England brought down to earth at death
NGLAND return from the land of the black mountains with the gloom around their World Cup campaign slowly descending.
This was a useful point, but not the three that would have turned the group on its head and Montenegro remain in the box seat, two points clear with four matches remaining.
England will in all likelihood have to beat them at Wembley if they are to win the group. They didn’t do that the last time.
After an impressive first half, Roy Hodgson’s side were overwhelmed after the break. It was all Montenegro in the second half and by the time Dejan Damjanovic equalised, the home team had already hit a post and forced a series of excellent saves from Joe Hart.
The energy, the flow of the game was all with Branko Brnovic’s bright, technically inventive side. It was not that England were bad, more startled. Little in the firsthalf had suggested this denouement.
England had appeared settled, in control. Wayne Rooney’s performance was redemption, pure and simple, Steven Gerrard was a captain leading by example. Yet England’s crisis in defence is known and as Montenegro upped the ante, so the cracks showed. In contrast it has been a quite brilliant start by England and, in particular, Rooney.
In a stadium in which he endured one of his most painful nights for England — a petulant kick resulting in a sending-off that not only changed the game but removed him from the first two matches of the 2012 European Championship finals — he arrived as if determined to show the locals the side of him they would not have recalled from that night. Montenegro came into this match believing they had messed with English heads, instead Rooney messed with them, and in fine style.
As so often happens with the big players on the big occasions, there was early notice of intent. Rooney collected the ball on the right and quickly computed that goalkeeper Mladen Bozovic was in two minds about whether to come out or stay home. Spotting an opportunity, he dinked the ball over Bozovic’s head, a beautifully weighted chip that had the goalkeeper beaten but struck the far post.
England were keeping the tempo high and the pressure on, however, and when Glen Johnson struck a shot from 20 yards which Bozovic flicked over the bar, a very English set-piece showcased the positives in what the Montenegrins would call the long-ball game. England’s goal was a thing of beauty, however. Gerrard paused to move one of a barrage of paper cup missiles that had settled near the ball they were fairly constant during every visit to the touchlines by an England player and then whipped in a corner that met Rooney’s head as if directed via satellite. It was a goal all the way. Rooney steered it expertly into the corner.
It was Montenegro who would be feeling the stress of circumstances now. A seeded draw is of no use to them. If they finish runner-up in Group H, a big fish awaits in the play- offs. Montenegro’s truest strength. Cutting the supply line to Vucinic and Jovetic was a vital and successful tactic in the important early exchanges. Brnovic was frustrated as much by that as any injustice.
Rooney, meanwhile, was continuing to dominate the thoughts of Montenegro’s massed defence. In the 24th minute, he hit a fine cross that narrowly eluded the head of Danny Welbeck — one of five Manchester United players in the starting line-up, which was reason enough for Hodgson to keep the peace over the Rio Ferdinand affair — and three minutes later England were close to pushing further ahead.
The set-up saw outstanding work from Gerrard, thinking quickly in a very tight space, and when the ball made its way out to James Milner on the right, he cross was just too far in front of Rooney at the far post for him to get it under control. After the break it all changed as the home-side pressed. And after a after a goalmouth scramble on 77 minutes Damjanovic pounced. It was no more than the home side deserved and left England second in the table and decidedly second rate.