Did Wayne Rooney Lose England The World Cup?
So England have fallen at the quarter final stage of a major tournament once again and now that the tears have stopped being cried we can have the armchair experts on messageboards, blogs and radio phone-in shows telling us all exactly how much of the blame everyone has to take. I’m going to run through some of the main protaganists and see how much of the blame portion I think they can take.
1) Wayne Rooney: “Wazza” did it again, that uncontrollable temper that they told us was under tight lock and key came out in glorious technicolour by the time the second half came around and with a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho’s manly pieces and a push in the chest of protesting Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, the referee had seen enough and it was the end of another chapter in the England career of Wayne Rooney.
With so much pre-tournament hype over his injury and his speedy return he never stood a chance of living up to it and stuck up front in a lone striker role, the hotheaded Scouser never stood a chance. Still no goals for England in the World Cup including qualifying, have we all been sold a pup over just how good Wayne Rooney is?
2) Cristiano Ronaldo: Portugal’s boy wonder might have a frosty reception when he goes back to Old Trafford for pre-season training after a bustup which led to Wayne Rooney’s red card and a couple of instances of having strong words with Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand. Maybe that mooted move to Real Madrid seems a little more inviting this morning. Caused England some problems when on the ball and despite scoring the decisive penalty, he can hardly be blamed for England’s exit overall.
3) David Beckham: Captain Marvel / Golden Balls has came under severe criticisim foe his England performances for several years but was sidelined by injury yesterday before he could take a firm hold on the game. Resigned his captaincy after the match and if it was anyone other than Steve McLaren taking over as England coach would surely be worried about keeping his lace in the squad. A goal and a couple of assists surprisingly make him one of England’s most effective World Cup players. The blame lies elsewhere.
4) Sven Goran Eriksson: Two words: Theo Walcott. Don’t worry, this won’t turn into an anti-Arsenal rant, I just can’t believe the reasoning behind bring four strikers, two of them injury doubts and including Walcott who he had no intention of playing in any of the games. If he hadn’t already have been leaving his post I would say that was grounds for instant dismissal. No idea about tactics, couldn’t utilise his good squad of players into any effective formation and simply brought the wrong strikers.
The buck stops here and I won’t hear any further argument for anyone else losing England the World Cup. Having no bottle for penalty shoot outs is one thing, having one leg tied behind your back by your coach before you’ve even kicked a ball is tantamount to World Cup treason.
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POSTED IN: Past World Cups
2 opinions for Did Wayne Rooney Lose England The World Cup?
charltonfan
Jul 2, 2006 at 12:36 pm
“Having no bottle for penalty shoot outs is one thing, having one leg tied behind your back by your coach before you’ve even kicked a ball is tantamount to World Cup treason.”
I think it’s both. England have lost out 5 times in major tournaments in a bloody penalty shootout! On this occasion Portugal actually missed two, so what does England do, miss three! The penalities fell in the same place and were easily saved by Ricardo. All this talk of penalities being a lottery is not true, it needs luck, bottle but above all else some skill. Look at the Germans who havent hardly if ever lose a penality shoot out, except I think in the 1976 Euro final to czechoslovakia. That is not luck. A penalty shoot out is what makes teams like Germany and Brazil win trophies and England go home in tears. I don’t know what can be done, but the FA should set up an academy run by some German techical team and give their players intense training in the bloody thing if they are ever to win anything.
As for tactics, I do not understand the whole 4-5-1, even Backenbauer (a world cup winner in 90) was baffled. Why play the system, the problem is Sven’s coaching experience was in the Italian league, but the tactic does not fit in with the English game, it stifles the quick tempo of the English game (always an advantage) turning the players to scared pansies playing the ball around behind the centre of the pitch. Bringing Defoe (instead of Walcott)would have helped Rooney, and Defoe is quick and they could have played off each other. But either way the premiership does not have many home based strikers, so that plays a part, Defoe is Defoe he is no Henry or Crespo.
All ifs and buts but it comes down to bottle. England don’t have it and unless they find a way to break this penalty jinx, they’ll never win anything. I would think a German coach like Backenbauer would be brilliant for England, the Germans can gel a team with half the players England have and win torunaments. Five years and a half of negative Sven taught us that England cannot play those awful Serie A tactics.
Steve Mclaren is not as negative as Sven, as we saw in the UEFA cup last season. But I don’t think he have the tactical mind of a top German coach or Phil Scolari.
charltonfan
Jul 2, 2006 at 12:40 pm
I tipped either Italy or Argentina for the tournament. I stick with Italy, I fancy they can get beat Germany and actually, possibly meet Portugal in the final. I think Scolari will pull one over the French. I liked the way Italy gone about their games, no hype, but really effective.
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