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Five reasons why England was embarrassed by Germany

Owen Gibson

BLOEMFONTEIN: A false sense of superiority and a disorganised defence plus a horrible decision by the officials gave England an afternoon to forget. Disorganised defence John Terry was playing alongside the same central defensive partner for the first time in this World Cup, but you wouldn't have known it.

Time and again in the first half-hour, Thomas Mueller, Mesut Ozil and Miroslav Klose combined to leave the back four looking statuesque, especially down Germany's right flank.

David James was left horribly exposed, particularly to balls in between Ashley Cole and Matthew Upson, who looked like the player who started the Slovenia game rather than the one who finished it.

Glen Johnson offered little defensively or going forward and the midfield were also culpable, being pulled this way and that by the Germans and, in the shape of Gareth Barry, failing to offer any protection to a badly exposed defence.

Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda and his assistant Mauricio Espinosa failed to spot that Frank Lampard's looping shot had bounced at least a yard over the line.

Given that the goal would have put the scores level, even though England barely deserved to be so at that point, it could have changed the game.

The incident is bound to reignite the debate over goal-line technology that Sepp Blatter, who was at Sunday's match, sought to draw a line under in March when it was kicked into the long grass for the foreseeable future. Though such was the subsequent superiority of this young, exciting German team that it receded as an issue as the match went on.

It is hard to retain a sense of burning injustice having been so comprehensively outplayed.

Pre-conceived notion

False sense of superiority, lack of flexibility. It was as though England's players had been taken in by the pre-match spin from Joachim Loew that they were the favourites and Germany's young team the underdogs.

There was an element of shock (and awe) in the way they were taken apart by the pace and agility of the three men playing behind Klose.

Fabio Capello must also bear some of the blame for apparently being unable to adapt the shape of his team quickly enough to the repeated raids down both flanks. And his substitutions, when they came, did little to change the game.

Throughout, he stuck to the rigid 4-4-2 that had served him well in qualifying but has been cruelly found out here. Germany's fluid formation tore through it.

Loew said before the match that it was “youthful lightness versus international experience.” It was clear which won out. Germany were simply faster in thought and deed.

As they had against Australia in their opening game, they cut through England's defence almost at will save for a 10-minute spell in the first half after Upson had pulled one back for England.

As England chased the game, their counterattacking became a master class in how to exploit the holes in a team desperate to find their way back into the game. It was a lesson taught by Ozil and Mueller, both of whom were outstanding.

Not enough big performances from big players. It might seem unfair to pick out individuals from what was a uniformly bad team performance. But the captain, Steven Gerrard, so impressive against Slovenia, was largely anonymous here.

An out-of-sorts Wayne Rooney failed to spark and even in the opening stages was dropping too deep and loudly berating all around him.

Lampard was perhaps the only senior England player to emerge with any credit. — © Guardian News and Media 2010

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