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England expected. The U.S.A. were underdogs from the beginning, and played like underdogs from the beginning. They defended solidly and looked extra-careful in possession, whereas England kept hold of the ball and looked to play through midfield key-men Gerrard and Lampard.
But the team wasn’t able to function, despite taking the lead in the opening minutes of the game through a neat Steven Gerrard finish. Rooney was isolated: playing off Heskey, he found the ball going over his head to the Aston Villa target man or dropping shorter or wider. Whilst Heskey assisted Gerrard for England’s opening goal, he didn’t impose himself against the physical American centre back Oguchi Onyewu, who trounces Heskey in the lack-of-game-time-for-your-club category, not completing a single match for A.C. Milan last season. Lampard remained quiet throughout and played several bad passes – which you’d expect in a season rather than a game from Chelsea’s Mr. Consistent. Aaron Lennon and James Milner’s inclusion in the first team promised width before the game, and with the attacking full-backs England boast in Johnson and Cole, it seemed certain that England would stretch the play wide to make use of these assets. This promise was not kept though. James Milner left the field after half an hour with his illness getting the better of him which brought Shaun Wright-Phillips into the fold, but he found himself in a similar struggle for possession in the key areas. England failed to take the game to the U.S.A., failed to double their lead and, after an awful blunder from Robert Green, failed to enter half time with a 1-0 lead.
The scandalous error from the ‘keeper has already been written and spoken about too much – the mistake of a goal keeper is much the same as that of an outfield player, but almost inevitably has a much stricter punishment. What is more harmful to England than individual errors is the team’s inability to create chances and their lack of coherence in midfield. Whilst mistakes may dent England’s World Cup hopes, too many performances like that against the U.S.A. will end them. Fabio Capello has some thinking to do, more so given Ledley King’s premature exit from last night’s game, that of James Milner also and the return of Gareth Barry from injury. Barry’s comeback should allow The Three lions to return to a midfield shape that are comfortable and successful with. We’ll see just how successful in five days time when England face Algeria in Cape Town, where only a win will do.
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