Wayne gone done it again
The last round of international qualifying matches are always slightly more exciting than the rest, but by the time they come around I’ve always forgotten that. It was a nice surprise, then, to be actually quite interested in the fates of the Home Nations as they rounded off their respective campaigns last week.
Not being particularly interested in international these days, I enjoyed the England game almost as a neutral, and thought Rooney et al played quite well in the first half and were very comfortable at 2-0. A bit of slack defending brought Montenegro back into it, and then came Rooney’s moment of madness, which I’ll come back to in a moment. After England were reduced to ten men, the hosts were able to apply a lot more pressure and eventually got their reward with a stoppage time equaliser. The highlight of the game – and the whole footballing week, really – was the amazing celebrations at the final whistle. Full-scale pitch invasion, bits of souvenir turf ripped from the ground, and generally scenes of astonishing revelry. Just what making the play-offs meant to the Montenegrins, who have been an independent nation for just over years, was wonderful to watch. And credit for that must go to Sky (extending their broadcast after the game to show us the celebrations of course, not Montenegrin independence – although Murdoch is obviously an influential figure). I’m pretty sure ITV would have cut away straight after the final whistle to show us an advert for a Lee Evans DVD, which would have been a crime indeed.
As for England, I don’t envy Fabio Capello. He’s so obviously a massive improvement on the previous manager – the previous two English nationals who sat in the hot-seat, for certain – even allowing for the failure at the World Cup last season, but he can’t do right by the press. It’s in the media’s interests to portray the national team boss as a clown, of course, as it helps them sell papers, but that doesn’t mean the public should swallow it whole. England have looked fairly good in spells in these qualifiers – notably away from home – but for all their flaws, they’ve qualified for next year’s finals. Proper teams don’t sack their managers after qualifying for finals (look, see? Only tinpot developing countries do that), so let’s all stop buying the newspapers who claim we should. Alright? Settled.
Wayne Rooney is the other major talking point, of course. His rubbish first touch proved so frustrating that he kicked out at an opponent, who needed no second invitation to fall over (no complaints there, it was clearly a red card but you can’t blame him for letting the referee know it), and off Rooney went. It was totally mindless, really, and the consequences will be felt next summer far more than they were in the remaining 17 minutes of this game. UEFA will decide presently whether he should miss more than one game, and if it’s more than two then serious questions have to be asked about taking him to the tournament at all. He’s England’s best player, without doubt, and would be useful in the knockout stages, but England’s presence in the knockout stages at all is under threat if we can’t replace him adequately. It is possible that England could be drawn in a group including Spain, Portugal and France. Would it be wise to take a player who might then play in 0% of our games, or wiser to bring a squad full of available players to give us more options when things might not be going so well? It may all be academic anyway as we’re about due a pre-tournament star metatarsal injury.
Elsewhere, Scotland’s trip to Spain was predictably chastening, although the real damage was done elsewhere; Czech Republic’s 4-1 win in Kaunas against Lithuania ensured Craig Levein’s men didn’t make the play-offs, and they’ll be lamenting that late penalty for the Czechs at Hampden Park (even though the real reason they didn’t qualify is because they’re rubbish). Still, I have some sympathy for their manager; you really can’t win as Scotland coach. It’s not that their talent pool is a small one, it’s just that there’s no talent in it. It’s almost empty, and that’s no fun to go fishing in (like Levein has to).
Worthing-gone
Compare them to Wales, and the Scots seem to have a better spread of decent players, but I predict Wales will finish above Scotland in Group A of the World Cup 2014 qualifiers for two reasons; Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. Both these players are a class above anything Scotland have. Even fellow big-clubbers Charlie Adam and Darren Fletcher haven’t got the dynamism of Bale or the guile of Ramsey. Post-Toshack, Wales have shown that they can get the best out of that mercurial duo, and they’re making real progress under Gary Speed. Three wins from their last four indicates they’re on the road to better things.
Northern Ireland’s great start to qualifying, the 1-0 win in Slovakia and the resolute 0-0 draw with Italy last year, seems a long time ago now. Manager Nigel Worthington stood down after the 3-0 defeat in the return game in Italy ensured his side finished second bottom of Group C, seven points off the play-off pace. It’s a shame they didn’t make it to any finals while they were producing shock results in the recent qualifying campaigns (hard to imagine them beating England, Sweden or Spain nowadays). Lawrie Sanchez already threw his hat classlessly into the ring last week, and it’s clear Worthington wasn’t a popular figure by the end of his tenure. It’s less clear, however, what a new manager could do to stop the steady exodus of players from the North volunteering their services for the Republic. That’s a problem deeper than the lifeless display at home to Estonia last week, and not one which can be addressed by a coach.
Ramsey better than Fletcher lololololol
To create goals? Of course… Fletcher is a better all-round player – he is, after all, far more experienced – but if you were 0-0 then who would you prefer? The point is that Scotland have no players who can create and destroy like Ramsey and Bale. Every team can do with a gut-busting Fletcher, but the Ramseys and Bales are more likely to make the difference between a draw and a win.