WE CAN’T TAKE THE HEAT ANDY HOOPER
Suarez rips defence to shreds with cool double
Ultimately, england cannot handle the heat. Not the searing temperatures of an amazonian rainforest, or the muggy humidity of a South american World Cup. they cannot handle the heat that comes with international football. the pressure, the responsibility, the demand.
Keep the ball, take your chances, don’t give luis Suarez even half a yard. that was the heat that wilted england here yesterday.
the local temperature could not have been more forgiving. Just 12 degrees. a perfect european night. yet england sweated right through their expensively branded shirts.
they were on edge from the start, intimidated by the consequence of defeat. Wayne Rooney scored his first goal in a World Cup but it was irrelevant. Charged with seeing out the game and regrouping for Costa Rica in Belo Horizonte next week, england imploded.
the goal that won the game — from the mighty Suarez, of course, his second of the night — was almost childish in its simplicity. a long punt upfield from goalkeeper Fernando muslera, a glancing header by Steven Gerrard, and there was Uruguay’s match-winner, chasing on with Gary Cahill nowhere and finishing past goalkeeper Joe Hart. there were six minutes to go when it happened. a team that cannot close a game down for such a sliver of time does not deserve to be here.
and england won’t be, for long. there is still a permutation that sees england into round two, as the second-placed team in Group D, but it involves an almost pitiful degree of wishful thinking. italy must win today, against Costa Rica, and again next week against Uruguay. england then thump Costa Rica so heavily that they turn around a minus-two goal difference and finish runners-up. it sounds plausible on paper. yet consider this: in the history of the World Cup, no team have ever lost their first two matches and progressed. there is a reason for that.
the earliest departure could be today at 3pm local time, if italy and Costa Rica draw. most likely, the inevitable will be delayed until a predictable denouement on tuesday.
‘Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way,’ sung Pink Floyd. How apt that seems, england slipping away, quietly, inevitably, like a terminally ill patient. it’s probably for the best, the family say. No more pain now.
and this has been an agonising campaign. agonising in the way england finally woke up to their potential as an attacking force, only to discover its potency erased by inescapable weaknesses at the back.
Well, inescapable if the best defenders in the country are left behind. Uruguay’s goals were soft, much like italy’s winner on Saturday. We know where the debate leads from here. John terry, retired in haste from international football, was yesterday posting pictures of what appeared to be a blissful, sunny family holiday on the ionian Sea. He should have been freezing his backside off here and throwing a blanket over the brilliant Suarez.
Greg Dyke, the Fa chairman, gave Roy Hodgson the option of negotiating terry’s return. He did not take him up on the offer, preferring to stick with the players who had got him to Brazil. But the finals are always going to be a step up, as has been proved. there was no Suarez en route to South america. if there had been england might not have been here at all.
even three- quarters fit, he was quite stunning. He had two chances, scored two goals, and the first at least was marvellous play throughout from Uruguay. it came six minutes before half-time, again through an incident in the middle of the pitch that may cause Gerrard some soul-searching. Some will feel Uruguay simply caught a lucky break but Gerrard — always his own harshest critic — will no doubt believe he should have done better in a tackle with Uruguay’s Nicolas lodeiro.
the captain failed to emerge with the ball, which rebounded into lodeiro’s path. He took two strides and smartly fed edinson Cavani on the left. more intelligent play followed. Cavani could have shot but chose a superior option, chipping the ball in the direction of Suarez, who had sensed the opportunity and taken up the perfect penaltybox position. the cross eluded Phil Jagielka — shades of the mario Balotelli goal for italy that came at the expense of Cahill — and Suarez played a lovely cushioned header that gave Hart no chance.
it was a simple goal, yet outstanding. each pass was beautifully weighted and directed, and the finish was that of a master goalscorer.
england had first-half chances but, as in manaus, were less clinical in taking them. Uruguay’s goals came from their only shots on target. england scored one from six.
a pity then that Rooney’s first goal in a World Cup should be consigned to the dustbin. He deserved better than that. Better than meaningless, better than forgotten. it wasn’t his best goal — he will have
slugger. This was a game in which they couldn’t afford to leave their chin exposed, even for a moment and they boxed scared. This was a team set up to attack, yet nervous about what might happen if they did. They were skittish, sloppy, intimidated. The England of old, sadly.
Where do they, and Hodgson, go from here? Par at this World Cup, surely, was getting out of the group. Sir Bobby Robson kept his job after three defeats at a European Championship but there will be little appetite for indulgence of England’s manager among the public after this.
Nothing will be done while the mathematics favour the miracle, but that is what it will need. Hodgson, certainly, did not speak like a man expecting divine intervention last night. Central they Faced knockout looked with Americans match, the against challenge are as as Uruguay. manager lively of as a Hodgson four just froze. described this, the back Suarez’s match-winning genius did the damage, but England were struggling for most of the game. Their performance was as stilted and blunt as the first against Italy had been enterprising and zesty, and they looked scared whenever Uruguay broke. The flaws mounted as the pressure grew. Chances were wasted, tackles were missed, the defence and goalkeeper were on edge from the start.
Hodgson had promised more of the same after Manaus, but England couldn’t play with that confidence. At the weekend, they traded blows like an old-fashioned scored son it a minute his meant heavens. saved Glen — head but plenty Johnson his to equaliser, it back him. country, He was finer, and thought Having plain cross Rooney even looked he to for tapped truly see this he a rocked to 75th- what sea- had did. the in Had header with been he a the free-kick, and not hat-trick hit almost the he hero could bar scraped of with have pop- it a ular the hero cliche. was We in all Sao know Paulo, who answer though. to And him England at all. had no We look to Rooney, or the young players, p as England’s saviours, forgetting f that defenders win matches, m too. And England don’t mh any a have h more. a shield of sufficient quality ha There is no guarantee England can c even beat Costa Rica, if the