Third round of group games: England vs. Ukraine

All right all right, here’s the England post.

It seems like a combination of events has taken a bit of pressure off of the England squad.  There’s no real expectation that they’ll win the tournament, Hodgson’s appointment as manager with so little time to prepare seems more like a caretaker roll than a permanent position, and with so many problems with the lineup before everything got started, people were more concerned with who was going to end up going than how far they would go.

Strangely they’ve been showing their calmness in the way that they play.  The game against Ukraine was interesting as England basically gave the ball to the hosts for the first 30 minutes of the game.  They were tested but not too severely; patiently trying to hit on the counter attack as Welbeck, Rooney, and Young acted as outlets when they could.  Things opened up after that as England had a lot more possession late into the first half and across the second.

But for the first third of the game Ukraine was in control, not that you would have noticed by the way they bottled their attacks.  You could see where a player like Shevchenko would become a national hero just by being able to finish where others couldn’t.  And where Ukraine didn’t take their chances, England did, at least once.

England won a corner early in the second half and after play restarted Gerrard somehow dribbled through and back around a defender out on the wing and sent in a low cross that really should have been taken care of by at least two defenders (and the goalie).  As it squeaked through a series of hapless Ukrainians it fell to Rooney who was perfectly placed to head it home.  Not the prettiest goal you’ll ever see but probably one of the easiest that Rooney will ever score.

John Terry, making "cleaning up your own mess"
look incredibly difficult.

And that’s where my criticism will start.  England will see Italy in the quarter finals and Italy’s defense will most assuredly never be described as hapless, that cross would never have made it through.  If John Terry misjudges a long ball against Italy like he did in the 62nd minute against Ukraine, it won’t be Marko Devic who will be given a 1v1 with Joe Hart, it’s going to be Antonio Di Natale.

I don’t put much stock in the FIFA rankings but Italy is #12 and Ukraine is #52 and while you can only play the teams in front of you, I have to wonder how England will shape up against this resurgent Italy that can attack AND defend.  Pirlo has turned into everyone’s underdog favorite to win player of the tournament and there’s something about the Italian team that resembles their successful sides of the past.  There is some sort of quiet confidence that comes from having had such a poor showing in South Africa.  Everyone knows that they are “rebuilding”, so maybe like the English the pressure is off.  Maybe like the English the media hasn’t affected them so much this time around.  Or, maybe like the English there is a golden generation of players that is already half way out the door and the remaining players have one more chance to mount a serious title challenge before they are all replaced by a younger generation.