Playing In The Hole Is Where Rooney Shines For England

Two games, seven goals and six points see England sat atop of Group G in the qualifiers for Euro 2012. So what was so different about these two games compared to the debacle of the World Cup? Seven of the players who started the 4-1 defeat to Germany were also present in the line-ups at both Wembley and St Jakob Park but the whole demeanour of the team was different. To get the obvious out of the way, yes Germany are far superior opposition to either Bulgaria or Switzerland, but Algeria certainly weren't superior opposition at the World Cup and the USA are probably on a par with Switzerland. So how did England perform so much better in these games? People say the pressure was much less but if anything it was almost equal as the negative media attention given to the squad since the World Cup failure has been off the scale. The key factor for me was the improved performances from the wings, where two players who missed out on South Africa - Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson - did exceptionally well sharing their time on the right hand side and James Milner was impressive both going forward and back on the left. This allowed Steven Gerrard licence to do what he does best and boss the midfield, his perfectly weighted pass for Johnson's goal last night summing up what his game is all about.

Much has been made of England's formation since the World Cup, where 4-2-3-1 was in vogue and England stuck with a 4-4-2. The difference between the two formations is less than many seem to think as by dropping Wayne Rooney deep in these two qualifiers, it has essentially become a 4-2-3-1 when the wingers push forward (although many newspapers have reported it as a 4-4-1-1). Essentially, 4-3-3, 4-5-1 and 4-2-3-1 all work with 1 striker, 2 wingers and 3 central midfielders and at various times in the game can all look exactly the same. By dropping Rooney off Defoe into the position occupied by Wesley Sneijder, Xavi Hernandez and Mesut Oezil at the World Cup, England have effectively caught up with the rest. Rooney has the vision and passing ability to do the job. But it's not the first time. In Fabio Capello's landmark victory, the 4-1 away to Croatia two years ago, Rooney played in the hole behind Emile Heskey with Joe Cole and Walcott either side of him. The team was in a 4-2-3-1 formation then as it was in several of the other qualifiers with Rooney the only constant while Gerrard, Aaron Lennon, Walcott, Cole, Heskey and Peter Crouch intermittently occupied the other forward positions. Why Capello decided to play Rooney alongside Heskey or Jermain Defoe at the World Cup finals themselves baffles me. Perhaps it is because in the 2009/10 Premier League season Sir Alex Ferguson made a point of insisting Rooney played as Manchester United's furthest man forward. This resulted in Rooney's most prolific season to date with 34 goals in 44 appearances but for England it appears he works better deployed deeper, and by reverting to this role for him, Capello appears to have accepted this fact. With Defoe getting a hat-trick and Darren Bent getting off the mark for his country there are certainly good options for who to play ahead of Rooney. Where all of this leaves Frank Lampard remains to be seen. The midfielder, a real superstar for Chelsea in both the Champions League and Premier League over the past decade, doesn't seem to be able to co-exist with both Rooney and Gerrard in such a formation. With Gerrard excelling as captain in a deep central role, and Gareth Barry required to cover for the skipper's forward-thinking moves, the Premier League's all-time highest scoring midfielder may have to settle for a place on the bench.

Elsewhere in the qualification group, England's main rivals could well turn out to be Montenegro. Overlooked by many largely because they only recently separated from Serbia (who together had previously been a part of Yugoslavia) and therefore are competing in qualifiers for the Euro's for the first time ever. Consecutive 1-0 wins at home to Wales and more impressively away to Bulgaria sees them level on points with England and they are due to visit Wembley on the 12th October. They have achieved this without the injured Stevan Jovetic,the young forward who Liverpool fans may remember for scoring twice against them for Fiorentina in last season's Champions League. Captain Mirko Vucinic, the speedy Roma forward,was present though and the Eastern European side will be more of a match than many would expect from the group's 5th seed. However, this could be balanced out by the fact 3rd and 4th seeds Bulgaria and Wales are well below par. Without Dimitar Berbatov, who despite his form at Manchester United remained prolific(48 goals in 77 games) up until his international retirement, Bulgaria looked toothless at Wembley on Friday night and the resignation of their manager after the Montenegro defeat is unlikely to see an instant improvement. This generation of Bulgarians do not have anyone of Hristo Stoichkov's ilk who galvanized the Bulgaria team that reached the 1994 World Cup semi-finals. They may even finish bottom of the group, although Wales also have to avoid that ignominy. Gareth Bale, James Collins and Craig Bellamy aside, the current crop are distinctly lacking in quality or top level experience. John Toshack's successor will certainly have a job on his hands. As for Switzerland, despite being so solid at the World Cup where they incredibly beat Spain, they have a real problem scoring goals with just 5 scored in their last 11 games in all competitions. With the two Johnsons, Ashley Cole, Rooney and Gerrard all easily opening up their defence last night, it seems Ottmar Hitzfeld's team now have problems at both ends of the pitch. When put like that, it seems like England should have the group for the taking. Now as they say, it's time to "keep calm and carry on."

