England were by far and away the best team at World Cup 2010, streets ahead of their rivals both technically and tactically, and were strolling serenely towards the title when a scandalous refereeing error cut them down in their prime and kicked them out of the tournament.
OK, so you’ve all seen what happened and only the most ardent and short-sighted England fan would agree with that opening sentence. In fact the performances up to that point had been disjointed, lacklustre and abysmal, with all the evidence suggesting that the team was nothing like good enough to win the competition in South Africa, but we will never know for sure.
Goals change games and, as our research into previous World Cup comebacks from two or more goals down suggests, England would have had an 88% chance of going on to win or at least make it as far as penalties if Frank Lampard’s strike had been allowed. The psychological turmoil caused by losing a two goal lead coupled with the well known effects of conceding a goal just before half time (they dwell on it for 15 minutes in the dressing room you see) could have caused the Germans to crumble and implode. We’re not saying that’s definitely what would have happened, just that it really is time to use video replays or goal-line technology for these ball-across-the-line incidents.
Anyway, that gripe aside, let’s return to the other less controversial aspects of England’s World Cup campaign. The opening 35 minutes of their second round exit against Germany were littered with schoolboy defensive blunders and an alarming lack of cohesion. The defence was effortlessly breached on numerous occasions and Germany could have been four goals to the good before Matthew Upson’s header from a Gerrard cross beat Neuer in the German goal to halve the deficit. Lampard’s disallowed ‘goal’ came moments later.
England did manage to carry their momentum into the second half and started strongly, enjoying a good twenty minutes after the restart during which time Lampard hit the cross bar with a free-kick. Oh it could have been so different! However, England’s spell on top seemed to make them over confident and they committed too many men forward on subsequent attacks, twice having their lack of pace exposed as Germany ruthlessly punished them on the counter attack to complete a 4-1 trouncing.
England had struggled through one of the weakest World Cup groups and their qualification was in doubt right up until the final moments of their third match when Slovenia had a couple of good chances to equalise and put Fabio Capello’s men out. The opening game, against the United States, started brightly when Heskey teed up Gerrard for the England captain to open the scoring in only the fourth minute. However, England failed to capitalise on their early lead and were pegged back when goalkeeper Rob Green let Dempsey’s tame shot slip through his hands shortly before half time. Heskey missed a good chance in the second half and the match fizzled out into a draw, which was a fair result and probably suited both teams.
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