SUAREZ LANDS KILLER BLOWS
Luis double strike leaves Roy in need of a miracle
IT was all in vain. Wayne Rooney’s first goal, the mighty effort in Manaus — almost certainly it ends here. England will need to be the first team in World Cup history to lose their opening two games and go through, if they are to qualify from here.
That isn’t going to happen. It won’t happen, most likely, because there is no guarantee England can beat Costa Rica with a defence that cannot be trusted, even for five minutes.
That was about how long remained when Luis Suarez struck a second time. It was a goal of almost agricultural quality.
A long kick upfield by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, glancing the header of captain Steven Gerrard, inexplicably catching Gary Cahill unaware. Suarez ran on and finished like a champion.
He will say this was always destined to be his night — yet fate e was lent a huge hand by England’s defensive frailty. You know where this debate will lead eventually. To a player currently posting pictures of his family holiday in Greece. You know his name, too.
Could John Terry have prevented this defeat? Who knows? ? Would England have been stronger nger with him? Undoubtedly.
The collateral damage here was Rooney. He has waited three tournaments for his first World Cup goal and finally it came. He has been the scapegoat of the week. Useless, over- rated, overpaid, uncaring, untalented, past it, a waste of space — yet he should have kept England in the World Cup finals.
It was Rooney, who had all of England’s best chances, Rooney who truly believed he had scored one of the most vital goals of his career. He will have scored better. Hundreds in fact. Yet the look on his face suggests he has never claimed one more meaningful. His head craned back and he stared at the heavens. At l ast, i t was over. Nobody can ever say he failed to score in a World Cup now. He got one, the equaliser.
England were in trouble with 15 minutes to go when Rooney intervened. Daniel Sturidge played in Glen Johnson, who hit a l ovely cross for Rooney to tap in at the far post. It should have been one of his crowning moments in an England shirt. It was not to be.
In 12-degree Sao Paulo England could not handle the heat. Not the searing warmth of an Amazonian rainforest, but the heat that accompanies the ultimate test of international footballers.
Faced with the challenge of a knockout match, as manager Roy Hodgson described it, they froze.
Suarez did the damage, but England were struggling for most of the game. Their performance had been as stilted and blunt as the first against Italy had been enterprising and zesty. Simply, they could not handle the pressure. Chances were wasted, tackles were missed, the defence and goalkeeper were on edge from the start. There remains a minuscule chance that this cam- paign could turn around but it is remote from here.
If Italy and Costa Rica draw, England are out at 3pm local time today. If there is a winner in that game, it must be Italy for England to stand a chance. Even then, they need two results to go in their favour and goal difference to be overturned. It is over.
Hodgson had promised more of the same after Manaus, and England tried to deliver. Yet it couldn’t be the same game after the Italian defeat. At the weekend, England could trade blows like an old-fashioned slugger; this was a game in which they couldn’t afford to leave their chin exposed, even for a moment.
So here was a team set up to attack, yet nervous about what might happen if they did. They saw more of the ball than Uruguay in the first half, but did less with it — and at the back, in particular, they looked wary, scared even. One slip, they knew, could mean the end of the world. As early as the fifth minute, that fear was obvious.
Joe Hart almost got caught out at his near post twice, the second time from a low, inswinging Suarez corner that seemed designed for precisely that purpose. Hart punched it clear for a corner when a cleaner take seemed possible. From Uruguay’s next attack he came charging from his line to challenge a player who would plainly have been offside had he attempted to play a cross. It was all so skittish and unnecessary.
Ten minutes later, a cross from Alvaro Gonzalez was poorly dealt with by Phil Jagielka and fell to Cristian Rodriguez, who blazed a shot over.
But one sensed a breakthrough was coming. Uruguay were not the best team, but were stronger repelling England’s attacks than Hodgson’s side looked at the back. Each Uruguayan attack looked threatening. Suarez worked a low corner in the 27th minute, which Edinson Cavani struck over, and six minutes f rom half- time, Uruguay were ahead. Some will feel they caught a lucky break in the centre of the pitch, and Steven Gerrard — always his own harshest critic — will no doubt believe he should have done better. He went in for a tackle on
Nicolas Lodeiro, playing in the hole behind Suarez and Cavani, but did not come out with the ball. It rebounded into the path of the Uruguayan who took two strides and smartly fed Cavani on the left. He could have shot but, intelligent forward that he is, chose a superior option, chipping the ball in the direction of Suarez who had sensed the opportunity and taken up the perfect position, instantly.
The cross eluded Jagielka — shades of the Mario Balotelli goal for Italy that came at the expense of Gary 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.
The best two fell to Rooney, from two set pieces 20 minutes apart. The first was a free-kick from outside the area, which he took ahead of Leighton Baines but curled just over the bar, hitting the left stanchion with Uruguay goalkeeper Muslera flat-footed and not even moving. It was close but Rooney will know his accuracy was a fraction off, making all the difference.
The next, a Gerrard corner, was the absolute best he could do — a vicious delivery curling in towards the far post which Rooney just got his head to without being able to keep it down. It ricocheted off the bar with Muslera not in touch.
England equalised within two minutes of Italy’s goal in Manaus, and almost did the same here, Rooney putting Daniel Sturridge in after 40 minutes, but Muslera was equal to the task.
The margins are invariably tiny at this level, and it was no different here. In the ninth minute, Uruguay’s stand-in captain Diego Godin deliberately handled a chipped pass by Sturridge that would have left Rooney one- onone on goal. In the 29th minute, the same player, seeing Sturridge about to streak past him into a good position stuck out an arm and slapped it into his throat. Referee Carlos Velasco Carballo, of Spain, saw the incident but did not proffer a second yellow card.