NUREMBERG, 16 June 2006 — A performance that seemed beyond redemption, an England team heading toward a humiliation to match any other of the Sven Goran Eriksson regime. When even Wayne Rooney seemed unable to save them from a draw against the men of Port Vale, Falkirk, Dundee and San Juan Jabloteh, England found a now familiar savior. Peter Crouch’s winning goal against Trinidad & Tobago woke his country from their worst World Cup nightmare.
It was a catastrophe in the making. England stumbled and staggered in Nuremberg yesterday against the smallest team ever to play in this tournament, the fragile reign of Eriksson seemed to be falling apart.
Rooney was sent on, and then with seven minutes remaining Crouch broke the deadlock. Steven Gerrard added a second, a minute into injury time.
It was the introduction of Rooney and Aaron Lennon that spurred England to victory, 10 inspired minutes at the end to match the desperate 80 minutes that preceded it. Never has Eriksson leapt off the bench for a goal with quite so much relief. His substitutions saved England this time, but he can thank his luck that Rooney has returned to fitness in the nick of time.
It was on the 47th day that Rooney rose again. A big smile on his face, he walked back into the world he knows best, a whole footballer once again, or at least according to the surgeons.
Less than seven weeks after the fourth metatarsal of his right foot gave way at Stamford Bridge, England’s enormous travelling support were roaring the announcement of Rooney’s name once again. Whatever made Professor Angus Wallace change his mind about Rooney’s suitability to play in the group stages we may never know; in the hot, muggy excitement of Frankfurt, there were more than 30,000 England fans who did not care.
Against a much more modest side than Paraguay, England developed a promising start into an ever-more sluggish performance.
The memory of their slow fading in the first game seemed to propel England forward in the opening stages, Ashley Cole was sighted in attacking positions for the first time this tournament and Frank Lampard enjoyed greater liberation in attack. After six minutes, Crouch knocked a ball back from the left wing, David Beckham dummied and Lampard struck a shot that Shaka Hislop was unable to hold. First to the loose ball was Michael Owen, and no man in a white shirt yesterday needed a fortunate bounce more. But the ball came back off Hislop at an awkward height, it struck Owen on the join of knee and thigh and dribbled wide.
In times of trouble, this England team do not pass the ball round with the verve and crackle of a team determined to unpick their opposition.
Instead, they settled on the long searching ball to the flanks or into Owen and Crouch. Even with Beckham and Gerrard fulfilling that role yesterday, it did not seem like a formula for winning this tournament.
A right-footed cross from Joe Cole on the left curled to the back post where Crouch tried to usher it home but was blocked by Hislop. Lampard shot wide after 34 minutes but this was an England performance that was drifting dangerously, drifting toward the soporific and the aimless with greater reliance upon a flash of brilliance to save it.
Increasingly, that man looked like Gerrard who tried to unlock T&T alone. With four minutes of the first half left, he struck a ball down the left channel that Owen pulled down before Ashley Cole could reach it. He cut the ball back to Lampard who, from nine yards, lobbed over the bar the kind of chance he routinely buries for Chelsea. Two minutes later and a greater striking crime was committed in the T&T area.
No one had worked harder than Crouch but when Beckham’s ball found him unmarked at the back post his volleyed shot crossed the goal line almost 20 yards wide. The cries of “Rooney” from the England support rang out almost immediately. One more scare before half-time. Paul Robinson made a wretched attempt to claim a cross and Stern John bulldozed Rio Ferdinand out the way to head the ball toward an empty goal. Terry’s beautifully improvised flying clearance from under the crossbar saved England from a most ignominious fate.
The statistics tell you it was 62 percent possession for England in the first half but they made precious little use of it and the first 10 minutes after the interval suggested the break had furnished them with no more ideas. No sequences of passing, no space found behind the T&T defense and more of those dreadful passes to nowhere that have become the hallmark of an England team in crisis.
Eriksson could wait no longer. It was deeply premature to be playing the last ace he held but, on 56 minutes, Rooney rose from the bench.
He came on for Owen, whose plight had deepened moments earlier when, unmarked, he headed a Beckham ball wide.
In the final days of the Eriksson regime, the big reputations were finally pushed aside by the England manager. As Owen trotted off, Aaron Lennon came on for Jamie Carragher and Beckham was pushed back into the right-back position to accommodate the Tottenham man.
At last, Lennon offered width and, in the center, Rooney gave England some of the devil they desperately required. His ball down the left to Ashley Cole threatened to open up T&T but the Arsenal man was having such a godforsaken afternoon he could not deliver a cross of any calibre.
Impressing more with every step, Lennon worked his way down the right on 73 minutes and cut the ball back to Lampard who sent another wild effort skywards.
Rooney and Crouch combined on 77 minutes and, free in the area, Lampard struck the ball straight at Hislop. Crouch, finally, broke through when Beckham crossed and the Liverpool striker headed home at the back post.
Then, Gerrard, England’s driving force, collected the ball, switched on to his left foot and struck a goal that released the tension from a torturous afternoon. England are through to the knockout stages, but they desperately need to raise their game.