Capello's New Beginning, But How Much Has Changed?

Last night Fabio Capello announced his 24-man England squad for the upcoming Euro qualifiers with Bulgaria and Switzerland. These are the first competitive matches since England's disastrous World Cup campaign but how much has he really changed? At first glance it seems a lot, eleven of the players who were named in the initial 23-man squad for the World Cup are missing. But on closer inspection, how much has the Italian manager really done differently? With John Terry, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand (who was in the initial World Cup squad for the World Cup before his injury saw Michael Dawson replace him) all injured, Jamie Carragher and Emile Heskey retiring from international football, and David James being 40 years old and in the Championship, those decision's were already made for Capello. In fact he has only really dropped five players. Leaving out keeper Rob Green after his howler in Rustenburg and injury liability Ledley King were again quite straight forward decisions and ditching reserve left-back Stephen Warnock is hardly a shock move. Joe Cole's yet to impact at Liverpool which leaves the overlooking of Spurs winger Aaron Lennon as the only real 'surprise' exclusion.

As for what has come into the squad, who is going to make that much difference? Up front, Carlton Cole has been tested before and had little success. His form for West Ham hasn't exactly been electrifying lately, but Darren Bent is surely deserving of more of a chance at international level after his exploits with Sunderland. With Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe both injury doubts despite inclusion, he may just get that chance. In central defence some much-needed quality alternatives for the increasingly less reliable Terry and Ferdinand have been called up in the form of Dawson, Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott . The latter two having recovered from their own recent injury set-backs have been impressive for their clubs and it will be interesting to see which two make the starting line-up. In goal, with Joe Hart getting off to an incredible start to the season for Manchester City and Ben Foster doing similarly well as Hart's successor at Birmingham, the recent worries for that position already seem long gone. It is somewhat surprising to see Scott Carson recalled as third-choice keeper given his history with England but he has done well at West Brom and deserves to be given another chance in the squad, if not as first choice keeper. 20-year old Kieran Gibbs is called up as cover for Ashley Cole despite not featuring for Arsenal yet this season, but he impressed in the second half of the recent Hungary friendly and with the other English left-backs vying for the position all distinctly mediocre ( think Warnock, Leighton Baines, Paul Konchesky) Capello is probably right to go with youth in this position.

Leaving Theo Walcott out of the World Cup squad was one of Capello's most controversial calls and it is unsurprising to see him back in the fold after a blistering start to the season with Arsenal, where he has already equalled his goals tally for last season just three games in. With Adam Johnson preferred to £25m David Silva at Manchester City in their last two games, it is refreshing to see England having two wingers in good form, and Ashley Young from Aston Villa is a very good alternative who has been unfortunate to be overlooked by Capello in the past. Shaun Wright-Phillips' return is perhaps the most surprising but he has scored goals for England in the past and could still do a good job for his country. Overall it seems like Capello has a good squad to take on the upcoming qualifiers. Despite calls from some for a complete overhaul, the likes of Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard and Gareth Barry all remain, which I believe is the correct thing to do. Creating a successful team is not an overnight process as can be seen by the Spain team who had largely been playing together for many years before their recent Euros and World Cup success. The first test for this post-World Cup team will be stern, Bulgaria and Switzerland are no walkovers, but it will have to be successful for the Three Lions to renew a nation's hope of making an impact in Poland and Ukraine two years from now.

Battle of the Behemoths: Can Real Turn The Corner?

With only a week to go before the Spanish League kicks off and Barcelona resume their tussle with Real Madrid, it is los Merengues who are still making the headlines with their latest star signing: the German World Cup star Mesut Oezil. The attacking midfielder, who was reportedly wanted by Chelsea, Manchester United and Barcelona themselves, is a massive coup for Jose Mourinho, who convinced the German that the move to Madrid was the right thing to do. Added to the acquisition of Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho, Argentine winger Angel Di Maria and Oezil's Germany team-mate Sami Khedira, it is clear that Real have been very busy this summer, even if the fees aren't quite as stratospheric as those required a year ago to bring Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo to the Bernabeu. This contrasts starkly with rivals Barcelona. The Blaugrana have made only two moves this summer, bringing in Sevilla defender Adriano as a replacement for Ukrainian flop Dmytro Chygrynskiy and more notably Spain hero and goalscorer extraordinaire David Villa.

