England face South Africa exit

England 0-0 Algeria

A display lacking any verve left England staring the distinct possibility of a group stage exit in South Africa after a goalless draw with Algeria.

On a night were fans and pundits alike were expecting to see an easy victory for England in Cape Town, the Three Lions could not roar, only whimper.

They must now beat Slovenia in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday if they are to avoid falling at the first hurdle of the World Cup for the first time since 1958.

As expected David James was brought into the starting line-up after Rob Green’s mistake against the U.S.A. with Gareth Barry also starting in place of James Milner. In defence Jamie Carragher was the replacement for the injured Ledley King.

Algeria started the game the brighter side, passing the ball well and attempting to stretch England. David James was the busier keeper in the first half but there was little in terms of imagination coming from either side.

Whilst Algeria lacked the ability to really break England down, England lacked any cohesion, pace or purpose whatsoever.

Wayne Rooney looked a shadow of the player he does for Manchester United whilst Steven Gerrard struggled to get into the game from the left hand side.

England finally managed to construct an attack after half an hour. Aaron Lennon found space out wide and his cross eventually found Frank Lampard whose shot from ten yards was well saved by Rais M’Bholi in the Algerian goal.

Despite the obvious deficiencies in the performance Fabio Capello decided against any changes at half time.

Unsurprisingly then, with players either out of form or out of position, the second period continued in the same fashion.

Capello waited until the hour mark until making a change, sending on Shaun Wright-Phillips for Aaron Lennon but sticking to the same shape. The Manchester City winger failed to make any real impact apart from winning one free kick after beating his man.

With Rooney playing so poorly England lacked a focal point in attack, a role that Emile Heskey was unable to fill.

The Aston Villa striker found himself through on goal midway through the half but his shot was deflected over, whilst Gerrard could only head straight at M’Bholi from a corner.

But still England lacked passion and incision and could not create any clear cut chances with Algeria rarely looking troubled.

Jamie Carragher was booked after bringing down Hasan Yebda, meaning he will miss the match with Slovenia, giving Capello another headache in central defence.

As the match edged tediously towards its conclusion Capello switched Heskey for Jermaine Defoe, another move that had little effect on the game. The Tottenham man failed to get the ball on the target when he found himself through in the area and then hit a shot from outside the area well over.

In a final fling of the dice, Peter Crouch was brought on for Gareth Barry, although instead of attacking with three upfront, Rooney was pushed out to the left hand side.

After one final corner, over-hit by Gerrard, the whistle was blown and England’s fans could be heard booing their team even over the drone of the vuvuzelas.

In truth this was a display far removed from what would be expected from a team hoping to go far in this tournament and Capello will have had much to ponder as the sun set on his 64^th birthday.

What did you think of the performance? What should Capello change for the Slovenia match?

A weekend of triumph and disaster

I feel like a bit of a let-down. I know that I promised you all a blog last week and for the lack of one, I sincerely apologise. I would love to pretend that my extended essay writing session was due to a high level of interesting subject matter but, if to be honest, it wasn’t. The treatment of trauma in contemporary literature really doesn’t get me that excited.

However what does every year without fail is the F.A. Cup final. This year’s episode of the greatest series in sporting history saw what many romantics would class as the almost perfect cup final. Champions and moneybags Chelsea against relegated, broke Portsmouth. In the absence of a lower league fairytale to back most of the nation were right behind the south coast club.

Alas, the tale was not to have a happy ending although the telling of it was enthralling as always. There was the seemingly magically protected Portsmouth goal and the penalty which felt almost inevitable.

What there was not was a hero, someone who at the appointed hour would stand up and set the country to laughing at Chelsea. Kevin-Prince Boateng had his chance and he scuffed it. In a cruel twist of fate’s knife, two minutes later Didier Drogba showed him how to make sweet contact with a football as he crushed thousands of Pompey hearts.

But if we neutrals thought that was harsh then spare a thought for the fans at Fratton Park. Most times when a smaller club makes it to Wembley it is on the back of a great season and they go away enthused and hoping to kick on. Not this year.

Portsmouth now drop into The Championship and will be happy if they survive long enough to play in it. The fans will be feeling a strange sense of desolation that really shouldn’t exist just four days after a trip to the home of football.

Elsewhere this weekend England won the World Cup. Unfortunately not the one that we all hope and dream of but the Twenty20 cricket version. Congratulations must go to the team, especially the captain and leader Paul Collingwood who has come in for a lot of criticism over the years, but one has to wonder about the lack of coverage that this success has got.

I know that it is cricket and that a lot less people care about it than football but I must admit to a slight sense of disappointment in the media for not going for this story a bit more.

