Saturday, November 15, 2014

Getting mad to get even (and then win)

Despite an atrocious Wembley pitch, England eventually saw off Slovenia comfortably.  Though an own-goal, Slovenia made a key tactical mistake by scoring against England and breaking a run of clean sheets.  It just made England mad, as evidenced by Rooney's bulldozer-like charge into Slovenia's box before being fouled to win a penalty.  It reminded of Marseille scoring against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu in 2003.  Leading at Real's illustrious home, just made the Zinedine Zidane-captained side similarly mad and they annihilated Madrid to lead 4-1, before complacently letting in another goal to win 4-2.
Scoring was not really an issue for Real but their defensive carelessness would eventually cost them against another French side, Monaco, going down in the Champions League quarter-finals 5-5 on the away goals rule.  England may boss the smaller sides and putting the ball in the back of the net is not a problem but as was seen at the World Cup, defensive laxity against the big boys make for an early exit.

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