But it is the make up of the overall squads that show the real difference between the two clubs, who last season dominated La Liga so effectively that 3rd placed Valencia were 25 points behind Real in second place. The catalan club are full of homegrown players, brought through at the club's fabled La Masia complex whereas almost every player at los Blancos has been bought from elsewhere. Even homegrown legends Raul and Guti have been offloaded this summer to make way for more transfers. Only three of Real's current squad came through their own youth system, and of those, Esteban Granero and Alvaro Arbeloa both left for periods before being re-signed. Only captain Iker Casillas has been with the club for his whole career. Whereas Barca aren't shy of making big money transfers such as Villa and last year's Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the core of their team have been developed at home. Carles Puyol, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Victor Valdes, Pedro Rodriguez, Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets were all local boys who came through the youth system and even Leo Messi has been with the club from the age of 12.

The philosophy continues at managerial level, Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola was a product of the club's youth system. He spent the majority of his playing career with them, winning the European Cup under Johan Cruyff and eventually returned to manage the B team. After only a year, he stepped up to manage the first team, fearlessly offloading Ronaldinho and Deco, and remarkably won the treble in his first season in charge. As if that wasn't enough, Barca went on to claim the Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup and World Club Cup, becoming the first team in history to win all six available trophies in one year. When Barcelona are doing so well, Real are invariably unhappy and even when Barca lost their grip on the Champions League last season they still outshone Real, beating them to the title despite Real achieving their record tally for most points in a season. The reason Mourinho has been hauled into the Bernabeu is that he is seen as the one man who can stop the Catalans: his Inter team were the ones to knock them out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage back in April. Mourinho is effectively the first superstar managerial signing at Real, and perhaps the only man who can control a squad full of Prima Donnas.

Having recently visited both cities, the difference in football culture is very clear. In Barcelona, it feels as if the city revolves around the club, you can't walk 100 metres without spotting someone in a Barca shirt, and no matter where you look there is almost no sign of Real's existence. Camp Nou is an incredible venue and really feels like it belongs to the people. Barca's local rivals Espanyol are practically invisible. In Madrid, you'd do well to spot more than the odd fan wearing the famed white shirt in the city centre, and in shops Barcelona shirts sit comfortably alongside Real's and local rivals Atletico's. With most shops aimed at the tourists, the footballing passions and rivalries seem to play second fiddle to the lust for money. Much how Real themselves work. When Real Madrid lust after a player, they invariably get him. With his recent work Florentino Perez has emulated Santiago Bernabeu, the man who pipped Barcelona to the signing of Alfredo Di Stefano back in Real's original glory days of the 1950s. While undoubtedly glorious and visually impressive, there is a somewhat artificial and commercial feel to the stadium which is named after Bernabeu. It is clear all the club cares about is success at all costs - and that means winning the European Cup.

This season, it appears to be the Mourinho factor which has balanced out the two behemoth's chances of silverware. With his achievements in the last seven years the Portuguese tactician is almost certainly the best manager in the world. Yet in Barcelona, who once employed him as a translator, he has a nemesis like no other. If Villa settles alongside Messi and either Ibrahimovic or Pedro in Barca's established 4-3-3 formation then they could wreak havoc like no other team in the world. But with Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain in imperious form last season, the additions of Carvalho and Khedira which will shore up the defensive side of the team could see Real run them every step of the way. Expected to play the 4-2-3-1 formation with which Inter won the Champions League it will be interesting to see how star player Ronaldo fits in to the front four, and if Kaka can resume fitness and become an integral part of the team. With Karim Benzema challenging Higuain for the role of centre forward and Oezil, Di Maria, Pedro Leon and Rafael Van der Vaart all pushing for attacking positions, Mourinho certainly has a challenge on his hands. The two defeats at the hands of Barca effectively sealed Real's fate last year. Unless Mourinho can rally his team to overcome Guardiola's all-conquering Barcelona then even the Special One may struggle to keep his boss Perez happy. While the Spanish league has effectively turned into a Scotlandesque duopoly, the drama between these two is like no other rivalry in the world. Let the battle commence.

Egos, Goals and Paul Scholes: It's only the return of the Premier League!

What a relief it is to have the Premier League back, which after a somewhat pedestrian World Cup seems faster and more exciting than it even did before. And the opening weekend certainly didn't disappoint with some sterling performances from individuals and teams alike: Joe Hart, Blackpool, Chelsea and Paul Scholes to mention a few. Hart, the new England number one goalkeeper pipped the vastly more experienced Shay Given to the starting line-up of Manchester City's opening game away to Spurs and single-handedly kept them in the game, justifying his selection and surely signifying the end of Given's time at Eastlands. It is good news for the national team that Hart won this particular battle as it isn't since the days of David Seaman at Arsenal that there has been an English number one keeper at a club at the right end of the Premier League table. As for City themselves they still look a fair way from winning the title but with James Milner, David Silva and Yaya Toure aboard, surely have the personnel to push on and claim a top four place this season. Egos may prove a problem though, and although Craig Bellamy has been strangely offloaded to the Championship, between Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez and new boy Mario Balotelli (and Robinho if he stays) there is more than enough potential for Roberto Mancini's men to implode.

