Out but not down

I knew we were beaten when I saw Clemence writing out the names of our penalty takers with ten minutes to go. I am sitting there thinking "Bring on Walcott, let's go out in glory" and Sven is sitting there thinking "If I keep it tight, I can lose on penalties and everyone will just think we tossed a coin and lost". This way, Sven can feel he did his best.

Well, his best was not good enough. Against a side of limited ambition and very little punch up front, we packed the midfield and allowed our most potent weapon to wander around up front on his own. How much more exciting it would have been had we played 442 -- the system our players best understand -- with Rooney plus one, Lennon and Cole ordered to play as wingers, and the team trying to get the ball forward as quickly as possible. In other words, the way all our top teams, bar Chelsea, play at their best. But Sven doesn't want to win the English way. He wants to win the Sven way. And Sven has always played a negative, defensive style, looking to score on the break. At Lazio, he won a scudetto because Veron was very much suited to the slow pace of Italian football and excelled (one can only wonder why Ferguson thought he would do well in the much faster, harder world of the Premiership). With Veron quarterbacking, Lazio were unstoppable on the break. When Sven took over as England coach, he must have been drooling. Here was a team that featured Owen and Gerrard, men manufactured for football on the break, used to exactly the style Sven wanted to play under Houllier. That style almost destroyed Gerrard as a player. Now he constantly looks for the killer ball and is almost unable to play constructive football of any other kind.

I am distraught that McClaren is replacing Sven. He's the worst possible choice. Not only is he a thoroughly defensive coach, whose Middlesbrough are notable for their desire to get men behind the ball, but he is cluelessly out of his depth at this level, as Sevilla so ably demonstrated. Oh for a Scolari! Or a Hiddink. Look what he was able to do with the limited materials available to him in Korea and Australia. The Aussies must be kicking themselves! If they had only shown a little more adventure against Italy, or been a little luckier (because the ref could have waved play on when Grosso took a noser over Neill's leg), they would have been a very good chance against Ukraine. They really could have made the semis. Hiddink is a genius, several rungs above Sven. He does not have a fixed system. He takes the material he has and plays to suit it. He makes the best of what he has. And Hiddink's leadership and shrewd use of his players brought players such as Chipperfield to a level even they must have thought was beyond them. They were the equals of Italy, and Italy might well go on to win the cup. I would settle even for a Domenech, who has brought together a France side, who, aging and undervalued, play as a team and play very well. Vieira was massive against Brazil, denying them space and time to play football, and Ribery, what can you say? He's been a revelation. The awards though must go to Zidane, truly inspirational, showing flashes of an ability that has been unparalleled in world football since Maradona hung up his boots.

The papers will of course now duly hang Rooney, but even though he plays for the Scum, I can't join the chorus of vilification. I thought the sending off was very harsh. What was he sent off for? Surely not stamping because that was something and nothing; at worst, he clumsily stood on the Portugee. And you couldn't send him off for pushing Ronaldo: he deserves a fair play medal for not punching him. I say we blame Sven: when we lost a player, he straight away took off our most effective attacking player. Bringing on Crouch was a good move, and he worked very hard to keep us in it, but he never had any support. We could and should have taken a chance, at least pushing a man up to be there for knockdowns and as an outlet. It was a courageous effort to hold out for an hour a man down, but I think our players are far superior to theirs, and we could actually have tried to win. When we did get numbers forward, we made chances. Portugal didn't. They simply had no sharp end. Pauleta is not good enough at this level and they literally don't have anyone else.

But what was Pekerman thinking? A goal up against Germany, coasting to victory against a side that, although competitive, weren't looking like scoring, he decided to shut it down, took off Riquelme and brought on another defensive midfielder. This was terrible, showing once more the Jekyll and Hyde nature of Argentina. Capable of brilliant, astonishing attacking football, yet also capable of cynical ugliness. Argentina's shape was destroyed and suddenly Germany had space to work in. Borowski started to use the holes that appeared effectively. Once they had scored, the stage was set for Messi. He had to come on. Pekerman simply switched strikers, even though Crespo still looked effective enough. I can understand taking of Riquelme: he can drift out of a game and doesn't usually look strong as the match wears on. But I cannot understand replacing him with Cambiasso. Argentina simply stopped posing Germany any problems. Frings -- massive in this match - became able to push up the pitch, and an air of panic hung about Argentina. Once Germany scored, Argentina lacked the creativity they had previously shown. They were crying out for a playmaker or at least someone more comfortable in the attacking third than Mascherano and Gonzalez, good though they were.

The Messi question is interesting. Here is a player who is thought to be potentially the greatest his country has produced -- and students of football will know that that means possibly the best we have seen (if Maradona is not the greatest footballer you have seen, you are either a bit older than me or you do not know greatness when you see it). He has set La Liga alight and many -- me included -- thought he could well turn out to be the star of the tournament. He came into it carrying an injury, but even once recovered Pekerman didn't seem to fancy him. The tournament -- despite a high standard of football, much better than Japan/Korea -- has not provided a star. No one has really stood out. It has given us a couple of tremendous disappointments: Ronaldinho, unable to get into any of the games he played; Rooney, out of position and finally the villain; England, dour, tactically and technically fish out of water -- the best group of English players of our generation? Maybe, but, as Brazil, the greatest disappointment of the tournament, found out, reputations win you nothing.

Well, now we can enjoy the football without worrying about England. The tension is released and now we can cross our fingers and hope that the creaking bones of Maka, Zidane and crew will see them to victory. Excellent against Spain and Brazil -- teams that many had tipped for the prize -- they must surely be too good for Portugal. I am hoping so, hoping for a last big night in Berlin, a fitting end to the brilliant career of Zinedine Zidane and the group of French players who, despite their stumbles in this decade, should be remembered as some of the finest of our times.

posted by Dr Zen @ 8:36 am