England may have qualified for next summer’s World Cup but it was not a pretty process.
The 1-0 win over Austria, coupled with Holland’s win over the Czech Republic, means Sven’s boys are guaranteed a place in the planet’s biggest tournament irrespective of tonight’s final match against Poland.
On paper Saturday’s game will go down as a decent result. Needing to win against a team with nothing to play for, England managed just that despite captain Beckham’s hugely unfair sending off.
But what the history books will fail to mention is that yet again England were a shambles, a disorganised and pale shadow of the team they should be, a poor side which failed once more to raise their standards to anything like an acceptable level.
In the end only a penalty and the crossbar separated the two sides when it should have been three or four goals at least when you consider the gulf in quality between them.
I am not going to harp on about Sven and his total inability to get the best out of a team which is arguably the best England side in my lifetime. There is enough being said about that already.
What I will say is that those players and experts who keep insisting England have a good chance of winning the world cup next summer need to take a large bite out of the apple of reality.
Unless there is some miraculous change in the way the players approach matches, the way they are organised and motivated and the way they actually play, England will be lucky to make it past the group stages of the competition.
One English Sunday paper suggested again that now Sven has done what he was paid to do – get them to Germany – he should be thanked for his efforts and shown the door.
I wholeheartedly agree. But I also know it just won’t happen.
Tonight’s match against Poland is a mere formality. A game that needs playing but that neither team will worry about too much.
With the seedings system for the finals still not decided, it could end up making no difference whichever of the two finishes top of the group.
However, this is England’s final competitive match before the World Cup. From now they will be limited to friendlies which will give little indication of any progress being made by the team.
So, on that basis alone they should put in an extra bit of effort to leave the fans with something decent to remember, a good solid performance which may go some way towards restoring the shattered confidence of the players. And the fans for that matter.
Meanwhile, for one player in particular tonight’s match may actually have a bit more bite to it.
Wayne Rooney, suspended for Saturday’s mess, returns to the side for the Poland clash and will come face-to-face with Danish referee Kim Milton Neilsen.
The last time the striker shared a pitch with Neilsen was during Manchester United’s Champion’s League clash with Villarreal when Rooney was red carded for sarcastically applauding his own booking.
Wayne insists he has no grudge to bear adding that he thinks Neilsen is a good referee who does a good job.
Hopefully the spell on the sidelines will have help Rooney start to mature as a player. Under the current set up he is essential to any hopes England have of becoming a decent team and him sitting in the stands while the rest of the squad run around like headless chickens is painful to watch.
Quotes
And now for quotes of the week.
The first came following Wigan’s 2-1 defeat of Bolton, a result which took the newly promoted side to within two points of second place in the Premiership.
“Forget second. Some of my lads are in the showers talking about winning the damned thing!” boss Paul Jewell declared.
Now we know what they mean when they talk about optimism getting in the way of reality.
My other favourite came from Paul Sturrock, the Sheffield Wednesday manager, who explained exactly how striker Chris Brunt’s form fluctuates from game to game.
“You never know who is going to appear with Chris – David Beckham or his wife!”
Well, at least with Posh you would expect her to last the full 90 minutes...
Contact James on: [email protected]