The Hindu : Sport : Defensive lapses cost England victory

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 22, 2006

Sport

Sport

Defensive lapses cost England victory

Paul Kelso

Cologne : Three matches down and potentially four to go. But as England's long-suffering fans celebrated reaching the knockout phase of the World Cup with a 2-2 draw against Sweden on Tuesday night, they were still left questioning whether the star-studded side could rise above its mediocre performances so far in a run to the cup that will start with Ecuador and could include Holland, Brazil and Argentina.

England was emboldened by Wayne Rooney's first start of the tournament but his side's defensive frailty meant spectacular goals from Joe Cole and Steven Gerrard were cancelled out. And there were worries, too, for Sven-Goran Eriksson as Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand went off injured.

Rooney gave a rumbustious performance — threatening to score after only 10 minutes — and thereafter he was irrepressible. But it could not last — even the Boy Wonder is not immune to the decline in stamina that comes after seven weeks without football — and Rooney marked his substitution after 69 minutes with a shake of the head and a minor tantrum, treating the dugout

roof and his boots with similar disdain to his opponents.

A farsighted move

Eriksson no doubt had the later stage of the tournament in mind — Owen's injury means he has only Rooney, still short of match fitness, Peter Crouch and the untried and apparently untrusted Theo Walcott in reserve. Joe Cole, perhaps England's most consistent performer in Germany, opened the scoring after 34 minutes, latching onto a half-clearance by the Swedish defence, controlling the ball on his chest and sending a lobbed volley beyond Andreas Isaksson from 30 yards.

Perhaps, after 38 years, England was about to break their frustrating record of failure to beat the Swedes.

The goal was celebrated by the predictable majority of England supporters in the stadium — this time with the unusual addition of the chancellor Gordon Brown and the Conservative leader David Cameron — though for the first time in the tournament England fans' spending power on the ticket black market faced a challenge from their opponents.

The combination of economics and geography mean the northern European nations have the largest following at this World Cup, and even with tickets changing hands for a barely credible {euro}600 Sweden's yellow-and-blue clad followers were well represented.

Six minutes after half time they had something to cheer as Sweden equalised.

Allback strikes

A wickedly struck in-swinging corner from Tobias Linderoth was headed home at the near post by former Aston Villa striker Marcus Allback.

Twice in the next eight minutes the England bar was struck following corners, and with 18 minutes remaining Gerrard, on for Rooney, cleared off the line after yet another corner before scoring himself with five minutes remaining.

It was not to prove the winner however, former Celtic striker Henrik Larsson cheering Scots everywhere with a late equaliser.

Ecuador has provided one of the tournament's biggest surprises, its performances here belying a poor record when playing away from their home ground in Quito, the second highest capital city in the world.

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