Blackpool meanwhile defied the odds with a 4-0 opening day away victory at Wigan. With newly promoted teams in the past often going months without success on the road, this early victory could be pivotal to Ian Holloway's team's morale. Yes, Wigan were abysmal but they have been in the Premier League long enough now to be considered a decent scalp and the Tangerines will be buzzing about a trip the Emirates this coming weekend. The Arsenal side they will face are one that again seem short of title-winning quality. Laurent Koscielny seems like a solid signing in central defence, but having lost Gallas, Silvestre, Campbell and Senderos this summer he is effectively replacing four players, leaving the Gunners worryingly short of cover in the position. With Koscielny suspended it will be interesting to see how they fare on Saturday. Question marks remain over the fitness of Robin Van Persie, who was only a substitute at Anfield on Sunday and Marouane Chamakh is certainly not an out-and-out goalscorer, averaging less than a goal every four games when at Bordeaux. As for captain Cesc Fabregas, he may stay for another season but whether he can play at his best when his heart is clearly with Barcelona will be interesting.

Chelsea on the other hand looked imperious as they cruised to a 6-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion. But if they can play like that against stronger opposition is not certain, as their defence certainly looked breachable in the Community Shield defeat to Manchester United little over a week ago. John Terry's form is questionable and Ricardo Carvalho will be missed, so much will depend on the form and fitness of Alex and Branislav Ivanovic, two admittedly more-than capable defenders. At the other end of the pitch, Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard slotted straight back into goal-scoring form on the opening day and this is where Chelsea are strongest. Another injury to Michael Essien could prove disastrous though with Michael Ballack, Deco and Juliano Belletti all gone and Ramires unproven in the Premier League. The Blues remain title favourites and as usual only Manchester United look like serious contenders. Paul Scholes was the star of the 3-0 victory over Newcastle United, displaying a full array of passes and attacking prowess, but the Red Devils certainly looked good all round. Nani is my early tip for player of the season as he seems to be continuing from where he left off before the summer and Dimitar Berbatov, after two dismal seasons, looks like he may finally have turned the corner at Old Trafford with a stunning lob at Wembley last week before a clinical finish to open the scoring on Monday night. Wayne Rooney still seemed somewhat off the pace but with pacy new Mexican signing Javier Hernandez, who impressed in South Africa, available from the bench, some of the pressure to score goals may be relieved from the England forward. Sir Alex Ferguson's men will take some stopping this year.

Elsewhere Liverpool, having finally escaped the shackles of Rafael Benitez, looked rejuvenated under Roy Hodgson, and played remarkably well with ten men in the second half against Arsenal. If Fernando Torres finally regains full fitness then they will surely be in with a strong chance of breaking back into the top four. Tottenham, with little movement in the transfer market were impressive against Manchester City but may struggle to repeat the feat of last season, and their defence looked suspect in their Champions League qualifier in Switzerland last night. Aston Villa, without Martin O'Neill may struggle to maintain their sixth position of the last three seasons, but with the right managerial appointment could do well, their squad is certainly still healthy, even with Stephen Ireland swapped for Milner, a deal which could turn out better for the Villans than for City. As for the other end of the table, it's anyone's shout at the moment, with only ultimate yo-yo team West Brom starting the season looking awful and even they had the excuse of playing away to the champions. Wolves started well and West Ham started badly but with little difference in the quality of many of the squads, it should be a much tighter battle than seen last year where Hull City and Burnley were disastrous and Portsmouth pretty much destroying their chances of survival with financial mismanagement. Let's hope not to see any more of that this season.

Success, Failure and Referees...

Well it's finally over, and what did we learn? That the favourites with all the best players really can win the World Cup, that global superstars can flop miserably at finals tournaments, and that refereeing mistakes are just as prominent as ever.

Firstly, the Spanish were worthy winners despite never getting into their full stride, only scoring eight goals in their seven games. There's not a lot left to say about them that hasn't already been said but their entire squad oozed quality. When the likes of David Silva are left on the bench, Fernando Llorente makes one impressive substitute appearance then doesn't get another look in and Fernando Torres gets forced out of the starting line-up, it is clear that the team was more than special. If they go on to claim the 2012 Euros as well, La Furia Roja may well go down as THE best international team of all time. A compelling final was somewhat ruined by Holland's appalling discipline and their cheek at criticising Howard Webb, claiming his refereeing cost them the Final is plain ridiculous as if anything, he should have reduced them to at least nine men in the first half. More on refereeing later.

