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 Thursday
17 November 2005 By Richard Huggan Last weekend, for the first time in a lifetime, my heart and mind were captured by an international friendly. England played old adversaries Argentina in Geneva in a game designed to exhibit fair play and good sportsmanship. Despite what seemed an odd selection of teams for such a day, the football world was captivated by a scintillating show of attacking play - and it was even a fairly good natured event. Of course we got the attempted stirring of controversy in the build-up to kickoff when we were brought the news that the Argentinean squad had been serenading their opponents with a selection of anti-English sentiments. However, common sense prevailed and even went full-circle as the players seemed to be in a mini competition over how many opposing hands they could shake before Philippe Leuba blew for fulltime in the Stade de Geneve. Good sportsmanship indeed, although surely slightly forced. As I rose from my slumber at 4.30pm on Saturday after a deflating bout of nightshift, I actually felt excited for the upcoming weekend of football. That is most definitely a rarity when England friendly games are on the agenda - the World Cup Playoffs are hardly my forte either (especially when no home nations are involved), but there were definitely some ties to muster my enthusiasm. I suppose I just had a feeling that this was going to be a very good day. When I first saw the line-ups my enthusiasm continued to grow, Owen and Rooney will inevitably score you goals and with King offering some much needed protection to the marauding trio of Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard, we looked set-up to have a real go at Argentina. The lack of a natural left-winger has long been an obvious annoyance to all and sundry, does it still merit mention? Wayne Bridge probably shouldn’t have started and I would have vouched for Campbell ahead of Ferdinand, but it’s hard to turn your nose up at our defensive options – we probably have the best talent pool in the world in this department. The Argentina team was obviously oozing class, but the lack of Messi, Saviola and Aimar from their first eleven was a great relief to my tired eyes. Both teams looked to be playing a very similar formation and battle was about ready to commence. I’m not sure anyone could have predicted such an exciting ninety minutes of football, though. It was a game played at a blinding pace from start to finish with chances galore for both teams, England had probably been on top and looking more likely to draw first blood before Hernan Crespo scrappily bundled the ball beyond Paul Robinson to make it one-nil to the blues. After one disallowed goal for either team, Maxi Rodriguez outstripped the unfit Bridge and fed the unused Chelsea striker to get proceedings well and truly underway. England’s majestic new dynamo was predictably the one to respond. The indefatigable Wayne Rooney scuffed an equaliser into the bottom corner after good work from Steven Gerrard and then David Beckham. Game on. Next on the agenda in goal terms was a horrific flashback to 1998 as Argentina’s brilliant Riquelme orchestrated a freekick full of nouse that bamboozled the England backline, just like Veron had done seven years ago to equalise in France. Then came the real magic and Argentina’s old foe reared his head, twice. Michael Owen, the apple of our collective Newcastle United eye, did what he does best and poached two goals of the highest calibre. I had just witnessed the most enjoyable ending to an international match that I have seen since the penalty shootout victory over Spain in Euro ‘96. Remember Psycho? Sven had made two attacking substitutions and his bravery had won us the game. It was hard to digest, to be honest. Joe Cole arrived for Ledley King on 68 minutes and was phenomenal. He ran at every Argentina defender he could find and provided the cross for Owen’s second. He’s the perfect type of player to be a “supersub”, much like our own Kieron Dyer. The impact of the giant Peter Crouch cannot be ignored, either. For a man who has received such harsh criticism for simply being bought by a big club I was delighted to see England’s win coincide with his arrival on the pitch. If you are a defender, just how do you deal with someone the size of him? What a fantastic option from the bench he could provide for both club (if Liverpool had any decent strikers before him) and country (who do have decent strikers.) Crouch came on and scared the living daylights out of the Argentinean backline and provided the space that Owen had been craving for the whole game, use the big man like this in the World Cup, Sven, and you will reap the rewards. All-in-all, things started to look a lot rosier when the curtain was drawn on this exhilarating win. Robinson has been great and with the fullback pairing of Neville and Cole to return to fitness and the other defensive options only going to get stronger in numbers, the backdoor looks to be firmly shut. The midfield is still the conundrum for Sven, it would be madness to drop Lampard, Beckham or Gerrard (move him to right-back perhaps?!), but a midfield anchor is a must, Scott Parker anyone? King was fairly poor against Argentina and I don’t see him as the answer to that particular problem. Up front we look outstanding if Owen and Rooney stay fit and Defoe and Crouch are available to provide suitable and unquestionably powerful cover, the young and exciting Darren Bent is also available if injuries prevail. Okay, so it was only a friendly win against an under-strength Argentina but this England talent pool surely is the greatest ever, so surely we have to be looking to win the World Cup in Germany when 2006 rolls around. For once the media hysteria around our national side might well be justified and personally, even with the other giant nationals floating around, I feel we’re better positioned for glory than we have been for forty years. A lot will depend on the bravery of a certain Mr. Eriksson, much like it did on Saturday, we simply cannot play as we have in the last two major competitions we took part in. England don’t “do” sitting back and defending, we go out there and we have a go, we make it exciting, we get the whole nation in a rapture – it’s the English way. So come on Sven and the boys, let’s have a real go, because as usual, England expects! © Richard Huggan
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England Expects, As Usual
