Superb England win as we all hope it isn’t another false dawn

Just when you thought that a decent England performance was impossible, they go and win at Croatia 4-1. It was a very good performance indeed.

Well, that’s the international break finished with, thank goodness. Does anyone else find the suspension of the domestic leagues and the international matches being played to be a complete pain in the a**e?

As an England fan I am faced with the dubious pleasure of having to analyse the performance of our over paid, over hyped, primma Donnas. Actually, I don’t really feel that way but you can’t call yourself an English football writer unless you use at least one of those descriptions when writing about our players. Even after they do the business like they did last night.

Lack of confidence

So, Saturday saw our apparently lacking in confidence team, according to all the players and the manager in their interviews, take on the might of Andorra on a decent pitch in a neutral country. 0-0 at half time and the England fans begin the ritual booing of the team.

Two second half goals by Joe Cole, inexplicably on the substitute’s bench, saved the day and gave the England qualification campaign a winning start. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t anywhere near good enough but three points is three points.

Better to play away

We moved on to Croatia with the manager saying that it is better for England to play away as there is too much pressure on them when they play at Wembley. He surely can’t have been serious about that can he? We’ll put it down to a problem with the translation. I’ll have to otherwise the comments would leave me totally dumbfounded.

So to the game against the team that has suddenly become England’s nemesis. The only reason for that is that Croatia beat us home and away in qualification for Euro 2008 and have therefore been built up by our players and media into being one of the best sides in the world and almost unbeatable in their own country.

Perspective

Before we start to look at the game, let’s put the comparison between the teams into perspective. England are full of players from the Premiership, alleged (by English people) to be the best league in the world. Within the main squad, there are usually at least eight or nine players who competed in the final stages of the Champions League. What about the Croatian squad? Two from England, Ukraine and Croatia, three from Russia, five from Germany and France and one each from Italy, Austria and Holland.

Not many top leagues represented very fully there. Not many Champions League final stage players in that squad.

That puts the game into perspective, I hope.

Flair and swagger

So, to the game. It’s hard to write about it really. I expected England to be negative and poor. They weren’t. They played with a flair and a swagger rarely seen in an England team. In fact, with the exception of the Holland game in Euro 1996 and the World Cup qualifier in Germany in 2001, it is hard to think of any relatively recent comparitive performances.

I wasn’t sure about the selection of Theo Walcott instead of David Beckham, but Fabio Capello showed why he ids the manager of England and I am the assistant manager of Wilton Town!

A hat-trick for Walcott and a goal for the under fire Wayne Rooney, who was exceptional all night. I mean, England actually passed the ball around and looked like a half decent team!

It was sweet revenge for England, inflicting Croatia’s first competitive defeat at home, and repaying them for ending our hopes of qualification for Euro 2008. It was the type of performance that will be having all fans in England thinking that we are going to win World Cup 2010. It will have the tabloid media in England salivating at the mouth and demanding that Fabio Capello is given a knighthood!

Feet on the ground

I’m sure Mr. Capello will be very pleased with the performance and the result as well he might be. I’m equally sure that he will keep the win in perspective and remember the flip side of the coin that he saw on Saturday. His hardest job will be to keep the feet of the football public and the media firmly where they need to be. On the ground.

I’m genuinely excited by how we played last night and I’m sure the rest of the world will have sat up and taken notice. It is just that I’ve been excited before and then always been let down. Maybe Mr. Capello is the man to make sure this isn’t a false dawn and see to it that England can actually become what everyone in England thinks they should be.