As for the superstars, Wayne Rooney flopped harder than most, but it is incredible to think that between the England striker, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Torres, Franck Ribery and Kaka - six of the most marketable sportsmen in the world, they only managed one goal. That being from Ronaldo who contributed a sixth goal in Portugal's 7-0 rout of North Korea, hardly a strike of importance. The reasons behind these poor performances are not completely clear, a lack of fitness seemed to afflict Rooney, Torres and to an extent Kaka, and Ribery was perhaps unfortunate to be involved in the absolute farce that was the French team. Yet where these big stars flopped, others flourished. David Villa surely muscling past Rooney, Torres and Didier Drogba for the title of world's best centre forward, and Uruguay's talisman Diego Forlan continuing his Europa League form of the past season and putting in performances that earnt him the coveted Golden Ball prize. Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben both excelled in the Dutch team and Sneijder particularly should be in contention for FIFA's world player of the year award come December. Key player in Inter's treble winning season and crucial to his team's run to a World Cup final, few could claim to have matched his achievements this year.

As for the refereeing, Frank Lampard's goal that never was obviously sticks in the mind, as do several contentious offside and handball decisions. Not to mention Webb's leniency in the final. Should technology be introduced? I think so but only for clear decisions, more precisely, whether the ball crossed the line or not, and offsides. Fouls are usually debatable even after several replays so this could slow down the game too much, but for a fourth official to observe whether the ball crossed the line or if players were offside on a monitor is perfectly feasible for top level football and this would hardly delay the game, if at all. Whether FIFA give it the go ahead remains unlikely as Sepp Blatter has always insisted the game remains the same from grass roots up, even though quite clearly an amateur game in the park is quite different from a UEFA Champions League final at Wembley in front of 90,000 fans and a worldwide TV audience while each player earns six figure sums per week. Perhaps better training for the referees, who are almost all part-time could be an option. There's enough money in the game to have full-time paid referees and if they were given serious training each week, mistakes might be minimalized. But it looks like the experiment carried out last year in the Europa league with extra officials next to the goals will persist, which of course means more officials are needed and always leaves room for human error. Some things will never change I guess...

Other World Cup mentions should go to New Zealand, who did incredibly well to leave the tournament unbeaten, after three draws in the group stage. They were still knocked out, but for a team that were expected by most to be on the wrong end of cricket scores, they did their nation proud, finishing ahead of 2006 world champions Italy. The Italians, like the French and the English have to seriously reconsider their teams, formations and philosophies...rebuilding is definitely on the agenda if these are to challenge in Brazil 2014. The Germans also deserve praise for excelling with some direct, attacking football, a blend of youth and experience, and that hard-faced German attitude that just seems to drag them through tournament after tournament. Mesut Oezil, Thomas Mueller and Sami Khedira are all going to be ones to watch over the coming seasons and will surely again feature prominently at Euro 2012.

All in all, a successful first World Cup in Africa, with less crime and transport issues than anticipated, and eventually plenty of entertainment despite some of the dull football which marred the early group games. The 4-2-3-1 formation took prominence and some of the latter stages produced scintillating football, particularly Holland's thriller with Uruguay and Germany's rout of the defensively-disastrous Argentina. Now it's over, what to do? Well, a month today and the Premier League season will be recommencing. Excellent.

Getting Closer to Glory

Well, what interesting semi-finalists we have. Spain, pre-tournament favourites have flattered to deceive yet David Villa has practically dragged them through to their (inexplicably) first-ever World Cup semi-final with five goals, mostly brilliant, when most of his team-mates, notably Fernando Torres and Gerard Pique have looked decidedly off-colour. Back-to-back 1-0 wins over Portugal and Paraguay have done the trick for La Furia Roja but they are about to face their trickiest test yet. The Germans, yet again, have shone despite being overlooked by many before the tournament. They destroyed England 4-1 then went one better and exposed Diego Maradona's sorry excuse for a defence with a 4-0 win over the Argentines. Maradona's decisions to leave out the likes of Barcelona's Gabriel Milito and Inter's Javier Zanetti look even more foolish than they already did now. The emergence of Mesut Oezil and Thomas Mueller have been instrumental to the sudden flow of German goals. Added to the incredibly prolific Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski and it's incredible the Germans weren't thought of as real contenders at the start of the tournament. Yes, neither of those strikers have been great for club lately but both do the trick for country. Perhaps England could take note, Peter Crouch has similarly performed better for country than club but he wasn't given a sniff by Fabio Capello in South Africa. Joachim Lowe has succeeded where Capello failed in drilling his team tactically and ensuring every player knows their exact role in the system, a 4-2-3-1 which seems to be the vogue formation of the World Cup, again England could take note...

