Once the murmurings of how easy a World Cup group England drew began to subside, the fear of being eliminated from a group containing minnows Algeria, USA and Slovenia began to take hold.England's group is so easy it's already being referred to as the Group of Life. However, losing to so-called lesser teams in World Cup competitions is hardly a novel experience for England.
It's hard to think of four more humiliating words in football than "England beaten by USA". Maybe "replaced by Emile Heskey" or "rejected by Danielle Lloyd" are the only things that run them close.
England lost to USA back in the 1950s when the Americans were considered hopeless at the sport. Some 60 years later that perception still prevails, which means the nation expects.
Historically, England tend to exit major competitions via a penalty shoot-out at some point, usually the quarter-finals. The good news is our current No. 1 in goal Rob Green has a fairly decent record at saving penalties. The bad news is his general all-round game doesn't exactly inspire confidence. There's only one way to criticise a goalkeeper these days and that's to call him "a good shot stopper". This implies he has grasped (if that's the right word) the very basics of his job but in all other departments, like collecting crosses, he's hapless.
England currently have a long list of "shot stoppers". David James, Ben Foster and Paul Robinson don't exactly fill one with confidence - not unless you're American, Slovenian or Algerian anyway.
Fabio Capello has seven keepers he can call on - Joe Hart, Scott Carson and Chris Kirkland are the others - but none he can rely on. In terms of goalkeepers, England have weakness in depth.
Contrast that with the Americans, who have Everton penalty hero Tim Howard and Villa pair Brad Friedel and Brad Guzan.
To play in goal for America you have to be called Brad. To play in goal for England you have to be called bad.
Bet365 can't decide on which goalkeeper Capello will opt for between the sticks. Green, who went off feeling sick after conceding four goals against an injury-ravaged Manchester United on Saturday (but not as sick as the West Ham fans) is 7-4, the same price as Portsmouth's James. The fact that James is 39 years-old, is also known as "Calamity", is terribly injury prone and yet is still joint favourite with Green to start the first game against USA should instil a mild case of hysteria. At his age, James has slowing reflexes. Last year he was reportedly run over by a car – being pushed by two blokes.
Green has, at least, saved five penalties in the Premier League since 2005, more than any other goalkeeper. The odds of a penalty being scored in a top-flight match is around 1-4. Roughly speaking one in every four penalties is either missed or saved. So it was something of a surprise to see four of five penalties missed last weekend, the most significant of which was American Howard's last minute save to deny England's Jermain Defoe. Frank Lampard missed for Chelsea, while Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas and Portsmouth's Aruna Dindane also failed to convert.
Scoring from a free shot from 12 yards is something we all fancy ourselves to be successful at, let alone a professional footballer.
In this modern era every goalkeeper at the World Cup will have a computer print out of which opposing player takes the penalties and the area where he usually despatches them. And, of course, every penalty taker will be acutely aware of that and quite possibly try and place the ball in the opposite corner.
The most successful penalty taker of recent times was Matt Le Tissier, who converted 47 of his 48 spot kicks. Mark Crossley was the only man to stop Le Tiss.
The secret to taking a penalty, confided Le Tiss this week, is to banish all negative thoughts from your head, which is easy when you're as laid back as Le Tissier. When the whole country is watching and you know a miss will forever place your popularity on a par with that of Ashley Cole, it's going to be difficult to get a grip of those nerves.
For this reason alone Cole should be one of England's designated penalty takers, and maybe a designated diver as well. It's virtually impossible for him to become any less popular than he already is.
Michael Owen's Champions League hat-trick in United's 3-1 win over Wolfsburg sent a timely reminder to Capello. Amazingly the experienced England striker is 4-7 with Ladbrokes NOT to make the plane to South Africa and 3-1 with Bet365 to force his way into the squad.
Capello previously commented on Owen's inclusion as being his chief dilemma. Given the injury concerns at United (Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov are both doubts for this weekend) and the fact that United are still competing on four fronts, Owen should get plenty of pitch time to press his case. I believe the 3-1 is a cracking bet should Owen stay free of injury. Incidentally, Crossley faced 14 penalties in the top flight and saved eight; a save percentage of 57 per cent. Maybe Capello should lure him out of retirement.
TOP TIP: MICHAEL OWEN TO MAKE ENGLAND'S 2010 WORLD CUP SQUAD (Bet365)
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
"when the Americans were considered hopeless at the sport. Some 60 years later that perception still prevails"- you're an idiot.
The U.S is a minnow? wow thats kind of arrogant.
When discussing football in the wider world, teams take the plural (for example, England ARE the favourites to take points from the USA). After 6 years in the USA (now grudgingly repatriated) I got to like the reversed global convention of 'Red Sox at Minnesota' instead of the home team being displayed first. But when it comes to the singular versus plural, I have to speak out. It just doesn't sound right. Apart from that, keep up the good work spreading the word and good luck next June. I miss you guys.
Good news for the "minnows" like the U.S. If England approaches the game with this kind of arrogance, it is guaranteed that the the Yanks will know a lot more about the English side going in than visa-versa. And by the way, the last time I looked, South Africa is a long way from England, and more like Central America than Central Europe. England through, but watch out for Ghana or Germany.