and a relatively small number of caps.
In fact, it was only as international goalscorers that they were as light as the statistics suggested they could be, the one they did score in a distinctly one- sided opening 45 minutes coming from an Ashley Young corner that Stones rose so impressively to meet.
Southgate would have reflected on a thrilling first half but with a couple of obvious complaints. Not just the finishing of his forwards but the decision to award a penalty that meant Tunisia somehow returned to their dressing room with the score even. Sure, Kyle Walker’s positioning was poor, but it was a harsh call against the england defender.
‘It’s going to be an interesting World Cup if they are awarding penalties like that,’ Southgate remarked afterwards.
The penalty forced Southgate to earn his money, not least in the form of the changes he needed to make to inject some urgency into a side starting to stutter against a Tunisia side employing a more defensive, at times rather cynical approach.
In his press conference he revealed how only yesterday morning he had discussed with his players the possibility of it being ‘1-1 with 15 minutes to go’, and the importance of retaining their composure while continuing to pursue a precious winner.
locked in conversation with his assistant Steve holland in the closing stages last night, Southgate first sent on Marcus Rashford and then Ruben loftus-Cheek.
But in the end it once again came down to a corner, once again met first by a towering english centre half.
At that moment, you suspect, Southgate once again wondered out loud to himself the precise location of harry, only to discover that harry was once again where he needed to be: losing his marker in pursuit of the ball and using every ounce of strength in those neck muscles to score with a quite magnificent header.
Good call that, getting someone else to take the corners.