In the other semi-final the Dutch will be fancying their chances. Fresh from beating Brazil, the brilliant club form of Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben seems to have continued into the World Cup, where others (Rooney, Messi, Ronaldo) have all stumbled. Combined with an effective Dirk Kuyt and Robin Van Persie(the only one who is perhaps not quite firing yet) in another 4-2-3-1 formation, the Oranje would appear to have their best chance of claiming a first ever World Cup. An astonishing thought when considering the legends the Dutch have had at their disposal down the years: Johan Cruyff, Johnny Rep, Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Ruud Van Nistelrooy...Not one has lifted the World Cup. But then, nor has Spain, so we have two chances of witnessing a new world champion this year.

Somewhat surprisingly, Uruguay, the underdogs of the last four, already have two World Cups in the bag, albeit from way back in 1930, the inaugural tournament, and 1950, the first post-war tournament. Luis Suarez has received much abuse for his own 'hand of god' incident but really, I defy anyone to do differently in that situation, where if he didn't act his team were certainly out of the World Cup. By making the handball, Suarez made the sizeable sacrifice of missing a possible semi-final as well as missing the penalty shoot-out (where he would have been a key-taker) while still handing Ghana a very good chance to win by scoring a penalty. No, Ghana only have themselves to blame after Asamoah Gyan, previously impressive throughout, bottled the all important penalty kick. Uruguay then won the shoot-out fair and square, Sebastien Abreu with a sublime 'Panenka' style kick to round things off. However, without Suarez, the Uruguayans will be up against it on Tuesday night, and much will be required of Diego Forlan who has scored three goals so far and like Sneijder and Robben continued his club form of the past season, where he scored winning goals past both Liverpool and Fulham to lead Atletico Madrid to Europa League glory.

Personally, I believe the Dutch will just have too much quality for the last South American team in the tournament, and that the Germans' form will just be enough to edge out the Spaniards, who aren't quite firing as well as they were expected. However, in this World Cup anything can happen as we've seen so far with some bizarre results and Messrs Forlan and Muslera for Uruguay, and Villa and Casillas for Spain in particular will be looking to see their countries into the final next Sunday. The feast of football goes on, with the final only seven days away! Oh yeah, and the third place-play off the night before, if anyone's interested? Anybody?

The Factors Behind the Failure

After watching England's World Cup dreams disappear on Sunday afternoon while stood in a sunny, sweaty field at Glastonbury festival, it has taken me a few days to really think about and decipher exactly where we went wrong. Here are my thoughts on the combination of faults and fate that denied England a third successive quarter-final:

Lack of form:

Newly-instated captain Steven Gerrard went into the tournament on the back of probably the worst season of his career with Liverpool, so confidence couldn't exactly have been high. Other key players had also been off form, with John Terry having a less than convincing spell for Chelsea mid-way through the season and Wayne Rooney failing to find the net in the last two months of the season, despite incredible form before that. Similarly Jermain Defoe's goals had dried up long before the end of the season and Emile Heskey didn't start a game for Aston Villa from February onwards.

Injury problems:

Yes, other countries have them too but losing captain Rio Ferdinand immediately prior to the tournament didn't help. Not only that but Rooney, Aaron Lennon, Gareth Barry, Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson had all picked up injuries in the latter part of the season, and Rooney and Barry in particular never looked to have fully recovered from these. David Beckham and Michael Owen were also ruled out of contention a few months before the finals, and while the former had become only a fringe member of the squad, and the latter hadn't been involved for a few years, if they were fit and firing at the business end of the season, they may well have made a difference.

Selection issues:

Fabio Capello made some interesting decisions in his squad, and starting line-up selections. Leaving Sunderland goal machine Darren Bent at home in favour of no-goals Heskey is seriously debatable, as is the choice of Shaun Wright-Phillips ahead of Theo Walcott. SWP was used as an impact substitute repeatedly but could Walcott have made more of an impact off the bench? Arsenal's Champions League quarter-final first leg with Barcelona springs to mind... Also, the inclusion of Michael Carrick seemed rather pointless as he was off form and well down the pecking order, perhaps a fifth striker would have been a better option. Regarding the starting line-ups, choosing Rob Green in the first match was clearly a mistake, as he simply isn't anywhere near as good as David James, despite the age of the latter. Capello obviously realised this in time for the Algeria match but by then the damage had been done. The lack of Peter Crouch in the line-up was also a mistake, I feel. Whereas the likes of Frank Lampard and Gerrard get lambasted for not performing for country as they do for club, Crouch is quite the opposite, and has been more prolific for country than any of his clubs, netting two against Egypt and one against Mexico in recent friendlies. Surely he should have seen more action. Again the refusal to use Joe Cole until late on in the last two matches was controversial, when he is another who has repeatedly impressed for England, including as recently as the Japan friendly shortly before the tournament.

