World Cup Nonsense

[Nigel]

The England game was as disappointing in its execution as it was pleasing in its eventual outcome. Whilst not exactly proving a dominating influence, Carrick at least played much better than in his last excursion before the World Cup. Although a rational man might argue that he could hardly have played worse than on that occasion, it did seem until this week that Sven had decided never to play him again. But then perhaps Sven had not expected all of his other options to have failed as manifestly as they did during the group stages.

The one particularly worrying aspect of Carrick's performance as holding midfielder, though, was that he was only nearly as good in the role as Hargreaves, who in contrast seemed to play a stinker as he struggled in the new position of wing-back.

On the more positive side, clearly Lennon has the potential to be the discovery of the tournament, always provided that Sven does ever decide to give him a run-out extending longer than the current 10 minute cameos.

As for Lampard - well, surely he must now either score with with his first well-struck and on-target shot of the tournament in the first 45 minutes against Portugal, or finally depart the scene for ever in order to allow the infinitely superior Gerrard the opportunity to play in his rightful England role. I favour the latter outcome, since we can't carry passengers through too many more rounds and we need the kind of inspiration which Saint Stevie really could provide, if at last given the free rein for his country which his talent so richly deserves.


Following the tense nail-biting and desperate underachievement of the afternoon, I must say what a real relief and pleasure it was to watch a real blood-guts-and-hatred encounter in the Netherlands-Portugal game. This was animosity of the highest order, reminiscent in its way of watching Leeds vs Arsenal on a muddy winter's day c. 1974.

Much like a Norman Hunter of old, one of the participants in particular really caught my eye for the blunt audacity of his deceit and the sheer professionalism with which he was determined to dispatch any player who threatened to bring any whiff of flair or talent to the encounter. Midway through the second half, as his temper began to rise, it became increasingly clear to me that he would soon have to be removed from the contest for the safety of the other players and to avoid bringing the game into an even more ignoble state of disrepute.

The only shame then, sadly, was that so far even Sepp Blatter has yet to invent a way of sending a referee off the field. But I'll bet he's working on it now ...