Maybe the reason for this is the sheer number of ICC tournaments that are thrown at us. There is now a Twenty20 World Cup every year with a 50-over version every four. We have also had the pointless Champions Trophy.

When Sepp Blatter mooted that the football World Cup be held every two years there was outcry from a lot of football people. They knew that this would dramatically lessen the prestige of the tournament and the impact it had on the world stage. As every England football fan will tell you, four years is a long time to wait for another shot at glory and it only increases the excitement.

For possibly the first time on my life I would suggest that FIFA has shown the way to do things.

Long time, no post.

I realise that it has been a while since I wrote anything on this blog. For that you have my deepest apologies and the vague excuse that the last month has been one of the most hectic ever.

In it I have handed in three essays, completed a week long work experience at The Independent and spent far too much time thinking about what the next year might bring.

I am currently in the process of attempting to find a job in journalism, a feat much easier to write about than actually do. It appears my only bet at the moment is at the BBC, which would be a nice!

Anyway, just thought that it would be ruse to go much longer without a little update on me and will say now in writing that I will hopefully have a fully fledged, proper post done by the end of this week, essays permitting (I have another two to do).

For now I would just like to say that I was at Hillsborough for the relegation clash with Crystal Palace and witnessed first hand the violent scenes in and around the game at the end. Even from the press box, it was a disgusting sight.

The fact that the next day saw similar scenes at Kenilworth Road is a warning to us all that there are still mindless idiots out there and that the game has still got a long way to go if it wants to enjoy the type of reputation that other sports do.

Worryingly, a brief look at the message boards and listen to the phone-ins and it becomes obvious that there are also still people stupid enough to try and defend the actions of the thugs with excuse of “passion”. For me this is the scariest thing. Violence is still accepted even by some of those who do not partake in it themselves. I really do worry sometimes about the football fans in this country.

On a more positive note, there is just over a month till the World Cup and I am getting excited already. Mr Capello names his provisional 30 man squad on Tuesday and, if you are listening Fabio, please take Darren Bent!

Football needs to save itself

Football needs an “independent regulatory authority” according to the co-founder of the Football Supporters Association.

Dr Rogan Taylor, speaking at an event at Bramall Lane on Friday which I was lucky enough to attend, was asked, what he thought the best action the game could take in regards to increasing debt levels was.

“I think the answer has to be an independent regulatory authority and it is the fit and proper persons element that is key.

“Nobody asks what are you going to do with Portsmouth? What’s the plan? Where’s the money? How will you sustain the expenditure you are outlining to us? Those are the questions that need asking and that sorts out the cowboys from the sensible businessmen.”

I could not agree with Dr Taylor further. Football has reached a point where if it continues to travel down the path it is on currently then it will kill itself off. Clubs will continue to be badly run, players will continue to be given free rein and fans will continue to be the group that suffer the most.

Portsmouth is the highest profile example of how football clubs can so easily implode but there are others, just look at Chester City, now no longer in existence because of the way the club was run.

In Germany it is illegal for any private individual to own more than 49 per cent of a football club. Dr Taylor and others present at the event highlighted this as a move that they would love to see come into the English game. It would stop what happened at Portsmouth happening again and would probably help to even the playing field a bit as well.

The Bundesliga is one of the most competitive and financially stable leagues in the world. Bayern Munich for example has made a profit for each of the last 14 years, a far cry from the reports of clubs like Manchester United, currently in something like 750 million pounds of debt.

However we all know that football, especially in Britain has lost its moral compass and now has only money as its master, not the well being of the sport and certainly not the concerns of the fans.

I appreciate that the Premier League is one of the best in the world in terms of quality but it is not competitive, only four teams have ever won it, and it is certainly not financially healthy. Player’s wages are too high, leaking money straight out of the game and it is the fans who pay the price in the form of extortionate ticket prices and merchandise.

Something needs to be done before the whole thing comes crashing down. Sadly I can’t see anyone making that all important first move.

Futsal disappointment.

What is it about football in this country?

I spent all of yesterday watching the BUCS futsal championships in Sheffield and left wondering how we in this country had managed to take a game that is made for skills, flicks and tricks, and end up with a display of what can only be described as largely tedious mini football.

Most of the games consisted of teams passing it back and across the defenders for a bit then trying a long shot from the wings, hoping for a deflection.

There was a lack of intent to run and try to beat players or to try something that was even vaguely away from the pretty bland script that seemed to be set out by the coaches.

I understand that there was a desire to win but I was disappointed and a little bored.