The rigid system:

Capello stuck with 4-4-2 throughout the qualification campaign and continued through the tournament, with the exception of a brief spell against Slovenia where Joe Cole was bizarrely deployed off Defoe, and then Heskey in a 4-5-1. Yet it is this 4-5-1 system that Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool frequently employ, and Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, certainly England's three most dangerous players revel. At United Rooney often leads the line, with the likes of Park Ji-Sung, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs lurking behind him, at Liverpool Gerrard has shone playing behind Fernando Torres and at Chelsea Lampard has found form as part of a midfield three playing alongside more defensive partners such as Jon Obi Mikel and Michael Essien. A system with Rooney ahead of Gerrard flanked by Lennon and Joe Cole and with Lampard and Barry making up the midfield has been much touted by fans and journalists alike, but Don Fabio has never taken heed.

Unnecessary off-field controversy:

The whole Terry-Bridge affair (literally) which resulted in a change of captain could not have helped matters ahead of the World Cup. Further hoo-hah ensued when Capello was forced to ditch his 'Capello Index' by the FA, a scheme of his where players would be rated throughout the tournament on the manager's personal criteria. The FA feared this could offend his own players when they were rated and the idea was canned. As if Terry and Capello hadn't been involved in enough controversy already, come the tournament itself, they combined to maximum effect. The Chelsea captain announcing at a press conference that a meeting was to be held where he and the other players would voice their opinions and 'if it offends some of us, who cares?'. The next day Capello called Terry's actions a mistake and insisted no meeting of that kind had taken place and that it was simply a normal team meeting. This resulted in both parties losing face and the media cried of rifts in the England camp.

A slice of bad luck:

Injuries aside, England were unlucky in that had Algeria held on for two more minutes against the United States, the Three Lions would have been group winners and faced Ghana instead of Germany, and it could have been oh so different. Similarly, if referee Jorge Larrionda and his linesman had spotted Lampard's blatant goal against Germany, then at 2-2 England would have had the momentum against the old enemy and could well have pushed on for a victory. Not that this excuses the appalling defending that followed.

So where do we go now then?

Fresh faces are needed it would appear, with the likes of Lampard, Gerrard, Heskey and Ferdinand all the wrong side of thirty. Ashley Cole, John Terry, Matthew Upson and Peter Crouch are no spring-chickens either. For the Euro 2012 qualifiers it would be nice to see some new faces in the squad. Perhaps the likes of Ashley Young, Adam Johnson and the afore-mentioned Darren Bent deserve more of a run in the side. Other young players such as Everton's Jack Rodwell and Arsenal's Jack Wilshere will be hoping a good start to the season could see them being involved sooner rather than later. In goal, Joe Hart surely needs to be handed the number one shirt as David James is on the brink of retirement, and Green clearly isn't up to the job. As for the manager, it is hard to see how sacking him will help as a new man would have to start from scratch. Capello is experienced enough to be able to learn from the World Cup and it would be foolish to replace him when there are no obvious candidates to take over and do a better job. There are serious problems with England, and to get this team to perform at a big tournament it is going to take some extremely hard work. But it's not impossible, and if the star players can finally manage to work as a unit, like Germany and Brazil do time and again, the long wait for a trophy could end in Poland/Ukraine 2012. Don't hold your breath though...

And Now For Something Completely Different...

I feel the mood needs lifting after England's drab, dire, depressing and downright dismal draw with Algeria last night, so instead of ranting about how bad the match was, which would be far too easy, I'm going to treat you all to my World Cup 2010 Ridiculously Named Players XI:

GK: Boubacar Barry

If only England midfielder Gareth had a first name as amusing as the Ivory Coast goalkeeper's, we might have had something to smile about when he started in Cape Town last night!

RB: Danny Shittu

Yes, we know him well as he has played in England his whole career, but that still doesn't stop the Nigerian defender's surname from making the average male football fan from enjoying a quick chuckle upon hearing his name.

CB: Waldo Ponce

Complete with long hair and an alice band to match the name, the Chilean defender doesn't sound like the kind of man that is going to leave centre-forwards quaking in their boots...

LB: Gaetan Bong

Could be found playing left-back for Cameroon, but with a name like that is equally likely to be found with red-eye, the munchies and listening to Bob Marley.

RM: Kim Kum Il

The 46 Korean players in the tournament were all battling out to make this team, and Kim Kum Il, the North Korean who plies his trade with a team called 'April 25' has stormed in to claim his place in the starting line-up.

