What would have been expected to have been a good weekend for England turned into a pretty poor one. First England’s football team throw away a two goal lead to draw nervously with Montenegro with Wayne Rooney sent off and the then the next day, England’s rugby union team caught a dose of the footballers’ disease and crashed out against a French side that were flat on their backs after defeat to Tonga. Complacency cost victory in both cases. The rugby meatheads thought they could just turn up and the French would fall over.
In Podgorica, England started well, but the moment they conceded a goal, instead of being a wake-up call to redouble their determination, England went into their shells. Bringing on Frank Lampard retrenched the psychological crippling effect that subsumes the team when events go against them. A draw wasn’t a disaster but it was plain to see that Montenegro could be blown away if played against with confidence. At least Rooney will have some extra recovery time when he inevitably injures himself just before the tournament, now that he misses the opening match through suspension.
Fabio Capello’s record in this qualifying campaign is in some ways better than the qualifying for the World Cup in that England are undefeated. But turn it the other way round, basing it on win ration and it is far less impressive. In 2008-09, Capello’s team won 90% of their competitive matches; in 2010-11, it is only 62.5%. Moreover, the one defeat in 2008-09 came after England had won the group with two matches to spare. Inability to keep the ball has blighted England for at least a decade – I remember the travails of Euro 2000 particularly vividly in this instance. One bad example summed it up with England conceding a throw-in after one touch from their own throw-in. They would never do that at club level and if they did they would fear returning to the dressing room.
Towards the end of the match, the camera panned across the away support of Englishness; one banner for Northampton Town with that club’s nickname was most apt for the performance we had seen – Cobblers.