We notoriously struggle to produce players with the flair of the South Americans and futsal has been put forward as a way of countering that. It is small sided football, played indoors with a weighted ball that puts an emphasis on touch and control. It is not going to help create a new generation of footballers if those playing it end up playing it the way I saw it played yesterday.

Anyway, slight rant over and back to today. As I write this I am sat at the EIS watching the athletics heats and semis before I head over Don Valley for the finals of the boxing tournament.

I have to admit to only really being interested in athletics once it gets to the final stages but some of the performances here have been quite impressive.

However, today’s personal highlight is going to be the boxing. I’m pretty hopeful of some fairly high quality pugilism. I shall let you all know.

Hockey on the rise?

Hockey is a great sport.

I challenge anyone to show me that I am wrong in my statement. It is fast, physical, skilful and open to everyone, male and female, young and old.

In my opinion, the fact that it is not more popular amongst the majority in this country is a massive shame.

However, there are signs that it might be time for me to banish my disappointment.

Not only have the England men’s team just had a successful World Cup, reaching the last four, but I have seen evidence that the game is flourishing at university level.

I spent all of today at the BUCS Hockey finals and was pleased to see that there is a passion for the sport at that level and that this is beginning to translate onto the national stage.

A quick look through the programme showed you all you needed to know. Next to maybe half of the names were notes telling you that they had gained some sort of representative honour, be that under-19, under-21 or, in a few cases, full international honours.

PricewaterhouseCoopers have sponsored university hockey this year, another sign that the sport is starting to come more into the public consciousness.

Another sign is the way that the bar was packed with people crowding to watch the England Germany match in the bar. I know that these were, for the most part, hockey people but it was so encouraging to connect some of the feelings and experiences that one normally associates with football and rugby to hockey instead.

I really hope that in years to come people see hockey in a similar way to how rugby is viewed, as a good quality winter alternative to football. The signs of that happening are definitely starting to show themselves.

£ Elsewhere today and my adventure as a high flying journo has continued.

After last night’s late finish, today started bright and early with a good hearty English breakfast, the holiday feel only broken when I realised I was going to be outside in Sheffield in March for most of the day.

I have spent today talking to players who represent their country, passionate supporters of university sport and, once again, John Inverdale. I think he is my new best friend.

Seriously though, if anyone can think of many things that are better than spending your day outside, watching top quality sport with passionate people then let me know, I want to give them a try.

Tomorrow, the possible future of small sided football; futsal. Oh and possibly a Sheffield success story in the table tennis.

Surreal Sheffield

Yesterday was a bit surreal.

In the afternoon I found myself chatting away to John Inverdale in the VIP lounge at Bramall Lane before moving outside to see a pipe band in full Scottish regalia warming up in the heart of Sheffield. I did say that student sport could be odd.

I suppose that I should put that last paragraph in a bit of context. I was at Bramall Lane for the opening ceremony of the BUCS Championships, an event that consisted of a press conference followed by a formal reception.

It was at this reception that I got chatting to Inverdale, mainly on the subject of how to get a job in the media. He made it quite clear that I was going to have to be patient and that there was no point in getting disheartened every time I get rejected because it will most probably happen a lot.

He was saying how he had been rejected may times before he got his chance which was quite relieving to here from someone who is now one of our most recognisable sporting broadcasters.

Now John Inverdale is not the first famous person that I have met and interviewed but yesterday was something else, possibly the fact that this wasn’t for work, it was a legitimate chat conducted with both of us leaning against a table rather than the sterile constraints of a formal interview.

Things only got more surreal as the evening wore on. Myself and the rest of the media team were taken on a tour of the ground and it was on this that we first encountered the strange sight of the pipe band warming up.

Now I am all for cultural diversity but, in my head, pipe bands belong in Scotland, not in the heart of the Steel City. It just didn’t make sense it my head, it was like seeing your local postman flying your summer holiday flight.

Once I had managed to get my head around what was happening, it was time for the women’s football final and here I must admit to being mildly surprised at the quality of some of the play.

Last week I was at a Sheffield women’s match and it was a poor game, filled with miskicks and unfit players. Last night was different, these girls knew how to play, and play they did.

The match was between Leeds Met and Northumbria and both teams were a credit to women’s football (apologies for a horribly overused phrase). It ended 1-1 after extra time with Northumbria prevailing on penalties but the main story for me was the way that these girls played. There were very few long balls and some of the touches would have put a lot of their male counterparts to shame if some of the football I have seen this year is any indication.

Anyway, all in all it was a surreal but entertaining way to kick off this manic week and I can only hope that the next four days bring some equally surprising and entertaining narratives.

Next stop, hockey.