CM: Surprise Moriri

The South Africa man, who plies his trade for Mamelodi Sundowns is probably the only guy at the World Cup who isn't sure whether people are greeting him or trying to give him a bit of a shock... SURPRISE!

CM: Israel Castro

The Mexican makes the team purely on the basis that visual-learners are likely to imagine a castrated Israeli upon hearing his name.

LM: Siphiwe Tshabalala

The tricksy winger scored an absolute beauty to open the tournament for the hosts, but this resulted in confused fans trying to talk about his goal and forgetting how many 'sha's 'ba's and 'la's there were and in which order. The silent T just confused matters further...

CF: Prince Tagoe

Unlike William and Harry, who could be seen on ITV earlier alongside David Beckham with grins which should not have been seen on any self-respecting Englishman's face at any point this weekend, the Ghanaians actually get their royalty involved with the football. Hang on, he's not actually a Prince? Oh...

CF: Georgie Welcome

The Honduras frontman sounds like the sort of man who would greet his guests with open arms, take their coats, offer a cup of tea and make sure they get on the right bus home.

CF: Herculez Gomez

The USA impact sub who could easily pass as a WWE wrestler, a super hero or a video game character...

And the manager?

Nigeria's Swedish coach Lars Lagerback can claim this position, as any man with a booze-related surname can feel free to manage an imaginary team of mine!

And on that note, it may be time to go and drown my England related sorrows...

Where Did All The Goals Go?

We might only be eleven matches and four days into the tournament but I'm going to throw some disconcerting statistics out there. There's only been one match with more than two goals in it, no team that has scored has lost and there's not even been a 2-1 scoreline yet, let alone a 3-1 or 3-2. In short, there's not been anywhere near enough goals. Compare this to 06 where there were 27 goals in the first eleven games (9 more than so far this time) there seems to be something wrong with the teams' attitudes at this World Cup. Many teams seem more preoccupied with defending and trying not to lose than pushing on for the win. Coaches are making more defensive decisions, such as Cameroon's Paul Le Guen choosing to use Samuel Eto'o on the right side of midfield instead of playing the prolific forward through the middle where he might actually score. Holland were underwhelming in victory over Denmark today as were France, Italy and England in their opening draws. Argentina were nowhere near effective enough against the Nigerians, scraping a 1-0 win with Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez and Gonzalo Higuain all failing to find the net.The only big-name nation to impress so far have been the Germans, who in typical fashion dispelled the doubters with a clinical attacking performance against an Australian team who were coming into the tournament with high hopes. There have been a few other brights sparks so far, with South Korea impressing with some aesthetically-pleasing football when defeating the dour Greeks and the hosts South Africa opened the tournament with a better showing against Mexico than many had expected. Ghana and Japan also did well to defeat Serbia and Cameroon respectively but neither of those matches were particularly exhilarating.
The World Cup is certainly yet to really take off, but there is hope yet with Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast all getting involved tomorrow before the much heralded entrance of the Spaniards on Wednesday.
Let's hope Kaka, Ronaldo, Villa et al can set the South African stage alight where others have so far failed!

Green's Blunder Just Too Familiar...

In true England fashion, the Three Lions got our 2010 World Cup campaign off to a dubious start. An absolute howler from goalkeeper Robert Green sent far too recent memories of Paul Robinson and Scott Carson flashing before the nation's eyes again. The question is, what was Fabio Capello doing selecting him in the first place? He's not had a great season for West Ham United, a Premier League howler against Bolton springs to mind, and there are two other goalkeepers in the England squad that surely have a better claim than the Hammers number one. Joe Hart may be young but he's been truly exceptional for Birmingham City over the past year and made the PFA team of the year. Veteran David James is also surely more competent than Green, and despite injuries over the past year, would still be a preferable option in goal, with plenty of experience to add to his natural ability. Ledley King's half-time withdrawal was also discouraging, and Jamie Carragher looked suspect as his replacement. It would be fair to say that a fit Rio Ferdinand would have been much appreciated in Rustenburg today.

But let's focus on the positives. After poor performances against Mexico and Japan, at least England played well for most of the match. Emile Heskey was effervescent in attack, new captain Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard both put in good shifts alongside each other in central midfield, Wayne Rooney grew into the game and looked threatening and there were similarly impressive performances from Aaron Lennon, Glen Johnson and substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips. However, the result leaves much to be desired, and Capello's men will need to be more clinical against the weaker opposition to follow, Algeria and Slovenia. Not only do we need to clinch qualification, it would be good to find some form before the knockout stages where Germany, Argentina, Brazil and the rest could be lurking. By no means a disastrous start, but the Three Lions need to eliminate these notorious errors and controversial moments from their World Cup itinerary if 44 years of hurt are finally going to end.