It always seems to be the hard way when it comes to England. After two unconvincing draws, they finally produced a performance of some quality to ensure qualification from Group C.
It was a much better performance by England as they controlled the ball a lot better than they had in their previous two games. With Jermaine Defoe and Wayne Rooney starting upfront, there was no big man to pump the ball up to. This meant a much more shorter, patient passing game could be played, one in which I thought we executed rather well.
Apart from a few lapses in concentration, I thought we defended well, something that comes as a nice change from what we have come to expect from England of recent times. When the ball reached our penalty area, the amount of players that were throwing themselves at the feet of the Slovenians was encouraging. Defending in numbers and as a unit. In particular I thought John Terry had a very good game. After a poor pass across the backline early on in, he recovered well to deny the Slovenians a number of times. One memorable moment was - after blocking the first shot - when Terry threw himself head first, just a foot off the ground to attempt to block a shot from Valter Birsa. He didn’t manage to stop the shot as Glen Johnson was behind to deflect the ball away, but the philosophy of “they will not score” was one to be admired from Terry throughout the game. He also had a couple of chances at the other end from corners. His first attempt was a header on the near post which was off target, but in the second half, he very nearly made it 2-0 as the Slovenia goalkeeper just managed to get a strong hand to a header he had on the far post. His partner, Mathew Upson, I thought was a little off the pace. One moment in the first half in which he almost gave up on chasing Zlatan Ljubijankic was a little worrying. Thankfully Terry was there to save the day with an excellent sliding tackle to stop the incoming shot. It has to be said though, that had it not been for a reaction tackle from Upson late in the second half, it could so easily have been 1-1 and a different story altogether for the England contingent.
Going forward, although we were against a relatively weak side, we were rather impressive, creating a number of goal scoring chances. A superb link up between Steven Garrard and Wayne Rooney produced an excellent save from Samir Handanovic down to his left. The two just seemed to know what each other was thinking, and the ball played through two defenders by Rooney, set Gerrard up brilliantly as he tried to place it into the bottom corner. With many fans and pundits calling for a front line consisting of these two, this particular bit of play would only have fuelled the fire had Rooney’s strike partner Jermaine Defoe not had such a good game. Two different players I know, but compared to Emile Heskey, Jermaine Defoe knows where the goal is and has that knack of getting into the positions that bring about goal scoring opportunities. He could have easily scored a hat trick against Slovenia as his goal was followed up by a powerful shot that - luckily for Handanovic - was straight at the ‘keeper. Then, in the second half, a header into the box from Frank Lampard found Defoe all alone but the bouncing ball proved tricky for the little man as his stab at the ball just found itself wide. Not too long after, he thought he had made it 2-0 as he comfortably placed into an open net from Rooney’s cross, only to see the goal disallowed for offside for the initial pass to Rooney. As for Rooney, he had a much better game compared to his two previous performances against the USA and Algeria, creating chances for both his team mates and himself. Only another instinctive save from Handanovic prevented him from getting on the score sheet as he was left all alone in the penalty area. The scuffed shot was superbly tipped onto the post by the ‘keeper. He looked a lot fitter, a lot sharper, and more importantly determined, although it was a selfish decision to go himself in the first half when a ball to the completely open James Milner looked a better option. Talking of Milner, he was another who had an excellent game. After his poor 30 minute display against the USA, I questioned his inclusion in the starting line-up for the final game. However, after a shaky first 10 minutes, he looked the impressive fired up player he has done all season for Aston Villa, producing the cross for the only goal of the game. That was the first good cross I have seen an Englishman produce this summer, and it was followed up by another three or four, inviting the strikers to get into the position to score a goal and the sort of cross that the defence hates.
After all the allegations recently of unrest in the England camp, it was nice to see all the players in a huddle at the end of the game, showing unity and team spirit. Fabio Capello said at the end of the game that he has refound the team that he knows and the form that he see’s from these very players week in, week out in the Premier League. One good performance doesn’t mean we are going to go on to win the tournament, but we looked good in that game and with the confidence the players now feel, I wouldn’t fancy playing against them.
Bring on the Germans!
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